Altered Beast (1988, Genesis) by Sega

Current Beat the Game (Single Player) Leaderboard (speedrun.com)

GAMES FROM THIS EPISODE OF AVGN:
–Altered Beast (Genesis)
-Wall Street Kid (NES)
-Toki (NES)
-Killing Time (3DO)
-Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES)
-Last Action Hero (NES) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-Silver Surfer (NES)
-Double Dragon (Atari 2600)
-S.C.A.T. (NES)
-Ballz 3D (SNES)
-McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure (Genesis)
-Grand Theft Auto IV (PlayStation 3)
-Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (XBox 360)
-Mach Rider (NES)
-City Connection (NES)
-Ultraman: Towards the Future (SNES)
-Marsupilami (Genesis)
-Mad Max (NES)
-Taboo: The Sixth Sense (NES)
-Bigfoot (NES)
-Pit Fighter (SNES)
-Skate or Die! (NES)
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (XBox 360)
-Guitar Hero 3 (XBox 360)
-Rock Band (XBox 360)
-Pesterminator: The Western Exterminator (NES)
-Karate Champ (NES)
-Dick Tracy (NES)
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
-Superman (Nintendo 64)
-Berzerk (Atari 2600)
-American Gladiators (NES)
-The Three Stooges (NES)
-North and South (NES)
-Linus Spacehead’s Cosmic Crusade (NES) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-Captain America and the Avengers (NES)
-The Punisher (NES) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-Bill & Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure (NES)
-T&C Surf Designs (NES)
-Hydlide (NES)
-Castlevania (Nintendo 64) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES)
-Barbie (NES)
-Battletoads (NES)
-The Wizard of Oz (SNES)
-Winter Games (NES)
-Circus Caper (NES)
-Puss ‘n Boots: Pero’s Great Adventure (NES)
-Fist of the North Star (NES)
-Little Red Hood (NES)
-Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (NES)
-Shaq Fu (SNES)
-Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (NES) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-Alf (Master System)
-Elevator Action (NES)
-Battle Blaze (SNES)
-Popeye (ColecoVision)
-Jurassic Park (NES) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-Sneak n’ Peek (Atari 2600)
-Bad Dudes (NES)
-Where’s Waldo (NES) (also shown in this episode, but was not chosen)
-Swamp Thing (NES)
-The Goonies (Famicom)
-Ring King (NES)
-Secret Scout and the Temple of Demise (NES)
-Street Fighter IV (XBox 360)
-Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
-Beauty and the Beast (NES)
-The Adventures of Bayou Billy (NES)
THERE WERE SO MANY GAMES I’M SURE I MISSED!  IT MADE ME INSANE, TRYING TO MAKE THIS LIST!  And I’m sure you’ll find many, as I did myself.  But I just happened to have Altered Beast on my shelf.

I’ll preface this with a statement: considering this game came out in 1988, I don’t want to be too hard on it. But that being said, a lot of amazing video games came out that year, and since this game was 16-bit you’d think it would have had a more substantial experience, even if it was a port of an arcade game.

Now, that being said, Altered Beast is not a great game today. It’s not horrible or anything, don’t get me wrong… but meh graphics and stiff controls, combined with a super-simple and short game that doesn’t have a ton of variety. Most enemies are simple and take 1-2 hits to kill. If you miss a power-up, the game loops. The bosses are relatively simple, and the powerups (aka the “Altered Beasts”) only take hold for a short part of each stage and disappear after.

Writing this review solidifies my opinion: this is not a good game.

Now, the speedrun is not as bad as the game is casually… there’s a little bit of tech and strats involved. But at the end of the day, this is still a glorified autoscroller. Not a terrible run by any means… but far from a classic.

On the flipside, it’s super easy to learn! Anyone can learn it in a few hours.

This was one of the games the Nerd reviewed in his “How the Nerd Stole Christmas” video. I chose this one because it was more iconic, and it looked fun to learn.  Fun?  Not so much.  It was easy, at least…