Anything good about Action 52?

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Action 52 is a horrible game, with not one, but 52 servings worth of bird-crap. Have you noticed any details you find funny or of any quality? This can be for the Genesis or NES version.

Personally, what I've noticed that's not in many other games, is that when you hit another car in game 32, Sunday Drive, two airbags deploy in your car.

[Mark III]

I appreciate that all 52 of the worst games I've ever played can be found in one convenient package.

[Blitzwing256]

if you ever have the misfortune of fidning a copy of it, you can sell it to a collector and buy a good game with the money you make ;-)

[GarrettCRW]

if you ever have the misfortune of fidning a copy of it, you can sell it to a collector and buy a good game with the money you make ;-)

About 52 good games, I'd suspect.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

For "upwards of $150" I suspect I can get 75 SMB 3 copies. That's 44% more games, properly programmed, than the 52 pieces of cow dung that Action 52 has.

[c0ldb33r]

I'm the "proud" (?) owner of the genesis version.

there is nothing good about this game.

Nothing.

[vintagegamecrazy]

The intro with the Lights! Camera! Action 52 was good at least.

[bangtango]

I'm sure Gamepro and EGM enjoyed the advertising money thrown their way by the likes of Active Enterprises (or whoever it was behind the whole sham), since it felt like I was seeing print ads for the game (both versions) every month for 2 years. Then again, I'm sure they had to deal with a couple of bounced checks and unanswered phone calls for ad payment along the way.

[murdoc rose]

I still plan to buy a copy lol

[DefaultGen]

.....

[CartCollector]

The intro with the Lights! Camera! Action 52 was good at least.

Ditto. Also the synthesized voice that says "Maye your selection - now." Unfortunately, it's all a set-up for disappointment.

[Famidrive-16]

The title screen music with "It Takes Two"

The only other title screen I can think of with better music is the Donkey Kong Country pirate on the Genesis with the Michael Jackson sounds.

[DigitalSpace]

Yes. If you just want to sit down and laugh at some bad games (and cheesy characters, such as the Cheetahmen), Action 52 is there for you. And whether you own the NES or Genesis version (or both), you have a rare cart to brag about.

[MachineGex]

The first time I played it, the games reminded me of rejected 2600 games.
Only good thing is the resale price...

[Octane06]

There are two good things that I can think of that give Action 52 "quality".

One, it has shown us how NOT to make a game. Games should be made to be good experiences. Not only has Action 52 not do this by providing many repetitive games with almost no fun value, but also many of these games are unplayable due to glitches or just plain bad game design such as impassable points.

Also, Action 52 has shown us that, once again, quality presides over quantity. Around three dollars a game does sound like a good deal to someone that knew nothing about games at the time (and I wouldn't be surprised if that was a reason for Active to make the game), but then those that knew that hit titles usually sold for at least forty dollars found something suspicious about the price. Active could have made a good game, or even a few, but it seems to me that all they did was give one guy that was probably paid minimum wage one day to make everything for a single game, including graphics, sounds, and gameplay. Of course, it seems they did this even when they made a stand alone game, because it turned out just as bad as any in Action 52.

[emceelokey]

I had that on Genesis. I bought if for $1.99 (cart only) from Gamestop when I worked there. It was not in the system so I just took it in as a sports game and then bought it as that sport game right after. That "game" sucked bad. I eventually sold it for like $25 on ebay.

[Ed Oscuro]

Ditto. Also the synthesized voice that says "Maye your selection - now."
I'm pretty sure it's digitized - it's been a while since I've played any Action 52 but I recall even the NES version had some "fat beats" ;)

[Jorpho]

Do you think the concept was doomed from the start? Could it have been possible to include 52 bug-free, well-designed games with a decent amount of variety on a single cart by reusing some of the programming resources, if only they had taken the time to do it well? It doesn't seem like anything that a game publisher has tried to do since (except maybe the Warioware games).

[DigitalSpace]

I had that on Genesis. I bought if for $1.99 (cart only) from Gamestop when I worked there. It was not in the system so I just took it in as a sports game and then bought it as that sport game right after.

That reminds me of when I got the Genesis version of Joshua (also an R7) at a GameStop in 2004 when they were clearing out their remaining stock of NES, Genesis, SNES, and Dreamcast stuff. It was mismarked as "Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball" and priced at 89 cents (however, I didn't work at GS, and the game was with the other Genesis stuff they had left). Paid 63 cents after discount.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Same here just today I got 63 games at GameStop for about $17. Haven't checked rarity of the games. They were old Genesis, SNES, N64, PS1, and Dreamcast games.

[Ed Oscuro]

Same here just today I got 63 games at GameStop for about $17.
?!

I thought they got rid of all their classic stuff, and furthermore I don't see anything (ANYTHING) for less than $10 at my local GS.

[emceelokey]

Same here just today I got 63 games at GameStop for about $17. Haven't checked rarity of the games. They were old Genesis, SNES, N64, PS1, and Dreamcast games.

DO you live in one of those areas where the only Gamestop is a 45 minute drive away? I have seen anything pre-PS2 in any local Gamestops since late '05. Good deal though. Unless they're sport games.

[Sothy]

Back in my drug days when i had a much more extensive collection. Friends decided to play this on genesis while high... lasted 10 minutes. and these are people that spent hours with the muppet adventure game, golgo 13, young indiana jones and arkanoid with standard nes controller for nes so....

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Sumner County, Tennessee.

[Chuplayer]

Do you think the concept was doomed from the start? Could it have been possible to include 52 bug-free, well-designed games with a decent amount of variety on a single cart by reusing some of the programming resources, if only they had taken the time to do it well? It doesn't seem like anything that a game publisher has tried to do since (except maybe the Warioware games).

I've got a pirate Famicom NES-on-a-chip thing with a built-in multicart that has very few repeats. I forget exactly how many games it has, but I think it was over 40 unique games. They're all first-generation NES games, but there are a number of good games on there, and the stinkers surely could've been replaced by good ones.

[Jorpho]

I've got a pirate Famicom NES-on-a-chip thing with a built-in multicart that has very few repeats. I forget exactly how many games it has, but I think it was over 40 unique games. They're all first-generation NES games, but there are a number of good games on there, and the stinkers surely could've been replaced by good ones.

Well, yes, but Famicom NES-on-a-chip things with built-in multicarts are generally relateively recent creations from a time when ROM chips are cheap and plentiful. Back in the day a cart of that size would be prohibitively costly, I reckon.

...But then again, $200 is already pretty costly. Just what is the size of the Action 52's ROM?

[Coldguy]

Well the opening sequence isn't that bad....

[FrakAttack]

I kinda liked Go Bonkers. http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/FrakAttack/smileys/apathetic.gif

[CartCollector]

Just what is the size of the Action 52's ROM?

2 megabytes total. 512k for graphics and 1536k for code.

But anyways, I'd have to say Storm Over the Desert is one of the better things in Action 52. Its the only game other than Cheetahmen on the cart to have a title screen. And you start your "desert" engagement in a grassland against purple tanks and giant Saddams. What's not to love?