• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

The Original All-Star Nintendo Crossover! The Captain N Support Thread!

Status
Not open for further replies.

MAtgSy

Smash Ace
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
974


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: Boxes with Labo Robot pack+Joycons
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.

MAtgSy
ZagarTulip
Oddball
MacDaddyNook
Androobie
Klimax Klimax

& now you may all begin trashing on this thread.
 
Last edited:

ZagarTulip

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Nov 11, 2016
Messages
323
I honestly would love Captain N for Smash Bros. It may be odd, but I would love it!
 

Gallowglass

Smash Lord
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
1,165
Location
Wanderer
I want to support this character but technically he doesn't originate from a video game and hasn't shown up on a Nintendo system. With that said I like to think the Zapper used for the Duck Hunt team is Captain N.

I would love to have a Mii costume with a letter jacket and NES Zapper.
 

Oddball

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
1,722
This is my number 1 choice for Smash inclusion. ... You maybe be able to tell from the avatar.

his trusty NES Zapper, which fired real lasers, & a controller belt buckle that gave him superspeed & jumping abilities when the buttons were pressed.
You left out his PAUSE feature, which acted like a time freeze. That has some move potential right there.

Also, at time he was able to adjust his zapper to use an ice beam and was able to use the directional pad on his controller for levitation and something that was either teleportation or the morph ball. However those were mostly one-shot powers so I can understand people forgetting them.

Strangely the Power Glove only ever appeared in the 1st episode & was never worn by the Captain.
That was a bit odd. It was treated more like an artifact of ultimate power, like the triforce or something.

I think it's also worth noting that his girlfriend in the series, Princess Lana was loosely based on Palutena.

The short lived comic series also gave him Samus as a love interest.



Here's some potential color options for the guy (not my own work. I plan on doing my own version at some point.)

And a more thought out character breakdown

This ad ran mid 2000s. You can't tell me this ISN'T a reference to Captain N.




And here's some more art for you.









Unused concept art for Captain N
 

MacDaddyNook

Smash Lord
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
1,197
Kevin is one of my guilty pleasure characters. He's been on my list since the N64 original. I still have a couple of the comic books packed away somewhere. Sign me up as a supporter.

Fun fact, Captain N's voice actor, Matt Hill, is also the voice of Ed (the tall derpy one) in Ed Edd & Eddy.
 

MAtgSy

Smash Ace
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
974
Supporter list updated. Thank God I ain't completely alone here.

I want to support this character but technically he doesn't originate from a video game and hasn't shown up on a Nintendo system. With that said I like to think the Zapper used for the Duck Hunt team is Captain N.
I'm banking on the hope that Sakurai changes his mind like with Miis and Villager. Characters like Captain N & Nester are not IMO in the same boat as Goku or Mickey Mouse or Shrek or whoever.

The short lived comic series also gave him Samus as a love interest.
Season 2 had an episode featuring Stacy, his crush from high school.

You left out his PAUSE feature, which acted like a time freeze. That has some move potential right there.
I had PAUSE listed as his FS.

Anyway, here's another piece of fanart I found interesting: Lana from Hyrule Warriors cosplaying as Lana from Captain N.

The interesting part, at least IMO, is that it was drawn by a japanese artist. Proof that Captain N has some degree of recognition in Japan!
 
Last edited:

Gallowglass

Smash Lord
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
1,165
Location
Wanderer
Don't get me wrong. I think this guy should be in but I think it will open a can of worms on request. I agree he's not the same as Goku or Shrek but many people don't see that. I mean since we got Cloud in people are asking for Master Chief now.

Anyways Captain N was the first Mii I ever created (Even before myself). Here is some of the pics I have.
Some of the OG Crew
HNI_0010.JPG


The Final Battle!
HNI_0012.JPG


I updated his outfit. Thought this looked better.
HNI_0077.JPG
 

Door Key Pig

Smash Lord
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
1,227
Are Nintendo that interested in referencing its old American-controlled properties? Did Captain N even exist in Japan?
 

Door Key Pig

Smash Lord
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
1,227
Though it would maybe be kinda weird if, at the very least, we didn't get as much as a website screenshot putting Megaman, Pit and rumoured Simon to reference Captain N, right?
 

PsychoIncarnate

The Eternal Will of the Swarm
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
50,642
Location
Char
NNID
PsychoIncarnate
3DS FC
4554-0155-5885
I want to support this character but technically he doesn't originate from a video game and hasn't shown up on a Nintendo system. With that said I like to think the Zapper used for the Duck Hunt team is Captain N.

I would love to have a Mii costume with a letter jacket and NES Zapper.
I'm not sure that matters with characters specifically owned by Nintendo though

Like ROB
 

Gallowglass

Smash Lord
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
1,165
Location
Wanderer
I'm not sure that matters with characters specifically owned by Nintendo though

Like ROB
I don't know if this is the same. While ROB is a peripheral for the NES he was part of the game though not necessarily in it. Captain N on the other hand is separate from any actual game. I just think its a long shot.

That being said I do really want him to be in SMASH for the fact that he did the whole video game crossover before anyone else (or at least to my knowledge). I'm interested what his moveset would be.

I think his Final Smash should be the Pause Button. Similar to the time clock but this instantly freezes everything (opponents, items, stage hazards) but Captain N. It makes a little NES pause tune and Captain N can move about and hit anybody, steal items, or just reposition himself in a better spot.
 

MAtgSy

Smash Ace
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
974
Time for rejoicing, fellow supporters! Another of the N Team has joined the great Smash Pantheon!

 
Last edited:

ViroVeteruscy

Smash Rookie
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
1
If we stick with abilities he had in the show, he could have:
B - Wolf Laser
Side B - PK Freeze as a projectile
Up B - Captain Falcon's recovery minus the fire
Down B - Shulk's counter for Pause but fires a blast instead of using a sword
Final Smash - Similar to Mega Man's Final but with the Captain N cast and Kevin firing a large blast

He'd be a bit fast since the game pad gives him super speed, weight either mid to light. Standard attacks probably similar to Snake and grabs similar to Fox and Inkling. Smashes could be a mix of ZS Samus and Duck Hunt.

Pretty much what I can think of if we're sticking to what he can do. As a bonus, he is good at swimming so surviving in water stages would give him an advantage
 
Last edited:

MonkeyDLenny

Smash Lord
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
1,559
I think his Final Smash should be the Pause Button. Similar to the time clock but this instantly freezes everything (opponents, items, stage hazards) but Captain N. It makes a little NES pause tune and Captain N can move about and hit anybody, steal items, or just reposition himself in a better spot.
I agree it should be the pause button, But with Final Smashes being rebalanced to be more 'straight to the point' and no more controllable ones, perhaps he pauses, then charges before shooting out a long beam from the zapper that penetrates through anyone it hits
 

Havocko

Smash Rookie
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
1
I've been toying with other concepts for him as well. His final Smash should feature Lana and Duke or Game Boy. I believe Lana, Duke, or Game Boy could be assist trophies. I like the idea of Lana and Duke being part of the final smash and Game Boy being the assist trophy. As an additional bonus Pit, Simon, Megaman, Duck Hunt, and Palutena could have alternate costumes to resemble the television show. Pit would have red hair, yellow toga, and light blue wings. Simon would have tanned skin and a blue color scheme. Megaman's green alternate color would be slightly modified to match the show's better. Duck Hunt would be white with a brown spot over his eye. Finally Palutena could have a purple color scheme modeled after Lana. I even thought of how the announcement video could be like.

The trailer begins with a shot of Mother Brain and pans over to Samus facing her down. From behind Samus comes Pit, Simon, and Megaman in their Captain N inspired color schemes running. Suddenly the camera slowly pans behind them as a figure slowly appear from the shadows. His blue jeans and holstered zapper are visible as the camera slowly pans up. His letterman jacket in full view with attention drawn to the "N", then suddenly his face, CAPTAIN N JOINS THE BATTLE! Cue to the battle montage that features characters that have appeared in the series. Finally the video ends with a lone Duck Hunt who resembles Duke walking up to an assist trophy. He picks it up and Game Boy appears and attacks the Lana inspired color schemed Palutena.
 
Last edited:

MacDaddyNook

Smash Lord
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
1,197
If we stick with abilities he had in the show, he could have:
B - Wolf Laser
Side B - PK Freeze as a projectile
Up B - Captain Falcon's recovery minus the fire
Down B - Shulk's counter for Pause but fires a blast instead of using a sword
Final Smash - Similar to Mega Man's Final but with the Captain N cast and Kevin firing a large blast

He'd be a bit fast since the game pad gives him super speed, weight either mid to light. Standard attacks probably similar to Snake and grabs similar to Fox and Inkling. Smashes could be a mix of ZS Samus and Duck Hunt.

Pretty much what I can think of if we're sticking to what he can do. As a bonus, he is good at swimming so surviving in water stages would give him an advantage

Eh, you lost me with the Down Special counter. They can certainly do something more interesting and unique with his Pause ability than the most overused attack in the game.
 

Hydrualic Hydra

Smash Ace
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
548
Location
Somewhere Safe
Captain N would actually make me squee if he got in. He's like a forbidden fourth piece of my Triforce of most-wanted that I don't speak of. I most definitely support him.
 

Arcadenik

Smash Legend
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
14,152
NNID
Arcadenik
I support Captain N.

Now that Pit, Mega Man, and Simon Belmont are in Smash, all we need is Captain N to complete the N-Team reunion.
 

Verde Coeden Scalesworth

Flap and Swish~
Premium
Joined
Aug 13, 2001
Messages
33,908
Location
Cull Hazard
NNID
Irene4
3DS FC
1203-9265-8784
Switch FC
SW-7567-8572-3791
I'll just clarify the reason this thread was still up is the lack of being sure if he was owned by Nintendo or not. DiC currently owns the character, and being he has no video game appearances, he isn't allowed to have an open thread.

Edit: There is some confusion due to inconsistent sites on whether Nintendo owns the character or not. However, seeing as he has no game appearances, the thread is still going to be locked till that changes or our rules change in some way.

I apologize for the inconvenience.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom