Super Mario Bros And Captain N: The Game Master On DVD

 

It's stated that by 1990 thirty percent of households owned a Nintendo Entertainment System. Based on Statistia, there were ninety-three million households in America. That's an estimated twenty-seven million Nintendo owners, many of which who were children.

Bottom line, Nintendo was big, and the company behind some of the most notable video games of the 1980's weren't about to leave money on the table. Kids were big business, and they knew it. With names like Mario, Luigi, Zelda, Link, Mega Man, Simon Belmont, and various others being common place topics on the average schoolyard playground, it was no doubt that these iconic characters were household names across the country. 

With Saturday morning, and weekday cartoons still in the prime of their popularity, it seemed only a natural transition for both worlds to collide. No, it wasn't a new concept. Shows like Saturday Supercade and Pac-Man already had major success in the early 80's. Rather, what was to come would just be the next iteration.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

The first to come was The Super Mario Bros. Super Show in 1989. What made this cartoon a unique concept was its melding of live action segments, which often featured guest stars, intermixed with animated shorts that stared the popular cast of the video game.

Fans of WWF and Nintendo found themselves in a win / win situation with Captain Lou Albino taking on the roll of Mario for both the live action and (voiced) animated segments. His co-star, but relatively unknown to most kids, was, Danny Wells. The seasoned actor portrayed Luigi in both live and animated iterations.

Each hour long show started off with the live action portions being set up for a varying circumstance, which would play out as the episode progressed. These were broken up by animated shorts of both Super Mario Bros., and The Legend Of Zelda. Additionally, when originally aired, the show also included animated sections overlaid by a popular hit from musical artists of the era. However, these were removed when the series was released on DVD, and overlaid with instrumental music.

In total, there were fifty-two episodes over one season which aired each weekday, all of which contained an all new Super Mario Bros. themed short. However, there were only thirteen The Legend Of Zelda cartoons (which only aired on Fridays), and these were repeatedly re-run throughout the series.

Shout Factory restored both the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and The Legend Of Zelda, releasing them both in 2006. Super Mario Bros. encompassed two volumes, and included the full live action segment, as well as the Mario and Lugi cartoon short. Because Shout also released all thirteen episodes of Zelda, these segments were not included within the Mario episodes, forcing you to have to buy both if you wanted the whole shebang.

NCircle obtained the rights to both series in 2012, and released them all again on DVD. However, to many fans disappointment, they removed the live action segments, retaining only the animated shorts. As such, the Shout Factory releases remain the more coveted versions for fans to purchase.

Captain N: The Game Master

While initially unrelated to the above series, but released within the same period, Captain N: The Game Master featured brand new character, Kevin Keene, and his dog Duke, as they traverse Video World, helping their Nintendo themed friends, Princess Lana, Simon Belmont, Kid Icarus, and Mega Man in their plight against Mother Brain, and her henchmen. These villains too were popular characters from the 8-bit era, King Hoppo, Eggplant Wizard, and Doctor Wiley. Other villains included Donkey Kong, Alucard, Ganon, and other Castlevania themed monsters.

While the first season of the show was a stand alone, season two paired each episode with The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3, and season three removed these in lieu of Super Mario World. In total, there were thirty-four episodes. More on season two and three below.

Shout Factory also obtained the rights to this show, and released what was called The Complete Series in 2007. However, this was not an entirely true statement, as the discs only contained seasons one and two. This was because "technically", season three was considered a separate show by the copyright holders, who would only allow for the final episodes to be released as a package deal entitled, Captain N: The Game Master And The New Super Mario World, which was also released this same year. More on this below.

Both sets are currently out of print, and on secondary markets, but can be somewhat pricey.

The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3

Changes were made to this all new series airing in 1990, which saw the exit of Captain Lou Albino and Danny Wells, and in general, the omission of live action segments. As a result, most of the animated cast features all new voice actors.

Because the show was based on the third Super Mario game, many of the power ups and characters associated with that particular game were featured. However, the episodes often took place on Earth, in what the characters referred to as, "The real world." Additionally, the series as a whole established a continuity to it, something which was lacking in its predecessors.

The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3 only ran for one season, encompassing twenty-six episodes. When aired as re-runs were separated from Captain N: The Game Master.

Due to the success of prior DVD releases, Shout Factory obtained the rights to the series, and released it in 2007. This series too originally included music segments, most noteworthy from Milli Vanilli. However, these were removed from the DVD, and replaced with music from Captain N. 

The New Super Mario World

Technically, as noted above, the title is Captain N: The Game Master And The New Super Mario World, which aired as season three of Captain N in 1991. The show featured all the voice actors from The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3. However, to remain aligned with the game the series was based on, Toad was removed. What's odd is that he was replaced by an all new, and unrelated character, Oogtar.

Unlike prior series, there was no copyrighted music utilized during any of the episodes. Meaning the unaltered originals could be re-run in syndication, as well as not impact any future home video releases.

Due to the time frame in which it aired, the show is impacted by the Children's Television Act. Basically, the show had to meet certain education restriction in order to apply for license renewals, and also limit direct advertising towards youngsters.

As noted above, Shout Factory released the entire series with the Captain N episodes in 2007. What's interesting about this is that the copyright factor seems to have been forget shortly thereafter, as NCircle would later release just the Super Mario World episodes as their own DVD set in 2012.

Where I think the entire package of these DVD's has an advantage to other cartoons released these days is their overall spectrum of appeal. On one hand, you have 80's cartoon fans who will buy up pretty much any title they can get their hands on. Meanwhile, on the other hand, there is also a lot of appeal to vintage video game collectors. Then there's people like me who have an appreciation for both vintage cartoons and games, making it a win / win across the board.

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8 Bit Junction: Zelda 2 - The Adventure of Link

Welcome to yet another new segment here at The Toy Box. Today starts the new weekly roll out of 8 Bit Junction!

8 Bit Junction will go down memory lane and share a story behind a game from my past which hit so hard on my young (or adult) mind that it shaped the way I looked at video games. Now, before I get started on my first of many entries to come, don't let the name fool you. 8 Bit Junction, while catchy in its title, is by no means going to be limited to the realm of 8 bit games. I'll touch on all types of games, generations and genres.

For my first entry, I'm turning the clock back to 1987. I was spending the night at a friend's house and we were left alone by his parents who were most likely out on a date night. Parents could do that back then - You know, leave kids at home alone and go out.

Unlike most visits to said friend's house which often times lead to playing some form of mock sword or war game outside in his yard, we spent the day indoors. Why? Because he had gotten not only a brand new game for his NES, but also an NES Advantage!

The game? Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.

This was by no means my first Nintendo game ever played, but yet it felt like an all new experience when the cartridge was fired up. As I watched my friend start off our session, I thought, "This is kind of stupid. You're a teeny little blob on the screen, can't swing your sword, can't...oh wait a minute..." That's when he got "hit" by an enemy on the Overworld and was transported to a side scrolling screen filled with jellies jumping at him.

Admittedly, Link's sword had gotten a little puny since his last adventure, but still, this was cool. As I watched him delve into dark caverns and then eventually back out the way he came to a town the game took another exciting twist - Magic powers! Link was no stranger to gizmos and gadgets in his first adventure, but now he could cast spells too? Wow!

As we alternated back and forth that night taking turns at the helm as we pushed forward through dungeon after dungeon - Some more efficiently than others, we soon learned that not only were Link's lives limited, but so too was the option to continue. Thank goodness the game had its own battery pack for saving periodically.

Though we didn't finish the game that evening - Far from it - I later received my own copy of the game (well, my brother and I did to be exact) and throughout many play sessions honed my skills at the game. With a little help from Nintendo Power, I also learned of all the heart / magic container and extra man locations.

Then I got even smarter. While playing one day I made note that while difficult, the Bubbles were not only killable, but yielded a fair amount of XP. Not only that, but there was one right in the first dungeon. Hmm...So if I kill it, enter and exit the screen...WOW! The Bubble was back! You know where I'm going with this. Before I even beat the first dungeon I grind-ed out every last bit of XP needed to max health, attack and magic. This meant every dungeon I beat would garner 9,000 XP which equated to an extra life. Now I was a pro at the game, and boy was it easy to get through the first few dungeons and nab the coveted hammer.

It wasn't long after that I beat the game for my first of many times. I got so proficient at it that to this day I get through the entire thing with one life - Because yep, I still grind out all the XP on the first Bubble I find in the first dungeon.

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Game Watch (Nelsonic)

Game Watch
1981 - 1999
Nelsonic

Nelsonic began producing wrist watch games as early as 1981, and during its existence dominated the market with pop-culture themed wrist watches marketed towards children and young adults. Though their first watches only incorporated features such as LCD screens, calculators and alarms, the company quickly saw the value of video games. This led to the idea of incorporating simply games into their wrist watches. The combination proved lucrative, and Nelsonic became the first company in the United States to produce video game based watches.

With success in their pockets, and a product with high demand, Nelsonic was able to get the attention of video game developers as well as big name toy franchises. This led to the licensing and development of game watches based on Pac-Man (1982), Frogger (1983), Q*Bert (1983), G.I. Joe (1990) , Barbie and more - Some of which were not based on any brand, but more so just generic themes such as baseball, black jack and racecar.

Kids of all ages loved the idea of not only having a wrist watch, but one that also played video games on it. We can only imagine many watches made their way to school, and in a lot of cases quickly got confiscated by teachers for causing a disruption to class.

In 1989, Nelsonic made a deal with Nintendo to produce game watches based on two of their most popular franchises for the Nintendo Entertainment System - Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

Knowing that boys and girls of all ages were big into gaming, Nelsonic had the forsite to market these all new game watches to everyone via multiple colors. Each plastic game watch was available in black, white, pink or red. This ensured there was a watch for just about anyone.

 In 1990 Nelsonic was purchased by watch-making giant M.Z. Berger. Under their tutelage, Nelsonic continued to produce game watches based on Nintendo products - Their most popular being the versions of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Tetris. Much like the prior watches, these too were produced in multiple colors.

 The company followed up by producing watches based on properties such as Donkey Kong and Star Fox - Which were both major successes for the Super Nintendo console. This time however, Nelsonic did away with the multi color theme, and simply produced black plastic watches.

Handheld gaming became more and more popular with gamers as industry giants such as Nintendo and Sega introduced their own handheld "consoles". This led to a rapid advancement in technology for the devices. Unfortunately for Nelsonics, they were not able to compete with their simplistic designs. The end result was a wain in popularity for the "primitive" game watch. This ultimately led to the company being closed in 1999.

Per the nature of all things pop-culture, when children of the 80's grew up they longed for the things of the past. This brought about the resurgence of popularity in Nelsonics game watches - Not that the company started producing new ones, but rather that these children now adults started seeking out the older ones. This in turn spiked a major price boom on secondary markets. Some of the watches can set collectors back as much as $500.00 for a loose one in working condition. Needless-to-say, if you're looking for any of these you're going to need to come to the party with a bag of cash.

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Video Game Super Stars - The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (Toy Biz)

The Legend of Zelda has been an iconic staple in the world since the first game joined the ranks of original Nintendo cartridges in the 80's as one of the top sellers of all time. Since then, the series has had several successful titles on various consoles, including some not so great ones (3DO).


In 1998, Nintendo released Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. With it came a whole new generation of Zelda fans, and a whole new decade of next generation console games.

In 2001, Toy Biz tipped its hat to the game by releasing a small set of figures. Each figure came packed with their respective trusted steed, and the Zelda figure included both her forms as well as the horse.

These sculpts were fairly accurate to their video game counterparts, yet at the same time still had a sense of lacking something. The series failed to find a foothold in the toy isle, and overstock was quickly moved to the clearance isle.

What is particularly baffling about this series is how kind the secondary market has been to them. For a set of figures which could once be found on clearance for $4.00, they now garner so much more. Link can sell for as much as $150.00, while Zelda and Ganandorf fetch as much as forty to sixty dollars a piece. Not bad for a series which people didn't seem interested in.

With over fifteen games in its catalog, it's a safe bet that Zelda games aren't going anywhere any time soon. But, for toy collectors, grabbing a series of figures based on the game(s) comes only once in a blue moon.

Join us next Monday for our look at The Muppets!

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