Altered Beast (2005 video game)

Lore & Background

Altered Beast follows Luke Custer, a 'Genome-Cyborg' whose DNA has been artificially altered by micro-chips containing the genetic make-up of other creatures, allowing him to transform into anthropomorphic beasts. After surviving a helicopter crash, Luke loses his memory and sets out to learn the truth about his past and the Genome-Cyborgs. The game is set in a modern quarantine zone called Foret Town, covered in a mutagenic mist.

Reader's Guide

The game received mixed reviews, with an average critic score of 53/100 on Metacritic. VideoGamer noted that the name might attract fans of the original, but advised others to look elsewhere. ScrewAttack ranked Altered Beast as the 10th worst game on their Top 10 Worst 2D to 3D games list. Its significance lies in being a reboot that attempted to update a classic arcade franchise for a new generation, but failed to achieve critical or commercial success, particularly with its North American cancellation.

Did You Know?

• The game was cancelled for North America despite being released in Europe and Japan.
• Luke Custer can transform into a werewolf, merman, garuda, wendigo, minotaur, and dragon.
• Unlockable beast forms include a White Weretiger, a Grizzly bear, and an alien-clone U.W.H.
• The plot involves a mutagenic mist called Genome Mist released by a jealous Genome-Cyborg named Anastasia.

The Mythic Combat Loop

Altered Beast is structured as a side-scrolling brawler with light platforming, spanning five levels set across Ancient Greece. Up to two players can take on the role of a resurrected Roman centurion, fighting through waves of undead and mythological monsters before confronting Neff, the underworld's demonic ruler, at each level's end. Between stages, brief animations offer glimpses of Athena's captivity, reinforcing the narrative stakes. The core combat vocabulary is simple—punch, kick, and jump—but the game's signature mechanic elevates the experience: defeating a white two-headed wolf releases a Spirit Ball, and collecting three triggers a full beast transformation. Players can become a weredragon that hurls lightning bolts and erects an electric barrier, a werebear whose breath petrifies foes into stone, a weretiger that lobs zigzagging fireballs, a werewolf with a direct fireball and a devastating thrust, or a golden werewolf sharing the wolf's toolkit. The Famicom edition expanded the roster with shark, lion, and phoenix forms. In a surprising twist, the arcade version's end credits reveal the entire adventure was actually a staged film production.

Uchida's Debut and Creative Struggles

Makoto Uchida helmed Altered Beast as his first project-lead role, and the experience was anything but smooth. Drawing inspiration from The Howling, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video, and the stop-motion spectacle of Ray Harryhausen films, Uchida chose an Ancient Greek setting to house the powerful, larger-than-life characters he envisioned. He openly admitted struggling throughout production, leaning heavily on his lead programmer to strike the right gameplay balance. One of his boldest creative decisions was instructing his lead artist to spend an entire month working exclusively on the player's transformation sequences, aiming for a visual spectacle that would shock arcade players. The team built on Sega's System 16 board specifically for its capacity to render large, detailed character sprites and dramatic effects like limbs flying off in combat. Uchida was dissatisfied with the initial concept art and personally re-sketched character designs with an artist, a move that ultimately caused his lead designer to quit the team. The game also contains Easter eggs referencing Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars and Shinobi, honoring teammates who had worked on those earlier titles.

The Pressure-Button Dream and What Was Lost

One of the most fascinating untold stories in Altered Beast's development is the pressure-sensitive button Uchida wanted to include. The idea was to add a new dimension of input that would expand the character's action set, but negotiations with the patent holder of the device broke down over the small order volume Sega planned to produce. Without that button, roughly half of the planned character actions were cut from the final game. Uchida later reflected that this reduction in complexity was what led players to tire of the title relatively quickly. Despite this self-criticism, he remained genuinely proud of the reactions he witnessed during playtesting sessions. The pressure-button concept resurfaced when the Genesis port was in development—Uchida hoped to finally realize it there—but tight schedules and the absence of such hardware in the Genesis console made it impossible. The arcade version shipped in June 1988, and its overseas popularity far outpaced its Japanese reception, setting the stage for its next major chapter.

Pack-in Fame and a Long Tail of Re-releases

Altered Beast's most consequential role in gaming history came not from its arcade run but from its selection as the pack-in title for the Sega Genesis in North America (1989) and the Mega Drive in Europe (1990). Uchida was not directly involved in either the Genesis or Master System port, though he offered guidance and felt reassured by the Genesis hardware's lineage from the System 16 board. He never saw his game bundled with a console in Japan, where it was not the pack-in title. By the time he visited the United States three years later, every available Genesis came with Sonic the Hedgehog instead, a swap driven partly by concerns that the game's zombie and magic themes would sit poorly with audiences in the American Bible Belt. Beyond those flagship ports, Altered Beast was converted for the PC Engine, PC Engine CD-ROM², Famicom (developed by Interlink), Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Amiga, with several European versions handled by Activision. Some conversions, notably the Master System edition, dropped entire levels. The title has since been re-released on multiple modern consoles, included in compilation collections, and spawned one sequel and one reboot.