Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Since the arcade version entered service, the game has been ported to many home consoles, and in 2019 it was included as one of the 42 titles pre-installed on the Mega Drive Mini, a retro console released worldwide on the same day by Sega. North American and European versions only.
The Sega Genesis version, the Mega Drive outside Japan, was bundled with the Genesis console for about 1 years until Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) was released, and as the face of the early Genesis it recorded sales of 500,000 copies from the bundle alone and about 1,400,000 copies in total.
In 2019 it was included as one of the 42 titles pre-installed on the Mega Drive Mini, a retro console released worldwide on the same day by Sega. North American and European versions only.
The "Astro City Mini" is a "retro console" whose exterior takes as its motif the "Astro City", the general-purpose arcade cabinet made by Sega in years past, with 36 arcade games from the 1980s to the middle of the 1990s pre-installed, plus 1 bonus titles.
In the "2nd Gamest Grand Prize" held in the game magazine Gamest (Shinseisha), it recorded 47th place among the hit games of the year.
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the game scored a total of 24 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Mega Drive FAN,it scored 16.15 out of 30, as shown below.
Ratings of the Mega Drive version were divided among the media. The British game magazine ACE gave it 94 out of 100, while Sega Power gave it 40.
In "the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time" in the British Mega Drive magazine Mega, it took first place, ahead of Last Battle (the Mega Drive version of Fist of the North Star) at number 2.
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu, the four reviewers gave 5, 6, 7, and 3, for a total of 21 out of 40. Marukatsu PC Engine gave scores of 6, 5, 6, and 7, for a total of 24 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by PC Engine FAN, it scored 21.22 out of 30, as shown below.
This score also placed it 229th among all PC Engine titles (485 titles in total, as of 1993).
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu it received a total of 23 out of 40. Marukatsu PC Engine gave scores of 6, 5, 6, and 7, for a total of 24 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by PC Engine FAN, it scored 20.95 out of 30, as shown below.
This score also placed it 266th among all PC Engine titles (485 titles in total, as of 1993).
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the game scored a total of 21 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Family Computer Magazine,it scored 16.01 out of 30, as shown below.
Makoto Uchida of Sega, the game's designer, has said that the original idea came from the novels he read by Baku Yumemakura and Kazumasa Hirai, in the tradition of humans transforming into monstrous shapes and fighting.
Uchida has also said that films featuring werewolves, such as The Howling, influenced the development of the game.
Computer and Video Games criticized the game's plot as being unoriginal and the graphics as "large and clumsily drawn".
Your Sinclair stated the game was "not recommended to those that are still living".
S: The Sega Magazine stated that there are better arcade conversions on the Master System and Altered Beast, while having a passable soundtrack, suffers from poor animation and control issues.
The Xbox Live Arcade re-release was even described by IGN as a "relic of the arcade heyday that just doesn't hold up today".
Video game journalist Ken Horowitz stated that video gamers identify the "rise from your grave" opening from the game, whether they are fans of Sega's games or not.
Uchida advised on the project, and stated, "We really couldn't steer away from the violence aspect.
In "the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time" in the British Mega Drive magazine Mega, it took first place, ahead of Last Battle (the Mega Drive version of Fist of the North Star) at number 2.
Computer and Video Games criticized the game's plot as being unoriginal and the graphics as "large and clumsily drawn".
In 1989, ACE praised the Mega Drive conversion as never having played better on any home system, and they rated it as the best Mega Drive game available at the time.
Sega Power, however, criticized the same version for jerky gameplay and bad scrolling.
Julian Rignall of Computer and Video Games criticized the Master System version, stating that while he is a fan of the arcade version, the reduced graphics, slow gameplay of the port, and fussy collision detection are significant issues.
The arcade board used to develop the game, System 16B, had a function for displaying large images, so Uchida worked with a designer and used it to create, in the first 1 months, a scene filling the screen in which the protagonist transforms into a beast man.
Uchida admitted he struggled during production because it was his first game he developed.
Interlink developed the Famicom edition, which was released only in Japan by Asmik Corporation; it includes unique forms such as a humanoid lion, shark, and phoenix as well as additional levels.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s 2017 album Murder of the Universe is divided into three ‘suites’, the first of which being called ‘The Tale of The Altered Beast’.
Julian Rignall of Computer and Video Games criticized the Master System version, stating that while he is a fan of the arcade version, the reduced graphics, slow gameplay of the port, and fussy collision detection are significant issues.
S: The Sega Magazine stated that there are better arcade conversions on the Master System and Altered Beast, while having a passable soundtrack, suffers from poor animation and control issues.
Makoto Uchida of Sega, the game's designer, has said that the original idea came from the novels he read by Baku Yumemakura and Kazumasa Hirai, in the tradition of humans transforming into monstrous shapes and fighting.
The sentences quoted on this page were taken from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles exactly as they stand. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — usable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.