Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja

A 1991 Platformer Arcade Game by Data East. Set in Prehistoria, the object of the game is to rescue the titular duo's harem of cave girls from a band of rival cavemen and their dinosaur pet bosses.

It has seen quite a few home ports, namely the Super NES, Sega Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Amiga, DOS and Zeebo. It was followed by two SNES sequels: Congo's Caper (1992) and Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics (1994). There was also an arcade spin-off in 1994 titled Joe & Mac Returns.

On November 6, 2009, French developer Golgoth Studio announced that they were working on a new installment in the series in DLC format. Lack of updates since then places the new Joe & Mac squarely in Development Hell for the time being.

Tropes used in Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja include:

• Abhorrent Admirer: If you go down the middle and lower paths after the final boss, the ending will show you being chased by either an overweight middle-aged cavewoman or a male neanderthal in a drag. Though Joe and Mac have the same scared reaction when they're being chased by groupies.
• And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating: In Lost in the Tropics.
• Bamboo Technology: Mook cavemen riding a foot powered helicopters. They throw bombs at you, for some odd reason.
• Bound and Gagged: The cavegirls, all tied up in various forms during boss fights. This was removed from the SNES version for obvious reasons.
  • The redheads and brunettes are tied to poles.
  • The raven-haired ones are under Unwilling Suspension.
  • The blondes simply have their hands tied behind their backs.
• Cavemen Need Food Badly: Its possible for your caveman to fall over dead from starvation. Or more hilariously, fall over dead from starvation soon after surviving an attack with one HP left.
• Charged Attack: Only in the arcade version. If you take too long to fire, it will tire your caveman out, and you'll take damage.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer:
  • Joe (Player 1).
  • Mac (Player 2).
• Doppelganger Attack: Only in the arcade version, it's the duo's only ninja attack.
• For the Evulz: The first level in Joe & Mac 2 would have ended without a boss fight, if it weren't for some random neanderthal whacking a sleeping stegosaurus on the head For the Lulz.
• Head Swap: Joe and Mac themselves, plus the redheaded and brunette cavegirls.
• Inventing the Wheel: One of many weapons in the game.
• Kill It with Fire: one of the stronger weapons in the game.
• Mama Bear: The first boss, a tyrannosaurus rex, awakens once you hurt its offspring.
• Man-Eating Plant: The second boss which bears an incredible resemblance to Audrey II. It can grab and eat you, which is an instant kill.
• The Ninjas Who Don't Do Anything: Despite the title, Joe and Mac don't have any ninja powers except for the Doppleganger Attack. In Japan, the subtitle was actually Tatakae Genshijin ("Fighting Cavemen"), and the SNES version is simply titled Joe & Mac.
• Palette Swap: The cavegirls and some of the enemies.
• Powerup Mount: Two levels have your cavemen ride on either pterodactyls or brontosauruses.
• Sequel Number Snarl: Tatakae Genshijin 3 is known as Joe & Mac 2 in the U.S. and Joe & Mac 3 in Europe.
• Shout-Out: Upon defeating one of the bosses, your player will pump a fist in the air.
  • Also, there's Cola as a collectible food item, which was common in Data East games.
• Smooch of Victory: After every boss fight, the rescued cavegirl will kiss your character on the cheek, restoring his health. If two players are playing, only the one who dealt more damage to the boss gets it (much to the other's chagrin).
• Title Confusion: Joe & Mac 2 is known as Tatakae Genshijin 3 in Japan and Joe & Mac 3 in Europe. The Japanese title makes sense, since Congo's Caper was Tatakae Genshijin 2 over there, but the change from Joe & Mac 2 to Joe & Mac 3 is a bit more puzzling (unless they were counting Joe & Mac Returns as Joe & Mac 2, which came out almost at the same time).
• Womb Level: Results in a giant realistic-looking beating heart as a backdrop.