ACTION 52 PROTOTYPE

[glp]

Some info I thought you might find useful for the Corner. Do you have anything that might shed some light on the carts I have?



In 1990-1991 I owned a large used movie and game distributorship. I was referred to Vince Perri to see about buying a new game called ACTION 52. I went to Miami to meet him and see the game. Long story short, I did not buy the game, but I did wind up with a prototype copy. It came with the usual box, a plastic sleeve (that did not have the Active logo embossed on it) and the instructional manual, game list and Cheetahmen comicbook. This is the only one like it I have ever seen.


The differences in the production games and this one are :

PROTOTYPE: blue motherboard, paper label (like your Variation 1) and the motherboard DOES NOT have the usual two blue capacitors?? in the upper right hand corner.

My copy has a clear plastic case and has metal screws that hold the cartridge together. The plastic cartridge body is slightly different and the motherboard is entirely different in electronic configuration. It is stamped "MADE IN AMERICA" in small white letters at the top of the motherboard



I have a second further variation. It has a clear case similiar to the production style cart, black motherboard, no "capacitors" and has a painted label(decals?) like the standard production carts. I am not certain how similiar this is to your Variation 1 motherboard as your noted Variation has the paper label and mine has the more "see through" decal like label. This cart is stamped "MADE IN THE USA" in large white letters that are upside down on the bottom of the motherboard




PRODUCTION: green motherboard, painted label(decals?) and the motherboard has the two blue capacitors?? in the upper right hand corner of the motherboard.

Has anyone else seen these two early versions or do I have something unique?


I think the prototype IS unique, but I don't know how the second variation (black motherboard)I have fits into the timeline?

[MikeSanders]

The black PCB versions of the cart are out there, but seem to be a very obscure variant. To my knowledge, they're regular production copies of the game and have the same program data as the majority of the blue labeled carts.

As for the prototype, I'd certainly love to see that. In fact, if at all possible, it would be great to see photos of both carts and preferably also their boards.

[lobolover]

So I guess Alfredo still crashes on your version eh ?

[glp]

I AM NOT CERTAIN HOW TO POST /SEND PHOTOS OF THE CARTIDGES. PLEASE ADVISE.

IT APPEARS TO ME THAT THERE ARE PERHAPS FOUR TOTAL VARIATIONS . MY ACTUAL PROTOTYPE, MY BLACK MOTHERBOARD VARIATION WITH THE STICKER/DECAL LABEL, YOUR POSTED "VARIATION 1" WITH A BLACK MOTHERBOARD WITH PAPER LABEL AND THE GREEN MOTHERBOARD PRODUCTION MODEL.

DO YOU KNOW IF VARIATION 1 HAS THE "BLUE CAPACITORS" LIKE THE PRODUCTION MODEL? I AM CERTAIN THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY CAPACITORS, BUT NOT BEING AN ENGINEER, I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ACTUALLY ARE....

MY BLACK MOTHERBOARD MODEL DOES NOT HAVE THE CAPACITORS, BUT THE PHOTO OF VARIATION 1 POSTED ISN'T CLEAR ENOUGH OR SHOW THE BACK OF THE CART TO VERIFY IF THE THE "BLUE CAPACITORS" ARE ON THIS MODEL.

LET ME KNOW AND I WILL GET DETAILED PHOTOS TO YOU

THANKS
GREG

[MikeSanders]

I don't know a whole lot about the board on the "variation 1" copy of the game. My own copy is one with a clear label and green board.

As for photos, you send them attached to an e-mail, or you could upload them to a site such as www.imageshack.us and post the URL to them on the board. If you need any more assistance, please let me know.

By the way, I did get an e-mail from you today, subject: Cheetahmen Corner, but it came through as blank. I don't know if that was intentional or not, so I thought I'd let you know.

[glp]

Mike:
what email can I send the photos to?

Thanks,
Greg

[MikeSanders]

The one I have listed on the website will work: [e-mail]

[glp]

Mike:
I will send over an assortment of pictures this pm. Please feel free to post anything that you may find usefull.
To clarify how I refer to the pictures and variety of games is:
PROTOTYPE l :The unique cart I have with blue motherboard, no capacitors(Do you know what these things actually are?) and metal screws, "MADE IN AMERICA" at top of motherboard, paper label
PROTOTYPE ll: The cart I have with black motherboard, no capacitors, upside down "MADE IN THE USA",sticker label which I think is a transitional prototype prior to final production model
VARIATION 1: The picture you show as "variation 1",probable production model, paper label. can't tell if this one has any capacitors or not due to the opaque label. Green? motherboard like standard production models
VARIATION 2: probable production with black motherboard, one blue capacitor in upper right corner and sticker label. I will try to get you a photo of this.
PRODUCTION MODEL: Green motherboard, blue capacitors, sticker label.
I think these are all the variations.
Greg

[MikeSanders]

Wow. Thank you for the pictures. I've definitely never seen anything like the copy you labeled Prototype 1. On one hand, it appears that it was obviously part of a production run of some sort. I say that based on the fact that there appear to be no EPROMs on the board, and the chips were obviously not wired by hand. Nonetheless, it definitely never made it to retail, and there's no way that many copies could have been produced that way. It looks like the, "MADE IN AMERICA," text was hand-painted on, whereas all known released copies have the text, "MADE IN USA," etched into the board. My best guess is that this copy came from a test-production of sorts. There must be less than, and probably considerably less than, 100 copies produced this way, and most of those copies are surely long gone by now.

As for Prototype 2, you may be right about it being another transitional version before the final cart design was settled on. There's nothing about it that would 100% indicate that it couldn't have been produced and sold in this form, but I don't know of anyone else who's sitting on a cart like this one.

Again, I give you major thanks for bringing these to my attention. It changes a few things about how the production of Action 52 is viewed. First of all, the black PCBed production copies must have come first, because it's the only way that things could make sense. The board has no, "Rev. A," text, and is missing a capacitor that is present in the more common green-boarded version. I would say the production order probably went something like this:

1. Blue PCB (Test)
2. Black PCB/No Capacitors (Test?)
3. Black PCB/Capacitor
4. Green PCB/Capacitors
5. Green PCB/Capacitors (Revision A)
6. Green PCB/Capacitors/Blue Label (Could also conceivably be #4)

By the way, I'm pretty sure they are capacitors. They are likely present on the board to assist in defeating the NES' lockout chip. Color Dreams used a method of defeating the lockout chip that involved sending a voltage spike to it and temporarily shorting it out until their game booted. Active probably used the capacitors to try a similar attack.

I have one final request if you wouldn't mind. The Prototype 1 board uses regular screws, so I was wondering if you would be willing to disassemble the cartridge and take photographs of the PCB alone. Photos of that sort could be very interesting.

[glp]

MIKE:

GLAD YOU LIKED THE PICTURES. I WILL TRY TO DISASSEMBLE THE CART, BUT MUST BE CAREFULL AS THIS REALLY DOES APPEAR TO BE THE ONLY COPY THAT REMAINS OF THIS TEST GAME. I ALSO DO BELIEVE THAT PROTOTYPE ll IS ALSO UNIQUE AND LACKING THE EPROMS, WAS ALSO AN EARLY TEST MODEL AND NEVER RELEASED AT THE RETAIL LEVEL AS LIKE
PROTOTYPE l , THIS IS THE ONLY COPY THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN THE 20 YEARS SINCE IT WAS DEVELOPED BY ACTIVE.

AT SOME POINT, THESE TWO CARTS BELONG IN A DIE HARD ACTION 52 COLLECTOR'S PLACE OF HONOR.

IS IT TOO MUCH TO SAY THESE MAY BE THE "BEST OF THE WORST" ? I DO SAY THAT WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO THE CONTINUING INTEREST IN THE GAME.

gREG

[MikeSanders]

The NES' Action 52 is certainly among the most interesting of the truly bad games that have been released. What pushes it over the top for me is the sheer fact that there are 52 games, each containing their own assortment of strange and unexpected problems. Even to this day, new oddities within the game seem to be occasionally discovered and publicized. You just can't say that about many other games.

If you do end up selling off your copies, I do certainly hope that the early versions are properly preserved. Until proven otherwise, there's always the chances that your two earliest copies could contain at least minor differences in the game's data, and it would be an absolute shame if insights to the game's development were lost to history.

[glp]

MIKE:

In my earlier post, I made an error in describing my PROTOTYPE ll. I said it had no EPROMS when I meant to say it had no blue capacitors. In this way it is like the PROTOTYPE l , but with EPROMS and a black motherboard. That is why I think it was a transition between earliest test game and production models.
Sorry for the confusion
Greg

[glp]

Does anyone know the number of Action 52 carts that were made/sold? or a close estimate?
Thanks

[glp]

Also I have heard/read that Cheetahmen ll was discovered in a warehouse and 1,500 copies were found and sold.
Does anyone know the story/history on that. Is that legend or is the number accurate? Who or how did they sell them? So few come up for auction that the 1,500 number seems to be a number difficult to believe.
Does anyone know what came in the box besides the cart?. Does anyone kinow how to verify if a "factory sealed" version on Ebay (there is one now) is really a true factory sealed model?

Going back to Action 52, were carts sold in Europe? Did they make a version for PAL?

[MikeSanders]

Does anyone know the number of Action 52 carts that were made/sold? or a close estimate?

I don't think anyone outside of Active would know directly. If they attempted a one-time run of 1500 for Cheetahmen II, it's likely that each released production run of Action 52 was probably not any bigger than that. This would leave us with a maximum of 6,000 copies or so. That figure is just a rough guesstimation, of course.

Also I have heard/read that Cheetahmen ll was discovered in a warehouse and 1,500 copies were found and sold.
Does anyone know the story/history on that. Is that legend or is the number accurate? Who or how did they sell them?

While I could explain the story, I would suggest that read Adam Lamontagne's Cheetahmen II FAQ. He explains how Cheetahmen II surfaced, and his involvement in getting it out there.

Does anyone know what came in the box besides the cart?. Does anyone kinow how to verify if a "factory sealed" version on Ebay (there is one now) is really a true factory sealed model?

To my knowledge, the only things in the box were the Cheetahmen II cartridge and presumably another Active Enterprises dust cover. Most copies of the game ended up in collector's hands; therefore, most copies of the game are probably still sealed. While there's no real way to verify if a factory sealed copy isn't in fact a reseal, the potential for someone selling fake sealed copies is very low.

Going back to Action 52, were carts sold in Europe? Did they make a version for PAL?

Carts were definitely sold in Europe. All retail copies of the game should boot on any region of the NES, so there's no specific version made for the PAL market.

[glp]

To all who enjoy (with me) unravelling the trail of the development of the Action 52, I wanted to announce that I have acquired a further variation of the cart. This was advertised as a PAL version of the cart, but examination of the picture showed it to clearly be another heretofore variation. When it arrives, I will send pictures.
For now. it appears to have variations of the pins, ORANGE capacitors, a clear cart and says it is " Rev O" (need to see this in person as the picture wasn't that good). I am very curious as to what this is... Interesting, especially since we believe that no specific cart was made for PAL

[glp]

SOME GOOD INFO ON THE CONTINUING STORY OF ACTION 52: SEE
(http://www.videogamemuseum.com/2010/06/03/nes-action-52-prototype-carts/).

[MikeSanders]

If I may ask, where is the new cart coming from?

Also, I do hope you'll again be willing to share pictures of the cart. These apparently unique carts are something that I've found extremely interesting.

[glp]

MIKE:
BOUGHT THIS FROM A GAMER IN AUSTRALIA. I WAS INTERESTED BECAUSE THE FIRST PICTURES SHOWED PIN CONFIGURATION AND ORANGE CAPACITORS LIKE THE CHEETAHMEN GAME AND I THOUGHT HE HAD JUST LISTED IT IN ERROR AS AN ACTION 52 PAL VERSION, BUT ADDITIONAL PICTURES INDICATED THAT THE EPROMS WERE CONFIGURED DIFFERENTLY THAN CHEETAHMEN, SO AGAIN I AM NOT SURE WHAT IT IS. IT IS ON THE WAY, SO AS SOON AS I RECEIVE IT I WILL SEND PICTURES.
ALSO , AT A FUTURE DATE, I WILL SEND QUALITY PICTURES FOR YOU TO POST OF EACH VARIETY I HAVE INCLUDING PICTURES OF THE BOARD ON THE BLUE PCB "TEST" VERSION
THIS GETS MORE INTERESTING ALL THE TIME.

[glp]

very good info at the Nintendo Age forum www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=34198

[glp]

MIKE:
CAN YOU TELL ME AT WHAT STAGE(YEAR) ACTIVE DECIDED TO RUN THE $104,000 CONTEST? THIS COULD HELP ME PERHAPS DATE WHEN THE BLACK PCB VERSION MAY HAVE BEEN MADE.
THANKS

[glp]

MIKE:

I RECEIVED THE GAME FROM AUSTRALIA AND IT IS A "REV B" VERSION. WHAT IS INTERESTING IS THAT THE REV B LOKKS EXACTLY LIKE THE CHEETAHMEN ll GAME. IT HAS THE EXACT SAME PINS MISSING, THE WARNING DECAL ON THE REVERSE OF THE CART IS NOT IN PLACE AND IT HAS TWO ORANGE CAPACITORS. THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE IS THAT IT HAS LESS PRODUCTION PROMS AND OF COURSE, THE CHEETAHMEN 'S PROMS SAY "CHEETAHMEN".
IT LOOKS LIKE CHEETAHMEN WAS MADE OF LEFT OVER REV B CARTS WITH A CHANGE IN A VERY FEW PROMS.
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE MISSING PINS ON REV B (SAME AS ON CHEETAHMEN) THERE HAD TO BE A REASON FOR THIS DELIBERATE CHANGE. DID REV B HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE OVERSEAS MARKET? DO YOU KNOW IF REVISION B IS MORE OR LESS SCARCE THAN
REV A??

[glp]

mike:
I took the PROTO l cartridge apart last night and made some good photos of it. It is obvious now that this is both a prototype cart case as well as a prototype board. It DOES NOT have production proms. and of course is completely different in configuration and assembly FROM ALL OTHER KNOWN VERSIONS. ALL OTHER VERSIONS HAVE PRODUCTION PROMS THAT ARE LABELED "ACTION 52".

I WILL SEND YOU THE PHOTOS TONIGHT.

[MikeSanders]

Pertaining to your revision B cart, what's the model number at the top of the board? As an example, Action 52 revision A is 023-N507 REV A, Cheetahmen II is 023-N509 REV 0. Is your revision B cart 023-N508 REV B?

As for the missing pins, my best guess would be that it was simply a cost cutting measure that happened late in Active's gaming lifespan. Even some licensed games reduced their pin counts after their first production run. Super Mario Bros. 2 is one such famous example. So long as the pins were not used, they could be removed from a cart without any effect on its playability.

Revision B must be considerably more scarce than A or the original version of the cart. Have you considered having the ROM of this cart dumped? It would probably be a good idea, as it likely has at least slight differences from the first two production versions of the game.

[glp]

It is 023-507 REV. B

Do you know WHO I would engage to dump the info from this as well as the PROTOTYPE game?

I will take side by sides (front and Back ) and send these Photos also.

Thanks for your help!

[glp]

Mike : This is the general conclusion I have drawn so far:

PROBABLE PRODUCTION SEQUENCE:

• PROTOTYPE BLUE PCB BLUE LABEL
• EARLY PRODUCTION BLACK PCB BLUE LABEL
• EARLY PRODUCTION BLACK PCB CLEAR DECAL LABEL
• PRODUCTION (REV A) GREEN PCB BLUE LABEL
• PRODUCTION (REV A) GREEN PCB CLEAR DECAL LABEL
• PRODUCTION ( REV B) GREEN PCB CLEAR DECAL LABEL
NO WARNING LABEL ON REVERSE TWO ORANGE CAPACITORS.
MANY PINS REMOVED

• CHEETAHMEN ll (REV O) GREEN PCB CLEAR DECAL LABEL
NO WARNING LABEL ON REVERSE MOST HAD GOLD CHEETAHMEN
LABELS TWO ORANGE CAPACITORS EXACTLY THE SAME PINS
HAVE BEEN REMOVED

NOTE: THE CARTS USED ON REV B AND CHEETAHMEN ll ARE VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL IN THEIR DIFFERENCES FROM THE OTHER STANDARD PRODUCTION VERSIONS. IT IS OBVIOUS THAT CHEETAHMEN ll CARTS WERE PRODUCED FROM INVENTORY THAT ORIGINALLY WAS USED TO PRODUCE REV B GIVING RISE TO THE QUESTION OF WHO WAS PRODUCING THE GAME THEN? I WOULD OFFER THAT IT WAS THE SAME COMPANY THAT ULTIMATELY HAD THE CHEETAHMEN IN STORAGE.

[glp]

ONE LAST POST B/4 I SEND PICTURES. AS I WAS PUTTING ALL SIX CARTS TOGETHER FOR A GROUP PHOTO, I ALSO DISCOVERED THAT THE PROTOTYPE. IS 3/4" SHORTER THAN ALL THE OTHER CARTS. AT THE BASE, THERE ARE THREE RIDGES INSTEAD OF FOUR IN THE PRODUCTION CARTS ALSO,
I opened the BLUE PCB version up as Mike suggested.
This is what i found:

THE PCB
*The PCB has EPROMS and no production PROMS that are labeled gACTION 52 as all other production carts do
* It does not utilize capacitors as do the other versions
* The board has a white hand lettered gMADE IN AMERICAh across the top of the board just below the pins
* The board is a deep BLUE color
THE CART
* Both pieces(top and bottom) come from different molds than the production carts. The arrow and the word gTOPh are missing on the front; all reference to gACTIVE ENTERPRISES, PAT PENDING AND MADE IN U.S.Ah are missing from the reverse.
* The side flanges on the top piece are FLAT instead of curved
* The cart is designed to accomodate three metal screws to allow access to the PCB
* The cart utilizes the BLUE label instead of the clear decal label

[MikeSanders]

Jun 16, 2010 7:27:27 GMT -6 glp said:

It is 023-507 REV. B

Do you know WHO I would engage to dump the info from this as well as the PROTOTYPE game?

Interesting. I wonder if an 023-N508 board was even manufactured.

It was great to see the pictures, but the prototype board only serves to confuse me more. Have you by chance tried the game out in a non-lockout disabled original model NES? There's no obvious indicators that the cart had anything to defeat the 10NES, and I'd definitely be interested in knowing if/how it manages to run.

Tengen illegally cloned the 10NES, Camerica used Suzhou Wendell brand capacitors, Active eventually used Sprague brand capacitors, but the prototype seems to use nothing. Weird, just weird. (Yes, I did capacitor research since my last post about them. ;D)

As for dumping the games, the best places to ask about that are at the digitpress forums (www.digitpress.com/forum/index.php) and the Lost Levels forums (forums.lostlevels.org)

[glp]

i REALLY DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE DEVEPMENT OF A GAME, BUT IN THE EARLY STAGES, THEY MAY HAVE KNOWN THAT THEY HAD A METHOD TO DEFEAT THE LOCKOUT AND SO ONLY WORKED ON THE GAME ITSELF. THEY MAY NOT HAVE BEEN PLAYING/TESTING ON THE NES MACHINE AT ALL, KNOWING THAT THE WOULD INTEGRATE A WORKABLE OVERRIDE TO THE LOCKOUT WHEN THEY WENT INTO THE PRODUCTION MODE??

I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO COME UP WITH ONE OF THOSE NON LOCKOUT NES MODELS ANY SUGGESTIONS?
I WILL CHECK OUT THOSE LINKS ON DUMPING

ALSO, THE REV B GAME VARIATION IS LISTED ON JASON'S COMPREHENSIVE NES GAMELIST AT NATIONAL GAME DEPOT

[MikeSanders]

I'm sorry if I worded things wrong. I meant that you should try the game on a regular toaster NES, period. Some people physically modify their systems to disable the 10NES, but all toaster-style models are equipped with the chip.

Rereading my message, I think this might have somehow made it more confusing, but it's the best I can do at nearly 1 AM.