The N Team

• Kevin Keene (portrayed by Dorian Barag in the live-action sequences, voiced by Matt Hill in animated sequences) – the teenage leader, protagonist and main character of the series. Initially, he is a reluctant hero and is often found at odds with the rest of the N-Team. When he comes to Videoland, he is armed with a belt and holster that has a Power Pad (an NES controller-shaped device which can stop time, allow him to leap over objects or give him super speed over short distances) and an NES Zapper-like gun which dispatches or "dematerializes" enemies (possibly a nod to Nintendo's content policies at the time which forbid the use of the word "kill"). The Zapper can also shoot ice shaped like Tetris blocks. His expert use of these tools combined with his overall friendly, if competitive, demeanor eventually earns the trust of the others. In many episodes, he tries to foster a big-brotherly role to characters suffering from a particular plight. He is most often called Captain N by the other cast members, except Princess Lana who regularly addresses him by his first name. The Varsity letter "N" on his jacket is for swimming.
• Princess Lana (voiced by Venus Terzo) – the current regent of Videoland after her father, King Charles, was banished to the Mirror by Mother Brain. She rules over all the lands in Videoland from the Palace of Power. Though she reflects a kind character typified by a princess role, she is able to keep up with the rest of the N-team through their adventures and is not afraid of conflict, having been trained to defend herself from a young age. Though she is good friends with the members of the N-Team, Lana shows a longing for her own family. She often acts as a mediator between the members of the N-team when their competitive natures lead them to infighting. Both Kevin and Simon compete for Lana's affections, but she seems to prefer Kevin over Simon and kisses him on several occasions (including the last episode). Her appearance and dress consists of boots, a two-piece dress and top, a tiara, and a necklace with three green gems. Production art showed her holding a large staff.
• Duke (voiced by Tomm Wright) – Kevin's dog who jumped into the Ultimate Warp Zone immediately after Kevin was sucked in and ended up in Videoland as well. Although he acts intelligently, he shows occasional uncontrollable typical dog behavior, like the chase reflex. Duke is usually with Kevin through all the action in a given episode and sometimes sees his own action. Duke wears a bandanna around his neck. In the live-action scenes shown in the first two episodes as well as the intro, Duke is shown to be a Golden Retriever while he appears to be a beagle in the actual cartoon.
• Simon Belmont from Castlevania (voiced by Andrew Kavadas) – until Captain N's arrival, vampire hunter Simon Belmont from Castlevania regarded himself as Princess Lana's highest-ranking servant. He displays extreme arrogance and vanity, often prefacing declarations of his character or capabilities by referring to himself in the 3rd person. He enjoys courting and complimenting Princess Lana, openly declaring his romantic interest in her (which she rebuffs but sometimes is flattered), but he enjoys tending to his appearance and physique even more. On one occasion when he was forced to face his worst fears in a dream world, it turned out his worst fear was a humorous form of body horror as his muscles sagged away, his teeth fell out and he lost all his hair. In his own distorted way, however, he does show regard for other members of the N-team, even if it outwardly seems back-handed. He is very competitive and he regards Captain N as a major rival for Princess Lana's attention. He wears a blue fabric outfit, pilot goggles, boots and large gloves, and carries around a backpack with a seemingly endless capacity of miscellaneous things he takes out and uses. He brandishes a whip, which occasionally has a mind of its own, but like Captain N's zapper, it can also dematerialize foes. Simon Belmont's look was at least partially based upon his voice actor Andrew Kavadas looking less like his appearance in the Castlevania game series.^[5]
• Kid Icarus from Kid Icarus (voiced by Alessandro Juliani) – the diminutive angel Kid Icarus from Mount Icarus is very loyal to, and protective of, Princess Lana and while he shows childish behavior, he is not short on courage. He is not very physically effective in action situations and often bemoans his small stature, but is the only N Team member who can fly, and usually is a very accurate archer. His quiver holds regular arrows which can dematerialize foes, but also has various specialized gadget arrows. He often ends many words in his speech with the suffix "-icus". He comes from the world of Mount Icarus. His appearance in Season 3 resembles his sprite and box art from Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for Game Boy.^[6]
• Mega Man from Mega Man (voiced by Doug Parker) – almost as diminutive as Kid Icarus, Mega Man is a robot constructed by Dr. Light who is from the world of Megaland. He too is protective of Princess Lana. Despite his size, he is incredibly strong, physically durable, and extremely agile. His body is clad in multi-tone green armor and he wears a visor. He has two forearm-mounted energy blasters that function like Captain N's zapper. He occasionally begins his words with the prefix "mega-". His home world, along with Dr. Light, is Megaland. In the episode "Happy Birthday Mega Man" he is upset with the fact he is a nonliving robot and is transformed from a robot into a living man, although later in the series he is still shown to possess his robotic abilities.^[7]
• Game Boy (voiced by Frank Welker) – debuting in the first episode of the second season ("Gameboy", aired September 8, 1990), Game Boy is a human-sized supercomputer designed like the Nintendo product of the same name, an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. When the portal to Mirror World opened, King Charles sent him in his place to help Captain N. He announces himself as being "programmed to play games" but, when action arises, he is usually capable of meeting the challenge. His body exhibits elasticity when he stretches out his arms and hands from his casing. Game Boy also uses his display to materialize many things, including objects and monsters, mainly for the team's target practice. He also has an onboard computer which can analyze substances and track enemies.^[8]

Main villains

• Mother Brain from Metroid (voiced by Levi Stubbs) – the primary villain of the series. Mother Brain is a trash-talking, abusive, power-hungry brain-looking alien in a giant bottle who comes from the world of Metroid. In the pilot episode, her troops are marching at the door of the Palace of Power, and she had already captured and banished King Charles (the King of Videoland) to the Mirror World on Excalibur. Though proud of her form and presence, she is not above any subterfuge if it gets her goal accomplished. She also displays great vanity—almost as much as Simon Belmont. She spends most of her time stationary in a control room on her floating world, Metroid, where she uses a special "mirror" to spy on the members of the N Team as she looks for weaknesses to exploit. She also has retractable prehensile tentacles she uses to lash or electrically shock her usually incompetent minions to encourage them to do better.^[9]
• King Hippo from Punch-Out!! (voiced by Garry Chalk) – the monstrous, pear-shaped beast King Hippo is the "heavyweight" who is short on brains and big on muscle and comes from the world of Punch-Out, which is inspired by the game of the same name.^[10] He is cruel, indulgent, and sharp-tongued, but most of his ire is usually directed to his counterpart the Eggplant Wizard.
• Eggplant Wizard from Kid Icarus (voiced by Michael Donovan) – a one-eyed human-sized eggplant from Mount Icarus. Eggplant Wizard is a main foe of Kid Icarus, but mostly serves as a target of abuse for Mother Brain due to his incompetence. He is also the chief foil for King Hippo as the two usually appear at the same time. Eggplant Wizard also has the ability to conjure various vegetable-themed gadgets to aid in mischief. Unlike King Hippo, Eggplant Wizard has shown some signs of taking the initiative to come up with his own schemes and is not above turning against Mother Brain on rare occasions.^[11]
• Doctor Wily from Mega Man (voiced by Ian James Corlett) – the least shown of the main villains. Dr. Wily is a short, beady-eyed, and slightly grizzled old dwarf man from Megaland who is loyal to Mother Brain and arguably the most competent of her main henchmen. He is a stereotypical mad scientist who uses his genius to build wild gadgets or develop complicated schemes to defeat the N-Team. One notable episode had him using a mind-reading device to find out the greatest fears of the team members, then constructing a robot in the likeness of a school bully (Kevin's greatest fear). He speaks with a German accent and is constantly wheezing in his speech. Like the video games, Doctor Wily has used his Robot Masters on occasion.

Minor villains

• Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong (voiced by Garry Chalk) – a gigantic gorilla from Kongoland. Mostly a solitary character, Donkey Kong is quick to anger and not happy to see visitors in what he considers his jungle. Donkey Kong must be appeased with food from the inhabitants or else he will wreak havoc on them. Donkey Kong has no loyalties and is equally dangerous to all the characters with the exception of the Videolympics episode where he joins Mother Brain's team.
• The Count from Castlevania (voiced by Garry Chalk) – a pasty, lanky vampire in a gauche yellow suit, he is the representation of Dracula from Castlevania, but is never referred to directly as Dracula. He demonstrates the ability to control the undead and transform into a bat in order to threaten the countryside of Castlevania, but rarely teams up with any other character for his goals (with the exception of the Videolympics episode where he joins Mother Brain's team). In his Season 3 appearance (the only one of this season), he wears a more appropriate black and dark blue suit.
• Alucard (voiced by Ian James Corlett) – the son of the Count who lives in Castlevania. He is depicted as an adolescent with typical teenage hobbies such as skateboarding and a rebellious attitude towards his father.
• Dragonlord from Dragon Warrior (voiced by Don Brown) – a huge red dragon of near-Donkey Kong size, the Dragonlord makes multiple attempts to rule Dragon's Den, the world of Dragon Warrior. Intelligent, if somewhat gullible, he uses both his size and his magical powers to further his goal of conquering his world and ruling over all its citizens.
• Ganon from The Legend of Zelda (voiced by Len Carlson) – a pig-like wizard, who serves as Link and Zelda's greatest enemy who has attacked Hyrule on occasion. He is a powerful warlock who wields strong magic, but Link has always previously overcome him. After Link had defeated him recently, he lost most of his power, before drinking the potion of power provided to him by King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard, regaining all his strength and power.
  • Rebonack from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – a silver armored knight who serves Ganon. He rides a floating mechanical horse and wields a lance in battle.
• Malkil from Wizards & Warriors (voiced by Garry Chalk) – an evil wizard from the world of Excalibur who is also a gnome. He also appears as one of the primary villains from the sister show The Power Team.
• Medusa from Kid Icarus (voiced by Venus Terzo) – a female gorgon who is the Goddess of Darkness from Mount Icarus. She can turn anyone or anything to stone by using her gaze.

Other characters

The following characters appear in at least 2 episodes:

• King Charles Oberonn (voiced by Long John Baldry) – the original monarch of Videoland, and father of both Lana and Lyle, was captured by Mother Brain and banished to the Mirror World before the start of the show and has remained trapped there since. He is a kind and compassionate ruler who places his judgement of others above his own well-being. He has an impressive white beard and moustache, and wears ornate multicolor clothing.
• Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda (voiced by Cynthia Preston) – a beautiful young woman, she rules Hyrule and protects the Triforces (here, she has all three) from evil as well as providing help to the N Team. She is a close friend to Princess Lana since before Mother Brain waged war on Videoland, and the two regard each other highly. She wields a bow occasionally to deal with foes.
• Link from The Legend of Zelda (voiced by Jonathan Potts) – a young warrior who serves Zelda, Link is a heroic figure who is brave, friendly (if somewhat competitive), and resourceful. He also fights to defend the Triforce and Hyrule from enemies and wields a double-edged sword. He is Kevin's idol and favorite video game character. There was minor friction between them when Zelda complimented Kevin on his skills and intelligence, causing some jealousy and mild resentment on Link's part. However this was later defused when he and Kevin worked together to defeat Ganon and they became close friends. Unlike his appearance in the Legend of Zelda cartoon, Link is older and portrayed as being more mature and no longer obsessed with trying to steal a kiss from Zelda. She repeatedly kisses him voluntarily.
• Prince Lyle – brother to Princess Lana, Lyle left home at an undisclosed time after feeling out of place. Despite his lineage, he displays few leadership skills or heroism, and generally regards himself as clumsy in spite of his good intentions. Thinking it for the best, he left home and took up residence on the world of Tetris where he guards the Sacred Square. Lana and the other team members convince him that nobody will have any confidence in him as a leader until after he believes in himself.
• Wombatman – a parody of Batman, Wombatman is a squat and cynical actor who portrays his character of the same name which is filmed on the Marblopolis Studio World. Kid Icarus idolizes him and identifies with the various gadgets he uses, as he comes up with similar gadget arrows in his quiver. Kid Icarus was later distraught when he found out that Wombatman doesn't do his own stunts. When his girlfriend Nikki was held prisoner, Wombatman reluctantly helped Mother Brain capture the N Team. He later helped the N Team at Kid Icarus' persuasion and started doing his own stunts.
• Mayor Squaresly (voiced by Garry Chalk) – the mayor of Tetris. He is most fond of holidays and declares a new one when he gets the chance. He also escapes a villain, who is turning Tetris' citizens into Tetris blocks, to contact the N-Team for help.
• Bayou Billy from The Adventures of Bayou Billy (voiced by Garry Chalk) – Bayou Billy is the main character from the video game that Kevin could not beat. He has an alligator named Loafer for a pet and rides around Bayouland in a buggy-like vehicle. Bayou Billy helps Captain N find his lost dog by training him in the ways of bayou tracking. The tricks that Kevin learns from Bayou Billy come in handy when facing Doctor Wily's swamp creature.
• Prince Plenty – the monarch that reigns over Kongoland, except when Donkey Kong is involved. Prince Plenty is blue-skinned like all the humanoid inhabitants of Kongoland. He is a very soft-spoken and friendly ruler who manages to keep tranquility in Kongoland, even with Donkey Kong on the loose as he has invented a machine that feeds Donkey Kong fruit and keeps him away from the city.
• Doctor Light (voiced by Antony Holland) – the genius scientist from Megaland who built Mega Man and Mega Girl, he teams up with the N Team to fight off Dr. Wily and Mother Brain. He also serves as a father figure to Mega Man. He is the Captain N incarnation of Doctor Light.
• Mega Girl (voiced by Lelani Marrell) – a girl robot with very similar construction to Mega Man, except her armor is pink and white. She wants to be friends with him very much, but is turned away initially as she reminds him that he is not human. She is the Captain N incarnation of Roll.

Additional voices

Captain N & The Video Game Masters

Captain N entered broadcast syndication, and aired on local stations from 1992 to 1993 by Rysher Entertainment,^[15] Captain N & The Video Game Masters, a 65-episode package which included Captain N: The Game Master, The Legend of Zelda, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World.

• Video Game Masters had its own theme song, followed by a commercial break, followed by the theme song of whichever series was being shown on that day. The lyrics consisted of "The world of Captain N is here" sung four times.
• Like The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, action/chase scenes in the first-season episodes were set to studio covers of pop music, such as Bob Seger's "Shakedown" in "Kevin in Videoland" and "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins in "Mega Trouble for Megaland". Due to copyright issues, these songs were removed in all later reruns and releases, and replaced by an instrumental glam-rock song from Season 2's "The Feud of Faxanadu".
• The Zelda episodes were cut for time when aired in the Video Game Masters package and two episodes were shown in each half-hour block.
• Many episodes also received minor changes when they were released in syndication as part of the Captain N & The Video Game Masters package. All episodes were time compressed and split into two acts instead of three to fit in the time slot for more commercials. All episodes except "The Feud of Faxanadu" used the second season intro and credits. Season 3 episodes also cut out the opening title card for each episode.

Family Channel

Family Channel played only the first 26 episodes from fall 1991 to summer 1992, while season 3 aired on NBC. Episodes were slightly time compressed to fit in more commercials, making episodes around 2 minutes shorter. Episodes were split into 4 acts instead of 2 or 3, adding an extra commercial fade. Family Channel airings also included the featured songs that played on the NBC airing, unlike later airings on WGN, Fox, and USA Network.

USA Network

Starting in the fall of 1993, USA Network briefly began showing reruns of the series on their Sunday lineup of their USA Cartoon Express animation block. Unlike other reruns, USA opted to edit scenes out of various episodes to cut the length down to their required limit in order to fit in more commercials. In 1994, it was taken off in most channels, and this was the last time the series has been shown on US TV.

Alternative versions of episodes

• "How's Bayou": The original version of this episode that aired on September 16, 1989, differed from the version that aired on all later airings. This version featured some dialogue changes/rearrangements/etc., an alternative piece of instrumental music in the Kevin/Lana dancing scene, and several other small changes here and there. Additionally, in the original airing, several shots were missing their backgrounds. The Shout Factory DVD release contains this episode in its unfinished form (albeit with the cover of "Born on the Bayou" replaced with the generic "Mega Move" instrumental and the teaser shown before the intro). When it was first rerun in December 1989 (and on all subsequent reruns), the episode was shown in its finished form, but this finished version has yet to be officially released. The second version circulates online, sourced from videotapes made by viewers in the late '80s and early '90s.
• "When Mother Brain Rules": This "clip show" episode has at least two different versions. There are many scenes with dialog but no music, and vice versa. In the second version, many of these sequences are changed around, and more color commentary (particularly by Simon Belmont) is added.
• Some of the Season 1 and season 2 episodes ("Nightmare on Mother Brain Street", "Quest for the Potion of Power", "Invasion of the Paper Pedalers", "Three Men and a Dragon", & "Mr. and Mrs. Mother Brain") were recut to 10 minutes long for airing in season 3 as filler. In addition to being edited, the soundtrack was also re-scored (possibly to accommodate for the edits). Unlike the other four episodes, "Quest for the Potion of Power" was merely split into two parts and had new narration added in, as well as having the music redone.

Regional DVD releases

Every episode of Season 3 is available on Australian DVD alongside the entire series of the "Super Mario World" cartoon, just like in the US.

Pidax released the complete series along Super Mario World in Germany (with English audio included), in 3 boxsets, however still excluding "When Mother Brain Rules".

Informational sites

• The Unofficial Captain N Home Page
• CaptainN.Net