Joe & Mac

[Melf]

Life in prehistoric times must have been really hard. Aside from the whole "hundreds of ferocious dinosaurs out to eat you" thing, you had other cavemen stealing your women when you weren't looking! For Joe & Mac though, such adversity wasn't a problem; it was an excuse to kick some caveman tail. So great was their arcade anger, so powerful was their strength, that the duo found their way to several consoles, including the Genesis. We have a full review of the port for you, so grab a club and some fruit and read on!

[j_factor]

I strongly disagree with this review. I think this game is ugly and boring.

[JFLY]

I enjoyed this version of the game more than the SNES version. Much truer to the arcade game. Though I think that the score for the review is a little high. I would've given it a 7.

[GameUser-16-32-128]

I've always wanted to play this game. I've never seen it at any arcade before back then.

[MrMatthews]

I've always wanted to play this game. I've never seen it at any arcade before back then.

I saw it once. Never played it though

[Zebbe]

I think the review is good. I will probably buy this game sometime. But who is the reviewer? He has written a bloody lot lately, is he a member here?

One thing is very strange about this game. It has red stripe box, although it was released as early as 1991. Ecco the Dolphin came out next year and had the black grid. I thought all black grid boxes came before the red stripe boxes. Does anyone have an explanation to this? Aarzak?

[j_factor]

Note also the "GA" rating. Either the game actually came out in 1993-94, or the box art shown is of a reprint.

[Aarzak]

I think the review is good. I will probably buy this game sometime. But who is the reviewer? He has written a bloody lot lately, is he a member here?

One thing is very strange about this game. It has red stripe box, although it was released as early as 1991. Ecco the Dolphin came out next year and had the black grid. I thought all black grid boxes came before the red stripe boxes. Does anyone have an explanation to this? Aarzak?

Of course, Aarzak, the "go to" guy for pointless details!

I dunno, perhaps the Genesis port of "Joe & Mac" was developed around 1991ish and held off from being released until mid-late 1993, or maybe that's the copyright of the original arcade game (yeah, this is an arcade port). But the Genny Joe & Mac was definitely released in mid-to-late 1993 (there were ads on the magazines at that time); the "Sega Stripe" packaging scheme debuted in July/August of that year. "Ecco The Dolphin" was one of the last-ever games to use the "black grid" scheme (wasn't it released in the first half of 1993?), while the Sega CD version was amongst the very first to use the "Sega Stripe" scheme.

[MrMatthews]

It was was released for the genesis in 1993. Our own master list dates it at 1991 (which was the arcade release date)

[Zebbe]

Maybe it was like with Elemental Master. Developed in 1991 or so, but released in 1993.

[Aarzak]

The NES & SNES ports of "Joe & Mac" were released in 1991; perhaps Nintendo had an exclusivity agreement with Data East or something.

The Genesis port, while coming out the latest was the most faithful home port.

[Zebbe]

A very good theory there, Aarzak. Might also explain why only the SNES got sequels.

[Christuserloeser]

This game is another case of an underrated gem when it came out. There were so many great games back in the days - especially platformers and shmups - that only a few got the rating they actually deserved.

[vintagegamecrazy]

I'll probably never go out of my way for this game but if it shows up sometime I'll have to give it a try. I enjoyed the SNES version somewhat but didn't love it, it was however much better than its sequel.

[Zebbe]

Does anyone know where you can buy this game (complete)? I can't find it on eBay.