For the first time in this series, I decided to not play an all-time classic game.
Although I stayed on a Nintendo console — since it’s the only retro console I have — I wanted to try a game that was a bit out there compared to Zelda and Punch-Out.
“Joe and Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics” was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in April of 1994 in North America.
The game was developed and published by the Data East Corporation, a company mostly known for their arcade games “Double Dragon” and “Platoon,” neither of which I had heard of, but got decent reviews around their release.
The story: in the Kali Village, a caveman named Gork steals the chief’s crown during the night. So the next day, Joe and Mac are asked by the chief to retrieve the crown but not until they first retrieve the seven rainbow stones, then they can confront Gork in his cave.
You go to different areas, collect the stones from different dinosaur bosses, fight Gork twice and beat the game, and that is it in terms of the story.
While there is nothing wrong with having a simple story, the lackluster gameplay and levels don’t help either.
The levels are basic at best. You have the Snowy Rockies, the Deep Tropics, the Swampy Marshland and the Scarlet Carpet. While there are more levels, they are just as bland and basic as the others.
This is a 2-D platformer with a semi-open-world environment that allows the player to pick which level they would like to play in any order.
There is also a small village where you get your password — which is how you continue if you get a game over and run out of continues — a shop, a way to quick travel to your village and a telescope to look at your house and Gork.
You can also upgrade your house and buy flowers for cavewomen — but it did not change anything in my playthrough.
The enemies you face are typical dinosaurs: little raptors, pterodactyls, piranhas and some of Gork’s cavemen that can be beaten by swinging your club.
You can pick up a couple different weapon varieties, eat fruit, meat and peppers to gain a bit of health and get a spitting projectile. There are heavy clubs and an axe in difficult to reach places or secret areas of most levels that deal massive damage.
The boss fights are where the game looks to shine but it just comes up way short.
You fight different full-grown dinosaurs at the end of the game’s main levels, but they can be beaten just by dodging a couple attacks and then button mashing.
There is nothing special to this game. Basic gameplay, levels, enemies and boss fights, and while it might look good for a 25-year-old game, it is easy to see why this game was lost in the tropics and to the sands of time.
I rate this as 2/5, not awful, but you won’t be missing anything by not playing this relic of a game.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kellogg_zack.