Altered Beast 1.0 features are:
# Complete conversion, from the animated opening screen to the game ending.
# It is a "file" version. That is: it will run from disk or hard disk.
# Compatible with any MSX computer (including MSX 1.0 with slow VDP, which was not correctly supported by the original cassete version).
# Palette specially designed when running on MSX2 or better computers, based on Cool Colors palette.
# Return to the game start screen when the game is won.
# Compatible with any MSX-DOS version (from 1.0 to 2.4).
# "Full" speed (= Spectrum) when running on 7MHz (or faster) computers.
# The minimum requirements for any MSX are 64Kbytes RAM, 16KBytes VRAM and DOS 1.x.
# The recommended equipment is: MSX2 running at 7MHz (or more), 128Kbytes RAM, 16KBytes VRAM, DOS 2.x and HardDisk.

I am thinking to add the following features:
# Scoreboard improvement, adding more energy blocks.
# Colision system improvement, making the game easier.
# Dynamic palette on the stages (MSX2 computers).

Improvements that will not be:
# Adition of original Spectrum sound scores (even using CD).
# New graphic colorization.
# The use of sprites on the main character.

This game was converted by ICON Games in 2007 from tape to disk. Besides the disk convertion, other features were implemented:

    * File version, runs from any floppy or HD
    * Fixed VDP corruption when the table scrolled up or down
    * Implemented palette with colors more similar to the original ZX Spectrum version
    * Full speed (almost same as the Spectrum version) on machines with 7Mhz or turbo
    * Cheat mode (you can play with infinite balls, so you can see the whole game)


Minimum requirements for this game: MSX1 with 64kb RAM, 16kb VRAM and DOS 1.x

Recommended requirements: MSX2 or superior, 64Kb RAM, turbo, DOS 2.x and HardDisk

This convertion was a tough one! First the main problem was to make the game work with disk drives, since the game goes from 0100h to 0EEFFh, which destroys the MSX-DOS work area!

So, in order to make it work, part of the game had to be compressed - and after loading everything possible on RAM without loosing MSX-DOS, then the rest is decompressed on memory.

This game also had a problem on MSX2 or up - it wouldn't draw anything after drawing the main title screen! The problem is that the game wasn't setting the "VDP to write", so on MSX2 the game wouldn't draw anything at all (HUGE thanks to Daniel Caetano to help me find that out!)

The game only allowed the player to control Gilbert from the Joystick - now you can play with keyboard as well (cursor keys + space).

And all of that had to be implemented on a small memory area, from 7000h up to 7FFFh! As the Time Scanner convertion, besides the fixes mentioned above, this game has improved palette on MSX2 and up; it's converted to single files, so it will run from floppies to HDs.

Something peculiar: this game was very well adapted from Spectrum - it runs almost at the same speed as the original game (you can of course run it on turbo if you want a real challenge), and it also uses some sprites on the scoreboard (the four slots where object appears).

The down side of this game: on the original, when you play on a arcade machine, the scoreboard is replaced by a small view of the arcade... this graphic was removed from the MSX version - while the text that appears telling what game you're going to play is much more colorfull than the spectrum version.