Altered Beast

Before the first Sonic, Sega's most iconic game was Altered Beast. You are resurrected by Zeus to save Athena from the creatures of the Underworld, led by their leader Neff. When the Sega Genesis was first released, Altered Beast was packed with the console, until Sonic the Hedgehog's release. Tohru Makabayashi was most notable for his contributions to some of Sega's most memorable arcade titles. Like Alien Syndrome, Golden Axe, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, Time Scanner, and Thunderblade.

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Altered Beast was ported to most of the then-current consoles of that time, arranged by several different composers. The Genesis version was arranged by Kazuhiko Nagai, who went by the alias NAV. The music in the Amiga port was arranged by David Lowe AKA Uncle Art. The Famicom version was arranged by Michiya Hirasawa AKA M.Kamijima and Kenji Eno. The PC Engine version was arranged by Metal Yamashita and Fumina Murohoshi. The Commodore 64 version completely omits all of the music from the game. Other versions of the game didn't give credits to their staff, including the arrangers of Makabayashi's score.

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The gameplay for Altered Beast hasn't aged over the years. But Altered Beast still remains a symbole of the pre-Sonic era of the 80s. The game has been referenced in popular TV shows like Parker Lewis Can't Lose, to movie's like Wreck-It Ralph, and even podcasts like The Last Podcast on the Left. Sega knew how to make an exciting arcade experience, and Altered Beast was just one of many that would help define their prominance in the 80s.