Shadow of the Beast

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Rating 
5.1/10
Hits: 16,766
Downloads: 3,457
Votes: 58
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Comments (10)
Megalomaniac - 16/04/2023
A style-over-substance Amiga game, converted without the style. Unfortunately everything about this game was designed around showing off the Amiga's chipset, with no consideration for how it played, let alone how it would convert. Wrath of the Demon shows what could have been achieved with a similar gameplay style.
Trophy - 31/10/2021
Very average and boring game, which looks much better on Amiga 500 (and still is boring). The Atari ST loses nothing here.
Steve - 11/09/2015
What Christos says.. bang on!
Christos - 05/08/2015
Yes it is indeed a hard game to convert. It's not really the issue if a 1-1 conversion could have been made, it couldn't have but if with some trade offs it could have been much better, and the answer to that is YES. Of course it could never have been turned into a good game. It's a bad game so we didn't really miss much.
Denis - 21/06/2015
As the coder explained it, this game was VERY hard to convert on ST, because every trick and hardware effects needed to be converted as software routines, as well as preshift the graphics, this leading to insane memory requirements (2mb!) when the amiga release needed only 512kb to run. The ST to get in software the same result as the Amiga version would need a 68000 running at 20 Mhz...... The STE hardware scroll brings more problems than it solves, because there are no sprites hardware assistance on it. What's the point of having a scroll running at 50 fps when the computer has so many sprites to put on screen at high speed ? the STE (never mind the ST) was not made for that.
Steve - 18/01/2015
It's not the machine - it's the programmers. They obviously didn't care or wasn't given the chance to take time and effort to get a decent ST release done. I certainly don't blame the ST or hate the Amiga for their version. But perhaps it was their missed opportunity lost anyhow - imagine if they'd have done an STe release instead of an STf game. Imagine the public reaction - they'd have been heroes! Their loss........ hey ho ;)

Stay clear of this game. The ST is far more capable and has tons and tons of quality titles. Enjoy those!
racing gamer - 13/01/2015
Maybe it was done badly on purpose to let the Amiga shine. I read somewhere that there was also 1MB version in the works but it was never released... Seeing many "Beast" demos it could have been possible to code it close to Amiga on ST too.
Paul Cawley - 27/12/2014
As a lover of Shadow of the Beast, and an ST owner before Amiga, I have to say this is probably the worst possible way a conversion of this title could have turned out - especially when so many Amiga owners were watching to see how it compared to their version!
Auntie Pastie - 31/01/2014
@Parsnip Function; Never played it myself, but I do know that the Amiga original was- even in the format's heyday- considered by many to be style over substance; technically brilliant, but punishingly difficult and lacking in playability.
Parsnip Function - 22/04/2012
I remember being in awe seeing this running at the (only) store in the Cleveland area to sell ST software. The intro, like all Psygnosis games, was pretty and dramatic. Too bad when I plunked down the hard earned $ and brought it home the game play sucked. Maybe I was just really bad at it? Lots of memorizing incoming enemy patterns and cheap one hit kills, if I remember.

Screenshots - Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot
Shadow of the Beast atari screenshot

Information - Shadow of the Beast

GenreArcade - Platformer (Scrolling)Year1990
LanguageMachine LanguagePublisherPsygnosis
ControlsJoystickDistributor-
Players1DeveloperEldritch the Cat
ResolutionLowLicensed from-
Programmer(s)

McCubbin, Mark

CountryAustria France Germany Spain Switzerland United Kingdom
Graphic Artist(s)

[unknown]

SoftwareEnglish
Game design

Howarth, Paul / Edmondson, Martin

Box / InstructionsEnglish
Musician(s)

Whittaker, David

LicenseCommercial
Sound FX

[unknown]

Serial
Cover Artist(s)ST TypeST, STe / 0.5MB
MIDIVersion
Dumpdownload atari Shadow of the Beast Download / PastiNumber of Disks2 / Double-Sided
Protection

Additional Comments - Shadow of the Beast

Other versions with the same title:


Sizzlers (version [Budget]) (United Kingdom), Psygnosis (USA).

Game music recorded by: SNDH Recording project

Distributed in Austria, Germany and Switzerland by Rushware.
Distributed in France by 16/32 Diffusion.
Distributed in Spain by Erbe.

Disk - Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast Atari disk scan Shadow of the Beast Atari disk scan Shadow of the Beast Atari disk scan Shadow of the Beast Atari disk scan

Instructions - Shadow of the Beast

Music - Shadow of the Beast

Ads - Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast Atari ad Shadow of the Beast Atari ad Shadow of the Beast Atari ad Shadow of the Beast Atari ad Shadow of the Beast Atari ad Shadow of the Beast Atari ad Shadow of the Beast Atari ad

Tips - Shadow of the Beast


Shadow of the Beast Tips

Trivia - Shadow of the Beast

Sound
This game features digital titlemusic
Music written with Quartet


Awards:
Golden Joystick Awards: Best 16-bit graphics 1990


Conversion - Atari Lynx


Shadow of the Beast Trivia

Conversion - Atari 8-bit
Preview


Shadow of the Beast Trivia

Charts
Top UK ST charts position: 3 (1/1991), 1 (12/1991, 1/1992, 2/1992 budget)
Months on charts: 7 between 1/1991 - 3/1992


Clothing - Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast Atari Clothing

Posters - Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast Atari Posters

Book / Magazine Reviews - Shadow of the Beast

 ST Format · December, 1990Rating: 83% 

Shadow of the Beast Atari review 

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