Strange Case File #2: The Origins of Captain N: Game Master

Welcome back to another edition of Strange Cases, a brand new column where we explore some of the more obscure facts from pop culture history. Today’s case file centers on the origins of a certain video game themed cartoon series, Captain N: Game Master.

CASE FILE #2: Captain N was originally pitched under the title, Buddy Boy, and centered around the main character from Atari’s Paper Boy game.

Yep, you heard that right. According to cartoonist and character designer Fil Barlow, back in 1988 he and Executive Producer Richard Raynis originally approached Nintendo to do a cartoon series based on the Paper Boy video game. However, presumably due to legal reasons, the name was changed to “Buddy Boy” instead.

In Barlow’s words the series starring Buddy, “a paperboy [where] reality is as addictive to Game World characters as games are to us.” The general premise being the Buddy could interact with these Game World characters, including a unique take on Megaman (meant to as a “reflection of Buddy in the Game World”) and Death himself.

I always liked the “Death” character who would try to “Game Over” Buddy and kick him out of the Game World back to reality.

In my opinion you were robbed, I did my best to give you fun interesting show but all I have are these photos. At least you’ve seen what could have been.

I have to admit, this would have been a much more interesting way to go had Nintendo allowed Barlow and Raynis to travel deeper down their conceptual rabbit hole. While it’s not likely, perhaps one day they’ll revisit the concept. It’d be great to see how a series like this would play out using updated versions from Nintendo’s extensive catalog of characters.

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Written by Rondal

Rondal is the Editor-in-Chief of Strange Kids Club and a creative instigator who tackles each day with Red Bull-induced enthusiasm and a mind for adventure. Rondal has written for other sites including Rue Morgue, Fuel Your Illustration and Bloodsprayer. His obsession with horror movies, 80s animation and action figures is considered unhealthy by medical professionals.

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  • Joanna Boese

    Well, the Paperboy DID show up in one of the episodes of the series, and even in “Wreck-It Ralph”…

  • Glen Brogan

    Paperboy was made by Atari, which might be why they couldn’t get the rights to make a whole series based around that character. As it was, I believe Nintendo had to pay royalties to use characters that they didn’t own in the series, like Mega Man and Simon Belmont. It actually strikes me as sort of odd to approach Nintendo about making a cartoon of a game that isn’t even theirs.

    Captain N also originally appeared as a comic in Nintendo Power, so he didn’t come about solely as a result of changes to the series. I would assume that Nintendo decided to change Paperboy to Captain N since they already owned him? I feel like the development of the show must have been much more convoluted than it seems.

    • Great point about Captain N being in Nintendo Power – that was definitely an omission on my part related to the character himself.

      It’s funny how few elements from the original character they kept though, like they just tossed in bits from both Buddy Boy and the Captain N comic strips and called it a day. I have to say that I actually like the idea of a younger main character – like in Mighty Max – never could relate much to “Kevin Keene” teenage boy wonder.