Action 52 (NES)

Action 52
Action 52's title screen
Publisher	Active Enterprises
Developer	Active Enterprises
Console	NES
Date	1991
Engine	Various
Sound engine	Active Enterprises, Ed Bogas (uncredited)

Action 52 is an unlicensed NES multicart created by Active Enterprises Ltd in 1991. It is often cited as one of the worst games ever made.

Overview

Action 52's menu screen

As the name might suggest, this is a multicart containing 52 action-packed games. However, it has received much criticism for the poor quality of its games, with some common errors and glitches between the games being sprite flickering, poor controls, reusing engines and the ending just being the player being sent back to level 1. Notably, it also contains 17 space shooters, which is almost a third of the cartridge. The intro uses a PCM sample of Rob Base's "It Takes Two". One game, Fire Breathers, can only be played with two players and two other games.Alfredo and Jigsaw won't work on the majority of the cartridges that were released. Numerous games crash or become unplayable when reaching a certain part of the game; an example of this being Atmos Quake, which, due to a glitch which messes up the level design of level 5, makes that level impossible to complete. Many have also criticised the price of the cartridge, having originally sold for $199. All of the games are two-player compatible, with all but Fire Breathers using an alternating player system like in Super Mario Bros.. The menu screen was taken from Supervision 52-in-1, another (pirated) 52-in-1 multicart presumably made in 1989. (Two of the games listed are called Galaxian 1989 and Exerion 1989.) This appears to be especially likely due to a prototype version of Action 52, where the menu (apart from the game names) is identical to that of the 52-in-1 and the menu itself uses graphics from The Goonies, one of the games included on it.[1] As well as this, Fuzz Power seems to have taken some inspiration (the graphics in particular) from Adventure Island, which was included on the 52-in-1. Another hint may be that, when the player quits a game and returns to the menu screen, in both multicarts the selection always goes back to game 05.

There was also a competition to win $104,000 by completing level 5 of Ooze. However, this was later found to be impossible as the carts that had been released at the time crashed after level 2 of that game. The game also actually has 6 levels as opposed to 5, with the ending giving the player a code to send to Active. Incidentally, it's also the only game on the cartridge to have an ending, and one of only two to have a proper title screen, the other being Storm Over the Desert.

Notably, one of the members of Active Enterprises, Vince Perri, was inspired to make Action 52 after seeing his son play a pirated 40-in-1 multicart, with the intention of Action 52 being a legal version of it.[2]

List of games

Game 52: Cheetahmen, the featured game on Action 52

1. Fire Breathers (Displayed as "Firebreather" in the menu)
2. Star Evil (Displayed as "Starevil" in the menu)
3. Illuminator
4. G-Force Fighter (Displayed as "G-Force Fgt." in the menu and "G-Force" in the title screen)
5. Ooze (One of only two games on this cart with a proper title screen) (after quiting a game the cursor returns to Ooze)
6. Silver Sword
7. Critical Bypass (Misspelled "Crytical Bypass" on the title screen and "Critical Bp. in the menu)
8. Jupiter Scope
9. Alfredo and the Fettucinis (Misspelled "Alfredo and the Fettuc" on the title screen and "Alfredo" in the menu)
10. Operation Full Moon (Displayed as "Operat. Moon" in the menu)
11. Dam Busters
12. Thrusters
13. Haunted Hills of Wentworth (Named "Haunted Halls" on the title screen and "Haunted Hill" in the menu)
14. Chill Out
15. Sharks
16. Megalonia
17. French Baker
18. Atmos Quake
19. Meong
20. Space Dreams
21. Streemerz
22. Spread Fire
23. Bubble Gum Rosie (misspelled "Bubble Gum Rossie" and "Bublgum Rosy" on the title screen)
24. Micro Mike
25. Underground
26. Rocket Jockey
27. Non-Human
28. Cry Baby
29. Slashers
30. Crazy Shuffle
31. Fuzz Power
32. Shooting Gallery
33. Lollipops
34. Evil Empire
35. Sombreros
36. Storm Over the Desert (One of only two games on this cart with a proper title screen)
37. Mash Man
38. They Came from Outer Space (the title screen calls it "They Came...")
39. Lazer League
40. Billy Bob
41. City of Doom
42. Bits and Pieces
43. Beeps and Blips
44. Manchester
45. Boss
46. Dedant
47. Hambo's Adventures
48. Timewarp Tickers
49. Jigsaw
50. Ninja Assault
51. Robbie and the Robots
52. Cheetahmen

Prototype

During the production of Action 52, Greg Pabich (owner of a movie and video game distributor at the time) was queried about buying copies of Action 52. He went to meet Vince Perri who gave him a prototype of the game, although he didn't end up buying the cartridges of it.[3]

There are numerous differences between this version and the final release. Firstly, the intro isn't present in this version and the game boots up on the main menu. The menu itself, apart from the game names, is identical to the Supervision 52-in-1 multicart. The names are mostly the same as the final release apart from Cheetahmen, which is called Action Gamer in this version.

Action Gamer

Action Gamer was the original 52nd game on the cartridge and is vastly different from Cheetahmen, with the intro not having been included, the music being different and the gameplay being different, although the game still has the Cheetahmen in it.[4] There are at least two levels in this game.

Unused Resources

Cheetahmen

Apollo Cutscene

In Cheetahmen, each character has its own cutscene before playing as them. However, the cutscene for Apollo appears to have no text accompanied with the obligatory image. However, this is because Active forgot to put the alphabet characters next to the image tiles in the ROM. The hidden text, which reads as follows, can be found in a memory viewer during the cutscene and levels 5 and 6 of Cheetahmen

"APOLLO IS THE MASTER OF THE CROSSBOW. USE THE CROSSBOW TO DEFEAT THE ENEMIES ON THE LAST TWO LEVELS AND GET DR. MORBIS"

French Baker

Unused Title Screen

French Baker has an unused title screen using the Cheetahmen II font and can be seen in the PPU as French Baker is loading.

Ooze

Completion Message

There was a contest planned for this game where anyone who could beat level 5 of Ooze would be entered into a drawing for $104,000. However, on the original version of the game, Ooze locks up on level 3, making it impossible to complete. On the revision though, it can be completed. The ending reads:

"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MAY HAVE JUST WON... TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH OF THIS SCREEN AND SEND TO THE ADDRESS LISTED IN THE RULES AND REGULATIONS. YOUR PERSONAL CODE: 7A3H9J0P2R4A2C7S"

Hidden Level

In Ooze, entering 07 in the value of $1B38 in the rom while the game is loaded will bring the player to a hidden Level 8. This level takes place in a different environment to the rest of the levels, taking place in the outdoors with pink oozy things and giant water droplets from Level 1. There's also a 1-Up which can't be collected. http://tcrf.net/File:OozeLevel8.png all info sorced from http://tcrf.net/Action_52

Music

Despite the low quality of Action 52 in other aspects, its music has gained some fans. However some of the tracks in the games have been found to be example tracks taken from Activision's The Music Studio.

Silver Sword ("Aisle Dance" from the Music Studio):

Action 52 - Silver Sword

French Baker ("Tango" from the Music Studio):

Action 52 - French Baker

Fuzz Power ("Bossa Nova" from the Music Studio):

Action 52 - Fuzz Power Cheetahmen 2 Cutsecene

Timewarp Tickers ("Boogie" from the Music Studio):

Action 52 - Timewarp Tickers

Cheetahmen (no known source, maybe original):

Action 52 - The Cheetahmen