Talk:Action 52 (NES)

I know someone who was playing this game on an emulator and he somehow managed to get that screen with the contest code to show up. I don't even think he's aware that it's not normally possible to get it on an actual cartridge, but his greater Action 52 review suggests that some games work better emulated than they do on the cartridge. Anyway, if you want to see what it looks like, go here and scroll down a bit. --Flying Omelette 16:59, 22 May 2010 (EDT)
 * I seem to recall reading about there being two versions of Action 52, the second version being slightly less suck and actually allowing you to beat Ooze or something. --Smallhacker 20:26, 5 August 2010 (EDT)
 * I was able to clear the game using save states on the Mednafen emulator, when I reviewed Ooze for Gamescrap, but I don't recall which ROM image I used. --AcridAxid 15:13, 4 January 2011 (EST)

Okay, there are two known revisions of the Green Action 52 cartridge (both do not load Alfredo and the other game. This version has the most bugs and is the most common?), there is also a 'rarer' black PCB print which I own that allows access to both games that refuse to load on any other revision. There also appears to be less glitches in this version. I think you might be referring to this version. That, and there is a blue PCB version which to my knowledge hasn't been dumped yet. Hope that explains something. -nensondubois (talk) 18:02, 27 October 2013 (EDT)

We should document all of the information in this video on this article. --AttackedbyGlitch

Game Genie Codes
Could someone make a level/intro modifier code for Cheetahmen? Because I hacked the game to load the text graphics for Apollo's intro and I'm not too good at playing Action 52 games. --AttackedbyGlitch
 * I could possibly, but don't expect a miracle from me, OK? I Think I might have what you need. --Vectrex (talk) 12:54, 27 October 2013 (EDT)

8135:00 will set the starting Level of Cheetahmen. -nensondubois (talk) 13:11, 27 October 2013 (EDT)
 * What part of that code will change which level you go to? --Vectrex (talk) 14:13, 27 October 2013 (EDT)
 * I'm guessing the :00 part. -Einstein95 (talk) 14:13, 27 October 2013 (EDT)
 * Still, I'm confused. That's not a game genie code. Is it a hex number or what? I don't have any way to help test it. --Vectrex (talk) 17:12, 27 October 2013 (EDT)
 * It's a RAM code used by emulators or Action Replay to patch a certain address. Game Genie codes modify the ROM as it's loaded in the memory, thus it cannot be converted to a Game Genie code. -Einstein95 (talk) 17:22, 27 October 2013 (EDT)
 * Can you convert it into a action replay then? Or anything else I could use? --Vectrex (talk) 17:24, 27 October 2013 (EDT)
 * It is. (P.S. you don't need to add a summary for each edit, just click on [edit] next to the section header and it'd add a summary for you so the wiki won't complain) -Einstein95 (talk) 17:26, 27 October 2013 (EDT)

Clearly the level structure is different entirely with Cheetahmen. The code doesn't work as expected for this game and only sets the level number with a ton of other glitches. Might also make a code to access the old French Baker game depending on how much effort it takes. -nensondubois (talk) 17:36, 27 October 2013 (EDT)

Alternate Version of French Baker
When looking through the ROM, I noticed that French Baker is in it twice; one's in its own PRG bank and the other in the same PRG bank as Shooting Gallery and They Came. I hacked the ROM to play the latter version and it seems to be an early version of the same game. It crashes whenever you fire a projectile or pause the game (although that might be a side effect of the hacking) and it has different music and sound effects. The hidden title screen graphics aren't used though. Cheetahmen92 12:02, 29 May 2013 (EDT)

Eight Extra Games Debate
What is listed below was posted on the main page. It is possible it could be true although I am not sure myself. Someone should check this to confirm or deny it. At any rate, it was moved here for the time being because it is an eyesore on the main page. If what is listed below is true then the "Action 60?" section should just be removed.
 * The answer:
 * Nothing to actually see here. Some games from Action 52 are divided into several 32k PRG banks which can act as a complete game by itself, and although they still contain the code for the players selection menu, they don't use it.
 * Billy Bob is split into two halves. The first part of the game has a players selection menu, but doesn't display any title. It contains the text GAME NAME, and doesn't contain any text for the actual title of the game. The second part of the game doesn't show a players selection menu, and also contains GAME NAME.
 * Three banks are used by Cheetahmen, and contain GAME NAME. They never display the players selection screen.
 * Finally, there is Manchester, which has two copies of the players selection menu for some reason. One is actually used, and has the name MANCHESTER in there. The second copy has GAME NAME in there.
 * So, for the 8 instances of "GAME NAME" found: 2 for Billy Bob, 3 for Cheetahmen, 1 for Manchester. No missing games in here.

--Cuber456 22:23, 12 August 2013 (EDT)

prototypes
there is at least one known prototype
 * Erm. Could you give any more details at all? --BMF54123 (talk) 21:07, 11 January 2014 (EST)
 * Visit http://action52prototype.com, you'll find details of the prototype, its history, etc. all from one of the original Action 52 NES developers.

More Unused Levels
I have discovered more unused levels in the ROM simply by using a hex editor and reverse-engineering the usage of RAM location. From there, I linked it to an array referred to by direct page, then an indirect reference at direct page , and I was able to get a level count from pretty much all of the games in this fashion (although Bubble Gum Rosie had two sets for me to worry about since it incorporated two different gameplay styles in different levels). Some of the games had the wrong level count leading to a crash. Ooze's seventh level does not exist, and the game itself has a level count of 6, meaning it looks like they meant to cut the content, but may have forgotten to do some re-programming. Star Evil only has three levels, not 9 as the game defines the level count. The unused version of French Baker has 4 levels. There are a whopping 11 unused levels for Billy Bob, all of them inaccessible by normal means because of a bankswitch bug (the bytes written to direct page and, which trigger the bankswitch, are switched by accident, meaning the bank switch fails). Even if you beat all of the levels, the game will crash because of another bankswitch gone wrong. This time, it's because the wrong bank is chosen for where the jump goes to next. This game is the first one in the ROM, even if it isn't the first one numbered on the list. Bubble Gum Rosie has one unused level. I haven't played it, but it seems to be valid data from a quick lookup. Setting to  should grant access. Time Warp Tickers has an unused level, but its pointer does not point to valid data. Cheetahmen doesn't quite have a different level structure... it's bankswitched, meaning you must select different banks to access the other levels. Billy Bob is also bankswitched. KungFuFurby (talk) 18:30, 27 January 2014 (EST)