Difference between revisions of "Altered Beast"
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[[Image:Altered Beast - ARC - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Arcade cabinet.]] | [[Image:Altered Beast - ARC - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Arcade cabinet.]] | ||
− | '''''Altered Beast''''' is an action platform [[beat | + | '''''Altered Beast''''' is an action platform [[beat 'em up]] developed and published by [[Sega]] for the [[arcade]] in August 1988. It was later ported to about a dozen platforms. |
− | The game is set in ancient Greece. Zeus' daughter Athena has been kidnapped by Neff. Zeus resurrects you, a dead centurion, to fight your way through Neff's henchmen and rescue Athena. In each stage, if you defeat two-headed white wolves, they will leave behind a power orb which will make you stronger. If you collect a third orb, you will transform into a powerful beast like a werewolf or dragon and gain special attacks. | + | The game is set in ancient Greece. Zeus' daughter Athena has been kidnapped by an evil magician named Neff. Zeus resurrects you, a dead centurion, to fight your way through Neff's henchmen and rescue Athena. In each stage, if you defeat two-headed white wolves, they will leave behind a power orb which will make you stronger. If you collect a third orb, you will transform into a powerful beast like a werewolf or dragon and gain special attacks. |
+ | ==Personal== | ||
I saw first saw this game in the arcade room of Lakeland Arena in the late 1980s, and I initially thought the game was called "Alter Beast." Although I never played it at the time, I loved to watch other people play the game, and I remember seeing kids get as far as stage 3. I was really impressed by the graphics and the idea of turning into a werewolf seemed so cool. Years later, I found a System 16 emulator online and played the game all the way through. The process took tons of credits, and the last stage was so hard I wasn't even able to get enough orbs to transform before having to fight Neff. This kind of disenfranchised me to the game. | I saw first saw this game in the arcade room of Lakeland Arena in the late 1980s, and I initially thought the game was called "Alter Beast." Although I never played it at the time, I loved to watch other people play the game, and I remember seeing kids get as far as stage 3. I was really impressed by the graphics and the idea of turning into a werewolf seemed so cool. Years later, I found a System 16 emulator online and played the game all the way through. The process took tons of credits, and the last stage was so hard I wasn't even able to get enough orbs to transform before having to fight Neff. This kind of disenfranchised me to the game. | ||
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==Review== | ==Review== | ||
− | {{Video Game Review|5|3|7|7|4 | + | {{Video Game Review|5|3|7|7|4|Arcade}} |
{{Spoilers}} | {{Spoilers}} | ||
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Altered Beast - Fan Art - Daniel Vendrell Oduber.jpg|Fan art by Daniel Vendrell Oduber. | Altered Beast - Fan Art - Daniel Vendrell Oduber.jpg|Fan art by Daniel Vendrell Oduber. | ||
Altered Beast - Fan Art - Santi Ikari.jpg|Fan art by Santi Ikari. | Altered Beast - Fan Art - Santi Ikari.jpg|Fan art by Santi Ikari. | ||
+ | Altered Beast - Comic - At the Gym - Lindha Dotrem.jpg|Comic by Lindha Dotrem. | ||
Altered Beast - Fan Art - JordiLupo and BrotherOstavia.jpg|Fan art by JordiLupo and BrotherOstavia. | Altered Beast - Fan Art - JordiLupo and BrotherOstavia.jpg|Fan art by JordiLupo and BrotherOstavia. | ||
Altered Beast - Fan Art - Peetcooper.jpg|Fan art by Peetcooper. | Altered Beast - Fan Art - Peetcooper.jpg|Fan art by Peetcooper. | ||
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===Videos=== | ===Videos=== | ||
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|icuWM-SRvW0|256|inline|Commercial, Japanese Mega Drive.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|DqHpyHR1P0I|256|inline|Longplay, arcade.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|K80hfSdsZiI|256|inline|Longplay, Amiga.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|MoCaMHwAInY|256|inline|Longplay, Amstrad CPC.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|8UG5hOfttm8|256|inline|Longplay, Atari ST.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|jFiTLTSwAgw|256|inline|Longplay, Genesis.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|Tv0_qMA4Cj8|256|inline|Longplay, Master System.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|aCW2u-sGq7M|256|inline|Longplay, MS-DOS.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|VU61OqyH2wg|256|inline|Longplay, TurboGrafx-16.|frame}} | |
− | + | {{#ev:youtube|psRJHOx1MDU|256|inline|Longplay, ZX Spectrum.|frame}} | |
==Titles== | ==Titles== | ||
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[[Category: Games]] | [[Category: Games]] | ||
[[Category: Video Games]] | [[Category: Video Games]] | ||
+ | [[Category: 1988 Video Games]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Video Game Genre - Action]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Video Game Genre - Beat 'Em Up]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Video Game Genre - Platformer]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Media Theme - Fantasy]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Media Theme - Mythology]] | ||
[[Category: Amiga Games]] | [[Category: Amiga Games]] | ||
[[Category: Amstrad CPC Games]] | [[Category: Amstrad CPC Games]] | ||
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[[Category: TurboGrafx-CD Games]] | [[Category: TurboGrafx-CD Games]] | ||
[[Category: ZX Spectrum Games]] | [[Category: ZX Spectrum Games]] | ||
− | [[Category: | + | [[Category: Trope - Damsel In Distress]] |
− | [[Category: | + | [[Category: Trope - Women As Reward]] |
− | |||
− | |||
[[Category: Multi-Player]] | [[Category: Multi-Player]] | ||
[[Category: Multi-Player Co-op]] | [[Category: Multi-Player Co-op]] | ||
Line 154: | Line 161: | ||
[[Category: 2-bit Color Graphics]] | [[Category: 2-bit Color Graphics]] | ||
[[Category: Monochrome Graphics]] | [[Category: Monochrome Graphics]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Video Games That Fail the Bechdel Test]] | ||
+ | [[Category: Video Games I Haven't Beaten]] |
Revision as of 12:02, 15 December 2020
Altered Beast is an action platform beat 'em up developed and published by Sega for the arcade in August 1988. It was later ported to about a dozen platforms.
The game is set in ancient Greece. Zeus' daughter Athena has been kidnapped by an evil magician named Neff. Zeus resurrects you, a dead centurion, to fight your way through Neff's henchmen and rescue Athena. In each stage, if you defeat two-headed white wolves, they will leave behind a power orb which will make you stronger. If you collect a third orb, you will transform into a powerful beast like a werewolf or dragon and gain special attacks.
Contents
Personal
I saw first saw this game in the arcade room of Lakeland Arena in the late 1980s, and I initially thought the game was called "Alter Beast." Although I never played it at the time, I loved to watch other people play the game, and I remember seeing kids get as far as stage 3. I was really impressed by the graphics and the idea of turning into a werewolf seemed so cool. Years later, I found a System 16 emulator online and played the game all the way through. The process took tons of credits, and the last stage was so hard I wasn't even able to get enough orbs to transform before having to fight Neff. This kind of disenfranchised me to the game.
Status
I do not own the game, and have never beaten it.
Review
5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
Best Version: Arcade
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- For the time, the game was very impressive. It used top of the line hardware both in audio and video.
- The entire game is very creative. Being able to morph into fireball-throwing werewolves, electricity slinging dragons, and the rest is fantastic. Enemies like the skull-holding skeletons, head leeches, and rattlesnake dragons are all really interesting and beautifully rendered, and the bosses are especially impressive. Aggar, the head-hurling dead body boss of stage 1, is one of my favorite bosses in video game history.
- The graphic effect where body parts of slain enemies expand toward the screen is really cool.
- The game's music composed by Toru Nakabayashi and sound effects are good, and digital speech was still impressive in 1988.
- The arcade game has a wonderful attract demo.
- The ending is pretty cool.
- The NES port, though horrible looking, adds two new stages to the game where you change into a shark and a phoenix.
Bad
- The game punishes mistakes brutally, especially in later levels. It seems like Sega designed the game, not so much to be fun, but to drain quarters.
- The game is really short. When playing at an expert level, the entire game takes less than 15 minutes to finish.
- The player's body grows with power orbs, but his head doesn't, which looks ridiculous.
- The attacks in the later transformations are kind of silly. A bubblegum blowing bear? I bouncing ball throwing tiger? WTF?
- In the last stage, you're short-changed by transforming into a werewolf again rather than a new beast, but the game tries to play it off as a new transformation by calling it a "gold werewolf." Nice try!
- The morphing animation is only drawn for the wolf. All other morphs just flash between the two rapidly.
- The foreground bodies in the final stage look great, but the artist ruined the seriousness by adding the The Thinker and The Scream into the mix.
- The "rise from your grave," intro speech sound sounds a bit... off.
- A rescue the princess story line, how original.
- None of the boxes have very good art work.
Ugly
- The game's controls are terrible. The player's attacks are sluggish, and jumping is especially bad. I always feel like I'm struggling with my player more than the monsters.
Media
Box Art
Documentation
- Altered Beast - ARC - Manual.pdf
Arcade manual.
- Altered Beast - CPC - Manual.pdf
Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 manual.
- Altered Beast - C64 - Manual.pdf
Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS manual.
- Altered Beast - GEN - Manual.pdf
Genesis manual.
- Altered Beast - SMS - Manual.pdf
Master System manual.
- Altered Beast - NES - Manual - Japan.pdf
NES manual.
- Altered Beast - Steam - Manual.pdf
Steam manual.
- Altered Beast - ARC - Instructions - Japan.jpg
Japanese arcade instructions.
- Altered Beast - SMS - Hints.jpg
Master System hints.
- Altered Beast - ARC - Ad.jpg
Arcade advertisement.
Maps
Graphic Sheets
Collectibles
Fan Art
Videos
Titles
Language | Native | Transliteration | Translation |
---|---|---|---|
English | Altered Beast | ||
Japanese | 獣王記 | Juuouki | Beast King's Chronicle |
Links
- segaretro.org/Altered_Beast - Sega Retro.
- Pages with broken file links
- Video Game Rating - 5
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 7
- Video Game Sound Rating - 7
- Games
- Video Games
- 1988 Video Games
- Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy
- Video Game Genre - Action
- Video Game Genre - Beat 'Em Up
- Video Game Genre - Platformer
- Media Theme - Fantasy
- Media Theme - Mythology
- Amiga Games
- Amstrad CPC Games
- Arcade Games
- Atari ST Games
- Commodore 64 Games
- DOS Games
- Genesis Games
- MSX Games
- Master System Games
- NES Games
- TurboGrafx-16 Games
- TurboGrafx-CD Games
- ZX Spectrum Games
- Trope - Damsel In Distress
- Trope - Women As Reward
- Multi-Player
- Multi-Player Co-op
- 4-bit Color Graphics
- 2-bit Color Graphics
- Monochrome Graphics
- Video Games That Fail the Bechdel Test
- Video Games I Haven't Beaten