all games are not created equal

Both of these games were created by the same dude, and it shows.

Most everyone probably knows Golden Axe.  It's your traditional beat-em-up where you use swords and axes and magic to beat up people and still their dragons and stuff.  It's pretty good but I fail to see how it is so much better than any other beat-em-up out there.

Altered Beast, however, blew me away back in the day.  The very first footage of me on a video camera is my mom finding me in my uncle's room playing Altered Beast on his Genesis (blank stare and mouth gaping wide open).  I was hooked.  The game came packaged with his Genesis and was like nothing I ever seen before.
You play as an ancient Greek warrior resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter, so I guess that makes you a zombie.  The controls are strictly 2D, but it still works.  You punch and kick different types of zombies and creatures as the level scrolls forward.  Occasionally you encounter white wolf creatures that will give you a power ups.  The first power up causes you to rip your shirt, and your attacks to more damage.  The second one makes you look like Mr Olympia, but with a tiny head. 
The third power-up is where the game's title comes into play.  Depending on the level (of which there is usually only 5, depending on the system you play on), you'll transform into a beast with special abilities.  The werewolf shoots fireballs and has a dash attack, the dragon can fly and shoot lightning, the bear can turn enemies to stone and do barrel flips, and the tiger can also shoot fireballs and dash up and down.

Honestly Altered Beast isn't as amazing as it used to be, so Golden Axe is probably a better pick for casual players.  But for me, nothing brings nostalgia like Altered Beast.  It was the first game I played, the first game I ever beat.  Last night I bought the Sonic's Genesis Collection on my PS3, just because I wanted to own Altered Beast again, PLUS it has the arcade version!  Yeeeah!