The Official Action 52 Thread.

[The Sports Guy]

So, Ive begun tackling the most awesome game ever to grace any video game system. Ive sat through both "Daytona" and "Sharpshooter". Have any of you ever beaten EVERY game on this cart? Adding to that, do you have any stories about getting this game when it came out or how laughably bad it is?

[108 Stars]

I know that I was looking forward to the game when I was a kid; 52 games on one cart, quite a promise for a boy who has to save a few months for every game.

Well, but it never reached PAL-territory it seems, and so I was spared of one of the worst investitions I could ever have made.

[VinnyT]

So, Ive begun tackling the most awesome game ever to grace any video game system. Ive sat through both "Daytona" and "Sharpshooter". Have any of you ever beaten EVERY game on this cart? Adding to that, do you have any stories about getting this game when it came out or how laughably bad it is?
The games have endings?

[TmEE]

I don't care, they all suck terribly... I rather play those 80' NES/FC minigames

[Zebbe]

What is so important about this, really? I focus on the great stuff.

[CMA Death Adder]

"OFFICIAL" thread, my @$$. Active Enterprises didn't authorize this. :)


Have any of you ever beaten EVERY game on this cart?

It is impossible to beat every game on the cart. Some of the games aren't even fully playable with cheats. When you do beat a game, however, there's no ending sequence. It just starts over.


Adding to that, do you have any stories about getting this game when it came out or how laughably bad it is?

I brought my copy over to a friend's apartment, one lazy afternoon. Together, four of us sat and played it as sort of a mock-party game. I can't remember the specifics as it's been over two years since that day, but I know I got my rear kicked at the splendid Dyno Tennis. It was a time of humbling.

After we got tired of the cartridge's meager supply of two-player games, one of my friends tried his hand at Cheetahmen for quite a while... as we laughed watching him try over and over again to complete the first level - to no avail.

In three words? Greatest game ever.

[Smii]

Action 52 rawks :rock:

No, really. Certain games on that thing are ok to waste time on occasionally, and others are hilarious - like the one where you have to avoid all the bombs, for example.

Thinking about it, I'd like to know the story behind a few of those games. What had that little pixel-man done to deserve all those bombers flying overhead and raining attempted murder on him??

(Bring on the Action 52 fanfic *gags*)

[Psy]

"OFFICIAL" thread, my @$$. Active Enterprises didn't authorize this. :)

Speaking of them do you know at the 1993 CES they announced Cheetahmen dolls, action figures, a cartoon, Cheetamen III (yes another sequal) and showing how decisional they were a 16-bit hand held compatible with Sega Genesis, NES and SNES plus its own proprietary CDs (surprised they also didn't claim support for SegaCD).

Don't believe me? Well look for yourself as their CES flyer has been scanned and put on the net http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/special/active.html

The page on their console is here
http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/special/active11.html

Imagine the same people that brought you Action 52 making a console.

[Smii]

Wow - what an ugly impractical looking console! Wonder if they ever actually produced any of the things...

[108 Stars]

This is awesome!
Man, how could this great company fail?

[108 Stars]

Somehow this thread and the great articles on active made me want to own this game! Would be awesome to acquire the license and do a new Cheetahmen-game for MD today!

[redrum666]

i remember seeing an ad for this (Action 52 cart) in gamepro magazine as a teen i wanted to get it but did not have the cash for it and allso i was afraid i would get ripped off if i did send a way for it

[The Sports Guy]

Thanks for all of the great info! Im in the middle of my midterm week for school, but after this week, I will start typing up "The Action 52 Extravaganza!". I want to do a good job on it, so it will take a while to do.

[CMA Death Adder]

Thanks for all of the great info! Im in the middle of my midterm week for school, but after this week, I will start typing up "The Action 52 Extravaganza!". I want to do a good job on it, so it will take a while to do.

Someone beat you to it quite a long time ago: Cheetahmen Corner (http://cheetahmen.silius.net/).


Somehow this thread and the great articles on active made me want to own this game!

If so, then you'll go totally ape-spit over Super Fighter Team's upcoming game product: DRAMA 53¼! Featuring fifty-three completely new and original games based on soul-stirring daytime soap operas! Rated "awe-inspiring" and "tear-jerking" by Soap Opera Digest!


Would be awesome to acquire the license and do a new Cheetahmen-game for MD today!

Yowza! It could have all the graphical scaling effects that we were jaked out of in Hyperstone Heist!!!


http://dfg.the-underdogs.info/temp/livinlarge.jpg

(In other words, it would be a great way to put yet another company out of business. Rest in peace, Active Enterprises!)

[VinnyT]

Super Fighter Team presents:

CheetahMen 3: New York Rumble!

Please?

[108 Stars]

If so, then you'll go totally ape-spit over Super Fighter Team's upcoming game product: DRAMA 53¼! Featuring fifty-three completely new and original games based on soul-stirring daytime soap operas! Rated "awe-inspiring" and "tear-jerking" by Soap Opera Digest!

And what exactly will the ¼-element of the game be? I cannot wait to promote this new project everywhere!:D


Yowza! It could have all the graphical scaling effects that we were jaked out of in Hyperstone Heist!!!

(In other words, it would be a great way to put yet another company out of business. Rest in peace, Active Enterprises!)

I´m not so sure about that...I believe if the game is not too expensive, it would sell just because of the trash-factor; I mean, there are tons of people who are looking especially for horribly bad B-Movies too...the same could happen with Cheetahmen!:D
I think if you approach such a game in a humorous way, it might work.

I really wonder if the copyright has run out by now....

BTW, it seems Active Enterprises is not dead (or at least it was not in the beginning of the millenium)....the company only left the videogame-buisiness, seemingly because the NES was dead, their partner company for 16-Bit-coding was not available anymore and they could not do MD or SNES-games in-house.
They went on to offer "high-quality, offshore software development services and Web design solutions" and specialized in voice controlled applications.

I read that in an fascinating article that makes Active Enterprises, Ltd. look like an X-File, with all people connected dropping off the face of the earth once confronted with the matter....

http://thewarpzone.classicgaming.gamespy.com/active.html

[CMA Death Adder]

And what exactly will the ¼-element of the game be?

Only ¼ of the games will actually work!


I cannot wait to promote this new project everywhere!:D

Great! We'll sell a million of these gizmos!


I read that in an fascinating article that makes Active Enterprises, Ltd. look like an X-File, with all people connected dropping off the face of the earth once confronted with the matter....

If you'd been involved with any aspect of that company, you would've wanted to disappear off the face of the earth as well.

[108 Stars]

When searching for Action 52 (I really want a copy now), I found this here...and it looks nothing like the original. But it does have a Cheetahman on the cover. So, could this be an official Active-release for PAL-territories or something?

I mean, of course there could be pirates of Action 52, but two reasons speak against it.

First of all, why of all games in the world would even the dumbest chinese pirate-company wanna do bootlegs of this game?

Second: It seems unlikely to me that those guys even made (or found) Cheetahmen-artwork for the cover; it´s not like anyone cared about the Cheetahmen anyway, so I suppose they would have used the original cover art.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3797/dscf1096bl0.jpg http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6324/dscf1097jn6.jpg

[playgen]

I thought at first it might be official, but came to the conclusion its not. First theres no mention of Active on the insert, the cart design is totally different to the custom active one, and most telling theres Chinese text on the back.
I presume the proper one has a manual too, never seen a manual for this version.

The artwork probably comes from a magazine advert or something, notice how the cheetaman is holding the correct cart design.

[Zebbe]

"Super ** in 1" is a typical pirate name for a multicart by the way.

[108 Stars]

Great...now I need both the original and this pirate!^^

[The Sports Guy]

UPDATE: Introduction and first few games started. Still very busy with things even though I am on spring break.

I may or may not do my Mario Lemieux Hockey review before I finish this masterpiece.

[KenshiroX]

I might get this simply because I do sort of like bad games...

I've been addicted to Sword of Sodan, Toxic Crusaders...but not Incredible Hulk. That game makes me very angry, depressed, and bored.

Hmm, sounds like people who just finished reading One More Day/Brand New Day.

I hate Joe Quesada.:furious:

[108 Stars]

...but not Incredible Hulk. That game makes me very angry

Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

[esb09]

I've played this game on emulation before, and dear God is it awful. I didn't think anything could be worse than Superman 64, but this tops it.

Haven't tried the Genesis version, but from what I've heard its supposed to be marginally better than the NES one.

[Psy]

I've played this game on emulation before, and dear God is it awful. I didn't think anything could be worse than Superman 64, but this tops it.

Haven't tried the Genesis version, but from what I've heard its supposed to be marginally better than the NES one.
Yep, Active Enterprises was able to create the worst games in history and put them in one completion.

[CMA Death Adder]

Yep, Active Enterprises was able to create the worst games in history and put them in one completion.

And what Active didn't cover in the worst games in history category, Realtec (aka AV Artisan) would later release in the form of FUNNY WORLD and BALLOON BOY.

[108 Stars]

Wow, look at this! An ultr@ r@re and complete copy of Cheetahmen 2 for NES!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/SEALED-Cheetahmen-II-2-NEW-Nintendo-NES-FAST-SHIP_W0QQitemZ290267062866QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p 3286.m20.l1116

EDIT: Yes, it is true; I am a person sick enough to enter the word Cheetahmen into the eBay search on purpose.^^

[Cauterize]

When searching for Action 52 (I really want a copy now), I found this here...and it looks nothing like the original. But it does have a Cheetahman on the cover. So, could this be an official Active-release for PAL-territories or something?

I mean, of course there could be pirates of Action 52, but two reasons speak against it.

First of all, why of all games in the world would even the dumbest chinese pirate-company wanna do bootlegs of this game?

Second: It seems unlikely to me that those guys even made (or found) Cheetahmen-artwork for the cover; it´s not like anyone cared about the Cheetahmen anyway, so I suppose they would have used the original cover art.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3797/dscf1096bl0.jpg http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6324/dscf1097jn6.jpg

I dont think its a pirate version actually...
This is the version I own too and one ive seen often on eBay UK.
In my eyes, this could possibly be the PAL version

Never the less, one big waste of a cartridge!!!

[108 Stars]

Actually, it IS a pirate. I mailed the guy from the Cheettahmen corner website, and he knew this to be a pirate.

[bohokii]

hgoly crap is that a pirate action 52

action 52 is to me like one of those shareware cdroms of the 90s all the games had the feel they were just not quite there

but that cart is wrong unless "action 52" was just a game that some company licenced to other cart houses to distribute

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e366/bohoki/DCP_6660.jpg

[Kollision]

From my understanding, all authentic Action 52 cartridges came in paper boxes.

[108 Stars]

Yup; if I just was not so low on cash all the time I´d like to buy one. The Cheetahmen just rock!

[Smii]

Level. Complete.

...

I was reminded of Action 52 recently, when I revisited the Menacer gun games. With the exception of Ready, Aim, Tomatoes!, which looks like some effort has been put in, they're a terrible bunch of ridiculosities.

Just like Action 52, the games are so cheap looking and colourless. The same few ill-advised musics and sfx appear all over the place, as if nobody could be bothered at all. They're all dull and repetitive. Also, much like the games of Action 52, I find myself unable to dislike them.

Must be the crappy novelty value.

(Or perhaps my crappy novelty mind.)

[108 Stars]

You know, the real hate for Action 52 cannot be recreated today.

Imagine being a kid, hoping for a great game for Christmas...and then you find out Santa brought you Action 52, and your parents smile at you happily...."Santa has paid 200 Dollars for this, so now you have 52 games and will not need more for a long time! Just the best for our lil´boy!"

[vintagegamecrazy]

Trekbone, are you actually doing a review for this game or are you doing an article? I would love to do a review for it sometime if your not.

[108 Stars]

Hey, not one but 52 reviews, since Active said they were all full quality titles!