Back in the day, and by that, I mean the early 90s, giant sprites were the way to impress people. 3D was still good, but it was mostly untextured blocks. If you could push large 2D objects around, then that was as impressive then as ray tracing is today. At least it was to me, and one of those games with large 2D sprites was Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja in the arcades with its screen-filling dinosaur bosses and chunky main characters. These games would have been tough to bring home to the 16-bit computers and consoles of the time, and what we have with the Joe & Mac Collection unfortunately isn’t them.
Back To The Arcades
The Joe & Mac Retro Collection contains just three games, and those are the three that appeared on the SNES, and that’s it, and none of them is straight conversions of the arcade game. With a retro collection like this, I’d expect to see other formats as well, like the arcade game and the SEGA Mega Drive version, which was a straight arcade conversion. Even the Game Boy game tried to bring the arcade game to a handheld system. But none of those are to be found here, and it leaves the collection severely lacking.
Full Of Nostalgia
The games themselves are mostly good. Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is a pretty standard platform game. You choose levels from a map screen and work your way through them. Power-ups help you on your way, allowing you to shoot projectiles at enemies. The level design is basic but works, and it looks and sounds really good, which helps.
Some Deep Cuts
The second game is called Congo’s Caper and is an odd one. It instantly reminds me of the first Sonic the Hedgehog in both looks and level design, except it’s lacking any sense of speed. You collect diamonds scattered throughout the levels, and if you get hit, instead of losing them, your character turns into a monkey. It’s a rather odd game and very much of its time, when publishers were desperate to grab a bit of that Sonic magic.
The third game returns to the original Joe and Mac characters and feels reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country, at least to me. It has a kind of adventure feel to it, and a mine cart section that requires either lightning-fast reactions or the ability to memorise what’s coming up, because it needs split-second timing.
Rose Tinted Glasses
The collection’s presentation is pretty good overall, with the usual options of various display sizes like pixel perfect or 4:3 ratio. There are bezel surrounds, so there are no black bars on either side of the screen, but none of them is specific to each game; they’re the same for all three, which is odd for this kind of collection. There are also game boxes, manuals, and carts for all three regions to look at, plus a collection of concept art, although there’s no option to listen to the game music, which I always like to see (or hear).
Worth A Revisit?
Overall, it’s an odd collection really. With only SNES games to choose from, it’s severely lacking. They may be decent enough games, but with some very comprehensive collection sets out there (just look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set from a couple of years ago, for example), it just doesn’t have enough to make it a solid recommendation, unless you’re a fan of the SNES games or have fond memories of playing them back in the day.
Platforms: PC, PS5, Switch
Publishers: Red Art Games
Developers: Red Art Studios
Played On: PC
Key Provided By: PressEngine
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