The N Team vs. The Power Team

This blog was written for Eat Your Serial/Maglomaniac on June 3, 2013

(All credit goes to those who own these photos, like Saban, Bohbot, Screwattack, etc.)

 

The mad minds of Screwattack.com (a video game website that helped bring about the rise in popularity of Internet media and web videos) came up with an interesting concept known as “Death Battle”.  The basic selling points: it’s a battle to the death, based on all the stats and info on the characters involved from various sources.  This way, the battle is as fair as it can be based on what is known.  While some battles are incredibly entertaining like Koopa Troopa vs. Goomba, Rainbow Dash vs. StarScream) others have been incredibly controversial (ex. Spider-Man vs. Batman, Superman vs. Goku).  If you haven’t seen it, check it out.  But, today’s “call to the bullpen” for you flakes has to do with two entities that I have found interesting on my 30 years on this planet.

 

The N team is the fictional team created by the mad minds of Saban Entertainment, with help from the video game world that starred in the short-lived, heavily criticized, cartoon series that I love: Captain N: The Game Master.  Long story short, what started off as a short story in Nintendo Power about a game counselor obtaining amazing powers while trying to fight video game villains that have come to life was adapted into a cartoon series about a high school teen sucked into his video game by the ultimate Warp Zone to help the forces of Video Land against the various villains who threaten to take over.  Captain N, along with his dog, Duke, join the fictional Princess Lana, adaptations of Mega Man, Pit (called Kid Icarus in this series), Simon Belmont, and an oversized living version of the original Nintendo handheld system, Game Boy.  Together, they stop the forces of evil all over Video Land.

The Power Team (not to be confused with the Christian empowerment group), was a cartoon short that aired between segments on the television show, Video Power.  Video Power started off as a showcase of games from Acclaim Entertainment for various systems, with previews, reviews, and tips.  Later on, the show turned into a game show that kept some of the original aspects but focused on competition in video games between different contestants.  As for the Power Team, they made up 15 or so minutes of television time from the mad minds of Bohbot Entertainment.  The Power Team’s focus was to stop the forces of evil that originated from their video games from causing chaos in the real world.  The team consisted of Johnny Arcade (who was also the host of the show), and adaptations of BigFoot the monster truck, Tyrone, Kwirk, Kuros, and Max Force, their field leader.  Together, they tangled with the various villains from their respective games while living in the real world.  Now, that you know the teams, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty details.

 

As you have read, the characters that comprise these teams are either fictional or adaptations of actual video game characters.  Sadly, since the developers of each show did not do much research on these characters, their adaptations were very gross misinterpretations.  So, it’s no surprise that these shows are seen in a very negative light amongst gamers.  The Power Team focused on characters from Acclaim, while The N Team has stars various video game companies, like Capcom and Konami.   While both teams initially had 6 members, The N Team gained a 7^th member in the second season of the series.  The Power Team took a page out of the original Captain N idea with their exploits going on in the real world as they struggle to make sure they don’t go back to their video game world.  Meanwhile, Captain N is the other way around with battles in the video game world, and few exploits in the real world.  While the belief is that The Power Team had more episodes, only 20 or so have surfaced.  Captain N had its whole series made for DVD some time ago, at a grand total of 33 or so official episodes.  As the N Team has shown their ability to win without having to use their abilities too much, the Power Team has relied on their abilities for the most part. 

A reasonable consolation?

The biggest concern with a fictional battle between the two teams is their adaptations.  If you consider the actual abilities of the two teams, would you leave out the fictional characters, or leave them in the realm of the show’s content?  Also, can you consider it a truly fair battle if you were to leave the abilities within the abilities of the adaptations themselves?  This would severely weaken certain characters like Simon Belmont, or even give a ton of ability to Tyrone, whose abilities are limited to brawling during a basketball game.

In conclusion, I would love to see a Death Battle between these two teams, if not to see which team is better, but to see which team was significantly worse by adaptation.  Yes, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine, as I not only own every episode of Captain N, but have yearned for a DVD version of The Power Team.  So, maybe I’m the only person who’d like to see this, but it does raise some interesting questions, really.  So, who do you think could win a battle, let alone a death battle between these two teams?  And better question, should we call to the bullpen to explore it?  Something to ponder while powering up my console…and my memories….