Editing Altered Beast (section)

== Development ==
''Altered Beast'' was directed by [[Makoto Uchida (game developer)|Makoto Uchida]]. He took inspiration for the game from ''[[The Howling (film)|The Howling]]'' and the music video for the [[Michael Jackson]] song "[[Thriller (song)|Thriller]]",<ref name=":1" /> as well as movies by [[Ray Harryhausen]], and chose the Greek setting for the powerful characters he had in mind.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Stuart|first=Keith|title=Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Collected Works|publisher=Read-Only Memory|year=2014|isbn=9780957576810|location=London}}</ref> Uchida admitted that he struggled during production because it was his first game he developed, and so he leaned on his lead programmer to help create balance in the gameplay.<ref name=":1" />

One of Uchida's goals was to create flashy visuals that would surprise players, so he asked his lead artist to focus just on the player character's transformation sequences for one month. Additionally, he and his team used the [[List of Sega arcade system boards|System 16]] [[arcade system board]] for its ability to add great detail to large character [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprites]], as well as the visual effects it could provide, such as limbs flying off characters during combat.<ref name=":1" /> Uchida was not impressed by the initial concept art, so he worked with an artist to sketch out his specific ideas on character design. While the results of this were positive, Uchida's lead designer quit the team over this situation.<ref name=":2" /> ''Altered Beast'' includes [[Easter egg (media)|Easter eggs]] that are references to other System 16 titles ''[[Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars]]'' and ''[[Shinobi (1987 video game)|Shinobi]]'', as a nod to members on Uchida's team that had worked on those titles previously.<ref name=":1" />

There were planned features for the game that Uchida did not have the opportunity to implement, namely a pressure-sensitive button. Discussions took place but a deal could not be reached with the owner of the patent of the pressure-sensitive device over the small number to be ordered. The failure to secure the button meant that half of the planned character actions had to be removed. Uchida claims that the reduced complexity of the game caused by this caused players to tire of ''Altered Beast'' quickly. Despite this, Uchida was proud of the reactions he was getting from players during play testing.<ref name=":1" />