Altered Beast

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Description

You are a hero raised from the dead by the god Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena. With scenery inspired by Ancient Greece, you have to fight hordes of undead and demons, with a boss at the end of each level until you meet the god Neff, who holds the girl captive.

The Altered Beast title refers to your shapeshifting abilities. In this platformer, you can collect spirit balls by defeating two-headed wolves, allowing you to mutate into different beasts such as a werewolf, a dragon, a tiger, a bear and others depending on the version. Each form, tied to a level, comes with special abilities such as flight and powerful attacks, easily superseding the basic set of punches and kicks in your human form.

The game can be played in single player mode, or in same-screen multiplayer co-op mode.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "獣王記" -- Japanese spelling
• "兽王记" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "Jūōki" -- Japanese title
• "Altered Beast Classic" -- iOS and Android release title
• "3D Altered Beast" -- Nintendo 3DS title

Part of the Following Groups

• Altered Beast series
• Animals: Cats
• Mythology: Greek
• SEGA Forever series
• SEGA Vintage Collection series
• Theme: Werewolves

User Reviews

Great conversion of the arcade hit, underestimated due to overexposure.	Genesis	Majestic Lizard (676)
Welcome to your doom	Genesis	Katakis | カタキス (41937)
An original story comes to life in this coin-op conversion.	Genesis	aaron pridemore (11)
A cult classic	Genesis	AaronGamer (45)
Decent platform beat 'em up with impressive werebeast, greek mythology theme	Arcade	Andrew Fisher (707)
Sloooow down	SEGA Master System	ETJB (450)
Slightly better than average arcade conversion.	DOS	gametrader (233)
A particularly good conversion of a particularly bad arcade game.	DOS	Tomer Gabel (4643)
Nice!!!	Genesis	Thiago Loureiro (3)

Critic Reviews

Amiga Computing	Amiga	Dec, 1989	82 out of 100	82
Your Sinclair	ZX Spectrum	Dec, 1991	81 out of 100	81
VideoGame	NES	Jun, 1991		80
Zzap!	Commodore 64	Dec, 1989	73 out of 100	73
1UP!	Genesis	Jan 09, 2015	70 out of 100	70
TouchGen	iPhone	Dec 24, 2010		70
The Games Machine (UK)	Commodore 64	Dec, 1989	64 out of 100	64
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	SEGA Master System	May, 1989	60 out of 100	60
Amiga Format	Amiga	Dec, 1989	33 out of 100	33
Retro Game Reviews	SEGA Master System	Feb 21, 2016		20

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Trivia

Compilation

A version of Altered Beast is included in Sega's Smash Pack compilation CD.

Genesis pack-in game

This game was the first pack-in game to come with the Genesis when it first came out in 1989.

Megadriver

The Brazilian Heavy metal band Megadriver, specialized in SEGA MegaDrive music, did a cover of the first level theme, complete with one of the band members saying "Rise from your grave".

References

The ride-able lizard-birds from Golden Axe make a cameo appearance in the second stage. Bizarrian, a hybrid between an amphibious and a parrot, is also present in Golden Axe.

Version differences

The NES version adds 3 new stages and 2 unique transformations: a shark, an a bird. On the other hand, the SMS version removes the tiger level. The Zodiac release is an emulation of the Genesis version, but for one player only.

Awards

• Power Play
  • Issue 01/1990 - Biggest Failure of 1989

Information also contributed by Mad_Griffith, Matthew Melbourne, Robbb and Zovni

Related Web Sites

• Altered Beast coin-op game entry on KLOV (The Altered Beast coin-op game entry on the Killer List of Videogames.)
• Hardcore Gaming 101 (In depth look at the Altered Beast series of games)
• Wikipedia: Altered Beast (article in the open encyclopedia about the game)
• X360A Achievement Guide (X360A's achievement guide for Altered Beast.)