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When one looks at the current lineup for the Zodiac, nostalgia is the word. The onslaught of old-school gaming on the Zodiac is seemingly on a fast track to making a few bucks, but if shoddy ports like Altered Beast become the norm, the buck stops here.

Altered Beast is a known and loved title that originally appeared on Sega Genesis to become a favorite of many a gamer. The title still sits snuggly next to my Genesis system, fond memories emanating from its direction. These memories have since been decimated by my recent experience with the Zodiac port of the game. For those of you unawares to the purpose behind Altered Beast, allow me to catch you up to speed: Altered Beast puts you in the role of a nameless warrior who has been chosen by Zeus to save Athena from the clutches of Nef, one of the minor demons of Hades. You have the ability to morph into numerous beasts by obtaining floating orbs from blue bulls that you will come across in each level. Hey, I never said it was a standard storyline.

Altered Beast on Zodiac is simply a port of the Genesis game, so, given the Zodiacs technical specs, there should be no problem porting over a simple 8-bit game, right? Well, apparently not. The Zodiac title moves at a much slower pace than the original, feeling slow and laggy. The game probably moves at a lousy half the speed of the original, which is pretty unforgivable, especially when you factor in the technical capabilities of the Zodiac. The Zodiac title also is missing one of the most important features that made the original Altered Beast such a blast to play: multiplayer. Altered Beast on Zodiac is a strictly one player event, and not a very fun one at that, considering that Altered Beast on Sega thrived off it’s fun multiplayer gaming.

Each level in the game is pretty much the same: the level scrolls slowly to the right as you take your character through, punching and kicking numerous enemy types, and collecting orbs until you can transform into a beast (which varies depending on the level) and fight one of Nefs many forms at the end. The game never strays from the formula, and gets stale pretty fast when you factor in the horrible slowdown and lack of 2 player.

Controlling your character on-screen can sometimes be a bit touch and go, since the analog stick is overly sensitive in the game, and the slightest nudge will make your character move. Also to take into consideration is the games undeniable difficulty. You get 3 lives, no continues, and you do not regenerate health between levels. While such a challenge would be welcome on the Zodiac under normal circumstances, the games flaws will scare you away before you get the chance to complete it.

Graphically, there’s nothing wrong with the game. Sprites are large and fairly detailed, all pretty bold in their color, and varied. The many levels you will traverse are all pretty varied in their appearance, but don’t really have any impact on the gameplay. The games sound is decent, though nothing to praise. The game features the same audio quality as the Genesis game, which can be either a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. High pitched noises all have a very scratchy quality to them, which can get pretty annoying after a while, leaving you reaching for the volume control pretty soon on.

Altered Beast for Sega was a classic that was widely enjoyed by many, while the Zodiac version will (hopefully) be quickly forgotten as a prime example what to not do while porting a beloved title.