Altered Beast

Altered Beast is a side-scrolling beat '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.

Altered Beast was directed by Makoto Uchida. He took inspiration for the game from The Howling and the 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. Additionally, he and his team used the System 16 arcade system board for its ability to add great detail to large character sprites, as well as the visual effects it could provide, such as limbs flying off during combat. Uchida was not impressed by the initial concept art, so he worked with an artist to sketch out his specific ideas on character design. While the results of this were positive, Uchida's lead designer quit the team over this situation. Altered Beast includes Easter eggs which are references to other System 16 titles Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars and Shinobi, as a nod to members on Uchida's team that had worked on those titles previously.

In Japan, Altered Beast was the second highest-grossing arcade game of July 1988.

Upon its initial arcade release, Altered Beast received mixed reviews. Commodore User called it "a clever game, and well worth a few tens of anybody's money." Computer and Video Games criticized the game's plot as being unoriginal and the graphics as "large and clumsily drawn". Your Sinclair stated the game was "not recommended to those that are still living".

Video game journalist Ken Horowitz stated that video gamers identify the "rise from your grave" opening from the game, whether they are fans of Sega's games or not. According to Horowitz, Altered Beast's biggest attraction is its charm, which was reduced in the modifications to the Genesis port, and has called the game "one of the more memorable concepts Sega conceived." Uchida has expressed surprise over the sustained popularity around his arcade games, stating "When I occasionally visit videogame arcades in the US, I still see people playing my Altered Beast and Golden Axe games. It proves to me that, if the game is good, people will still pay good money to play it."

Altered Beast has received two sequels. Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms, developed by 3d6 Games and published by THQ, is a 2002 sequel for the Game Boy Advance in the style of the original arcade game. It adds new features like power-ups and beast forms, as well as 15 levels. While the graphics are improved compared to the original game, the scrolling mechanic remains the same.