If you were an eighties kid you might remember waking up Saturday mornings to catch the Adventures of Super Mario Brothers 3 and Captain N: the Game Master. Captain N: the Game Master featured the adventures of Kevin and his dog Duke who got summoned from the couch into Video Game Land to fight Mother Brain. Each week the show featured different video game worlds from the Legend of Zelda to Bayou Billy (why?) and the last episode was set in some fantasy world that loosely resembled Final Fantasy. The show wasn’t without it’s glaringly obvious problems: Kid Icarus had an annoying “icus” end to everything, Mega Man was green and had to say “mega” and I won’t even divulge into the Game Boy who was added in season 2. Even with all of its inaccuracies Captain N: The Game Master was a fun show to watch and it’s great that Shout Factory is going to release seasons 1 and 2 on DVD next year.
What episodes are in the box set? We speak to Brain Ward the producer of the Captain N: The Game Master box set to give everyone a sneak peek at what to expect in 2007.
Shout Factory is the same group behind the Super Mario Brothers Super Show DVDs and are quickly becoming the source of video game cartoon re-releases. Captain N: The Game Master comes in a box set with 26 episodes spanned on four discs, but you’re only going to get seasons 1 and 2 in this set. Since season three was mixed in with Super Mario World cartoons those episodes are put on hold for now. Brian Ward, the producer of the series told us, “That’s not to say those episodes won’t be released in the future— I certainly hope they are— but they’re not in the set I’m working on right now. There are reasons for this, but I’m afraid it’s not something I can get into now.”
What about the video and audio quality? How is Captain N going to look and sound in 2007?
“We have done a little touching up of the episodes and I think they look and sound pretty good for a show that’s 17 year’s old. You won’t get 5.1 audio, because we didn’t have the original source recordings and, personally, I really hate it when companies try to give you a fake 5.1 by spreading the stereo channel thin around the room. It’s not cool and I won’t do that to the fans. I’d expect quality along the lines of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and The Legend of Zelda.”
Hey Brian what’s your favorite episode of Captain N?
“My favorite episode? Wow. When I think about it, that’s really tougher than I would’ve thought. Honestly, I never really watched the show when I was a kid. I was GLUED to the television growing up and, like every other kid, had my weekly Saturday morning routine. Sadly, it was pre-Tivo, so there was no going back and watching other shows after they’d aired (God bless today’s technology). I will say, though, that I’ve watched every episode recently and have been blown away by what I’ve seen. I grew up with all the games featured in this show and I played with just about every Nintendo product Kevin uses to get out of each situation. So as I sat there watching, my jaw was constantly on the floor with nostalgia. I’ve really become a fan of this series and I’m hoping it shows when the set’s finally released.”
