I was pretty happy to see Joe & Mac: Retro Collection added to Red Art Games’ growing assortment of classic redistributions, since the original Joe & Mac was a very special game to me growing up. I’ve mentioned before how I grew up in a Nintendo household, but my cousins, whom I visited frequently, had the Sega Master System and Genesis. I also failed to mention that they had a Super Nintendo, and one of the few games they had on it was Joe & Mac.
My cousins kept their Super Nintendo at their house, which we didn’t go to very often—the Genesis and Master System were at my grandmother’s, who was only a few minutes away. So any chance we got, we would sit down and play that goofy arcade side-scroller—bonking cavemen and dinosaurs, trying to save our cave-babes from an evil demon. In all those years, I don’t think we ever made it past the fourth or fifth level, but we loved it all the same.
“If you were a fan of the original games, then the Joe & Mac: Retro Collection may be a fun little piece of nostalgia to add to your library.”
Nowadays, there are still a few options out there to play Joe & Mac since the complete series is available on the NSO Super Nintendo catalogue, alongside New Joe & Mac – Caveman Ninja, a ground-up glow-up that released in 2022—and I swear I remember the Johnny Turbo’s Arcade Joe & Mac Returns being on the Switch eShop, but it has since been removed. But with the Joe & Mac: Retro Collection, fans and newcomers get a chance to not only experience these awesome games, but also a little piece of gaming history.
The Joe & Mac: Retro Collection contains the three main entries that were released on the Super Nintendo back in the 90s—Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja, Congo’s Caper, and Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics (technically the third game in the series). If you missed these games back then, allow me to fill you in: Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja sees the titular heroes journeying across the land to rescue their babes from an evil demon. Congo’s Caper sees the titular hero journeying across the land to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of an evil demon. Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics sees our titular heroes journeying across the land to return a magical crown from the clutches of an evil Neanderthal named Gork. They’re all silly, lighthearted and filled with 90s charm—when games were as simple as “cool dudes rescue babes.”
Gameplay is still incredibly fun across all three games—each one an action-packed arcade platformer that is challenging, with a touch of silliness. Players can use their clubs to bash enemies or utilize power-ups to add projectiles to each swing, such as bones, stone wheels, and fireballs. In Congo’s Caper, while Congo can only bonk enemies with his club, if players collect three red jewels, he’ll become superpowered, able to jump higher, run faster and sustain three hits before returning to normal.
There’s an incredible amount of charm to each of these games, from their music to the enemy designs and their ridiculous animations, to even the gameplay itself. Joe & Mac was one of the few co-op games I played growing up that had a “B Mode,” where players could hit each other. It made the already somewhat chaotic gameplay even messier—adding to the challenge in a way that was both funny and frustrating.
“Also, while it is available on all consoles, it feels particularly at home on the Switch, since the games lend themselves well to portability and the whole thing started on the Super Nintendo.”
But of course, as a retro collection, the devil’s in the details, or rather, the extras. I was pretty impressed with Red Art Games’ Super Bomberman Collection, not only being a solid collection, but one packed with goodies. Well, the same is true here—Joe & Mac: Retro Collection has a plethora of fun digital additions that add a lot to the overall experience. Similar to the Super Bomberman Collection, each game has a digital box players can examine and open to see both the classic cartridge and manual book.
The collection includes not only the NA versions but also the PAL and Japanese versions as well. On top of this, players can look over a gallery of concept art and try their luck in a Boss Rush mode that pits players against an assortment of bosses from all three games. In addition to all this is a jukebox which is genuinely awesome because Joe & Mac had some certifiable bangers in its soundtrack. Also, while it is available on all consoles, it feels particularly at home on the Switch, since the games lend themselves well to portability and the whole thing started on the Super Nintendo.
If you were a fan of the original games, then the Joe & Mac: Retro Collection may be a fun little piece of nostalgia to add to your library. The games themselves are solid, and the little add-ons do offer a fun look back at this classic era of gaming. As I said, this collection is available elsewhere, so if you’re not sure about grabbing it, give it a look!
