I forgot all about this game until I was doing a search on google and suddenly saw a screen shot. Why isn't Joe and Mac on Virtual Console? I have lots of fond memories of this game - the donut shaped wheel stones, the t-rex and the stoner eyes it gets when you smash it with something, the obvious audrey II ripoff venus fly trap boss. This game was awesome mindless fun. It came out on snes in 1991, this should have already been on here a long time ago (not to mention its sequel) what gives?

There are a lot of games not on the service.

Looks like it has rather complicated publishing rights — Data East published the Super NES version in the States but Takara has the Mega Drive rights, so perhaps there's some sort of contractual complexity that precludes a digital release. Perhaps.

Even if they release it they will just remove it like every other game on the VC at the moment. Very unreliable service right now. If you can get the cartridge

That's taking it too far, now. All three recent games were released by G-Mode, and none of those games they put on the service were top sellers. The previous games were from Irem (I think), who aren't doing so well. Joe and Mac is more popular and both companies that own the license are doing well enough. If it did go on the VC it probably wouldn't leave so soon. Even if it did, we can use SD cards now. Just back it up.

Why is that taking it too far? 7 games being removed with no heads up (except for the R-type games). How do you know the company that owns Joe and Mac is doing well enough? They could go under at any moment, and then a game gets pulled from the VC. Its a unreliable service plain and simple. Its not just Nintendo this could happen on Steam, PSN, XBLA etc. It just stinks when it does.

...actually, G-Mode is one of them (Data East went Bankrupt years ago and sold all their licenses apparently). They're a decently sized mobile company in Japan. It's possible that they lost the license or maybe they're doing worse than they appear. I suppose someone could always email them for an explanation. The other one, Takara TOMY, is a huge toy company, though.

nice lol

You can always get the Data East Arcade Classics for the Wii. Joe and Mac is in that collection along with a bunch of other games. Other than that the only thing I can suggest is get a SNES and the cartridge.

Well there is that remake... But that's probably vaporware.

As much as I enjoy the VC and easy to reach games, having a working SNES and a copy of the game is still well worth having.

If you had asked me three years ago, I would've been optimistic about Joe & Mac possibly seeing a VC release. But as we've seen with months of inactivity, the chances of this game coming to VC are slim to none. Your best bet would be to buy the original SNES cartridge.

More specifically, Caveman Ninja is on the Data East Arcade Classics disc. Which, while it has some visual similarities to Joe & Mac for SNES, is a different game with different level design and music. It's not exactly the same.

The SNES version of Joe & Mac is a different game with different levels.
I think all other versions (at least NES, Game Boy and Genesis) were based on the arcade game.

The other games are Congo's Caper (it's technically Joe & Mac 2, but since it doesn't feature them and also has a different graphic style, it was rebranded outside Japan) and Joe & Mac 2 (#3 in Japan), which I haven't played much but I hear it was a bit more RPG-ish.
And then there is Joe & Mac Returns, which I don't think has ever been released outside arcade (and even then, it might have only existed on test boards). It is a since-screen action game that's quite similar to Data East's other arcade game TumblePop (where you grab enemies and then throw them into the wall to kill them), which is itself similar to Snow Bros., a good game with no chance of being released on VC. (TumblePop I hope has some chance of being released on some service. I got the GameBoy version but I don't think it's quite the same.)

Joe & Mac 2 is still very much a platforming game. You sure you're not thinking of Super Adventure Island 2? That had some RPG elements to it.

Ah, I didnt know that. Well than I guess the best bet would to track down a SNES and a copy of the game to play it.

To be honest that's what I do I gave up on waiting for games to come to the Wii VC.

Yeah, G-Mode has most of the Data East Licenses (including Joe & Mac, as I've just read on their website), so we're kinda screwed if they aren't supporting the VC anymore, even going as far as to remove the games they did release.