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

[@tpsplatinum3562]

I kinda wish we had gotten a Cheetamen cartoon. You know it would've been the perfect 90's cheese

[@FireCo0kie-0fficial]

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

[@Nbrother1234]

Cheetahmen II use the same music as Action 52’s Cheetahmen

[@FeralInferno]

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

[@pojr]

Interesting, I didn't know that!

[@umageddon]

Not really 'fun'. Sorry 😢

[@FeralInferno]

@@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]

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

[@AlbertHamik1]

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]

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

[@Friendly_Neigborhood_Astolfo]

Like congress congress?

[@darkfalzx]

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]

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]

"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!"

[@johnny-becker]

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

[@_Imagimation_]

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

[@baalfgames5318]

"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]

Indeed lol.

[@Sly88Frye]

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

[@baalfgames5318]

@@Sly88Frye Hamm: Oh, picky picky picky.

[@Uutbusters]

Dead ant dead ant

[@cujoedaman]

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

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

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]

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

[@brunoramos9747]

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]

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]

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

[@MSAPtube]

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]

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

[@StormsparkPegasus]

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]

​@@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.

[@BenjaminSpencer-m1k]

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

[@StormsparkPegasus]

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

[@blakegriplingph]

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

[@Vinyboyful]

AVGN knows this games very much.

[@BlueMSX.]

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]

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

[@RyebuckCoppercap]

@@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...

[@MichaelOKeefe2009]

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

[@Liminally_ill]

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]

I really appreciate that, thank you so much!

[@daktheavking9357]

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

[@djvoid1]

They did accidentally invent Flappy Bird for one of the games

[@turbopl-gw8sv]

Wait, WHAT?

[@djvoid1]

@@turbopl-gw8sv see 'Micro Mike'

[@stevendobbins2826]

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

[@stupidvideogameclips]

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

[@intel386DX]

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

[@CalTheHogNosedBat]

*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"

[@jmtradbr]

At least the Cheetahmen theme was complete.

[@pojr]

Indeed, best part of the game.

[@AnnCatsanndra]

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

[@michaelwhitacre8499]

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

[@cougar2013]

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

[@AirZonkWorldChamp]

Definitely a problem, one of many though.

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

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

[@edrosa3485]

Calling Action 52 mediocre is very, very kind.

[@randyhayden3159]

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

[@BigHushAffiliate]

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

[@fluoriteheals]

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

[@BenjaminSpencer-m1k]

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

[@Archdornan9001]

That'd be cool

[@xSoNiCcRaCkErSx]

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

[@arrestedeffort]

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!

[@jboyler1]

“Mediocre” is very generous.

[@GiordanDiodato]

"They bit off more than they could chew" Oh boy if only Keiji Inafune learned this...

[@winstonslone2797]

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

[@LANDEN_BERGER]

"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"

[@PixelGameSquad]

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

[@UltimatePerfection]

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

[@pojr]

Imagine a Cheetahmen game under the right group of developers.

[@agentchris1482]

@@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.

[@gaeshows1938]

Reminds me of that angry video guy

[@Digiflower5]

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

[@PTSmitty]

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

[@agentmith]

Because of the way the algorithm works now, subscribing does nothing. If you watch a video on lawnmower repair, for example, KZbin 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.

[@Uopra]

This is such a good story!

[@TimothyTimPSP]

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

[@therollingcreeper1]

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

[@johnellis3383]

Great video, love the work brother keep it up!

[@henriklinz]

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

[@simplericksfreedomwafersel7342]

Your introduction earned my sub 👍

[@AirZonkWorldChamp]

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

[@SamArt6607]

7:44 or reset

[@anonamatron]

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.

[@thetechn1que518]

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.

[@eucalipto9724]

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

[@GerardMenvussa]

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

[@Awesoman]

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]

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]

@@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.

[@MorreskiBear]

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

[@john-evanbear8783]

Daytona looks like a WarioWare mini game.

[@doublebass1985]

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]

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.

[@Sly88Frye]

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

[@stephenradjenovic8452]

Great video

[@michaelmorris4515]

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

[@rhen1215]

Subscribed 👍

[@DarthRic_]

There was an episode of the Game Chasers where they went over to the home of the guy who bought all those cheetahmen 2 carts. The guy was a bit whacko and teased the chasers and couldn't even give them a copy for the free promo.

[@joesshows6793]

Pretty good man

[@DuckJohnn]

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

[@rustymixer2886]

Ah the avgn chetahman 2 scam

[@antoniostrina82]

Oh, yes. Few weeks and developers to: create 52 games, create new mascots, start a new brand/business. Simply impossible.

[@rethardotv5874]

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

[@Diemermakes]

This feels like a fever dream

[@EvaFull]

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

[@LeftEarth2]

_"Everytime someone subscribes to POJR an Angel gets it's wings."_ 🎄✨😇

[@seireiart]

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

[@Black_Revue]

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

[@Mario87456]

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.

[@theclasscalico]

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.

[@tjstraw1]

Maybe they would've done better if they recruited Chester Cheetah as a 4th member.

[@ravensmadhouse75]

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.

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

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]

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

[@cliffjumper1984]

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

[@mee_is_sus]

1:21 Mario?

[@Mentherex]

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

[@wardrich]

we just lost it

[@fazares]

1cool video...keep up

[@thekillernacho]

why 52?

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

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

[@7o177]

the infinite jump isnt a bug its a feature

[@ColeyZilla]

AVGN reviewed this

[@MosoKaiser]

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...

[@Riz2336]

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]

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.

[@MrMegaManFan]

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]

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.

[@Nancy-hy5so]

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 😊

[@suroguner]

Far sight? more like near sight.

[@djrmarketing598]

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

[@KeviRun]

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]

@@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]

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

[@VOAN]

@@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.

[@fluoriteheals]

The cheetamen... smh!

[@pojr]

Indeed lol

[@drewchaboo719]

Cool

[@W4lmartbag]

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

[@pojr]

Indeed lol.

[@samcadwallader2899]

If I could subscribe twice I would do.

[@XErox7X]

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

[@rhinox3474]

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

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

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

[@Gigidag77]

Calling Action 52 mediocre is giving it way too much credit, lol

[@droiduseruserdroid1731]

It was a front for drug trafficking.

[@fredtaylor9792]

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?

[@billschlafly4107]

I think the programmers were cheat'in men.