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New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja

New Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja just barely passes as a decent remake of the original. Making gameplay mechanics fit the new visuals better and fixing sound problems really needs to be top priority, possibly with a few update patches. The Hunger/Health meter also really needs to be adjusted as not to deplete as fast as it does here. It’s definitely not horrible overall, but also doesn’t live up to the fun factor of the original. If I had to break everything down here, I would say this release largely feels unfinished. In its current form, it’s good, but it can, and should be, much better. I would recommend waiting for a few quality patches or a price drop before diving into this one.
New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja Game Cover
46%Game Brain Score
graphics, humor
gameplay, music
48% User Score Based on 46 reviews
Critic Score 48%Based on 5 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5Playstation 4Xbox OneXboxWindowsPlayStation
New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja Game Cover

About

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is a single player and multiplayer arcade platformer game. It was developed by Mr. Nutz Studio and was released on December 1, 2022. It received neutral reviews from both critics and players.

We're back in the distant Past, when “Rock & Roll” was just about rocks and “Fast food”, a dinner that you couldn’t catch. 2 cave dudes named Joe & Mac live in a peaceful and cool village. Cool it was, until a bogus bunch of Neanderthal snatched all the village’s women!

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48%
Audience ScoreBased on 46 reviews
graphics8 positive mentions
gameplay4 negative mentions

  • The game features vibrant, hand-drawn HD artwork with a bright, playful cartoon style that enhances the prehistoric setting.
  • Local co-op multiplayer is included and considered one of the best ways to experience the game, softening difficulty and enhancing fun.
  • It faithfully preserves the spirit and structure of the original arcade platformer with multiple modes like Extend Mode, Speedrun, and Boss Rush for replayability.
  • Controls are often criticized as floaty, unresponsive, and inconsistent, making gameplay frustrating and difficult.
  • Gameplay difficulty is very high and punishing, with mechanics like a constantly draining health meter and poor weapon balance leading to a steep learning curve.
  • The remake lacks polish with issues including clunky animations, limited options for resolution and controls, awkward sound design, short level lengths, and missing features compared to the original SNES game.
  • graphics
    27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics feature hand-drawn HD artwork with a bright, cartoonish style that adds charm and vibrant backgrounds, especially impressive in 4K. However, some fans feel the animations lack fluidity and character compared to the original's more organic and anime-inspired look, with a few describing the visuals as stiff or resembling low-effort flash-style graphics. Overall, the updated visuals are appealing but polarizing, with many suggesting refinements in animation and gameplay integration to fully support the new art direction.

    • “New Joe & Mac features entirely hand-drawn HD artwork, giving each level a cartoonish vibrancy and personality that recalls Saturday-morning animation.”
    • “The game embraces a bright, playful aesthetic that enhances the charm of its prehistoric world.”
    • “The cartoony art style, clean lines, and lush colours all look a treat in 4K.”
    • “The art style is fine but kind of feels like a flash game with very floaty controls.”
    • “I'm not really a fan of the graphical style and think the original had a better visual flare.”
    • “The graphics remind me of those terrible mobile video game ads you see every now on YouTube shorts, but you seem to laugh by the effort to make it look bad.”
  • gameplay
    23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay retains its classic arcade roots with a hunger mechanic that adds tension, but many players find the controls clunky, hitboxes imprecise, and combat sluggish and floaty. While some appreciate the nostalgic design, others criticize the lack of modern quality-of-life improvements, unbalanced difficulty, and missing helpful guides, resulting in a frustrating and dated experience overall.

    • “Gameplay stays tightly connected to its arcade lineage.”
    • “You gather food to counter the returning hunger meter—a mechanic that causes your health to drain over time—and use weapons such as bones, fire blasts, boomerangs, or stone wheels to clear threats.”
    • “Additionally, some gameplay elements feel dated, not because the developers executed them poorly, but because they are intentionally preserved design quirks from a much older era.”
    • “Garbage mechanics, animations are janky, too many things are happening on the screen, hit boxes are super janky, the controls are abysmally clunky.”
    • “Gameplay just isn't there: loose, floppy controls, slow motion, sluggish behavior, dull weapon balancing compared to arcade and SNES versions; the addition of Super Adventure Island food bars is not a fun option; missing control shadows and helpful guides.”
    • “The bad - extremely barebones, lacking options, gameplay is mega-nerfed and worse off than the arcade version.”
  • music
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed feedback, with some users finding it bland, elevator-like, and lacking the chiptune charm of the original, while others feel it complements the visuals adequately. Overall, the soundtrack is considered mediocre but fitting for the game's aesthetic.

    • “The music and sound effects complete the visual aesthetic well.”
    • “The new soundtrack is pleasant, but missing some of the chiptune appeal of the original music.”
    • “The actual art style and music are ok to me; I don't feel the graphics are as bad or 'flash style' as some say.”
    • “Like seriously... I don't know what the devs were even thinking with this... animation looks like it was made with flash... garbage looking... music is bleh... mellow and sounds like elevator music in the background... you can barely even hear it over the obnoxious noises this game makes.”
    • “Music is bland and unmemorable, failing to enhance the gaming experience.”
    • “The soundtrack is forgettable and does little to complement the game's atmosphere.”
  • story
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of Joe & Mac on the SNES is a lighthearted, straightforward rescue plot featuring two cavemen on a quest to save kidnapped villagers from dinosaur-feeding cultists. It embraces a nostalgic, fast-paced side-scrolling adventure without trying to innovate the narrative, focusing instead on fun and action.

    • “It doesn’t try to reinvent the formula so much as to preserve the spirit of a bygone era: fast-paced side-scrolling, punishing enemy patterns, oversized prehistoric bosses, and a lighthearted rescue plot that sets the stage for nonstop action.”
    • “Joe & Mac on the SNES wasn't perfect... you get to control two cavemen on the quest to save their cavewomen, taken hostage by a cult of cavemen who wanted to feed them to dinos.”
    • “At its core, the game revolves around two cavemen—Joe and Mac—on a quest to save kidnapped villagers.”
    • “Two cavemen bachelors go on a quest to find plus ones for their cousin's wedding.”
  • grinding
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is considered tedious and unrewarding, with random weapon drops adding to the frustration during boss fights. This lack of meaningful incentives makes progressing through grind-heavy sections discouraging for many players.

    • “I tested half the game on that mode but there are no achievements for completing it and it is tedious so I don't think I'll ever finish it.”
    • “Weapon drops are random which makes boss fights more tedious when you don't get the long range one.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development is criticized for relying on generic, exaggerated western cartoon-style designs that come across as unattractive and uninspired.

    • “This game has a generic Western cartoon style, with exaggerated character designs and lanky, bulky, or generic creature designs.”
    • “The character design is unattractive.”
  • humor
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor aspect is not directly addressed in the reviews, but users highlight significant improvements and a better overall experience in the SNES port compared to the arcade version.

  • optimization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is well-optimized, offering smooth gameplay and responsive menus, resulting in a solid performance experience.

    • “Performance is good too with nice menus and smooth gameplay.”
  • monetization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's monetization approach is reminiscent of low-quality mobile game ads, with visuals that appear intentionally poor, eliciting amusement rather than frustration.

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Frequently Asked Questions

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is a arcade platformer game.

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja was released on December 1, 2022.

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja was developed by Mr. Nutz Studio.

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja has received neutral reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its graphics but disliked it for its gameplay.

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Contra Anniversary Collection, Double Dragon Trilogy, Double Dragon 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and others.