Some arcade machines beckon you to play just by their title alone. And that could certainly be said for Caveman Ninja. Released in arcades in 1991, Data East scored a respectable hit with this cleverly named adventure game, leading to a successful crossover into the home console market.

The stars of Caveman Ninja were green-haired Joe and blue-haired Mac, two prehistoric protagonists who were forced to battle to save their respective girlfriends, held by a rival group of cavemen. Their arsenal was what one might expect for the Stone Age – various bones, clubs, stone wheels and boomerangs. Armed with flint, they could also produce fire, and amazingly, even electricity. Ok, so historical accuracy wasn’t a strong point, but the comical adventures of Joe and Mac certainly made up for that little deficit as they waged brave battle against sinister cavemen, carnivorous plants, killer bees and herds of dinosaurs. Joe and Mac always managed to keep their sense of humor intact through each of the six levels of play, as demonstrated by their plentiful supply of accompanying silly sound effects and comical animations.

Caveman Ninja quickly became a respectable hit for Data East, not only in America but in Europe and Japan as well. As a result, the game was adopted for a number of home consoles, including the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy. A sequel titled Joe and Mac Returns was released into arcades in 1994, as well as a sequel for the SNES in 1993 called Congo’s Caper, and another called Joe and Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics.

While the home versions were certainly popular in their own right, they paled, however, in comparison to the arcade version of Caveman Ninja, which pulled out all of the stops to create a unique and entertaining adventure game. Plus, it was the only one with that delightfully silly name – and when strolling though an arcade, it was simply impossible to pass up a premise like that.