Joe & Mac and Bonk's Adventure ~ The Good, The Bad, and The GameBoy

Ninjas and mutants may have been at peak popularity during 90s, but you should never rule out cavemen.
#gameboy #retrogaming

[@RewindArcade]

I’ve had multiple people tell me to check out Prehistorik Man, though not specifically the GB version. Really need to look into it now! I just played through Bonk 1 on the PC Engine earlier this year and I mostly have to agree with you. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it really just didn’t live up to the pedigree I expected it from it after having it be the face of the Turbo Grafx for so many years. As for Joe & Mac, I played the SNES version once when I rented it decades ago but never got very far. It’s a series I’ve been wanting to revisit in the future. Excellent work as always my friend, throughly enjoy these!

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thank you! The Bonk games look neat, but I've yet to play one that I really like. Adventure Island would have probably been a better flagship series for the TG-16, if it hadn't been so synonymous with Nintendo.

[@meattankenthusiast2380]

It's a little disappointing how historically inaccurate these games are. It has humans interacting with dinosaurs that at no point look at the screen and say "Its a living," or somesuch wisecrack? Tsk.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I know, right?? These guys clearly didn’t do their research!

[@TIDbitRETRO]

At first glance I thought this was gonna be a video about the NES game “Caveman Games”. LOL To be fair, it’s kind of an underrated mini-game compilation.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Lol … as I was titling the video, I worried in the back of my mind that people would get it confused with the NES game. 😆

[@OmegaAceGaming]

Jeeesus I had no idea Joe & Mac on the Game Boy had such a messy development history. It reminds me of a movie script being passed from writer/director to writer/director. It's amazing it came out decent 😮 I have little-to-no experience with the Bonk series. I'm interested in playing the TG-16 original, but I'll have to wait and see when it is finally added to the rotation :] Wow, Prehistorik Man's movement animation is wild! The bosses look dope, too! Wait a minute... Titus?? Really?? ... 🤯 I can see how the collision detection can really ruin the game. Have you covered Kung-Fu Master yet? I adore that Game Boy game 😇

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Yeah, I now have a new respect for Titus that I didn't know I was capable of. It was a strange feeling. I haven't talked about Kung Fu Master yet, but I have played through it so I imagine it will come up before too long.

[@AlphaNerd_Entertainment]

No love for Bonk eh. And yes I can't believe the parallax scrolling in the into of prehistorik man. It's graphics over all are amazing for game boy

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I've tried to have love for Bonk, but the games are just too boring.

[@AlphaNerd_Entertainment]

@@AuthorativeMrM I agree

[@backinthedaygamer]

Snarky as always lol. I'd have Prehistoric Man right now if it wasn't going for $150. Never heard of it before. The graphics are top notch for the GB.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Are you serious??? I had to look that up on Ebay to see for myself, I can't believe this game has gone up in price that much. 😳

[@RetroJackal]

Spidersoft also did the Game Boy port of Chuck Rock. Not sure if that one got a US release tho. Only played it a little bit, and it's a meh port.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Did they really? Chuck Rock was my other choice for a ‘new’ game to play for this video, but I chose Prehistorik Man instead because I figured I would have a stronger opinion about it 😆

[@Unquestionable]

I was a big fan of Bonk as a kid, if only because it was extremely easy and was predating Kirby for my 8 year old gaming needs. My cousin had pretty much every console, Turbographic 16 included, and I remember being so proud of beating the first two Bonk titles when they were new. Joe and Mac however was a favorite of mine for awhile. The local arcade had Caveman Ninja and it ate my fair share of quarters, mostly when the SF2 machine was occupied, but the SNES port and Nintendo Power coverage sold me on it. My neighbor had gotten both a Genesis and a SNES at release and for some reason his parents basically got him every title released on both for the first two years or so. Joe and Mac was something we put a ton of time into once we had pretty much mastered Contra 3.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I had a Genesis when I was a kid and Joe & Mac was one of the first games that really gave me "SNES Envy." I wish I had known back then that it eventually came out on the Genesis, I would have loved to have owned it.

[@vchill79]

I spent the last 5 or 6 yesrs collecting Nes & Super Nintendo after not collecting since the early 2000s in which i got most of my games for way cheaper then, i got a gameboy player for gamecube a few months ago and now im trying to collect for gameboy and GBA & GBC

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Awesome, VChill! There's a ton of great games between those three systems, they're fun to collect for!

[@MrShadow2x]

I didn't realize that any of these entries existed, but I'm familiar with others in their series. As a fan of Joe & Mac, I'm impressed by the Game Boy title. I'll have have to try it out. I can pass on Bonk, and I'm torn on Prehistorik Man. It has so much going for it, but the hitbox issues would kill it for me.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I was also very torn on Prehistorik Man. Some of the issues really made it hard to enjoy the game at first, but in the end I was so impressed with everything else about it that I would probably recommend it over the other two games (including Joe & Mac!)

[@ecmyersvids]

Perfect timing! I just watched this with my daughter, who woke up way too early and wouldn't go back to sleep. OK you got me: I'll have to play the 16-bit Genesis J&M games (I loved how it looked in Nintendo Power), and I really do want to try Prehistorik Man :) I played through both GB Bonk games, and they were OK, which is kind of my take on the series in general. I played most of the NES game and will probably finish it too. There's definitely something offputting about the series but I also always wanted to play it when I saw the ads as a kid.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I definitely recommend at least trying out the SNES Joe & Mac, it’s a pretty basic game but it more than delivers if you’re remotely sold on the ‘caveman ninjas vs dinosaurs’ concept. I wholly agree with your other comment about Joe & Mac on the NES; that game was rubbish 😆

[@PandaSub2000]

It's amazing how incredible Prehistoric Man looks and yet no one (or at least me) has ever heard of it. It seemed to push the limits of the handheld unlike anything I've seen previously. Has there ever been another game that did this good a job? I feel the need to pick this one up. Amazing video as always!

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Yeah, I hadn't really heard of it either until I started digging through my GameBoy collection looking for Titus games I could [probably] trash. I have no memory of buying it so I most likely got it in an ebay lot and forgot about it. I was genuinely impressed, I'm hoping that there are games in my collection that surprise me as much as this one did

[@VEGANVANIA]

There is a GBA version of Prehistorik Man with its own -totally unique and very memorable- soundtrack (neither the same as any of the 16 bit versions, nor this 8 bit one).

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Yeah, one of these days I'd like to check out the SNES and GBA games

[@Gabelite]

New sub, love the idea of completing every Gameboy game and the camera angles that you choose.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@RetroRivals]

A series I very much look forward to even though I've never played a Game boy game to completion 😂😂😂😂 Joe & Mac looks like a beautiful game but then again they all do. I tend to lean towards your conclusions on them so I would probably stay away from bong adventure, at least on the Game. Boy that is. So say there's a novice that never has played a Game boy game before. Where should one start for a really great experience that's not too expensive? Asking for a friend 😂😂

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I'd definitely say the either Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins or Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land are good ones to start with (of the two of them I prefer Wario Land). They're first-party games so they'll have that Nintendo quality, plus I think they were released in such huge numbers that they probably aren't very expensive. Also, believe it or not, but ADVENTURE ISLAND is a great game on the GameBoy. It's actually a port of Adventure Island 2 and it is actually easier (and more fun, IMO) than the NES version of AI2

[@RetroRivals]

@@AuthorativeMrM I legit just screenshot your comment so I don't forget! I need to play a Game boy game all the way through this year. I did play part of Kid Dracula and really enjoyed it but I haven't gone back to it. We got very lucky getting that one for really cheap. Well cheap in comparison to what it is now

[@Mazinpower]

Another great video from MrM, thanks for the suggestion of prehistorik man. I agreed with you on the bonk games in not interested in that series, joe and Mac games are cool co-op is great but this title alone is decent

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thanks, Mazin! Does this mean you don’t want me to pester you about playing through all the Bonk games? Because now I’m starting to think you should do that … 🤔

[@robbalan6969]

Dude your stuff is clean. You put tight videos together. A+ 💯

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thank you!

[@megadan2988]

killer content mathews, that was a fun watch. Awesome as always

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thanks, Dan!

[@SaitoXD]

As always, great video Mr. M! Well, Joe & Mac for GB was made with love, Bonk´s Adventure... I don´t know, feels bad in the GB, maybe is the absence of color? And Prehistoric Man, woah, Titus really loved that IP, because the GB and SNES are very good games, I don´t know what happened with the rest of the Titus library that is so bad.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I'm definitely interested in checking out the other Prehistorik Man games to see if they are put together as well as the GB version. I'm not confident that I'll find any other Titus games as good as that one, but at the very least I have a bit more respect for them.

[@SaitoXD]

@@AuthorativeMrM I think the SNES one is in the Nintendo Switch SNES Virtual Console, but yeah, not everything Titus Interactive was really bad, like, 1-2% passable games, the rest, junk, just junk. Joe & Mac, the one that I played a lot with my cousin was the second one, Lost in the Tropics, easy game but very entertaining, especially in the two player mode.

[@tveye363]

I never hear anyone talk about Prehistorik Man's soundtrack, but I played it once as a lark and was completely blown away. I still listen to it in my car every now and then, lol. I tried to find more info about the artist, but I couldn't find any more songs he worked on.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Yeah, it was extremely impressive. The game itself is a bit clunky and definitely took me some time to warm up to, but the graphics and music hit you right off the bat. Easily my favorite Euro soundtrack on the GameBoy, so far.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Maybe take a look at 'Lamborghini American Challenge' on the GameBoy (also by Titus). I just popped in the cartridge and the music sounds similar enough to PM that there's a good chance it's the same composer.

[@tveye363]

@@AuthorativeMrM I tried it. The music was decent...until you get to the actual gameplay. Then it's nonstop high pitched whirring, lol

[@thomasffrench3639]

I find it really ironic, because I find that from a person who has not played a Bonk or Joe and Mac game, but Bonk looks way more appealing. It is way more charming from a visual perspective and it looks like it plays a lot better. I’m more referring to the console versions, as Joe and Mac looks like the most generic mediocre SNES platformers of all time. Then again I have not actually played them, so I could be wrong. I do think that Co-op could make J&M stand out tho

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Nostalgia plays a big part there, I've loved Joe & Mac since I first saw screenshots of the SNES game in Nintendo Power back in the day, so I'll admit that I'm a bit biased and probably more than a little forgiving of it's flaws. The Bonk games have all the earmarks of a series that I'd love, the character design is great and I dig the music. But Bonk's gameplay has always felt clunky and not very engaging. If you try any of them out I'd be interested to hear what you thought.

[@Celestial07]

Bonk's Adventure GB is mediocre at best, maybe a 6/10.

[@AuthorativeMrM]

I really like the way the Bonk games LOOK, but I sure wish they were more fun to play. I haven't played Bonk's Revenge yet, not sure if I should expect to like it more, lol

[@VEGANVANIA]

Game Boy _Snow Bros:_ a one player only experience (without the possibility of using the link cable!) that nevertheless has a plural title, because of the arcade game… just like Joe & Mac.

[@VEGANVANIA]

They could have called this "Joe and/or Mac". And, of course, "Snow Brother".

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Ah, I see what you’re saying. They probably should have kept the original title “Caveman Ninja” for this one, as there is only one ninja caveman in the game 👍

[@philofthefuture]

Another great vid! Thanks for keeping this going 😊

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thanks Phil!

[@DarkKodKod]

Thanks for always giving us excellent high quality content. This is one the best video game related content channel in YT and sadly the most underrated. I hope one day your effort will pay off. Looking forward for your next video already!!

[@AuthorativeMrM]

Thank you for the kind words, Dark Kod!