Flashback: Captain N: The Game Master
Click to viewDoesn’t AJ sound adorable as Kid Icuras? ^_^
When I was a little kid, one of my favorite cartoons was Captain N: The Game Master. It was fitting considering I was an NES addict (though I was hardly a game master). The show featured many classic NES characters from games such as Mega Man, Kid Icuras, Castlevania, Punch Out, Zelda and even Donkey Kong. It was back in those days when every kid knew the meaning of warp-zones and power items.
As much as I loved this show when I was younger; when I look at it now, it seems a little lame in ways. Perhaps that’s just because I’ve grown out of it, but what really gets to me is the way some of the characters were drawn- Simon Belmont in particular. I read somewhere that they tried to draw Simon to match his voice actor. I don’t think that within itself was a bad thing, but I think they strayed away a little too far from the real Simon Belmont by doing so. For those familiar with the Castlevania games, when you think of a Belmont, you think of a persona that’s cunning and solid. I could compare the character of a Belmont to a Claymore (from the anime series). There’s a certain uneasiness one feels when in such a character’s presence; yet at the same time you feel protected. Captain N’s version of Simon Belmont manages to capture the arrogance and egotism of a man who knows he’s a hero, but he’s so lost in his vanity, he becomes almost impossible to take seriously - he loses that element of intimidation.
I remember having some sort of problem with the way they did Mega Man, but I can’t remember for the life of me what it was. Then there’s Kid Icuras (Pit). Even though he was one of my favorite characters next to the Eggplant Wizard, I had a problem with him too. My problem? His WINGS!!!!! I couldn’t stand the way they drew his wings!!! They didn’t look like they were made for flying in the least bit!
Like Simon, he was also a far cry from the character you would picture in the actual videogame, but he was adorable! When he talked, he often added -icas to the ends of his words. I remember a few kids I went to school with thought the way he talked was annoying as hell, but I liked it. The few times it did annoy me, was when he would start whining about his height. He didn’t like being so short. I don’t think the writers did Pit any justice by giving him a complex! The poor kid! Nevertheless, I related to Pit’s inferiority complex because I myself had one. That wasn’t something I really wanted to recognize back then (hence the annoyance I felt towards it), but it’s true.
Before I move away from the character of Kid Icuras, it would be a sin in my eyes if I didn’t mention that a young puberty stricken Alessandro Juliani voiced him. I was totally oblivious to voice actors when I was a kid. I didn’t care who did the voices, so I never read the credits or kept up with who did what. I took an interest in AJ after watching the dubbed version of Death Note and decided to look up some of his other work. When I saw that he had in fact voiced Pit, I was like “Oh my God! No way!!!” I often wonder if it was his idea to add -icas and -imus to half of his dialog, or if it was something the writers threw in. He did really well with Kid Icuras. I’m not just saying that because he’s the great Alessandro Juliani. I’m saying that because after two decades, Kid Icuras is actually a character I still remember! I remember specific episodes and specific scenes. If a kid can carry the memory of a cartoon character into adulthood, then it’s a job well done for the people who brought that character to life.
The scene above that I found on Youtube was one of my favorite scenes. It’s the scene were Kid Icuras and Simon Belmont confront the hideous Medusa in order to obtain power items. I’ve always like the concept of Medusa, which is what made this scene a favorite. It was also very fitting that they send Simon and Pit on the mission by themselves rather than as the whole N Team group because Medusa plays significant parts in both the Castlevania series and Kid Icuras game. It was their monster of the week to defeat and theirs alone. It was exactly as it should have been.
So there you have it. A small glimpse into my childhood. One of the happier memories.