Captain N: The Game Master
Captain N: The Game Master was an animated cartoon television show that aired on NBC from September 9, 1989 to October 26, 1991. The show was part of NBC’s Saturday morning cartoon lineup and incorporated elements from many of the most popular video games that were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The show was produced by DIC Animation City and aired for three seasons. The first season of the show aired as a stand-alone series while season 2 was included as part of an hour-long block with “The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3” and with “Super Mario World” in season 3.
The character Captain N first appeared in Nintendo Power magazine, created by Randy Studdard, a magazine editor at Nintendo. Studdard presented a formal proposal to Nintendo management that included the character as a company spokes-character and the Saturday morning carton was part of the entire marketing campaign. Nintendo of America later decided to pursue the idea and create a cartoon series. DIC Animation City was selected as the animation studio and changed various aspects of the original idea while keeping the main premise of Captain N opposing Mother Brain as he interacted with a multitude of video game characters.
During the first episode the hero of the series, Kevin Keene, a teenager from Northridge, Los Angeles, California, and his dog Duke are taken to another universe known as Videoland when they are sucked into a vortex called the Ultimate Warp Zone that formed in his television.
In order to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Kevin is destined to become the hero “Captain N: The Game Master” and save Videoland from evil forces led by Mother Brain from the floating world/fortress called Metroid. By the time Kevin arrives on the scene, Mother Brain has almost succeeded in capturing the Palace of Power and conquering all Videoland. Kevin and Duke appear suddenly on the other side of the Ultimate Warp Zone before the N Team, consisting of Princess Lana of Videoland, Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus.
In most episodes, the N Team’s enemy is a group of video game villains, usually led by Mother Brain who is accompanied by her minions, the Eggplant Wizard, King Hippo, and Dr. Wily. A “villain of the week” is featured in some episodes when a particular video game becomes the setting of the episode. Several other characters make recurring appearances, including Donkey Kong, The Count from Castlevania and Dr. Wright from Mega Man. The cast of the Legend of Zelda cartoon reprise their respective roles for several guest appearances during the series. The focus of the show is mostly action-adventure sourced from the video games they feature, with comic relief in the form of the character’s interactions with one another and the environment and their quirks and catchphrases.
As a result of NBC’s reduced budget for they’re 1991 Saturday Morning lineup, season 3 ended up being the shortest season with only 7 new episodes. Among other cuts, episodes were scaled down to 11 minutes, as they shared a half-hour timeslot with the Super Mario World cartoons. Seven of the episodes were new, while six were reruns. In order to fill up the other 6 timeslots, episodes from the first two seasons were edited down to 11 minutes.

Category | Television -Game Show |
Network | NBC |
Production Company | DIC Animation City |
Years | 1989-1991 |
Seasons | 3 Seasons |
Episodes | 34 |
Producers | Andy Heyward (Executive Producer) Michael Maliani (Seasion 1 & 2) John Grusd (Season 3) Jamie Edlin (Live Action Sequences) |
Directors | Michael Maliani (Season 1) Chuck Patton (Season 2) John Grusd (Season 3) Kit Hudson (live Action Sequences) |
Composers | Haim Saban (Season 1) Shuki Levy (Season 1) Michael Tavera (Season 2 & 3) |
Captain N: The Game Master (Everything You Didn't Know)
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The Show's Intro and a Historical Look At Captain N
- Cast
- Episode List
- Artwork & Storyboards
Season | Air Date | Episode Name | Additional Details - |
---|---|---|---|
S01E01 | September 9, 1989 | Kevin in Videoland | Kevin Keene and his dog Duke have been transported to Video Land and asked to help defeat Mother Brain. After Princess Lana is kidnapped Kevin and his video game companions (Mega-Man, Kid Icarus, and Simon Belmont) have to work together to save her or else Mother Brain just might be able to take over Video Land and rule forever. |
S01E02 | September 16, 1989 | How's Bayou | Mother Brain makes a discovery that Kevin isn't very good at the Bayou Billy video game. So she sets a trap to lure him into Bayouland. |
S01E03 | September 23, 1989 | The Most Dangerous Game Master | Dr. Wily creates an android that is a replica of Kevin's worst enemy from high school. |
S01E04 | September 30, 1989 | Videolympics | Mother Brain challenges the N-Team to an athletic competition on Mount Icarus, thus distracting them from stopping her from finding the Three Sacred Treasures. |
S01E05 | October 7, 1989 | Mega Trouble For Megaland | The N Team struggle to find weapons with enough power to defeat the magic of the Sacred Treasures. |
S01E06 | October 14, 1989 | Wishful Thinking | Kid Icarus feels awful because his height is a problem. Duke discovers a magic lamp and the genie grants Kid Icarus's wish to become bigger. Kid Icarus turns into a giant and comes to realize that being bigger has a lot of disadvantages. |
S01E07 | October 21, 1989 | Three Men and a Dragon | Dragon Lord and Mother Brain try to turn every dragon evil. The N team rescues Puff, a white last good dragon baby. |
S01E08 | October 28, 1989 | Mr. and Mrs. Mother Brain | Simon gets shot by a "love-at-first-sight" arrow and falls in love with Mother Brain. |
S01E09 | November 4, 1989 | Nightmare On Mother Brain's Street | After the Computer Mind Mirror of Mother Brain says that Princess Lana is the most beautiful of them all, the Eggplant Wizard makes a poison apple that will make Princess Lana fall asleep. |
S01E10 | November 11, 1989 | Simon the Ape-Man | While the N team tries to get Simon's memory back, Mother Brain gets King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard to brainwash him into thinking he's an N-Team hunter. Later Simon believes he is Donkey Kong Jr. |
S01E11 | November 18, 1989 | In Search of the King | Kevin, Lana, Simon, and Duke go to the Mirror World to rescue the princess' father, King Charles. In the mean time their opposites are on a journey to their world. |
S01E12 | November 25, 1989 | Metroid Sweet Metroid | Mother Brain sets a trap by showing the N team she is defeated and also opens up a warp zone, with Kevin's neighborhood shown on the other side. Foolishly Kevin goes through and the members of his team, are captured and banished to the Black Hole Warp Zone. Kevin realizes he's actually on Metroid. Then he succeeds into getting back to the Palace and rescuing the N team. |
S01E13 | December 2, 1989 | Happy Birthday, Megaman | On his birthday Mega Man really wishes to become human. So he is ready to pass the Three Challenges to accomplish humanity. |
S02E01 | September 8, 1990 | Gameboy | A warp zone that only opens every 1000 video years is the gateway for King Charles who wants to go home. But his final decision is send Gameboy at his place. The supercomputer, Gameboy turns out to be a lot of trouble for the N team. But things get worse when Mother Brain gets Gameboy and and Dr. Wily turns him into Game Brain. |
S02E02 | September 22, 1990 | Queen of the Apes | Prince plenty invites the N team to Kongoland. Meanwhile Dr. Wily's latest invention is a brain swapper so Mother Brain can get a body. But when they arrive on Kongoland, Donkey Kong captures Mother Brain and Gameboy. The brain swapper is activated by accident and as a result Donkey Kong gets Game Boy's body, Game Boy gets Mother Brain's body, and Mother Brain get Donkey Kong's body. |
S02E03 | September 29, 1990 | Quest For the Potion of Power | Kevin and the N Team are off to Hyrule to meet Kevin's favorite game hero Link and Princess Zelda. Mother Brain gives the Potion of Power to Gannon that restores an evil wizard to his rightful form. |
S02E04 | October 13, 1990 | The Trouble With Tetris | Lana is happy to be reunited with her long-lost brother Lyle on the distant video world of Tetris. Kevin and Lyle join forces to stop Mother Brain from taking Tetris's power source, the Sacred Square. |
S02E05 | October 20, 1990 | The Big Game | A football game against Dr. Wily's robot masters, brings acquaintances of Kevin from high school to Videoland. The N team ought to play good and win because the prize is the throne of Videoland. |
S02E06 | November 10, 1990 | The Lost City of Kongoland | When the lost city of Kongoland arises after 1000 years, the N-Team goes to investigate. When they arrive, an ancient treasure possesses Princess Lana with the spirit of Konga, the leader of the Konkas. |
S02E07 | November 17, 1990 | Once Upon a Time Machine | Count Gruemon steals Kevin's Power Pad and Zapper in Hyrule. Kevin and Link head out to the world of Puss 'n Boots to retrieve the stolen items. |
S02E08 | November 24, 1990 | The Feud of Faxanadu | The N team gets warp into the world of Faxanadu after a power overload in the Palace of Power's football arena. There they get mixed in the conflict between elves and dwarves, and also an evil being bent on getting a powerful crystal that will let him conquer the video world. |
S02E09 | December 1, 1990 | Having a Ball | While Link and Zelda are at Lana's royal ball, the furious Mother Brain fires Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo for failing to capture the Triforce. So Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo steal the Triforce pieces for themselves. |
S02E10 | December 8, 1990 | The Trojan Dragon | Link and Zelda help the N team in building a mechanical dragon, the purpose of which is to help them sneak in Dragon's Den and put a stop to Dragonlord's evil plan of hatching a deadly golden dragon. |
S02E11 | December 15, 1990 | I Wish I Was a Wombatman | Pit is heading for disappointment from his TV hero after he decides to aid him versus Mother Brain. |
S02E12 | December 22, 1990 | The Invasion of the Paper Pedalers | Mother Brain is hypnotizing residents of an Earth-like world with a special kind of newspaper ink. The N team encounters a guy named Julio who tries to get to the bottom of this hypnotic business and is the only one who is not under the effect of the hypnosis. The N team discovers that Julio is actually illiterate. |
S02E13 | December 29, 1990 | Germ Wars | Kevin is feeling under the weather since he caught a video virus. His friends must help him, so they shrink themselves and go inside Kevin's body to fight the virus. |
S02E14 | January 5, 1991 | When Mother Brain Rules | A clip show of assorted moments from the first two seasons. |
S03E01 | September 14, 1991 | Misadventures in Robin Hood Woods | Kevin and Pit are on their way back from Dragon's Den when they get ambushed by the Sheriff of Nottingham's soldiers. Kevin and Pit join forces with Robin Hood to defeat the Sheriff. |
S03E02 | September 21, 1991 | Pursuit of the Magic Hoop | In Hoopland, an inventor is annoyed that he is small so he builds a robot and makes a wish, however when the wish goes wrong; Captain N, Princess Lana and Larry Bird help him by going into Hoop Mountain and face Clockman. |
S03E03 | September 28, 1991 | Return to Castlevania | During the Simon Belmont Awards, the Poltergeist King says that Trevor Belmont who is Simon Belmont's grandfather is a coward which makes Simon worried until him and Captain N get advice from a wizard. |
S03E04 | October 5, 1991 | Totally Tetrisized | After playing a riddle game, Captain N, Princess Lana and Simon get a call from Mayor Squaresly that Tetris is in trouble so they go and check it out while the Puzzle King plans to rule Tetris. |
S03E05 | October 12, 1991 | Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls | In Baseball World, Captain N is playing baseball with Bo Jackson until Mother Brain kidnaps Princess Lana and warps Captain N, Simon, Duke, Megaman, Kid Icarus and Bo into the cellars. How can they get out and save Lana? |
S03E06 | October 19, 1991 | A Tale of Two Dogs | Captain N and Megaman are in Megaland trying to defeat Topman but when it was defeated, Captain N and Megaman argue which dog was best (Duke or Rush) which gives Dr. Wily an idea to stop the heroes while working on a peace robot. |
S03E07 | October 26, 1991 | The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N | While in Final Fantasy, Captain N is jealous of the Prince who is a friend of Princess Lana until a mysterious "fairy godfather" put Kevin in a spell which Lana, Megaman and Kid Icarus must recover both the Prince and Captain N. |