Can I be the first to say "WISE FWOM YOUR GWAVE!"? teehee

Aw man I loved this game, it was the first game I got along with Sonic. Yeh it's dated pretty badly but there isn't another game like it!

POWER UP!

HAHA! This game is so crap it's awesome. Did anyone have the misfortune of playing the recent PS2 version? The fools took the only thing that made the original good - the setting - and placed it in the present day. D'oh!

This game has always been slagged off and I can see why, but for some reason I love it.

I think it's probably because the idea behind the game was fresh at the time of its creation: collect globes and you're rewarded by transformation into a beast with enhanced capabilities which allow you to defeat the boss guy. This concept has been used since in games like Bloody Roar (PS1). Mind you, I hated that!

A good concept that admittedly could have been executed more effectively. The controls could have been a little more responsive and maybe more varied and longer levels added. This does however remain a great nostalgia kick if you loved it originally. An accurate arcade conversion for the Megadrive too.

this rocked when younger playing at the coin-up arcade !!

Loved this and had fond memories of it. Then I got it on the VC.

Awful game but great to play with the mate you played it with all those years ago

So if you and your mate used to like it, get it. If not, stay clear.

This game should only be played using mame. The Original Arcade version is way better. Though after my mom gave away my NES back in the day, I did get a Genesis for Christmas and it came with Altered Beast and it was pretty cool at the time. Now, not so much. Laterz

Good grief, how this game has dated! Not only are the graphics and sound (bar the infamous sampled speech) ropey in the extreme, but the game is also incredibly repetitive. Basically all you do is press right and tap a button over and over again. The game is also played at the most plodding pace you could ever imagine - though that might be partly to do with the fact I'm used to the PAL version.

I personally can't believe that someone told this game to 'rise from your grave' as it's absolutely dreadful!

Heh, I actually kinda like it, somewhat. The atmosphere is pretty cool and I love the music. Well it's the nostalgia talking..

This game is getting abused and needs some tender love and care (2 Stars!?). When I was a kid, there was nothing that I wanted to do more than collect magical orbs and transform into assorted wild beasts, and when I first played Altered Beast, I knew true love. Time has not been as good to this title as my memory has, but If you loved it back then, its worth the points. Mabye not a timeless classic, but a classic title for sure.

I still have the cartridge. Many of us will feel nostalgic as this was the first Mega Drive game for many people, because it was bundled with the system. Stay away from it if you never played it before, and if you played this game long ago and don't remember it as a bad game, well, your memory is deceiving you. It sucks.

I downloaded it cos i thought it would be fun because i remember playing it on an arcade when i was a kid and thought it was great. How times have changed. When i started playing it i soon realized OH NO this is awful. Its so crap i was gutted i spent my 800 wii points on it.

I remember the first IMPRESSIVE boss, Altered Beast is one of my first Sega Megadrive game that I get when I was child.
This Sega Megadrive game is also a good arcade conversion.

omg this game is awesome. i still play it on the time. how can people say it sucked. i loved this game so very much. one of the best sega games there is.

I don't know whether to get this or not. I used to love this game, but I don't imagine it has dated very well.

This game evokes fond memories of owning a Mega Drive in Christmas 1990!

I loved this game. Game play - no, graphics - no, enjoyment - no. I loved it for the fact that you put this game in the Sega, turned it on, then put in another game like Rambo III and you had unlimited lives. Too bad you can do something like that on the VC.

Easy game that is worth the scratch just to hear the guy say "Power Up"!

I love this game. I have very fond memories of Rise fwom your gwave!
It's super, I'm trying to track it down on MD again!

haha, yeah this is soooooooo christmas 1990... me and all the other spoiled brats in my neighborhood got a genesis before everyone else. it was an amazing game at the time. this, forgotten worlds, ghouls and ghosts, thunder force 2 and super hang on were some amazing games back in the early days of genesis. i'd play these things for hours. i just remember being shocked at mow much better everything looked compared to the oldschool nes games i owned. i love that "power up" at the time (i was a kid and easily amused)... anyone remember that cheesy rave track that sampled that? so cheeeeeeeze... the memories...

I had this on the Sega Smash Pack for Windows. It's actually very boring. You ever read the review for China Warrior on TurboGrafx-16? Cause this game is just like that one. It's too basic a beat-um-up game. Walk forward and never stop, punch the bad guys before they get too close, grab the power ups to Upgrade U (Incidently, that's one of Beyonce's better songs), beat the boss, then go back to your first form and repeat. There's almost no motivation in this. It's a miracle the Genesis survived with this as a launch title.

Single I think deserves the 2. But Multi it needs a 3 IMTHO.

The arcade version has better graphics and the shortness of the game makes it better for the arcade.

This game is cool. Its funny and simple. Controls and graphics are bad but I like the music. "Power Up", "Welcome to your doom" and "Rise from your grave" are legendary. Game is pretty hard too. Bear Form is scary, Dragon Form is unstoppable, Wolf Form is cool and Tiger Form is...bad. I don't like it.

Time has not been kind to this fun game. It is simplistic, and kinda clunky now. The nostalgia is good, but only for so long...

It was a good game back in the old days as i still do own this game on the Sega Mega Drive but after playing it again i found it boring and way to slow. Not worth buying on the VC

Good call. I'm glad to see that nostaligia alone here isn't getting this a good review. Because sometimes a game deserves critical acclaim for it's accomplishments in the world of gaming.

Altered Beasts isn't one of them.

This game is famous for two things. First, for being initially bundled with the Genesis/Megadrive before Sonic The Hedgehog took over that honor. Second, for it's to-this-day hilariously bad audio clip. Quite possibly one of the few rare examples of SPOKEN Engrish in classic games as opposed to the usual written kind.

Gameplay? That area of remembrance is far out the window, and for good reason. This game stinks on ice.

It's a remarkable mess of poor design, and vastly less-than-thrilling re-playability. (That is being kind).This game is best known as having a reputation that has somehow, oddly enough caused the nostalgia factor alone to have drones of people who don't even PLAY Altered Beasts to defend it's craptastically awful gameplay based on nostalgia factor alone.

There are plenty of places online where this trash gets glorified reviews. Glad this isn't one of them.

It's seriously a bad game, and deserves to be forgotten.. or... at the very least relegated to the numerous "Top 10 most embarrassing games" lists and gaming articles.

Another game on the VC that I can't imagine anyone who's really familiar with would download. There are games we want to remember, and others forget about. 2/5

Altered Beast was a great arcade game. It came with the Sega Genesis when the system came out in 1989 (that was the year I got the Genesis). The graphics & sound were unbelievable compared to the 8-bit games of the time. Thats why I think Sega gave it with the system to impress. Altered Beast may seem bad to people today, But it has it's place in history and is a Classic.

Great Arcade game, average video game....i enjoyed it though, very easy to beat....

Who can forget the first time they heared "Wise fwom your gvave". This game is a classic game and fun to play, but when you got so many other games that lasts longer ( This game only lasts for 15 minutes or so ) its not shure if one should by it. If someone wants this game, they should at least have tried it or wants it as a genesis-collection. BUT if they are looking for a good 2-D sidescrolling beatem up, I would say go for Splatterhouse 2 instead

Well this is one the 20 games AtGames/Tec Toy's pocket Mega Drive & i certainly agree with the score & the first level tune is stuck in my head HEEELP

I have fond memories of this game, but at 800 points it's not really worth a download, especially with the Genesis collection floating around for the PS2.

I remember playing this a lot in the arcades.

But my most vivid memories of this game aren't even from moving pictures. I remember studying screenshots in magazines comparing the Genesis version with the Master System version. Especially the ones showing the first boss.

I honestly don't know that I've ever played it on the Genesis, though.

Really boring game. Every level is basicly the same, involving the charecter collecting upgrade orbs as fast as possible, and fighting waves of lame enemies.Pass

Man, is this game really that bad?! LOL

I love this game. The first time I transformed into the dragon as a kid, I nearly wet myself. Seriously, isn't that every nerdy kids secret aspiration? Maybe not, but I played the crap out of this game as a kid. Granted, if you never had this one back then, it probably seems unbearable.

i had this game with my megadrive in 1990 the altered beast pack, it was awesome i loved it i played it all the time

Since this Wii VC Altered Beast is based on the Mega Drive / Genesis version, it is a major downgrade from the System 16 arcade version in graphics.

The arcade Altered Beast had larger, better-defined, more detailed, better-animated characters with more color and effects compared to the MD/Genesis conversion. The sound was cleaner and deeper as well. Don't bother with this at all. Instead, get the PS2 version of SEGA GENESIS COLLECTION. It contains both the Genesis and Arcade versions of Altered Beast, and you can probably find that disc which has a few dozen games on it, used, for less money than this one VC download.

I loved this game,though I could never figure out how to get 2-player to work on my sega genesis copy,this is going to be an instant download for me.

Wolfslayer is easily one of the most intelligent posters on this site. Glad to see someone else loves Altered Beast as much as I do.