For the Record: How Altered Beast the Sega Genesis Game Also Became a Matthew Sweet Album!
365Altered Beast, a popular Sega arcade game, later became an album!
(More Below!)
Episode information
GTV 38 "For the Record" Season 2 Episode 17
Original Airdate: November 7, 2017
Produced October 23-26, 2017 and April 10-12, 2024
Remastered Airdate: April 13, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my new (at the time) MacBook Pro with, of course, pirated versions of Final Cut Pro and Photoshop.
Re-recorded on my semi-new-ish M1 Pro MacBook Pro!
Thanks to Lovers of 120 Minutes on MTV for preserving the interview seen in this video!
Watch it here! https://youtu.be/hg98ThasOWI
The channel is awesome by the way, and if 120 Minutes was the only thing you ever watched on (M)TV, you will be sure to like it!
https://www.youtube.com/@loversof120minutesonmtv
The updated video is essentially the same as the original, except now the interview replaces my reading of the text. The part about having no money is also a new addition, although complaining about how expensive things are has always been a feature of the channel. Other things were cleaned up and the parts about shag carpet and the Mystery Machine were cut for time.
Partial transcript
Altered Beast, the game, was released to arcades in 1988 by Sega. Athena, the daughter of Zeus, has been kidnapped and you, a resurrected Greek warrior, must rescue her. The Japanese name was 獣王記, loosely translated in means Beast King Chronicles. The whole concept bears a similarity to the film Jason and the Argonauts, I’d talk about that more, but… I don’t have that kind of money!
The game is a straightforward beat-em-up, in which the player can gain power-ups to make fighting easier. When you gain 3 power-ups, you can change into various animals: a wolf, bear and tiger even a dragon! The game was popular at the time, and was lauded for its bright graphics and its use of synthesized voice.
Altered Beast was used to show off the power of the Sega Genesis, AKA Mega Drive, starting in 1989 and remained the pack-in game until Sonic the Hedgehog replaced it.
One super fan of this game was a singer songwriter by the name of Matthew Sweet.
One of the many musicians who came out of the Athens, Georgia music scene in the Early 1980s. In case you forget , R.E.M. led the way. After releasing a few albums that didn’t do much, Matthew Sweet achieved breakthrough success with Girlfriend, in 1991.
Without out a doubt the best year for music in human history.
Matthew followed up Girlfriend with Altered Beast, in 1993!
Wait! Altered Beast? Like the old Sega game?!
Yeah! Matthew was such a fan, that while promoting said album, he admitted that this was his favorite game of all time and even had the arcade cabinet to Altered Beast in his house!
Other great SEGA videos by GTV!
Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/FZcij7XPdzI
Sega SG-1000 Story https://youtu.be/qBDx83UZ1nw
Sega Mega Drive Perfect Guides https://youtu.be/w37sJi4PU_Q
Meet Mr. Sega! https://youtu.be/bkOsNYAx90I
Phantasy Star II 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/4F3LnKYEv-8
Mega Drive Mini Unboxing https://youtu.be/SJ9ec844sh0
Segata Sanshiro https://youtu.be/NBPNcI9OMbk
Phantasy Star III 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/wrQbXEXlabo
The More You Know: Game Gear https://youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
Sega Solar System https://youtu.be/nwRy3i1VgMk
The American MegaDrive (aka The Origin of Genesis) https://youtu.be/wta-wGtyuq4
Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/I2MYvgNf9lU
Sonic the 8-Bit https://youtu.be/ct1YjTtd8bE
The Zillion Story https://youtu.be/GV65rKJmlag
A Sonic Adventure https://youtu.be/51cwcqcKiFA
Sonic 2’s Day https://youtu.be/GX6cqZJMEfo
Phantasy Star 35 https://youtu.be/IPSZ6LvQe8g
Magical Hat is not Zillion 3 https://youtu.be/1ruKUk3GGyE
Sonic Mania Day https://youtu.be/DV3K3Coz1RA
Phantasy Star IV The End of the Millennium: https://youtu.be/5JucGW9iFU8
Sonic 3 & Hedgehog Day https://youtu.be/1x8Sbi0pScs
Other GTV episodes with celebrities in them
Double Identity https://youtu.be/sVx-e4obQc0
Guts Pose https://youtu.be/I02u8Br0yhs
Who Are Kato & Ken? https://youtu.be/CtKuKTSjF_g
Rational Ebullience https://youtu.be/z6psyKzdY4s
Elec-Man VS. Journey https://youtu.be/7GSx_0yMuXo
The Story of Tetris World Champion Evets Kainzow https://youtu.be/Q1BlbGdtGoY
Hulk Hogan Manga Mania! https://youtu.be/ei7wxfKkMnQ
Meet Mr. Sega https://youtu.be/bkOsNYAx90I
Zelda 2 and the 1988 Chip Shortage https://youtu.be/H6zYKiueCEA
Monkey Magic https://youtu.be/V5nmAnmOe7g
Segata Sanshiro https://youtu.be/NBPNcI9OMbk
The Legendary Mother https://youtu.be/7mpAdSpXb0E
Club Nintendo https://youtu.be/TM3oL-xoCO0
Ken Uston: The Gamer Gambler https://youtu.be/4ww3Uy_RHPs
King of Keirin https://youtu.be/LKRjZfKeFsg
Ten Years of Funassyi! https://youtu.be/D1yQfzTO3fc
Kyoro-chan’s Nebulous Journey https://youtu.be/vY-HW2aoKqY
Alfred Chicken’s Crazy Campaigns https://youtu.be/HswkR_2QYBU
Other Videos By GTV Japan
Other Statistics
Altered Beast Statistics For GTV Japan
Currently, GTV Japan has 26,424 views for Altered Beast across 3 videos. His channel published less than an hour of Altered Beast content, making up less than 0.69% of the total overall content on GTV Japan's YouTube channel.