Altered Beast (1988) is the Sega beat 'em up in which a centurion resurrected by Zeus travels through mythological Greece smashing skeletons and harpies, transforming in each level into a different beast — wolf, bear, dragon, tiger. It was one of the technical showcases for Sega's System 16 hardware and, shortly after, the pack-in game for the Mega Drive/Genesis in several markets, which made it many people's first contact with the console.
Today it's remembered both for its crude gameplay and for its cultural presence: that digitized voice shouting "Rise from your grave" is one of the most quoted lines of 80s arcades. It's played more for nostalgia and historical curiosity than for mechanical depth.
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