Captain N & The New Super Mario World (Shout! Factory/DVD/Animation)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Episodes: B
The final
installment of the Nintendo franchise of cartoon series is now available for
all to enjoy or scoff at; there is no true in between. The final installment comes in the form of Captain N and the New Super Mario World. The Captain
N aspect of this set finishes up the last episodes (Season 3) of the Captain N Series previously released on
DVD and The New Super Mario World is
a slightly new animation concept, but generally the same as all previous Nintendo series.
Season 3 of the Captain N series never aired as a lone series itself, instead
airing along side The New Adventures of
Super Mario World in a half hour block segment. This is another reason why many fans may have
noticed the previously released Captain
N DVD box set only held Seasons 1
and 2 of the series. The Captain N series is a unique and
awesome concept. The original Concept
was dreamt up by a Nintendo Power Magazine
employee, who drew a small comic strip by a similar name; this comic later
being morphed into the series we see today.
The idea is that a Nintendo game fanatic named Kevin has been sucked
into the Videoland Kingdom through his TV and now fights the same foes as some
of our favorite videogame heroes. Heroes
include the likes of Megaman, Simon of the Castlevania Series, Kid Icarus, and
Gameboy. Villains include the nasty Mother
Brain from Metroid, King Hippo from Punch-Out, Dr Willy of Megaman, and Eggplant
Wizard from Kid Icarus.
The New
Super Mario World is an interesting series.
The series does not have a great storyline and is mainly based on the
Super Mario World videogame for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The cartoons’ storylines are simplistic at
best with little depth. Fans of the
Nintendo and its videogames, however, will not mind the lackluster plot because
the series is overflowing with nostalgic goodness. Some of the peripheral characters and enemies
names vary from the videogames, as do some of the land names, but this is such
a minor flaw that it is of no consequence.
Also there are not so many Yoshis populating Yoshi Island as there are
friendly, yet dumb, cave people; cavemen also never appearing in the Super
Mario World videogame. Overall, the
series is by no means fantastic, but the nostalgic aspect bumps the series up
to an early 90’s classic.
The
technical features of this 2 disc set, as with all previous Nintendo based
releases, are not spectacular but nice nonetheless. The picture is
presented in its original, yet simple, 1.33 x 1 Full Screen format. The animation and picture quality of this
series are similar to that of The
Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 but are still extremely improved over
those of The Super Mario Bros Super Show! The animation, though
not detailed, is crisp contains little flaws.
The series has more depth then seen in previous Nintendo series, but not
much. There are problems, however, with the animation becoming blurry at
times especially in the more distant shots. Debris, again, is also found
throughout the episodes, but is by no means a huge issue. The sound is
presented in a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that is unimpressive and often
times seem distant and not fully expressed; demonstrating the compressed nature
that many SHOUT! Factory releases possess.
The original masters are apparently used for this series release oddly
enough.
Extras
are weak and can be called nonexistent, only offering fans some simplistic
concept art sequences and a few story boards.
This reviewer expected much more for the last Nintendo Cartoon Series
release. Let’s hope for some sort of
major collection release of all the Nintendo Cartoon Series on HD.
The
concepts are stupid, the animation is not great, but boy does the nostalgia win
me over. If you are a fan of Nintendo or
weird 1980’s cartoons, this is the set for you.
Otherwise if you are not a Nintendo fan…maybe you should be.
- Michael P Dougherty II
