Action 52
Encyclopedia
Action 52 is an unlicensed multicart
consisting of 52 individual and original video games, released in September 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System
and in May 1993 for the Sega Genesis consoles
by Active Enterprises
(a Super Nintendo Entertainment System
version was advertised in some magazines, but never released). It initially retailed for the comparatively high price of US$199 (or "less than $4 for each game"), and became notorious among gamers for the abysmal quality of its games. Many video game collectors
value Action 52 for its notoriety and rarity.
The cartridge states that it contains 52 "new and original exciting games". The games cover a variety of genres, although the most common are scrolling shooters and platform game
s. Examples of scrolling shooters include Star Evil, G-Force, Thrusters, and Megalonia. Some of the platform games available are Ooze, Non Human, Alfred N the Fettuc, and Bubblegum Rossie.
The NES version of Action 52 was internally developed by Active Enterprises
, also the publisher of the game. The games cover a variety of genres, although the most common are scrolling shooters and platform game
s. Examples of scrolling shooters include Star Evil, G-Force, Thrusters, and Megalonia. Some of the platform games available are Ooze, Non Human, Alfred N the Fettuc, and Bubblegum Rossie. The majority of the titles included on the cartridge had major glitch
es. The games have been known to freeze or crash due to programming flaws, have incomplete and/or endless levels, unresponsive controls, and confusing design. In the game manual, each title had a one-sentence description. Some titles were described as completely different games and some were incorrectly described or miscategorized.
The "Think" drum break
from Lyn Collins
' song "Think (About It)
" is used in the beginning sequence of the NES version. The sound generated for moving the select cursor on the NES version was used for the Power Player Super Joy III
's menu. Active Enterprises advertised a competition in which anyone who could complete level 5 of the NES version of Ooze would be entered into a prize drawing to win $104,000 ($52,000 cash and scholarship of same value). The game was reported to crash on level 3, making this prize impossible to win without use of emulator or using in-game exploit, further making the contest a failure.
The Cheetahmen was the "featured" game on the Action 52 multicart, and there were initial plans for a line of merchandise including action figures, t-shirts, a comic book series and even a television cartoon based on the characters (an advertisement for Cheetahmen action figures, displaying prototype sketches, was included in the aforementioned comic book). These plans quickly fell through as negative word-of-mouth and reviews mounted.
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The Sega Genesis version of Action 52 was developed by FarSight Technologies
. This version features a different lineup of games, some with more work put into design and technical issues than the NES version. Each game is color coded on the main menu screen; "Beginner" games are displayed in a green font, "intermediate" games are displayed in a purple font, "expert" games are displayed in a yellow font, and multiplayer games are displayed in a blue font. In addition to the 52 games listed above, the Mega Drive/Genesis version features a music test mode, and a "randomizer" option. If selected from the main menu, the randomizer will randomly choose and start one game from the 52 available on the cartridge. The fifty-second game, Challenge, is an endurance test to see how long the player lasts in a random series of the highest levels of the other games.
Several new games were introduced in the Sega version. A number of these have the same name as games on the NES cartridge, although they are not the same game; the Sega Haunted Hills, for instance, is entirely different from the NES Haunted Hills. Other games feature other changes, including a version of The Cheetahmen in which the titular Cheetahmen rescue captured cheetah cubs from monsters, which is completely different from the original NES game. The bosses from the NES version appear as enemies.
created Action 52. He showcased the game at the International Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The breakthrough came by accident. "I happened to see my son playing an illegal product made in Taiwan that had 40 games on it. The whole neighborhood went crazy over it," Perri said. "I figured I'd do it legally. It's obvious when you see something like that, you know there's something there."
Several of the songs from the NES version of Action 52 were plagiarized
from example tunes included in Activision's The Music Studio for Atari ST
. The games with plagiarized music include Fuzz Power, Silver Sword, French Baker, Streemerz, Time Warp Tickers, and Ninja Assault. Those songs were composed by Ed Bogas
. Additionally, programmer Kevin Horton analyzed the music code of Action 52, and found that it matched a music engine programmed by Sculptured Software
. This sound engine also appears in other games by Sculptured Software, including Day Dreamin' Davey
, Eliminator Boat Duel, the NES version of Monopoly
, and Metal Mech.
For the original NES collection, Perri raised $5 million from private backers in Europe and Saudi Arabia. He and Raul Gomila employed several college students to do the programming which was programmed on an Atari ST
, and contracted out technical work to Cronos Engineering Inc., a Boca Raton company that had done work for IBM
. Action 52 may have originally been designed to include 60 games, as evidenced by eight menu templates present in the ROM, as well as many unused tiles
. The extra eight games may have been cut due to the large size of the cartridge (two megabytes), and a probable increased production cost.
The Sega Genesis version, released two years later, was developed by FarSight Studios
, who had also developed Color a Dinosaur
for the NES. Plans for a Super NES
version of the cartridge were announced, but Active Enterprises withdrew from the video game industry shortly thereafter, and no copies are known to exist.
and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
. The Action 52 cartridge came with a twelve-page comic book
providing the Cheetahmen's backstory.
The Cheetahmen consists of six levels, two for each of the three Cheetahmen. The second level includes a boss battle. Other than the bosses, all of the other enemies are characters from the other games, including Saddam Hussein
parody Satán Hossain from Storm Over the Desert, a simple overhead tank game where running over Hossain, who appears very frequently, gives the player another life.
, then takes her three cubs for his genetic research. Subjected to his experiments, the cubs grow into half-cheetah, half-human creatures. Once they learn of Morbis's evil plans, they turn on him, and he in turn creates an army of half-animal humans (known as "Sub-Species") to stop the Cheetahmen once and for all.
The NES version of the game had an intro sequence that told a story as well, where a boy called the "Action Gamemaster" is at home playing a video game when a robotic arm reaches through the screen and pulls him into the game by his leg. He meets the Cheetahmen, who then run away. The Gamemaster does not appear in the rest of the game, although the manual summary implies that he transforms into the Cheetahmen, one after another.
The heroes included:
The enemies included:
s exist on the Internet. Copies of the game value at almost $1,000.
In Cheetahmen II the player again assumes the role of one of the three Cheetahmen (Aries, Apollo and Hercules); after defeating a boss at the end of the second level, they switch to the next Cheetahman for the following two levels, as in the Action 52 version. Due to a bug, it is impossible to get to the levels in which one plays Cheetahman Aries without altering the ROM image
or experiencing a glitch that very rarely starts the game on these two levels.
Cheetahmen II is famous for its music, and for its lack of quality in all other areas. Like Action 52, it was not licensed by Nintendo.
Multicart
In video game parlance, a multicart is a cartridge that contains more than one game. Typically, the separate games are available individually for purchase or were previously available individually . For this reason, collections, anthologies, and compilations are considered multicarts...
consisting of 52 individual and original video games, released in September 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
and in May 1993 for the Sega Genesis consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
by Active Enterprises
Active Enterprises
Active Enterprises Ltd. is a defunct American video game developer headquartered in Miami, Florida that was active in the early 1990s. Their best known game, and the only title officially released by the company, was the infamous Action 52 multicart for the NES and Sega Genesis video game...
(a Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
version was advertised in some magazines, but never released). It initially retailed for the comparatively high price of US$199 (or "less than $4 for each game"), and became notorious among gamers for the abysmal quality of its games. Many video game collectors
Video game collecting
Video game collecting is the hobby of collecting video games and related memorabilia. Collectors may focus on a particular area of interest, such as retro consoles like the Atari 2600 and NES. There may also be some overlap with animation, anime, manga, comic books, or other media...
value Action 52 for its notoriety and rarity.
The cartridge states that it contains 52 "new and original exciting games". The games cover a variety of genres, although the most common are scrolling shooters and platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
s. Examples of scrolling shooters include Star Evil, G-Force, Thrusters, and Megalonia. Some of the platform games available are Ooze, Non Human, Alfred N the Fettuc, and Bubblegum Rossie.
Nintendo Entertainment System
| List of games | |
|---|---|
'*' Crashes upon startup |
Active Enterprises
Active Enterprises Ltd. is a defunct American video game developer headquartered in Miami, Florida that was active in the early 1990s. Their best known game, and the only title officially released by the company, was the infamous Action 52 multicart for the NES and Sega Genesis video game...
, also the publisher of the game. The games cover a variety of genres, although the most common are scrolling shooters and platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
s. Examples of scrolling shooters include Star Evil, G-Force, Thrusters, and Megalonia. Some of the platform games available are Ooze, Non Human, Alfred N the Fettuc, and Bubblegum Rossie. The majority of the titles included on the cartridge had major glitch
Glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot...
es. The games have been known to freeze or crash due to programming flaws, have incomplete and/or endless levels, unresponsive controls, and confusing design. In the game manual, each title had a one-sentence description. Some titles were described as completely different games and some were incorrectly described or miscategorized.
The "Think" drum break
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
from Lyn Collins
Lyn Collins
Lyn Collins was an African American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s. Contrary to some reports, she is not related to Bootsy Collins, nor Catfish Collins....
' song "Think (About It)
Think (About It)
"Think " is a funk song recorded by Lyn Collins and released as a single on James Brown's People Records in 1972. The recording was produced by Brown and featured instrumental backing from his band The J.B.'s...
" is used in the beginning sequence of the NES version. The sound generated for moving the select cursor on the NES version was used for the Power Player Super Joy III
Power Player Super Joy III
The Power Player Super Joy III consoles are a line of unauthorized handheld Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom clones manufactured by NRTRADE that are sold in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The system resembles a Nintendo 64 controller and attaches to a TV set...
's menu. Active Enterprises advertised a competition in which anyone who could complete level 5 of the NES version of Ooze would be entered into a prize drawing to win $104,000 ($52,000 cash and scholarship of same value). The game was reported to crash on level 3, making this prize impossible to win without use of emulator or using in-game exploit, further making the contest a failure.
The Cheetahmen was the "featured" game on the Action 52 multicart, and there were initial plans for a line of merchandise including action figures, t-shirts, a comic book series and even a television cartoon based on the characters (an advertisement for Cheetahmen action figures, displaying prototype sketches, was included in the aforementioned comic book). These plans quickly fell through as negative word-of-mouth and reviews mounted.
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
| List of games | |
|---|---|
|
FarSight Studios
FarSight Studios is an American video game developer established in 1988. They are an official licensed developer for all current home and handheld consoles including the Sony PlayStation 3 and Move, PlayStation 2, PSP, and PlayStation Vita; the Microsoft Xbox, Xbox 360, and Kinect; as well as the...
. This version features a different lineup of games, some with more work put into design and technical issues than the NES version. Each game is color coded on the main menu screen; "Beginner" games are displayed in a green font, "intermediate" games are displayed in a purple font, "expert" games are displayed in a yellow font, and multiplayer games are displayed in a blue font. In addition to the 52 games listed above, the Mega Drive/Genesis version features a music test mode, and a "randomizer" option. If selected from the main menu, the randomizer will randomly choose and start one game from the 52 available on the cartridge. The fifty-second game, Challenge, is an endurance test to see how long the player lasts in a random series of the highest levels of the other games.
Several new games were introduced in the Sega version. A number of these have the same name as games on the NES cartridge, although they are not the same game; the Sega Haunted Hills, for instance, is entirely different from the NES Haunted Hills. Other games feature other changes, including a version of The Cheetahmen in which the titular Cheetahmen rescue captured cheetah cubs from monsters, which is completely different from the original NES game. The bosses from the NES version appear as enemies.
Development
Vince Perri of Miami, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
created Action 52. He showcased the game at the International Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The breakthrough came by accident. "I happened to see my son playing an illegal product made in Taiwan that had 40 games on it. The whole neighborhood went crazy over it," Perri said. "I figured I'd do it legally. It's obvious when you see something like that, you know there's something there."
Several of the songs from the NES version of Action 52 were plagiarized
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
from example tunes included in Activision's The Music Studio for Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
. The games with plagiarized music include Fuzz Power, Silver Sword, French Baker, Streemerz, Time Warp Tickers, and Ninja Assault. Those songs were composed by Ed Bogas
Ed Bogas
Ed Bogas, born Edgar Noel Bogas, and sometimes credited as Edward Bogas, is an American rock musician and composer and whose work has been featured in films, animations, and video games.-Career:...
. Additionally, programmer Kevin Horton analyzed the music code of Action 52, and found that it matched a music engine programmed by Sculptured Software
Sculptured Software
Sculptured Software Inc. was a late twentieth century video game developer in the Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan area. They specialized in porting games to different platforms, especially from arcade games to home console games.-History:...
. This sound engine also appears in other games by Sculptured Software, including Day Dreamin' Davey
Day Dreamin' Davey
Day Dreamin' Davey is a NES video game developed by Sculptured Software and published by HAL Laboratory.-Plot:The game starts out with the main protagonist, Davey, arriving at school. Then a bully takes his pencil...
, Eliminator Boat Duel, the NES version of Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
, and Metal Mech.
For the original NES collection, Perri raised $5 million from private backers in Europe and Saudi Arabia. He and Raul Gomila employed several college students to do the programming which was programmed on an Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, and contracted out technical work to Cronos Engineering Inc., a Boca Raton company that had done work for IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
. Action 52 may have originally been designed to include 60 games, as evidenced by eight menu templates present in the ROM, as well as many unused tiles
Tile-based video game
A tile-based video game is a type of video or computer game where the playing area consists of small rectangular, square, or hexagonal graphic images, referred to as tiles. The complete set of tiles available for use in a playing area is called a tileset...
. The extra eight games may have been cut due to the large size of the cartridge (two megabytes), and a probable increased production cost.
The Sega Genesis version, released two years later, was developed by FarSight Studios
FarSight Studios
FarSight Studios is an American video game developer established in 1988. They are an official licensed developer for all current home and handheld consoles including the Sony PlayStation 3 and Move, PlayStation 2, PSP, and PlayStation Vita; the Microsoft Xbox, Xbox 360, and Kinect; as well as the...
, who had also developed Color a Dinosaur
Color a Dinosaur
Color a Dinosaur is an electronic coloring book video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.-Summary:In the game itself, the player colors various non-threatening dinosaurs by using the provided dinosaur images and palettes. Players can either color using the free form mode or in the automatic...
for the NES. Plans for a Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
version of the cartridge were announced, but Active Enterprises withdrew from the video game industry shortly thereafter, and no copies are known to exist.
The Cheetahmen
Released on the Action 52 cartridge, The Cheetahmen was Active Enterprises' attempt to compete with the success of franchises such as BattletoadsBattletoads
Battletoads is a platformer video game created by Tim and Chris Stamper and developed by Rare. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions , the game was created to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games....
and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
. The Action 52 cartridge came with a twelve-page comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
providing the Cheetahmen's backstory.
The Cheetahmen consists of six levels, two for each of the three Cheetahmen. The second level includes a boss battle. Other than the bosses, all of the other enemies are characters from the other games, including Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
parody Satán Hossain from Storm Over the Desert, a simple overhead tank game where running over Hossain, who appears very frequently, gives the player another life.
Plot
The backstory of the Cheetahmen was given in a 12-page comic book included with Action 52. Mad scientist Dr. Morbis kills a mother cheetah while on safari in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, then takes her three cubs for his genetic research. Subjected to his experiments, the cubs grow into half-cheetah, half-human creatures. Once they learn of Morbis's evil plans, they turn on him, and he in turn creates an army of half-animal humans (known as "Sub-Species") to stop the Cheetahmen once and for all.
The NES version of the game had an intro sequence that told a story as well, where a boy called the "Action Gamemaster" is at home playing a video game when a robotic arm reaches through the screen and pulls him into the game by his leg. He meets the Cheetahmen, who then run away. The Gamemaster does not appear in the rest of the game, although the manual summary implies that he transforms into the Cheetahmen, one after another.
Characters
- Hercules, named for HerculesHerculesHercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
the GreekAncient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
demigodDemigodThe term "demigod" , meaning "half-god", is commonly used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human; as such, demigods are human-god hybrids...
, son of ZeusZeusIn the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
and a mortal woman. He is by nature a pacifistPacifismPacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, but will fight with deadly force when the situation demands it. He does not use a weapon, but has great physical strength. - Aries, named for the astrologicalAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
sign AriesAries (astrology)Aries is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the zero degree and the 29th degree of celestial longitude. The Sun enters Aries when it reaches the northern vernal equinox, which is usually on March 21 each year, and remains in this sign until around April 20...
that is believed to dictate impulsive behavior (as the group's combat expert he was probably intended to be named after AresAresAres is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
). Aries learned martial arts from movies shown to him by Dr. Morbis. He wields two wooden clubs. - Apollo, named for ApolloApolloApollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, the Greek god. He is the leader of the Cheetahmen, and was the first to question Dr. Morbis's intentions. As his name suggests, Apollo is an archer and a scholar versed in many fields. He uses a crossbow.
The enemies included:
- Dr. Morbis, an evil geneticist. His ultimate goals are never made clear.
- Cygore, Dr. Morbis' assistant with a robotic arm. Sketches of him showed a number of weapon attachments.
- White Rhino, a Sub-Species based on a rhino.
- Scavenger, a Sub-Species based on a vulture.
- Hyena, a Sub-Species based on a hyena.
- Man-Ape (or Ape-Man), allegedly the most powerful of Dr. Morbis' Sub-Species.
Cheetahmen II
There were plans for a sequel to The Cheetahmen. Although mostly completed, Cheetahmen II was made, but it was never officially released. In 1996, however, 1,500 copies of the game were located in a warehouse, and eventually put on sale on the secondary market. All copies of the game were reused Action 52 cartridges, some with a small gold sticker reading "Cheetamen II". This cartridge is now very hard to find, though numerous ROM imageROM image
A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
s exist on the Internet. Copies of the game value at almost $1,000.
In Cheetahmen II the player again assumes the role of one of the three Cheetahmen (Aries, Apollo and Hercules); after defeating a boss at the end of the second level, they switch to the next Cheetahman for the following two levels, as in the Action 52 version. Due to a bug, it is impossible to get to the levels in which one plays Cheetahman Aries without altering the ROM image
ROM image
A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
or experiencing a glitch that very rarely starts the game on these two levels.
Cheetahmen II is famous for its music, and for its lack of quality in all other areas. Like Action 52, it was not licensed by Nintendo.
See also
- List of commercial failures in video gaming
- Video games notable for negative reception
- Cassette 50Cassette 50Cassette 50 was a compilation of games published by Cascade Games Ltd. The compilation included a Timex digital calculator watch....
External links
- List of all Action 52 games A comprehensive website detailing all 52 of the games in the collection.
- Active Enterprises exposed - A website with information on both Action 52 and Active Enterprises.