Captain N & The Video Game Masters was the weekday syndication package that played The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, The New Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda and Captain N: The Game Master from September 1992 to August 1994 on local Fox and WGN affiliates in the morning at 6 a.m. EST or in the afternoon at 4 p.m. EST, depending on the affiliate.
List of Shows[]
- Captain N: The Game Master
- The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
- The Legend of Zelda
- Super Mario World
Format[]
VGM rotated series each day. All of the series, except Seasons 1 and 2 of Captain N, were in double episode format, and all episodes were time-compressed. The shows would open with the Captain N & The Video Game Masters opening theme, then go to commercial, then play the opening theme of the series that would be playing on that day. Every episode would be split into two acts, hiding a commercial break in all of the episodes except The New Super Mario World, by either using a scene transition, editing to look like a continuous shot/scene, or keeping the fade-out but not going to commercial. The commercials' bumpers referenced VGM but used a generic narrator and stills from the first episode of the series that was played - and, for the most part, used the same narration.
Edits Made to the Series[]
Captain N: The Game Master[]
Captain N Title Card
- All episodes hid one commercial fade-out by using scene transition, in some instances keeping it intact, or editing it into a continuous shot/scene.
- Season 3's series title cards were cut out, making those episodes start abruptly.
- Episodes were time-compressed, making the normal episode length around 20 minutes and 40 seconds.
- All of Season 1's featured songs ("Thriller", "Bonanza", "Born on the Bayou", etc.) were edited out and replaced with the instrumental version of "Mega Move" song from "The Feud of Faxanadu," sometimes looped in certain episodes, as in the DVD release, regardless of whether they fit or not.
- Season 3 was played in a double episode format.
- Most episodes used the Season 2 opening theme - without the Mario portions.
- Strangely, the episode "The Feud of Faxanadu" aired with the shortened version of the Season 3 intro.
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3[]
Super Mario 3 Title Card
- As with the other series, a commercial break was hidden or ignored.
- All episodes were sped up, making the individual short episodes less than 10 minutes, 20 seconds.
- The order of episodes was reversed, so the first episode aired as "Reptiles in the Rose Garden" / "Sneaky Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas."
- As with Captain N, the covered pop songs that appeared in some episodes were edited out and replaced with the same instrumental music. However, several of these are available in their original form on the King Koopa Katastrophe VHS tape from 2003.
- As with NBC repeats, "Kootie Pie Rocks" took out the Milli Vanilli songs and cut off part of the ending.
- The opening theme cut off the Captain N portion and removed the transition to the Captain N and the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 card at the end.
The New Super Mario World[]
SMW Title Card
- As with later repeats on other channels, with the exception of Mario All-Stars on The Family Channel and USA Network, this aired in a double episode format.
- The series title cards were chopped off, as in Season 3 of Captain N.
- This is the only series in the package to not have a commercial break removed.
- Like all of the other series, the episodes were time-compressed - but to a lesser extent than Mario 3 and Captain N.
- The opening theme cut off the Captain N and Super Mario World title card at the end, replacing it with a new title card.
The Legend of Zelda[]
TLoZ Title Card
- Most episodes (except "The Ringer") were sped up by about 25% - a much greater extent than the other shows played on VGM.
- Many scenes were cut to fit it into a double episode time slot.
- The episode length varied much more than any of the other series, ranging from approximately 9 minutes, 40 seconds to 10 minutes, 15 seconds.
- This series also hid/ignored the commercial break fade-outs.
- The opening theme was not changed at all from the original airings from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
- This is the last time The Legend of Zelda cartoons were played on TV.
Alternate Versions of Episodes[]
Captain N[]
- A more complete, second version of "When Mother Brain Rules" aired in this package - and probably on the USA Cartoon Express airings from 1993 to 1995.
- At least once, the 2-part version of "Quest for the Potion of Power" was edited into a half-hour episode and was played on VGM. It later appeared in a slightly altered form on some VHS releases.
The Legend of Zelda[]
- The title cards for "Underworld Connections" and "Doppelganger" aired with their title cards switched around at least once. The reason for this was the title cards were recreations, due to the first scene of each episode being cut.
Bumper Gallery[]
Captain N[]
  Don't Go Away!-Mother Brain |
  It's Showtime-Kevin, Lana, and Mother Brain |
  We'll Be Back!-N Team |
  Back to the Show!-Kevin, Duke, Kid Icarus, |
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3[]
  We'll Be Back-Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool |
  Back to the Show!-Mario, Luigi, and the Angry Sun |
  Don't Go Away!-King Koopa |
  We're Back!-Koopalings |
The Legend of Zelda[]
  It's Showtime!-Link and Zelda |
Videos[]
Captain N[]
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3[]
 Super Mario Bros.3 |
 Super Mario Bros 3 Cartoon Ending Credits |
The Legend of Zelda[]
 Legend of Zelda - Episode 9 |
 Legend of Zelda - Episode 3 |
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 Legend of Zelda - Episode 1 |
 Legend of Zelda - Episode 10 |