Buddy Boy Buddy Boy

I have decided to take a break from my War with Iger to bring you an interesting peice of American Animation history.

Before there was Captain N and The N-Team,there was the Adventures of Buddy Boy.

Buddy Boy was a Captain N concept created by former DiC employee,Fil Barlow. Nintendo approached DiC back in 1989 to do an animated show based on any of their games. Executive Producer Richard Raynis picked "Paper Boy" and Barlow helped him develop ideas and characters from there.

Fil Barlow worked closely with Executive Producer Richard Raynis in the early development of the show. However,due to legal issues,Nintendo didn't want to use the "Paper Boy" game title,so Richard Raynis changed the name to Buddy Boy.

Richard and Fil were working with the idea that Buddy was still a paperboy and would crossover with Game World characters.

Fil Barlow did some pitch art that Richard Raynis took into the meeting to try and sell Buddy to Nintendo. According to Barlow himself,had he been the lead character designer on Captain Nintendo the whole show would have been in this rounder style. Unfortunately,for him,he was back in Australia when the show was green lit,and other artists took the helm.

Barlow was laid off from DiC by management as part of the yearly seasonal layoffs (he was the last artist left and had only been retained to work on the pitch art). Though not directly involved,some of Barlow's character designs for Buddy Boy were reused by other artists.

Besides Buddy the Paper Boy,there were a bunch of other Video Game characters that woud've made appearences. Characters like King Hippo,Eggplant Wizard,Donkey Kong,Donkey Kong Jr.Dr.Wily,Mega Man,Pit "Kid" Icarus,and The Grim Reaper.

I'll talk more about the characters later. Right now,let's talk a bit about the story.

Buddy was a Paper Boy living in an American City,who loves playing Video Games. Buddy lives with his Parents and has Dog. One night,Buddy is recruited by Pit to help him and his allies in the Game World. Buddy is reluctant at first but agrees to help. The Warp to the Game World is soon established within Buddy's Closet.

One enemy,Buddy and his Game friends face is The Grim Reaper,who would try to "Game Over" Buddy by kicking him out of the Game World,back into the Real World. Barlow stated that he's always liked The Grim Reaper.

Storywise,that's all we know of this concept series. Moving along to the Characters.

Buddy was based on the protagonist of Paper Boy (makes sence,concidering that this show was initially gonna be a paperboy cartoon). He appeared in the Captain N episode "Invasion of the Paper Peddlers" as a Hispanic boy named Julio.

The Grim Reaper was a protagonist. He looks like he did in the games. Her never appeared in Captain N.

Pit Icarus was the 1st VG Hero that Buddy Meets. He looks like he did in Captain N. 

Mega Man is one of Buddy's Game allies. He looks like he did in Captain N. However,his head is more round. Another thing worth noting is that in this Concept show,Mega Man has a family. He has a Megamom, Megadad, Megabird (would've been a bastardisation of beat,had this been 1992) and even Megacat (would've been a bitchification of Tango had this been 1994). Megaman acted like an average boy,then a fighter. Imagine the Mega Man fanrage if THIS version of Mega Man/with his family was Greenlit. Not a pretty sight.

Dr.Wily was an Antagonist who created evil robots. He was to look like his Captain N counterpart.

Donkey Kong was an antagonist. He looks like he did in Captain N. However,he was gonna be 7 Feet tall. In Captain N,he was way bigger.

Donkey Kong Jr. did not appear in Captain N,though he was gonna appear in Buddy Boy. He looks like he did in the games. His role in Buddy Boy is unknown.

Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo were antagonists. Both look like their Captain N counterparts. Though King Hippo was light yellow instead of light blue.

That's all for the characters. I'm sure more were planned,but this is all I know. It's also worth noting that,In Buddy Boy,the many game enemies were to look like their game counterparts.

Interesting huh? It's always cool to find and talk about Cartoon Concepts. Anyway,before I sign off, Here an interesting fact fot ya.

Before he was layed off,Fil Barlow created Bayou Billy.He originally designed Billy to look similar to his game counterpart. But after Barlow got canned,Bayou Billy was turned into a Crocodile Dundee-esque character by one of the character artists. Barlow Hated the design. and still hates it to this day.