Altered Beast

Altered Beast is a legendary side-scrolling beat 'em up set in Ancient Greece, where a fallen centurion is resurrected from the grave by Zeus. Your mission is to rescue Zeus's daughter, Athena, from the demonic god Neff. The core mechanic involves collecting spirit balls dropped by defeated white wolves, which cause your character to undergo dramatic physical transformations. After three power-ups, you morph into powerful creatures—such as a Werewolf, Weretiger, or Golden Bear—each possessing unique elemental attacks and supernatural strength to defeat the grotesque bosses guarding each of the five rounds.

ZX Spectrum

Published by Activision in 1989, the ZX Spectrum version is widely regarded as a technical masterclass for the 48K/128K hardware. Developed by Software Studios, it avoids the "attribute clash" color bleeding common on the system by using detailed monochrome sprites against a black background, which allows for incredibly large and well-animated characters that rival the arcade's scale. The transformation sequences are surprisingly smooth, maintaining the game's core visual appeal on a much simpler machine.
The 128K version features an atmospheric title screen and a solid rendition of the arcade's music via the AY chip, though the 48K version is much quieter. While the scrolling is "flickery" and the game lacks the digitized speech of the original, the gameplay remains remarkably faithful to the arcade's pacing and difficulty. It is frequently cited by critics as one of the best arcade-to-Spectrum conversions ever made, proving that clever art direction could overcome the hardware's color limitations to deliver a truly "beastly" experience.