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Re: Altered Beast (Score: 1)
by vidgamer on Saturday, 26 October 2002 @ 22:41:45 | 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.
Overall, the Genesis Altered Beast is a NICE pack in game that you got for free, after paying $189 for your Genesis system with 1 controller, back in 1989-1990, before Sonic became the pack in a few years later. It was a good enough game to show off to your
Nintendo Entertainment System-loving friends to show em just how much better 16-bit was. Afterall, this Genesis conversion WAS light years beyond the limited Master System adaption of the game, with all the arcade's levels present and 3 powerups needed to transform. Just don't expect arcade-quality graphics and animation, because if you did expect arcade exact graphics like me back in 1989, you would have come away somewhat disappointed, especially since Sega's marketing in print ads and on their own 1-800 number introducing Genesis had claims that Genesis games "look sound and play exactly like they do in the arcade" which simply was not at all true. The same can be said with Golden Axe, which was also not exact, although closer to the arcade in gameplay and visuals than Altered Beast was.
There is no reason to pay more than $1 for this game, since most early Genesis owners already have it. Altered Beast is not a bad game at all. Just not a very deep or challenging one.
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