Jûôki

Ancient Greece. A story that might actually be from their mythology certainly it sounds right out of it. How many parents do you think heard about this and realize it could make their kid excited about that part of culture? There is a war between the gods so Zeus can't spare any of his main forces when the demon Neff takes his daughter (not his own but Big Daddy Z's) Athena as a hostage. Instead he resurrects a fallen soldier and that's who you play as. You will have to make your way to, into, and through the underworld fighting various undead along the way. I was only able to learn this story from an online faq since it's not in cutscenes or the like, what there is of that is minimal and clearly assumes you already know what is going on. If I had bought this back in the day I'm sure there would have been a manual or something.

I played this through the Sega Mega Genesis and Megadrive Collection that used to be on sale on Steam and I'm reviewing these in the hopes of increasing interest to the point where the parent company feels compelled to make them available again. Certainly in recent years we have seen more willingness from such to just sell us the ROMs. We're happy to find a free emulator ourselves but we cannot play these legally without those and for years they refuse to just take our money. Literally every single time during that period that I encountered anyone who played games back then they expressed frustration and not being able to play them anymore because of this.

I don't have an awful lot to say about the specific version; they've largely left the original untouched. They've added quick saving and rewind both of which help tremendously in allowing you to retry parts. When this first came out nearly four decades ago the idea was that you had to do it over and over until you eventually got good enough to be able to clear the entire thing in one sitting. Someone on Youtube was able to do a flawless run in 10 minutes. It took me about an hour, which I understand is the average. Basically if you agree to use aforementioned features you can keep trying a part that's causing trouble for you until you get past it or perhaps tire of it. It doesn't take away the overall challenge. Merely makes it accessible for people who don't want the frustration of having to start all the way over after enough it's taken. And those like myself who have carpal tunnel syndrome and literally wouldn't be able to make it all the way through this without any long breaks.

This is a side scrolling beat 'em up. You can punch and kick and there is a slightly different version of those moves if you crouch or jump. Enemies will come from all sides and some of them are fast, some have great reach, some have movement patterns that make them difficult to deal with. And at times there will be several on the screen at the same time and they won't give you the courtesy so often seen in action movies of only attacking 1 at a time. One way that this is challenging enough that you can't do it all the very first time you sit down with it is that your attacks, especially early on, are not very effective. There are also a number of cheap and cheesy bits. At least one foe will fly above you and if they are right over you make a bee line directly for you which if you already are in the middle of fighting someone else can be tough. Power ups do increase your stats and after several you transform.

You can become a beast through this skin changing. It varies in the different levels exactly which one. Those are well designed, some have multiple platforms others are plain. They genuinely do get across a sense of where you are. The creature design is great for everyone. Your attacks are better when you are in one of these animal forms. Some even have ranged. One can fly and you control that with the arrow keys. Bosses are memorable. It was a little annoying that the one with multiple eyes had you thinking you were damaging it because of the visual when really all you were doing was destroying some of the projectiles.

I do find interesting the context of why video games from back then were so punishing. For some reason I can never recall the exact details and as already mentioned I struggle with wrist pain so I can't look it up. This entire review is voice typed with minimal need for manual correction. But it's something about that they needed the individual titles to last basically through an entire weekend. Now I don't remember if that's because if it lasted less you could get your rental money back. Or if it's on account of that being the amount of time that you had to return a game that you bought and paid for. But basically they wanted you devoted to getting all the way through it. Since rage quitting wasn't beneficial for them either. And having to spend a lot of time to git gud before you were able to get all the way through it.

The sound design is good; it feels like it actually hurts when someone is hit. I wouldn't say that any of the individual areas go on for too long and it helps that the first power up you're able to get and also collect despite the opposition often happens fairly early. It does reset at the end of each. Daring you to apply yourself sufficiently that you can get back to that level again. I strongly recommend this to everyone that what I've described sounds even vaguely appealing to. Lotta fun. 8/10.

This game was very popular on the Sega Genesis. It is a very short, bare-bones beat em up. You can beat this in less than 20 minutes.

+)The music is memorable and the voice clips will remain with you forever

+) Each stage is very different from the previous stage

+) You get a new beast form for each level

+) The controls are very easy to play

+) The story is good

~Extremely short game but it has to be since it was originally released on the arcade ~Some cheap enemies that will trap you and kill you quick ~No continues if you lose all your life ~Very basic fighting with one animation for punching and one for kicking. There are no combos.

Overall this game is fun to play if you have 15-20 minutes of free time. Good to play on handheld on the plane or whatever.

Oh come on! where is the love for "Altered Beast"? This is truly one of the most entertaining, exciting, Horror/Action games for any system. This game truly exploits in a positive manner the capacity of Sega Genesis. The music, the controls, the settings, etc. are truly craziness in 16 bits.

This Video game is primitive on technical aspects but it's sure one hell of a fun trip. I remember playing this game for hours and always found it interesting and genuinely creepy!. It's not exactly a Horror game but it has some elements to consider it as one.

I don't want to spoil the fun for those who haven't played it, but I can truly recommend it. There is a lot of action, dark settings, a cool soundtrack with chilling sounds and voices... what else do you want?!

This is an underrated classic. Please, give the credit it deserves.

It is a good thing that this game came with the Genesis in most cases, because I would hate to put out the amount of money it takes to buy a new game on this thing back in the day. This one started out as an arcade game and it is a pretty good arcade game. It is not too long and is actually winnable. Herein lies the problem, translate that to a console and you have a game that will not even kill an hour! Heck, an hour, I meant like 10 minutes! It would have not even been worth a rental!

The story has a centurion that was killed being given a second chance to save some god's daughter. I just say it is Zeus. The daughter is captured by some bald head dude that always greets our hero with the line, "Welcome to your doom" despite being beaten again and again. The centurion with the help of the white wolf can turn into a more powerful, and muscular warrior and then into a beast with fantastical powers! Why Zeus could not just make him a beast to begin with is only known to the gods!

The game play is simple, you punch and kick your way through hordes of the undead and monsters to get through each stage and fight the bad guy at the end who turns into some hideous monster. You collect power ups so that you can turn into a beast who is super powerful, because if you do not, forget about getting by the final stage boss!

I just played this on the Sega Classics Collection on PS4 and I was completely floored at how short this game is! I remember the stages being a bit longer, but for the most part they make a Super Mario Bros stage look huge by comparison. There just is not enough to this game to grant it its own cartridge. Perhaps they could have made the game longer for its port over, because what is good in an arcade may not translate to a decent game for your home console.

Altered Beast is one of the most exciting video games! The characters, the action, the scariness and the sure thrill of excitement makes this game a fun non-stop playing time! Below is a brief look how I think the game is!

Game Play: The game play is very good. There is really basic controls here and is easy to perform. Novice gamers should have a good time here!

Graphics: The graphics are wonderful especially for the Sega Genesis System! The backgrounds are really beautiful!

Difficulty: The game is easy but as it goes on you find out that it will become more difficult!

Music: The music is great! Just fantastic catchy tunes through out the game! In My opinion its some of the best music ever in a video game!

Sound: The sound is great. Nuff said!

Overall: I have always loved Altered Beast! If you like scary and action adventure games then I strongly recommend you play this game!

To purchase this video game check out Amazon.com!