We drove from Dallas, Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas for a funeral last Saturday. It's about a five hour drive. Then, of course, there was the funeral, and the socializing with the family, and the chasing after the small boys to make sure they weren't getting into anything they shouldn't. Then there was a night's coma sleep, then breakfast and more socializing, followed by a truly lovely lunch, and finally the five hour drive back.
The whole thing went really well. "Really well", however, was still exhausting. We're still not really recovered. So trying to get out of bed this morning felt a bit like trying to rise from my grave. (Sadly, I don't get to take power from defeated foes and gain new, more powerful forms while I attempt to rescue Athena from Hades. Tragic, that.)
Altered Beast is an old arcade game from my childhood. The idea, basically, is that Hades has kidnapped Athena, and Zeus has called on you, Generic Hero, to go and rescue her. Rescuing her involves punching and kicking your way through five levels of undead warriors and mythical (or just strange) beasts. Among the beasts are white, three-headed wolves; defeating them releases energy balls which you collect. As you collect them, you grow stronger, until finally you take on a bestial form.
I went back through it recently when I found that it was available for five bucks or so in the Playstation Store.
I keep meaning to put together a little essay on the poly-monster hero, and why the notion appeals to me. (Altered Beast is an early example of the concept; Shadow Hearts has probably the most thorough version of it that I've seen. Ben 10 - which is a cartoon, mostly, but with a couple of decent live-action movies - is a similar concept, in which the transformation is triggered by an alien device on Ben's wrist, and he turns into aliens instead of monsters.)
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I love video game music (and metal). I've never heard of this game, though, but no matter, still great stuff.
ReplyDeleteI hate that rising from the dead feeling myself.
Altered Beast is an old arcade game from my childhood. The idea, basically, is that Hades has kidnapped Athena, and Zeus has called on you, Generic Hero, to go and rescue her. Rescuing her involves punching and kicking your way through five levels of undead warriors and mythical (or just strange) beasts. Among the beasts are white, three-headed wolves; defeating them releases energy balls which you collect. As you collect them, you grow stronger, until finally you take on a bestial form.
ReplyDeleteI went back through it recently when I found that it was available for five bucks or so in the Playstation Store.
I keep meaning to put together a little essay on the poly-monster hero, and why the notion appeals to me. (Altered Beast is an early example of the concept; Shadow Hearts has probably the most thorough version of it that I've seen. Ben 10 - which is a cartoon, mostly, but with a couple of decent live-action movies - is a similar concept, in which the transformation is triggered by an alien device on Ben's wrist, and he turns into aliens instead of monsters.)