Altered Beast

"Rise from your grave!"

It's hard to hate a game where you collect floating steroid balls that eventually turn you into a wolf. Or a dragon. Or a bear. The co-op play on Altered Beast led to many celebrations after defeating the bosses, and condemnations for "stealing my powerup." The game is a real coin-eater too, allowing unlimited continues.

Sega did not release Altered Beast in a dedicated cabinet. It was only released as an upgrade kit, so it found its way into many different cabinets from the early 80s. My goal with this restoration was to imagine what Sega might have done with a dedicated cabinet, had they released one.

I purchased the game as a period-correct Altered Beast conversion of a Zaxxon machine. The cabinet was in very bad shape due to moisture damage and broken parts, and I decided there was no real reason to convert it back. (Although I did apparently want a Zaxxon, because I ended up with one at a later date.) This was a pretty extensive build, and If you'd like to know more, the entire process is chronicled in a KLOV thread.

I'm particularly pleased with the control panel, since a reproduction overlay was not previously available. I scanned and vectorized the panel art, which is available here for download.