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Altered Beast

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Cartridge Top Label

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Title Screenshot In Game Screenshot

Game Genie™ Codes For Altered Beast
Download PAT File
#CodeDescription
Save Zeus's daughter Athena from Neff, god of the underworld, with these great Game Genie(tm) codes for Altered Beast(tm). BEAST Code 5 makes you basically invincible. For experts, try Code 3 and see if you can beat Neff with just one life. BEAST Code 6 gives you the wolf, and sometimes he has some strange characteristics.
1DCXA-AA22MASTER CODE--MUST BE ENTERED
2FT1T-AA5LInfinite lives
3BWXA-ACCTStart with 1 life
4BWXA-ALCTStart with 5 lives
5ATWA-AA8RProtection against enemy hits--no power lost from power gauge
6PA5T-BNT2First spirit ball transforms you into an Altered Beast(tm)
7AEFA-AABWMakes Aggar easier to defeat
8AA9A-ALN8Most Altered Beast punches (Button A) are more powerful against bosses
9AA9A-ALPGMost Altered Beast attacks (Button B) are more powerful against bosses--DOES NOT WORK FOR BEAR
10HTWT-B6KGMakes most enemies easier to defeat
11A2TA-AAGCMakes Neff easier to defeat
12AYMT-AAHNMakes Crocodile Worm easier to defeat
Cheats For Altered Beast
#TypeDescription
1ContinuesWhen you die, hold down the A button and press Start repeatedly until you appear on the screen on which you died.
2OptionsHold down B and press Start during the title screen for a set of options.
3Select The BeastChange into the beast you want on each stage by pressing down and left while holding all three buttons during the title screen.
4Round SelectChoose your round on the option screen and then hold down A and Start on the Title Screen.
5Sound TestTo hear all the sounds and music in the game, press up and right while holding down A and C.
6Attack The Credit ScreenWhen you rescue Athena and the credits appear, kick or punch them to scroll them downwards.

Excerpt from Genesis Game Guide by The Scribe

NAME:             Altered Beast
AUTHOR/VENDOR:    Sega
RELEASED:         1988
TYPE:             Platform
LANGUAGE:         English

PREMISE:          You have been summoned from your grave by Zeus, king of
                  the Olympians, to resuce his kidnapped daughter.  A
                  straightforward port of Sega's classic side-scrolling
                  arcade game.

IMPRESSIONS:      One of the first games released for the Genesis, and one
                  of many arcade conversions.  Not very sophisticated, but
                  still decent despite its age. (Rage Games)

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"Altered Beast" | Login/Create Account | 22 comments
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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by TReid (thortr@hotmail.com.nospam) on Wednesday, June 27 @ 11:05:24 EDT
(User Info)

I remember when I bought my first Genesis...NES was still really popular but it was still a while before SNES came out. My brother and I went in on it because it came packed with Altered Beast plus a mail-in certificate for the newly-relased Sonic the Hedgehog. Altered Beast has great gameplay. It's a little easy, but still very fun to play.

[ Reply ]

Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by Kimbal on Sunday, July 29 @ 09:30:09 EDT
(User Info)

An arcade port game,
The game play is like a horizontal beat-an-up game,
you would find power up in each round and go on if you got all power up, you would be change to a "beast" containing power of shooting, and go for the boss.

The game level is quite hard, you would need some times to practice it.
The control is easy, doesn't involve special moves.

The greatest things on this game I think would like to be the two-player mode(which is rare at that time)

The sounds and graphics is on genesis standard,
This is a good multiplayer game in genesis for you.

[ Reply ]

Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by Gibbousmoon on Wednesday, August 15 @ 17:14:53 EDT
(User Info)

This is indeed a fun game, but I found it way too easy, personally. Keeping in mind that it was a first-generation game, it was a well-done arcade port. One thing I missed, however, was the cool effect of your face turning into that of a wolf. In the Genesis version, this transition is done with a flicker effect, which was not nearly as cool as the animation in the arcade.

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by CrossBow (crossbow@emuviews.com) on Wednesday, August 29 @ 12:37:00 EDT
(User Info)

Okay I can forgive this game since it was the first pack in game for the Genesis upon the intitial launch in 89. But I do have several issues with this game. It has been stated that it is too easy. I agree with this as each boss has a fairly easy to find strategy where you can basically stay in one place and either jump and shoot..or duck and shoot..etc. But my real problem is the graphics themselves. The animation is jerky, choppy, whatever you want to call it...we are missing some animation frames here. Also many of the graphics in general seem quickly converted with no advanced use of the blending modes that many other games used like Sonic for instance. It is as complete a port of the arcade as any of the other sega 16bit system arcades versions are. But still I can't seem to get worked up in playing this much.

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by Sparxster (webmaster@rocketknight.com) on Wednesday, November 21 @ 21:35:30 EST
(User Info) http://www.geocities.com/sparkster5233/index.html

LIES! I am not impressed with this game's ugly monsters or graphics in gerneral. gameplay is NOT fun! it moves too slow. it may have been fun in its time but it sucks now, i couldnt even consider it a "classic" heck, even some atari games are better than this! i'd rather spend time playing frogger! i give it an F-!

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by smokeDogg on Friday, January 18 @ 05:57:34 EST
(User Info)

A horrible, horrible game.
It was bad in the arcades, even worse in your living room!
The novel concept of being able to transform into creatures with unique special moves cannot save this dire, sh*t stain of a game.
The controls are awful and there's enough flicker to cause a fit.

Thank god for Sonic...

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by dane_martin on Sunday, April 28 @ 21:49:38 EDT
(User Info) http://danepenguin.blogspot.com

Sure, the concept might be corny, but the overall game isn't that half bad. It's obviously an early attempt, released with the system's launch, but it does what it's trying to do: be a decent sidescrolling "beat 'em up". The game gets rather dull in points, as the repetitiveness begins to sink in, but overall, the game stays in the boundaries of its genre, which was the game's goal from the start. There's nothing over-the-top exciting here, but it's not painful to play though. The graphics and sound are pretty nice for their standards, but the control could have been a bit better; it doesn't seem very responsive. Just a small nitpick, though, as it doesn't seem to, in this instance, effect much of the actual gameplay. Nice for its time.

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 10 @ 19:50:53 EDT

Altered Beast is a incredibly conversion about sistem 16.

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 30 @ 16:06:27 EDT

This is a fair game, it may have simple graphics,but it is enough to grab people's attention on what 16-bit games can do for the unfamiliar.

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by toriniku on Thursday, August 01 @ 13:02:58 EDT
(User Info) http://kerfuffle.org/blog/

for some reason, it puts me in mind of the way i feel when i play Contra, but AB is much more amusing to me. particularly in two-player mode. the transformations are hilarious...really, there are far worse ways one could waste their time, and far worse games to waste that time on. :D

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by deaddudegod on Sunday, August 04 @ 15:15:59 EDT
(User Info)

A fun game for it's time, now I can't stop laughing when I try to play it!

Altogether now...

"WIIIZZZE FWOM YOUR GWAAAAAAAAAVE!"

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by deaddudegod on Sunday, August 04 @ 15:21:53 EDT
(User Info)

Fun for it's time but nowadays you can't play it without laughing!

"WIIIIIIIZE FWOM YOU GWAAAAAVE!"

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by vidgamer on Saturday, October 26 @ 22:41:45 EDT
(User Info)

Altered Beast was basicly the first game made for Sega's 16-bit Genesis console, known as the MegaDrive in Japan. Since this version of Altered Beast was actually out in Japan a year before the 1989 introduction of Genesis in the USA, it's actually quite impressive on its own. Especially compared to just about any NES or Master System game. It had, for the time, fairly large sprites, decent animation and awesome sound. However, compared to the arcade version of Altered Beast, the Genesis version falls well short of being exact, it is not identical. That's right gamers, Altered Beast on Genesis/MegaDive is NOT "arcade perfect" as so many people say it was, in their recollections of the conversion.

I don't know what it is about that phrase "arcade perfect" or what it even means, but I can say without any doubt or reservation that the Genesis Altered Beast does not look exactly like the arcade. It is nowhere near exact to be perfectly honest. While its certainly a complete conversion of the arcade (all the levels are present, 3 spirit balls are needed to transform into the altered beast, and 2 players can play together at the same time) the graphics and animation are much reduced, or watered down if you will, from the graphically stunning coin-op. The sprites of the enemy creatures are alot smaller and less defined, with different animation when you destroy them. The wolves also, both regular and white, are much smaller and less fierce looking. The power-up sequences as you bulk up are also weaker, with none of the clothes-ripping animation of the coin-op. Also, when you are transformed into the altered beast, your attacks look different from those in the arcade. The werewolf's fire ball is pathetic looking on Genesis, as is the dash attack, which was more of a flaming kick in the arcade, and looked much cooler.

The gameplay pacing and difficulty are also different from the arcade. It's hard to explain, but the Genesis version is MUCH easier and faster. the arcade is more of a beat 'em up while the Genesis version is more like a "walking shoot em up" - I know you've probably have NEVER heard such a discription of Altered Beast before, but the Genesis version is quite different in that way. Try it compared to the arcade (try the arcade via MAME) to see what I mean. As I mentioned, the animation is reduced from the System16 arcade, including the scaling and cool smoke effects when Neff turns into the level boss. The Genesis version's effect is extremely cheezy compared to the arcade. The opening "Rize from your Grave" scene is much weaker with unimpressive line of lightning, where as the arcade is a thunderous pulsing burst of lightning along with equally thunderous sound.

The best part of Altered Beast was the audio. thankfuly the Genesis, for the most part, handles most of the voice and sound effects almost as well as the arcade (with the exception of the opening sequence as I mentioned) and the music is just about as good too. where as the graphics of the Genesis version are perhaps 70% of the arcade (I'm being generous here) the music and sound is probably 85-90% intact. The voice of Neff saying "Welcome To Your Doom!" is actually weirder and freakier than the arcade, believe it or not.

One more note about the graphics of Altered Beast - the Genesis version has one thing the arcade does not, and that is parallex scrolling. The Genesis has 3 or 4 background layers of scrolling, notably in the first level. This was a neat effect for first generation Genesis games. The arcade game was flat, just the 1 background, no parallex scrolling. I suppose this was added to the Genesis version because it naturally came later than the arcade game, and I guess Sega wanted to show off the Genesis more, to one-up the NES in ever way it could. This doesn't add anything to the gameplay, and the arcade version is still much more impressive graphically overall. This I can testify too being an avid arcade Altered Beast player in 1989-1990 and now owning the machine.


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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by Sparxster (sparkster5233@nospam.yahoo.com) on Monday, March 31 @ 05:06:52 EST
(User Info) http://rks.furries.mine.nu

Update time! Well, after playing it again, It's not as bad as I remember (well, before, the first level was certainly amusing!) but there are still areas which even for it's time could have been better. But overall, not as bad as I mentioned the first time, now. It's a pretty decent game...

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Saturday, July 19 @ 22:19:48 EDT

I bought this one for a tenner of my mate James when I was foolish enough to think that I could own every single Megadrive game and finger through them all and peruse my favourites, I now have a small stack of games in what is now destined to be a failed project. steve@irving6697.feeserve.co.uk

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by SIR (steve@irving6697.freeserve.co.uk) on Wednesday, November 19 @ 11:49:22 EST
(User Info) http://Freeserve

The voices from this game sound like the 'grown ups' from Charlie Brown.

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Saturday, January 24 @ 17:40:33 EST

one of my favorite games

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Thursday, August 19 @ 19:52:18 EDT

kick ass game, thats all that needs to be said

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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Saturday, November 20 @ 13:37:18 EST

It Must Me One Of The Greats Because Sega Are Making A Ps2 Or Xbox version Of Altered Beast Which Looks Shit Hot!

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Velhcome to your doom! (Score: 1)
by Vintage_Gamer on Wednesday, December 12 @ 19:42:53 EST
(User Info)

Hehe, now this game I had a riot with. 2 player was the best! i'd always rob my friends from getting the little energy balls before they did if I needed them or not. I thought the end boss was a little lame, being a rhino on crack. Not bad tho, since it was a pack-in title. Always wished they'd make a follow up sequel as well but it never happened. too bad...

Scale score (1-10) 7.3

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Wrrrrise from your graaaave! (Score: 1)
by Hiryu on Monday, June 25 @ 16:56:44 EDT
(User Info) http://www.romfinders.net

Despite it's age, Altered Beast is a fun way to waste some time you'd be spending on homework or girls :). Apperently this game is based on mythology. But it's more like just ripping characters out of greek mythology and using them in a video game. Your just some guy Zeus resurected to save his daughter from the hands of Hades. While the story isn't all that hot, it's the gameplay that shines. On the first stage you'll start out as an average joe walking forward on a scrolling screen. Here you can punch and kick. Soon a powerup will form if you destroy a special blue enemy, this will turn into the same guy but now part of his shirt is missing and you can see blue fire come out his feet and hands when you punch and kick. After you get another powerup, your guy grows into a much beefier guy(don't mess with him!). He has the same attacts but is a little stronger. If you find another powerup, you'll see a cut scene showing a truly cool looking transformation of man into werewolf. Now in this form, you can be cheap and shoot balls of light at enemies, and also do a torpedo type move across the screen. The boss isn't too hard, but he sure did freak me out when I was a wee little kid, he says "Welcome to your doom!". How's that for a shock? In future levels, you turn into other creatures such as a pteradactyl, a giant grizzly bear, and more. The music is good mediaval stuff, scary I might add. The voices are cool and one of the things that makes this game an instant classic. When you first start out, Zeus says "Rise from your grave!" in a funny deep voice. Hades higher pitched evil tone like "Welcome to your doom!" and after each level, he takes away your powerups and says "HAHAHA". The graphics were excellent for the time, big sprites, and interesting animations. There's even some cutscenes between each stage. I do wish there were more stages, but I guess you can't get everything. The challenge is good though and Altered Beast does warrent more than one playthrough. This is an awesome sega classic, worthy of your time. If I had a rating scale of 1-10 I'd give it a 9.

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