Action 52

It’s a huge pile of tiny games that jump between odd ideas, broken rules, and occasional surprises. The “fun” is in sampling, laughing, and finding the rare moments that feel playable. Treat it like a weird museum tour, not a single cohesive game.

Fifty-two games. Endless action. Unlimited excitement.

Action 52 promises a massive collection of fast-paced arcade-style games packed into a single cartridge. From shooters and platformers to racing and puzzle-inspired challenges, players are invited to jump between dozens of different experiences without ever turning off the console.

Ambitious, chaotic, and unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, Action 52 stands as one of the most infamous cartridges ever released for the NES.

Rather than a single world or cohesive design, Action 52 is a collection of 52 individual games, each with its own mechanics, rules, and ideas—many of them unfinished or barely functional.

Game Variety
The collection includes:

Side-scrolling shooters

Platformers

Maze-style games

Top-down action

Experimental concepts with unclear objectives

Each game is extremely short, often looping endlessly or ending abruptly. Difficulty ranges from trivial to nearly impossible, sometimes within the same title.

Controls & Mechanics
Controls are inconsistent across the collection:

Jump physics vary wildly

Collision detection is often unreliable

Enemy behavior can feel random or broken

In many cases, players must figure out how the game works through trial and error, as instructions are minimal or nonexistent.

Notorious Entries
Some games became legendary due to their quality—or lack thereof:

Cheetahmen (later expanded into its own release)

Games that crash, freeze, or soft-lock

Titles that appear unfinished or untested

Despite this, there’s a strange curiosity factor. Players often keep scrolling, wondering if the next game might finally be good.

There is no overarching story connecting the games in Action 52. Each title exists in isolation, often without context, explanation, or narrative framing.

That absence itself becomes part of the experience. Players aren’t guided—they’re dropped into unfinished worlds and left to interpret them however they can.

In a way, the “story” of Action 52 is the player’s journey through confusion, frustration, surprise, and disbelief.

Released in 1991 by Active Enterprises, Action 52 was an unlicensed NES cartridge sold at a premium price. Its marketing promised variety and value at a time when most NES games were sold individually.

Behind the scenes, development was rushed, underfunded, and reportedly handled by inexperienced programmers working under extreme time pressure.

Active Enterprises – Publisher
A company best remembered for Action 52 and The Cheetahmen.

Uncredited Development Team
Many contributors were inexperienced and left unrecognized, working under conditions that made success nearly impossible.