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Action 52

aka: A52
Moby ID: 30966
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Description official description

Action 52 features 52 different games in a single cartridge. Some of them are the same as those included with the identically entitled NES compilation, though most are unique to this release. The games are selected from a colored menu and are mostly side scrolling, platform or shooter action games. Each game is written in one color, yellow meaning "expert", purple "intermediate", green "beginner", blue "two players" and white "special". The games included are:

  1. Go Bonkers
  2. Darksyne
  3. Dyno Tennis
  4. Ooze
  5. Star Ball
  6. Sidewinder
  7. Daytona
  8. 15 Puzzle
  9. Sketch
  10. Star Duel
  11. Haunted Hills
  12. Alfredo
  13. The Cheetahmen
  14. Skirmish
  15. Depth Charge
  16. Minds Eye
  17. Alien Attack
  18. Billy Bob
  19. Sharks
  20. Knockout
  21. Intruder
  22. Echo
  23. Freeway
  24. Mousetrap
  25. Ninja
  26. Slalom
  27. Dauntless
  28. Force One
  29. Spidey
  30. Appleseed
  31. Skater
  32. Sunday Drive
  33. Star Evil
  34. Air Command
  35. Shootout
  36. Bombs Away
  37. Speedboat
  38. Dedant
  39. G Fighter
  40. Man At Arms
  41. Norman
  42. Armor Battle
  43. Magic Bean
  44. Apache
  45. Paratrooper
  46. Sky Avenger
  47. Sharpshooter
  48. Meteor
  49. Black Hole
  50. The Boss
  51. First Video Game (Pong)
  52. Challenge (the most difficult levels of each previous game)

The game also offers a music demo screen and a randomizer, which picks a game at random.

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Screenshots

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 30% (based on 2 ratings)

Players

Average score: 1.5 out of 5 (based on 30 ratings with 5 reviews)

No, not the genesis!

The Good
First of all, as the game title states as obvious, there are 52 different games crammed into one single cartridge. Now you're probably asking yourselves,"How can anyone go wrong with 52 games in one" well, guess what. They got it completely wrong! Now, I'll admit that Action 52 does have a few decent games compared to the last failure. Now to be honest, I never got the Action 52 for the NES, because I believed that genesis was the top at it's time. Anyway this game does have "Bonkers" and it is actually the best game I played on Action 52 . The only problem here, it gets really boring after a while and so do the other games that actually work on this thing. Oh and the graphics have been slightly improved due to the fact this is a game on the Genesis and you'd expect a genesis game to have more complex graphics compared to the NES.

The Bad
Well, practically everything in this game is bad, they didn't fix any bugs or glitches in this game. The games are hardly playable and also, the music. It sounds like it was created by a moronic dj. I mean, it's nowhere near playable and yet, there are 52 broken and terrible games that don't work. And also, when you land onto something, you make this very strange noise (can't describe it, sorry). You can't jump while shooting and you fall like a rock. Also, whenever you're about to start any game, you hear an annoying voice saying "level one". And you know what? That voice is going to repeat every single time you lose and when you choose to submit yourself to any other game.

The Bottom Line
It's not playable or enjoyable, but it is better than the one on the NES, I think. The only thing that is the best about this game is either the menu screen or the game "bonkers". And I'm not playing Action 52 for the Genesis ever again. This is a perfect example why you have to check out the reviews of a game you want before you want it in stores!

Genesis · by Arejarn (7353) · 2008

52 in 1, eh?

The Good
What's good about this? Well... you do get 52 games. Sort of, because the last game is just a run through the toughest levels of the other games. Obviously many of them use the same sounds, sprites or backgrounds. A few of these games could be described as OK... ish. Stuff you might want to play for more than 2 minutes. Also the order of day seems to be 4 lives and 9 levels per game.

The sounds - there's nothing to actually like, but for the most part they won't bother you. Except for the annoying woman announcing the levels.

Another good thing, I guess, is that the games are colour coded and grouped by type or difficulty. And now I know I'm really grasping at straws when it comes to good things about this. Let's move on to the bad...

The Bad
Considering you had to pay 200 bucks for this thing back in the day, you'd expect a little more quality.

A few games are, as I said, somewhat fun, but most of them are either poorly programmed, poorly designed or full of glitches. Plus any combination of that. Not to mention many look and feel like cheap knock-offs of other games, ranging from Minesweeper to After Burner. There's even some sort of Simon in there and a Pong clone (or the first video game as they call it).

I'm not gonna go on and on about the problems of each individual game. Even the ones that might be worth playing still have problems and aren't genuinely good. So if you were to spend 200$ all at once, on games, back in 1993, you'd be better of buying a few individual titles from the different genres presented in this multicart. You know, proper games like Golden Axe or Desert Strike.

The Bottom Line
Bottom line: if you actually paid 200 bucks for this, you were ripped off. Still, if you do happen to stumble across a copy (or you actually bought it), you might as well give it a try. It's not complete and utter garbage. It's just pretty boring, mostly bad and with a dash of average here and there.

Genesis · by Giu's Brain (503) · 2012

My review of the Genesis/Mega Drive version of Action 52

The Good
This is much better than the NES version!

The Bad
It may be cheaper than the NES version, but it's still a bit expensive, as the price is a big amount of $80!

The Bottom Line
You should get this version of Action 52 instead of the NES version.

Genesis · by OmegaPC777 (8238) · 2016

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

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  • MobyGames ID: 30966
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Corn Popper.

Additional contributors: Servo, LepricahnsGold, pablo harris.

Game added November 9, 2007. Last modified February 22, 2023.