Here We Go Again, Arf!
Time for another Super Mario World/Captain N review! I'm sure you're all thrilled.
The Night Before Cave Christmas - Oogtar is being a total brat, and it's rubbing off on the other inhabitants of Dome City. So how do you make kids behave? Well, around December, you can use Santa Claus. It's August at this point, but Mario decides to have Christmas anyway, reasoning that the cave people don't know when it's supposed to be. Besides, there's no evidence that Jesus was born in December. (Okay, Mario didn't actually point this out, but it's true.) It sort of works, but Oogtar keeps snooping around the Dome Castle, where Mario, Luigi, and the Princess are making toys to distribute. King Koopa shows up to steal the toys, and takes Oogtar as well, as he's hiding in the sack. Bowser leaves a scale, so Mario, dressed as Santa Claus, sets out for Neon Castle to get the toys back.
Meanwhile, Koopa sets up a trap for Oogtar that involves a vine, a candle, and a hungry dinosaur in a pit. Kind of like a prehistoric James Bond villain, I suppose.
He also points out that "Oogtar spelled backwards is 'rat goo,'" which I think is how I first learned how his name was spelled. Santa Mario arrives in a sleigh drawn by a flying Yoshi, and the two of them race through the halls of the castle. Mario finds a Cape Feather and rescues Oogtar, who either thinks Mario really is Santa or is playing along. Hey, since Mario saved the real Santa in "Koopa Klaus," couldn't he just call in a favor? I guess he doesn't want to bother the big guy. Mario returns Oogtar to his home, and delivers the presents with Yoshi's help. On Cave Christmas morning, the caveboy sees that Santa didn't leave a present for Mario (I guess he really WAS dumb enough not to recognize him in his Santa suit), so he leaves one of his own. Really, I think they could have fleshed out this episode a bit more. Maybe they could have cut out some of the bits with Bowser snooping around and Oogtar sneaking into the workshop in favor of more exploration of Cave Christmas itself. I don't know.
A Tale of Two Dogs - This episode follows the plot of Mega Man 3, with Dr. Wily teaming up with Dr. Light (or Dr. Right, as he's sometimes called) to build a peacekeeping robot. It turns out, however, that Wily is still evil after all, and is plotting to steal the robot. That's a twist that I'm sure surprised no one, in either the game or this episode. This game was also the first in which Mega Man's dog Rush appears, and I was hoping we'd see him in the cartoon. And here he is, with mouth movements that don't sync up properly (I guess a robot wouldn't have to move its mouth when it speaks; but if this is what they were going for, it's inconsistent), a metallic voice, and the catchphrase "Here we go again, arf!" Eh, I'm somewhat willing to let those things pass just because they used him at all. I was kind of hoping he'd eventually become a full-fledged member of the N Team, but no such luck.
Captain N and Mega Man are making their way through Topland (i.e., Top Man's stage), and arguing over whether Duke or Rush is a cooler dog. Both of them help out, with Duke scaring away one of those robotic cats that spit yarn balls and finding Top Man, and Rush providing transportation for Kevin and Mega Man in the form of the Rush Jet. Mega Man takes out Top Man with his "punch line," known in the game as the Hard Knuckle, which really is the best weapon to use against him. Granted, it takes more than one hit, and Top Man is invulnerable when he's spinning, but at least they sort of got it right. The heroes then go to California Games World to relax, but Wily kidnaps the two dogs. Kevin and Mega Man warp to Skull Castle to get them back, but Wily springs a trap, landing them in the turtle tank from the game. Once again, they actually get the weapon to use correct, with Mega Man throwing a Shadow Blade. Unlike in the game, however, he uses it to reverse the flow of the machine instead of destroying the turtles themselves. The heroes find their dogs, but are set upon by Doc Robot, who was left in charge of the fortress. He was an actual character from the game, who took on the powers of the robot masters from Mega Man 2. The cartoon version looks like a poorly constructed robotic copy of Wily himself, but he presumably still has the same power, as he uses Metal Blades against the heroes.
He's taken out with a falling pipe during the ensuing battle, and the chaos inside Skull Castle makes the skull on the front sneeze out Kevin, Mega Man, Duke, and Rush. I never knew Skull Castle had sinuses, but it's a pretty good gag. Wily shows up outside with the giant peacekeeping robot (named Gamma in the game, but unnamed in the show), but the dogs stop him by throwing a robo-beehive into the control room. Wily is so busy running away from the bees that he loses control of the robot, which topples and falls apart. It's too bad the episodes were shortened this season, as there's more to the game that I would have liked to have seen represented on the show. Mega Man 3 was the one that introduced Proto Man, after all.
Oh, well. What we did see was a pretty good representation of the game, and we actually saw some Robot Master weapons for once. Mega Man didn't change color when he used them, but you can't have everything.
The Night Before Cave Christmas - Oogtar is being a total brat, and it's rubbing off on the other inhabitants of Dome City. So how do you make kids behave? Well, around December, you can use Santa Claus. It's August at this point, but Mario decides to have Christmas anyway, reasoning that the cave people don't know when it's supposed to be. Besides, there's no evidence that Jesus was born in December. (Okay, Mario didn't actually point this out, but it's true.) It sort of works, but Oogtar keeps snooping around the Dome Castle, where Mario, Luigi, and the Princess are making toys to distribute. King Koopa shows up to steal the toys, and takes Oogtar as well, as he's hiding in the sack. Bowser leaves a scale, so Mario, dressed as Santa Claus, sets out for Neon Castle to get the toys back.
Meanwhile, Koopa sets up a trap for Oogtar that involves a vine, a candle, and a hungry dinosaur in a pit. Kind of like a prehistoric James Bond villain, I suppose.
He also points out that "Oogtar spelled backwards is 'rat goo,'" which I think is how I first learned how his name was spelled. Santa Mario arrives in a sleigh drawn by a flying Yoshi, and the two of them race through the halls of the castle. Mario finds a Cape Feather and rescues Oogtar, who either thinks Mario really is Santa or is playing along. Hey, since Mario saved the real Santa in "Koopa Klaus," couldn't he just call in a favor? I guess he doesn't want to bother the big guy. Mario returns Oogtar to his home, and delivers the presents with Yoshi's help. On Cave Christmas morning, the caveboy sees that Santa didn't leave a present for Mario (I guess he really WAS dumb enough not to recognize him in his Santa suit), so he leaves one of his own. Really, I think they could have fleshed out this episode a bit more. Maybe they could have cut out some of the bits with Bowser snooping around and Oogtar sneaking into the workshop in favor of more exploration of Cave Christmas itself. I don't know.
A Tale of Two Dogs - This episode follows the plot of Mega Man 3, with Dr. Wily teaming up with Dr. Light (or Dr. Right, as he's sometimes called) to build a peacekeeping robot. It turns out, however, that Wily is still evil after all, and is plotting to steal the robot. That's a twist that I'm sure surprised no one, in either the game or this episode. This game was also the first in which Mega Man's dog Rush appears, and I was hoping we'd see him in the cartoon. And here he is, with mouth movements that don't sync up properly (I guess a robot wouldn't have to move its mouth when it speaks; but if this is what they were going for, it's inconsistent), a metallic voice, and the catchphrase "Here we go again, arf!" Eh, I'm somewhat willing to let those things pass just because they used him at all. I was kind of hoping he'd eventually become a full-fledged member of the N Team, but no such luck.
Captain N and Mega Man are making their way through Topland (i.e., Top Man's stage), and arguing over whether Duke or Rush is a cooler dog. Both of them help out, with Duke scaring away one of those robotic cats that spit yarn balls and finding Top Man, and Rush providing transportation for Kevin and Mega Man in the form of the Rush Jet. Mega Man takes out Top Man with his "punch line," known in the game as the Hard Knuckle, which really is the best weapon to use against him. Granted, it takes more than one hit, and Top Man is invulnerable when he's spinning, but at least they sort of got it right. The heroes then go to California Games World to relax, but Wily kidnaps the two dogs. Kevin and Mega Man warp to Skull Castle to get them back, but Wily springs a trap, landing them in the turtle tank from the game. Once again, they actually get the weapon to use correct, with Mega Man throwing a Shadow Blade. Unlike in the game, however, he uses it to reverse the flow of the machine instead of destroying the turtles themselves. The heroes find their dogs, but are set upon by Doc Robot, who was left in charge of the fortress. He was an actual character from the game, who took on the powers of the robot masters from Mega Man 2. The cartoon version looks like a poorly constructed robotic copy of Wily himself, but he presumably still has the same power, as he uses Metal Blades against the heroes.
He's taken out with a falling pipe during the ensuing battle, and the chaos inside Skull Castle makes the skull on the front sneeze out Kevin, Mega Man, Duke, and Rush. I never knew Skull Castle had sinuses, but it's a pretty good gag. Wily shows up outside with the giant peacekeeping robot (named Gamma in the game, but unnamed in the show), but the dogs stop him by throwing a robo-beehive into the control room. Wily is so busy running away from the bees that he loses control of the robot, which topples and falls apart. It's too bad the episodes were shortened this season, as there's more to the game that I would have liked to have seen represented on the show. Mega Man 3 was the one that introduced Proto Man, after all.
Oh, well. What we did see was a pretty good representation of the game, and we actually saw some Robot Master weapons for once. Mega Man didn't change color when he used them, but you can't have everything.