This Franchise Was Supposed to Make Millions, but the Game…

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Everyone knows about Action 52. It was a mediocre compilation of games that were half-completed. But the company behind it had big ambitions, like a cartoon series based on their mascot, and a new game console. How did this all turn out?
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More Information on the CES:
www.nesworld.com/aeces94.php
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:56 Birth of Active Enterprises
2:19 Action 52 (NES)
3:04 Cheetahmen 1
3:41 Cheetahmen 2
8:27 Action Game Master
8:58 Action 52 (Genesis)
11:09 Cheetahmen (Genesis)
12:00 Conclusion
12:44 Outtro
Special thanks to the following users from pexels.com for the stock footage:
84LENS, 霍天赐, A frame in motion, Ahmet Akpolat, Andrew Hanson, Anna Hinckel, Anvar Tushakov, Artem Podrez, Caleb Oquendo, Cottonbro, Cristian Dina, Curtis Adams, DAV Grup 1, David McBee, Distill, Drones Scot, Edward Jenner, EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA, Ekrulila, Evgenia Kirpichnikova, Free Videos, George Morina, Glen McBride, Hirsh Philippe, Hugh Mitton, Italo Melo, Jack Sparrow, Jose Carlos, Joseph Redfield, Kampus Production, Kamrul Chowdhury, Karolina Grabowska, Kelly, Kindel Media, Ksenia Chernaya, MART PRODUCTION, Mikhail Nilov, Miguel Á. Padriñán, Mike B, Monstera, Nazim Zafri, Nicole Michalou, olia danilevich, Pavel Danilyuk, Pete Wales, pickarick, Pixabay, Polina Tankilevitch, Pressmaster, RDNE Stock project, Ricky Esquivel, RODNAE Productions, Ron Lach, Ruvim Miksanskiy, Sam Lastres, Sora Shimazaki, Steve B, Thirdman,Tiger Lily, Tima Miroshnichenko, Timo Volz, Tom Fisk, Tony Schnagl, Vlada Karpovich, Yan Krukov, Yaroslav Shuraev
Special thanks to streambeats.com for the music used in this video.
#nintendo #retrogaming #gaming

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Опубликовано:

15 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 160

@_Imagimation_ 24 дня назад

“Who was supposed to dodge that? NOBODY, not the first time!”

@baalfgames5318 24 дня назад

"You have to just know that it's gonna be a space shooter and, oh yeah, there's a wall at the start of the level."

@pojr 24 дня назад

Indeed lol.

@Sly88Frye 24 дня назад

You misquoted AVGN. "Who's gonna dodge that? Not the first time."

@baalfgames5318 24 дня назад

@@Sly88Frye Hamm: Oh, picky picky picky.

@AJSmith96 24 дня назад

Dead ant dead ant

@brunoramos9747 24 дня назад

The reason they were found in a warehouse is because it was someone's project that never took off and they're asking crazy amount of money for it when it's a project that failed😊😊

@pojr 24 дня назад

Makes sense. The fact that there was 15,000 copies of the game CIB makes me think Active Enterprises thought the game was finished.

@jarredkrum9894 24 дня назад

From what ive heard is the games were never paid for so the publisher of em held the games and never got paid. But still that games is just horrible and not worth what ppl want lol

@FeralInferno 24 дня назад

Fun fact: Go Bonkers is a watered-down version of a previously released game called, Diamonds, on early 90s Macintosh computers.

@pojr 24 дня назад

Interesting, I didn't know that!

@umageddon 24 дня назад

Not really 'fun'. Sorry 😢

@FeralInferno 24 дня назад

@@pojr there were two versions: One with lame elevator music and another with like a 10 second loop of the Michael Zeager Band song, "Let's All Chant" lol

@FeralInferno 24 дня назад

@@umageddon I had fun thinking about it. So some fun was definitely had. I hope you have fun next time 😉

@AlbertHamik1 24 дня назад

Diamonds itself may have been a clone of a earlier German C64 game called Crillion, which directly influenced a number of similar clones. The fact Diamonds wound up with its own clones like that for the Action 52 Genesis release is pretty amusing. Also there was that tag team duo of Trolls Treasure Island and Dudes With Attitude for the NES (same base game, different names and levels) that *might* have been a Crillion clone but hard to say since they both play like crap and the "ball" is locked to a grid unlike Diamonds and Crillion et al.

@Dwedit 24 дня назад

We know that Jay Obernolte (who helped develop Color a Dinosaur and Videomation) worked on Genesis Action 52. He's in Congress now!

@MSAPtube 24 дня назад

Sounds like when you're high on weed and you come up with a "great Idea" but totally don't have the skill to execute it.

@pojr 24 дня назад

Seems like a lot of the Action 52 games fall into this category.

@StormsparkPegasus 24 дня назад

The dude behind the company saw his kid with a flash cartridge with a bunch of games, and said "hey I can do that and charge a LOT of money and it'll be a hit". He wasn't technical at all. He paid 3 amateur programmers the equivalent of minimum wage to make a bunch of throwaway crap and thought sheer numbers would make it a hit.

@blakegriplingph 24 дня назад

@@StormsparkPegasusAnd then he went waaaaaay too far with his ambitions and thought he could launch a TMNT-esque media franchise "on par with Disney". Though in fairness, one of the devs denied it was an investment scam and simply chalked it all up to a man too intoxicated by his lofty goals.

@user-ow2yr4nu4z 24 дня назад

A "pipe" dream? Because you obviously been hitting the pipe to think you could do it.

@StormsparkPegasus 24 дня назад

@@blakegriplingph He thought he had the perfect low effort get rich quick scheme

@darkfalzx 24 дня назад

I doubt any of the devs thought Cheetah Men II was "finished", it was probably a case of Perri wanting to "strike while iron is hot", and greenlighting the game, but then seeing the disappointing sales of Action52 and pulling the plug. I'd speculate the reason it ended up burned to cartridges is an attempt to recoup some of the investment.

@pojr 24 дня назад

You're probably correct. I can't imaging the developers thought the game was finished, but Vince Perri, who was not into video games, thought it was.

@runnersdialzero1244 13 дней назад

"Are there some moving colors on the screen? Does the game react in some way when you push the buttons? It's finished! Throw it on a cartridge!"

@blakegriplingph 24 дня назад

Vince Perri sure had a pie-in-the-sky goal with his "game" lul

@johnny-becker 24 дня назад

If only there was a fan made game of Cheetah Men, re-imagined, with a working design.

@daktheavking9357 24 дня назад

This dude and LowSpecGamer are my go to comfort old tech video stuff

@BlueMSX. 24 дня назад

very good retrospective Pojr! with games like this it's no wonder all those shady investors that Vince Perri got to fund Active Enterprises and Action 52 seemingly made him disappear.

@pojr 24 дня назад

Thank you! Vince is very mysterious. Couldn't even find a picture of him.

@RyebuckCoppercap 24 дня назад

@@pojr Yeah, he's a total mystery! I had a bit of a hyperfixation on Cheetahmen when I was younger and spent days googling for info on his whereabouts, but nothing ever came up! I had even gone through old newspaper clippings, but I came up empty handed...

@Liminally_ill 24 дня назад

Your channel has such original content. You don’t talk about the usual games that every channel talks about. I always watch every video of yours I see on my fyp. This channel is a hidden game for retro gamers 🖤🖤🖤

@pojr 24 дня назад

I really appreciate that, thank you so much!

@cougar2013 24 дня назад

The first boss of C2 is Dr. Morbis!! Why is he not the final boss 😂

@AirZonkWorldChamp 24 дня назад

Definitely a problem, one of many though.

@GAMEPRODELTA 24 дня назад

@@AirZonkWorldChampto paraphrase a popular song, Cheetahmen 2 has 99 problems and they're all glitches.

@wadmodderschalton5763 24 дня назад

Oh and get this, Ooze had a contest where if a player beat level 5 they would get $104,000, which sadly nobody was able to get as the game would crash every time after level 2, making the prize impossible. In addition, there are actually 7 playable levels and even an unused 8th level, rather than 5 levels. Also, some of the music used in the games were plagiarized from Activision's The Music Studio for the Atari ST. Lastly, the Action Gamemaster handheld would've been an overpriced battery hog and could've had bugs and glitches in the adaptors.

@pojr 24 дня назад

This is 100% true. I meant to talk about the Ooze contest but never got around to it.

@CalTheHogNosedBat 24 дня назад

*Comes home from work* Wife: "Hey hun, how was work today?" *voice in my head, "what's going on? It's POJR! Comin' at cha with another video!"* Me: "glorious"

@randyhayden3159 24 дня назад

I love your videos. I like how informative they are and not focusing strictly on the highlights like most other channels

@winstonslone2797 24 дня назад

Great content. Glad to see your subscriber count is moving north. Keep it up Brother.

@PTSmitty 24 дня назад

Love your videos. I look forward to every release. Great channel!

@djvoid1 20 дней назад

They did accidentally invent Flappy Bird for one of the games

@MichaelOKeefe2009 21 день назад

2:24 Ah yes, that game that features Bill Cosby heads.

@johnellis3383 23 дня назад

Great video, love the work brother keep it up!

@TimothyTimPSP 23 дня назад

👍 your videos are getting better with every upload. Thank you for this one. I enjoyed it.

@arrestedeffort 18 дней назад

In all of the years that I've known about Action 52, this is the first time I ever heard about there being a Genesis version. Thank you for covering that, it was fascinating to see the "upgrade" (arguably) over the original!

@BigHushAffiliate 24 дня назад

I Love pojr ❤ Glad you’re sticking around buddy 👍🏻

@Vinyboyful 24 дня назад

AVGN knows this games very much.

@michaelwhitacre8499 24 дня назад

I can't believe that ONLY 15% of pojr's viewers are subscribed. His videos are so detailed and clearly conveyed.

@jmtradbr 24 дня назад

At least the Cheetahmen theme was complete.

@pojr 24 дня назад

Indeed, best part of the game.

@the_rolling_creeper 4 дня назад

It would be cool if someone remade the first two to make them more playable and complete, and making the fourth stage beatable.

@AirZonkWorldChamp 24 дня назад

Great vid again, they are great carts to find in the wild... at least.

@simplericksfreedomwafersel7342 24 дня назад

Your introduction earned my sub 👍

@AnnCatsanndra 22 дня назад

whaaaaattttt the Sega Genesis version of Action 52 activated my nostalgia hardcore and I don't remember ever playing it???? what

@PixelGameSquad 24 дня назад

Lowkey some indie company should make a new game but make it amazing 😅

@UltimatePerfection 24 дня назад

There was a kickstarter for the Cheetahmen 3, but it failed

@pojr 24 дня назад

Imagine a Cheetahmen game under the right group of developers.

@agentchris1482 24 дня назад

@@pojr I agree! It could’ve been a good game under the right developers and whatnot back then. The guy even had a toy line ready to go back then and also a comic book series too if I remember correctly. If he would’ve just put all of his efforts into that game it could’ve been a hit.

@FireCo0kie-0fficial 8 дней назад

Can we talk about the fact that Cat mario used cheetahmen ll's music?

@edrosa3485 24 дня назад

Calling Action 52 mediocre is very, very kind.

@stevendobbins2826 12 дней назад

Vince Perri sounds like the kind of guy who'd be enamored with NFTs.

@cujoedaman 13 дней назад

I don't care how many people cover this same story, it's one of those rare times that I don't get tired of hearing about the failure over and over :D

@henriklinz 24 дня назад

I have the original Action 52 Cartridge from back in the day

@xSoNiCcRaCkErSx 23 дня назад

That smile at the end of every intro kills me every time! XD Subbed.

@fluoriteheals 16 дней назад

The AvGN critique of the cheetamen 16 bit... RFLMAO!!!!

@rhen1215 20 дней назад

Subscribed 👍

@intel386DX 24 дня назад

The animation commercial is the only one quality thing about this cheeta man characters.

@stephenradjenovic8452 24 дня назад

Great video

@user-ow2yr4nu4z 24 дня назад

Maybe the copyright Cheetah Men expired and someone could take it and do a reboot and turn it into something bad ass.

@Archdornan9001 15 дней назад

That'd be cool

@doublebass1985 24 дня назад

I'm surprised there was a team that made the games for the nes action 52. I really thought that there was like a programming contest for entry level programmers and they just took everyone's contest entry and put it all on one cart and sold it. That almost makes more sense to me, but apparently they had a team of 4 guys?

@stevendobbins2826 12 дней назад

Four guys, all college students who never worked on a commercial project before, locked in a dark room working over 12 hours a day 7 days a week for months.

@MECHA-TED 23 дня назад

"You'd have to know, "oh, this is gonna be a vertical 2d shooter, AND theres gonna be an obstacle immediately at the start of the game"

@gaeshows1938 24 дня назад

Reminds me of that angry video guy

@Sly88Frye 24 дня назад

I remember hearing about the planned SNES version of action 52. I'm pretty sure it would have just been just as bad as all the others though😂. It's quite clear the guy who started this company and wanted these games made Not only did he not understand video games at all but he also did not understand marketing of any sort. I mean he wanted to make it this next big thing yet hadn't even started yet

@thetechn1que518 23 дня назад

It makes sense that the one of the best games in Genesis Action 52 is a pinball game, since FarSight went on to develop Pinball Arcade.

@EvaFull 24 дня назад

Completely missed opportunity to give your thoughts on the later Cheetahman II Controversy when they got RU-vidrs to help shill the crowdfunding to “complete & release” on working NES Carts with all the levels playable with a glitch.

@Digiflower5 24 дня назад

Sounds like Mighty No.9. But you know worse. At least mighty is a fun but flawed game.

@Uopra 24 дня назад

This is such a good story!

@MorreskiBear 24 дня назад

Chee-tah-men... Reminds me of that Duane & Brando song from 2012

@Black_Revue 23 дня назад

Cheesey Choppy Adult Cheetahmen! Also have you Tried Action 52 Rules? It was a Attempt to make improvements to all of the 52 games

@rethardotv5874 24 дня назад

If they focused on the good ideas and had more time it would’ve been a great game

@DuckJohnn 24 дня назад

9:38 Bonkers it's like Frozen Fruits game for PC

@joesshows6793 24 дня назад

Pretty good man

@Diemermakes 23 дня назад

This feels like a fever dream

@sharpester7277 2 дня назад

With Action 52. Imagine if you just saved up enough money to buy a Neo Geo AES and have just enough money to get a game for it. You see Action 52 lying around and decided to get it because of how promising the concept is. You play it only to realize that you wasted your money and could've gotten a Neo Geo AES game, which had Arcade quality games and the quality you would expect from SNK back then.

@SamArt6607 24 дня назад

7:44 or reset

@7o177 23 дня назад

the infinite jump isnt a bug its a feature

@agentmith 24 дня назад

Because of the way the algorithm works now, subscribing does nothing. If you watch a video on lawnmower repair, for example, RU-vid assumes you’re a lawnmower repair enthusiast and blasts your feed with tons of lawnmower repair videos by the same creator and from other channels. I stopped subscribing to things a while ago since it doesn’t seem to matter anymore, or use playlists if I want to remember something.

@john-evanbear8783 24 дня назад

Daytona looks like a WarioWare mini game.

@ravensmadhouse75 24 дня назад

OOooooooooooo-ho-ho-hoooooooooo-nooooooooooo... The Horror! The Horror! But a good job nonetheless. Always love what you cover. In the end, Cheetahmen couldn't hold a candle to Battletoads or even TMNT.

@seireiart 24 дня назад

I'm always asking myself if someone did a remake of CheetahMen game just for shits and giggles.

@mee_is_sus 15 дней назад

1:21 Mario?

@cliffjumper1984 24 дня назад

funny, I did a small video when the creator rereleased it....and he sent me a free copy t shirt, and more! lol

@theclasscalico 24 дня назад

It's a shame as there was potential in the concept. Maybe one day we'll get some kind of revival, as unlikely as that is.

@eucalipto9724 24 дня назад

youre too kind with this souless, mediocre, pathetic attemt of a cash grab

@GerardMenvussa 24 дня назад

Yes that was clearly just a lousy attempt at a scam.

@Awesoman 24 дня назад

Agreed. I believe they were charging around $100 for 52 broken, useless mostly unplayable games. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities about this release.

@soukenmarufwt5224 24 дня назад

It was actually 200 US$ Note this was early 90s. The only reason Vince Perri even considered this project was just because he was so petty and hated buying his kid new NES games every time. When he obtain an illegal cartridge that contained many games. He was impressed with that and actually thought he would make millions if he did the same thing but legally. Ignoring the fact multi carts were pirated official games, not brand new games. They were also notorious for recycling the same games,. They just start you at a different level half the time, due to data space limitations. Which shows how clueless Vince Perri was with the industry. All of that, just cause he didn't want to constantly buy his kid new NES games. That is next level pettiness

@Awesoman 24 дня назад

@@soukenmarufwt5224 Thanks for clarifying. AVGN went through every game as well as the Cheetahman 2 game. All of them were terrible and barely playable. Which is why it was a little surprising that Pojr had anything even remotely positive to say about the game. Unless I missed it I don't think he even noted the price! I actually remember renting this thing back in the day and turned it off after just a few minutes of attempting to play it.

@fazares 23 дня назад

1cool video...keep up

@Mario87456 24 дня назад

I may be an ambitious person but I’m not ambitious to the point where I am delusional like this company was. This serves as an example is why you should be careful on how ambitious you are. Also there is a certain irony in one of the programmers being named Mario if you know what I mean.

@ColeyZilla 23 дня назад

AVGN reviewed this

@MoltoRubato88 24 дня назад

Ah, yes, Cheetahmen: the failed game within the failed compilation of unlicensed cartridge games for the NES and Genesis. I saw something about the incomplete sequel and the whole Action 52 debacle through the DX channel years ago.

@mrpxssy 24 дня назад

bundling games like that is an unfortunate strategy because it cheapens the games, not just for the gamers but in actual quality. games should be able to stand alone on their own merits, and it sucks that that team of guys wasn't really able in the end to make something they really cared about, because bundling games naturally kind of creates crappy games - not just in the resources and staff capacity put towards those games, but also because of the ROM size of a cartridge limiting all those games. you can't really fit a GREAT game onto a ROM that's sharing space with 51 other games

@rustymixer2886 23 дня назад

Ah the avgn chetahman 2 scam

@MosoKaiser 23 дня назад

Well, as the saying goes, well planned is half done. Just too bad the planning was apparently just on the brand and merchandising, not the game...

@drewchaboo719 24 дня назад

Cool

@djrmarketing598 24 дня назад

What happened to NES quality control and how did this get released??

@KeviRun 24 дня назад

Nintendo wasn't behind it, it was unlicensed. And Cheetahmen II was not released, the finished boxed copies were discovered in a warehouse sometime later.

@djrmarketing598 23 дня назад

@@KeviRun Ohhhhh! I see. I always heard that NES wouldn't allow "bad games" to be released because of the whole Atari 2600 scandal and video game crash of 83.

@eDoc2020 21 день назад

@@djrmarketing598 After a few years companies had figured out how to make "compatible" chips which the NES lockout chip would accept.

@VOAN 18 дней назад

@@djrmarketing598 Later on Nintendo of America would make the NES top loader console and that one allow gamers to play unlicensed and import games but all games only support RF.

@TheKillerNacho 23 дня назад

why 52?

@GAMEPRODELTA 17 дней назад

Apparently they copied the game selection menu from another bootleg multicart with 52 games in it.

@suroguner 24 дня назад

Far sight? more like near sight.

@Mentherex 24 дня назад

BUT THE GAME WHAT!!!! SPIT IT OUT POJR!

@wardrich 24 дня назад

we just lost it

@stupidvideogameclips 11 дней назад

I think the Cheetamen are a good idea. I would watch a cartoon of them. It has an interesting plot setup.

@fluoriteheals 16 дней назад

The cheetamen... smh!

@pojr 16 дней назад

Indeed lol

@Riz2336 24 дня назад

I believe Cheetah men II is an expensive game too which is funny considering how awful it is. If I was going for a full set of NES games I wouldn't count it honestly

@KeviRun 24 дня назад

I uh... I might. eBay has 2 copies with the lowest starting at 5.5K, so yes, it's on the high end of expensive NES games.

@Nancy-hy5so 23 дня назад

Idk why this popped into my head when I first seen him talking but he looksime the young Charles Manson when he first got arrested for those murders. Please don't hate me it was just this time I went back to past videos and he didn't in those. Sorry 😊

@samcadwallader2899 24 дня назад

If I could subscribe twice I would do.

@rhinox3474 23 дня назад

I own a Action 52 but wont play it. Im afraid it will fry my nes. It gets super hot

@GAMEPRODELTA 17 дней назад

Emulate it then, just make sure you get the revision b rom to have all 52 games playable.

@michaelmorris4515 24 дня назад

Mediocre? That's far too polite. Words fail to describe how awful this was.

@MrMegaManFan 24 дня назад

In the hands of a software firm that wasn't run by a fly-by-night con artist with programmers who were given actual time to work, The Cheetahmen (and Cheetahmen II) might have stood a chance. On the other hand would we even remember this if it wasn't a huge disaster? Everything worked out as it was supposed to.

@VOAN 18 дней назад

If DOTEMU could get the license they could turn the Cheetah Men into a great beat em up like they did TMNT Shredder's Revenge, Streets of Rage 4, and Toxic Crusader.

@anonamatron 22 дня назад

Saying what percentage of your subscribers are not subscribed is annoying. I don't know why exactly, but it makes me never subscribe. You can ask me to subscribe without annoyance though. This seems to be a trend, which is probably why it pisses me off. Following trends makes me think I'm watching something without a real identity of its own I suppose.

@XErox7X 24 дня назад

if only there was a cheetahman 3 game made, so the nerd would have to make a video about

@W4lmartbag 24 дня назад

It takes 2 to do it right It takes 52 to do it wrong LoL

@pojr 24 дня назад

Indeed lol.

@billschlafly4107 21 день назад

I think the programmers were cheat'in men.

@droiduseruserdroid1731 24 дня назад

It was a front for drug trafficking.

@fredtaylor9792 24 дня назад

Your videos seem to be covering the same exact content other youtubers have covered and you're not adding any new information. Could you cover something new or add information that others haven't already covered?

@fluoriteheals 16 дней назад

Action 52 is an abomination of a video game UGH Infinity!

@blackmesacake5361 24 дня назад

The console is such a joke lmfao what were they thinking?!

@RacerX- 24 дня назад

Wow some terrible games there. This stuff makes shovelware look like AAA titles!

@jarredkrum9894 24 дня назад

Cheetah man 2 was fn stupid and not worth $1 to me.

@Zeitgeistmusic997 24 дня назад

It's like Mexico and Africa's version of a video game

@dreamworldtony 24 дня назад

Bruh 💀

@torgeist. 24 дня назад

Have you ever tried some eurojank platformers?

@Zeitgeistmusic997 23 дня назад

@dreamworldtony hey delusional creep, I'm not your bruh. You think on the level of a baby so you're coping that all random folks you encounter are your 'bruh'? F you, you npc

@Zeitgeistmusic997 23 дня назад

@@torgeist. spoken like a true mindless ahole. Your type is so one dimensional and unfixable that you think outside the box of thinking is attacking reminders of weaknesses you don't have a soul/essence to fix

@Zeitgeistmusic997 23 дня назад

@@dreamworldtony I'm not your bruh. You're a delusional npc who thinks like a baby. You don't even have a personality. Lying to yourself via cope is about to get you F'd up, you npc