Joe & Mac

[MrMatthews]

Ebay is where I got my copy. It's not a title that shows up very often, but I have seen it CIB on ebay before.

[Zebbe]

OK, thanks. I put it in my favourite searches. How much did you pay for your copy?

[MrMatthews]

$5.99

I would have paid more, but no one else wanted it, I guess!

[Zebbe]

Good.

[jesus.arnold]

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

My opinion falls somewhere in the middle I think, I wouldn't say this is a particularly impressive platformer given the number of better MD games from that genre.

[StarMist]

This game is despicable.

[Thenewguy]

This game is more accurate to the arcade version when played on easy mode, medium is much harder than the original was.

Also, doing charge shots is very important, you get your ass kicked by the bosses in this game if you don't charge shoot them.

Its an OK game, not one of the best platformers on Mega Drive, but it respectable IMO, 2-player co-op is always a welcome addition for me too.

[MrMatthews]

This game is despicable.

I read this comment back when you originally posted it and ignored it as either trolling or troll bait. But now that I've had some time to think about it, I feel it's appropriate to come back to this wonderful bit of hyperbole and ask you not to at least elaborate on if not quantify your position.

Despicable? Really? I could understand if someone said this game was "by the numbers" or "unremarkable," but "despicable?" Honestly you're free to feel as you feel and it has no effect on me, but this just seems like you're exaggerating for the sake of exaggeration.

[StarMist]

Despicable? Really? I could understand if someone said this game was "by the numbers" or "unremarkable," but "despicable?" Honestly you're free to feel as you feel and it has no effect on me, but this just seems like you're exaggerating for the sake of exaggeration.

It's by the numbers and unremarkable plus the following flaws.

Parts I agree with are bolded.

The game throws a large number of enemies at you at once, so taking damage is nigh unavoidable past the second area. An eighteen unit life bar looks pretty encouraging until you realize that you can still only survive two to four hits. Also adding to the difficulty is how slowly your character moves. Obviously to counter the diminutive levels, Joe and Mac don’t cover a lot of ground despite how fast their feet move. Even the high jump (which rockets them to the top of the screen) doesn’t carry you especially far, making the few critical jumps in the game a bit too tricky to pull off. These minor quibbles (in addition to a number of rather cheap, unavoidable hits in later levels) serve only as reminders of the game’s arcade ancestry and don’t really detract from its overall enjoyment (or add much to it, for that matter).

By holding down the fire button, your caveman will pinwheel his arm, powering up the weapon for a larger, stronger attack. Charging for too long, however, will exhaust and effectively stun him, rendering him immobile for a second or two and costing you a few bars of health (sigh… add that to the vast number of ways the game sucks away hit points).

For comparison's sake I like the fireball in Ghosts n Goblins.

It’s a shame that the level of quality applied to the graphics and character design wasn’t applied to the sound. The funky, chipper music fits the tone of the game perfectly yet manages to be completely forgettable. Sound effects aren’t so hot either, but I do get a kick out of the fact that the two cavemen sound just like Donald Duck when they’ve been hit.

"Forgettable" is correct, but the music's annoying during play. I do not enjoy that Donald Duck vocalisation. And I find the graphics everlastingly awful. That applies to the monotonously green levels, the art style that composes them, and especially the character designs.

[Thenewguy]

The developers felt they needed to change some of the damage numbers (for both you and the enemies) to add to the longevity and make the game harder for the home market, its a little brutal at times,

I don't tend to ever use easy modes but in this case I'm familiar enough with the arcade game to know its a much closer experience, so I make an exception here.

On easy the only criticism I have is that the game doesn't do anything especially notable, its a bit generic. I never really had that much problem with cheap hits in this mode, just the usual tricky sections here and there.

I own the SNES version as well, funnily enough that one went in the opposite direction and it feels like a "my first platformer" style game made for very young children.

[tbp]

One of the faithfullest arcade port on the Genesis. Replay value is good with a 2 players mode : different paths.
According to me, a must have in any video games Genesis collection. Can't believe the negative words about it.