Altered Beast

Altered Beast: Side-Scrolling Beat 'Em Up

Altered Beast is a 1988 side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega, featuring power-up beast forms and a centurion's quest to rescue Athena.

What is Altered Beast?

Altered Beast is a 1988 side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who had died in battle. The centurion is resurrected from his grave by Zeus, who commands him to save his daughter Athena from the evil demon god Neff. The player battles undead warriors and mythical creatures in order to save the kidnapped goddess.

Gameplay involves traversing a series of levels while fighting enemies that approach from both sides of the screen. The player character has the ability to power up into different beast forms by collecting glowing orbs, each form with its own unique abilities. The initial form is that of a muscular human, but the player can transform into a werewolf, weredragon, werebear, and golden werewolf as they progress through the game. The objective is to reach the end of each level and defeat the boss.

Altered Beast was notable at the time for its detailed large sprite characters and the transformation animations. Its combination of mythical fantasy themes and arcade style gameplay made it popular. Several ports were released for home consoles and it was followed by a series of sequels. Altered Beast remains one of Sega's most recognizable titles from the golden age of arcades.

Altered Beast Features

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