Joe and Mac Retrospective

The Joe and Mac Retrospective is the second episode of the first season of the JonTron Show, and the first one to truly adopt his modern style which, albeit evolved progressively, is still in use today. In it, Jon looks at a rather obscure series of action-platformer games called Joe & Mac, which he claims to fondly remember.

Games Appearing

 * Joe & Mac
 * Congo's Caper (i.e. Joe & Mac 2)
 * Joe & Mac 3: Lost in the Tropics
 * Joe & Mach Returns (Mentioned)
 * Joe & Mac (HD version)(Mentioned)

Synopsis
The first thing Jon points about the game is that the voice over gets the company name wrong. Jon does a skit about the voice-over actor having an off day. Jacques wants to play too but forgets that he doesn't have hands. Jon notes that the game design isn't all that great, and he compares it more to Castlevania rather than Mario. Most of the levels are fairly short and explorative and lead to a unique boss battle.

Jon critiques the game for having a good atmosphere, noting multiple times that the level thems are very unique and enjoyable. The game has a weapon system where you can pick up weapons in the ground, even unwillingly. Jon likes the wheel weapon, which rolls along the ground and can even track up walls. He notes its name is "Wheel" but always preferred to call it a "doughnut". As mentioned before, you can pick up weapons involuntarily, by passing over them. Since Jon likes the wheel weapon, he has to physically avoid the other weapons, which is difficult for him since the Bone weapon, which he hates, is the most common weapon, making it difficult to avoid. Jon jokes that all the bosses have a chewing tobacco addiction due to how they all flap their jaws constantly. It should also be noted that Jon finds annoyance in the first boss's head sprite being reused thrice in the game. Jon becomes confused when he travels inside the final boss for the last level, eventually meeting a Devil, which serves as the true final boss.

Jon then shows Congo's Caper (Joe and Mac 2). Jon was confused by this game as a kid. Nothing about this game (apart from the somersault) looked anything like Joe and Mac. He notes that the controls are much better. Then Jon discovers that the first boss from the last game was recycled and that the main character enters the body of the final boss, just like the previous game as well. Even the devil boss even looks the same as the previous game. Jon wonders why the game was made, and why it was even called Joe and Mac 2.

Jon then shows Joe and Mac 3: Lost in the Tropics, which he considers the true "Joe & Mac 2" due to its similarity to the first game. He glosses over how the game combines a few aspects from each predecessor while noting that the somersault is gone and that the wheel items are currency, as opposed to weapons.

Immediately after glossing over the third game, Jon mentions a fourth game, Joe & Mac Returns, which is for arcades. He does not show footage, however. Then he speaks of an HD remaster of the first game for Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Steam, seemingly to entice his viewers to buy it and try it out.

After that, a dinosaur boss sprite appears next to Jon, upside down. Jon attempts to speak to it before looking at the camera and throwing his controller.

Trivia

 * The cartridge Jon rips from the Super Nintendo at the beginning is a Super Gameboy with a currently unknown game inside of it.
 * To those who may have been interested in the games, the original Joe & Mac has been ported to modern hardware under the Data East Arcade Classix Collection banner. Joe & Mac Returns has also received modern ports to home consoles. And lastly, the HD Remaster of Joe & Mac 1 has seemingly been canceled, with all traces of it being removed from the developer's website.