The characters of Altered Beast (2005):
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Luke Custer
Voiced by: Abbey Hadjitarkhani
"Trans... form...? What are you talking about...?"
The game's main protagonist. The ultimate Genome-Cyborg, a Chimera-type, Luke is capable of transforming into a variety of powerful beast forms due to special chips implanted into his body, with his base form being the Werewolf. He was envied by the other two candidates for being more powerful and versatile, while they were quickly dismissed as obsolete, and thus schemed to kill him in retaliation.
Anastasia planned to absorb his genetic make-up to make her own system stable and become a perfect Chimera, but thanks to interference from Brad, Luke was able to kill her.
- Acquired Poison Immunity: Being a Genome-Cyborg, Luke is immune to the mutagenic effects of the Genome Mist, which allows him to explore the different testing areas around USGR headquarters without harm to himself.
- All Your Powers Combined: Due to being a Chimera-type Genome-Cyborg, Luke can utilize a variety of beast forms, each with their own unique abilities and weaknesses, to clear out rooms full of enemies or defeat large monstrosities all by himself.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Luke becomes this over the course of the game, as he easily slices and dices his way through hordes of mutated creatures to reach the core of the Genome Mist. He's also this in-story, as the one who outclassed Brad and Anna as the ultimate Genome-Cyborg.
- Bio-Augmentation: Applies to all Genome-Cyborgs, but Luke can become a plethora of monsters at will, all for the purpose of creating a human weapon of war.
- Bizarre Human Biology: Whatever the project did to his body, he can transform into beasts in increasingly horrific manners while still being able to easily revert back to human form.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The beast forms he can acquire are all given colors to make them more distinct and help categorize them.
- Elemental Powers: His beast forms all have different elemental abilities to counter enemies or bosses he encounters throughout the testing areas.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: A large cross-shaped scar on his torso, caused by an attack from Brad. It stays on Luke no matter which form he takes.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Due to the helicopter carrying him being attacked by the Sytry, the fall compromised Luke's memories of his conception as a test subject for USGR. He gradually recovers them as he goes through the different testing areas.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: Can become a variety of anthropomorphic monsters out of his own volition, as well as easily revert to human form once he's finished.
- Painful Transformation: Expect a gruesome transformation cutscene every time you activate a beast form, all of which seem to hurt Luke himself as he changes.
- Sole Survivor: Of the USGR Genome-Cyborg project by the endgame, with all other members and participants either dead or mutated into mindless creatures.
- Super-Soldier: The purpose of the Genome-Cyborg project.
Luke's Forms
LC311 "Werewolf"
Luke's starting beast form, a dark-furred werewolf with long, razor-sharp claws on each hand.- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Its claws are immense and sharp enough to tear through enemies with relative ease.
- Boring, but Practical: The Werewolf, being the starting form, is relatively weaker than the others and can't quite take a hit. That being said, it also has access to quite a few useful combo moves, recovers quickly from being stunned by attacks, and can be a great option for crowd control with its wide-reaching attacks, which can damage enemies less but still faster than other forms.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Light-gray.
- Foil: Deliberately designed to be a counter for the Weretiger in both speed and ferocity, although with different attributes (the Werewolf is slightly faster while the Weretiger is physically stronger).
- In a Single Bound: Its Learning-type Genome gives it the ability to charge its jump power so it can jump higher and hit enemies further up in the air.
- Informed Flaw: The Beast Data file for the Werewolf indicates that previous test subjects who tried the chip had an increase in violent behavior and got progressively more agitated. Luke never displays this in-game, so it was either fixed by the time he was completed or just not shown properly.
- Non-Elemental: Compared to the different beast forms, the Werewolf doesn't have a set elemental strength besides what the game refers to as "physique". However, the Type-N Genome enhances his attacks to give his claws a glowing mist with each move that makes them more powerful, possibly serving as a form of light-based attack to counter the Weretiger's darkness-like virus.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Luke can transform into this form at will (or under stress, as a defense mechanism) to tear through enemies like they were paper.
- Spikes of Doom: The form has spines on its back that, when the Werewolf jumps as it's curled into a ball, can damage enemies that come into contact with them.
LC330t "Merman"
The second form Luke acquires, after defeating the Leviathan in Area 2 and reclaiming the chip from its corpse. It's only usable in bodies of water for swimming.- Bubble Gun: Its main attack is to fire highly-compressed bubbles coated in a special mucus that hit enemies and explode upon impact. Its Learning-type Genome allows it to create a much bigger one that explodes like a depth charge, clearing certain organic blocks and dealing multiple hits on creatures at once. The Type-N Genome increases their damage and makes them even more accurate.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Green.
- Decoy Getaway: Its special move, which produces a decoy of itself to fool enemies and get mobs to disperse, so it can continue to attack them or make an escape. Using the Type-S Genome makes the decoy more convincing and able to trick a larger number of enemies away from the Merman.
- Fish People: What it essentially is, although the origins of its genetic material are unknown even to U.S.G.R. personnel.
- Making a Splash: Uses water-based attacks, mostly because it was created precisely for aquatic maneuverability.
- Meaningful Name: A "Merman" is the male counterpart to the mermaids of legend.
LC350t "Wendigo"
The third beast form, whose chip is implanted in the Sasquatch boss inhabiting Area 4. Despite what the name indicates, it's a primate-like beast with ice-based abilities.- An Ice Person: Its lungs have cells capable of refrigerating the air inside them, allowing the Wendigo to expel it as a sub-zero breath that freezes enemies solid, even possibly killing them instantly. The form was also made to withstand extremely cold environments and its Type-N Genome gives its attacks an ice boost for more damage.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Based off one, mostly because its chip is acquired from the Sasquatch boss.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Blue.
- Mighty Glacier: Ironically for the ice-based form. The Wendigo hits hard, but it moves slowly compared to other forms.
- Non-Indicative Name: While it's named "wendigo", it resembles a primate more than the actual beast of folklore, which is often described as a skeletal humanoid with antlers.
- Super-Strength: It can lift objects and creatures way heavier than itself, which is often required to get access to certain areas.
- Wendigo: This one is a primate instead of a skeletal creature, although its affinity with cold environments is kept from folklore.
- Wrestler in All of Us: The form with the most grapple attacks, all mapped to the X button, which allows the Wendigo to even perform suplexes and diving bombs.
LC340t "Garuda"
The fourth form, whose chip is taken from the Sytry, Brad's "pet" and the cause of Luke's crash into the Genome Mist area. It's a humanoid eagle made for flight and long-range travel.- Blow You Away: A form made for air travel, which can also summon small tornadoes as a special move.
- Boring, but Practical: Using this form is the only way to traverse Area 7 and Area 8, since both are above the Genome Mist, and the Garuda has no combos to speak of. However, its feathers can be devastating even with ground-based enemies, its tornado move is even more powerful (even more so with the Type-S Genome allowing the Garuda to move during it), and its dash attack can instantly kill most flying mobs without damage to the Garuda itself.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Orange.
- Feather Flechettes: Its main attack is to fire off its feathers as projectiles. The Type-N Genome makes them glow and deal far more damage per individual hit.
- Giant Flyer: Smaller than usual examples of this trope, but it's still an eagle with the proportions of a human, so it's definitely larger than an average eagle.
- Glass Cannon: Can deal lots of damage in very short intervals, but it absolutely cannot take a hit and gets stunned rather easily when hit.
- Meaningful Name: Named after the Garuda
of Hindu/Buddhist mythology, a giant bird that is often depicted as both a giant eagle or an eagle-like humanoid.
LC352t "Minotaur"
The fifth transformation, taken from the Balrog boss in the caves that constitute Area 10. A fiery anthropomorphic bull with hardened stone plates on its body for defensive purposes.- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Red.
- Extra-ore-dinary: Its body contains a large concentration of iron, which it can bring out through its follicles to harden its skin, serving as a defense against attacks and other hazards.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: As well as playing with Bull Seeing Red. The Minotaur's Learning-type Genome gives it a charged rush attack that is often used to break down certain barriers, but it can also destroy enemies on its way.
- Horn Attack: Its main attacks use its horns to deal damage. A certain combo also has the Minotaur gore an opposing creature and instantly kill it.
- Mighty Glacier: Like the Wendigo, the Minotaur form moves slower but hits hard, even packing a few wide-rage attacks in its combos and being capable of take hits without flinching for longer than other forms. On top of that, its Bull Rush attack gets increasingly faster the longer it goes on without collision.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: A humanoid bull with fire-based abilities that can charge at enemies.
- Playing with Fire: Made as a "biological flamethrower" according to its data, due to mucous membranes that expel highly-volatile substances that burn when exposed to oxygen, giving it said flamethrower as a special move. Its Type-N Genome also lets its attacks be lit up in flames for extra damage, and the Type-S variant makes fire rain down from above at the same time as it spews out flames.
LC353t "Dragon"
The final chip acquired in the main story, after the duel with Brad in Area 12. Called the "Ultimate Beast Form", it's the single most powerful form in the game, which uses electrical attacks.- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Purple.
- Energy Weapon: Its Learning-type Genome lets it charge up its special attack as a focused electrical megalaser that can devastate enemies in its line of fire.
- Mighty Glacier: The slowest form, ill-suited for flying long distances and, unlike other examples of this trope, it absolutely sucks at taking hits, taking way longer to recover from flinching. But get enough breathing room to charge your attacks and the damage will be tremendous.
- Our Dragons Are Different: This one uses electricity rather than fire, and it's far more anthropomorphic in appearance.
- Purple Is Powerful: The strongest beast form in the game and its main color is purple.
- Shock and Awe: Its body chemistry lets it create high-voltage orbs that can home in on enemies and it can also create a blast of electricity that can clear a room full of enemies in one move if positioned correctly.
LC321 "Grizzly"
A bonus form, acquired from the Belphegor boss at the final Elevator of Doom chamber. A bear with earth-based abilities.- Be the Ball: Can curl up into a ball to get into narrow tunnels. It can also jump during this move.
- Bruce Lee Clone: It takes on a Jeet Kune Do stance during its combo.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Brown.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Its normal attacks are enhanced with rock-like formations on its fists and feet, and its special attack is a petrifying breath.
- Fartillery: Its Learning-type attack, the Nerve Gas... Which is a fart move that stuns enemies.
- Guide Dang It!: The small holes in certain areas which seem too small for other forms to enter are meant for the Grizzly to access. There are two holes, and both lead to Unique creatures.
- A certain Unique, found only in Area 15, is isolated in a small chamber with only an air vent connecting to it. The player needs to use the Nerve Gas specifically to kill it, with no other indication existing to tell the player it's possible.
LC390t "U.W.H."
Called the "Unidentified Weightless Human", this form can only be obtained after beating the Boss Time Attack mode within each time limit set. It is extraterrestrial in origin, and it resembles a humanoid with glowing plasma skin that floats over the ground.- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: A grayish-purple tone.
- Difficult, but Awesome: The U.W.H.'s 20-hit combo, which is a nightmare to perform as the timing must be perfect between each button press, and the sequence itself is tricky. Performed right, however, it can kill different types of enemies easily. It is also a requirement to kill the Unique found at the Belphegor's lair, which is only damaged by this combo.
- Gravity Master: Hovers above the ground and can use gravity to deal damage to enemies, as well as invert gravity around itself to cause instant death to enemies it displaces.
- Humanoid Abomination: Even more so than any of the other beast forms, since it's not even remotely associated with an animal or beast of folklore, but instead an extraterrestrial creature.
RB111t "Weretiger"
Acquired after unlocking all Enemy Data files. Brad's own beast form, made available for Luke's usage.- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Imbued with a potent virus that prevents the wounds inflicted by them from healing properly.
- Bragging Rights Reward: Unlocked only after all Enemy Data files are acquired... meaning there'll be nothing else for the player to do, since acquiring all the files means reaching 100% completion.
- Casting a Shadow: The virus in its claws gives them a darkness-like fog to contrast with the Werewolf's light-like mist effect.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Gray.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: Its special attack, Fatal Wave, which is a flourish of black bladed projectiles that slices enemies after homing in on them.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: Genocide Rage, which is a dash attack across the room.
Antagonists:
Brad/Weretiger
Voiced by: Danny Shorago
"You have grown strong... But next time shall be your last!"
A Genome-Cyborg who is also exploring the areas affected by the Genome Mist, with his transformation being the powerful Weretiger. He wants to go after Luke to settle a score with him.
He was the first successful Cyborg created by Dr. Eric Jobs, but his limitation to one single form made him obsolete when Anastasia, and later Luke, came into the picture. He left in disgust, but returned when the Genome Mist was released, seeing it as an opportunity to prove his superiority.
- Boss Room: The Dragon chip's chamber in Area 12, which Brad is guarding from Luke.
- Casting a Shadow: The Weretiger form gives him the ability to use darkness-based attacks, such as black bladed projectiles and his dark-infused claw strikes.
- Duel Boss: Most, if not all of the boss fights in the game usually involve Mooks to help the player keep the Spirit gauge full so they can keep the transformation going. Brad fights Luke without any other creature in the boss room, with the green Spirit and red Health dropping from the ceiling onto the ground on occasion, all to help build the atmosphere for two rivals fighting it out like animals.
- Enemy Posturing: In his boss battle, the Weretiger will taunt Luke if he manages to knock him down on the ground, wagging his finger at him or crossing his arms impatiently.
- Foil: To Luke. Brad is vengeful and sees him as weaker and unworthy of being the ultimate Genome-Cyborg, while Luke doesn't seem to return the feeling other than thinking the envy is unnecessary. The Werewolf and Weretiger forms are also made to oppose each other in combat, evenly matched in both elemental affinity and overall strength. In fact, the Werewolf is the only form that can remotely hurt the Weretiger fast and efficiently in his boss battle.
- To Anastasia. Brad thinks Luke is unworthy of Dr. Jobs' favoritism, but he was content with just leaving in disgust until he found an opportunity to settle the score in combat, which he otherwise dealt with reasonably well after he lost. Anastasia, on the other hand, was so incapable of handling being outdone that she went completely insane and, while only having one beast form herself, can still adapt it to different configurations.
- Graceful Loser: When beaten by Luke."I now understand why it was you that was chosen."
- Green-Eyed Monster: Did not agree with Luke being chosen to become the ultimate Genome-Cyborg, thinking he was more worthy of it himself. When the Genome Mist was released, he sought out Luke amidst the chaos to finally prove himself to be the superior being.
- Lightning Bruiser: As a boss, the Weretiger is fast and hits hard, able to dodge the player's attacks and goad them into a combo in order to hit back and knock them down.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Killed by Anastasia after gravely wounding her Chimera form to help Luke, giving him a large weak spot to hit.
- Might Makes Right: Implied to have this mentality to a degree. He considers Luke unworthy of being the Chimera-type cyborg, especially after their first battle resulted in the Werewolf losing after only a few moves. When Luke beats him later in the game, Brad relents and later even helps him against the real villain.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: Can become a Weretiger in combat situations.
- Redemption Equals Death: Abandons his desire to be superior to Luke to help him against the Chimera, but dies in the process.
- The Rival: To Luke, wanting to prove his superiority to him in combat.
- The Scapegoat: Anastasia sets him up to be the fall guy for releasing the Genome Mist around the USGR territory, playing it up for Luke, in his amnesia, to eliminate Brad from the board.
- Spanner in the Works: His interference caused Luke's amnesia, which Anastasia was honestly not expecting but still managed to work it into her plan. Furthermore, his sudden attack on her Chimera form created a large scar that served as a weak point the player can exploit in her boss fight to damage her.
Anastasia Ainsworth (SPOILERS UNMARKED)
Anastasia "Anna" Ainsworth/AA250t "Chimera"
Voiced by: Evelyn Huynh
"Transformation puts quite a bit of stress on your cerebral cortex. That's the human part of your brain. We don't want your mind to transform as well."
A mysterious woman Luke encounters when he first lands in the area affected by the Genome Mist. She guides Luke at various points during the plot and seems to be connected with the Genome-Cyborg project.
In truth, she's the game's main antagonist and the second Genome-Cyborg created by Dr. Jobs through an infusion of several different types of animal DNA. The prototype for the Chimera-type cyborg, she was a part of the research team who was chosen to be experimented on, but quickly fell out of favor with the doctor once Luke's testing was successful. Driven mad by her jealousy, she released the Genome Mist into the testing areas surrounding the U.S.G.R. facility as well as in the laboratory itself, causing all lifeforms to be horribly mutated and instigating the government into sending Luke back to the laboratory to fix the situation.
- Adaptive Ability: Despite having only one beast form, Anna's Chimera transformation can alter its appearance and genetic composition to match Luke's other transformations evenly in both power and elemental affinity, and will shift itself constantly in the battle against her for each health bar depleted.
- All Your Powers Combined: The Chimera can use most of the elemental affinities Luke has access to, along with several combined abilities that make defeating her all the harder, such as the Garuda's mobility with the Dragon's electricity-based projectiles.
- Badass Bookworm: A former research assistant for Project Altered Beast who was chosen to become one of its test subjects. While she had flaws, she was still powerful enough to be a threat, and her boss fight is the hardest one in the game due to how long and varied it is.
- Big Bad: The one behind the release of the Genome Mist and the one who ultimately wants to achieve genetic perfection by any means necessary.
- Boss Room: A wide room in Area 15 where the partially-mutated Dr. Jobs is.
- The Chessmaster: She released the Genome Mist knowing that Luke would be sent in to deal with the situation, so she could absorb him once she was completely isolated with him. She's also cunning enough to improvise, using his sudden amnesia to pit him against Brad so he'll die/be weakened and so Luke would get the Dragon chip and become the powerful Cyborg Anna needs to stabilize her own genes.
- Duel Boss: Like with Brad, the fight against her has no Mooks to help refil the player's Spirit and Health bars, instead having them hit Anastasia in certain ways to cause her to drop the refills herself.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Each of the Chimera's boss phases uses a different elemental affinity to attack Luke. While this would usually mean the player has to use the opposing element, this trope is subverted in that it's preferable to use either the same or an entirely different element to deal with each form.
- Evil Counterpart: To both Luke and Brad. While the latter was jealous of the former for being chosen to become the perfect subject for the project and wanted to fight him over it, Anna took it to the extreme and chose to get her revenge against Dr. Jobs and every person associated with the project, becoming obsessed with proving her worth to Eric and becoming a perfect being. This applies to her beast form as well, which is a barely-human blob of flesh with variable limbs and her torso crudely sticking out at the top, while the other two cyborgs all have beast forms that retain a more humanoid mold without devolving too far into Body Horror outside of their transformations.
- Final Boss: The perpetrator behind the Genome Mist's release and the final opponent Luke must defeat before he can leave the testing area.
- Guide Dang It!: Her boss enemy data is not earned through the Boss Time Attack mode like the others, leaving an empty space for her bio that isn't ever given a hint about where to find it. To get the data for the Chimera, the player has to fight her in Story mode twice.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Far more envious of Luke than even Brad was, to the point she compromised the project and its personnel just to get back at them for discarding her.
- The Heavy: Single-handedly set the events of the game in motion and actively works to guide Luke down the path she wants him to go, all so she can absorb him and gain his genetic capabilities to improve her own.
- Marathon Boss: She has SIX PHASES, each with their own approach and strategy.
- Mask of Sanity: She stays composed all throughout her interactions with Luke. Come the endgame and she finally starts cackling and revealing her evil motives with a monologue. By the time she's transformed and fighting Luke, she's no less monstrous than the creatures in the testing areas.
- Mysterious Waif: She appears out of nowhere, showing some knowledge of Luke's plight, and continues to help him while keeping herself vague. Until the very end...
- Walking Spoiler: With her folder holding a large spoiler warning, she's certainly a very important character for the game whose role basically defines the ending and final confrontation.
- Yandere: She has the mutated Dr. Jobs kept in Area 15, and wants to become the being he always obsessed about just to please him and never be forgotten by him again. In her insanity, however, she actually absorbs Eric into herself, keeping him to herself in the most twisted way possible.
- You Will Be Assimilated: The Chimera is capable of absorbing genetic material into itself to strengthen its build. Anna wants to do this to Luke in order to become a perfect Chimera-type Cyborg who can use multiple chips like he can, but she also does it with Dr. Jobs and two mutated lab assistants to give her an edge in the battle.
Dr. Eric Jobs
Voiced by: David Nowlin
"...Increased endurance, strength, and reactive transformation abilities. You've passed all the tests with flying colors. I've finally succeeded! You are the ultimate Genome Cyborg!"
The lead scientist for Project Altered Beast. He created the Genome Cyborgs and the Genome Mist, being an expert who was hired by the government to help them achieve a perfect Super-Soldier with animal capabilities. He was also rather fickle and obsessive, immediately latching onto the latest results of his research while forgetting about the previous ones who gave their lives for his project's sake. This ultimately results in his assistant, a Cyborg herself, releasing the Mist and compromising all of the testing areas in retaliation, with the doctor himself becoming a demented monster under his own creation.
- Death by Irony: One of his own creations mutates him and renders him barely sapient enough to speak. The other absorbs him into herself to keep him around her forever.
- Dr. Jerk: A brilliant geneticist, but one who quickly abandons his creations when they're of no further use to him.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Has very little compassion or care for the test subjects he considers outdated, despite being their creator and seeking improvements to the project based on their performance.
- Greater-Scope Villain: As the head of Project Altered Beast, he created the Genome Mist and the Cyborgs, as well as their respective chips and Learning-type genomes, which resulted not only in the overall plot of the game, but the enemies and bosses Luke has to fight as well.
- Losing Your Head: Not himself, but Anastasia's first stage throws fleshy copies of Dr. Jobs' face at Luke as projectiles.
- Posthumous Character: Certainly built-up that way, with Luke being sent into the Genome Mist-affected areas to look for him, while the doctor only fully appears in flashbacks. While he isn't truly dead, the man he once was certainly is, and Anastasia quickly kills what little was left by absorbing him into her Chimera form to fight Luke.
- Was Once a Man: Post-Genome Mist, while he still looks human for the most part, he's clearly a barely-conscious creature with deformed hands who's still obsessed with Luke as his prime research result.
Bosses:
General
- Collateral Damage: It's perfectly possible for one of their attacks to hit the enemies around the arena and kill them, making it easier for Luke to acquire Health and Spirit refills.
- Flunky Boss: The majority of them will be flanked by enemies all around their arenas, purely for the purpose of replenishing Spirit and Health for Luke by killing them.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: They're giant mutant abominations affected by a number of factors, not only the Genome Mist, but the different chips and Learning-type Genomes that need to be acquired to progress in the game.
- Turns Red: When at least their first health bar is depleted, they'll usually become more aggressive and pull this trope literally, sometimes also dealing Collision Damage if the player tries to rush at them unprepared.
Creatures
MB1091m "Leviathan"
A large amphibian creature inhabiting the entrance to the waterways of Area 2. It was mutated by swallowing the Merman chip, and killing it is the only way to acquire it and leave through the water.- Ballistic Bone: Several of these. If Luke doesn't lure it out of the water, it will attack from afar by spitting out the bones of its previous meals.
- Boss Room: The bottom of the Area 2 catacombs, right at the entrance to the waterways leading back to the Start Point.
- Bullfight Boss: Unless you lure it out of the water, it won't be able to get hit, and it will only come out if it thinks it can spring up a surprise attack at Luke when he's reasonably near the pool. When the camera closes in on the Werewolf, jump out of the way before it manages to strike.
- Cowardly Boss: It can go into the water thanks to the Merman chip making it semi-aquatic. Since Luke is unable to follow it at this point, making it come out of the water is the only way to damage it, and even then it will try to squirm back into the pool in the arena. When it Turns Red, it stops trying to hide and just attacks relentlessly.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: You get a glimpse of it the first time you reach the bottom levels of Area 2, as a cutscene shows it swimming up the canal where the Merman Beast Data is found.
- King Mook: To the Giant Rats, which also inhabit its lair even beyond its boss fight area.
- Meaningful Name: Named after the legendary sea monster of Jewish myth.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: It resembles a bloated sewer rat with fish-like traits, including fins and scales around its body, as well as spikes on its long tail.
- Varying Tactics Boss: It will always go back into the water for the first two phases of its boss fight. Come the third phase and it stops running away, squirming its massive body towards Luke to deal collision damage and knockback.
MB1092r "Sarcosuchus"
A mutant alligator that escaped experimentation and took up residence at a dam in Area 3. It contains the Learning-type Genome for the Werewolf.- Boss Room: A dam located at the end of Area 3.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Its electricity shield. It glows blue when it's active, but glows yellow when the Sarcosuchus is about to use a stronger attack.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: It spends most of its battle trying to charge at you in various ways, either to bite at the player or trash around. This is also how it utilizes the Learning Genome for the Werewolf, charging up a powerful "screwdriver" dash at the Merman.
- Glass Cannon: It deals a lot of damage if its attacks hit, but it has very flimsy defenses against the Merman's Bubble Bombs.
- King Mook: To the Alligator Fish.
- Meaningful Name: "Sarcosuchus" is the name of an extinct genus of crocodilian reptiles that lived during the Early Cretaceous period.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Like the Alligator Fish, except it's more obviously an alligator with fins and gills instead of fishes with alligator heads.
- Shock and Awe: It doesn't use electricity per se, but its body is surrounded by it when it makes itself temporarily shielded from damage.
- Underwater Boss Battle: One of the bosses that can only be fought with the Merman, since it's an aquatic creature.
MB1093a "Sasquatch"
An amphibian creature born after a frog ingested the Wendigo chip, giving it mammalian traits while also keeping its ability to swim.- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Named after it to fit the primate theme matched by the Wendigo itself, but subverting it in the sense that it's a mutated amphibian creature.
- Boss Room: A cave in Area 4 that lies behind a waterfall grotto. Said water pours back into the start of Area 3.
- An Ice Person: The Wendigo chip gave it ice-based abilities like the Beast itself, including its Blizzard breath and some physical maneuvers. This is also the reason why the underground lake where you fight it is frozen.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: Its second phase will have it clinging to the cave ceiling, requiring the Werewolf's Learning move (the Hyper Jump) to damage it.
- King Mook: To the Amphibians.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: A primate with gills and inflatable cheeks like a frog's vocal sac.
- Underwater Boss Battle: Only during its first phase. After that, it quickly takes the battle to the frozen surface.
- Varying Tactics Boss: It has three phases, the first of which is entirely underwater and requires the Merman to beat. Once its first health bar is dealt with, it breaks out of the ice with Luke and continues the battle above the surface and clinging to the ceiling. Only when the second bar is finished does it finally fight Luke on the ground.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The first boss enemy that requires an alternative method of dealing damage to defeat it rather than just attacking it directly.
MB1094h "Aeshma"
A Bloated Corpse affected even further by the Genome Mist, and even more due to ingesting the Learning Genome of the Wendigo, which is required to get into Area 6.- Anti-Frustration Features: Should the player run out of cars to throw at the boss, the Aeshma will graciously throw a bunch of new cars across the arena without destroying them... Provided the player doesn't get hit, of course.
- Body Horror: Bloated Corpses are essentially reanimated dead bodies whose decomposition process caused the stomach bloating. The Aeshma is so massively grown that its legs have become fully obsolete in trying to lift its weight, while its arms have grown gigantic and strong enough to lift cars like toys.
- Boss Room: An abandoned parking lot in the city that composes Area 5. Said parking lot belongs to the shopping mall that makes up Area 6.
- Car Fu: Its main method of attack is to throw a car at Luke from the pile behind it. The only way to damage this boss effectively is to throw them right back as the Wendigo.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: It CAN take hits from the Werewolf, but they'll do scratch damage at best, hence this trope being in effect. The only way to subvert it is to use the Wendigo to throw cars at it.
- Dead Weight: Even bigger than the average Bloated Corpses, so obese that it can't even move from its spot in the parking lot.
- Humanoid Abomination: Like the other Bloated and Living Corpse enemies, but with extra points for being so horrifically, inhumanly obese.
- King Mook: To the Bloated Corpses.
- Meaningful Name: "Aeshma" is the name of a demon in Zoroastrianism associated with the sin of Wrath. While this boss embodies Sloth more than anything, it does act like it's throwing a tantrum whenever it gets hit, angrily slapping the ground with its hands.
- Stationary Boss: This monster is so large and heavy that it can't ever move its tiny legs, instead just sitting on a pile of smashed cars in the corner of the arena.
MB100/G "Sytry"
Brad's "pet" of sorts, a flying creature originally meant to be a different beast named "Flauros". This is also the creature responsible for Luke's crash into the U.S.G.R. testing areas and subsequent amnesia. Luke faces it at the top floor of Area 6 for the Garuda chip it once ingested.- Achilles' Heel: During the second phase, while it's possible to hurt it with the Werewolf once it swoops down, the Wendigo's Learning move will not only deal incredible damage to it, it will also temporarily knock it out of the air. Ice damage in general will kill it really quickly.
- Battle Theme Music: One of the few bosses in the game to use the Weretiger's theme as its battle music. Justified, as it listens to Brad directly.
- Boss Room: An indoor sports court at the top floor of Area 6. Once the first health bar is down, it takes the fight to the shopping mall's rooftop, which is part of Area 7.
- Feather Flechettes: Due to the Garuda chip, it can fire its feathers like this, either as a straight projectile or in a minor explosive capacity.
- King Mook: Averted. It doesn't have a mook equivalent like the majority of the other bosses, instead having the unrelated Berserker enemies be the flunkies for its fight.
- Meaningful Name: "Sitri" (or "Sytry") is the name of a Prince of Hell described in the Ars Goetia as having the face of a leopard and the wings of a gryphon.
- Our Gryphons Are Different: It resembles one due to its feline body with avian features, but it was created through a scientific experiment and seems to actually hear the orders of a master.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: Attack Gryphon, but same idea. Despite being a large U.S.G.R. monster, it seems to obey Brad's orders and gets a fair share of cutscenes to itself, one of them even showing it left the lab grounds with him before the Genome Mist was released.
- Secret Test of Character: As indicated by the cutscene after the battle and leaving Area 7, Brad seems to have sent the Sytry to fight Luke as a test of his power.
MB1096ac "Xenesthis"
A giant tarantula fought at the canyon comprising Area 8, after it swallowed the Garuda's Learning-type Genome. Due to its arena layout, Luke is stuck using the Garuda against it.- Ballistic Bone: Like the Leviathan, it can spew out the bones of its previous meals as an attack if the Garuda is too far away.
- Boss Room: The far end of the canyon that makes up Area 8, standing atop a large transmission tower it has webbed up into a platform to stand on.
- Deadly Lunge: How it uses the Garuda's Learning Genome, turning crimson-red and jumping off its tower to try and land a hit at Luke when he's too close or it gets hit enough times. It will then climb back up and resume attacking.
- Giant Spider: And very much carnivorous.
- King Mook: Averted. Like with the Sytry, it has no Mook equivalent, instead relying on the huge flock of Vultures that inhabit its lair.
- Meaningful Name: "Xenesthis" is a genus of the "Theraphosidae" family, which consists of tarantula spiders.
- Projectile Webbing: It can use its webbing like this, throwing out floating, resilient web nets that will also shield it from the Garuda's Feather Flechettes. According to its Enemy Data, a single strand of its webbing can hold up to an actual ton of weight.
MB1097f "Callichthys"
A mutated catfish inhabiting a flooded mineshaft tunnel in Area 9, having gained electricity-based powers due to the Merman's Learning Genome.- Boss Room: A flooded section of Area 9 that used to be part of the mines.
- Glass Cannon: Like the Sarcosuchus, it can deal a lot of damage but it also takes a lot back.
- King Mook: Averted, it also doesn't have a mook equivalent. Although the enemies that inhabit its lair, the Giant Clams, are only found in its boss arena.
- Meaningful Name: "Callichthys" is a small genus of freshwater catfish.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Originally a catfish, it was mutated into an eel-like creature.
- Psycho Electric Eel: While it's identified as a catfish, its mutation transformed its body into this, and the association with electricity only serves to make it look more like an eel.
- Shock and Awe: The Merman's Learning Genome gave it electricity powers, such as firing off electrical orbs and generating large pillars of energy that spread across the arena.
- Underwater Boss Battle: Can only be fought with the Merman.
MB1098mc "Balrog"
A giant, deformed, mutant bat monster fought at Area 10. Due to ingesting the Minotaur chip, it has gained fire-based abilities.- Bat Out of Hell: Not only because it's a giant bat, but also because it's on fire.
- Body Horror: Its growth caused its body to become deformed and covered in a metal shell, and its stomach has a bunch of pulsating tumors due to a poor implementation of the Minotaur's biological fire-breathing abilities.
- Boss Room: A wide cavern chamber in Area 10.
- Bull Seeing Red: When it Turns Red, it will relentlessly (albeit slowly) charge at Luke with its whole body on fire, invoking this trope to a degree.
- King Mook: To the Bats found around Area 10.
- Logical Weakness: Since its final phase has its body surrounded by flames, the Wendigo's ice attacks will deal the most damage to the Balrog if it gets within range.
- Marathon Boss: The first of these for the game. It has four phases, the most of any boss up until this point, and a LOT of health on top of that, not to mention it can adapt and change its strategy. This thing will make sure you earn that Minotaur chip.
- Meaningful Name: The Balrog is a demonic creature species fought in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" books. It could shroud itself in fire and darkness, and was fought by the protagonists in the depths of a mine system much like the one in this game.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: A cave bat with bull-like features.
- Playing with Fire: Because of the Minotaur chip in its system, the Balrog can throw fireballs, spew out flames as a flamethrower and even cover its whole body with fire for extra damage.
MB100/M "Ose"
Originally the successful Flauros experiment, Brad fed this mutated feline the Minotaur's Learning-type Genome, which caused it to double in size.- Battle Theme Music: Uses the Weretiger's theme as its boss music due to Brad's involvement in its creation.
- Boss Room: The very first warehouse room of Area 12.
- Deadly Gas: Its main attack is to spew out a dark-red smoke gas from its mouth across the room. It also absorbs this smoke from vents around the arena to charge up its rush attack.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: The Minotaur's Learning Genome gave it the ability to do a dash attack around the entire room, making it fast and strong enough to climb on the walls and seemingly float across the arena as it dashes. The only way to stop it is to have it ram against the Minotaur's Iron Guard.
- Meaningful Name: Ose is one of the Presidents of Hell described in the Ars Goetia, usually taking the form of a large leopard.
- The boss' original name "Flauros" also refers to a demon in the Ars Goetia, namely a Duke of Hell that also takes the form of a feline with a fiery gaze.
- Panthera Awesome: A large mutated panther with immense agility.
TX4/L "Basilisk"
A larger Cockatrice that serves as the leader of the herd. It holds a Learning-type Genome that isn't identified until after the game's conclusion.- Animalistic Abomination: Like the Unique enemies and its own Cockatrice spawn, it's a bird-like creature with a long tail, no wings and no feathers that paces around on two legs.
- Boss Room: A habitat room under Area 14, inside the U.S.G.R. lab proper.
- Feathered Fiend: Subverted in that, while avian in biology, it lacks feathers of any kind and looks distressingly reptilian.
- Giant Flyer: A giant avian creature, but it subverts the trope due to being unable to fly at all.
- King Mook: Literal in this case, since it's actively a progenitor to the Cockatrice enemies found in its chamber. It's also arguably this for the Unique enemies found in the game.
- Giant Mook: It literally just looks like a bigger, heavier Cockatrice.
- Meaningful Name: A basilisk is a creature of European folklore often described as a chicken or small avian with reptilian traits capable of killing simply with its gaze.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: When it reaches its second health bar, it will occasionally devour one of its own spawn to regain HP.
- Mook Maker: It occasionally lays eggs that hatch into more Cockatrice so the arena won't run out of them for Spirit and Health refils. This is actually the Grizzly's Learning-type Genome in effect, which is later translated into its Nerve Gas attack.
- In a Single Bound: It can leap across its boss arena with ease, remarkable for a boss so big and heavy.
MP525t "Rhinorian"
A test subject abandoned in Area 15 after the Genome Mist was released. Resembling a humanoid rhinocerous, it holds the Dragon's Learning-type Genome, but proves to be at least a little smarter than the other bosses up until this point.- Achilles' Heel: Depends on which element it uses. If it uses a fire attack, it will be more susceptible to the Wendigo's ice, and if it uses ice, it will be weaker to the Minotaur's fire.
- Barefisted Monk: One of its attacks is a non-elemental punch combo.
- Boss Room: An abandoned testing room in the depths of Area 15's lower levels, the same chamber where the Genome Mist was first revealed.
- Bullfight Boss: It has quite a few attacks where it rushes straight at Luke, which the Enemy Data points out is due to Rhinorian's low friction on his feet, allowing it to slide across the floor at higher speeds.
- Died Standing Up: A variation. It doesn't just collapse to the floor after dying, it falls to one knee and holds itself with one arm, as if merely tired, staying like that until Luke leaves Area 15.
- Duel Boss: While its "flunkies" are present in Area 15, none of them enter the boss arena at any point. Luke has to fight this boss one-to-one.
- It Can Think: Implied. The Rhinorian will briefly stop fighting if Luke returns to human form, as if detecting he needs to take a breather to refill his Spirit. Not only that, it can throw coordinated punches in a coherent combo and use a few wrestling maneuvers with impressive human-level coordination.
- King Mook: Its Enemy Data describes it as being a different version of the other "MP523"-series enemies, namely the Orcs, Amduscias, Hrimfaxis, etc. Despite this, and the fact they ARE fought in Area 15, they don't participate in the boss fight at all.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: On its second health bar, if it starts to drag its horn on the floor with a shield up, GET OUT OF THE WAY.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: It looks very humanoid, but with hard skin and resembling a rhino due to its snout horn and having a preference for rush attacks.
- Noble Demon: Coupled with Anti-Frustration Features. Should Luke run out of Spirit and be forced into his human form, the Rhinorian will actually cease attacking and walk towards the middle of the room, sit down and "meditate". In this state, Luke can use his Killing Blow (triangle button) to make the Rhinorian drop some Spirit refils without damaging it. That being said, it will get back up and retaliate should the player push their luck.
- Wrestler in All of Us: One of its ice-based attacks is a suplex slam that causes a shockwave.
MB1099i "Belphegor"
A giant mutant pill bug, changed both by the Genome Mist and the Grizzly chip it consumed. The "true" final boss of the game, fought at the last Elevator of Doom section and requiring a special way to defeat it.- Artistic License – Biology: The boss is clearly a type of pill bug, yet the Enemy Data calls it an "insect". Despite its name, pill bugs are actually crustaceans.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: A pill bug the size of a small car. Unlike most examples of this trope, it's not an actual insect, but a crustacean.
- Boss Room: A hexagonal platform in the middle of a flooded room at the bottom of the Elevator of Doom's final section.
- Dishing Out Dirt: It uses the Grizzly's stone breath as an attack, meaning it can paralyze Luke if it hits.
- Meaningful Name: Named after a demon considered one of the seven princes of Hell in Hebrew mythology, as well as associated with the deadly sin of Sloth in Christianity.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: It has the overall body of a pill bug, but its head resembles a bear's thanks to the Grizzly chip in its system.
- Optional Boss: Fought at the end of a mode unlockable after completing the main story.
- Puzzle Boss: The only one like this in the game. First it needs to be aggravated enough to become enraged and perform its Rolling Attack. As it does so, the player must lure it to ram against the Minotaur's Iron Guard, causing it to flip over from the impact. Then, change into the Wendigo and grab the boss, get as far away from the center as possible, then throw the Belphegor into the water. Finally, quickly change to the Merman form and bombard it with Bubble Bombs before it climbs back into the hexagon until it dies.
- Rolling Attack: Naturally, given what it resembles. It can curl into a ball and roll around the platform, trying to dash straight at Luke to knock him back.
TX Series/Unique Enemies
Only found in special areas and in some boss arenas after some time, these Unique enemies were Dr. Eric Jobs' attempt at reviving prehistoric life through fossils and genetic material gathered by the lab. Locating and defeating them earns Luke the Type-N and Type-S Genomes to upgrade the Beast forms' attacks, as well as Combination points to increase their combos.
- Elite Mook: Subverted. They're special Cockatrices, yes, but they don't fight back against Luke and will try to run away until the timer runs out.
- Guide Dang It!: While it's not too hard to find their locations, getting to and defeating some of them is a proper headache sometimes, as there's no indication for which ones act differently than the others. Only a few of them work differently enough to require other means to kill them, however, but just enough that the player will be left guessing. Some won't even appear without some sort of pre-requisite that is of course never stated.
- Healing Factor: Ubelluri, the Unique found in Aeshma's arena, has rapidly-regenerating health to compensate for how it can't run at all. A beast form like the Dragon or the Grizzly is recommended to deal enough damage in little time so it can be killed.
- Palette Swap: The same basic shape for all of them, a chicken with two legs, no wings and a long reptilian tail, with only their scaly bodies showing differences. The Unique enemies found in boss arenas even have similar textures to the bosses fought in them.
- Puzzle Boss: While plenty of them are straightforward in how to kill, some of them are less obvious in how to approach and require some further thought;
- Tanatos is behind a viewing glass with an oxygen vent and no way to reach it otherwise, meaning the only way to kill it is to poison the air somehow;
- Ubelluri can't run from the player given how slow and large it is, but it makes up for it with rapidly-regenerating health that requires a beast that can deal a LOT of damage in VERY little time;
- Medusa is the worst one to figure out, as nothing seems to work on it. Only the U.W.H.'s 20-hit combo that the player needs to get just right, as it's a tough test of timing and reflex.
- Time-Limit Boss: Their encounters have a timer set for a little over 30 seconds. If they're not dead before the time runs out, they'll dig under the ground and run away, forcing the player to reload the save file if they want to try again. Tanatos is the only one to avert this by virtue of being trapped behind a viewing glass in Area 15 with no way out at all.
- Underground Monkey: They all have the same basic chicken-like shape with only two legs and a tail, with even their Enemy Data giving them only one different animation between each specimen while the other two are just running variations (all except for Ubelluri). This is because they're all offshoots of the Cockatrice enemy found in Area 14, which was the "successful" result of Dr. Jobs' project.
- Unique Enemy: It's in the title. They're rare enemies found only in a few spots around the map that give great rewards when killed.
Others:
Agent
Voiced by: Roger L. Jackson
"I assume you've already been debriefed on the situation at Foret Town. I need you to investigate the research facility, and confirm the fate of Dr. Eric Jobs and his research team..."
An unnamed government agent who was present during the early demonstrations of Project Altered Beast. In the present, he's sent Luke back into the testing area of U.S.G.R.'s main facility to confirm the whereabouts of Dr. Jobs.
- Bald of Authority: A bald government agent with enough authority to dispatch Luke into the Genome Mist areas to find the project's personnel unaccounted for.
- Flat Character: Exists primarily for exposition and to demonstrate the levels of government interest in Project Altered Beast.
- The Men in Black: The black suit and dark shades on his face gives the impression he's either a member of the Secret Service or another organization that works in the shadows.
- Regained Memories Sequence: He only appears in Luke's mid-transformation flashbacks explaining who he is and why he's at the testing areas, as Luke slowly regains his memories of such.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Aside from the flashbacks we see him in, he never shows up in the game during the present time. Somewhat justified in that, as explained, the Genome Mist would be hazardous to anyone other than the Cyborgs.
