Altered Beast (獣王記 Jûôki, literally "Beast King's Chronicle," in Japan) is a 1988 arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. After its initial arcade release, it was ported to several home video game consoles.

Game description

Altered Beast is a platform/fighting game that puts the player in control of a hero who has been raised from the dead to rescue Zeus' daughter, Athena. The player battles undead and demonic hordes, controlling the shapeshifting hero. He must defeat several levels in order to save the kidnapped goddess. The game takes place in a setting resembling Ancient Greece, complete with gods, temples and ruined Ionic columns.

The player must battle armies of fictional and undead creatures to his goal of defeating the evil sorcerer Neff, who is holding Athena captive. Along the way, the player has to obtain "Spirit Balls" (power-up orbs which increase his strength and appearance) from defeating two-headed white wolves. When three are collected, the hero transforms into a beast with exceptional abilities.

The game contains several levels which the player must battle through. At the end of each level is a "boss" creature, which is Neff himself in different forms. The enemies the player encounters differ depending on level as is the beast the hero transforms into. These beasts include werewolf, dragon, tiger, bear, and the more powerful golden werewolf (other beasts can be seen in the Japanese NES version and the Game Boy Advance version). Each beast has its own special abilities, such as the dragon's ability to fly. Between each level are small animations giving the player glimpses of Athena's peril.

The game was moderately successful, the player's ability to transform into different creatures being a big draw. The game actually does have an ending where the player rescues Athena. At the completion of the game (upon Neff's defeat in the city of Dis), Zeus thanks you for your help, whereafter the game treats the player to a long series of credits.One of the most notable things of Altered Beast is the well-known quote, "Rise from your grave!" said by Zeus in a very grating, but haunting digitized voice when you start the game. Altered Beast was produced as a standard upright only with custom artwork on the cabinet. In most versions, the game's controls consist of an eight-way directional and three buttons, one each for "punch", "kick" and "jump." The game has single player and cooperative two-player modes.

Ports

Altered Beast was ported to several platforms after its original release in 1988. It was released for DOS, NES, Atari ST, Amiga, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Commodore 64 and Game Boy Advance (a new version named as Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms). Of note is the Sega Genesis version, which was the original pack-in game for that system in North America and Europe.

A PlayStation 2 version of Altered Beast is currently in development, but will be a completely different game, in a modern context.

See also

• List of arcade games
• List of computer and video games by name

External links

• The KLOV entry on Altered Beast
• MobyGame's entry on the home versions of Altered Beast
• Category at ODP