History VideoGame / Action52

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: In most of the platform games, falling ''can'' kill you, and you need not actually touch the ground from a long jump for a character to begin his death animation.

** Active Enterprises's planned ''Cheetahmen III'' game for their Action Gamemaster console would have emphasized this even further, along with the NES ''Cheetahmen'' and ''Cheetahman II''. Showing that the Genesis ''Cheetahmen'', unlike its NES counterpart, wasn't even being counted as part of the main series.

** The "lost levels" of ''Cheetahmen 2'', which are {{Remixed Level}}s from ''Cheetahmen 1'' where the music is all glitched, and your Cheetahman is invincible. Once you play through here, the game locks up, just like at the end of Level 4.

* ObviousBeta: 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 2'' was an Obvious Pre-Alpha, and they still programmed it into cartridges. Did they really intend to distribute it in that state?

* AntagonistTitle: ''Non Human''. The title refers to the abominations the player faces, and not the player himself.

* DemotedToExtra: ''Cheetahmen'' was the main attraction of the NES version but it's just another title in the Genesis version. Likewise, the bosses from the NES version of ''Cheetahmen'' show up in the Genesis one, but are just regular enemies.

The truly amazing part? Perri was apparently a big dreamer, and accompanied the grand unveiling of ''Action 52'' with a press release, proclaiming the upcoming release of ''Cheetahmen'' action figures and a "Creator/{{Disney}}-quality" SaturdayMorningCartoon, and the [[http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/actiongamemaster/ 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'' was a commercial failure, but it has gained a new lease on life in the Internet age as the subject of many video game reviewers' mockery.

A history of how the game came to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_52 is in The Other Wiki]]. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd reviewed the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QBeADNM34 here]] (part one of two; the second part, covering ''Cheetahmen'' and its unreleased sequel, can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmoJkHS-2E here]]). Even though his review contains some inaccuracies, it still sums the games up pretty well. A more detailed series of all 52 games [[note]]including the ones that are only playable on a certain emulator[[/note]] can be [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D40E5708C6BAEEA seen here.]]

# Fire Breather [[note]] The one game on the cartridge that is two-player, and there '''needs''' to be two players to really do anything with it. [[/note]]

A history of how the game came to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_52 is in The Other Wiki]]. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd reviewed the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QBeADNM34 here]] (part one of two; the second part, covering ''Cheetahmen'' and its unreleased sequel, can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmoJkHS-2E here]]). Even though his review contains some inaccuracies, it still sums the games up pretty well. A more detailed series of all 52 games [[note]]including the ones that are only playable on a certain emulator[[/note]] can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D40E5708C6BAEEA here]].

* HardLevelsEasyBosses: In most of the games to feature boss fights, they're the easiest parts of the game. ''Haunted Hills/Halls'' and ''Cheetahmen'' have stages filled with incredibly stiff platforming challenges, but the boss tends to be pretty predictable and their attacks are easy to avoid. ''Cheetahmen II'' is particularly notable, since the first boss, Doctor Morbis, does nothing but run left.

* HitboxDissonance: Very severe in some of the games. Attacks that should miss you hit, and attacks that shouldn't.

As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA3WogFaeFQ this video]] from WebVideo/StuartAshen demonstrates, it is very easy to kill yourself immediately at the beginning of ''Starevil'' and ''Hambo's Adventure''--the latter of which he timed at ''less than half a second''.

* PoisonMushroom: Money bags give a frowny face and damage you upon being collected in ''Streemerz'', though a dummied-out smiley face suggests this is unintentional.

* PressStartToGameOver: As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA3WogFaeFQ this video]] from WebVideo/StuartAshen demonstrates, it is very easy to kill yourself immediately at the beginning of ''Starevil'' and ''Hambo's Adventure''--the latter of which he timed at ''less than half a second''.

** ''Dam Busters'' has this. At certain points, it's completely possible to go too far into a dead end with no way to backtrack, forcing you to reset the game.
** All of the platformers have this as well.

* 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, and the player characters don't have enough mobility to be able to dodge them.

* PoisonMushroom: Money bags give a frowny face and damages you upon being collected in ''Streemerz'', though a dummied-out smiley face suggests this is unintentional.

%%* RecurringBoss: Most bosses reappear from level to level with minimal variation.

* RocketRide: What you and some of the enemies do in ''Rocket Jockey''.
* RollingAttack: The main character in ''Fuzz Power'' has one as his primary attack.

* SkippableBoss: The bosses in ''Megalonia'' can be skipped by shooting down enough ships.

** Also worth noting that the Iraqi tanks are pink and that running over Hussein gives you extra lives.

** ''Bubblegum Rosy'' (which is a platformer, but has a driving level) and ''Ninja Assault'' (a side-scrolling beat-em-up that has you jumping from one log to another in the third level) both fall victim to this, for the worse.

** The FinalBoss of ''Cheetahmen''. If you stay to the left of the screen and off of the middle platform, his predetermined movement path will never touch you. Additionally, the character you're using for this fight is armed with a crossbow. The boss has no projectile attacks. You do the math.

* BleakLevel: The final level of ''Cheetahmen'' does not contain any regular enemies,

** ''Megalonia'', if the manual is to be believed, refers to the main antagonist.

* CatFolk: The Cheetahmen are cat people.

** The first two levels of ''Billy Bob'' are noticeably harder than the rest of the game.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Johnny Jawbreaker from ''Lollipops'' uses a large lollipop as a weapon.

* LivingToys: Many of the enemies in ''Space Dreams'', including teddy bear enemies.

** 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.

** The last level of ''Ninja Assault'' is populated by {{Glitch Entit|y}}ies, and you're stuck in limbo at the end.

* NoEnding: Most of the games. In some you just keep doing the same level(s) over and over, and in some you can't even reach the ending (if they DID program one) [[LuckBasedMission for]] [[JumpPhysics various]] [[ObviousBeta reasons]].

* OneHitPointWonder: The vast majority of player characters are this, the main exceptions being the Cheetahmen, Bubble Gum Ros(s)ie, and the tanks in ''Storm Over the Desert''.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: 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.

The truly amazing part? Perri was apparently a big dreamer, 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 [[http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/actiongamemaster/ 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'' was a commercial failure, but it has gained a new lease on life in the Internet age as the subject of many video game reviewers' mockery.

# Ninjaa

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Not the case with Apollo, the leader of the Cheetahmen. He's got a long reach but a narrow attack range in the NES version, and the levels where you control him are generally considered to be the hardest in the game mainly owing to this. In the Genesis one his arrows take three hits to kill most enemies, while his brothers can kill any enemy in one hit.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: "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.

* BlatantLies: According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Action_52_%28NES%29_box_art.jpg the box]], as displayed on Wiki/TheOtherWiki, 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 contains numerous inaccuracies.
* BlobMonster: The enemies in ''Ooze'' are mostly blob creatures.
* BossRush: Sort of. The last game, ''Cheetahmen'', uses an array of {{Palette Swap}}ped enemies from previous games. A few of them are actually based on bosses, [[DegradedBoss but they don't put up any more of a fight]].

* BullfightBoss: White Rhino in ''Cheetahmen'' does nothing but charge the player. Funnily for these, his charge actually doesn't go all the way across the screen. making it possible to simply hug the wall

* DemotedToExtra: ''Cheetahmen'' was the main attraction of the NES version but it's just another title in the Genesis version. Likewise, the bosses from the NES version of ''Cheetahmen'' show up in the Genesis one, but are just generic one-hit-kill enemies.

* EndlessGame: Most of the games loop around from the last level, if they don't crash first.

* ExcusePlot: Most of the games that have them. Most of the plots are explained in the manual, with ''Cheetahmen'' being the only one to get the honor of an opening cutscene (and it still makes no sense).

* FakeTrap: The spikes in ''Bubblegum Rosy'' are an unintentional example; fall on the spikes and nothing happens.

** Certain games crash after beating specific levels, making the games impossible to beat. ''Ooze'' is the most well-known example.
** ''Alfredo'' and ''Jigsaw'' cause the game to crash upon ''being loaded'', unless you're using certain emulators. ''Alfredo'' in particular has the (dis)honor of failing to start not only in the NES version, but also the Genesis version.

** In Level 5 of "Cheetahmen'', accessing the DungeonBypass results in the player being sent to Level 10, where the game completely glitches out.
** ''Cheetahmen II'' has a particularly cruel example. If you take too long to defeat the second boss, the Ape Man, then he'll eventually walk off the screen and never return, forcing you to restart the whole game. If you actually do defeat Ape Man however, the game fails to load the next level, leaving you no better off than you were before.

* ImplementingTheIncomplete: Basically what Vince Perri did with this.

* InNameOnly: Several of the games on the Mega Drive version reuse names from the NES original despite being completely different games.

* InterfaceScrew: The life bar in some levels of some games isn't visible. In a few others, the life bar isn't visible at all.

* KidHero: In ''Illuminator'' and ''Bubblegum Rosy'' both have fairly youthful-looking protagonists.
* KillScreen: 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.

* LadderPhysics: 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, e.g. in ''Under Ground''. ''Hambo'' is probably the worst offender for this, as not only do you start the game with just one life, it's possible for enemies to spawn right on top of Hambo, killing him as soon as the level begins. WebVideo/StuartAshen, who played the game as part of his second "Quickest Game Overs Ever" video, managed to die in ''0.4 seconds'', the quickest Game Over he found in either video, and had this happen twice in the five times he played the game. Additionally, he noted that whereas every other game featured in the two videos required stupidity on the part of the user (or, at worst, a nasty GuideDangIt moment), ''Hambo'' was the only one where the instant Game Over was purely a result of developer incompetence.

** The "lost levels" of ''Cheetahmen 2'', which are {{Remixed Level}}s from ''Cheetahmen 1'' where the music is all glitched, and your Cheetahman is invincible for some reason. Once you play through here, the game locks up, just like at the end of Level 4.
** The third level of ''Lollipops'', with its [[SensoryAbuse musical mind rape]] that results from the game interpreting other game data as music.

* MooksButNoBosses: The majority of games have no boss battles at

* {{Ninja}}: ''Ninja Assault'', unsurprisingly, is about these.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Possibly the crowning achievement of ''Ninja Assault'': big-nosed, coonskin-wearing ''hillybilly ninjas''. Strange indeed are the ways of the Zin-Zan.
* NintendoHard: Games with enough coherence to begin with usually wind up in the worst excesses of this.

* NoEnding: Most of the games. In some you just keep doing the same level(s) over and over, and in some you can't even reach the ending (if they DID program one) [[LuckBasedMission for]] [[JumpPhysics various]] [[ObviousBeta reasons]]. Another thing is that a lot of the levels have no proper indication for when they end; they just end abruptly.

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Falling ''can'' kill you, and you need not actually touch the ground from a long jump for a character to begin his death animation.

** ''Cheetahmen 2'' was an Obvious Pre-Alpha, and they still programmed it into cartridges. Did they really intend to distribute it in that state?

* OneHitKill: In the Cheetahmen comic, the Cheetahmen kill ''every single sub-species in '''one hit.''''' Even ''White Rhino'' gets killed in one hit, despite his appearance.

* PoisonMushroom: Money bags give a frowny face and damages you in ''Streemerz'', though a dummied-out smiley face suggests this is unintentional.
* PowerGlows: According to the manual, ''Rocket Jockey'' was supposed to have a lasso which would glow brighter as it gains power, but the idea was scrapped. It was added in the ''VideoGame/Action52Owns'' remake, though.
* PressStartToGameOver: As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA3WogFaeFQ this video]] from WebVideo/StuartAshen demonstrates, it is very easy to kill yourself immediately at the beginning of ''Starevil'' and ''Hambo's Adventure''--the latter of which he timed at ''less than half a second''. The only reason he disqualified the former is because there's more than one life, meaning the game over takes too long.

* PunnyName: ''Hambo'', who is a pig.

** ''Dam Busters'' has this, and it can easily get you stuck in an area that keeps you from moving forward, forcing you to reset the game.

* RollingAttack: The main character in ''Fuzz Power'' can do that.

* SadlyMythtaken: The Cheetahmen, the characters of Active's flagship property that never was, consisted of Apollo, Hercules, and Aries. Considering Aries is supposed to be a master of martial arts and the group's combat expert, he was probably supposed to be named after Ares. (Aries is the ram constellation, Ares is the Greek war god.)
* SaveThePrincess: ''Illuminator'', ''Billy Bob'', and ''Lollipops'' all have this plot, according to the manual. [[AllThereInTheManual This is not reflected in the games themselves.

* ShoddyKnockoffProduct: Several of the games are bad attempts at ripping off other games:
** ''Firebreathers'' = ''Combat''
** ''Sharks'' = ''VideoGame/{{Jaws}}''
** ''Streemerz'' = ''Roc'n Rope'' (sometimes confused with ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'')
** ''Slashers'' = ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon''
** ''Fuzz Power'' = ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland''
** ''Storm Over the Desert'' = ''VideoGame/BattleCity''
** ''Billy Bob'' = ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia''
** ''City of Doom'' = ''Crazy Climber''
** ''Hambo's Adventures'' = ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' (Even the manual alludes to this)
** ''Ninja Assault'' = ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' (In particular, level 4 is a blatant copy of stage 2-2 from Ninja Gaiden II.)
** ''Cheetahmen'' = ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' (With a hint of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' in the opening cutscene.)
** ''Operation Full Moon'' = ''VideoGame/{{Jackal}}''
** ''Dedant'' = ''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}''
** And from the Mega Drive version:
** ''Go Bonkers'' = ''Diamonds'' (UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh game)
** ''Darksyne'' = ''VideoGame/{{Gravitar}}''
** ''Sidewinder'' = ''VideoGame/AfterBurner''
** ''Star Duel'' = ''Space War''
** ''Alfredo'' = The ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' minigame from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''
** ''Skirmish'' = ''VideoGame/{{Archon}}''
** ''Depth Charge'' = ''Depth Charge'' (An early arcade game)
** ''Minds Eye'' = ''VideoGame/{{Minesweeper}}''
** ''Echo'' = ''Simon''
** ''Freeway'' = ''Freeway'' (The Atari 2600 game, which itself was a clone of ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}''.)
** ''1st Game'' = ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}''
** ''Daytona'' = ''VideoGame/OutRun''
** ''Star Ball'' = ''Speed Ball''

* SomeDexterityRequired: 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 four of the platforming games, the player can jump only when moving. It makes it HELL trying to jump across pits.

* TakeThat: The Saddam Hussein analogue in ''Storm Over the Desert'' can be killed in just one hit. As a double TakeThat, he is basically a slightly modded sprite from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''. What's more, his name is ''{{Satan}}'' Hosain.

* TeenageMutantSamuraiWombats: The Cheetahmen, basically, obviously created in an attempt to cash-in on the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' (in the likes of ''VideoGame/BattleToads'' that also started as a NES game).

* TitleByNumber: ''Action'''52'''''

** 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 (after getting past three of its five levels, it crashes the cartridge before the fourth level can load), this raffle saw extremely few entries.

''Action 52'' is a collection of 52 games for the NES -- well, perhaps "[[ObviousBeta 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 real bargain for 52 games worth playing. However, these games... weren't.

The truly amazing part? Perri was apparently a big dreamer, 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 [[http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/actiongamemaster/ 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 the subject of many video game reviewers' mockery.

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, Farsight Technologies, 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, several years after the game was released, a very unfinished sequel to ''Cheetahmen'' on the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem was discovered. ''Cheetahmen II'' had been programmed onto hundreds of crudely relabeled ''Action 52'' cartridges, but was never officially released. ''Then'' Active Enterprises never did anything again.

A history of how the monstrosity came to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_52 is in The Other Wiki]]. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd reviewed the game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QBeADNM34 here]] (part one of two; the second part, covering ''Cheetahmen'' and its unreleased sequel, can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmoJkHS-2E here]]). Even though his review contains some inaccuracies, it still sums the games up pretty well. A more detailed series of all 52 games [[note]]including the ones that are only playable on a certain emulator[[/note]] can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D40E5708C6BAEEA 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 ''VideoGame/Action52Owns Project'' (in which indie game developers are collaborating to remake each game in the collection) and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaxU_jlHnIU Action 52 Revisited]]'' (which tries to relate all games together). Hey, it's not like they can make the games worse, right?

'''The games on the cartridge (NES version):'''

'''The games on the cartridge (Genesis version):'''

* PaletteSwap: The hero of ''Mash Man'' is the "defeated" sprite from ''Fuzz Power'' with clothes.

* MindScrew: ''Non Human'', ''Spread Fire'', ''Time Warp Tickers'', among others, are incredibly difficult to discern what they're about.

[[caption-width-right:350:"The Ultimate Challenge" here would be to convince yourself that this was actually worth $200.]]

* ManualMisprint: The manual summaries for the games appear to be based on the projected versions rather than the final ones. They talk about features that don't appear, or give descriptions of the games that are just flat-out wrong.
** ''G-Force Fighter'' describes a fuel mechanic that does not appear in the game.
** ''Crazy Shuffle'' is described an "educational puzzle game." It's actually a MazeGame where you run around and shoot enemies.
** The description of ''Bits and Pieces'' in the manual describes a ''Videogame/{{Tetris}}''-esque game, but the actual game is a PlatformGame involving a Frankenstein-esque monster jumping over other monsters.
** The description of ''Shooting Gallery'' describes several different modes of play, but there's just one style with several levels of increasing difficulty.
** The summary for ''Billy Bob'' reveals that the aim is to escape from a prison and rescue your girlfriend, neither of which are made clear in the actual game.
** Jigsaw is described as a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin jigsaw puzzle game]]. It's a PlatformGame where you play as a carpenter and battle against living construction tools.
** 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.

** In any of the single-screen [[PlatformGames Platform Games]], the enemies spawn in random locations, meaning there's nothing stopping them from spawning right next to the player character and leaving the player no time to prepare for them.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/action52_coverart.jpg]]

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/action52_2475.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:"The Ultimate Challenge" here would be to convince yourself that this was actually worth $200.]]

----

** ''Darksyne'' = ''Gravitar''

** Also applies to ''Fuzz Power'', as the first section is nearly impossible to do with pure skill but the rest of the game is fairly manageable. (At least until the [[UnwinnableByMistake insurmountable wall in level 3]])

* NoEnding: Most of the games. In some you just keep doing the same level(s) over and over, and in some [[GameBreakingBug you]] [[{{Unwinnable}} can't]] [[UnwinnableByMistake even]] [[UnwinnableByDesign reach]] the ending (if they DID program one) [[LuckBasedMission for]] [[JumpPhysics various]] [[ObviousBeta reasons]]. Another thing is that a lot of the levels have no proper indication for when they end; they just end abruptly.

* UnwinnableByMistake and UnwinnableByDesign:

* HitboxDissonance: Very severe in some of the games. Attacks that should miss you hit, and attacks that shouldn't

** In any of the single-screen PlatformGames, the enemies spawn in random locations, meaning there's nothing stopping them from spawning right next to the player character and leaving the player no time to prepare for them.