version: jp - year: 1991 - developer: viktor interactive - publisher: psygnosis - format: fm towns, marty, cd rom - condition: mint - rarity: hard to find
The new Intro gives us some
insight on the mutation of our hero. Half goat, half human, he isn't
pretty...Is that his brain hanging out like that? Beware people: that's
what happens when cross-species mating goes out of hand...
FM Towns Bigger sprites, better gameplay. This particular enemy
is the famous Tele-vacuum-Ophioglossum plant, well known and respected
by the botanic specialist communities around the globe
AMIGA Notice the color shading in
the background, absent from the mighty FM Towns port.
FM Towns When
you see suspicious green biped creatures (like the one depicted on top)
trying to make you smell their sweaty armpits, you might want to run
FM Townsyou silly goat...I see you!
FM TownsIt often helps to remember
what comes next
FM TownsYou look so.....purple!
FM TownsOryuken! You will get some
power ups from time to time, but they don't last long :(
FM TownsThis guy has been holding that
key in this awkward position for the past 100 centuries only to hand
it to you. Don't you feel special now?
FM Towns"Don't touch!"....errrr.....Sure!
Psygnosis eye-fetish revealed!
When playing any version you might come across
of Shadow of the Beast, you will be fighting all kinds of weird creatures
and...tons of eyes. It would be really interesting to ask Psygnosis
programmers what is really the hidden meaning of all that... Could it
be a metaphor of our modern society where each and every step we do
is constantly monitored by big and evil corporations?
bouncing eyes are indeed a dangerous thing
The big alien brother...
Review-I was looking over the net to find some decent screenshot of the FM Towns version of Shadow of the Beast to replace the existing picture I had but I came across nothingness!
Not even a single screenshot that was worth putting up so armed with infinite patience, I looked for the emulator of the FM Towns and for the Rom of Shadow of the Beast. I was then able to play the game on my PC (it's still not perfectly emulated) and take some kick ass in-game pics myself!
It's been a very long quest but in the end, I managed to find a copy of the game. Is the game really better than the Amiga version? In a way, I guess it is...
The first thing that I noticed is that this version features improved graphics over the Amiga original. Monsters have more colors and more frames, sprites are bigger and gameplay is better since the game extreme difficulty has been considerably tuned down. In fact, your health points have doubled. Also, collision detection has been improved for the great happiness of us all!
Despite all this,the Amiga version is still superior. How is that possible?
1) The overall look of the game is classier on the Commodore machine. There is more finesse in the grafx design and the choice of colors.
2) The rearranged music tracks on the FM Towns version plays directly off the CD, but the original tunes from the Amiga version are more fit to the levels. And why the dirigible flying in the background has been replaced by a funny looking dragon in the Marty / FM Towns version?
from retro to modern gaming 
