Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: The manual for Action 52 describes the story and background for each game, but as the below details, it makes mention of gameplay functions and goals that don't appear in the final release and also alludes to many characters that don't appear in the games.
Creator Backlash: Designer Mario Gonzalez has said that his least favorite of the games from the start was Fire Breathers; he said that he felt the concept was too ill-suited for the NES, and he hated that it was the very first game on the list.
This game's infamous execution cemented Active Enterprises in infamy right away, and they only got partway through Cheetahmen II before they effectively vanished.
Evidently the failure of the game was especially hard on Vince Perri, who completely dropped out of the public eye when Active shuttered.
Deliberate Flaw Retcon: After Active got complaints about the two games that fail to launch (Alfredo and Jigsaw), they decided to "fix" the problem... by including a slip of paper with future stock that claimed you could "unlock" them by completing Ooze, a game that was already Unintentionally Unwinnable due to crashing after level 3. This is taking fraud to a whole new level, considering they had to have already known about the bug by this point given the impossible-to-win contest surrounding it, which they surely must have gotten at least a few complaints about.
Dummied Out: Seeing as the game crashes on Version A cartridges when trying to play Alfredo and the Fettucini (also known as Alfredo or Alfred n the Fettuc) or Jigsaw, the two games are effectively Dummied Out and can only be played on Version B cartridges or an emulator. Same goes to later levels in some of the games (Thrusters, Shooting Gallery etc.). Ooze even had cut level 8 and a screen for the Unwinnable contest. Additionally, ROM hackers have discovered art assets for yet more games that didn't make it onto the cart, as well as a title screen for French Baker.
Magnum Opus Dissonance: As described on the main page and under Cash-Cow Franchise, it's very clear Vince Perri considered this game his pet project and believed it was going to take the world by storm. Beyond all the plans he had after the game would "inevitably" make him millions, he even was so confident about the project that he somehow figured a $104,000 contest would be financially viable to pack in with the game. To an extent, it did take the world by storm...as a frequent contender for "worst games of all time" lists, with the game ending up as a timeless cautionary tale in what happens when you let unrealistic ambition blind you past your nose.
Manual Misprint: For one reason or another, several of the manual descriptions bear absolutely no resemblance to the actual game:
Crazy Shuffle is described as an "educational puzzle game", but it's actually a game where you shoot enemies in a hedge maze.
Bits and Pieces is described as a Falling Blocks puzzle game, but is actually a Platform Game where you jump on classic movie monsters.
Jigsaw is described as being a jigsaw puzzle game. However, it's actually a carpentry-themed platformer.
Manchester is described as a Rhythm Game where animals will try to disturb your rhythm, but the actual game is a Platform Game with no animals in sight.
G-Force Fighter describes a fuel mechanic that does not appear in the game.
The description of Shooting Gallery describes several different modes of play, but there's just one style with several levels of increasing difficulty.
The manual claims that the Action Gamemaster featured in the introduction to Cheetahmen transforms into the three title characters throughout the course of the game, while in the game's intro they're shown as different characters with the Cheetahmen running off after doing nothing whatsoever to suggest the kid is transforming into them in sequence.
Real Song Theme Tune: The intro uses a sample of Rob Base's "It Takes Two", more than likely having been used without licensing.
Stillborn Franchise: Along with the planned Cheetahmen cartoon and action figures, Active Enterprises had more games they hoped to develop. This included Cheetahmen II for the NES (of which some unofficially released cartridges were discovered years later), an SNES version of Action 52, and another multicart titled Sports 5 for both SNES and Genesis. There was also a Cheetahmen III planned exclusively for Active Enterprises' Action Gamemaster console, which would be able to play NES, SNES, Genesis, and CD-ROM games as well.
Technology Marches On: In the commercial, Hercules has problems getting out of the TV screen, saying "Maybe these guys could make these holes a bit bigger". Back in the early nineties, you'd be lucky to get a 20-inch screen. Thirty years later, when it's easy to buy a far larger 50-incher, surely he'd have no issue with fitting through it.
Troubled Production: Thanks to a thorough lack of understanding in how game development actually works, Vince Perri all but ensured this would be the case. There were two fatal mistakes he made in the creation of this product:
Firstly, for the gargantuan task of coding 52 seperate games, he hired only three programmers, all of which were college students. No, not graduates, students. On its face, this would have been enough to get the game to flop, since he was clearly anticipating this would be a hit title and relying on such inexperienced programmers would be a surefire way to kill the project before it even started.
Secondly, and more importantly, during a time when the turnaround time for a game from start to finish was about a year, he ordered the game be done at a breakneck pace of only three months. This already would have been close to impossible to realistically achieve for even a single game even with three programmers, so attempting to divide those three months by 52 games burned any possibility of playtesting or bugfixing, and the end product couldn't make the expectedly disastrous results more obvious.
Urban Legend of Zelda: Unused data in the game shows 8 duplicates of what appear to be a menu template, leading some to believe there would have been 60 games in total. This has been since regarded to be incorrect, due to further discoveries showing that some games had to be split into two "game" segments on the ROM (hence why you cannot exit Billy Bob after stage 2), plus more obvious tells of scrapped games (such as unused graphics pertaining to them) have not been found whatsoever.
As stated in the main article, the creators had big dreams of making Cheetahmen into a big franchise. Had they put all that wishful thinking into developing one functional game, instead of 52 broken ones, they might have maybe, possibly gotten somewhere.
Originally the idea for game #52 on the cartridge was having the player fight all bosses from the first 51 games in a grand Boss Rush finale. When the team was pressured into making it Cheetahmen, the idea was scrapped, though some leftover elements (such as sprites from previous games appearing) still exist.
Working Title: On a prototype of the game, Cheetahmen was called Action Gamer.
Write Who You Know: Mario Gonzalez said he took the idea of "Bubblegum Rosy" from his then-girlfriend and eventual wife Rosy, who was always chewing gum.
