YMMV / Action 52

• Accidental Innuendo: Some game names are rather unfortunate: "G-Force FGT"^note Many interpret the "FGT" as "Faggot.", "They Came...", "Thrusters."
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The main character of Non-Human and Micro Mike and the enemies of Spread Fire are perfect for Rorschach tests.
  • And what about the fellow from Sombreros? Some thieves steal a bunch of hats in such a rush that they drop them all over the place. This prompts our hero to pick up a gun, walk down the middle of a road into oncoming traffic, shoot a bunch of innocent cars (which explode) for getting in his way, and try to shoot the unarmed culprits dead while they try to frantically escape his line of sight, all to get said hats back.
  • In the unaired commercial, Apollo says "We come from the Action 52 game world, where every game is..." before Hercules interrupts him. People have joked that he was trying to warn players of the game's quality.
• Awesome Music: To quote a comment on YouTube, "The only good thing about Action 52 is the music."
  • The theme from Cheetahmen, easily the game's most popular track. No one is sure how it happened, but it did. Additionally, it got many, many remixes on the Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga.
  • The theme for Ooze on the Genesis version, which was done by Nu Romantic Productions, who were responsible for the soundtracks of Toe Jam And Earl and Kid Chameleon.
  • The Dam Busters theme. Northernlion approves! Also the game's funkier remix, Space Dreams.
  • Timewarp Tickers, another candidate for the catchiest track on the game, which sounds like an oldies rock 'n' roll tune.
• Bile Fascination: Everyone knows how horrible Action 52 is. Despite this, years later, players are still delving into the games in this title, using emulators to beat the ones that are unbeatable (or to actually play the ones that normally crash immediately upon selection), and even posting tips and tricks for the games on YouTube. The game's infamy is so giant that it even got an entire exhibit dedicated to it at the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, TX.
• Demonic Spiders: Most games include at least one type of it, and frequently more. Some deserve a special mention:
  • Hairdryers in Fuzz Power, which shoot nearly impossible-to-dodge stuff at player at random. Made worse by the fact that main character has only a melee attack.
  • Balls in Hambo (especially bowling balls) which spawn onto tiny platforms, often making the game Unwinnable. Dynamite that spawns on top of ladders also qualify. That you start with only one life doesn't help.
  • Tiny red spheres in Micro Mike can spawn in random parts of the screen and then home in on the player. Since it's only possible to shoot forward, getting hit is guaranteed when these spawn above, below or behind the player.
  • Starting from stage 3, many enemies in Bleeps 'n Blips have incredible speed and homing ability, allowing them to hit the player in a fraction of a second. It doesn't help that your character can only shoot in the direction it's moving (and not diagonally).
  • Almost every enemy in the 5th level of Cheetahmen has these traits. They either move so fast and lock on to the player that there's only 0.2 seconds maximum to shoot them down, or they're just too low to hit (Apollo can't duck).
  • Pretty much any enemy in Haunted Halls, due to their random spawning, Goddamned Bats behavior, and the fact that you can't crouch. The worst one may be the "Skull of Doom".
  • The literal Goddamned Bats in the later levels of Illuminator. They home in on you at high speed, are nearly impossible to hit before they hit you, and you're a One-Hit-Point Wonder to boot.
  • Spiders in Dedant. If they come down to your level, they stay down there till they get you, and you can't shoot diagonally or sideways.
• Difficulty Spike: Some of the games have this:
  • Cheetahmen has level 5, which gives you the worst weapon in the game (a crossbow which is ridiculously hard to aim properly) and unfairly quick enemies, most of whom home in on you.
  • Illuminator has bats from level 4 onwards, which are the toughest enemies in the game.
  • Haunted Halls introduces spiders in level 2, which can render the level impossible depending on where they spawn.
  • Beeps n Blips' enemies vary depending on the level, with most from level 3 onwards being too quick to react to.
  • Robbie n the Robots is ridiculously easy in level 1, but the rest of the game is quite difficult.
  • Starevil starts off directly in front of a nearly-impossible-to-avoid wall. This comes after the first game, Firebreather, which was relatively slow-paced and 2-player.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The "Haunted Hill" main character is the only character besides the Cheetahmen to get any sort of attention, mostly due to her sprite having noticeable assets.
• Fan Nickname: The Haunted Hill main character is unofficially called "Mrs. Tits" by many people, due to Angry Video Game Nerd calling her that in his video on the game. The OneyPlays crew settled on "Jiggle Jane" as her name during their playthrough.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The background music in the Cheetahmen game has become popular in the Japanese video game remix scene.
• Goddamned Bats: Of course, these games have quite a few of them:
  • Sharks and especially jellyfish in... Sharks.
  • Enemies in later levels of Storm over Desert.
  • Droplets in Ooze. To defeat them just wait for them to fall. Slowly. Many times in some stages.
• Good Bad Bugs: While the game features glitches, it also often has glitches to get around the glitches. There are many of them, some of which have to be used to complete the level:
  • In Manchester, you can't pass a certain point because of flames being in the way. However, it's possible to fall partially down a bottomless pit and walk through the ground, bypassing most of the levels.
  • These are also found in Underground. While walking into the walls is sort of amusing, the ability to fire through the walls (properly utilized) takes the game all the way to "genuine fun" territory.
  • In Dedant, if the player positions their ant so that they are half on one side of the screen and half on the other, any enemies that home in on their position will disappear before they can make contact with the player.
  • Aries (in the 2nd level) and Hercules can jump in mid-air by pressing jump just after attacking. This trick carried over into Cheetahmen II.
  • In many games, Bottomless Pits actually make the character reappear at the upper side of the screen. In Lollipops, attacking in mid-air while falling will reset the falling height and cause the character to reappear in the sky, allowing you to skip a few sections of the map.
  • In several games, the number of enemies spawning can be reduced by firing a lot of projectiles or not killing current enemies on screen. Often it's also possible to scroll enemies off the screen which is extremely useful in Haunted Halls which stops the enemies spawning behind from getting you.
  • In Chill Out, when jumping constantly, edges of the screen can be used to get up without using ladders. This helps to get up and shoot the enemies relatively safely.
  • In Slashers, you can walk around the enemies so you don't even have to fight them.
  • Certain actions in Fuzz Power make the main character unable to do its attack, but in return, make him invulnerable.
  • In Non-Human you can jump and stand on the mouths of the green Elton John heads without dying. It is possible to bypass the entire level this way.
• Junk Rare: Getting an actual cartridge of either Action 52 or Cheetahmen II will cost you upwards of at least $300, making it one of the most expensive NES games. But $300 for a unfinished glitchy mess of a game? Not worth it unless you're a collector.
• Memetic Mutation: The Cheetahmen games (especially part II, which was in its own cartridge) are the subject of several parodies and tributes on the Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga.
• Misattributed Song: The music from Silver Sword, French Baker, Fuzz Power, Streemerz, Time Warp Tickers and Ninja As(s)ault were actually composed by Ed Bogas. Ed's work is used without approval, and uncredited.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The somber, minimalist music from Lollipops Level 3 is absolutely unnerving and melancholic.
  • What's more shocking, that's only what it sounds like when using a ROM Utility. In-game? Even worse.
  • Also interesting to note that the game's manual states the Lollipops' story is something about the main character trying to rescue his girlfriend and it gets darker as he goes. Makes you wonder what kind if Nightmare Fuel the game could have been if it was developed better.
  • The Genesis version has the death animation in Freeway, where the street-crossing dog gets graphically crushed when run over by vehicles.
    The Angry Video Game Nerd: That's horrible! The poor dog doesn't just get run over, it gets smushed into pieces!
  • The harsh, industrial-sounding, dramatic music in the Genesis A52 game Sharpshooter, juxtaposed against gameplay of shooting cute little animals in a carnival with bright flashing lights.
• Nightmare Retardant: In Non-Human, after fighting waves of weird-looking mutant horrors, you then start facing off hungry cyclopean heads. They look like adorable smiling orange dog/cat/hamster heads, which takes away any creepy factor.
• Obvious Beta:
  • More like 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 II was an Obvious Pre-Alpha, and they still programmed it into cartridges. Did they really intend to distribute it in that state?
  • Even the cartridge itself was prone to this. As The Angry Video Game Nerd pointed out, if you have the cartridge in your NES while turned on for an extended period of time, it starts to overheat due to the plastic casing, leaving behind a burned plastic smell. He also pointed out this can happen with any NES model, be it the original grey box, the Top Loader, or even third-party clones like his Nintoaster.
• Retroactive Recognition: Who knew that Farsight Studios, the developers of the Genesis version, not only survived the failure of the game, but went from strength to strength as developers of casual games, including the well received The Pinball Arcade? And that studio founder and producer of the game, Jay Obernolte, went on to have a successful career in politics, jumping from mayor all the way to being elected to US congress?
• Signature Song: The music from The Cheetahmen is by far the best-known thing about this compilation, thanks to being actually good.
• So Bad, It Was Better: The Genesis version of Action 52 is nowhere near as infamous as the NES version, in large part due to actually being fairly competent, yet still subpar. Games in the Genesis version are far less prone to crashing and are at the very least playable, but they're still quite bland, unmemorable, and lacking in the (attempted) level of ambition found with the NES version, which is at least funnier in just how unquestionably busted it is.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To another unlicensed multicart called Supervision 52-in-1. The two games have identical coding for the main menu, and both are a compilation of 52 games (although in Supervision's case, it is mostly made up of slightly edited versions of other games, and it actually has 50 games with two repeats).
  • To Cassette 50, a similarly lackluster collection of 50 games that was developed for home computer platforms, albeit for a less extortionate price.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • The level 1 theme from Lollipops is a variation of the Frank and Nancy Sinatra duet "Something Stupid."
  • The intro sounds exactly like "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, as pointed out by The Angry Video Game Nerd.
  • The theme of Dam Busters is very reminiscent of Pachelbel's Canon in D, specially the second half.
• That One Level:
  • Micro Mike is probably the hardest game on the cart, as the auto-scrolling is simply too fast, and the player character is not mobile enough to reasonably keep up.
  • As for individual levels themselves, there are quite a few candidates:
    • Levels 3 and up in Beeps n Blips, due to the amount of Demonic Spider enemies.
    • Level 1 and 2 in Billy Bob. Both levels are absolutely flooded with screens that immediately begin with pits in front of you where you can't see them coming, and the randomly spawning obstacles often appear in spots where they are impossible to avoid. By comparison, the rest of the game is a breeze.
    • Level 5 in Cheetahmen. This is the first level where you play as Apollo, who has the misfortune of being being ill-equipped to handle the level, as his only attack is a crossbow that is almost impossible to aim, due to the wonky jumping physics combined with the fact that he cannot aim at lower altitudes. The enemies are all very small targets that home in on Apollo right below his shots incredibly quickly, making them almost impossible to hit. While this level does contain a warp that lets the player skip it, taking the warp causes the game to glitch out, making it useless.
• Unfortunate Character Design: In the third screen of the NES Cheetahmen's intro sequence, one of the trio's tails is sticking between his legs in a way that looks more than a little phallic. The illusion is made even worse by the fact that we only see the Cheetahman from their knees down in that screen.
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • Storm Over The Desert is very transparently based on Operation Desert Storm, which concluded just before the game's release.
  • The music themed, psychedelic Manchester is likely a reference to the "Madchester" music scene that declined in the early 90's.

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