Untitled Document

The first Shadow Of The Beast was created in 1989, by
PAUL HOWARTH (20 at that time) and MARTIN EDMONSON (21).
They released an earthshaking preview disk and when the game
finally came out it set the standards for many 2D action games
to come. The graphics were incredible and the Amiga
sound, composed by David Whittaker, was breathtaking.

Many reviewers said (and some still say) that the
game was simply unbeatable because of bad gameplay.
You can hardly finish the first part of the game without parts of
your hair turning grey..
Unless you are using cheats it´s insanely hard..

The guys at REFLECTIONS really knew how to show off
some tech tricks, but I guess they never actually tried
to PLAY the game. Maybe because they weren´t much older
than me now when they made Shadow Of The Beast.
After all, they implemented that really nice cheat,
so the game is not THAT very big deal at all.

Of course, Beast is still quite challenging - even when
using the cheat you will need some practice to complete
your task.

PSYGNOSIS released the game in 1989 for the
Commodore Amiga. In the following years they released many
versions of the game for other platforms.
Some time after Beast 3 (!), they even released a special
Fujitsu Marty version with enhanced graphics and cd audio music!
Sadly the FM Towns Marty version was only available in japan.
On the other hand - did you own a FM Towns at that time..?
It included a nice and original "Beast hates the dust" warning card.
The full name of this version was "Shadow Of The Beast COMPLETE".

I will NOT mirror any ratings for Shadow Of The Beast 1,2 and 3
because you either love it - or you completely hate it.
It is the style and atmosphere you experience when you play
the game. Every Beast is (at least for the time of it being made)
technically perfect. The gameplay varies from part 1 to 3.
I guess part three is the easiest, but as mentioned above,
some like it - some don't. Just find out yourself..

CHEATS

AMIGA:
When the third title screen appears (the one with the Beast on it),
press and HOLD the firebutton AND the LEFT mousebutton until
the diskchange. Then release the buttons and change the disks.
When the game starts, you should be invulnerable.

MegaDrive/Genesis:
Get a highscore and enter "qxz" as your name. You should also
get invulnerability. Notice that the life counter still counts downward.

VERSIONS of the game:

8-bit:
Atari Lynx (almost the same graphics as on the Amiga but different monsters,
items and maps)
SEGA MasterSystem
Amstrad/Spectrum
C64

16-bit:
Commodore AMIGA (BEST VERSION!)
SEGA MegaDrive (by far the best conversation)
SuperNES (bad sound, different titel screens)
TG16 (SuperCDROM only)

32-bit:
AMIGA CD32 (ShadowOfTheBeast TRILOGY CD) UNCONFIRMED
FM-Towns Marty (ShadowOfTheBeast COMPLETE)
(contains extremely good redesigned gfx and cd audio)

SCREENSHOTS

Shadow Of The Beast for Towns Marty (left) and for the AMIGA (right).

From the COLLECTION:

Stuff that came with the game:

The original (big) gamebox, including the two disks and the manual. This picture is
from the newer version of the game. (you can see this when looking at the disks,
the newer version has the Beast logo printed on both disks. The older version had
stickers on the disks with Shadow Of The Beast printed on them.

This is the EXTREMELY RARE Beast T-Shirt. It was included in the limited edition
of Shadow Of The Beast 1. Even I do not have it. (I will pay up to 60 DM for this
shirt!! So.. if there's anyone who wants to sell it..)

The large cover of the first Beast. The Artwork was done by ROGER DEAN.

Back- and frontcovers from the Genesis version of Shadow Of The Beast.
There was an edition, including a free Roger Dean Poster (larger version of the
package design by Roger Dean.)
I would also pay a lot for this one.. so.. ;-)

These scans are from the PC-Engine/TG16 version of Beast1. The gfx are
special redisigned. There is only a Super-CDROM version for the TurboGFX16.
On the right you can see the original PCE-title screen of Beast1.
(look at the three letters NEC, proving that it is a genuine TG16 screen ;-))

The originial C64 Cassette version of Shadow Of The Beast.
This is an inlay-cover scan.

An advertisement flyer for the Amstrad/Spectrum Version of Beast.

This is a COMPLETE handdrawn map of Shadow Of The Beast
(no, not by me ;-)) It includes all secrets, every item and every boss.