Altered Beast

About This Game

Gameplay

Altered Beast is a side-scrollingbeat 'em up game with light platform elements. It has five levels and can be played by up to two players simultaneously. Combat takes place across five levels set in Ancient Greece and populated by aggressive undead creatures and monsters resembling those from Greek mythology. The demonic god Neff waits at the end of each level. Between each level are small animations giving the player glimpses of Athena's peril. The player can punch, kick and jump. The game's premise is that Neff, ruler of the underworld, captures the goddess Athena. Her angered father, the Olympian god Zeus, decides to choose a champion to save her. Respecting the bravery of Roman Centurions, Zeus resurrects one of them and empowers him as a champion. The player character is the resurrected Roman Centurion, given extra power by Zeus so they can battle Neff and his supernatural minions. In the original arcade version, the end credits include the revelation that the whole game actually depicted a staged film production. Whenever the player defeats a white two-headed wolf, a Spirit Ball power-up appears. Each obtained Spirit Ball increases the player character's strength and size.

History

Altered Beast was directed by Makoto Uchida "Makoto Uchida (game developer)"). He took inspiration for the game from The Howling "The Howling (film)") and the music video "Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video)") for the Michael Jackson song "Thriller", as well as movies by Ray Harryhausen, and chose the Greek setting for the powerful characters he had in mind. Uchida admitted he struggled during production because it was his first game he developed. He relied on his lead programmer to help create balance in the gameplay. One of Uchida's goals was to create flashy visuals that would surprise players, so he asked his lead artist to only focus on the player character's transformation sequences for one month.