Captain N The Games Master 30th Anniversary 1989-2019
The N-Team Has Finally Reunited
Thank You, Masahiro Sakurai
Disclaimer: Castlevania © Konami, Megaman © Capcom, Captain N The Games Master, and all related original characters © DHX Media. Twin Galaxies © Twin Galaxies Arcades. Super Smash Brothers © Nintendo.
Some fan characters are used without the author's permission, but it's almost impossible to contact them, due to many of the fans retiring from the internet.
Note: I am among many people who, on the 8th of August in 2018, was surprised when Nintendo announced Simon Belmont for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. For over two decades, Nintendo's acknowledgement of the members of the N-Team was practically non-existent. Then, suddenly, well in time for Captain N's anniversary, it happened.
Pit, Mega Man and Simon Belmont all are in the biggest celebration of Nintendo's history going, with the possibility of having them fight against the other characters Nintendo has come up with since. While the man himself isn't present, Sakurai has finally done it. The N-Team are truly back, the game even acknowledging Pit's history with Simon.
This would be considered the first part of a pilot episode set, with this episode being in live action, with the animated segments coming in next episode. I wish to note that Twin Galaxies' role, as the official scorekeeper for the Guiness World Records gaming records, one of several things which didn't even exist during the original, are since they gave me an interesting way to use one of the characters loaned.
However, I will try to keep things to only vague generalisations to avoid being accused of any kind of false portrayal, and will state that, where I give them skills and abilities they do not actually have, I apologize ahead of time for portraying them in a way that may be unrealistic, but do not associate with them in regular life. Otherwise, their role will be done with full respect to the real organisation's unique position.
Captain N The Games Master: Remastered
Welcome To Videoland… Again
Part 1: The Masters... And The Masters
Northridge, California, September, 1995
The Games Masters Arcade
Kevin sighed. The Games Masters Arcade was his local neighbourhood arcade, renamed after having been bought a few years back by Graham Masters, a young man who fancied himself as 'the next Walter Day', planning to turn the Northridge gaming establishment into something that rivalled Twin Galaxies, especially after an incident that saw him fall out of favour with the arcade.
He even had his own competitor for Twin Galaxy's famous scoreboard, The Scoreboard Of Legends, which he'd stated several times trumped the one for Twin Galaxies, with every single machine set up to record direct feed video to a bank of computers out back, Kevin knowing exactly why when he looked at the gold-plated statue in front of it, depicting his son triumphantly clutching a joystick.
It was a bone of contention between him and the Masters, the validity of The Scoreboard, Twin Galaxies personally having gone on record as 'only accepting submissions from trusted sources', with The Masters Arcade being one of those which had a bulletin about it's own scoreboard, and it wasn't complimentary, claiming that there was rampant tampering with the equipment by Graham himself.
He entered the building along with his sister, motioning to her before he headed for a random machine near to the scoreboard. He wasn't here to play games, either literally or metaphorically.
"Look, Your money is no good here, Keene..." Graham Masters stated, "You're still on a lifetime ban after that stunt you pulled."
Kevin looked at the ban list, marked "Gaming's Worst Zeroes" as a joke over the fact the scoreboard had a list of "Gaming's Biggest Legends", with a legend beneath the zeroes list, 'These people have been found guilty by The Games Masters Arcade ownership of acts contrary to the purity of gaming, bringing controversy to the arcade. Continued ignorance of the list, and some actions, will result in a lifetime ban'.
Kevin's name and picture were at the top of the list, marked with 'Continual use of modification equipment… LIFETIME BAN', with his sister, also having a lifetime ban, beneath, due to 'Continual opening of machine, tampering with equipment', her Twin Galaxies staff t-shirt easily visible, and several of Kevin's associates had been, over several weeks, beneath them. The fact that no-one except Graham or Gareth kicked them out was telling.
"You and me both know I'm not the cheater. Gareth is, but you wouldn't dare put your own kid at the top of that list, instead he's stuck at the top of the Heroes list. Half the people on that list are people who wanted to investigate your son's scores with Twin Galaxies, but you refuse to let them into the building to check your setup..." Kevin hissed.
"The setup is legit, Keene, and it's caught you out more than enough times..." Graham stated, Kevin sighing. Him and Kelly knew exactly which times Kevin had been 'caught cheating', all of them with him getting a major lead over Gareth or another Legend, for Graham to call a halt to the attempt.
He made a great show of finding a daughter board slipped into the arcade machine, with him showing footage of Kelly being in that same machine, timestamped less than an hour before. Both of them got banned supposedly from the building for installing the board, Kevin and Kelly knowing it had been there already.
"For fuck's sakes, Graham, You just have it in for us since Kelly has that job with Twin Galaxies, and you can't take that they block you so much..." Kevin stated, "Kelly has video camera footage of when she opened the cabinet, showing the board was modded before then. She wears a wire half the time due to the rules of her job. Never mind that you'd need to shut off the machine to fit the board..."
Graham had the good nature to look sheepish about the fact Kevin was right. Plus the fact Kelly could be seen only getting out a torch, running it around the inside of the, still-active, cabinet, checking the folder, noting something down, then closing it back up. Kevin had seen the note - 'Illegal modification spliced into scoring system'.
"If she didn't keep finding those boards, Your list of might mean something to them. And The Gaming Zeroes list is a joke. You use it to get rid of people who question your setup, who want to prove what's the only thing true about you…" Kevin snapped, tearing down the list, "As far as those who follow them are concerned, You're a scam artist who paints that his son is the greatest retro gamer in history, the next 'Billy Mitchell'…
"The only difference between your son and Billy Mitchell is that Billy hasn't had Walter Day wipe all his scores due to suspicious actions!" Kelly added, "Come on, I've done what I need to do today..."
"What the?" Graham stated, realising that Kelly had been in the arcade, unobserved, for an unknown amount of time. She was more dangerous than Kevin by far, since he only submitted to Twin Galaxies, she worked for them.
"I think he's pissed that they found problems with Gareth's scores… again… due to suspicions about the video footage he submitted," his sister offered as he met her on the way out, her Twin Galaxies ID card prominent on the back of her belt, with her keys on a Twin Galaxies lanyard at her side. The card was there as a deliberate act so anyone who saw her duck down in front of a machine gave her full right to do so, Kelly rarely playing a machine for at least an hour after she did, which limited Graham's options.
"Hell, doesn't help that someone keeps acting as whistle blower about his records..." Kelly stated with a chuckle. Kevin knew full well she'd been pocketing a camera, a set of video discs visible in her bag. She'd been ripping the raw feeds off the computers and photographing the scoreboards, and would be taking the entire lot to Twin Galaxies. It was part of a discreet ongoing investigation.
Within a few hours after he published the records on the arcade's website, Twin Galaxies would politely ignore every single one of them, and Guinness Word Records had told him his evidence was suspect, with him not knowing Kelly had copied the back room's key and added it to her bunch.
Kevin ruffled her hair. He knew that, a few hours from now, the Scoreboard Of Legends would be shamed by Twin Galaxies again. The incident that got Kevin his lifetime ban was Graham's best shot at legitimatising his son's amazing scores, and getting recognition to the level of Twin Galaxies, but it had done the exact opposite. All thanks to Kelly's great eye for detail, which was why she'd ended up with that set of keys on her belt long before she'd have typically earned them...
October 1991
"Think about it, Keene! I'm going to be the next Billy Mitchell!" Gareth had announced earlier that day, "That guy is celebrating that he's had that record for over a decade. I'll smash it in a few minutes!"
The room was full of people, including representatives of Twin Galaxies, including the founder himself, as well as Nintendo, with Shigeru Miyamoto officially there to be the one who would present the award for the Donkey Kong challenge they were planning to do that afternoon.
The press would be arriving shortly, this small group doing the last few bits of administration before opening the doors to the press, the Scoreboard Of Legends still not turned on, having only been set up that morning, but it was ready to show the ongoing results of the challenge in real time.
"So, this arcade board for challenge? Will your son be competing?" Miyamoto asked, pointing to the arcade board that was being placed in a prepared case, none of the players allowed anywhere near the board. This had been a requirement by Twin Galaxies, due to a suspicion by someone that the challenge was rigged.
"Yep, and Sure, he's competing. He's the local champion," Graham explained, "Doesn't really stop playing the games, so I just plain bought the entire arcade..."
They walked over to where his son was, his appearance being a well-built young man who fit the classic trope of a jock, Graham not noticing that Miyamoto had got out a notepad, and was noting something down on it. What Graham didn't know was why Miyamoto was really there.
What he'd been studying was the screen, intimately familiar with the game Gareth was playing, which wasn't helped that it was a Nintendo cabinet playing a first-party Nintendo game, and confirming the suspicions that the Keene siblings had about their 'local champion'.
"I'm really proud of him," Graham continued, "His only rival is some snot-nosed kid, Kevin Keene. His sister is regularly up at Twin Galaxies for various reasons... Don't want to know why she hangs round those losers. One day, I'll be doing the records, not them!"
As he was speaking, the door opened to show a brown-haired boy, wearing a similar outfit to Gareth, of a Northridge High varsity team jacket, accompanied by a girl who had long hair the same colour, that had one slung over her shoulder, revealing a Twin Galaxies staff t-shirt, a book bag at her side.
The card on a lanyard hanging from her neck showed she was not full staff, but had twisted Walter Day's arm slightly to be allowed to be helping with this tournament as, officially, a trainee, due to being local enough that she could help with the discreet part of what Walter Day was doing. They both knew evidence disappeared quickly sometimes, and with how prominent this was...
Among the things she was carrying, the book bag held a set of folders with technical specifications for pretty much every cabinet in the building, and what boards the Twin Galaxies staff expected to see from the games she'd named in previous visits, marked with common modding locations. If she managed this tournament's judging without bias or putting Twin Galaxies into disrepute, she'd get a lot of credit for getting more than trainee status.
If she managed to prove that more than 50% of the machines she'd highlighted were modified, she'd not spend long as a trainee at all.
"Kelly wanted to get here before the press did, in case you tried something," The boy asked, Graham moving to cut him off as his sister grabbed Miyamoto's attention.
"What are you trying to pull, Keene..." Graham snapped, "You know your sister doesn't have..."
"Normally she wouldn't. She got permission off Walter Day, You can go ask him about it," 'Keene' replied, "It's in her neighbourhood, so she doesn't have to commute half as far, and she knows what the setup is here..."
Once Graham had walked off, Kelly looked towards the pad that Miyamoto handed her, nodding as she studied the same game, looking at what the notes highlighted. He'd been already approached by Twin Galaxies as well as herself, to do them a favour and see if he could find anything.
"The score and life count are inaccurate for the point in the game he is. Even on a perfect play, either the board's settings are non-default, which would disqualify him, or there's something else going on..." Kelly mused, "Thanks for doing this for us, Miyamoto-san..."
"I will add that commands do match up with the screen, so he is definitely playing, but, as you say, the board has been modified..." Miyamoto offered, no longer using 'Idiot's English', "Let's check a certain other board… Something didn't sit right with me. I think all the boards are modified in this place, I've noticed scoring errors in the demonstration plays..."
They went over to the glass case, Kelly putting in a jeweller's eyepiece, looking over the board, before taking out a folder from her bag, flicking through it to find a particular spot.
"Row 1 – Check, Row 2 – Check," She started to mutter, comparing the image in her folder to what she saw in front of her, then smirked as she noticed something in one of the marked locations on the page, going over to the Twin Galaxies people. They had to move fast, since she had found proof the entire tournament was in doubt, since there was a modified board there.
When Graham noticed them taking the board out of the case and taking out folders identical to Kelly's, right down to the Twin Galaxies logo on the front, he started to walk over, clearly planning to make sure they didn't look too hard at the board, knowing what they'd found.
"No-one touches the board before the final, especially you, Kelly!" Graham snapped, only to be stopped by Walter Day and Shigeru Miyamoto,
"Ahem, MY staff took the board out AFTER the on-site trainee noticed something amiss. Any findings she has are triple checked by the standard adjudication team," Walter stated, "I'd almost think you don't want people looking at the board… Wonder why?"
"She's found a non-standard board configuration, the modifications are not on the approved list. Will add that she bypassed the authorised modifications you already signed off on," The adjudicators confirmed, before looking towards the others, then the board was slid back into the case it was delivered in, and Graham knew what was about to happen.
They'd found the supposedly unmodified board for the challenge was not tournament-legal, meaning that they could descend like vultures. His big opening for the Scoreboard Of Legends and his streaming setup was screwed. He already saw them calling the local press to cancel.
"The tournament has been cancelled due to suspicions of fraud. We will be closing the arcade for a few hours to check for any other non-standard boards..." Walter Day called out, the Twin Galaxies staff fanning out and getting sets of keys from their belts along with their folders. Already, boxes were being waved over as notes were scrawled down and slid in with the contents. He then walked over to Graham, looking at him, almost shark-like.
"Twin Galaxies will reimburse you for the price of any board damaged in our investigations. Any board found to be fraudulent, we will charge you for the replacement," Walter stated, before looking towards Kelly, going into a bag and tossing her a set of keys, "Keene, Row 4 hasn't been done yet… Get to it,"
Later, they found out that the testers noticed something off about the board design used for the direct feed setup, and Nintendo had told Graham that, apparently, the scoring tables weren't working right on the board, so they'd kept it for further testing. And there were other timing issues and other glitches in all the boards they'd checked, so they couldn't do the tournament.
Well over the half the games Kelly needed to prove tampering with were found to be fraudulent in some way. Graham had had to get his boards from a third party due to that with Nintendo games, and he was under investigation by other companies. A rumor had gone around that at least half the awards Gareth had won in video games were faked, something he vehemently denied, but Twin Galaxies weren't listening.
Kelly's ongoing job with Twin Galaxies had been cemented by that whole incident, with her being field promoted to assistant adjudicator as soon she attended one of their branches, and it wasn't uncommon for Kelly herself to be the one who did the adjudication on Graham's videos. Of course, copies were made of the originals for independent testing and her machine checks were filmed until she could become permanent staff, to keep from having the full staff complain about her opinions being questionable, but that was something which hadn't yet come up.
She'd so far proved, without a shadow of doubt, Graham's scoreboard was rigged, her 'constant' opening of the cases being for her to photograph the boards in a random cross-section. So far, she'd found half his boards had the same modification that had apparently outed Kevin as a cheat. The modification had been installed as part of the authorized modifications that allowed the scoreboard to run, the fact it needed real time scoring data the excuse given.
But Kelly knew that was a flat lie, and the board type he used was only used for real time score modification. Either way, though, the point was that the Masters didn't want to deal with the Keenes, since they were constantly on their case, and becoming increasingly expensive to deal with. So, they were banned until Kelly quit her job, unlikely, or Kevin stopped hounding Gareth.