Altered Beast (PC Engine CD) Playthrough [English]
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- A playthrough of NEC Avenue's 1989 beat 'em up for the NEC PC Engine CD, Juuouki (獣王記).
The game was a Japan-only release, so for this playthrough I translated and subtitled the intro cutscene. There wasn't any other Japanese in the game aside from the title logo.
Juuouki ("The Record of the Beast King"), better known in the west as Altered Beast, arrived on the PC Engine about ten months behind its Mega Drive cousin, and there were two versions of it. The CD-ROM² version was released a week ahead of the HuCard one.
The Sega Genesis version of Altered Beast ( • Altered Beast (Genesis... ) was a huge hit, and it was easily the best of the console ports of its era. NEC's offering is a huge step up from the Famicom and Master System games, but it
can't quite match the quality of Sega's own 16-bit adaptation.
The PC Engine CD game is pretty solid in its own right, though. On top of the brand new voice-acted intro, all of the levels, digitized voices, beast transformations, and enemies from the arcade game are here, as are the animated scenes that play during the attract demo. It also plays pretty well. The controls are stiff, but they're easy to handle once you get used to jumping with the up button, and the difficulty level is way up there. It's much harder than the Genesis game, and I liked that about it.
There's no 2P mode in the CD version of the game, though. It also lacks the parallax scrolling of the Genesis version, the characters look squished thanks to the change in resolution, and it's annoying how sometimes the game stops mid-level to load.
Altered Beast Turbo doesn't quite take the gold, but it puts up a respectable effort that's worth checking out if you enjoy a challenge and tacky intro cutscenes.
(If you do play it, make sure you're using System Card 1.0. The game breaks on anything higher unless you have an updated copy.)
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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This seems a good amount of lore in this version
They might be looking for Data or just TNG depending on the circumstance (bad joke). But you're right, this version has the details of why you play which not even the arcade versions cover imho. They started with "rise from your grave", but you didn't get all the backstory like this with the PC Engine version.
Haha right, I had no idea the story was so deep. I thought it was just Nef kidnapped Athena and you are tasked to retrieve her.
Yeah! Sure beats WISE FWOM YOUR GWAVE.
I never knew the back story had so much lore to it
I was supposed to be a much bigger game but it got cut short
Pc engine is god
My own streamlined lore of Altered Beast, based on the lore from Western and Japanese releases:
A long time ago, a race of people who could use the powers of animals and even be able to transform into ones conquered the world.
Unsatisfied, their leaders wanted to overthrow the Olympians as the new gods, which was what angered Zeus, also known by the Romans as Jupiter, and the other gods.
Some of the beast men disagreed, which could also be something normal that could happen among other races who disagreed with each other over serious points, so the civil wars among the beast men happened.
Having enough of the beast men's affairs that became worse, Zeus released fogs that paralysed the beast men that rebelled against the Olympians, but he spared those who disagreed with their unjust fellow beast men and faithfully sided with him.
The evil beast men were defeated.
Some of them were killed, while others were sealed inside tombstones.
The good, pure-hearted, and unselfish beast men then lived and bred with normal humans while hiding their powers.
Over time, they slowly lost their true powers, but their pride as fellow normal humans, their faith, and their gratitude for Zeus and the Olympians could never perish.
Some of them migrated to Rome, a country that the brothers that the wolves raised as their adoptive children founded, and one of their descendants became a centurion.
Proud, noble, courageous, strong, pure-hearted, selfless, wise, loving, and just, he had fought so many battles and then died a good death for what was right for his country and his people, including his loved ones and even those who were too weak and afraid to save themselves.
He then entered the underworld, where there were so many demons who fought against and defeated Hades, or Pluto to the Romans, the god of the underworld.
Some of the demons turned out to be the souls of the beast men who wanted revenge on the Olympians.
The evil beast men had gathered and provoked the inhabitants of the underworld to fight and destroy the Olympians, starting with Hades.
Athena, also known as Minerva, offered herself to lead an army to fight the demons, the evil beast men, and free the underworld and Hades.
However, the leader of the demons and evil beast men, Neff, overcame and defeated Athena and her few soldiers who survived.
Neff stripped Athena of her powers, turned her into a dove, and caged her, while her remaining soldiers were tortured, enslaved, and even turned into fellow demons.
Neff was the most powerful of the beast men, who were gifted with formidable transformation spells and energy-absorbing spells that could allow him to depower Athena and Hades or even steal their powers from them.
The soul of the centurion was trying to stop and fight Neff and his demons due to his own fears that Neff would also lead his armies on a rampage over the people who were the centurion's friends and families, but he was still powerless, and even the dead could also suffer to near death at the hands of the vilests of the demons.
Neff then opened a portal to enter the mortal realm and began his quest to march towards the Olympians, and even the mortals who had nothing to do with Neff and his demons had to suffer and die in the process, for Neff would never let anyone stand in his own ways again.
In his weakened state, at the bottom of the underworld, he pleaded for help from the Olympians, including Zeus or Jupiter, to defeat Neff and save humanity.
Zeus heard the centurion's pleas and took pity on him.
Zeus then commanded the warrior to enter one of the beast men's bodies that were sealed inside tombstones that Zeus created to seal them, for the beast men were also the centurion's ancestors, who were capable of nearly surpassing gods.
Once inhabiting the body of a beast man, the centurion would gain the strength, speed, wisdom, senses, and stamina of one, but without the powers to unlock the beast man's true potential abilities because the body was still weaker after Zeus ressurected the centurion.
The centurion fought demons who were roaming on every side of the mortal realm, and he found out that he could also absorb their life forces without becoming one demon whom the other demons corrupted with their evil emotions due to his pure heart and one of Zeus's powerful spells that was installed on the centurion and protected him.
The more demons he fought, the more their life forces he gained from them without being corrupted, making it even more possible for him to become the true beast man with all of the true potential powers at their fullest.
The centurion, as the true beast man with the form of a wolf, the exact animal that raised Romulus and Remus as her own, fought and defeated all of the demons who were invading the mortal realm, and he was close to defeating Neff, but the evil leader escaped and stole all of the powers from the centurion, which was a very critical situation for the centurion to chase Neff as a normal beast man from the start again.
And so, the centurion journeyed through the levels of the underworld from above the earth to the bottom, fought so many demons, gained more powers, gained different forms of beast men, used all of his forms' powers to destroy any obstacles, and then fought all of Neff's incarnations, until the centurion finally found the final level of the underworld, fought the goat men and the other demons, gained more powers that made him the more powerful version of his wolf form, used all of his powers to eliminate any obstacles, and then defeated Neff, who gained the form and powers of a Rhinoceros.
Despite Neff being a beast man who gained the form and powers of a rhinoceros, in the end, the evil master became nothing to the centurion's overwhelmingly pure and strong spirit, will, love, faith, integrity, courage, interest, and determination to never give up and never lose himself in defeating evil and saving everything good.
The centurion forced the weakened Neff to find wherever Athena and Hades were imprisoned at their weakest.
The centurion then demanded that Neff let the centurion take the powers of Athena and Hades that Neff had already stolen.
The centurion could have used all of the powers of Athena and Hades for himself to surpass and overthrow the Olympians.
However, because he was so tired of everything evil that plagued everything, even his life and his home realm, he decided that he would never become any of them, no matter what, so that the same mistakes could never be repeated over and over again.
He then gave all of the powers of Athena and Hades back to their original owners.
Hades regained his place as the god of the underworld, and he, along with Zeus, punished Neff, the demons, and the evil beast men for eternity.
Athena, free from her dove form and her cage, thanked and blessed the man who freed her.
The centurion, still in the form of a golden wolf, humbly admitted to Athena that he was just a normal man who wanted to do the right thing-not a god, not a demon, and not even a beast man.
However, Athena didn't want to see the centurion for his appearance or his powers.
She just wanted to see him for his heart, wisdom, and will.
She even declared that, whether it was a mortal, a demon, a god, or a beast man, for a heart like the centurion had, she would also be glad to love that person.
And so it was, the legend of the centurion, the greatest of his kind, the altered beast.
Or so it was.
Three strange creatures-not beast men, but almost looked like ones, but smaller-the first one was a blue hedgehog, the second was an orange fox with two tails, and the third was a red creature with long hair and two gloves that had two short horns on each of their knuckles-came to the centurion and Athena through a strange ring portal, inviting him to fight with them in a tournament that determines the fates of the multiverse.
In that tournament, there would also be two plumbers from Italian-American descent, a princess from a kingdom, an evil monster who wanted to kidnap a princess, young warriors from unknown lands, a hunter from outer space, a captain who can destroy anything with his punches, a soldier who can hide himself from anything or attack from his own hiding spots, a young male angel, a gorilla, a smaller gorilla, a yellow little rodent that can spark lightning from its body, a boxer, martial artists from some countries around the world, a vampire hunter, a mercenary with a giant sword, a witch with guns, a robot that can shoot from his arm, a cruel fighter who wanted to throw anyone into the depths of hell, and many, many, many more.
It would be up to the centurion to give his own answer to those three creatures and change everything around him.
Trailer: In the middle of the burning place, which could be considered Cloud Strife's home town, Sephiroth saw the silhouette of the Centurion entering the same burning place while the flames surrounded the silhouette, but the silhouette didn't get burned because of it. Sephiroth asked if an animal came and dared to challenge him. Centurion, while still in his wolf form, replied that he was not an animal. And then, the orchestral version of the "Altered Beast" game's theme of stage 1 played along, and the dynamically designed character title in the style of Super Smash Bros. dramatically presented itself as a way to identify the centurion. "Centurion: The Altered Beast Warrior".
The Genesis version cut a lot of it short.
Fun fact: The Wolf howl is from the 1981 movie An American Werewolf in London. The sound was made by rewinding an elephants trumpet call.
Really? Haha that's cool. I had no idea
Great ear and info that's all I can say 👍
That’s mad can we be friends?
@@bertiegallagher7598 No! Last friend I had took all my clearie marbles and my Scooby doo mystery machine hot wheels car! Anyway, you smell and your mother dresses you funny!
Says who ??? You talking out your ass buddy
Wow this version is way more fluid and crisp than the Geneis. Music is clear too
RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!
Welcome to Your Doom @NintendoComplete Hi Bro & GG with PCE CD Version Game)))
@Эдем Мевлюдов Never Give Up (hi, and ty!)
P.S., the last boss is Rocksteady, and your GF loves you for who you are 🐺
_"Said The Guy Who Never Cares When the Mortals are in Troubles and when there is Trouble he either doesn't Solve Or Sends Someone to Solve for him As Usual"_
@@NintendoComplete I thought it was, "Wise from your gwave!" 🤣
That thumbnail! Bringin' it back baby!
HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OWN!
GOING DOWN THE ONLY ROAD I'VE EVER KNOWN!
I laughed way too hard at this.
Thanks for the horrifying thumbnail picture xD
Looks like a combo of House 1977 Japan flick with the cat and some man beast face.
Wow, after 35 years from release, it has a deeper backstory to it
Crazy. I played it the first time in a movie theater arcade in 1989. I never knew the story
@@dublev78 ahhhhh the 80s ACDC anti christ devil child after christ devil comes and it came off his sis sewing machine (ACDC deals with electric current?)oh yeah this game was satanic dragons lair dungeons and dragons😂😂😂
That's what I was thinking! I never knew there was a backstory 😅
I remember as kid my mother would go shopping at Shopko with me abd ny other brother and while She was shopping me and my brother would go to electronics, music and game department where they had a Sega console to play and this was game they had on it to test play. Great memories!
The sound on some parts is absolute Sega Master System quality. On other sounds, it's Arcade PERFECT.
Reminds me of that TRASH MK 2 32x
One of my FAVORITE games on Genesis. This version is very interesting 👍 LOVE the audio!
That thumbnail is nightmare fuel. 👻
Isn't it awesome? It's like Blanka, mentally ill and on uppers
@@NintendoComplete Beauty and the Beast ~ Nightmare Edition.
@NintendoComplete And he's saying "I'm allergic to peanuts!!!"
@@NintendoComplete Who gave Blanka a god damn Adderall prescription??
That's Splatterhouse 3 level of pixel art disturbance.
Knocked it out of the park once again with the thumbnail, my dude lmao
thanks for the English subtitles!
Np! :)
If only SEGA had taken the best of this version and combined it with the Genesis version. Primarily that story intro. I never knew the story to this cause the Genesis version doesn't allude to it.
Was there any story like this in the arcade original? I don't recall that. I know that it was common practice for the devs of PCE CD ports of arcade games to add some anime-style story board intros and outros with completely arbitrary (made up on the spot) story plots that were not in the arcade originals. If this is another one of those cases, it's hard to care about such a plot. Either way, the Genesis port didn't have much ROM to work with and had to be put together in record time.
@@Prizrak-hv6qk In the original arcade version it's revealed to be a stage play at the end.
The story was created for this version.
@@yandman26 I didn't know that. Pretty cool. Thank you!
The thumbnail was like: "Surprise, Madabakka!".
Jesus, that thumbnail
The arcade version has one of the best original soundtracks of any game.
Werebear coming for ya baby!
While definitely not the best version I've seen of this game, still interesting to know that it somehow got a release on a non-Sega console!
There's a Famicom version too.
@@karnovjunior since the game was produced/licenced by Sega, I wasn't aware that they really released their games in consoles outside of their own back then!🤷🏼♀️
@@zparklebugz424 It's funny, a lot of Sega stuff ended up on the Nintendo. Off the top of my head, Fantasy Zone, Afterburner, Alien Syndrome, Shinobi, Space Harrier, and Altered Beast all got NES versions. I think I might be missing one in that list, but that's most of them.
@@zparklebugz424 Sega themselves didn't port their games outside of their own consoles. Other 3rd party developers like Sunsoft, NEC, Asmik, Telenet reprogrammed the Sega games on their then rival consoles with their permission. It's really odd how Sega allowed that. Maybe it's because SG-1000 and Sega Mark III bombed miserably there? PC Engine overall ended up selling better than Mega Drive in Japan. That system only did so well in North America and PAL regions.
@@NintendoComplete Sega's arcade game of Choplifter got a Famicom version by Jaleco. While this port has the arcade's city stage that the SMS version omitted, graphics and BGM are generally awful. There was no western NES release for it.
Anybody else laugh at the thumbnail ?
WHoa I did NOT know about that intro! = oo
Hearing a game with voice samples really attracted a kid like myself during those times. That first boss too was eye catching, throwing his 😈 heads at you. Great times.
3 MINUTES IN AND IM DYING!
Well that thumbnail was made of nightmares.
Look at you, Fygee...
FINALLY, the plot now makes sense!
Every story is fantastic with a japanese dub
I noticed a few things in this port that I also noticed in Ghouls N Ghosts on the Genesis and SuperGrafx. Notice how this port has animations from the arcade that are missing from the Genesis version. That also occurs in the SuperGrafx port of Ghouls N Ghosts, where most of the boss intros/ animations and visuals were cut out, and I get that since the Genesis ports were released early in the Genesis’s lifespan, while the PC Engine CD/SuperGrafx ports were released much later, where memory constraints weren’t as big of an issue. This doesn’t apply to just these games however, it also applies to other games released on the systems.
Yeah, this one does have a few cool things, like the 3D look of the smoke and the body parts when enemies explode. I think this one still suffered from memory constraints, though. The first CD system card didn't give the console any extra memory and had a tiny buffer, so it had to do a lot of juggling from that 1x CD drive to keep up. That's why the screen sometimes freezes or suddenly lurches forward before a new enemy type or a boss shows up.
This Altered Beast has shitty sprites shitty backgrounds and lots of CD pauses looks like a Game Gear game pathetic!!!
You think they could have done 1 thing good
Early Genesis arcade ports were extremely limited by the ROM sizes and typically got less time in the oven, considering that Sega teams had to work on an insane schedule in order to support two homes systems pretty much all by themselves. So yes, some of Sega's ports didn't get as much attention and others were outsourced to guys like Dempa. PC Engine ports typically handled by NEC Avenue themselves, got the benefit of bigger storage and given a lot of attention. Plus, they couldn't have parallax scrolling effects (due to the PC Engine VDP supporting only a single background tile layer) and could invest the resource into things like additional animations.
Pc engine can usually go for the straight arcade port while genesis is more an adaptationbut never faithful 100%
@@Prizrak-hv6qk A Turbo Grafx chip-card holds more memory than a GENESIS cartridge?
Finally I know more about the story. the original arcade didnt give much more than "go and rescue my daughter"
The arcade ending was funnier, in almost the exact same vein of humor as Sega's other arcade game from around that time, Golden Axe.
13:23 His "Bear Form" is so cute that makes me want to sing the "Thunder Buddy" song 🤣
#ted
That thumbnail made me think this was a creepypasta take on the game.
This version is great.
This is much closer to the arcade than the Sega Genesis port.
1:25 - I'd be scared if I had've seen that as a kid but now as an adult, I laugh at it.
If I woke up and *_that_* thumbnail was the first thing I saw, I would probably shit my pants lol.
That sounds somewhat less than ideal.
It's amazing how the PC Engine can handle large sprites you would think they make more fighting games.
Assuming they could handle the speeds fighting games required.
@@PhilMante Have you seen SF2 and the Neo Geo ports?
PCE controller only had 2 buttons
@@zenksren8206 There was an updated 6 button pad
I think there was a limited throughput from the CD of the PC engine if I'm not mistaken.
This game scared me enough already 😢
X2
Woa, that intro is whole ass movie. It's about a fourt of the entire lenght of the game itself.
Shuichi Ikeda was the narrator in the PC Engine CD version of Altered Beast.
So this game had the Red Comet?!
@@Linkonpark100 Yes
Love this game
Ok, that thumbnail is something outta Splatterhouse 3 when you get the worst ending. Wait you're telling me it's from altered beast?
Apparently yes, because it’s part of the story presentation exclusive to the PC Engine version.
Narrator: speaks in japanese 😃
Zeus: speaks in english 🤨
The voice sounds so smooth for a late 80s game.
It's on CD format. Turbo Grafx-16 / PC Engine was the very first console to have games on CD.
Man they sure expanded the story in this one. Cool lookin too
Is it just me or does those purple creatures with the beaks resemble one of the mounts you ride in Golden Axe?
Uh those are the same creatures from golden axe
The thumbnail made me laugh irl.
Honestly, I still prefer the Genesis version. The only good thing about this cd version is the intro story that I had no idea existed. 💥
How many ports of Altered Beast are there? Lol
Funny thing is the game really isn’t even all that good.
Arcade, Sega Master System, Genesis, Famicom, PC Engine (HuCard and CD), MS-DOS, C64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum
@@karnovjunior Wow, that many? Sheesh.
Any port in the storm.
27
This intro is overkill 😂
but great
And also inaccurate. The arcade basically told the story of Hades stealing Persephone to become his wife. It's a well known greek myth. I dunno who wrote all that other BS, but it had nothing to do with the actual story
Thumbnail gave me "House" (1977) vibes
The thumbnail looks like something lumpytouch would do.
Excelente port del Arcade de sega y muy buen vídeo 👍 saludos desde colombia 🇨🇴
Wow, Super Karnov 64 is pretty cool
This version is pretty good
Are you kidding the Genesis beats this all the way and its on a cartridge
I'm surprised they didn't add an additional ending sequence....
Genesis version is still king. But this version wasn't too bad
WTF? I had no idea there was a Turbo Grafix 16 CD version. I thought all along this was Sega's own title exclusively for the Genesis.
Wow that final boss battle was excruciatingly long
Pretty sure there are other quicker methods to lame him out too. Not the best final boss, but he's even more dull in the Master System version!
Narração do Shuichi Ikeda? (Char)
Very nice. The intro explains something I never understood from the arcade or genesis games (why would the GREEK Zeus summon a ROMAN warrior to fight on his behalf?). Kind of wish there had been a bit more, as I've heard some alternate versions of this game have different beasts and levels from the ones in the more mainstream versions, but still very well done.
whaaat? I've never seen any of those cutscenes.
I have the arcade version on xbox 360. Great game.
Really fun game, especially co-op. I just wish you played as the beast more. On the 1st
and second levels you only played as the beast for about 1 minute and 15 seconds.
Great intro!
Power UP! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
I don't remember fighting rocksteady on the Sega version lol
that profile pic is what i look like on mondays😝
Sounds like you and Bob Geldoff have that in common. I hear he's not a fan of Mondays either.
Wow, the story wasn't part of the Genesis game so I never knew about it. Pretty cool.
the ending reminds me of The Graduate
Athena beeing kidnapped by someone and a group of warriors fighting for her rescue...where did I saw that once?....ah! Isn't this Saint Seiya?
The photo you used scared me
11:50 Ah, that good ol' Turbografx16 / PC Engine turbo controller...
Your thumbnail looks like the Poster of the 1977 japanese horror film, House (Hausu).
thanks, i love it ❤
WIIIise fwom your GWAAAAVE!!
All the storage space of a CD, and they couldn't be bothered to include the full ending of the arcade version!
Это лучшая версия из всех,звук шикарный.
Aside from some missing animation frames, this is actually better than the genesis version.
wow, there's like a whole backstory to the game in this version! Now I want to play it. the question of course....is it two player also?
Interesting version.
Haha 😆 This game was so beyond clunky!
Oh How I would love to believe that... You may be my evil half Brother but there's no law against murdering the other half!!!!!
24:48 - "thanks for saving me! ...... ummm... do you change back at any point, or......"
Looks much better than the mega drive version.
That music's like ms dos style
There needs to be a modern remake of this game, seriously.
6:20 RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE
Uncle (SEGA fan): What the Hero was some Dead Guy???
It's too bad this version didn't take advantage of the redbook audio. Having a remixed soundtrack would have been nice in lieu of parallax scrolling at least.
Maybe there was lack of CD space.
Why didn't Golden Axe's PCE-CD port have this much effort put in?
I think that one's budget went to its cutscenes.
@@NintendoComplete That's... a good point, actually. This game got only one new cutscene that used stills for everything, while Golden Axe got between-level cutscenes for all three characters, all of which had some animation in most of their shots.
@@NintendoComplete Telenet should have ported Golden Axe on Super CD-ROM² format with the extra RAM like Riot Zone and Double Dragon II.
Considering the game mostly uses PSG for its music, I wonder why it was released on CD? Maybe they used the expanded space for the graphics.
1:30 doggoman steps on a Lego
That greek mix storyline is super cringe. That being said, it is a classic game and I personally enjoyed it on the Amiga 2000. Also I think that guy who says Welcome to your Doom is the same voice as Grand Master Meio in Strider.
Please patch an English version of this- it looks amazing. Even just subtitles.
you could do it
WISE FWOM YOUW GWAVE!
Weird. It tells us that Hades was fighting the demons but he's clearly still the bad guy for some reason.
All that lore and backstory, along with nice cutscenes, and the graphics and sound are comparable to the Sega Master System's lol
weretiger shot , weretiger uppercut
There's an intro for this? ...Oh, and it uses the Japanese story where Zeus doesn't just inexplicably have beast-men fighting for him and calling them *Centurions* despite being the GREEK Zeus, it's the beast-men who fought him and were imprisoned until Neff showed up being way worse than them.
...Kinda weird how the intro has all the actual arcade music, then the actual game has...not as good versions. And speaking of, they have that badass intro, and then...even less visuals than the Genesis version which let you at least punch the credits.
It's weird, this game is gameplay wise bordering on arcade perfect, but they don't really take advantage of the hardware's audio during gameplay.
Welcome to your DOOM!
Wouldn't it be weird if you ended up playing DOOM from a hidden level to the game? (Ironically, if you defeated Neff, you could go back to playing the game lol)