Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Skyler Miller of AllGame criticized the NES version for its "unresponsive controls", writing that "jumping and simultaneously throwing your weapon, an important move, is often hard to perform".
GamePro wrote that the NES version was colorful but that the graphics "are prehistoric", criticizing the "flat backgrounds and sprites".
GamePro also criticized the music, described as "rock-splitting clinks and clanks".
Super Play praised the SNES version for its colorful graphics, but also wrote: "The snag is that there isn't a lot to hold your interest.
Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame praised the Genesis version's graphics, sound effects and music, but criticized the game's two-player mode.
Sega Visions praised the Genesis version's "bright colors and bouncy sounds", but criticized its controls.
GamePro, reviewing the Genesis version, noted similarities to the SNES version and praised the "entertaining" two-player mode.
Melliar-Smith praised the multiplayer option as being superior to single-player mode, and also complimented the sound effects, but called the music repetitive and not creative.
Melliar-Smith also criticized the unresponsive controls.
Dave Paget of Amiga Format praised its "clear graphics and well-drawn backdrops", but was critical of the linear gameplay.
David Upchurch of The One Amiga called the plot and gameplay "uninspired", also criticizing the graphics (specifically its colour palettes as garrish and sprites appearing in the backgrounds), its unresponsive controls and the game's difficulty, but praised the sound.
Stuart Campbell of Amiga Power criticized the game for using "the kind of options screen that you'd have to be a professional semaphore operator to penetrate.
Campbell also criticized the game's graphics on Amiga, the game's poor control system and its short, tedious levels.
The magazine also criticized the backgrounds, which caused the main character of Joe to blend into the environment, creating confusion regarding his location.
The One reviewed the arcade version of Caveman Ninja in 1991, calling it "a cutesie 'jumpy-jumpy' game which uses some good graphics and neat comic touches to overcome the unoriginal gameplay", recommending it as being "worth a try".
Skyler Miller of AllGame criticized the NES version for its "unresponsive controls", writing that "jumping and simultaneously throwing your weapon, an important move, is often hard to perform".
GamePro wrote that the NES version was colorful but that the graphics "are prehistoric", criticizing the "flat backgrounds and sprites".
GamePro also criticized the music, described as "rock-splitting clinks and clanks".
Sega Visions praised the Genesis version's "bright colors and bouncy sounds", but criticized its controls.
GamePro, reviewing the Genesis version, noted similarities to the SNES version and praised the "entertaining" two-player mode.
Dave Paget of Amiga Format praised its "clear graphics and well-drawn backdrops", but was critical of the linear gameplay.
David Upchurch of The One Amiga called the plot and gameplay "uninspired", also criticizing the graphics (specifically its colour palettes as garrish and sprites appearing in the backgrounds), its unresponsive controls and the game's difficulty, but praised the sound.
Nintendo Power positively wrote about the Game Boy version: "Good graphics and animation rival those of the NES and Super NES versions", but said that the "background blur while walking is severe, making it difficult to see approaching enemies".
In 2018, Complex ranked Joe & Mac 69th on their list of "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time".
There are 4 titles in all made by Data East, but in 2022 a remake was developed and released in France.
Simultaneous play by 2 players, with 1P as Joe and 2P as Mac, is the same as in the 1st arcade title, but the genre was changed from a side-scrolling action game to a single-screen action game. It reuses, with some changes, the game system of "Diet Go Go", released by the same company.
A remake of the 1st title in the series, released in 2022-11 by the French game company Microids.
The overseas version was released as a different game called Congo's Caper.
Simultaneous play by 2 players, with 1P as Joe and 2P as Mac, is the same as in the 1st arcade title, but the genre was changed from a side-scrolling action game to a single-screen action game. It reuses, with some changes, the game system of "Diet Go Go", released by the same company.
Simultaneous play by 2 players, with 1P as Joe and 2P as Mac, is the same as in the 1st arcade title, but the genre was changed from a side-scrolling action game to a single-screen action game. It reuses, with some changes, the game system of "Diet Go Go", released by the same company.
It was originally announced that the Steam version would support Japanese, but as of 2023-7 it does not.
David Upchurch of The One Amiga called the plot and gameplay "uninspired", also criticizing the graphics (specifically its colour palettes as garrish and sprites appearing in the backgrounds), its unresponsive controls and the game's difficulty, but praised the sound.
Nintendo Power positively wrote about the Game Boy version: "Good graphics and animation rival those of the NES and Super NES versions", but said that the "background blur while walking is severe, making it difficult to see approaching enemies".
On 12-6 it was ported to the Super Famicom and released as a console game as well, and it is also Data East's first Super Famicom title.
No further information was released afterwards and the project has been cancelled as Golgoth Studio
The passages quoted on this page are taken verbatim from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles.Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — reusable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.