Instead of full half hour episodes like the shows previously saw, each episode of Captain N and the New Super Mario World is 30 minutes long and contains two halves, the first one following Mario, the second one features the N-Team. Well, until the last couple of episodes that is, then the Captain N shows run out.
The Mario segments follows Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool as they go to Dinoland, meet a hungry dinosaur named Yoshi and start living in Dome City with cavemen. Unfortunately, King Koopa and his Koopalings have also made their way to this new world and the struggle between the plumbers and Bowser continues. It is interesting how a lot of these episodes focus on someone introducing some new technology to the cavemen, like the wheel or telephones, and seeing how society goes a bit off kilter. When I mentioned these episodes to Geck0, he felt like the show was giving off an anti-technology message, which I have to say, upon second thought, does seem to fit.
Meanwhile, in Videoland, Captain-N, Kid Icarus (probably one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen), Simon Belmont, Mega-Man, Gameboy and Princess Lana will travel to different video game settings and face off against not only bad guys from that world, but also the Forces of Chaos led by Mother Brain. The premise behind this show, for those unfamiliar with it, was that a teenage gamer got sucked into Videoland in order to save the universe and Princess Lana's father. Not only was the show Kevin's quest to save Videoland, but also his attempt to get back home, but with this being the final season, that aspect is left unresolved. In fact, the last episode is no different than any other one, so there is no kind of resolution to the series. I didn't realize that when the show was originally on, I just figured I never saw that final show where Captain N decides to stay in Videoland or go back home after finally defeating Mother Brain and her goonies.
When it comes down to it, Captain N and the New Super Mario World is for two audiences, those who remember both shows and are trying to hold on to those old memories, and people who didn't see the show originally, but have been collecting the Mario DVDs and need to complete their collection.
