Exploring Altered Beast: A Retro Sega Classic

Altered Beat is a Greek and Roman mythologically themed beat’em up. Sega originally released the game in the arcades, and then used it as a pack-in for the Genesis. It was used as a way to show off what the console was capable of. While it did a decent job of this, it didn’t necessarily get people to buy the console.

This is a side-scrolling beat’em up. This is how the genre got its start, before moving on to a more isometric angle. Going back to play a game like this can be a little weird. It resembles a side-scrolling platformer.

I’m not a fan of this game. There isn’t anything wrong with it, but it isn’t a game that I like to revisit. This is another game that I played and reviewed a while ago for YouTube. In that review, I also went over the arcade version and the GBA sequel/remake.  

TLDR: A decent game that was quickly passed by other beat’em ups.

Narrative

The game is set in Greece, and you play as a Roman. You’re going to be fighting creatures from Greek Mythology. The story is all about you trying to rescue a goddess.

Neff, the ruler of the underworld, has abducted Athena. This understandably angered Zeus, and he sent a champion to save her. He resurrects you and gives you the power to defeat Neff.

I had to look up some things after reading through the story. As far as I can tell, Neff is a creation of the game developers or the localization team. The manual says he is the God of the underworld (link). I couldn’t find a reference to him before 1988.

Gameplay

The gameplay here is very simple. You move to the right and fight enemies. There are power-ups that you need to get before you can advance to the next level. This is a cool idea, but it can make the levels longer than they need to be.

At random points in each level, a bunch of cows will attack you. They look like cows to me, but I’ll check the manual to see if I’m right. One of the cows will be blue. These are the enemies that drop the power-ups. If you collect three of them, then you transform.

Once you transform, the game gets really good! This is when you have more powers, and you get to fight the stage boss. The bosses are challenging but fun. It isn’t overly difficult.

There are five levels you have to get through. This means you have five forms you can turn into. Here is the list:

• Werewolf
• Weretiger
• Werebear
• Weredragon
• Golden Werewolf

Each form gives you a special power and makes the game easier. Turning into this form is the only way to fight the stage boss. It is a cool idea.

Overall, this is a fairly simple arcade game that makes for a decent console game. This doesn’t showcase what the Genesis can do as well as other games. The console had a weak launch line-up, and Altered Beast eventually got replaced with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Visuals

This game used the Sega-16 arcade board. This board was also the basis for the Genesis/Mega Drive. Many of the early games on the console were arcade ports, and they look decent enough.

The sprites are larger than what you saw on the NES. They were more detailed, and the colors looked better. I like the art style of these early Genesis games, and they look better than Nintendo’s at this time.

Between levels, there is a little cutscene. This helps to advance the game’s story. They look pretty good, and it isn’t too far off from the arcade version.

The graphics are pretty good. There aren’t too many sprites on the screen, but they look very good. Altered Beast has some slowdown when the game gets a little chaotic. This is a common problem with most games from this era, so I can’t really knock the game for that.

Reviews at the Time

The reviews for Altered Beast are wild. They are inconsistent even in the same publication. The Genesis score is higher than other versions of the game, including the arcade game. I looked at two publications for this.

Computer and Video Games gave the game an 87/100. This was significantly higher than the Arcade, which got a 69/100. The publication called it a “pixel-for-pixel copy of the arcade machine.”

Sega Pro gave the game a 74/100. In a short review, they said that “its finest hour has truly passed.” This review was published in 1991, two years after the game’s release. This score makes sense when you know that it is from 1991 instead of 1989.

The Games Machine gave the game an 87/100. It is a little funny to read in hindsight. They said the action wasn’t as good as Space Harrier 2 or Super Thunder Blade. The reviewer continued by saying it “is a coin-op conversion to the letter — and that can’t be bad.”

Many of these reviews were in UK magazines. They also reviewed the Master System version alongside it. That game was savaged by reviewers, which made the Genesis version look even better. I have played the Master System version of the game, and I really didn’t like it.

The review score did dip over time. It was interesting to see it drop as early as 1991. It isn’t as bad as some people say. This is simply an older game that wasn’t as good as the beat’em ups that came after it.

6/10. This isn’t the type of beat’em up that I would want to go back to. It is fun to play, but the design is rather archaic. There are other beat’em ups on the Genesis that I would rather play. It looks okay, the gameplay is decent, and it has a fun story.

Pros

• Easy to Play
• Decent Graphics
• Good Gameplay

Cons

• Too Easy
• Archaic Game Design

Conclusion

Altered Beast is an archaic beat’em up. The side-scrolling style was used in other early attempts at the genre. I’ve never found this version of a beat’em up to be as fun as those in the 1990s. It has its place in video game history, but it just isn’t what I want to play.

I found the reviews from the late 1980s and early 1990s to be interesting. It was surprising to see the scores vary as much as they did. I think many reviewers compared the Genesis version to the Master System version. This inflated the scores for the Genesis version quite a bit. What I wasn’t expecting was how much higher the Genesis scores were compared to the Arcade.

At the end of the day, Altered Beast is better known for being replaced by Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega’s attempts to cash in on their arcade games hadn’t translated as well as they hoped. It also didn’t help that Sega of Japan and Sega of America were often at odds. It makes you wonder what might’ve happened if the two sides had worked together.

If you liked this post, please check out my others on Sega games. Like Alien Storm or Golden Axe.