Action 52 is a collection of 52 games for the NES — well, perhaps "games" is too kind — released by Active Enterprises and advertised in the back of many gaming magazines of the day. It was famously sold for $200, which would be a bargain for 52 games worth playing. However, these games... weren't.The truly amazing part? The folks at Active were apparently big dreamers, and accompanied the grand unveiling of Action 52 with a press release, proclaiming the upcoming release of Cheetahmen action figures and a "Disney-quality" Saturday morning cartoon, and the Action Gamemaster, a portable system that would play games from nearly every console available at the time. None of these products ever came to fruition, as Action 52 wallowed in obscurity, but it has gained a new lease on life in the Internet age as Snark Bait.This isn't to say that Active Enterprises never did anything again; indeed, there was a second Action 52 compilation on the Genesis (which Active farmed out to another developer, who did a much better, though still just barely passable, job), and a third was planned on the SNES (likely scrapped when they couldn't figure out a way around Nintendo's lockout). Additionally, a sequel to Cheetahmen was recently discovered, with hundreds of cartridges having been made of the very unfinished Cheetahmen 2, but this was never distributed. Then Active Enterprises never did anything again.A history of how the monstrosity came to be is in The Other Wiki. The Angry Video Game Nerd reviewed the game here. Even though his review contains some inaccuracies, it still sums the games up pretty well. A more detailed series of all 52 games *
including the ones that are only playable on a certain emulator
can be seen here.This collection of games is almost universally considered a pile of crap. However, the background music used in Cheetahmen (and reused in Cheetahmen II) is an exception: it is surprisingly well-regarded, with a large number of musical remixes.Action 52 has been given a shot at redemption with two projects: the Action 52 OWNS Project, (in which indie game developers are collaborating to remake each game in the collection) and Action 52 Revisited (which tries to relate all games together). Hey, it's not like they can make the games worse, right? Also, there's plans of a company for releasing an official Cheetahmen 3 game for the Xbox Live Arcade *
They would like to release it for PlayStation Network, but don't plan to due to budget limitations
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The original Action 52 tropes (of which there are not actually 52):
Action Girl: Underground, Haunted Halls and Bubblegum Rosy have female protagonists.
All There in the Manual: Largely averted. The manual talks about features that don't appear in many of the games, or descriptions of games that are just flat-out wrong. The description of Bits and Pieces in the manual makes it sound like a Tetris-esque game, but the actual game involves Frankenstein jumping over monsters. This probably results from the developers having bigger ambitions than they had the ability to realize.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: "Satan Hosain," the gigantic version of Saddam Hussein that appears in Storm Over the Desert. Due to the general incompetence involved in the package, it's hard to tell whether his size was intentional, or a screw-up on the part of the developers.
Blatant Lies: According to the box◊, as displayed on The Other Wiki, its creators gave it the "Action Seal of Quality Assurance". What kind of quality they were talking about is unclear, but it certainly doesn't mean what most of us would think "quality" means. Hopefully, it means "We're saving the best for last". Also: the manual.
Copy And Paste Environments: It even goes so far that some sections of levels in many games are repeated over and over with the same enemy placement (if it's not random).
Damn You, Muscle Memory: The "jump" and "attack" buttons are B and A respectively, the opposite of the vast majority of similar games on the system.
Deadly Walls: Most of the Shoot 'Em Up games. Poor collision detection kills you before you actually touch them. Starevil is the worst offender, as you can get killed less than a second after starting it up due to the speed of the level scrolling.
May also be a case of Epic Fail because the text is trying and failing to imitate an energetic announcer reading off a card, so this is like shoving that card in the player's face.
Down the Drain: Some levels in Cheetahmen take place in sewers.
Dummied Out: Seeing as the game crashes on most 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 with 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.
Engrish: The manual. Very surprising because it was made in the US.
Endless Game: Most of the games loop around from the last level, if they don't crash first.
Follow the Leader: According to The Other Wiki, Action 52 was conceived when the creator observed his son playing a pirated 40-game multicart from Taiwan. As the cart itself was popular in his own neighborhood, he decided to create such a cart legitimately.
Franchise Killer: Honestly, the guys at Active should have known not to pin their dreams on Action 52's success. They had to have played the game at some point, right?
Kill Screen: The second-closest thing to an ending. Particularly frustrating in Ninja Assualt — the cave is right there, and moreover, it's actually been pretty decent so far.
Ladder Physics: Work as ladders in video games do (unless they're glitchy) except in Lollipops where you can go up the ladder only by jumping up them.
In some games, enemies appear in random places. In some games, a bad enemy placement means death, or an Unwinnable situation, eg in Under Ground.
In other games, enemies which are able to shoot, do it at random times. Sometimes they don't shoot at all while other times they shoot several bullets at you, resulting death.
Mind Screw: Non Human, Spread Fire, Time Warp Tickers, among others.
Mini Game Game: Ideally, Action 52 is supposed to be this.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Possibly the crowning achievement of Ninja Assault: big-nosed, coonskin-wearing hillybilly ninjas. Strange indeed are the ways of the Zin-Zan.
Nintendo Hard: Games with enough coherence to begin with usually wind up in the worst excesses of this.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: The evil "Satan Hosain" from Storm Over the Desert. Running over him gives you an extra life. In Cheetahmen, he becomes an easily-dispatched midget.
No Ending: Most of the games. In some you just keep doing the same level(s) over and over, and in some youcan'tevenreach the ending (if they DID program one) forvariousreasons. Another thing is that a lot of the levels have no proper indication for when they end; they just end abruptly.
Not the Fall That Kills You: Averted. Falling can kill you, and you need not actually touch the ground from a long jump for a character to begin his death animation.
Billy Bob is a notorious example of this. If he drops off a ledge, not only does he die before he hits the ground, but he stops in mid-fall, lies flat on his face, and stays there levitated in mid-air.
Obvious Alpha: Some games are worse than others, but at one point or another, it becomes clear that most of them were just getting started, especially when compared with the way they are described in the manual.
Cheetahmen 2 was an Obvious Pre-Alpha, and they still programmed it into cartridges. Did they really intend to distribute it in that state?
1-Up: Some games have 1-up pickups. Games with these include Evil Empire, Dam Busters, Crazy Shuffle, Cheetahmen and more.
Palette Swap: The hero of Mash Man is the "defeated" sprite from Fuzz Power with clothes.
Power Glows: According to the manual, Rocket Jockey was supposed to have a lasso which would glow brighter as it gains power. the idea was scrapped. It was added in the Action 52 Owns remake, though.
Recurring Boss: Most bosses reappear from level to level with minimal variation.
Recurring Riff: Space Dreams and Dam Busters use similar melody at some points. Also, you can hear the level 1 motif of level 3's theme in Lollipops sometimes.
Rocket Ride: What you and some of the enemies do in Rocket Jockey.
Rolling Attack: The main character in Fuzz Power can do that.
Save the Princess: You have to rescue your sister in Illuminator and a woman in Billy Bob.
And Princess Lolli in Lollipops.
Sentry Gun: Some games like Robbie Robot have these. Sentry Guns are sole enemies in Operation Moon
Some Dexterity Required: To move while jumping in most of the platformers, the B button has to be released - it can't be held down. However, the B button is also a jump button. In 4 of the platforming games, the player can jump only when moving. It makes it HELL trying to jump across pits.
Space Is Noisy: Many space shooters in this game collection.
Spikes of Doom: Bubblegum Rosy features some which won't work at all. In Mash Man, spikes have much larger hitboxes than it seems. And in Underground (where these take in form of mushrooms or spears) it's safe to fall on top of them but not safe to walk past them.
Stillborn Franchise: Active Enterprises had plans to create a Cheetahmen animated TV series and toy line.
Suspiciously Similar Song: The level 1 theme from Lollipops is a variation of famous song called Something Stupid.
Take That: The Saddam Hussein analogue in Storm over the Desert can be killed in just one hit. As a double Take That, he is basically a slightly modded sprite from Super Mario Bros.. Yeah, take that, Mario! Action 52 will make you obsolete! What's more, his name is Satan Hosain. Because subtlety is for wimps.
Technical Pacifist: Hercules in Cheetahmen doesn't want to attack unless provoked, as backstory tells.
Trapped in TV Land: The plot of Cheetahmen, insofar as some kid called the Action Game Master is pulled into the game. Then the Cheetahmen show up, tell him not to worry, and run off to fight things. The Action Gamemaster never sees them again.
Bubblegum Rosy and Ninja Assault both fall victim to this, for the worse.
Cheetahmen has more of a non-indictive first taste of gameplay — its first level is an isometric 3D sidescroller a la Battletoads, but after that, all the levels are strictly 2D.
Many of the games contain tough, nasty and cruel examples. Most famously Ooze, which was part of a back-of-the-box competition where anyone who beat said game would be entered into a raffle. Since the game is impossible to beat, this raffle saw extremely few entries.
In Starevil, when too many sprites are onscreen when it's a boss time, the boss itself doesn't appear at all.
The fifth level of Atmos Quake is unbeatable since your ship always randomly explodes.
It's possible to get stuck at a dead-end in Dam Busters thanks to the game's Ratchet Scrolling. If that happens, your only option is to reset the game.
Variable Mix: Unintentionally in level 3 of Lollipops where walking and hitting things changes the tones.
Violation of Common Sense: There are MANY of these in Action 52. But one that stands out is in the game Sombreros. The first level requires you to walk down a very narrow street against the flow of traffic and avoid getting hit by cars. For some reason, it's completely impossible to step on the clearly visible sidewalk where there are no cars!
Wackyland: Where Time Warp Tickers takes place. Also, Manchester. There are unintentional examples too. Like Micro Mike, due to tiles chosen for the level.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Cheetahmen: So what happened to the Action Game Master? Granted it contradicts what the opening cinema shows, but according to the manual he transforms into each of the Cheetahmen.
A Winner Is You: In Cheetahmen you don't even get a "Conglaturation!" screen for your troubles. Beating the final boss instantly returns you to the title screen.
Sharks and Dedant will give you Game Over screen when the final mission is completed.
Wrap Around: 2-directional horizontal variation is present in Chill Out, Cry Baby and Dedant. There are unintentional examples too.
Tropes present in Action 52 Owns or other remakes:
Adaptation Expansion: Given how insubstantial the original games are, every remake of them is going to have this to some degree.
The Action 52 Owns version of Meong is the most extreme case, changing it from a featureless tile puzzle into something of a dungeon crawler with a Gentleman Thief protagonist.
AI Is A Crap Shoot: In Mash Man, the grape masher machine used to replace Mash Man goes rogue, so Mash Man goes back to the town to destroy it.
Asteroids Monster: The regular zombie Mooks in Non-Human can split up into even more annoying Mooks in the hard mode.
Body Horror: The Zombies in Non-Human transform into other grotesque creatures, while the final boss becomes an evil caterpillar-thing.
Buried Alive: Happens to you in Sombreros. You have to suck your sombrero back to you while blowing smoke at ants that are out to eat your head.
Call Back: In the Alfredo and the Fettuccine remake, the final boss is the original Alfredo.
Captain Ersatz: The Action 52 Owns remake of Streemerz turns every character into an Ersatz Bionic Commando character - from making the playable character "Superb Joe" to including a fake Hitler as the villain.
Defeat by Modesty: Every time the hero of Fuzz Power takes a hit, he loses some of his hair. Once he is naked, he falls down and loses a life.
Easy Mode Mockery: Non-Human has a "now go play on hard mode, it's cooler" ending if you beat it on easy mode.
Fan Remake: The ACTION 52 OWNS project is attempting to make good versions of all 52 games on the cartridge.
Action 52 Revisited does things a bit differently, tying all the games together tighter to form a cohesive Crisis Crossover plotline, with the Cheetahmen still in the forefront.
Fun with Acronyms: The Action 52 OWNS remake of Streemerz justifies its name by making hero Superb Joe an agent of Super Strength Emergency Squad-Zeta. Roger, STREEMERZ Command!
Gainax Ending: Jigsaw is a puzzle platformer where you have to save a girl. But upon reaching the final area, you are treated to a small cutscene showing a silhouette of said girl suspended from a rope, with nails sticking out of her body, dripping with blood. Beside her is another silhouette of your character holding a hammer which is also dripping with blood. Then you return to the title screen.
Giant Mook: The large cat-head cyclops things in Non-Human, which can attack with a Shockwave Stomp.
Good Ending: In the Mash Man remake, if you don't mash any of the blob things, the Cheetahmen save Mash Man's life.
Half the Man He Used to Be: Happens to the second boss of Sombreros, after he gets pulled apart by two donkeys. He somehow survives, and appears as a boss who can split himself into two halves, each of which can attack separately.
Huge Holographic Head: Remember the giant green heads in the NES Non-Human? The remake justifies those by making them appear on computer screens at the bottom of the level.
Humans Are Bastards: The ending of Mash Man. Mash Man destroys the grape-masher machine that went rogue. The townspeople are pissed off with by this despite being saved by Mash Man, and they decide to hang him.
Intentional Engrish for Funny: Any remakes that pay homage to the poor English in the manuals has this, especially Streemerz.
Ludicrous Gibs: Enemies in Non-Human die like this. There's a setting that allows you to turn this up further!
Malevolent Architecture: The dungeon in Meong, in spades. Eventually, the protagonist realizes from the riddles that the entire dungeon is actually a living creature.
Malevolent Mugshot: Satan Hosein's base in Storm Over the Desert. Full stop.
Also seen on the computer screens that light up in Non-Human at the bottom of the screen, in a reference to the original game.
Man Versus Machine: The plot behind Mash Man. Mash Man used to mash the grapes to make wine, until a grape-mashing machine was introduced, making him obsolete and having the townspeople chase him out.
More Dakka: Bubblegirl Rozy fires out a rapid stream of bubbles by default, with even more possible with the various powerups. One of them causes her to recoil.
The player in Non-Human can do this if he gets enough fast-fire powerups.
Nintendo Hard : Sombreros and Star Evil and Streemerz are good examples.
Meong also qualifies, easily.
Non-Human on hard, as well.
Oculothorax: Many of your enemies in Non-Human are one-eyed head monstrosities.
One-Hit-Point Wonder: The player character of Streemerz was changed into one of these. The original player could take four hits.
One-Winged Angel: The Big Bad of Non-Human turns into a giant caterpillar-thing after being defeated in Hard Mode.
Overly Long Tongue; The mouth enemies in Non-Human use it to whip your character.
Poison Mushroom: Averted in Streemerz; the bags of money are used to unlock a hidden mode.
The final boss of Non-Human has to be shot in the stomach so that he will bend down, after which you will have to shoot his mouth to push it backwards into a meat-grinder machine, and then activate the switch to damage him. You have to do this about 6-7 times to beat it.
The second boss of Sombreros has a metal vest, and will fall down and get up at full health if you try to beat him the conventional way. In order to defeat him, you have to make him fall down on each of the nooses tied to a donkey, and once you do so, shoot both donkeys to make them rip him into half.
The final boss of Sombreros has you killing his minions, but his diplomatic immunity makes him immune to you shots. You have to shoot off his white hat, then go to the red hat and throw it onto his head. This makes a bull come and pulverize him.
The stomping machine boss of Mash Man is aided by beserk robots, to beat it you have to hit one of the small robots, and make the boss jump on top of the electrocuted wreckage.
The boss of Fuzz Power cannot be hurt normally, you have to wait for it to shoot out hairballs and bombs from its hat. Roll into the hairballs to hit it back at the boss and damage it.
The mechanical bull in Rocket Jockey attacks you from behind, making you unable to attack it directly. You have to force it to line up with an asteroid so that it crashes into him and does damage.
Recurring Riff: Rocket Jockey and Sombreros have the main theme notes played in most of their songs. The final area of Non-Human also plays the main theme, while the stage looks very similar to the original game.
Retraux: Some of the remakes deliberately emulate old-school game music and graphics. An obvious example is the City of Doom remake, which looks exactly like an old Game Boy game.
The Flash port of Streemerz adds a "Streeeeemerz Mode" inspired by VVVVVV, right down to the player having the same face as sad Viridian. The playable character is Dr. Tary, the lead scientist on Project Cavanagh, the codename of a secret weapon "V6-15D".
Bubblegirl Rozy looks like it could have been made by Studio Pixel.
Ditto for Fuzz Power.
Non-Human has a Super Metroid feel to it, with a similar interface. There is an enemy that attacks like the mini-Kraids, and the final boss is reminiscent of Crocomire (it advances towards you, and you shoot into his mouth to push it backwards).
Survival Horror: Illuminator only gives you a flashlight to fight off enemies in a pitch dark house. Its not rare to get swarmed by the undead or getting pinned in a corner with no battery left.
Trick Boss: The first few bosses of Non-Human start out as a regular zombie Mook... then when you kill them, they transform into a grotesque creature.
Video Game Caring Potential: You get the good ending in Mash Man if you do not mash any of the innocent eyeball things. Easier said than done, though, as they tend to be on top of another platform which you must jump on (and may accidentally squash them).
, a portable system that would play games from nearly every console available at the time. None of these products ever came to fruition, as Action 52 wallowed in obscurity, but it has gained a new lease on life in the Internet age as Snark Bait.This isn't to say that Active Enterprises never did anything again; indeed, there was a second Action 52 compilation on the Genesis (which Active farmed out to another developer, who did a much better, though still just barely passable, job), and a third was planned on the SNES (likely scrapped when they couldn't figure out a way around Nintendo's lockout). Additionally, a sequel to Cheetahmen was recently discovered, with hundreds of cartridges having been made of the very unfinished Cheetahmen 2, but this was never distributed. Then Active Enterprises never did anything again.A history of how the monstrosity came to be is in The Other Wiki
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