MAtgSy
Smash Ace
- Joined
- May 12, 2006
- Messages
- 977
Background
In late 1988-early '89, an editor for Nintendo Power magazine wrote a pair of prose short stories in said magazine about a hero named Captain Nintendo, who could summon heroes from NES games into the real world to battle the NES villains that had invaded said real world. By coincidence, the animation company DiC was developing a cartoon series starring multiple 1st & 3rd party video games characters such as Pit, Mega Man, & Paper Boy (the last of whom believe it or not was the intended main character at the time). 2+2 was put together & the 2 concepts merged into Captain N: The Game Master which aired for 3 seasons from Fall '89 to 1991. The series continued in reruns until 1994 & saw a Complete series DVD in 2007 (which was actually just the 1st 2 seasons. S3 was bundled with the Super Mario World cartoon later). A comic book series by Valiant Comics, who were creating various other Nintendo-themed comic books, also during alongside the TV series but only lasted 5 issues. A shame, I actually think the comic was the better version.
As for who Captain N himself is, he is a stereotypical 80s' teenager who's was pulled through a portal into Videoland, a universe filled with assorted Nintendo & 3rd party video game characters (& also Larry Bird and Bo Jackson somehow). N would battle the Forces of Chaos (apparent actual name of the villain faction) with his trusty NES Zapper, which fired real lasers, & a controller belt buckle that gave him superspeed & jumping abilities when the buttons were pressed. Strangely the Power Glove only ever appeared in the 1st episode & was never worn by the Captain.
Case For SSB Inclusion
Captain N is 1 of the most controversial choices ever for a 1st party newcomer, due largely to the simple fact of him not being a character that originated from a game. In spite of that he has been my personal #1 most wanted fighter since years before Brawl was announced & as such I have decided to continue showing my support of him & present my reasons why I think he should be included.
Reason #1: Captain N was SSB a decade before there even was a SSB. His show was essentially the real official crossover of multiple Nintendo IPs & select 3rd party companies. Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Punch Out, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Castlevania, Paper Boy, Bayou Billy, Tetris, the Game Boy, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, & Burger Time among a few others were all featured on the show in what way or another. Also rather inexplicably Larry Bird and Bo Jackson were in S3 episodes. While faithfulness to the respective source materials is....................."disputable" at best, the mere fact that a single television series was even able to bring together so many characters & worlds from so many different companies to begin with is an extraordinary feat. Pretty much only Wreck-it Ralph comes to my mind for any other media that has as many video game characters but there they were just brief cameos, not main cast & guest stars like in Captain N.
Reason #2: Anime does have a place in SSB if it's 1st or 2nd party
It's an undeniable fact that Captain N doesn't come from any video game, nor has he ever appeared in one & Sakurai plainly stated that "anime" characters can't included. Seems pretty open & shut, right? However...
-A. Sakurai was mainly referring to 3rd parties. It's a nitpick to be sure, but Sakurai initially brought up anime when discussing 3rd party viability, & this policy doesn't necessarily apply to animes based on Nintendo or 2nd party properties. Case in point...
-B. The Pokemon anime is totally referenced a bunch in the SSB series. Meowth was heavily considered for SSB64 & Jigglypuff made it in his place. I don't think it's coincidence that both mons are/were heavily featured in the anime series at the time. It is Ash who walks past Pikachu in SSB64's opening & the BGM for Saffron City is taken from the anime soundtrack. Misty's trophy in Melee is her anime outfit that she never wore in the games (except Yellow & Puzzle League, both based directly on the show). Lucario had spoken dialogue in Brawl, as he did in 1 of the movies. & the Pokemon Trainer trophy in SSB3DS name drops Ash Ketchum. So yeah, every SSB had some level of callback to the Poke'TV. But if Sakurai was absolute in his no anime policy then shouldn't there be NO references to the Pokemon show at all?
-C. Captain Falcon's scarf from Brawl onwards came from the F-Zero anime. Well possibly a F-Zero GBA game that tied-into said anime but the connection's still there.
So yeah, the animes of 1st & 2nd party IPs are seemingly allowed to have a place in SSB. & since Captain N is himself 1st party, I believe he is indeed theoretically viable.
Reason #3: He IS a 1st party character. In the past this has been a subject of confusion and misunderstanding as others have assumed DiC owned the character. To set the record straight, the guy who was in charge of the DVD set posted on fan forums & clarified that Nintendo owns Captain N and other original characters while DiC owns the "video rights" IE the physical footage. This isn't an isolated occurrence in film/television either: Despite buying the Star Wars property from Lucas, Disney doesn't actually own the 1st 6 SW films, Fox retains direct control of the older films. Copyright laws are strange like that. In any event, the oldest iteration of the character appeared in the pages of Nintendo Power which was a fully Nintendo owned publication should cement them being the ultimate owners of the character. If nothing else, SSBU could go with the "Captain Nintendo" name & change his outfit.
Reason #4: (Potentially) All of his teammates are already in the game. In the TV version, Cap's core team of allies were Pit, Mega Man, & Simon Belmont. While in the comic Samus was a teammate in place of MM & Simon (& the one character most accurate to source material). With Simon rumored to be a new 3rd party fighter for Ultimate, the N Team will be more or less complete. It'd be to go the extra mile & add the team's leader.
Reason #5: He would make a great lead hero for a new story mode. Grant Smash is meant to be an ensemble first & foremost & focusing on 1 guy may not be the best of ideas. However I really liked how much involved a story KI:U had & would love a SSB story mode that aimed for that level of ambition. Cap'N as the one to gather other heroes over the course of the story fits him.
Reason #6: It is just plain cool to kick butt with the Duck Hunt gun. You know it's true, the NES Zapper is the raddest lightgun ever made. That's it's in the DH trailer even in the Japanese version. Or why both the gray & orange Zappers are in Splatoon. But the Zapper doesn't appear on-screen for DH & Inklings don't have alt weapon models at all. Well somebody's gotta be the one to wield the NES Zapper in Smash!
Playstyle & Movesets
Captain N utilized high tech weaponized versions of Nintendo peripherals to fight with. However I think it would make sense to "modernize" him a bit with post-NES controllers as well, as I would imagine that had the show continued for more seasons, he would've eventually moved on to later consoles anyway (sorta like how Sakurai designed Pit in Brawl with a hypothetical sequel look) As such, there's a few directions that could be taken:
Jab: Punch with the Power Glove*
Jab Combo: multiple punches & kicks
Smash: Super-charged glove attack, like a mini-Falcon Punch
B: Zapper
>B: Speed Dash
^B: Super Jump
vB: Pixelated barrier projected by a Game Boy
Note: I'm aware the Power Glove is 3rd party but I'm sure Nintendo could license it as they've licensed multiple 3rd party characters.
Jab Combo: multiple punches & kicks
Smash: Super-charged glove attack, like a mini-Falcon Punch
B: Zapper
>B: Speed Dash
^B: Super Jump
vB: Pixelated barrier projected by a Game Boy
Note: I'm aware the Power Glove is 3rd party but I'm sure Nintendo could license it as they've licensed multiple 3rd party characters.
Jab: Boxes with Labo Robot pack+Joycons
Smash: Swings a GCN by it's handle. Upon impact, game disc flies out & does chip damage if it hit anyone.
Air: Swings a Wii U Gamepad
B: Dual wielding Orange & Gray NES Zappers
>B: Holds out a 3DS. A randomized object (sword/arrow/barrel/mini-arwing) pops out of the top screen.
vB: Presses a N64 Rumble Pak to the ground, creating shockwaves.
Shield: Draws a squiggly circle around himself with a DS stylus.
Grab: Long range grab ala Link & Samus, points a Wiimote forward & grabs an opponent with Wii menu pointer
![]()
Tilt: Uses Wii Nunchuck as an actual nunchuck.![]()
Smash: Swings a GCN by it's handle. Upon impact, game disc flies out & does chip damage if it hit anyone.
Dash A: Clamps shut an oversized GBA SP.![]()
Air: Swings a Wii U Gamepad
B: Dual wielding Orange & Gray NES Zappers
>B: Holds out a 3DS. A randomized object (sword/arrow/barrel/mini-arwing) pops out of the top screen.
^B: Tether Recovery with a SNES Mouse.
vB: Presses a N64 Rumble Pak to the ground, creating shockwaves.
Shield: Draws a squiggly circle around himself with a DS stylus.
Grab: Long range grab ala Link & Samus, points a Wiimote forward & grabs an opponent with Wii menu pointer
Final Smash is largely the same for both movesets: Captain N pauses the game, freezing opponents in place while he he can still move & freely attack them. Because of SSBU's change to faster pace FS, this is all automated now. The non-clone moveset has him dual wield a Super scope & Wii Zapper for his finishing blow.
& now you may all begin trashing on this thread.
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