Captain N: The Game Master / Characters

Characters from Captain N: The Game Master.

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The N-Team

Kevin

Kevin Keene

Voiced by: Matt Hill
Live-Action Portrayal by: Dorian Barag
"When I got picked to be Game Master, I couldn't believe I was really in Videoland! But, ever since I got here, it's been one exciting adventure after another! Maybe I'll never go home! What can I say? I'm hooked!"

The main hero of the show, Kevin is a Californian teenager from our world who got zapped into Videoland one day. As the daring Captain N, Kevin works to help save Videoland with the help of his Power Pad and NES Zapper.

Academic Athlete: Even though his favorite hobby is playing video games, he's quite skilled at a variety of sports. Among these sports are skateboarding, surfing, football, baseball, and basketball. "The Big Game" reveals that he was also a member of Northridge High School's junior varsity swim team before warping into Videoland, as well as being the one person other students went to for help with school assignments like algebra.
Alliterative Name: Kevin Keene.
Bash Brothers: With Link in "Once Upon a Time Machine".
Brainwashed and Crazy: In "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N" after being fooled by Astos into thinking that he could have any wish he wanted granted.
Calling Your Attack: Whenever Captain N uses the pause button he'll almost always call out "Pause" or "I'll hit pause!" or some variation.
Captain Superhero: As the Game Master, Kevin's title is "Captain N".
Catchphrase: "What a concept!", used mainly in the earlier part of season one when pointing out an idea or gimmick that hasn't been done in his world.
Context-Sensitive Button: The pause button on Kevin's Power Pad would freeze different people and things depending on the needs of the moment. Similarly, the arrow keys could move just him, move everybody around him, or turn him into a morph ball with no discerning changes to his command.
Dork Knight: Kevin is a very skilled and occasionally cocky ace who enjoys competition, but is also a clumsy and slightly nerdy hero who's often shown to be supportive and much more polite compared to most of the other heroes. He can also be very goofy at times such as mimicking a drill sergeant when coaching an amnesiac Simon.
Disintegrator Ray: Kevin's Zapper, in the comics. In the cartoon, anything from a tactical nuke to a mosquito bite.
Genre Savvy: One of Kevin's greatest advantages was that he had played almost all of these games and knew all of the shortcuts, enemy weaknesses and strategies. Even if it's something he couldn't possibly know from playing the games themselves, like where warp zones between disparate games are. Kevin even seems to know everything about games released after he entered Video Land.
Godlike Gamer: He's a very experienced NES gamer who's been warped into a NES-fantasy world where he becomes The Chosen One as told by prophecies. Knowing about these games, Kevin is soon given the title of Captain N: "The Game Master" and uses his knowledge and gaming skills to become The Ace and The Hero who'll free Videoland from Mother Brain. He's armed with a NES controller that can hack the world and a Zapper as his main weapon against pixel creatures. Subverted in "How's Bayou", where it's revealed that The Adventures of Bayou Billy was the one game Kevin could never beat before (not without reason).
I Choose to Stay: In the first episode, Kevin is allowed to return home, but stays after realizing he would go back to a boring life with a nagging mother. He even implies in the third season's opening that he may never go back.
I Know Mortal Kombat: Kevin says things to this effect a lot. With varying degrees of accuracy.
Jerkass Ball: In "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N", Kevin shows a great amount of hostility towards the Prince of Final Fantasy, who he believes is boring and dull and gets jealous of learning about his accomplishments. Even after Lana outright says he is only a good friend of hers, Kevin would still rather go out and travel rather than meet and have lunch with the prince.
Kid Hero: He's presumably a high school sophomore who's shown to be around 15 or 16 years old. He doesn't have his driver's license, and almost never keeps his room clean.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: 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, which becomes another reason why he's hesitant to leave.
Love Triangle: Kevin and Simon are both interested in Lana, even though it becomes apparent that Lana favors Kevin. In the comic both Lana and Samus are after Kevin.
Medium Awareness: 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 and Duke home. However, the show's opening depicts them in live-action before entering Videoland to begin with. Kevin realizes he's been fooled because he and Duke haven't changed back to normal.
More than Mind Control: Astos, the antagonist of "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N", was clearly not only using mind control to take control of Kevin, but also his envy of the Prince of Final Fantasy's achievements and overall luxurious lifestyle. While Kevin says "I learned my lesson" once he and the prince return to normal, It became apparent when he jokingly asks to just leave the prince asleep for a while in the previous scene.
No Waterproofing in the Future: Captain N's main weakness was that his gadgets shorted out if they got wet, requiring him to find a less direct solution. His other main weakness was...
Plot-Driven Breakdown: At pretty much any point Kevin could shoot and kill Mother Brain and thus end her reign of terror, expect his blaster or his controller to run out of power and render him helpless. It didn't happen that often, but the plot reasons are transparent, especially since how much he used it before it "ran out" varied from episode to episode.
Raw Eggs Make You Stronger: "Videolympics" has a scene during a Training Montage where Kevin drinks a glass of several raw eggs, much to the disgust of his teammates.
Refusal of the Call: Kevin is initially confused and turns down his role as Captain N. Once he's finally given the option to go home, he cuts that call off pretty fast, especially when returning home means doing his homework, keeping his room clean, and taking out the garbage, horror of horrors!
Story-Breaker Power: Kevin can stop time and gains super speed with his Power Pad. Of course he tends to forget about his powers most of the time.
Totally Radical: Considering this first aired in 1989 going into the early 90's, Kevin's dialogue is embarrassingly littered with words like this. Also, Kevin and Lana trying to dance in '80s dance moves is particularly bad since they just look like they're having muscle spasms. In spades and parodied (to an extent) in a later episode.
Game Boy: "Mondonose does not compute, please re-enter data."
Mega Man: "You'll have to get Kevin to teach you Californish, Game Boy."
Trash of the Titans: Shown a bit in the most obvious place (the live-action intro), with a few episodes mentioning Kevin having more than a small problem keeping his room clean.

Lana

Princess Lana

Voiced by: Venus Terzo

"My father trained me to fight for freedom, Captain N. I can take care of myself."

The acting sovereign of Videoland, Princess Lana isn't from any particular video game. She wants to help rescue her missing father, King Charles, from the dimension he is imprisoned in.

Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: She's a princess and The Heart of Team N, who wears a pink two-piece outfit that shows off her navel.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets jealous nearly every time Kevin interacts with a female near their age. She becomes noticeably frustrated with Kevin's interactions with his old crush, Stacy in "The Big Game". Downplayed in "Quest For the Potion of Power", where despite not thinking too much about it, she can't help but feel slightly annoyed when Kevin bows for her friend, Zelda.
Kevin: (bows for Zelda) I live to help beautiful princesses!
Lana: You never bow like that for me.
Kevin: (proudly proceeds to bow for Lana) By your leave, your highness!
Damsel out of Distress: Lana gets an episode here and there that shows she can be brave and clever, which is nice for a show that represents an era and medium that was so totally foul with Save the Princess plots.
Dances and Balls: Lana's desire to have one is the background of the episode fittingly titled "Having a Ball." Which ends up being kind of weird since that only ends up giving King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard the chance to sneak in and steal the Triforce while nobody's around, and the bulk of the episode is actually about her, Kevin and Link protecting a dying Zelda and getting it back from them.
Expy: Several elements of her design were lifted from early art of Palutena. It's been all but confirmed; while he can't remember for sure, lead character designer Marcello Vignali agreed that the similarity of their designs is too close to be a coincidence.
Marcello Vignali: When we were working on Captain N, the Nintendo corporation gave us a bunch of 8-bit images of their characters. But, in some other cases they sent us some drawings or packaging art. I can't remember for sure if that was the case with Palutena, but from the look of her design that certainly was where her design came from. The similarity is too close to be a coincidence. Kudos to you!
Faux Action Girl: After getting offended when Kevin recommended her to stay out of the way, she mentions that she was trained by her father to be a skilled fighter and shows that she's capable of using the Zapper. Though she wasn't enough to save Videoland from Mother Brain, and even when she does take part in the action, it usually doesn't last too long.
Love Triangle: Kevin and Simon are both interested in Lana, even though it's made pretty clear that she has strong feelings for Kevin. In the comic both Lana and Samus are after Kevin.
Ms. Fanservice: Her default outfit is a crop top with a matching skirt, and showing off her figure when first meeting Kevin instantly makes him attracted to her. There's also her much shorter gym attire in "Videolympics", as well as her swimsuits in the same episode and "The Big Game".
Original Generation: Lana isn't from any existing video game in this crossover cartoon, although her design is loosely based upon Palutena.
Princesses Prefer Pink: Lana's outfit is mostly pink, with white trim.
Princesses Rule: Princess Lana is the only ruler in Videoland. Her father is still alive, he's just trapped in another dimension and her older brother couldn't handle the responiblity of such work.

Mega Man

Voiced by: Doug Parker
"How do we keep getting into these mega-messes?"

The hero of the Mega Man (Classic) series, Mega Man is a short robot built by Dr. Right to protect Megaland.

Become a Real Boy: Mega Man in the episode "Happy Birthday, Megaman", since his third birthday (or "turned-on" day) reminds him that he's different from humans. By the end of the episode, he actually becomes alive, and it's revealed that Mega Girl also passed the test to access the Warp of Life. This is never mentioned again.
The Big Guy: The most physically powerful member of the team.
Birthday Hater: In the episode "Happy Birthday, Megaman", Mega Man hates his "birthday" (the anniversary of when he was first turned on) since it reminds him that he's different from his friends.
Demoted to Extra: He was used less often in the third season, due in part to Capcom owning the rights to his character and being entitled to royalties should he appear.
Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: One of the weirdest examples ever 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
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite his small size, he's very strong by default in this series.
Verbal Tic: Mega Man adds "mega-" to the beginning of a lot of words.
Vocal Dissonance: Mega Man has a very raspy voice that sounds more like it belongs to a lifetime chain smoker rather than a child. It's probably meant to be reminiscent of early speech synthesizers, but it's really not.
You Don't Look Like You: In Mega Man, Mega Man is blue. In Captain N, he is green instead, and his helmet is also given a visor.

Kid Icarus

Voiced by: Alessandro Juliani

The hero from Kid Icarus (although his name is actually Pit in that game). Kid Icarus acts as the team's long-range attacker and archer hailing from Mount Icarus.

Adaptation Dye-Job: Here, he has red hair, meanwhile in his original game (as well as every subsequent appearance), he has brunet hair.
Adaptation Name Change: Pit from Kid Icarus becomes Kid Icarusinvoked.
Adaptational Wimp: While Pit in his own game was no powerhouse (the games that had him take a level in badass wouldn't be a thing for several more years), he was still an expert marksman and could fire deadly arrows. The only thing that Kid Icarus can do better than Pit is fly without any help.
Blush Sticker: Likely to make him seem more... uh, cute, to the audience.
Verbal Tic: He adds "-icus" to the ends of words.
Vocal Evolution: The first episode has him fluctuate between a strong New York accent and a very youthful form of Elmuh Fudd Syndwome. These are both gone by the next episode, though one later episode has a case of the New York accent slipping.
You Don't Look Like You: Downplayed compared to his teammates Mega Man and Simon Belmont, since Kid Icarus at least resembles Pit's original design from Kid Icarus as a young angel wearing a toga and sandals. The differences are fairly minor, such as his brown hair turning red and swapping out his arm bracers for White Gloves.

Simon

Simon Belmont

Voiced by: Andrew Kavadas

The hero of the first two Castlevania games, Simon Belmont is an expert vampire hunter, though in the show he's more the bumbling comic relief. He's also the great-grandson of Trevor Belmont.

Abhorrent Admirer: Simon 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."
Adaptational Wimp: In the games, Simon single-handedly traverses a demonic hell castle, kills Dracula, and brings him back to life so he can kill him again. In the show, Simon is more of a cowardly blowhard and a buffoon with occasional moments of competency, whose magic whip is more competent than he is.
Adventurer Outfit: Simon wears a pilot's outfit, with goggles and a backpack.
Aroused by Their Voice: 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.
Butt-Monkey: Simon is subject to numerous pratfalls and humiliation on a regular basis.
Camp Straight: He's very flamboyant, but openly has an interest in Princess Lana.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's definitely the comic relief, but Simon still gets the occasional moment of cleverness or badassitude.
The Drag-Along: Quite a turnaround from the guy that risked his life against the legions of darkness by himself, eh?
Demoted to Extra: He was used less often in the third season, due in part to Konami owning the rights to his character and being entitled to royalties should he appear.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: Certainly has a large one, although probably a parody of the trope, considering his character.
Love Triangle: Kevin and Simon are both interested in Lana.
Narcissist: An fighter and quite the egotistical one around.
The Rival: Simon of course considers himself this for Kevin, and while they may compete with each other on occasions, his actual ability to measure up to the Game Master is minimal.
Rule of Funny: The reasoning behind making bad-ass vampire killer Simon Belmont into a cowardly ego-maniacal doofus, among other changes.
Took a Level in Badass: The times where he ends up temporarily becoming a villain, like in "Mr. and Mrs. Mother Brain" and "Simon the Ape Man", he becomes almost scarily competent.
You Don't Look Like You: Probably the most extreme example in the N-Team. In Castlevania, Simon Belmont dresses as a Barbarian Hero, complete with Barbarian Longhair. In Captain N, he wears an Adventurer Outfit and has short hair. This isn't a simple color change like Mega Man; just about the only thing the two versions of Simon have in common is the whip.

Duke

Voiced by: Tomm Wright
Live-Action Portrayal by: Louie from Critters of the Cinema

Kevin's pet dog, Duke was pulled into Videoland with him and becomes part of the N-Team.

Canine Companion: Has been this to Kevin ever since he was a puppy.
Filching Food for Fun: Steals Kevin's specially-crafted pizza in Nightmare On Mother Brain's Street and daringly eats it after being confronted by Kevin for it.
Non-Human Sidekick
Silent Snarker: As shown by his reaction to Kevin's own reaction towards meeting Lana.
Team Pet

Game Boy

Voiced by: Frank Welker
"I am Game Boy! I am programmed to play games!"

A Sixth Ranger added to the team later on, Game Boy is destined to be the most powerful hero in Videoland. He doesn't do much to back up this description.

Informed Ability: The King sends GameBoy to join the team because he believes he will one day be Videoland's greatest hero, but GameBoy never does anything to make you think the King could be right.
Non-Human Sidekick: Game Boy is a handheld game console acting as a sidekick.
Robot Buddy: One who's even more mechanical than Mega Man.
TV Head Robot: The Game Boy screen is his face.

Forces of Chaos

Mother Brain

Voiced by: Levi Stubbs
"The sacrifices a beautiful brain has to make in the name of evil..."

The main villain of the Metroid series, Mother Brain rules the asteroid Metroid in the show and is constantly thinking up ways to take over the Palace of Power.

Bad Boss: She regularly abuses her henchmen due to their incompetence.
Berserk Button: Pointing out how ugly she is will set her off. As she thinks she's actually very beautiful.
Big Bad: She's the main villain of the series.
Casting Gag: Levi Stubbs plays Mother Brain, who sounds and acts exactly like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.
Crossover Villain-in-Chief: This is mostly Played for Laughs, as calling her most prominent henchmen — King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard — incompetent would be a gross understatement. It's saying something that the character who's little more than a brain in a jar is a bigger threat than either of her able-bodied underlings.
Demoted to Extra: She was used less often in the third season, likely because it had become too expensive to have Levi Stubbs regularly voicing her.
Expy: Her characterization is pretty much Audrey II, but as a brain.
Genre Savvy: One of Mother Brain's early plans was to research the real world Kevin and find a game he wasn't good at, thus removing Captain N's Genre Savvy. She finds that Kevin can't beat The Adventures of Bayou Billy, and sends him to its Videoland counterpart, Bayou Land. It almost worked, until Bayou Billy showed up.
Gonk: Even though she thinks she's everything but.
Large Ham: And she was even given a face to facilitate this.
Larynx Dissonance: Mother Brain's voice actor is Levi Stubbs, a man. It's averted in the Latin American Spanish dub, when she is voiced by a woman.
Narcissist: Though nowhere near the level of Simon, she's often touting about how she's the smartest and most beautiful being in all of Videoland despite being unbelievably ugly.
Running Gag: Mother Brain's reflection blowing her a raspberry. In later episodes, it doubles as a subtle Continuity Nod.
Sassy Black Woman: Levi Stubbs voices Mother Brain in a manner that evokes this trope.
Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Mother Brain's "Metroid Mirror" apparently allows her to see anything the writers needed her to.
Terrible Trio: King Hippo and the Eggplant Wizard, with Mother Brain as the "boss" figure.
Tragic Villain: One issue of the comic had the heroes enter her mind, which turns out to be a nightmarish mess of fear and hate, where twisted caricatures of her servants and enemies are eternally trying to hunt down one last remaining shred of decency.
Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Mother Brain may not be as dangerous as her Metroid counterpart, but she is treated as a genuine threat by the characters. Her minions, Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo however, are total failures whose antics provide most of the show's slapstick humour. Mother Brain both verbally and physically abuses the pair constantly.
You Don't Look Like You: In the original Metroid, Mother Brain has narrow white eyes embedded into her brain, along with small spikes and a pair of elephant-like tusks. In Captain N, her brain looks like a normal human brain without any spikes or tusks, while she now sports a distorted human face (with eyes, lips, and teeth) stretched out and suspended in front of her brain.

King Hippo

Voiced by: Garry Chalk

An enemy boxer from the Punch-Out!! series, he's Mother Brain's main muscle. King Hippo isn't too bright.

Adaptational Villainy: In the show, King Hippo appears as one of Mother Brain's henchmen. In Punch-Out!!, he's simply a competitor in a boxing tournament and not even as mean as Little Mac's other opponents, even offering him out to lunch.
Adaptational Wimp: In Punch-Out!!, King Hippo was a behemoth to fight against, but in Captain N, he received this treatment due to policies about throwing punches in a kids cartoon.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Despite appearing human, he has blue skin.
Angry, Angry Hippos: He certainly looks like a hippo, and he's one of the villains. Not a very competent one, though.
Bumbling Henchmen Duo: Shares this role with Eggplant Wizard.
Butt-Monkey: King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard suffer indignity after indignity, thanks to their own ineptitude, and Mother Brain's treatment of them.
Dumb Muscle: Is the strongest of Mother Brain's minions and a complete moron.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo suck at their jobs, constantly screwing up. At one point Mother Brain even fires them.
Terrible Trio: King Hippo and the Eggplant Wizard, with Mother Brain as the "boss" figure.
You Don't Look Like You: King Hippo almost matches his in-game counterpart from Punch-Out!!, but has blue skin for some reason. It would have been forgivable if they didn't show Kevin fighting him in Punch-Out!! during the intro.

Eggplant Wizard

Voiced by: Michael Donovan

An annoying enemy from the Kid Icarus series, the Eggplant Wizard acts as Mother Brain's magician and uses his magic to stymie the N-Team.

Ascended Extra: in Kid Icarus, Eggplant Wizards were but regular Underworld enemies who could change the player into an eggplant; in Captain N he's one of Mother Brain's henchmen.
Bumbling Henchmen Duo: With King Hippo.
Butt-Monkey: King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard suffer indignity after indignity, thanks to their own ineptitude, and Mother Brain's treatment of them.
Dirty Coward: He hates direct confrontation with the N Team and runs with his tail between his legs whenever they gain the upper hand.
Forgot About His Powers: 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.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: He and King Hippo screw up each and every one of their tasks and in his particular case often bungles his own magic spells.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: In one episode, the Eggplant Wizard (disguised as a TV repairman) even used a mushroom to transform into a giant escape pod so he and King Hippo (also disguised) can escape from the Palace of Power after figuring out Kevin's greatest fear.
Terrible Trio: King Hippo and the Eggplant Wizard, with Mother Brain as the "boss" figure.
You Don't Look Like You: A downplayed example. Eggplant Wizard's character artwork in Kid Icarus is much more detailed than in Captain N. However, his Captain N design closely resembles his more simplistic in-game sprite from Kid Icarus.

Dr. Wiley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cn_dr_wily_2.png

Voiced by: Ian James Corlett

The main villain of the Mega Man series, Dr. Wiley uses robots and several inventions in his attempts to take over the world, and assists Mother Brain on occasion. He's one of the more competent villains, but is foiled every time.

Evil Genius: Dr. Wiley is an evil scientist who has created multiple sets of Robot Masters and reprogrammed Gameboy as a minion.
Herr Doktor: Dr. Wiley speaks with a German accent in Captain N.
Inconsistent Spelling: While his name is more commonly localized as "Dr. Wily" in the Mega Man series, it is written as "Dr. Wiley" in Captain N concept artwork, such as his model sheet◊.
Token Competent Minion: Since Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo are pretty much incapable of doing anything right, Dr. Wiley is the only henchman of Mother Brain who (usually) can do his job properly.
Verbal Tic: Has a habit of gasping at random intervals.

The Count

Count Dracula

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cn_count.png

Voiced by: Garry Chalk

Also known as Dracula, the Count is the main villain of the Castlevania series and tangles with Simon Belmont frequently. He has a son named Alucard.

Classical Movie Vampire: Slicked black hairstyle, pale skin, an Ominous Opera Cape with High Collar of Doom, Vampire Vords... the Count has all the classic vampire tropes covered.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His name is Dracula, but he's simply called the Count in Captain N. This seems to be a case of Early Adaptation Weirdness, since he was also originally referred to as the Count in the manual and box description for Castlevania.
Public Domain Character: While he is based directly upon the villain of Castlevania, Dracula originated as the character from Bram Stoker's famous novel.
Vampire Vords: Like many depictions of Dracula, he speaks with a pronounced Romanian accent. As he proudly announces in the show's intro: "Velcome to Castlevania!" Ironically, his canon counterpart doesn't speak like this at all!
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Has the ability to transform into a bat or disguise himself as the Poltergeist King.

Kraid

Kraid in the animated series (top) and comics (bottom).

Voiced by: Doug Parker

A Space Pirate from Metroid, Kraid is a minor recurring villain who acts as one of Mother Brain's henchmen.

All There in the Script: Kraid is never referred to by name in the TV series itself, but a piece of concept art refers to one of his weapons (a gun stolen by Kevin in Metroid, Sweet Metroid) as "Kraid's Missile Gun", confirming that it is intended to be him.
Death Is Cheap: In Kevin in Videoland, Kraid is apparently killed when Kevin lands on him a la Goomba Stomp. He shows up again just fine in later episodes. Then again, respawning is probably a given for videogame mooks.
Depending on the Artist: Likely due to only being a minor character in the TV series, his comic counterpart is much more faithful to his original design from the Metroid manual artwork.
Evil Sounds Raspy: He speaks with a raspy voice in his sole line of dialogue.
Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: In the TV series, Kraid wears a hat and a tunic, but nothing below the belt.
Suddenly Voiced: Kraid has a single line of dialogue in Mega Trouble For Megaland, which is the only time he's ever been voiced in any media.
Kraid: Work faster! Or you'll find out there's worse places to be than Mt. Mother Brain!
Trick Boss: In Mega Trouble For Megaland, two Kraids are visible on screen at once, which may have possibly been a reference to the "fake Kraid" Trick Boss in Metroid.
Vocal Dissonance: Based upon his design, you might expect him to have a deep-pitched dopey voice. But, in Mega Trouble For Megaland, he actually has a rather high-pitched raspy voice.
You Don't Look Like You: In the original Metroid, Kraid is an Exposed Extraterrestrial with yellow skin, spikes jutting out from his torso, and dark green fur on his backside. In Captain N, Kraid is a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal with orange skin, a green tunic, and a small tuft of very light green hair sticking out from under his purple hat. Unlike most examples of this trope in the Captain N series, this only applies to his TV appearance, as his comic appearance is Truer to the Text.

Other Villains

Donkey Kong

Voiced by: Garry Chalk

The main villain of the Donkey Kong arcade game, Donkey Kong is about the size of King Kong in the show.

Adaptational Abomination: In the games and most other media, Donkey Kong is roughly 2-3 times the size of Mario. In Captain N, for whatever reason, his size is comparable to King Kong.
Agony of the Feet: Simon rips off one of his toenails in the episode "Simon the Ape-Man".
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In a Shout-Out to King Kong, Donkey Kong is a giant in Captain N.
Coconut Meets Cranium: This happens to him in no less than two episodes:
- During the pilot episode, Kid Icarus makes some coconuts fall on his head in an attempt to knock him out. Unfortunately, it only makes him angrier.
- In "The Lost City of Kongoland", Simon accidentally sends a coconut on his nose.
"Freaky Friday" Flip: In the episode "Queen of the Apes", his brain ends up in the body of Game Boy, while his body is taken over by Mother Brain.
Killer Gorilla: He will attack pretty much anyone who enters Kongoland.
"King Kong" Climb: In the first episode, he grabs Kid Icarus and climbs up a massive tree.
King Kong Copy: He arguably has more in common with King Kong than Donkey Kong. Both of them are gigantic gorillas ruling over a perilous jungle where a tribe of natives live.
Primal Chest-Pound: Unsurprisingly, he does this pretty often.
Primate Versus Reptile: He fights a dinosaur-like plant monster created by Konga in the episode "The Lost City of Kongoland".
Proportionately Ponderous Parasites: In one episode, Simon picks his fleas, which are dog-sized.
Put on a Bus: Does not appear in Season 3, despite being the most prominent antagonist not aligned with Mother Brain in the first two seasons.
Raiders of the Lost Parody: He plays the titular character of the movie "Donkey Kong Jones", an obvious parody of Indiana Jones.
Trademark Favorite Food: One of the few things he has in common with his video game counterpart is that they both love to eat bananas. This may be Donkey Kong's Ur-Example, since bananas weren't even in the Donkey Kong games that existed when the show was out.
Vine Swing: He is occasionally seen travelling like this, including as "Donkey Kong Jones".
Wild Card: While Donkey Kong is typically an antagonist in Captain N and even teams up with the Forces of Chaos in "Videolympics", he is just as likely to be hostile towards Mother Brain and the other villains.
Your Size May Vary: While consistently portrayed as big, his exact size tends to vary, even within the same episode.

Dragonlord

Voiced by: Don Brown

The main villain of Dragon Quest, the Dragonlord is a ruthless dragon who plans to conquer Dragons' Den.

The Corrupter: In "Three Men and a Dragon", the Dragonlord uses Mother Brain's hypnotic crystal to turn the other dragons evil.
Dragons Are Demonic: Unlike the other nicer dragons of Dragons' Den, the Dragonlord is evil.
Evil Sounds Deep: He has a deep and raspy voice, especially in "The Trojan Dragon".
Scaled Up: The Dragonlord appears in his draconic form, which was his One-Winged Angel form in Dragon Quest. Downplayed, since he never appears in his humanoid form in Captain N.
You Don't Look Like You: While the Dragonlord's dragon form had blue scales in the original NES game, he is depicted as red in Captain N.

Ganon

Voiced by: Len Carlson

The main antagonist from the The Legend of Zelda franchise. Having been defeated some time between the 1989 cartoon series and the beginning of Captain N, he's revived by Mother Brain in an attempt to foil the N-Team.

Demoted to Dragon: Averted in "Quest for the Potion of Power." Mother Brain resurrects Ganon so that he will serve her, but him being Ganon, doesn't submit.
Hijacked by Ganon: The very first instance of this trope being preformed by the Trope Namer, in fact, predating A Link to the Past. In Quest for the Potion of Power, Mother Brain resurrects Ganon thinking she could control him. She is then attacked by Ganon and he ends up being the main villain for the rest of the episode.
Mother Brain: You're supposed to be working for me!
Ganon: Ganon works for NO ONE!

Alucard

Voiced by: Ian James Corlett

The Count's son, Alucard is a hipster skateboarder who helps the heroes—or so he says.

Adaptational Villainy: Alucard starts out apparently on the heroes' side but proves to be a villain, which is a complete 180 from his characterization in the games.
Like Father, Unlike Son: Dracula acts like a traditional vampire while Alucard acts like a Totally Radical kid, which causes tension between the two.
Subverted Suspicion Aesop: 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.
Totally Radical: He talks in 80s slang, saying words like "dude" and "bummer". It definitely contrasts from his father.
You Don't Look Like You: Unintentionally played with. In Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Alucard has a traditional vampire appearance, looking rather similar to his father Dracula. In Captain N, Alucard dresses like a 90's teen, has stylish blond hair, wears bat wing-shaped sunglasses, and skateboards in his free time. In most of his future appearences, most notably Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Alucard does sport blonde hair, so the show got that much right.

Allies

King Charles

Voiced by: Long John Baldry

Princess Lana's father, King Charles was imprisoned in another dimension known as the Mirror World. He eventually sends Game Boy to take his place.

Absurdly Elderly Father: King Charles looks a lot more like he should be the grandfather than father of a girl in her mid-teens.
Disappeared Dad: Lana and Lyle's father, who is trapped in the Mirror World by Mother Brain. He fully appears in the episode "In Search of the King", and makes a small appearance in the beginning of Game Boy's debut episode.

Dr. Wright

Voiced by: Ian James Corlett

Mega Man's creator from the Mega Man games, Dr. Wright is a short eccentric scientist with plenty of inventions to help the N-Team.

Inconsistent Spelling: Just like in the manual of Mega Man, his name is spelled "Wright", as confirmed by his model sheet. It's also a case of Early Adaptation Weirdness, since later Mega Man productions would consistently localize his name as "Light".

Link

Voiced by: Jonathan Potts

The Hero of Hyrule and main protagonist of the The Legend of Zelda franchise, more specifically the first two games. He bears the same attitude and general appearance as he does in the Legend of Zelda cartoon. Here he's matured to a significant degree and finally gets his long-awaited kiss from Zelda.

Bash Brothers: With Kevin in "Once Upon a Time Machine".
Friendly Rivalry: With Kevin after his first appearance, in comparison to Simon or Mike Vincent, as he was perhaps the only character who could legitimately be considered an equal to Kevin. Even during his hostile first appearance, he and Kevin along with Zelda were at least working together towards a common goal.
Jerkass: Link was mostly portrayed this way in his debut episode, "Quest for the Potion of Power". While he is more mature than he was in The Legend of Zelda (1989), he still has a bit of an ego. In his defense, he was mostly prompted by jealousy towards Kevin's fighting skills and even getting frustrated when Kevin earns a kiss from Zelda. Once he knew his jealousy was causing trouble for everyone, he calmed down a lot.
My Friends... and Zoidberg: When Link and Zelda arrive at the palace in "Having a Ball", they're announced as "Her Royal Highness the Princess Zelda of Hyrule and... uh... Link." Somewhat justified since Link doesn't have an official title.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After a lot of bickering and problems within their own show, Link finally gets not one, but two kisses from Zelda throughout season 2. He and Zelda also seem to be on much warmer terms.

Zelda

Princess Zelda

Voiced by: Cynthia Preston

The namesake Hyrulean princess from The Legend of Zelda, and Princess Lana's best friend. Like Link and Ganon, her character is basically the same one featured in The Legend of Zelda (1989) cartoon.

Action Girl: Just as she was in the previous series, being more of an experienced fighter than Lana.
Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: As part of her redesign from The Legend of Zelda (1989), her outfit now exposes her navel.
Composite Character: The NES Zelda games actually feature two separate princesses named Zelda. This version of Princess Zelda essentially fills both roles, being the same character from the previous Zelda cartoon while continuing to appear in the Zelda II-inspired episodes of Captain N. "Having A Ball" also reveals that she's grown a telepathic bond between the Triforce pieces (including the newly introduced Triforce of Courage) and now speaks in place of the Triforce of Wisdom.
Fisher King: Zelda is shown to be a reverse one of these in the episode "Having A Ball," when King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard steal the Triforce, causing both herself and Hyrule to begin dying.

Lyle

Prince Lyle

Voiced by: Ian James Corlett

The older brother of Princess Lana who moved away to live on the world of Tetris.

'80s Hair: He sports a blond mullet.
Black Sheep: Depsite being the older sibling of Videoland's royal family, he is a boxy and introverted kind of guy who lives in the Tetris portion of Videoland. He shows up in "The Trouble with Tetris", then briefly again in "Totally Tetrisized" to provide a Deus ex Machina.

"Old Wizard"

The Old Wizard

An old wizard who lives in the world of Castlevania, where he once helped Trevor Belmont defeat the Count. One hundred years later, he lends his assistance to Kevin and Simon while they try to clear Trevor's name. He acts as the show's counterpart to Sypha Belnades from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

Adaptational Dumbass: Sypha Belnades never had trouble with spellcasting, but this old wizard can never remember his spells and keeps casting the wrong one.
Ambiguously Human: Although based on a human character, he has blue skin and Pointy Ears in Captain N. The fact that he appears beside a tombstone after Simon disturbs him suggests that he might be a ghost, which would explain the skin but not the ears.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is never addressed by name, and Kevin just calls him "old wizard". He stands by a tombstone where "OLD" is clearly visible, so his name might really be Old Wizard.
Gender Flip: Sypha Belnades is a woman, although this isn't obvious in the English version of the game unless the player beats the game with Sypha in the party (at which point her identity is explicitly revealed). By contrast, the old wizard is very obviously a man, given his masculine voice and Wizard Beard.
Rhymes on a Dime: When the old wizard recites a spell out loud, it's always in a rhyme.
Taken for Granite: One of his spells turns a skeleton knight into stone.
Shock and Awe: He casts a spell that fires lightning bolts, which reanimates a skeleton.
Wizard Beard: This wizard has a very long grey beard.
Wizard Classic: He checks off all the classic wizard tropes: he dresses in a Robe and Wizard Hat, carries a Magic Staff, has a long Wizard Beard...

Other Characters

Mike Vincent

Voiced by: Michael Donovan

A human from our world, Mike used to be Kevin's friend before they had a falling-out, and he became a bully to Kevin. The villains create an android replica of him to intimidate Kevin into giving up, but he's able to convince it to become friends.

The Bully: Was this to Kevin back in the real world, and his bullying was pretty much the only thing that Kevin genuinely feared, and for a short period, even in Videoland.
Contrived Coincidence: 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.
Evil Former Friend: The villains didn't know Mike and Kevin used to be friends when they created an evil android based on Kevin's memories of him, so Kevin is able to make him do a Heel–Face Turn by reminding him of when they were friends.
Redemption Equals Death: The android gets blasted by Mother Brain's laser canons towards the end of his episode.
The Rival: Mike 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 Heel–Face Turn.
Technology Marches On: A self-aware badass android with 1000 whole megabytes of processing power!

Wombatman

An anthropomorphic wombat who serves as the Videoland equivalent of Batman. Not a real superhero, it must be noted, just a TV personality.

Animal Superheroes: He's a Batman Parody but he actually is an anthropomorphic wombat instead of a human dressed as one.
Batman Parody: Complete with a costume that uses similar colors to the sprite in the NES Sunsoft game.

Comic-Exclusive Characters

Samus Aran

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cn_samus_1.png

^{Click to see Samus outside her suit.}

"Remember... I can do a lot worse than send you to prison, boys!"

Only appearing in the Valiant Comics adaptation, Samus is the heroine of the Metroid games and acts as a rival for Lana, often trying to sabotage her to win Kevin's affections.

Adaptational Jerkass: Despite the massive amount of trauma and her reputation as a One-Woman Army, Samus in her home series is one of the nicest people around, and spends quite a bit of time during missions being deeply introspective. She's certainly not as greedy and selfish as she is in these comics.
Batman Gambit:
- At one point, caught off-guard by "Big-Time" Brannigan, she sabotages her own gun to backfire, knowing he'll want the irony of finishing the best bounty hunter in the guild with her own sidearm. He's promptly maimed and Aran escapes.
- Another time, she tricks Mother Brain into handing over a more substantial bounty for turning on her allies, then promptly betrays her, steals the Applied Phlebotinum that was the main objective of their mission, and rescues her friends on top of all that, leaving Mother with nothing.
Betty and Veronica: She's the Veronica to Lana's Betty in their Love Triangle with Kevin. Unlike the sweet and proper Princess Lana who has known Kevin for longer, Samus is a bold and brash space-faring adventurer with some selfish inclinations.
Early Adaptation Weirdness: Early Metroid media gave Samus little in the way of characterization other than the fact that she was a tough Bounty Hunter. As such, Samus in Captain N was made into a greedy Jerk with a Heart of Gold who considers using underhanded methods to win Kevin's affections and leave Lana in the dust. Later Metroid media would portray Samus as a somewhat stoic Nice Girl who is far more humble about her exploits and is (in what little we see of her non-bounty hunting life) a Celibate Hero.
Foot Popping: Samus Aran, of all characters, does this in the comic A King of Shreds and Patches, when a thirty-year-old Kevin (from a Bad Future) kisses her. While she's in full armor, no less.◊
In Prison with the Rogues: In the Breakout comic, She and Lana are sentenced to the RX 338 prison. Samus's cell block is full of Metroid enemies, and at least one of them had been put away for life by Samus herself. They immediately gang up on her, mistakenly believing her to be helpless without her suit and weapons... only for her to promptly beats them all into submission.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the comics, Samus 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 Bad Future and rejoices that Lana is gone and she can have Kevin all to herself, despite the fact that the bad guys have taken over every world except the garbage planet where Kevin now lives, and by not going back in time and changing one thing she's screwing over everyone in Videoland. She does go back in the end.
Love Triangle: In the comic, both Lana and Samus are after Kevin.
Samus Is a Girl: When the N Team first meets Samus in the comic, they're surprised when she takes off her helmet.
Vague Age: Samus looks like a mature adult, but the fact that she competes with Lana for Kevin's affections would (hopefully) indicate that she's younger than she looks. For whatever it's worth, the later Metroid manga retroactively suggests that she's roughly in her late teenage years during the events of the original Metroid, which is the basis of her appearance in Captain N.^note
You Don't Look Like You: Averted, notably, unlike almost all other major characters. Samus is depicted much more accurately than any of the other heroes, with her design resembling her appearance on Metroid's promotional art. Pretty much the only difference is that her "Justin Bailey" outfit is green instead of magenta.

Uranos

The Lord of the Sky, Uranos is one of the villains united by Mother Brain under the League of Darkness.

Adaptational Badass: Uranos was only an easily-defeated mook in Kid Icarus, but he is characterized as the powerful and dangerous Lord of the Sky in Captain N, better matching his original description in the Kid Icarus manual.
Adaptation Species Change: The Kid Icarus manual refers to him as a god, but Princess Lana refers to him as merely a demigod.
Ascended Extra: Much like Eggplant Wizard, Uranos was a common mook in Kid Icarus, but is one of the leading villains in the League of Darkness in the Captain N comics.
Beard of Evil: Uranos is a villain with a very prominent beard.
Ominous Opera Cape: While he doesn't usually wear one, Uranos wears a long blue cape in Villains' Do's and Don'ts as an example of what a proper villain should wear.
Remember the New Guy?: Despite not appearing in the TV series, Uranos appears alongside Mother Brain, Donkey Kong, Eggplant Wizard, and King Hippo in the comics, is hardly given much introduction, and everyone acts like he has always been a familiar character.
Right Way/Wrong Way Pair: Forms one with Eggplant Wizard in Villains' Do's and Don'ts. Uranos shows off how to be an effective villain, while Eggplant Wizard repeatedly fails to impress.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Uranos is able to change his appearance and flawlessly disguise himself as King Charles in order to lure Princess Lana into a trap.

Characters / Captain N: The Game Master

The N-Team

Kevin Keene

Princess Lana

Mega Man

Kid Icarus

Simon Belmont

Duke

Game Boy

Forces of Chaos

Mother Brain

King Hippo

Eggplant Wizard

Dr. Wiley

Count Dracula

Kraid

Other Villains

Donkey Kong

Dragonlord

Ganon

Alucard

Allies

King Charles

Dr. Wright

Link

Princess Zelda

Prince Lyle

The Old Wizard

Other Characters

Mike Vincent

Wombatman

Comic-Exclusive Characters

Samus Aran

Uranos

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Index

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Characters / Captain N: The Game Master

Edit Locked

The N-Team

Kevin Keene

Princess Lana

Mega Man

Kid Icarus

Simon Belmont

Duke

Game Boy

Forces of Chaos

Mother Brain

King Hippo

Eggplant Wizard

Dr. Wiley

Count Dracula

Kraid

Other Villains

Donkey Kong

Dragonlord

Ganon

Alucard

Allies

King Charles

Dr. Wright

Link

Princess Zelda

Prince Lyle

The Old Wizard

Other Characters

Mike Vincent

Wombatman

Comic-Exclusive Characters

Samus Aran

Uranos

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Index

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