Congo's Caper

Congo's Caper
North American box art
DeveloperData East
PublisherData East[3]
ComposersEmi Shimizu
Seiji Momoi
Seiji Yamanaka
PlatformSuper NES
Release
GenreAction
ModeSingle-player

Congo's Caper[a] is a side-scrolling platform action video game developed and published for the Super NES by Data East. The game was released in Japan in 1992.[5] A North American version was released in May 1993.[6] It was later released on the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Classics service on May 26, 2022.[7]

The game is planned to be included along with its predecessor and successor games in a compilation called Joe & Mac Retro Collection, to be released for modern consoles in 2026.[8]

Gameplay

The plot of Congo's Caper involves a half-human, half-monkey boy named Congo, who sets out on a quest to rescue his girlfriend after she is abducted by a demon. The player controls Congo. Congo's Caper is played across 35 levels that take place in multiple worlds, including a jungle, a mountain range, a pirate ship, a volcano, and a ghost town. The bosses include the demon, a T-Rex, a ninja, a pirate, a mad scientist, and a vampire. If Congo is hit by an enemy, he reverts to his monkey form. If Congo is hit again, the player loses a life.[9]

Reception

Nintendo Power praised the game's graphics, controls, password feature, and variety of levels, but wrote: "The game doesn't really do anything that Super Mario World and countless other games have done just as well".[6] AllGame rated Congo's Caper three and a half stars out of five.[9] Power Unlimited gave the game a score of 80% writing: "Congo's Caper is a fun, varied platform game. Yet it is not a game that will be remembered by anyone as a seasoning. The controls are too stiff for that, and the levels are too easy for that".[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Known in Japan as Caveman Combat 2: The Adventures of Rookie (Japanese: 戦え原始人2 ルーキーの冒険, Hepburn: Tatakae Genshijin 2: Rūkī no Bōken)[4]
  2. ^ In GameFan's review, four critics scored Congo's Caper differently: 86%, 85%, 81%, and 82%.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Super NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20181001130302/http://tk-nz.game.coocan.jp/gamedatabase/software/DB_NTC2_SFC1992.html
  3. ^ https://www.videogamemanual.com/snes/Congo%27s%20Caper%20(USA).pdf#page=18
  4. ^ 戦え原始人 being the original Japanese subtitle for Joe & Mac.
  5. ^ "戦え原始人2 〜ルーキーの冒険〜 (SFC)のレビュー・評価・感想 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com". ファミ通.com.
  6. ^ a b "Now Playing". Nintendo Power. Nintendo. April 1993. pp. 102–103. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Life, Nintendo (May 27, 2022). "Nintendo Expands Its Switch Online SNES And NES Service With Three More Titles". Nintendo Life.
  8. ^ "Joe & Mac Retro Collection announced for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC". Gematsu. 2025-06-07. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  9. ^ a b Marriott, Scott Alan. "Congo's Caper - Overview". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  10. ^ Skid; Brody; Slick, Tom; The Enquirer (January 1993). "Viewpoint". GameFan. Vol. 1, no. 3. pp. 10–11. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Power Unlimited Game Database". powerweb.nl (in Dutch). 1993. Archived from the original on October 19, 2003. Retrieved November 24, 2022.