I love this excellent game. Here in México we had the full vertion. I mean the full cabinet, controls etc, and of course: the greatest music. Thanks for to make this kind of material dude. regards from México.
Gamers nowadays don't get Altered Beast. Back then it was a very stylized action game and (at least for an arcade game at the time) was very appealing. The slow prodding gameplay revolved around capturing the orbs and transforming...and that was its hook. It worked then, and was a pretty successful arcade game but doesn't make sense by todays standards. Still a classic for me:)
Yeah, I mean back when it was new in 1988 I played the game to death. I did sort of enjoy the big look to everything. the mythical beasts and the whole idea really but I still thought it was a bit poor compared to Golden Axe. But yes, back in the day Altered Beast really stood out in the arcades just like many of Sega's classic titles.
The part that always frustrated me was that the white dog would always appear when there were 3-4 other enemies in the way. I kill them, walk over to the dog ready to kick it and every single time, it jumps toward me at the last second, knocking me down and taking off health!
Wait, WHAT!? 'I played the game to death?' Then why the hate at the beginning of you video? I don't understand. The condescending 'It's not a very good game' , 'It does have it's charm I guess' Doesn't sound like you like it, sounds more like you just don't understand why people like this and you are some how being forced to make this video. If it's you attempt at being funny I didn't get it, I'm sorry, and I'll take it back.
Altered Beast is one of those games that deserves more praise then it actually gets imo. It's really pretty decent overall. That being said, I'm floored at how many bad ports this game has. When I saw the Famicom version I told myself "wow, it' can't get much worse than that". Imagine my shock and disbelief when I went through the rest of the video because oh boy was I wrong! I own the Sega Genesis version and always wondered if it was better on other systems. Apparently the answer is that its not better anywhere else, not even close. Even some parts of the arcade version is overshadowed by the Genesis port, that alone is enough to blow anyone's mind. I really expected the PC Engine to be a great port, but sadly it's just so subpar compared to the Genesis version it makes you wanna cry. Its no wonder why the majority of people don't typically enjoy this game very much. The only good version is on a console that Nintendo die-hards love to use as a punching bag. On top of that, it was a launch title! On the flip side, us Genesis fans have an arcade port to be really proud of. One of the few instances of an arcade port having improvements over its original counterpart.
I was a nintendo fanboy growing up, but even I appreciated some of the excellent games the MD had at the time. And now that I am older I appreciate the hardware much more than I did. And can see its design is pretty decent for its era.
No, no it's not. ;) And that's coming from an arcade junkie AND diehard Sega fan. A MUCH better Altered Beast style game was Konami's Metamorphic Force.
@@animejoe4041 No. Metamorphic Force is nothing like Altered Beast. One is a single plane belt scroller from 1988, and the other is a post Final Fight 1993 beat em up with that distinct Konami style. 5 years is a long time in terms of tech and arcade development. Just because they both involve beast transformations doesn't make them comparable or similar in any significant way. It's a shallow surface level comparison. As far as gameplay and design philosophy they're night and day.
@@RetroClash95 Both games involve dead warriors being resurrected by a god/goddess and sent on missions where they're empowered with the abilities to collect power ups and transform into mighty beasts. There is no closer comparison to Altered Beast than that. Metamorphic Force has a tremendous advantage over Altered Beast because it is the newer game, and fortunately Konami did not waste any of those advantages. The ONLY thing in Altered Beast that is superior is the Dragon creature that you can turn into. He is bad ass!
@@animejoe4041 by your logic, Pac Man is a shittier version of Ghosts n Goblins. They're released five years apart from each other, are completely different in terms of gameplay, but they both have ghosts in them and are arcade games.
The fact that I loved the original Altered Beast just proves that sometimes "art" is inexplicable! Great to see some of those ports as I didn't see much of these 8 bit console versions back in the day. It would appear I didn't miss much though. The SMS port really does look abysmal despite the large sprite handling etc. It almost looks like a PC CGA game! Could something have gone amiss with the colour values when the bitmaps were transferred over perhaps? Actually all the ports except the MD version look dire. With the MS-DOS version, my eight year old queried "Is that a rat or a werewolf?"! But I still love the coin op original. Love it. Damn those rose tinted glasses!!
Even though the game was mediocre at best, I was still very pleasantly surprised that the game was actually better on the Genesis than the arcade. The sound and music especially. Really impressed me back in 1988 and made me a believer that consoles were finally getting to that convergence point where it would match and even surpass arcade quality.
Thanks for your efforts here BTW. I really liked the remix tune at the start, awesome that. I loved the arcade version and played it a lot in the day. I think the the graphic style and back drops of the game made it stand out back then, as you say it wasn't an amazing game really. The sou X effects were what captured me. Plus the changing into a werewolf on the first stage was a good idea as (for me) it was the best powered up character. The MD speech sounds very clear for an early game too. Cheers.
Thanks for your comments. Back in the day I played Altered Beast to death because it was the only game I owned for my Mega Drive in 1988 for about 1 month. I could finish it in one life unlike now :) But yes, it's not a great game however I always loved the beast transformation screens.
I had the Speccy version and I was really impressed by the beginning intro cut scenes before going onto the menu screen, especially the eyes close up cut scene as graphically wise they looked spot on to the original Arcade version but minus the colours.
The PC Engine CD port requires the system card 1.0 so it won't crash when you turn into a beast. Any system card that is higher than this will freeze the gameplay.
I don't agree with the bad game part. The game has the typical simplified arcade playability, and it it's quite good for what it is. Specially for the time. I always liked it!
I was wondering when you'd cover this :) Excellent work as always. This game was another one of those that I would play on a Friday night at the local pizza place.
In the US, this would be the pack-in game for the Genesis itself, so everybody that got a Genesis that Christmas in '89 had to make due with this for the meantime.
Same in the UK as well. I had the Japanese version though in 1988 :) I played it every day for a month until I got some othr games at Christmas. I think it was Super Shinobi (Revenge of Shinobi) I got next. A very big leap in quality that's for sure.
Christopher Sobieniak Yes, I was pretty lucky. I sold my Master System and 11 games to get most of the cash for a Mega Drive. My parents gave me the rest of the money as my birthday present. Man, being a gamer in 1988 was amazing. The difference between the 16Bit Mega Drive and the Master System and NES was so obvious. Same again when the Saturn and PlayStation came out. The leap between say the PS3 / 360 and XBox One / PS4 wasn't anywhere near as dramatic. I finished GTA5 on the 360 and now going through it again on the Xbox One. I still enjoy the game and can see the improvements in graphics but it doesn't have the kick or the leap in quality that older consoles had when they came along to replace an older generation.
I like the arcade version better than the megadrive version as I think the arcade version looks and sounds better. I owned a sega genesis and copy of Altered Beast back in the early 90's when I was a teenager and I loved Alteredbeast and I still love Alteredbeast today.
@@RetroCore Yes, but does it fix the gameplay? I can forgive the silly zombie death particles, but the beasts do not even play properly! You would not know this unless you actually try the arcade version.
Say what you want about the Famicom version, but at least it played smoothly. And got a bunch of extra levels and transformations. No one said it had to be good, lol.
For two whole months Altered Beast was the only game I had for my Mega Drive until receiving Super Shinobi for Christmas. I learned to appreciate Altered Beast quite a bit as a 14 year old boy. It is a little boring but not that bad.
WISE FWOM YOUW GWAVE !!!! Played to death both the Arcade and MegaDrive versions, and the computer versions are crap because US Gold. On next videos, you dont even have to explain, just say "US Gold" and we all will understand they are crap. Thanks for the videos, love them!
Is it me or the tunes also sound better on the MD than in the Arcade version? One awesome thing about the NES version: the "cat" faces symbolising your lives :)
Yeah, the MD sounds very close and better than the arcade in some areas. Also, the "Welcome to your doom" speech on the MD version is voiced with better intonation IMO.
Actually, it might be running in 16 color VGA mode (640×480@4bpp). Unlike many believe, original VGA could not display 256 colors at 640×480. Or indeed, it could also be EGA compatible 640×350 mode. In any case some type of 'hi-res' 16 color mode and not the 256 color MCGA / Mode 13h (320×200).
All I can say is that if you don't respect "Altered Beast", then you're obviously not a Sega gamer, since it was the one game that came bundled with the Sega Genesis before it was replaced with "Sonic The Hedgehog".
I am most definitely a Sega gamer but that doesn't make Altered Beast a good game. I'm coming from the point of the Arcade original. It wasn't very good compared to Sega's other Arcade games of the time. True that the Mega Drive port is fairly good and I did play it to death until I got Super Shinobi but it's still avarage at best to me.
Got my Sega Genesis for Christmas back then. Me & my brother played Altered Beast until we got good at it, since it was the game that came with the system.
It's fascinating how game could become rather famous not because of its good or bad qualities, but just because of one single phrase. As for the game itself - looks "meh". Generic arcade platformer. Commodore 64 version looks surprisingly nice. Spectrum port is...EYE SCREAM... Famicom / NES version looks like some kind of poor bootleg. Surprisingly bad conversion.
As a kid in 2001, i played the Genesis version on Sega Dreamcast as part of Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1, but didn't realize the music and sound were change from 16 bit to the 8 bit. I have the emulate version on Xbox Live Arcade (Which you cannot featured) and the 3DS version as part of Sega 3D Classics Collection.
I agree. Altered Beast was never very good in the first place. I like some of the mad ideas though (the first boss that throws his head at you). But the gameplay is very subpar compared to Sega’s usual effort.
I always wanted to play the arcade version to compare to Genesis and I guess MAME fits that bill. Upon watching all the versions I see where a remake combining the best elements of all could come in. Seems remakes usually come up crappy like the Golden axe for PlayStation. I also always wanted to grab Nef and just keep punching him in the face like a final fight move. I mean the Robed Nef. Hell, fighting him shooting lightning, then he grows big, fight his giant form, then he can transform into the monster and you kill that. Then while you’re pounding his face in he grabs you and drains you of your power and turns all giant head and floats down and you crawl in after him. Fuck, I wanna punch giant floating head too. Lots of color variation so different mob toughness and if made a little like say metroidvania you could explore the entire graveyard... or more like splatterhouse 3. Stillkeeping the basic game play. (That awful altered beast 2 was just too damn taxing so perhaps the charm is AB’s shortness).
I owned the Famicom version on pirate cart and played it on my famiclone. I gave it to my cousin and he still has it. It was a white cart with the japanese megadrive boxart on it,I bought it just for that and it was amazing(and expensive for a pirate cart)
Back when I used to buy (or rent! ... and copy) C64 games on tape, I'd always read the cover insert. On the backside there would sometimes be screen grabs from other ports, and I often thought "wow the CPC version looks so colourful!"... If I'd known the games would be running at 4 or 5 fps like this one... :P
hehe, yeah. The poor CPC always gets shafted. Either it's a poor spectrum port with no colours and bad frame rate or very colourful but still with a poor frame rate. maybe that system was hard to program for? In the right hands it could pull of some amazing stuff. Just check out this unofficial R-Type port - ua-cam.com/video/kHH1V-zOlZk/v-deo.html
Retro Core That's a great remake! I wonder how hard they had to work to squeeze that performance out of the machine. It's strange -- the C64's 6502 CPU runs at a much lower clock speed (0.985 mhz) compared to the CPC's Z80 at 4 mhz. Even taking into account that the CPC video hardware needs to steal clock cycles (apparently taking it down to 3.3 effective mhz), and that the average CPI is higher on the Z80 (maybe double the cycles per instruction, or slightly more), it's still a mystery as to why so many CPC games appear to have a really low frame rate. Otherwise, the specs are not bad for the time, although the Amiga and Atari ST wrecked it about a year after release...
Hopefully next week. The Retro Core shows take a long time to put together. BOTP normally takes about 7 to 8 hours from playing the games to editing everything together. A Retro Core show takes about 12 hours I think.
Retro Core Was gonna ask the same question, cheers for letting us know why there more BOTP than RetroCores :). Any chance of a RetroCore Xmas special? RetroCore has allways been my fave console show (Due to being informative and well researched, also kinda reminds me of all the good old-school gaming magazines we used to get here in the UK During the 90's) would certainty be nice surprise during the Xmas holidays. Keep up the good work.
Mike Contra I'm actually going back to the UK this Christmas so there won't be any uploads during that period. If I have time I may do something to be uloaded from the UK but I doubt I will have the time.
Honestly only the arcade version is any good. Yeah, the mega drive version seems good. until you go back and try to beat the arcade. SUre it has the parallax scrolling, bu tthe gameplay is all wrong. To wit: 1) enemy patterns are different. this is reason #1 why it will not help you beat the arcade; 2) werewolf kick is OP, and fireball throw anuimation is different. if you try to use the dash bakc and forth bit on the firs tboss that works on genesis version, you will get pwned. 3) dragon zap is harder to time perfectly. this affects you ability to beat the boss properly (by timing force field attacks to kill it up close) 4) again the method to beat the boss on mega drive does not work in arcade 5) tigers bouncy ball is way too weak, and vertical fire leap takes damage form hitting bottom of boss instead of bouncing harmlessly off. 6) last boss is fought all wrong as well, with the physics of the jump and dash being off. For future reference, here's how you are supposed to beat each boss in the arcade. Head thrower: go up to it and press punch repeatedly. dodge th eheads, using kick if you need to to get out of the way. Eyeball boss: get right up to it and mash kick with proper timing, and your force field will immobilize the eyes and beat the boss with zero effort. Snail. immediately start bear breath on it and puh it back to the wall. this will cuse it tho shoot spiralling projectiles that you can destroy with your spin. do som, then spin jump back and resume breath. repeat till dead Dragon thingie:when it goes low, duck and punch when earby to attack with fireballs. when it breaths fire at the bottom, leap over it. when it's high, use kick attack form behind it, passing through the back. also use it to destoy the mini dragons. FInal boss. do a low jump. at max height, press kick. you will graze the top of his head, and deal damage. repeat until dead. when it gets mad (bright purple, it will start steaming before it charges. wait for the steam to finish, then jump and kick. will die easily.
Loving these 60fps comparisons, thanks. So many of these games just shift background chunks around instead of using smaller sprites and it looks poor. I really disliked when Master System games in particular did this, MS Golden Axe is another example, they look like slideshows.
Oh man, you don't have idea but this got to be the first video game from any console I saw in an electronic store when I was a kid, now I know the name :D. I think it was about 1990 when I saw it but I don't remember exactly what port was, but from the colors, not sure but I think it was the megadrive one, I only remember how impress I was of the color graphics displayed on a big tv screen, I still remember that moment clearly. The only games I have seen so far were from the pc in my house, a 1989 clone ibm with black and yellow display monochrome monitor
That would have been excellent. There's so much that should have been done on the Saturn or Dreamcast in ways of arcade packs. Saturn while it did get many super scaler games (in Japan mostly) could have has Arcade perfect System 32 compilations of 4 games per disc. While the Dreamcast could have done Model 1 and Model 2 compilation discs.
@@RetroCore ahhhhh mate that would of been mindblowing super hang on, turbo outrun, imagine space harrier 2 using the arcade engine on the Saturn sega really should of released tons of their arcade back catalogue if not on the Saturn but certainly on the Dreamcast the sprite scalers in gorgeous 60fps.. 😁
Dude you dont know digly shit....1989 sega genesis altered beast put a shiver in Nintiendo back...16 bit era started and the sega genesis was kicking ass!! It took two years for the super Nintiendo to come up with a new console to rival the sega genesis...so altered beast is a gaming gem!!
To each their own, I guess. You are right about Altered Beast not being the greatest to begin with, there could have been so much more put into it. It's as if Sega just didn't try. Then a year later, they actually DID try and the result was Golden Axe. 2 things about Golden Axe- one of the rideable beasts, the weird bird/reptile hybrid thingy, also appears in Altered Beast as a regular enemy, while the guys armed with maces sound like they are screaming "Oh, Shi-iiii-it!!!!" when they die, at least, that's what it always sounds like to me
Because until Sonic success Sega never thought all their games should be exclusive? It was not unlike Hudson who developed (alongside NEC) the PC Engine but still released various games for Nintendo plataforms.
@@RetroCore I played it on the wii. I actually thought it was gonna be the arcade original, but i was dissapointed when i saw it was the Megadrive version. I'm sure the arcade version did get released on the Virtual Console, but it was probably japan only just like many other arcade games that appeared on the Wii VC.
For me best port is the one as close to original as possible. It may have additional caps or features but the base mechanic should stay the same. The version for Mega Drive is not the best of ports at all. They may add additional background layer for scrolling but the game is different in few aspects from arcade. It can be called Mega Altered Beast or Redux but it is not 100% close to original. Frankly, none of these ports are good. MD should be most perfect considering the hardware caps and the brand (SEGA).
The Master System version is truly dire, where Sega tried to replicate the huge sprites of the original instead of tailoring the game to the capabilities of the system. One of the worst arcade ports on the MS.
Looks like they tried too hard to replicate the big sprites look of the coin-op on the CPC and promptly shot themselves in the foot by killing the frame rate.
It is not true about Amiga, that AI was responsible for choosing punch or kick. Amiga developers studios has acknowledge that amiga can only use one button joysticks (what is a lie and not true at all - it was probably to make amiga joysticks compatible with other smaller gaming systems on market that time) so many ports suffer about this fact. Developers had many ideas to distinguish which button to choose. In this game whether it is punch or kick player have to set stick in correct position - for example normal kick when stick in neutral position, and punch when stick was leaned to left or right. There was no other way, only by acknowleding that amiga joysticks can have 2 different buttons. I have seen games which supported that fact - Mortal Kombat 2 and proper joystick.
Actually, pretty much every system that supported the Atari 9-pin standard joystick, could have used at least three buttons, it's just that nobody ever made such a joystick for them. In addition to the joystick lines, most all of those systems also had two analog lines for reading paddles, mice, etc. So it would have been trivial to connect a button to each of the analog lines for a total of three buttons. In fact, if you varied the resistance on the buttons, similar to how turning a paddle varied the resistance, you could have connected multiple buttons to each line, all without any changes to the system itself. Of course the software would have to be written to scan for the extra buttons, but the point is that it was entirely possible. In fact, Atari themselves created 12-button keyboard controllers, such as the one included with the 2600 version of Star Raiders. If you figure that five of the buttons are equal to the four directions and the fire button on a normal joystick, that still leaves seven more buttons!
Thinking back - and it's a long time ago now - I had a Quickshot two button controller for my Amiga 600. Can't remember too many games using both buttons but I think MK II did. (My memory's hazy though as that was about 30 years ago so I could be wrong.)
Hello I enjoy your shows very much, however I think you should lose the voice over; I like the older shows better where I could enjoy the game music while reading your comments. Thank you!
Hi soso sisi, I'd like to loose the voice overs too but many people prefer the voice over so what I'll do is release the 30fps version of the show without voice overs and release the 60fps shows with voice overs on UA-cam. The version without voice over can be downloaded via my site..
Sprites on MD version are smaller and colour is more 'washed-out' than arcade. To say the MD version game is improved on the arcade is misleading - parallax scrolling is only thing better than arcade. The way the stones and enemies are 'damaged' is also stunted on MD - tiny sprites missing the '3d' effect of destroyed remnants falling/flying off out towards screen etc. The PCEngine HuCard version does'nt crash and features better graphics than the CD version - also BGM music is largely the same as CD - but Hu game features no speech samples :( . The Hu versions sprites are bigger and better coloured than the MD version - alsmost arcade perfect - and feature the '3d' limb/stone block damages (albeit they do suffer from flicker/glitching)
Hmm, I wonder if the Hu card version was relreased in japan? I've only ever seen the CD version over here. Are you sure the MD sprites are smaller? They look much bigger to me than the arcade version.
Retro Core No way, the MD version sprites are smaller - look at the two headed wolves for instance - they look more like dogs on the MD - also the main characters look washed out on MD - the MD has some nice music and sound effects - and less glitching than PCE - but PCE has bigger more colourful sprites.
The Kaylied Gamer The sprites are definitely more colourful on the PCE which gives them better definition, but maybe they look bigger to you due to the slightly lower overall screen resolution?
jbmaru I've checked the sprite size of the main player and zombies and they are bigger on the Mega Drive version. Other enemies such as the 2 headed dogs and so on are smaller though.
jbmaru The PCEngine resolution is pretty similar to MD resolutions on most games - so reckon that is hardly the case. The fact remains the PC Engine HuCard's sprites and some effects are closer to the coin-op than the MD version. The coin op did not feature parallax layer scrolling. Maybe if Sega had ditched this non-required parallax layer completely and used this 'layer' to produce the large raised tombstones etc. and similar details (like it does for most the main bosses bodies) then maybe the MD's sprite proccesing could have been better utilized?
the best port is the arcade one.the worst have a few contenders including the ps2 version. btw who's playing the games in the video?, seems that barely play games. in the rygar review also sucked his gameplay.
I love this excellent game. Here in México we had the full vertion. I mean the full cabinet, controls etc, and of course: the greatest music. Thanks for to make this kind of material dude. regards from México.
Gamers nowadays don't get Altered Beast. Back then it was a very stylized action game and (at least for an arcade game at the time) was very appealing. The slow prodding gameplay revolved around capturing the orbs and transforming...and that was its hook. It worked then, and was a pretty successful arcade game but doesn't make sense by todays standards. Still a classic for me:)
Yeah, I mean back when it was new in 1988 I played the game to death. I did sort of enjoy the big look to everything. the mythical beasts and the whole idea really but I still thought it was a bit poor compared to Golden Axe. But yes, back in the day Altered Beast really stood out in the arcades just like many of Sega's classic titles.
The part that always frustrated me was that the white dog would always appear when there were 3-4 other enemies in the way. I kill them, walk over to the dog ready to kick it and every single time, it jumps toward me at the last second, knocking me down and taking off health!
lurkerrekrul I know just where you are coming from there.
SuperHighTechGamer For me too.
Wait, WHAT!? 'I played the game to death?' Then why the hate at the beginning of you video? I don't understand. The condescending 'It's not a very good game' , 'It does have it's charm I guess' Doesn't sound like you like it, sounds more like you just don't understand why people like this and you are some how being forced to make this video. If it's you attempt at being funny I didn't get it, I'm sorry, and I'll take it back.
Altered Beast is one of those games that deserves more praise then it actually gets imo. It's really pretty decent overall. That being said, I'm floored at how many bad ports this game has. When I saw the Famicom version I told myself "wow, it' can't get much worse than that". Imagine my shock and disbelief when I went through the rest of the video because oh boy was I wrong! I own the Sega Genesis version and always wondered if it was better on other systems. Apparently the answer is that its not better anywhere else, not even close. Even some parts of the arcade version is overshadowed by the Genesis port, that alone is enough to blow anyone's mind. I really expected the PC Engine to be a great port, but sadly it's just so subpar compared to the Genesis version it makes you wanna cry. Its no wonder why the majority of people don't typically enjoy this game very much. The only good version is on a console that Nintendo die-hards love to use as a punching bag. On top of that, it was a launch title! On the flip side, us Genesis fans have an arcade port to be really proud of. One of the few instances of an arcade port having improvements over its original counterpart.
I was a nintendo fanboy growing up, but even I appreciated some of the excellent games the MD had at the time. And now that I am older I appreciate the hardware much more than I did. And can see its design is pretty decent for its era.
Altered Beast isnt a bad game at all, I rather enjoyed it in the arcades and loved that it was ported to the Genesis!
For most people who can appreciate classic arcade games, Altered beast is an awesome game now and then.
No, no it's not. ;) And that's coming from an arcade junkie AND diehard Sega fan. A MUCH better Altered Beast style game was Konami's Metamorphic Force.
@@animejoe4041 No. Metamorphic Force is nothing like Altered Beast. One is a single plane belt scroller from 1988, and the other is a post Final Fight 1993 beat em up with that distinct Konami style. 5 years is a long time in terms of tech and arcade development. Just because they both involve beast transformations doesn't make them comparable or similar in any significant way. It's a shallow surface level comparison. As far as gameplay and design philosophy they're night and day.
@@RetroClash95 Both games involve dead warriors being resurrected by a god/goddess and sent on missions where they're empowered with the abilities to collect power ups and transform into mighty beasts. There is no closer comparison to Altered Beast than that. Metamorphic Force has a tremendous advantage over Altered Beast because it is the newer game, and fortunately Konami did not waste any of those advantages. The ONLY thing in Altered Beast that is superior is the Dragon creature that you can turn into. He is bad ass!
@@animejoe4041 by your logic, Pac Man is a shittier version of Ghosts n Goblins. They're released five years apart from each other, are completely different in terms of gameplay, but they both have ghosts in them and are arcade games.
@@RetroClash95 Different genres, LOL.
Altered Beast and Metamorphic Force are both brawlers. 👅
I thought the SMS and NES versions were terrible until i saw the CPC port, that looks like a interactive slideshow
The fact that I loved the original Altered Beast just proves that sometimes "art" is inexplicable!
Great to see some of those ports as I didn't see much of these 8 bit console versions back in the day. It would appear I didn't miss much though. The SMS port really does look abysmal despite the large sprite handling etc. It almost looks like a PC CGA game! Could something have gone amiss with the colour values when the bitmaps were transferred over perhaps? Actually all the ports except the MD version look dire. With the MS-DOS version, my eight year old queried "Is that a rat or a werewolf?"!
But I still love the coin op original. Love it. Damn those rose tinted glasses!!
Even though the game was mediocre at best, I was still very pleasantly surprised that the game was actually better on the Genesis than the arcade. The sound and music especially. Really impressed me back in 1988 and made me a believer that consoles were finally getting to that convergence point where it would match and even surpass arcade quality.
That's true. Playing Altered Beast on the Mega Drive after coming from the master system was something very special.
The synthesized voices for the Mega Drive version are nothing short of glorious. Especially that "Welcome to your Doom".
Yeah, for an early game they are quite good. Space Harrier II also has very clear speech. Another early game.
Thanks for your efforts here BTW. I really liked the remix tune at the start, awesome that. I loved the arcade version and played it a lot in the day. I think the the graphic style and back drops of the game made it stand out back then, as you say it wasn't an amazing game really. The sou X effects were what captured me. Plus the changing into a werewolf on the first stage was a good idea as (for me) it was the best powered up character. The MD speech sounds very clear for an early game too. Cheers.
Thanks for your comments. Back in the day I played Altered Beast to death because it was the only game I owned for my Mega Drive in 1988 for about 1 month. I could finish it in one life unlike now :) But yes, it's not a great game however I always loved the beast transformation screens.
I had the Speccy version and I was really impressed by the beginning intro cut scenes before going onto the menu screen, especially the eyes close up cut scene as graphically wise they looked spot on to the original Arcade version but minus the colours.
The PC Engine CD port requires the system card 1.0 so it won't crash when you turn into a beast. Any system card that is higher than this will freeze the gameplay.
Yes, that's right, I found that out after making this video. mind you the PC Engine version is awful so it's not a great loss.
C’mon it’s clearly advanced(for it’s time)
I think this is the best bad game ever made. My favorite at least.
Besides, it has an Elmer Fudd voice over: "Wise fwom youw gwave"
Roger Moncada Bahahahahaha 😂 😂
Armando Erazo Moncada it was never a bad game. It was a huge arcade hit and helped establish the genesis early on as a beast pun intended.
@@youtubeadmin1588 Yeah, it was a great game when it came out. We all freakin' loved it
I don't agree with the bad game part. The game has the typical simplified arcade playability, and it it's quite good for what it is. Specially for the time. I always liked it!
A underrated gem!
Sega Touring Car yep.
Fun fact ..... The werewolf howl is sampled from American werewolf in London
Really? Now that is a cool fact. I never knew that.
yeah you can even compare them on UA-cam.
I was wondering when you'd cover this :) Excellent work as always. This game was another one of those that I would play on a Friday night at the local pizza place.
Yeah, it's a classic. Not a very good game but a classic .
TIME:18:40
The reason the screen stops is a bug. Must use system card VER: 1.O ,There is no such problem
One of the best games on the system. I keep coming back to it
In the US, this would be the pack-in game for the Genesis itself, so everybody that got a Genesis that Christmas in '89 had to make due with this for the meantime.
Same in the UK as well. I had the Japanese version though in 1988 :) I played it every day for a month until I got some othr games at Christmas. I think it was Super Shinobi (Revenge of Shinobi) I got next. A very big leap in quality that's for sure.
Christopher Sobieniak Yes, I was pretty lucky. I sold my Master System and 11 games to get most of the cash for a Mega Drive. My parents gave me the rest of the money as my birthday present. Man, being a gamer in 1988 was amazing. The difference between the 16Bit Mega Drive and the Master System and NES was so obvious. Same again when the Saturn and PlayStation came out. The leap between say the PS3 / 360 and XBox One / PS4 wasn't anywhere near as dramatic. I finished GTA5 on the 360 and now going through it again on the Xbox One. I still enjoy the game and can see the improvements in graphics but it doesn't have the kick or the leap in quality that older consoles had when they came along to replace an older generation.
I like the arcade version better than the megadrive version as I think the arcade version looks and sounds better. I owned a sega genesis and copy of Altered Beast back in the early 90's when I was a teenager and I loved Alteredbeast and I still love Alteredbeast today.
There's a mod for the Mega Drive release that changes the speech to the Arcade speech and also alters the colours to be more accurate.
@@RetroCore Yes, but does it fix the gameplay? I can forgive the silly zombie death particles, but the beasts do not even play properly! You would not know this unless you actually try the arcade version.
@Benjamin Jagun I see. Thank you for the feedback. :)
That Famicom port is actually decent considering the source material and hardware limitations.
It’s cool to say this game sucks, but I still love it. Always have.
*SEGA Mega Drive hands down! Music is the best when ya a beast* ⭐️
Say what you want about the Famicom version, but at least it played smoothly. And got a bunch of extra levels and transformations. No one said it had to be good, lol.
4:17 best audio terrible quality ever lol nothing beats that audio drop just to hear the voice
I know a lot of people hate this game, but I really like it. This and Sonic were two of the first games I owned for the Genesis.
For two whole months Altered Beast was the only game I had for my Mega Drive until receiving Super Shinobi for Christmas. I learned to appreciate Altered Beast quite a bit as a 14 year old boy. It is a little boring but not that bad.
12:04 isn't that the ESWAT theme music?
It's similar but I'm not sure if it's the same.
WISE FWOM YOUW GWAVE !!!! Played to death both the Arcade and MegaDrive versions, and the computer versions are crap because US Gold. On next videos, you dont even have to explain, just say "US Gold" and we all will understand they are crap. Thanks for the videos, love them!
US Gold, OCEAN, Probe Entertainment / Software and so on. Yep, they were all complete rubbish :)
Sega Genesis is the best version
Wonder why the NES version wasn't released in the U.S. Guess Sega of America wouldn't give Asmik the rights.
@@luisreyes1963 the SNES looked like a 4 bit system on the port it was very pathetic.
the pc engine version crashes at that because you need system card 1.0 to play it also bonanza bros needs it as well.
Altered beast is for me synonym of «guilty pleasure» ^^ And those credits you could punch and kick, that was awesome for ending credits.
Oh man, I had forgotten about the destroyable credits. 😁👍
Is it me or the tunes also sound better on the MD than in the Arcade version?
One awesome thing about the NES version: the "cat" faces symbolising your lives :)
Yeah, the MD sounds very close and better than the arcade in some areas. Also, the "Welcome to your doom" speech on the MD version is voiced with better intonation IMO.
On the contrary, the PC DOS version is not running in 256 color VGA, but in 16 color EGA mode. That's why it looks so bad.
Actually, it might be running in 16 color VGA mode (640×480@4bpp). Unlike many believe, original VGA could not display 256 colors at 640×480. Or indeed, it could also be EGA compatible 640×350 mode. In any case some type of 'hi-res' 16 color mode and not the 256 color MCGA / Mode 13h (320×200).
Oh yes, I loved the C64 intro too!
PC Engine Hu Card version not mentioned here
All I can say is that if you don't respect "Altered Beast", then you're obviously not a Sega gamer, since it was the one game that came bundled with the Sega Genesis before it was replaced with "Sonic The Hedgehog".
I am most definitely a Sega gamer but that doesn't make Altered Beast a good game. I'm coming from the point of the Arcade original. It wasn't very good compared to Sega's other Arcade games of the time. True that the Mega Drive port is fairly good and I did play it to death until I got Super Shinobi but it's still avarage at best to me.
Got my Sega Genesis for Christmas back then. Me & my brother played Altered Beast until we got good at it, since it was the game that came with the system.
It's fascinating how game could become rather famous not because of its good or bad qualities, but just because of one single phrase.
As for the game itself - looks "meh". Generic arcade platformer.
Commodore 64 version looks surprisingly nice.
Spectrum port is...EYE SCREAM...
Famicom / NES version looks like some kind of poor bootleg. Surprisingly bad conversion.
The C64 really does surprise in a good way quite often.
I enjoyed Altered Beast as a kid. First game I had for Sega Genesis.
Meh? Depends if you grew up with the game for me it's one of the best games ever.
As a kid in 2001, i played the Genesis version on Sega Dreamcast as part of Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1, but didn't realize the music and sound were change from 16 bit to the 8 bit. I have the emulate version on Xbox Live Arcade (Which you cannot featured) and the 3DS version as part of Sega 3D Classics Collection.
I think the MSX version is missing, also by Activision and with interesting ingame music. Thanks for the Video!
Oh I wasn't aware of that one.
I agree. Altered Beast was never very good in the first place. I like some of the mad ideas though (the first boss that throws his head at you). But the gameplay is very subpar compared to Sega’s usual effort.
"RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!"
01:35 HADOUKEN!!!
I love this game...I know, I'm weird
the ending was bad though
The arcade had a different ending as did the Famicom version. I think the famicom version ends in a cinema from what I remember.
I was surprised to see the Master System have the Hadoken animation just like the arcade, but not on the Genesis
I always wanted to play the arcade version to compare to Genesis and I guess MAME fits that bill. Upon watching all the versions I see where a remake combining the best elements of all could come in. Seems remakes usually come up crappy like the Golden axe for PlayStation.
I also always wanted to grab Nef and just keep punching him in the face like a final fight move. I mean the Robed Nef. Hell, fighting him shooting lightning, then he grows big, fight his giant form, then he can transform into the monster and you kill that. Then while you’re pounding his face in he grabs you and drains you of your power and turns all giant head and floats down and you crawl in after him.
Fuck, I wanna punch giant floating head too. Lots of color variation so different mob toughness and if made a little like say metroidvania you could explore the entire graveyard... or more like splatterhouse 3. Stillkeeping the basic game play. (That awful altered beast 2 was just too damn taxing so perhaps the charm is AB’s shortness).
2:35 Hey, where's the image that was showed in the crystal ball.
It's there. Maybe you are watching at 30fps. That image flashes on and off. It watching at 60fps you'll be able to see it.
I owned the Famicom version on pirate cart and played it on my famiclone.
I gave it to my cousin and he still has it.
It was a white cart with the japanese megadrive boxart on it,I bought it just for that and it was amazing(and expensive for a pirate cart)
Vasilios As It is pretty bad on the Famicom :)
Retro Core No its not.Much better than the choppy smsPlus it has extra stages nowhere else found.
I think the Spectrum version has permanently cursed my sight.
Haha, yes, it is pretty bad.
Also, what makes it not such a good game, no matter which platform you play it on?
2:34 And the crystal ball shows... *GASP* Nothing!
Yep, that was an unfortunate side effect when capturing the video footage.
Yeah, I was just joking 😊
26:53 Damn.
10:38 I wonder what would it be like if there was a SNES version released after MK2. I can Imagine it being a port of the arcade version.
Back when I used to buy (or rent! ... and copy) C64 games on tape, I'd always read the cover insert. On the backside there would sometimes be screen grabs from other ports, and I often thought "wow the CPC version looks so colourful!"...
If I'd known the games would be running at 4 or 5 fps like this one... :P
hehe, yeah. The poor CPC always gets shafted. Either it's a poor spectrum port with no colours and bad frame rate or very colourful but still with a poor frame rate. maybe that system was hard to program for? In the right hands it could pull of some amazing stuff. Just check out this unofficial R-Type port - ua-cam.com/video/kHH1V-zOlZk/v-deo.html
Retro Core
That's a great remake! I wonder how hard they had to work to squeeze that performance out of the machine. It's strange -- the C64's 6502 CPU runs at a much lower clock speed (0.985 mhz) compared to the CPC's Z80 at 4 mhz. Even taking into account that the CPC video hardware needs to steal clock cycles (apparently taking it down to 3.3 effective mhz), and that the average CPI is higher on the Z80 (maybe double the cycles per instruction, or slightly more), it's still a mystery as to why so many CPC games appear to have a really low frame rate. Otherwise, the specs are not bad for the time, although the Amiga and Atari ST wrecked it about a year after release...
When will you make a new Retro Core show???
Hopefully next week. The Retro Core shows take a long time to put together. BOTP normally takes about 7 to 8 hours from playing the games to editing everything together. A Retro Core show takes about 12 hours I think.
Retro Core Ok, I'm looking forward to it. Not that I don't like the BOTP serie but I'm not a fan of each franchise.
no problem
Retro Core
Was gonna ask the same question, cheers for letting us know why there more BOTP than RetroCores :).
Any chance of a RetroCore Xmas special? RetroCore has allways been my fave console show (Due to being informative and well researched, also kinda reminds me of all the good old-school gaming magazines we used to get here in the UK During the 90's) would certainty be nice surprise during the Xmas holidays.
Keep up the good work.
Mike Contra
I'm actually going back to the UK this Christmas so there won't be any uploads during that period. If I have time I may do something to be uloaded from the UK but I doubt I will have the time.
By the way the PC Engine version crashed because you were using the wrong CD Card.
Yes, that's right. I now throw this but wasn't aware at the time of making this video.
Ah.
***** yep.
Honestly only the arcade version is any good. Yeah, the mega drive version seems good. until you go back and try to beat the arcade. SUre it has the parallax scrolling, bu tthe gameplay is all wrong. To wit:
1) enemy patterns are different. this is reason #1 why it will not help you beat the arcade;
2) werewolf kick is OP, and fireball throw anuimation is different. if you try to use the dash bakc and forth bit on the firs tboss that works on genesis version, you will get pwned.
3) dragon zap is harder to time perfectly. this affects you ability to beat the boss properly (by timing force field attacks to kill it up close)
4) again the method to beat the boss on mega drive does not work in arcade
5) tigers bouncy ball is way too weak, and vertical fire leap takes damage form hitting bottom of boss instead of bouncing harmlessly off.
6) last boss is fought all wrong as well, with the physics of the jump and dash being off.
For future reference, here's how you are supposed to beat each boss in the arcade.
Head thrower: go up to it and press punch repeatedly. dodge th eheads, using kick if you need to to get out of the way.
Eyeball boss: get right up to it and mash kick with proper timing, and your force field will immobilize the eyes and beat the boss with zero effort.
Snail. immediately start bear breath on it and puh it back to the wall. this will cuse it tho shoot spiralling projectiles that you can destroy with your spin. do som, then spin jump back and resume breath. repeat till dead
Dragon thingie:when it goes low, duck and punch when earby to attack with fireballs. when it breaths fire at the bottom, leap over it. when it's high, use kick attack form behind it, passing through the back. also use it to destoy the mini dragons.
FInal boss. do a low jump. at max height, press kick. you will graze the top of his head, and deal damage. repeat until dead. when it gets mad (bright purple, it will start steaming before it charges. wait for the steam to finish, then jump and kick. will die easily.
Loving these 60fps comparisons, thanks.
So many of these games just shift background chunks around instead of using smaller sprites and it looks poor. I really disliked when Master System games in particular did this, MS Golden Axe is another example, they look like slideshows.
Oh man, you don't have idea but this got to be the first video game from any console I saw in an electronic store when I was a kid, now I know the name :D. I think it was about 1990 when I saw it but I don't remember exactly what port was, but from the colors, not sure but I think it was the megadrive one, I only remember how impress I was of the color graphics displayed on a big tv screen, I still remember that moment clearly. The only games I have seen so far were from the pc in my house, a 1989 clone ibm with black and yellow display monochrome monitor
I think it was probably the Mega Drive version you saw.
Yes I think so too, thanks for posting, that game sure had a lot of ports
17:33 And DROP THE BASS
I may sound crazy but the NES version is still my favorite.
Especially that the sound and music is not as shit as other versions.
Good game in my book. Not one of my favorites in the fighting genre. I play this one every now and then.
Lol i think all your comparison vids end with mega drive as the best
🤣 I forgot how bad the ST Port was.
Who's idea was it to make both player sprites identical in the ST and Amiga versions?
This would of been gorgeous on the Saturn or dreamcast a team shinobi pack like the the yu Suzuki gameworks..
That would have been excellent. There's so much that should have been done on the Saturn or Dreamcast in ways of arcade packs. Saturn while it did get many super scaler games (in Japan mostly) could have has Arcade perfect System 32 compilations of 4 games per disc. While the Dreamcast could have done Model 1 and Model 2 compilation discs.
@@RetroCore ahhhhh mate that would of been mindblowing super hang on, turbo outrun, imagine space harrier 2 using the arcade engine on the Saturn sega really should of released tons of their arcade back catalogue if not on the Saturn but certainly on the Dreamcast the sprite scalers in gorgeous 60fps.. 😁
Dude you dont know digly shit....1989 sega genesis altered beast put a shiver in Nintiendo back...16 bit era started and the sega genesis was kicking ass!!
It took two years for the super Nintiendo to come up with a new console to rival the sega genesis...so altered beast is a gaming gem!!
I don't look at things from an American point of view.
You really don't like the single button layout on the PAL systems, do you? You never played IK+ or Last Ninja?
Yep, I've played Last Ninja. Can't say I care for it much.
To each their own, I guess. You are right about Altered Beast not being the greatest to begin with, there could have been so much more put into it. It's as if Sega just didn't try. Then a year later, they actually DID try and the result was Golden Axe.
2 things about Golden Axe- one of the rideable beasts, the weird bird/reptile hybrid thingy, also appears in Altered Beast as a regular enemy, while the guys armed with maces sound like they are screaming "Oh, Shi-iiii-it!!!!" when they die, at least, that's what it always sounds like to me
It's also funny that despite Altered Beast being somewhat of a middle range encounter, that it's got quite the cult following
Why is Altered Beast even on the NES?
Who knows.
Because until Sonic success Sega never thought all their games should be exclusive?
It was not unlike Hudson who developed (alongside NEC) the PC Engine but still released various games for Nintendo plataforms.
It's not Altered Beast that is mediocre, it's just that you're really bad at it. But, anyway, i liked the video!
I played the Megadrive version. Didn't get into it.
Back when it was released it was the only game I owned so there wasn't much choice 😅
@@RetroCore I played it on the wii. I actually thought it was gonna be the arcade original, but i was dissapointed when i saw it was the Megadrive version. I'm sure the arcade version did get released on the Virtual Console, but it was probably japan only just like many other arcade games that appeared on the Wii VC.
For me best port is the one as close to original as possible. It may have additional caps or features but the base mechanic should stay the same. The version for Mega Drive is not the best of ports at all. They may add additional background layer for scrolling but the game is different in few aspects from arcade. It can be called Mega Altered Beast or Redux but it is not 100% close to original.
Frankly, none of these ports are good. MD should be most perfect considering the hardware caps and the brand (SEGA).
The Master System version is truly dire, where Sega tried to replicate the huge sprites of the original instead of tailoring the game to the capabilities of the system. One of the worst arcade ports on the MS.
2:36
60fps huh?
You had my sympathies at the words "European ports." Ugh..
audio probles are for the emulation.. use real hardware to test. or use the atari steem engine to run games.
I think I was using Atari Steem to run the St version. Must have been a bad rom.
Download a patch of rom. Or other. Take a video from other on youtube. I see this game emulated fine here.
the trouble with using other peoples videos is that you need to wait quite a while at times for permission.
I just happened have Altered beast on my 3ds game
Looks like they tried too hard to replicate the big sprites look of the coin-op on the CPC and promptly shot themselves in the foot by killing the frame rate.
Sega Smash pack (Sega DreamCast) is just a pathetic version of the sega mega drive game.
All of the smash pack is just poorly emulated Mega Drive roms.
@@RetroCore, but 2 other games that aren't poorly made, so why sega just focused on all the games on this disc should be optimized?
Looks like sega wins again
It is not true about Amiga, that AI was responsible for choosing punch or kick. Amiga developers studios has acknowledge that amiga can only use one button joysticks (what is a lie and not true at all - it was probably to make amiga joysticks compatible with other smaller gaming systems on market that time) so many ports suffer about this fact. Developers had many ideas to distinguish which button to choose. In this game whether it is punch or kick player have to set stick in correct position - for example normal kick when stick in neutral position, and punch when stick was leaned to left or right. There was no other way, only by acknowleding that amiga joysticks can have 2 different buttons.
I have seen games which supported that fact - Mortal Kombat 2 and proper joystick.
Actually, pretty much every system that supported the Atari 9-pin standard joystick, could have used at least three buttons, it's just that nobody ever made such a joystick for them.
In addition to the joystick lines, most all of those systems also had two analog lines for reading paddles, mice, etc. So it would have been trivial to connect a button to each of the analog lines for a total of three buttons. In fact, if you varied the resistance on the buttons, similar to how turning a paddle varied the resistance, you could have connected multiple buttons to each line, all without any changes to the system itself. Of course the software would have to be written to scan for the extra buttons, but the point is that it was entirely possible.
In fact, Atari themselves created 12-button keyboard controllers, such as the one included with the 2600 version of Star Raiders. If you figure that five of the buttons are equal to the four directions and the fire button on a normal joystick, that still leaves seven more buttons!
And Turrican too.
Thinking back - and it's a long time ago now - I had a Quickshot two button controller for my Amiga 600. Can't remember too many games using both buttons but I think MK II did. (My memory's hazy though as that was about 30 years ago so I could be wrong.)
I know the C64 version is poor, but bad enough for the 36% YC gave it? 🙄
Yeah, honestly, I've been through worse.
Soooo Goood!
6:46-4:49 WOW that's pathetic for a boss fight
Watching in 2022
Wow. This video is so old.
Hello
I enjoy your shows very much, however I think you should lose the voice over; I like the older shows better where I could enjoy the game music while reading your comments. Thank you!
Hi soso sisi,
I'd like to loose the voice overs too but many people prefer the voice over so what I'll do is release the 30fps version of the show without voice overs and release the 60fps shows with voice overs on UA-cam. The version without voice over can be downloaded via my site..
Isn't a very good game? Ok...
I think this is the worst Audio I've ever heard from the ST. Absolutly terrible!
Whoever is playing the game is terrible, it's painful to watch. Like that Cuphead tutorial guy
Sprites on MD version are smaller and colour is more 'washed-out' than arcade.
To say the MD version game is improved on the arcade is misleading - parallax scrolling is only thing better than arcade. The way the stones and enemies are 'damaged' is also stunted on MD - tiny sprites missing the '3d' effect of destroyed remnants falling/flying off out towards screen etc.
The PCEngine HuCard version does'nt crash and features better graphics than the CD version - also BGM music is largely the same as CD - but Hu game features no speech samples :( . The Hu versions sprites are bigger and better coloured than the MD version - alsmost arcade perfect - and feature the '3d' limb/stone block damages (albeit they do suffer from flicker/glitching)
Hmm, I wonder if the Hu card version was relreased in japan? I've only ever seen the CD version over here. Are you sure the MD sprites are smaller? They look much bigger to me than the arcade version.
Retro Core No way, the MD version sprites are smaller - look at the two headed wolves for instance - they look more like dogs on the MD - also the main characters look washed out on MD - the MD has some nice music and sound effects - and less glitching than PCE - but PCE has bigger more colourful sprites.
The Kaylied Gamer
The sprites are definitely more colourful on the PCE which gives them better definition, but maybe they look bigger to you due to the slightly lower overall screen resolution?
jbmaru
I've checked the sprite size of the main player and zombies and they are bigger on the Mega Drive version. Other enemies such as the 2 headed dogs and so on are smaller though.
jbmaru The PCEngine resolution is pretty similar to MD resolutions on most games - so reckon that is hardly the case. The fact remains the PC Engine HuCard's sprites and some effects are closer to the coin-op than the MD version. The coin op did not feature parallax layer scrolling. Maybe if Sega had ditched this non-required parallax layer completely and used this 'layer' to produce the large raised tombstones etc. and similar details (like it does for most the main bosses bodies) then maybe the MD's sprite proccesing could have been better utilized?
This game is so bad that it's bloody awesome hahaha 😂 😂
the best port is the arcade one.the worst have a few contenders including the ps2 version.
btw who's playing the games in the video?, seems that barely play games. in the rygar review also sucked his gameplay.
Dude, were you playing onehanded or something? Jesus. Painful
Nah, most likely I was playing at 3am as its the only time I have freedom. Problem there is I'm falling asleep.