This is what Captain Nintendo could have been. In 1989, just before getting laid off from DIC, I worked closely with Executive Producer Richard Raynis in the early development of an animation based on Nintendo games. Originally called Paper Boy, based off the game of the same name. For some legal reason Nintendo didn't want to use that game's title so Richard changed the name to Buddy Boy.
Richard and I were working with the idea that Buddy was still a paperboy and as you can see from the top left image, reality is as addictive to Game World characters as games are to us. See Megaman on the bike?
Top Right is the six foot high pitch art that Richard took into the meeting to try and sell Buddy to Nintendo. Had I been the head character designer on Captain Nintendo the whole show would have been in this rounder style, unfortunately I was back in Australia when the show was green lit, and other artists jostled for the helm. As you can see only the Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo remained in this style. I was also the one who found these characters and added them to the lineup. I always liked the "Death" character who would try to "Game Over" Buddy and kick him out of the Game World back to reality.
Lower Left shows Megaman's family, his Megamum, Megadad, Megabird and even Megarat. Megaman was more of a boy, a reflection of Buddy in the Game World.
Lower Right is the first time Kid Icarus meets Buddy Boy (notice his rolled newspaper and bike wheel decorations on his pajamas). Buddy thinks Icarus is an answer to a prayer, but he's only in the real world to plead for Buddy's help in the Game World, accessed through the elevator in the closet, complete with Bellhop.
In my opinion you were robbed, I did my best to give you fun interesting show but all I have are these photos. At least you've seen what could have been.
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
At what point in the process between the Captain Nintendo story and the Captain N cartoon does "Buddy Boy" lie? Can you connect the dots from here to here to here?
Basically Nintendo approached DiC back in 1989 to do an animated show based on any of their games. My boss Richard Raynis picked Buddy Boy as the hero of the show and I helped him develop ideas and characters from there. I was laid off from DiC by management above Richard as part of the yearly seasonal layoffs (I was the last artist left and had only been retained to work on the pitch art). My working Visa was attached to DiC so I had to leave the USA. I was in Australia while the show was developed into Captain N, I wasn't involved, although my character designs for Buddy Boy were reused by other artists.
However once Captain N was in Production I did character designs for one episode.