Altered Beast

aka: 3D Altered Beast, Altered Beast Classic, Jūōki
Moby ID: 2019
Arcade Specs
Buy on Commodore 64
$36.00 used, $329.99 new on eBay
Buy on Genesis
$20.50 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$0.99 new on Steam
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Description official descriptions

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.

Spellings

  • 兽王记 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • 獣王記 - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Arcade version)

11 People

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 60% (based on 58 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.1 out of 5 (based on 221 ratings with 10 reviews)

Decent platform beat 'em up with impressive werebeast, greek mythology theme

The Good
Mostly the idea of, in each stage, becoming a new werebeast, each with its own special attacks. I also liked the involvement of Greek mythology like Zeus, Athena and the underworld(i.e Hades). So I understand, Team Shinobi's original backstory was, a race of werebeasts had risen above the the other races, becoming god-like, so Zeus, deciding they had become too powerful, turned them all to stone. When his daughter Athena was kidnapped by "Neff"(the bald-headed antagonist appears to have been originally unnamed), Zeus decided to revive one of the wearbeasts for a rescue mission i.e his lightning bolt breaking you out of the stone block at the start. Other versions of the game had you as a dead Roman centurion bought back to life(by a Greek god!).

The game is good to watch, the large combatants and the facial view of your transformation into a werebeast in each stage. "Neff" is a pretty cool villain, transforming into monster-bosses("Welcome to your doom!"). Good background music too, haunting, with a rocking beat. Another thing I link is the feeling of power when you go from being a strong yet vulnerable man, fighting only with his fists and feet, to a werebeast, almost invincible with fire and electricity attacks....until the boss arrives and puts you back on the defensive.

The Bad
It plays only averagely. Of course it's perfectly common for an arcade game to look great, but not be particularly easy to get the hang of, lest you get too much for your money. So, fighting as an unarmed muscleman, it's pretty easy to get knocked down. Fighting the bosses as a werebeast is pretty tough too, there are strategies for winning, but they still take a bit of luck and effort. However, there is no backtrack-penalty for losing a life or getting a game over i.e at the arcade you can win if you're willing to spend the money.

The Bottom Line
The original arcade version is the best I've played and it's worth the money and/or time that it takes to complete it, even a few times. It can be a great feeling, becoming a werebeast ;)

Arcade · by Andrew Fisher (697) · 2018

Great conversion of the arcade hit, underestimated due to overexposure.

The Good
Altered Beast was one of the first couple of games for the Mega Drive / Genesis. Its a side scrolling platformer and its quite original and fun. The graphics were very detailed and captivating with a mythology theme and a variety of large and detailed sprites. The game features paralax scrolling in several levels which was very new in console games at the time.

The game is overlooked due to its overexposure as the original Sega pack-in game of 1989. Makoto Uchida's masterpiece was done justice with this cartridge.

The Bad
Altered Beast was one of the first Genesis titles and as such it was only a few megabits. This put constraints on the number of frames of animation.

As the original pack-in title there was also a need by Sega to eliminate the gore of the arcade game which is present on the Master System and PC Engine version (released five years later). In the original arcade game when you struck the zombies in the first level they exploded into internal organs and limbs. This gore is featured in both the Master System and PC Engine version.

Naturally, Sega could not include explicit gore in a game that would have the exposure of a pack-in title and instead of exploding into guts and limbs the Zombies simply break apart into flames.

Another graphical feature that was changed from the arcade was the sprites for the two-headed wolves. In the arcade they were brown and the special white ones were the ones you had to kill to get power ups. In the Genesis version the two headed wolves are pink and the power-up wolves are blue. They have also inexplicably shrunk. This causes the two-headed wolves, who are ubiquitious throughout the game, to be confused with pigs by most players.

Many of the colors of the sprites were inexplicably altered but usually this did not detract from the game.

As an arcade game it was long enough, but as a home console translation it was far too short. It needed to be at least twice as long and a little more development of the story would have been good also.

The Bottom Line
Altered Beast is a fun game that is an excellent translation of the Arcade version. Its still superior the PC Engine version graphically and in terms of control, though the PC Engine version retains some of the sprites and animations of the Arcade version that the Genesis lacks.

Genesis · by Majestic Lizard (670) · 2006

A cult classic

The Good
I really like this game, very much, It kept me interested right from when you hear Zeus say "Rise From Your Grave" to the final fight against Neff. Very action packed, and I really liked it how you can transform into a type of animal, for instance the Werewolf, which was one of my favorites, I liked that. Plus when you get the orbs, you get tougher and tougher. I really think that was cool

The Bad
It was too short, I wish they would of had a little more to the storyline, I mean 5 levels? That is a short game. I could go for a lot more levels, maybe more animals to transform into, and the bosses were really easy to defeat

The Bottom Line
Altred Beast is a game were you are risin from the Grave by Zeus to save his daughter Athena from the evil god Neff, you go through 5 levels and defeat bosses at each level who try to stop you from getting to Neff, You have to collect 3 orbs to get transformed into a animal.

Genesis · by AaronGamer (29) · 2007

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Steam release (2010) is Mega Drive/Genesis version Andrew Fisher (697) Nov 28, 2022
Back story, Japanese vs. rest of world Andrew Fisher (697) Nov 16, 2022
Short review(arcade, MD/Gen, SMS) Andrew Fisher (697) Oct 6, 2022

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 amphibian and a parrot, is also present in Golden Axe.

Version differences

The NES version adds 3 new stages and 2 unique transformations: a shark, and 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

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Luiz Pacheco.

Android added by mars_rulez. Nintendo 3DS added by GTramp. Commodore 64, NES, SEGA Master System, Genesis added by PCGamer77. PlayStation 3 added by Lain Crowley. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Wii added by Guy Chapman. iPad, Zodiac added by Sciere. TurboGrafx CD added by Zovni. Windows, Linux, Macintosh added by Foxhack. ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Atari ST added by ZZip. TurboGrafx-16 added by Terok Nor. Arcade added by The cranky hermit. iPhone added by Scaryfun. Xbox 360 added by Ben K. MSX added by koffiepad. Amstrad CPC added by Katakis | カタキス. Amiga added by Syed GJ.

Additional contributors: Rogee, Unicorn Lynx, Sciere, lugnut, Игги Друге, LepricahnsGold, MegamanX64, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, GTramp, Kennyannydenny, Harmony♡, heather sturmer.

Game added July 21, 2000. Last modified March 4, 2024.