Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics

released on Feb 18, 1994

Improving on the original's platformer/brawler co-op gameplay, this game adds adventure and role-playing game elements that create a more involving experience compared to the first game. You can now collect coins in the levels to purchase items from Tiki Village, such as meat to recover your health, or even remodel your hut back at your home village. The game also uses a password system to track your progress. The game also shifts to an overhead map so you can wander to whichever level you wish, and return to completed levels to earn more money or power-ups.


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There were quite a lot of pre-historic-themed games that were made back in the day, primarily platformers, and out of all of them, Joe & Mac/Caveman Ninja was arguably one of the best of the bunch. The game itself wasn’t really all that special, just being a typical arcade platformer themed around cavemen and dinosaurs, but it’s simple yet approachable gameplay, coupled with its cartoonish style, made it very appealing and a good time all around. The same can also be said for the game’s “sequel”, Congo’s Caper, which didn’t differ itself too much from the original, but managed to be just that more fun and challenging from the original to where I would say it is an improvement over the original. But then again, most people probably didn’t even know that game was related to Joe & Mac, because who the fuck is Congo, and why should we worry about his Caper? So, to remedy this, when making the next game, Data East would make the next game focus on the original duo once again, and it would be known as Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics.

Like with the original two games, I had first heard about this game from JonTron’s video that he made on Joe & Mac way back in the day, but I had never actually taken the time to play it myself until before typing this review. From what I had seen, it didn’t really seem like anything all too different or spectacular, just being another game in this series to keep the money rolling in, even if these games were making any money to begin with. So, it didn’t come as any surprise to me when I played the game, and it turned out to be nothing more then good. It is still a perfectly competent platformer, and the ideas it implements are… interesting to say the least, but if you have played the other games before this, you pretty much know almost exactly what to expect from this game.

The story is pretty similar to the other games, although instead of cave-babes being kidnapped this time around, a crown is stolen instead by the evil Gork, so it is up to Joe & Mac to set out to find the Rainbow Stones (definitely not ripping off something else) and get the crown back, which is about as basic as any 90s platformer can get for a story, but hey, at least they swapped out the damsel in distress for an object… in distress? I dunno. The graphics are good, having that same cartoony style, coupled with plenty of vibrant levels to go through, but it doesn’t look any better or worse then the other two games in the series, the music is good, having plenty of pre-historic tunes fitting for your caveman escapades, and the control/gameplay is pretty close to that of the other two titles, except with some changes that can be seen that make the game different, but not for the better.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Joe or Mac yet again, go through six different levels across grassy plains, caves, icy mountains and volcanos, defeat plenty of pre-historic enemies from cavemen to tiny little rodent freaks using whatever tool you have for the job, gather plenty of wheels and other items to give you an advantage along the way, and defeat plenty of bosses that are not only pretty easy to deal with, but also have no distinctions to make them stand out from previous bosses in the series. As is Data East tradition, you can pretty much tell here that they put no effort into actually trying anything too new or exciting for this title, but to their credit, they did try to change things up… but fell flat on their face.

For some reason, this game tries to have somewhat of an adventure game feel, where upon the start of the game, you can explore your home village, go into houses, talk to NPCs, and shit like that, as if the game was an RPG. Later after the first level, you are then given the chance to go to a town that has a shop, where you can buy plenty of items, as well as other locales that can take you to certain places or let you view parts of the map. And speaking of the map, you also have a miniature overworld you can run around as well, allowing you to choose to go through the six levels in any order you want, which is a nice change of pace. Not to mention, in one or two cases, there will be an instance where you will need to revisit a previous location, which adds to that sense of adventure that the game is trying to make.

Unfortunately though, that’s really all the benefits you do get from these unique changes, because as for everything else I have mentioned, it all feels so… underwhelming. None of it is really bad, mind you, but everything that this game tries to do in terms of new additions feels completely pointless, with you being able to ignore most of these new elements, and you will get the same experience as you would in any other Joe & Mac game. The only actual purpose that any of this serves is that you are able to buy flowers from the shop, which you can use to woo a cavewoman, who will eventually become your cave bride, and the mother of your future child in the best ending, but again, none of it feels like it has any impact on anything. It just feels like something to do for the sake of it, which is not how you wanna treat a new feature in your third game.

As for the main stages themselves, like with the previous two games, they are fun enough to play through, keeping the same basic run, jump, and attack formula that you know and love from the previous games, except now, there are a few new things added… and by that, I mean like only two real new additions. There are the animal buddies you can now find in this game, which do about what you think they would, and then there are the new types of power ups that you get in the levels, which are… not great, but I will get into that more later. These additions to the gameplay are pretty good and all, but again, like with the other shit I mentioned earlier, both of these just feel pretty underwhelming, like they were added in as a means to make the game more fun and exciting, but they end up either being inconsequential, or not all that useful.

In terms of the issues I have with this game, like I mentioned earlier, the new power ups that you get in this game kinda blow when compared to the original power ups. The boomerang, wheel, and axes from the original game are completely gone, and instead, we get a few melee weapons that can shoot short range projectiles, which are fun to use, but they definitely don’t do as much as you are hoping for. If you are wanting long-range projectiles once again, those come in the form of the various food and patches of water you find lying around, which you can then eat, and then spit back out to your advantage, which is a neat idea, but the projectiles themselves are pretty small, and they feel unreliable most of the time. Aside from that though, there is also an unneeded boss rush, accompanied by re-fights with the game’s main villain, which can only be seen as a means to drag the game’s playtime out even further.

If you haven’t already figured it out already, the main problem that this entire game suffers from is that it is extremely underwhelming. It feels like the people at Data East were looking around at all the other games coming out at the time, seeing what they were doing to enhance the platforming genre, so they decided to take those elements and put them in their own game, but they never quite figured out what made them as impactful or exciting as they did in other games. This also rings true for most of the entire game, where, if we ignore all of the new features and changes present, it is essentially just Joe & Mac again. You go through the same types of levels, fight the same type of enemies, the same type of bosses, all that shit, and none of it feels original enough for me to care anymore then I do. Granted, you could argue other franchises like Mario and Kirby also don’t get too creative with those elements either, but at least with those games, there is always a new visual style, pace, or energy to the games that makes you want to play them again and again, but with this game, it just feels like… nothing.

Overall, despite still keeping the core foundation of the game strong, and having plenty of elements that make it certainly ambitious, Joe & Mac 2 feels like a nothing sequel, one that has plenty of great ideas and a great foundation to build off of, but never quite figured out where to start, and just sorta places these elements along in the game for the sense of being there without any semblance of weight or importance. I would recommend it for those who are fans of the other two Joe & Mac games, as well as those who are fans of old-school platformers in general, but for everyone else, there are plenty of other platformers that you could be playing over this, and get a much more enjoyable experience out of. But I mean, hey, I guess if I had to give the game some credit, I would say that making an underwhelming sequel is a lot better then making a sequel that is just flat-out garbage. Looking at you, Rastan.

Game #522

Framerate issue solved from the previous one. Pretty nice platform.

You’re all wrong, this game is a goated 2-player experience (shoutout to @Wesleylikesgames). Play it with a friend and you’ll see what I mean 👍

Ooga booga medicore platformer

This is a perfectly adequate platformer. Animations are charming and the cartoon caveman theme is endearing, but there isn't much to make the actual gameplay stand out. The viewport is pretty small, forcing a slower pace to the platforming, and hit detection for combat is a bit finicky. Bosses and level design are fine but not thrilling. Overall this is only worth trying if you're really desperate for SNES platforming.

Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 3: Data East Collection 1

Its ok and sort of fun but its also just really limited. There's not a lot of levels here and there's a lot of systems and things that feels like dressing vs actually providing anything significant to make the game more fun. Stealing a bit from @Jenny and their review but it does feel like they rushed out a half finished game to meet unrealistic promises. Given its Data East that wouldn't surprise me.