Line #28 WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster


1	[[quoteright:337:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/captain_n_poster.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:337: From left to right: Duke the Dog, Kevin (a.k.a. Captain N), [[OriginalGeneration Princess Lana]], [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon Belmont]], and VideoGame/{{Mega Man\|Classic}}, with VideoGame/KidIcarus above. [[YouDontLookLikeYou Just so that you'd know.]]]]
3
4	->''When my father disappeared, and Mother Brain tried to take over Videoland, our only hope lay in an ancient prophecy that a great warrior from another world would come to our rescue. I admit, I was a bit skeptical when Kevin showed up, but now I don't know how we'd ever get along without him!''
5	-->-- '''Princess Lana in the season 2 opening'''
6
7	''Captain N: The Game Master'' is an 1989 action-comedy AnimatedSeries that aired on Creator/{{NBC}}. It was based on the popular Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem games that weren't ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''. It is about the story of Kevin Keene, a teenager who loves playing video games so much that one day he and his dog, Duke, are [[TrappedInTVLand sucked into the TV]] and they enter a strange dimension called Videoland.
8
9	Once there, Kevin learns that he is to fulfill a prophecy as "Captain N", a savior sent to save Videoland from the evil Forces of Chaos, led by the [[Film/LittleShopOfHorrors Audrey II]]-esque Mother Brain (the main villain from ''VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}'' voiced by Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs, [[ParodyAssistance who played Audrey II in the movie of]] ''[[ParodyAssistance Little Shop]]''). Joining him are Videoland's sovereign Princess Lana, VideoGame/{{Mega Man\|Classic}}, VideoGame/KidIcarus, Simon Belmont from ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', and later UsefulNotes/GameBoy. Kevin/Captain N and the gang would defend Videoland from Mother Brain and her mostly incompetent henchmen, specifically King Hippo from ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' and the Eggplant Wizard from ''Kid Icarus''. Other frequently recurring villains include Dr. Wiley of ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man\|Classic}}'', the Count from ''Castlevania'', and a Film/KingKong-like VideoGame/DonkeyKong.
10
11	The show is infamous for many of the characters looking [[YouDontLookLikeYou nothing like their original counterparts]]. It was also notable for adding Link and Zelda from the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 The Legend of Zelda]]'' cartoon series as recurring cast members in season 2 following the cancellation of the ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow''. Ironically enough, it was paired with the Super Show's successors, ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' and ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' for its second and third seasons respectively, the latter of which caused the show's episode length to be significantly shortened to fit both series into a half hour time slot. It was one of NBC's final SaturdayMorningCartoon series, lasting for three seasons and was ScrewedByTheNetwork due to NBC's admittedly premature departure from the genre, and its time slot was replaced by local news after the Saturday morning block was shut down.
12
13	''Captain N'' also received a ComicBookAdaptation through the ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem. Due to only featuring first-party Nintendo characters, Mega Man and Simon Belmont were dropped from the main cast and replaced with [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]], who is [[TruerToTheText much closer to her videogame counterpart]] than most of the characters in the TV series.
14
15	[[folder:Games featured in ''Captain N: The Game Master'']]
16	* ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfBayouBilly''
17	* ''Bo Jackson Baseball''
18	* ''VideoGame/BurgerTime''
19	* ''California Games''
20	* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''[[note]]Elements featured from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse''[[/note]]
21	* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''[[note]]Elements featured from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJunior''[[/note]]
22	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'' (as ''Dragon Warrior'')
23	* ''Videogame/{{Faxanadu}}''
24	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''
25	* ''Jordan vs. Bird: One on One''
26	* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus''
27	* ''VideoGame/MarbleMadness''
28	* ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man\|Classic}}''[[note]]Elements featured from ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'', ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'', and ''VideoGame/MegaMan3''[[/note]]
29	* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}''
30	* ''VideoGame/{{Paperboy}}''
31	* ''VideoGame/PunchOut''
32	* ''[[Anime/TheWonderfulWorldofPussNBoots Puss 'n Boots: Pero's Great Adventure]]''
33	* ''VideoGame/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''
34	* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''
35	* ''VideoGame/WizardsAndWarriors''
36	* ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''
37	[[/folder]]
38	----
39	!!This series features examples of:
40	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Simon Belmont gained a few of these for comedic effect. In the episode "I Wish I Was a Wombatman", a short, blonde haired and blue eyed octopus with an hourglass figure fell in love with him the moment he expressed an interest in acting. She gave him a hug, a wink and chased after him so she could kiss him. A heavy set female gorilla also fell for Simon and wanted to smooch in the episode "Queen of the Apes."
41	* AdaptationExpansion: The comics released by Creator/ValiantComics were altogether better written and spent quite some time exploring the relationships between the characters instead of the show's simplistic "game world of the week" plotlines. And they actually remembered that ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' has a heroine, and other characters besides Mother Brain.
42	* AdaptationNameChange:
43	** Pit becomes ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'', the game he originates from. Explainable since [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587380-kid-icarus/images/158833 the back of the NES box]] really '''did''' call him [[CharacterTitle Kid Icarus]], and the showrunners likely did not consult [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]].
44	** Princess Lana is based on the goddess Palutena from the same game, but her design is such a departure from Palutena's (even with the little official art that was available at the time), she might as well be a totally new character.
45	** While the villains are collectively referred to as the Forces of Chaos in the TV series, they are instead known as the League of Darkness in the comic books.
46	* AdaptationalVillainy:
47	** Alucard starts out on the heroes' side but ultimately proves to be a villain, which a complete reversal from his characterization in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse''.
48	** King Hippo appears as one of Mother Brain's henchmen; in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', he wasn't as mean as some of Little Mac's other opponents, even offering to take him out to lunch.
49	** In the comics, Glass Joe makes a cameo as one of the villainous {{mooks}} attacking Mount Olympus in "The Happy Zone". That's quite a step up from the wimpy boxer who never does anything particularly mean in ''Punch-Out!!''
50	* AdaptedOut: The comics couldn't use third-party characters likely due to legal issues, resulting in Mega Man and Simon Belmont being left out of the N-Team.
51	* AdventurerOutfit: Simon Belmont wore a pilot's outfit, with goggles and a backpack. Only problem is the Simon Belmont from the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise that this Simon is ''supposed'' to be based off is a VampireHunter and doesn't dress anything like this.
52	* AdvertisedExtra: [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] appears in the first comic "Welcome To Videoland", presented in a way that makes it seem like he'll be a major character along with Kid Icarus and Samus Aran. Unlike other comic-exclusive characters introduced in the same comic (such as Samus or Uranos), this remains his one and only appearance in the series.
53	* AgonyOfTheFeet: Simon rips off Donkey Kong's toenail in one episode.
54	* AllThereInTheScript: In the episode "Gameboy", Simon and Kevin are attacked by an orange bipedal rhinoceros (who also previously appeared in several season 1 episodes), an orange potbellied dragon with tiny purple wings, and a swarm of weird tentacled one-eyed monsters. None of them are identified by name in the TV show, and [[YouDontLookLikeYou you probably would not recognize them based on their appearance]]. According to concept artwork, these characters are [[VideoGame/Metroid1 Kraid, Ridley, and Metroids]], respectively. For more evidence, [[http://vovat.tumblr.com/post/140100099862/nteamhero-gamespite-nadiaoxford-vovat storyboards]] reveal that Ridley and the Metroids initially had designs that much more closely matched their original artwork.
55	* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The Italian version has a different [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSqh4Ym3Xuc opening theme song.]]
56	* AnimationBump: Unsurprisingly, the first episode is ''much'' better animated than the rest of the series. The only other episode with the same level of animation from that season is "Mega Trouble for Megaland". This can arguably be seen within a few of the episodes of Season 2, such as "Gameboy", "Quest for the Potion of Power", and "The Big Game".
57	* ArousedByTheirVoice: In the episode "Mega Trouble for Megaland", Medusa seduces Simon with her sexy voice alone to the point where he is ready to kiss her sight unseen. Once he does see how ugly she is, Simon turns to stone. Medusa effectively pulls off a subversion of Audio Erotica, a "Siren Switch."
58	* ArtEvolution: For the worse. The character designs became vastly simplified and the animation became poorer in season three. Compare: [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mother_brain_from_captain_n.jpg Season 1 & 2 Mother Brain]] to [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mother_brain_season_3.jpg Season 3 Mother Brain.]]
59	* BenevolentGenie: "Wishful Thinking" might be a critique of the then newly-developed game patch devices.[[note]]Specifically, Game Genie.[[/note]] The N Team comes across a lamp containing a calm albeit [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] genie and uses his magic to make wishes. Kevin wishes for enhanced skills, and quickly realizes VictoryIsBoring. Mega Man wishes for enhanced strength, and nearly ''knocks down the palace.'' Princess Lana immediately wishes that "no one had made any wishes", returning things to normal for the moment so they can get on with the plot.
60	* BizarroUniverse: "In Search of the King" had the heroes travel through a mirror to a place where all the heroes were villains. We never see the MirrorUniverse counterparts of the villains, though other things are backwards. For example: a woman doing laundry takes her clean clothes and throws them into a mud puddle to make them dirty.
61	* {{Brainwashed}}:
62	** Kevin in the very final episode. Also has elements of BrainwashedAndCrazy about it as although he never directly attacks the heroes, he very well could have at the end and he did act a bit violently when "training" some of the villain's warriors.
63	** Simon also has this happen to him twice, one time via Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo.
64	** Another episode revolved around a hypnotic ink Mother Brain devised, that did this to anyone who read the words printed with it.
65	* BodyHorror: In one episode Simon has a nightmare where his mighty muscular physique turns to flab, all his pearly white teeth fall out when he tries to smile and then to add insult to injury all his hair falls out, leaving him completely bald. He is quite terrified over this. In the same episode, Lana's great fear is that her beautiful face is replaced with Mother Brain's.
66	* BrokenPedestal: In one episode, Kid Icarus gets to meet Wombatman, the star of his favorite show. His disillusionment when he realizes Wombatman is just an actor is painful.
67	** RebuiltPedestal: Seeing how much Kid Icarus believed in him gets Wombatman to start act like a real hero, and they team up to save their friends. Kid Icarus can say he's the only person who went on a for-real adventure with Wombatman.
68	* BumblingHenchmenDuo: King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard do most of the legwork for Mother Brain's schemes. King Hippo is a boxer, so he acts as the muscle. Eggplant Wizard is a master of vegetable-based magic. And they constantly fail at everything.
69	* ButtMonkey:
70	** Simon is subject to numerous pratfalls and humiliation on a regular basis.
71	** Additionally, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard suffer indignity after indignity, thanks to their own ineptitude, and Mother Brain's treatment of them.
72	* CallingYourAttack: Whenever Captain N uses the pause button he'll almost always call out "Pause" or "I'll hit pause!" or some variation.
73	* TheCameo: Although [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] oddly never properly appears in the series, he makes a cameo on a poster in Kevin's room in the comic "Welcome to Videoland". In the same panel, Kevin is playing ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' on his NES, with Goomba sprites barely visible on the TV screen.
74	* CarpetRolledCorpse: King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard kidnap Princess Lana by rolling her into a rug.
75	* CelebrityParadox: The third and last season is ''filthy'' with this kind of thing, with the N Team meeting living facsimiles of Larry Bird, Bo Jackson (who was also featured in fellow [=DiC=] production, ''WesternAnimation/ProStars''), and Robin Hood (intended to be a facsimile to the one played by Creator/KevinCostner in Prince of Thieves) in the worlds of their respective games.
76	* ClipShow: "When Mother Brain Rules". A clip show in the purest sense of the term, this episode has no new footage whatsoever, and no framing story to justify the clips. Even stranger, all the voices were missing in the clips, so it was half an hour of voiceless recycled animation with background music (and very occasional out-of-nowhere narration from Simon). Needless to say, little kids watching it in 1991 were pretty damn confused, and it wasn't included at all when the show was released to DVD.
77	* ClockworksArea: Occurs partway through "Once Upon a Time Machine" when one of the time warp portals deposits Kevin, Link, and Pero inside Big Ben and they have to run through its mechanisms and jump through holes in the bigger gears to get out of the building.
78	* ComicBookAdaptation: By Creator/ValiantComics, as part of the ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem.
79	* ContinuityNod: In "Having a Ball", Bayou Billy and Loafer from "How's Bayou" make a short appearance arriving at the ball. In the same episode, Mega Man can be seen dancing with Mega Girl from "Happy Birthday, Megaman" in the background of one scene.
80	* ContinuitySnarl: It's never been outright confirmed or debunked if the versions of Link, Zelda, Ganon, the Moblins, and the Triforce pieces featured in this series are the same ones from the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 The Legend of Zelda]]'' series. There are noticeable differences as a result of this, such as the traditional castle now being a palace that looks almost similar to the Palace of Power. The king, as well as Spryte are nowhere to be seen in this series, and there are now three Triforce pieces, which includes the Triforce of Courage that was introduced in ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''. The Triforce of Wisdom now speaks through Zelda instead of on its own, and all three pieces in the wrong hands or even destroyed have enough power to kill her.
81	* ContrivedCoincidence: In "The Most Dangerous Game Master", Dr. Wiley's android looked identical to Mike Vincent from the neck down before they even knew about him.
82	* CostumeTestMontage: In the episode "The Trouble with Tetris," Lana's brother Lyle wants to prove he has what it takes to be a prince. This kicks off a TrainingMontage, part of which is dedicated to a costume test montage. An additional hurdle that is unique to this scenario, since they are on the world of Tetris, all the clothing is designed to fit people who are literally made of blocks. Kid Icarus is able to remedy this with [[TrickArrow an arrow with a sewing needle]] for the tip.
83	* {{Crossover}}: [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 Link and Zelda]] made four appearances in Season 2, bringing back their respective voice actors.
84	* DemotedToExtra:
85	** All the Robot Masters from ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' - Cut Man is the only one to have dialogue or extended screen time (for some reason). Ice Man is also mentioned briefly in "Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street."
86	** In the third and final season, everyone other than Kevin was used less often. In the case of Mother Brain, it had become too expensive to have Levi Stubbs continue regularly voicing her, and in the cases of Simon and Mega Man, it was due to Creator/{{Konami}} and Creator/{{Capcom}} owning the rights to those respective characters and being entitled to royalties should they appear on the show. It should be noted that Mother Brain, Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo only appeared ''once'' in Season 3, in "Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls".
87	** Game Boy's only Season 3 appearance is in "Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls". He doesn't even have any dialogue, possibly to get around having to pay Creator/FrankWelker to voice him.
88	* DependingOnTheArtist: In the TV show, ''VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' characters bear [[YouDontLookLikeYou only a superficial resemblance]] to their videogame counterparts. With the exception of Mother Brain and Eggplant Wizard (likely due to being the series's main antagonists and therefore major recognizable characters), any ''Metroid'' and ''Kid Icarus'' characters who appear in the comics are much more faithful to their original designs. For example, compare [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Captain_N_Kraid_5174.jpg Kraid,]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Captain_N_Ridley_8639.jpg Ridley,]] and [[https://rei.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/9180-1626387675.jpg Medusa]] in the TV show with [[http://cnn.captainn.net/scans/cn4-20.jpg Kraid,]] [[http://cnn.captainn.net/scans/cn4-15.jpg Ridley,]] and [[http://cnn.captainn.net/scans/cn5-16.jpg Medusa]] in the comics.
89	* TheDogBitesBack: King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard are prone to do this if Mother Brain slaps them around too much, by turning on her with whatever MacGuffin they were sent to retrieve. Of course, this never sticks, [[StatusQuoIsGod yet for some reason]], she continues to keep them around...
90	* TheDragAlong: ''Simon F'ing Belmont''. Quite a turnaround from the guy that risked his life against the legions of darkness by himself, eh?
91	* ElvesVersusDwarves: This is the plot of "The Feud Of Faxanadu". Both sides blame the other for the loss of a magical crystal. [[spoiler: A dwarf-elf hybrid, [[ADogNamedDog Dwelf]], stole it because he feared it would be used for evil.]]
92	* ElvishPresley: Melfis, the leader of the Elves in the videogame of ''VideoGame/{{Faxanadu}}'' appeared in two episodes. He shared some facial features (not to mention the wardrobe) of the singer, but with blue skin. Well, his face was blue. Everything from the neck down was white.
93	* EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop: Kevin and Lana dancing uses very simple repeated animation.
94	* ExcusePlot: Like most of the games of the era it was based on, the plot side of things is pretty flimsy. No explanation whatsoever is attempted for how there's a parallel universe inhabited by people and locations identical to the characters and settings of popular video games. Let alone in the last season, where two episodes have the N Team meeting versions of real world pro athletes.
95	* FakeCrossover: A few of the episodes were clearly intended to capitalize on the release of licensed NES games, but feature CaptainErsatz versions of the characters featured in those games in order to avoid paying any excessive licensing fees.
96	** Wombatman and his girlfriend Nikki first appeared in a throwaway gag in the Season 1 episode "The Most Dangerous Game Master" as obvious parodies of Batman and Vicki Vale, but when Sunsoft's tie-in ''Batman'' game based on the [[Film/Batman1989 Tim Burton movie]] came out when Season 2 was in production, they suddenly became the focus of a whole episode ("I Wish I Was A Wombatman") no doubt intended to capitalize on the release of the NES ''Batman'' game without having to pay the expensive licensing fee that would've required to feature the actual Dark Knight on the show.
97	** "Once Upon a Time Machine" is based on ''Puss 'n Boots'', but features a version of Pero who is legally distinct enough from the actual Creator/{{Toei\|Animation}} [[Anime/TheWonderfulWorldOfPussNBoots mascot]] featured in the NES game.
98	** "Misadventures in Robin Hood Woods" is clearly based on ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'', or rather its [[VideoGame/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves tie-in NES game]], but the characters in the episode are simply generic depictions of the public domain characters and not based on the actors appearing in the film.
99	* FantasticRacism: Elves vs. Dwarves in "The Feud of Faxanadu." The N Team even splits down the middle on who deserves their help more.
100	* FantasticVoyagePlot: "Germ Wars" features the N-Team shrinking down and going inside Kevin.
101	* FantasyHelmetEnforcement: An especially egregious example in "The Big Game": Mega Man wears a helmet when doing extreme sports like his teammates, even though he obviously has on a helmet that he never takes off.
102	* FingerFraming: When the N Team visits a studio world, a director, who happens to be an octopus creature, does this while watching the N Team and debating if they were camera-worthy, though as an octopus he uses tentacles instead of fingers.
103	* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Most of the characters from video games, regardless of what happened to their personalities, still had most of the abilities from their sources. Eggplant Wizard (whose reason for existing in ''Kid Icarus'' was to turn you into an eggplant) only ever turns someone into an eggplant ''once'', and he has to call on a ''genie'' to do it. (He uses magic based around all other forms of fruits and vegetables throughout the series, but for some reason, none of ''those'' are ever eggplants.)
104	* FurryConfusion: Seen in "Once Upon a Time Machine." Its guest cast is pretty much entirely anthropomorphic or sapient animals, but there are a few non-sapient ones too nobody bats an eye over. Also, Pero reveals part of the reason the guest villain (an anthropomorphic pig) hates his guts so much is Pero loves bacon burgers...
105	* GodlikeGamer: As the name suggests, this is about the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] gamer Kevin Keene, who's warped into a NES-fantasy world where he becomes TheChosenOne as told by prophecies. Knowing about these games, Kevin soon known as [[TitleDrop Captain N]], uses his knowledge and gaming skills to become TheAce and TheHero who'll free Videoland from [[VideoGame/Metroid1 Mother Brain]]. He's armed with a NES controller that can [[RewritingReality hack the world]] and a Zapper as his main weapon against pixel creatures.
106	* GunTwirling: Kevin likes to twirl his Zapper on his finger. Ironically, this cannot be done in real life due to the NES Zapper's lack of trigger guard[[note]]Justified, since Kevin's Zapper really can shoot, it makes sense that it does have a trigger guard[[/note]].
107	* HaveAGayOldTime:
108	** [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Ganon]]: "Ahhh, you brought your friends for my coming out party!"
109	** One Episode had King Hippo threatening to "toss" Eggplant Wizard's "salad".
110	* HijackedByGanon: In ''Quest for the Potion of Power'', Mother Brain resurrects the Trope Namer thinking she could control him. It doesn't take and he ends up being the main villain for the rest of the episode.
111	--> '''Mother Brain:''' You're supposed to work for me!\
112	'''Ganon:''' Ganon works for '''NO ONE!'''
113	* IdiotBall:
114	** "Wishful Thinking" has the N-Team coming across a magic lamp with a Genie that can grant any wish. While Lana briefly considers it, no one uses any wishes to defeat Mother Brain or wish for King Charles to return. In that same episode, Kevin wishes that he could be unbeatable with his gear, but after realizing that he'd have no competition, he immediately declares it [[VictoryIsBoring boring]] without the thought that he could use these newfound skills to take down Mother Brain.
115	** The N-Team are gone for 3 weeks during their quest to find the Warp of Life in "Happy Birthday Mega Man". Despite that absence, Mother Brain and her henchmen don't even attempt to conquer Videoland, nor does the N-Team acknowledge the possibility or even mention the villains at all.
116	* InNameOnly: Almost none of the characters bear any resemblance to their video game counterparts. There are also a lot of glaring inaccuracies about the games in question. Although to be fair, the people making this show were faced with challenges like coming up with a way to turn ''Tetris'' into a setting for the characters to interact with in any meaningful way.
117	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo suck at their jobs, constantly screwing up. At one point Mother Brain even fires them.
118	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
119	** In the comics Samus Aran ''almost'' goes ahead with some pretty questionable stuff to win Captain N's affections. In one issue where she and Princess Lana are in jail, she almost leaves Lana there when escaping. In another she ends up in the BadFuture and rejoices that Lana is gone and she can have Kevin all to herself, despite the fact that, you know, the bad guys have taken over every world except the garbage planet where Kevin now lives, and by not going back in time and [[PointOfDivergence changing one thing]] she's screwing over everyone in Videoland. She does go back in the end.
120	** Simon also has his moments where, despite a tendency to wish ''he'' had Captain N's spotlight, he clearly thinks of Kevin as a hero and a friend.
121	* KidAppealCharacter: For some reason, we get not one, but two in the form of Kid Icarus and Mega Man. While not weak, Kid Icarus is shown to be sensitive about his size, yet still a capable hero with a variety of arrows for any occasion. Mega Man on the other hand, serves as determined ankle biter while also doubling as the brains of the team. Despite being a tough PintsizedPowerhouse, he still gets tossed around by the villains on a few occasions.
122	* KissingTheGround: In "The Trojan Dragon", Simon has issues piloting the eponymous wooden dragon, and his claustrophobia didn't help either. After landing it in a deep river and getting it out, he runs outside of it and kisses the ground.
123	* LargeHam:
124	** Mother Brain, who was even given a face to facilitate this.
125	** Dracula from ''Castlevania''.
126	** Simon Belmont fulfills this for the heroes.
127	* LarynxDissonance: Mother Brain's voice actor is Levi Stubbs, a man.
128	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Lana explains at the end of "The Big Game" that when Kevin's friends were sent back to Earth they'd have no memory of Videoland, unfortunately the same applies to Kevin if he ever leaves Videoland.
129	* LoveTriangle: Kevin and Simon are both interested in Lana. In the comic both [[BettyAndVeronica Lana and Samus]] are after Kevin.
130	* MagicCountdown: Mega Man and Kid Icarus have 30 seconds to shoot Simon with the antidote to the love arrow; it takes them 77 seconds to do so.
131	* MagicMirror: Mother Brain has one that she sometimes asks for a lead on a new scheme, although it tends to disrespect her as much as anyone else.
132	* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: What other show exists where you can expect characters from ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', ''Franchise/MegaMan'', ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'', ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'', ''Franchise/DragonQuest'', ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfBayouBilly'', ''VideoGame/{{Faxanadu}}'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', and ''VideoGame/WizardsAndWarriors'' to show up at one point or another? It's just too bad most of them are InNameOnly.
133	* MediumAwareness: A rare, serious version of the trope which avoids crossing the fourth wall. In "Metroid Sweet Metroid", Kevin believes he's found a warp that will take him home. However, the show's opening depicts him in live-action before entering videoland to begin with. Kevin realizes he's been fooled because he's still an animated cartoon.
134	* MegaMicrobes: When Viroid threatens to kill Kevin from the inside, the N Team shrinks down to confront him.
135	* MerchandiseDriven:
136	** Somehow, Captain N and the N-Team always seemed to end up in the world of the hot new game that Nintendo or one of its licensees was trying to promote. Which is probably the only reason stuff like ''[[VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfBayouBilly Bayou Billy]]'' ever made it on the show.
137	** This was likely the main reason, if not the only reason, for Game Boy being shoehorned into the team.
138	* MoneySpider: Enemies sometimes turn into money, treasure and other power-ups when they die, which is as expected with this being the world of video games.
139	* TheMultiverse: Videoland is essentially this. Each game represented is its own self-contained world that can be readily accessed through interdimensional portals.
140	* MythologyGag:
141	** This isn't [[WesternAnimation/PolePosition the first DIC series]] to feature a 60s soul singer in its cast.[[note]]Even if both were part of larger groups.[[/note]]
142	** Which game is featured in the final episode? Why, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', of course.
143	* NintendoHard: Referenced on the show, as even though Kevin is the ultimate gamer and he knows every secret and strategy to nearly every NES game ever made, even he can't get very far in ''The Adventures of Bayou Billy'' (which really lived up to the "hard" part of the trope).
144	** Similarly with VideoGame/MegaMan1, where Kevin mentions it took him 50 tries to get through Cutman's level. This was actually par for the course.
145	* NonHumanSidekick: Duke the dog and later Game Boy the RobotBuddy act as sidekicks for the N-Team.
146	* OriginalGeneration:
147	** Lana isn't from any game, although she is loosely based on Palutena from ''Kid Icarus''.
148	** Mega Man was given a female counterpart -- not Roll as you might expect, but the pink-sporting Mega Girl. [[note]] To be fair to the writer, Roll isn't mentioned at all in [[AllThereInTheManual the manual for the original American release]] of ''Mega Man'', and only shows up for a few seconds at the end where there's nothing indicating she's another robot instead of a human girl. [[/note]]
149	* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Averted. In "The Feud Of Faxanadu", the dwarves are teal-skinned humanoids with huge noses. While most of them are short, one of them is rather tall and lanky.
150	* OurElvesAreDifferent: In "The Feud Of Faxanadu", there are several varieties of elves. The first we see are blue-skinned with whiskers and elf ears. The second is their king, who an [[ElvishPresley Elvis impersonator]] who only his face is blue while the rest of his body has normal skin tones. The third variety looks like an emaciated human.
151	* PragmaticAdaptation: On the rare occasions when other boxers from ''Punch-Out'' are seen, they're almost always monsters or aliens. While inaccurate, this was probably done to avoid backlash for the shallow NationalStereotypes the actual characters are like.
152	* PrincessesPreferPink: Princess Lana's outfit prominently features pink.
153	* PrincessesRule: Princess Lana is the only ruler in Videoland. Her father is still alive; he's just trapped in another dimension.
154	** And of course, Zelda serves as the Princess of Hyrule.
155	* ProductPlacement: The entire show is this, featuring examples such as the Power Glove, the Game Boy, the NES itself, and any of the games.
156	* ReadingIsCoolAesop: In the episode based on ''VideoGame/{{Paperboy}}''.
157	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Considering the spotty research the show's known for it might just be a coincidence, but one episode reveals that the one game even Captain N couldn't beat was ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfBayouBilly'', which as any NES fan will tell you is one of the hardest and cheapest games on a system [[NintendoHard notorious for such difficulty]].
158	* RecycledSoundtrack: A good majority of season one's background music is reused from ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' Even the copyrighted musical numbers.
159	* RememberTheNewGuy: Despite never making any prior appearances, Rush shows up in the penultimate episode "A Tale of Two Dogs" without any introduction. Somewhat justified in that Rush didn't debut until ''VideoGame/MegaMan3" in 1990, and the writers likely wouldn't have known about him prior to that game's release.
160	* RhymingWizardry: The villainous but inept Eggplant Wizard always makes a rhyme when casting a magical spell.
161	* TheRival:
162	** Link, as he was perhaps the only video game character who could be considered an equal to Kevin, although he and Kevin always worked together towards a common goal.
163	** Mike Vincent is this to Kevin in the real world, though Mother Brain mistakes him for an enemy when she makes an android based on Kevin's memories of him. Kevin eventually convinces the Mike-bot that they're really just rivals, and used to even be friends, which leads to the Mike-bot making a HeelFaceTurn.
164	** Simon of course considers himself this for Kevin, although his actual ability to measure up to the Game Master is minimal.
165	* RPGEpisode:
166	** One of the last episodes involves the team visiting the world of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', where they fight Astos.
167	** In an earlier episode, they travel to the world of ''[[Franchise/DragonQuest Dragon Warrior]]''.
168	* RuleOfFunny: The reasoning behind making bad-ass vampire killer Simon Belmont into a cowardly ego-maniacal doofus, among other changes.
169	* SamusIsAGirl: When the N Team first meets Samus in the comic, they're surprised when she takes off her helmet immediately after Princess Lana describes Samus as the greatest space hunter.
170	* SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: Sometimes the hero of a game that gets visited never gets mentioned because the N Team are stepping in to save the day, such as Kuros from ''VideoGame/WizardsAndWarriors'' never gets brought up when the episode's about visiting his game, or the hero of ''Dragon Warrior''. Sometimes the hero of a game being visited will properly guest star, though, like Bayou Billy, or the titular Paperboy, or of course when Captain N meets Link and Zelda.
171	* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: Captain N finishes the intro sequence by shooting his Zapper into the camera for no real reason, and a few episodes end with him doing the same thing.
172	* SeriesContinuityError: The series is never consistent on whether the ArtShift between 2D and 3D is visible to the characters. In "The Most Dangerous Game Master" a flashback to the real world is 2D, yet in "Metroid Sweet Metroid" Kevin realizes he's not in the real world ''because'' it's 2D.[[note]]The exact line is "Something weird is going on here! We didn't even change back to normal!"[[/note]]
173	* ShortScreentimeForReality: All we see of the real world is Kevin's bedroom before he gets sucked into his TV and ends up in Video Land in the first episode. The rest of the series takes place entirely within Video Land, with the real world barely being mentioned.
174	* ShoutOut:
175	** The show is basically a goofy remake of ''Film/{{Tron}}'' with Nintendo characters. Mother Brain is essentially a comically goofy version of the Master Control Program, which is what you would expect from a villain that's a giant face inside of a computer world.
176	** Among others in the series, there's a subtle one to ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' in "Quest for the Potion of Power" during the "Can You Feel the Heat?" montage. The heroes face a Goriya who twirls his boomerang in his hands, and Kevin shoots both it and him with his Zapper.
177	** The ending of "Wishful Thinking" gives Mother Brain, Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo the hair styles of Film/TheThreeStooges, with Eggplant Wizard doing Curley's signature "Woob-woob-woob" while he and King Hippo are being chased by Mother Brain.
178	* ShowWithinAShow: ''Wombatman'', a send-up of the ''Series/Batman1966'' TV Show. As we find out in a later episode, Wombatman is played by [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed a furry version of Adam West]].
179	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Dr. Light and Dr. Wily]] are named Dr. Wright and Dr. Wiley in this series, [[AllThereInTheScript as confirmed by concept artwork]]. In Dr. Wright's case, it's an example of EarlyAdaptationWeirdness since that is how his name was spelled in the ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' manual.
180	* StoryBreakerPower: Kevin can stop time and gains super speed with his Power Pad. Of course he tends to [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forget about his powers]] most of the time.
181	** HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Although how much power he has varies on the episode, Kevin is quick to point out that his Pause button drains his power rapidly, so even a few seconds of pause, runs him pretty dry.
182	* SubvertedSuspicionAesop: A very abrupt one (due to the short run time) in "Return to Castlevania." Alucard is the Count's son, wait he's saving Kevin and Simon from the Count, oh wait never mind he's not. Keep in mind this happens over the span of ''two scenes.''
183	* SummonEverymanHero: In the first episode the Ultimate Warp Zone summons perfectly average Kevin Keene to save Videoland using his skill at video games.
184	* SurroundedByIdiots: Mother Brain often mentions her minions' stupidity. Usually her ire is aimed at bungling morons Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo. Dr.Wily usually escapes the worst of her verbal abuse, as he displays his competency often enough to be genuinely useful.
185	* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Mother Brain's "Metroid Mirror," which is a computer monitor, can be used to show anything going on in Videoland. In the second episode, Mother Brain uses it to show her footage of Kevin playing a video game in his bedroom, from before he came to Videoland.
186	* TheTelevisionTalksBack: In "The Big Game," a robotic TV host, built by Dr. Wily, announces a contest over the TV where by anyone who answers her question will win a prize. She asks for the name of "California's most [[TotallyRadical gnarly]] valley," to which Kevin answers the San Fernando Valley. The host immediately says that he's right, and then gives him and his friends tickets for a day in California Games world, by printing them out on a printer that is apparently connected to the TV.
187	* TerribleTrio: The main villain Mother Brain and her two prominent henchmen King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard.
188	* TitleDrop:
189	** Oddly enough, the episode title in question, "Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street", is used in a line spoken by Kevin in an ''earlier'' episode.
190	** "Happy Birthday, Megaman" has this spoken by the N-Team at the beginning of the episode, and ends with the [[spoiler:Warp of Life]] saying it as well.
191	* TrappedInTVLand: Well, Videoland. Actually, Kevin is free to go home any time he wants, except he'd lose all his memories of Videoland in the process. As [[NarniaTime no time will have passed in the real world]] once he returns, [[IChooseToStay he chooses to stay]] until the BigBad is defeated. [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]] for gamers!
192	* TrainingMontage:
193	** In (where else?) "Videolympics", where the N Team prepares for the titular Videolympics. Even ends with them running up a big staircase.
194	** Later, in "The Trouble with Tetris," Lyle undergoes one of these as part of training to learn everything he needs to be a proper prince.
195	* TrickArrow: Kid Icarus had an arrow for ''everything''.
196	** "That's my cow arrow."
197	** "Darn-icus, I've been trying to invent a pepperoni pizza arrow all day!"...
198	** Though he didn't have an antidote to the love arrows right away (which you think he would have had).
199	* ValleyGirl: Kevin's old crush Stacey and Wiley's beach android, both from the Season 2 episode "The Big Game" are, like, totally, this trope.
200	* VerbalTic: Mega Man and Kid Icarus. Mega adds mega- to the beginning of a lot of words, while Kid Icarus adds -icus, imas, and ious to the ends of words.
201	* WeUsedToBeFriends: In "The Most Dangerous Game Master," Mother Brain creates an android based on Kevin's bully, Mike Vincent. Kevin befriends the android by reminding him that he and Mike used to be friends.
202	* WholePlotReference: Naturally, this being the kind of show that it is, some episodes will reference the plot of a single game wholesale; for example "Mega Trouble in Mega-Land" largely references the plot of ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'', "Quest For The Potion of Power" references ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', etc. Other episodes, while taking place in the world of a particular game, don't necessarily have much to do with the plot of the game in question. Like "Invasion of the Paper Pedalers," which is based on VideoGame/{{Paperboy}} but is about Mother Brain hypnotizing the neighborhood with magic ink in their newspapers.
203	* YouDontLookLikeYou:
204	** [[http://themechanicalmaniacs.com/articles/CaptainN.php This article]] discusses the changes in-depth (mostly for the featured VideoGame/MegaMan characters) and suggests that the creators had poor reference material.
205	** A frequent complaint for Mega Man, Kid Icarus and especially Simon (who currently takes up the page image). One-shot characters (like Pero from "Once Upon a Time Machine") can also fall into this.
206	** King Hippo having [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation blue skin]] would have been forgivable if they didn't show Kevin fighting him in ''VideoGame/{{Punchout}}'' during the intro.
207	** Speaking of Mega Man, the Robot Masters get hit with this ''hard'' when they appear, especially Cut Man and the Robot Masters from ''Mega Man 2''.
208	** One of the most drastic examples is the series' version of [[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} Kraid]] who looks like [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Captain_N_Kraid_5174.jpg this.]] He hardly bears any resemblance to his original NES appearance. Note that [[DependingOnTheArtist this only applies to his appearance in the TV show]]; in the comics, he looks just like his original manual artwork.
209	** The entire Myth/RobinHood episode in the last season. It was seemingly inspired by the game based on ''[[Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves Prince Of Thieves]]'' that came out around the time, but they clearly couldn't license that game and instead the episode is a mix of general legends about the character [[note]] Prince John is the villain of the episode but was not featured in the movie or game, for instance.[[/note]] and a generic idea of what a Robin Hood game ''might'' be like.
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Context WesternAnimation / CaptainNTheGameMaster