The 80's and 90's saw several animated series based on videogames, most of the memorable ones coming from DiC (although not exclusively, hi Ruby-Spears).
Let's discuss them and while I acknowledge the way these cartoons worked were due to the source material not having established lore, it seems simply making a game based cartoon now is unfeasable or too desperate to be taken seriously, embarrased of it's source material (see: Netflix Castlevania). The closest successor to these cartoons seemed to have been Sonic Boom.
How would you do a modern take on Captain N, Cinemaphile?
Looking back Captain N would probably be a legal clusterfrick today
Was acquiring the rights that much easier back then?
Wouldn't be too bad. Konami and Capcom have a good relationship with Nintendo.
Considering the original show is officially on YouTube, it might be easier than we think.
Back than it was an honor and additional advertisment!
>An honor
Not quite. There's interviews with writers of the day like Bob Forward saying Nintendo werr different in the sense they didn't seek them out to do a toy cartoon like other companies, DiC had to do the first move and had to do a bit of back and forth.
the problem would be with how strict they would be with their characters and if they make characters harder to work with
Nintendo ran the US video scene with an iron fist, hence why they got the rights to a lot of third party characters in the first place. And IIRC the rights owners of the show also lucked out from Nintendo's iron fist in a velvet glove approach to the rights issues, as DIC managed to have the foresight to secure perpetual rights to all of the third party and Nintendo properties for reairing AND home video release; with the only real caveat being that DIC can only air the third season of Captain N in it's original format packaged along with the Super Mario World cartoon (as DIC tried unsuccessfully to include them with S1-2 of Captain N when the show got released on DVD and had to release it as a stand-alone release with the SMW shorts).
Honestly we're pretty lucky the only rights issues that Captain N had was that both it and Super Show had was nobody wanting to pony up on the licensed music so those got removed from syndication airings.
Well, and Super Mario Bros 3 and the Milli Vanilli thing, but that was a special case.
When I originally saw it was the DVD/Youtube edit which has the same "videogame" sounding replacement in all the episodes. The second time I watched it with the original cover songs of pop music. In general I preferred the generic "video game song" than the dated popular radio songs of the 80s. The only exception are when the pop songs are related to the episode like a "halloween" themed episode or the Vanilli episode in which case the cover worked better for the episode
>the Vanilli episode in which case the cover worked better for the episode
On the other hand, there's an extra level of comedy in Milli Vanilli going to sing a song and the audio they didn't intend to starts playing.
hot
Anytime I see a fan art of Peach or Toadstool in her Milli Vanilli fan clothes it gives me life
context?
Princess Toadstool likes Milli Vanilli. The Mario Bros, not so much.
By videogame track, you mean the Surf Song that replaced cover tracks like Thriller?
Either way, weren't Milli Vanilli outed as a fraud right after the AoSMB3 episode?
I cant remember the song but I remember the Captain N forums had given it a name like mushroom beat or something like that and they used to complain it wasn't the original music. When I heard the original music I thought it was horrible since it was bad covers of 80s songs that made no sense to the plot, of course when it was relevant to the theme you could argue otherwise. A least the generic song was video game themed which made more sense.
The Thriller cover in episode 3 of season 1 was amazing and fitting for Castlevania tho
Danger Zone for when the boss rush happens in Mega Trouble in Megaland is enjoyable too.
Counterpoint:
That's a Birdo? They fly now?
Yeah, pretty much with a big part of it being that companies in the '80s never really considered the long term implications of having so many different licensed songs and characters in a show.
Just look at Kidd Video for instance; every single episode is a legal nightmare these days because of the licensed music.
Someone should have told the pitch guy to settle down on the cocaine, he was just going to far.
>Kids love that MTV stuff, let's make our cartoon show about a band! We can even hire actors who know how to sing!
>Great idea! We can even frame it as them being "real" people that got put to cartoon world, so that way we can film some music videos to play each episode. Get that guy who does all the theme songs to write 'em too, he makes a catchy ditty.
>Bigger, baby, BIGGER. Let's make it so the bad guy wants to get OTHER musicians from the real world too to perform for him, so we can play more music videos!
>We can't afford more than one band, let's just pay for some existing music videos from whatever the kids like these days, and play them in the episode. Hey, that's our name! KIDD VIDEO!
>haha I LOVE it, we'll be as big as Muppet Babies using Star Wars clips!
>How would you do a modern take on Captain N, Cinemaphile?
1) I would follow the Captain N series and not the video games themselves.
2) I would downplay Icarus's and Mega Man's signature speaking styles. Once and a while is enough.
3) I wouldn't use Game Boy.
4) Samus would be added to the main cast, and she'd be like her comic book counterpart.
5) Episodes would be based on NES games.
6) There would be a cross-over episode between Super Mario (again, following the DiC version) and Captain N.
7) Another Zelda/Captain N crossover episode, in which Kevin and Link trade places on a bet over who can do whose job best.
8) A Kirby crossover. Kirby would be depicted as he was in his first US commercials:
9) Other episodes based on NES games, like a Star Tropics one or a Double Dragon one. Battletoads episode. A Maniac Mansion one.
post the comic
>modern take on Captain N
1) add Samus to the main cast, keep cast the same as original
3) add more moving platforms to the backgrounds
4 ) I would make it more campy instead of trying to do a serious take
5) keep Kevin as the protagonist
6) if the new girl needs to be in it, don’t have her narrate what the videogame tropes are and just react to them naturally as she’s used to it or have her be like gwenpool where she’s only knowledgeable about games she’s a fan of
7) potentially use a different villain, don’t know who
8) showcase videogame character movement similar to how WiR did with the 8-bit characters
Didn't the other Captain N thread with the same fricking question just die?
yes
and so the cycle repeats. Its fate not so easily broken.
Till next the wheel spins.
I see
>Custom Mii Gunner
>Duck Hunt Dog
>Palutena
>Pit
>Mega Man
>Simon Belmont
>Samus
>R.O.B.
Smash Ultimate finally brought the N-Team together again (with some substitutions)
>Nintendo hits it big with the Mario movie and makes millions and gets good reception
>Mario sequel announced
>Nintendo feels more comfortable lending out their IP again
>Zelda or other big IP show is announced to great reception
>Some Gen X boomer Producer who grew up with the original pitches the idea of a new Captain N cartoon to promote lesser known characters
>Nintendo doesn't understand or know who Captain N is but because of previous good experiences they agree
>Captain N focuses on other Nintendo characters not currently in talks for other shows/movies, to help promote lesser known franchises but of course appearances from "bigger IP" as well to keep interest in the show, only first party characters to keep licensing easier.
>YFW New Captain N in the 2020s, no one expected Kevin Keene to ever return
Only scenario I can see Captain N ever happening again.
>Mario and Luigi were also supposed to be from the real world so it would have been weird [to have them in Captain N], I guess.
No but it makes perfect sense, the were transported to "video land" as well just like Kevin only that they did it through pipes and only arrived in Mushroom Kingdom and stayed there.
Sure Mario and Luigi would've been oddly proportioned next to Kevin which is what I think you're getting at but that's something most of us would've overlooked. Hell if a crossover would've happened I doubt it would've been addressed that Mario/Luigi were from the real world and fans would've made their own headcanon like saying the real world of Mario was a video game real world and different from Kevin's which was the actual real world or some BS like fans usually have to do.
lol moblin butt
I wish I could listen to the soundtrack of the Zelda cartoon without the sound effects and voices. It had some really good quality renditions of the music from the NES games.
That Mario 3 art has sort of a zombie horror feel to it lol
I really want to see Palutena and Samus in this outfit
It's a winner of an outfit.
Yeah I really like it
I was thinking, the main arguement here is that Captain N can't happen again because companies are more protective with bibles and shit but remember Mega Man fully charged? Clearly no one there gave a frick
forgot this page
Well, the N in captain N would stand for Black person.
Is there a explanation on why they didn't almost look at all like nintendo properties or why did they take so many liberties?
For me, it's hanna Barbera's pac man.
Is Saturday Supercade available to watch online? I always wanted to check it out but at least as of ten years ago it seemed to be lost media, has it been recovered through old VHS tapes?
Is this show any good? I only ever watched the christmas special as a kid and it was awful
Search for the shows separate. Some got DVD releases, but obviously Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr are crunchy VHS rips.
Yeah, I also would love to see that old DK show again, curious how well my memory of it held up.
I sometimes wonder if these are good, but then don’t bother watching them because there isn’t anyone to talk to about obscure stuff like this
They have their charm.
Please watch episode 3, "The Most Dangerous Game Master", and come bsck, I'd like to see an unbias opinion on that episode.
It was good, the background layouts for Castlevania and the Palace of Power had a grand feeling to it that made them look cool. The sound effects and music were good but a little cheesy at times, but I like that. The only thing I wasn’t expecting was Pit saying “icus” at the end of every other sentence. I’m not sure where they got that from. The dog doesn’t really have a purpose being there either, but I’m fine with the cast as is they feel natural together.
I’m not sure why you singled that episode out. The plot of the hero having to face their high school rival/bully (although technically an android) isn’t that weird. The action sequence of Kevin jumping on moving platforms and shooting them with a gun to make them disappear was interesting, don’t usually see that adapted often. The ending was predictable.
It's my favorite episode because we get to know about what Kevin's life and relationships were like besides "dude Nintendo lmao", and i liked the character of Mike, robot or otherwise.
Who is your favorite character?