Altered Beast/Round 2

Stage description

The second stage takes place inside of a dank dark cave and the inhabitants are all looking for their next meal. The cave is infested with Round Leeches who like to leap onto their victims' heads and drain their life. Rattle Tail dragons surprise their prey by flying straight up or down. And Chicken Stingers have tails so strong, they can crush the few rock formations that serve as ledges throughout the stage. Your transformation into a dragon on this stage allows you to fly effortless above the ground, and launch an attack that affects everything close to you.

Enemies

Returning enemies

Lascert Wolves, Skinny Orculus

Round Leech	Rattle Tail
Points: 100 Round Leeches look like limbless blobs that can do nothing more than hop along the ground. But when they get close to you, they leap into the air and attempt to land on your head. If they're successful, they begin sucking the life out of you until you literally shake them off by rapidly pressing left and right.	Points: 500 Rattle Tails are capable of dropping straight down from the ceiling, or straight up from the floor. They can do a lot of damage if they catch you. They announce their position before they attack. They rattle their tail just before they fly. If you are fast enough, you can preempt their attack by striking their tail. Otherwise, you much punch their head as they fly, or avoid them entirely.
Chicken Stinger
Points: 300 Chicken Stingers are short creatures that crawl across the floor. In order to attack them, you much kick them, or punch them while you are crouching. Their only means of attack is with their incredibly powerful tail, which is strong enough to break rocks. These creatures can also be found in the game Golden Axe.

Transformation

When you become a dragon, you immediately gain the ability to fly throughout the screen and hover off the ground. This allows you to quickly escape from most threats on the ground. Both of the dragon's attacks are based on electricity. For the punch button, the dragon breathes a bolt of lighting which travels straight across the screen. Use it to take out any threats on the other side of the screen before they get close enough to attack. The kick button causes an electric field to surround the dragon's body in every direction. It doesn't extend very far, but any enemy caught in the field will be stunned and suffer electrical damage.

Silver wolves

Arcade version

Segment 1

1. After the first set of Round Leeches appear, two brown wolves will leap across the screen from right to left. A silver wolf will be right behind them. Stay near the left side of the screen and let the wolf come to you so you don't get attacked by the Round Leech and Rattle Tail that appear on the right.
2. Two more brown wolves will leap from the ledge on the right, and drop down to the floor below before escaping. A silver wolf will follow them. To hit it and obtain the power-up orb, stay near the right, and jump up and punch it as it leaps off the ledge.
3. After the first Chicken Stinger appears, two brown wolves will appear on the left and leap across the screen to the right. A silver wolf will appear right behind them, but it leaps further out to the left than the brown wolves, so stay near the middle of the screen in order to attack it.

Segment 2

1. After a set of Rattle Tails travel through the screen, two brown wolves will appear on the right and leap to the left, followed by a silver wolf. The silver wolf will leap further out to the right, so stay near the middle of the screen.
2. You'll come across a stationary brown wolf on a ledge. From that same ledge two other brown wolves will leap off of it to the right and attack. A silver wolf will appear after them. Stay on the left side of the screen, and punch the wolf before it lands.

Segment 3

1. The next silver wolf appears on the right side of the screen and remains stationary until you defeat it.
2. If you have defeated the silver wolf described above before two brown wolves leap across the screen from left to right, a silver wolf will appear behind them and follow along.
3. A silver wolf will be perched on a ledge and remain motionless.
4. A second silver wolf will also be perched on the following ledge.
5. Beyond a third ledge, a pack of wolves will be trying to leap across the floor from right to left, but they will be stuck behind the ledge. Destroy the ledge and quickly take the pack out, including the silver wolf.

Genesis version

Segment 1

1. Near the start, two brown wolves will leap across the screen from right to left. A silver wolf will be right behind them.
2. Shortly after, another pair of brown wolves will leap from right to left, one fast and one slowly A silver wolf will appear after them, leaping quickly.
3. After two Rattle Tails drop down and a Chicken Stinger appears, a pack of wolves will appear on the left, two brown followed by a silver wolf, and run across to the right.

Segment 2

1. Shortly after the segment starts and a Chicken Stinger appears, one brown wolves will run quickly across the ground from right to left, followed by a brown wolf and a silver wolf. The silver wolf runs quickly, while the brown wolf is slower.
2. Later on, two brown wolves will slowly leap across the ground from right to left, followed by a silver wolf which leaps across quickly.

Segment 3

1. After two Rattle Tails drop down and a Chicken Stinger appears, a pack of wolves will appear on the left, two brown followed by a silver wolf, and run across to the right.
2. Shortly after, another pair of brown wolves will leap from right to left, followed by a silver wolf. They leap slowly.
3. After some more Rattle Tails, a single brown wolf followed by a silver wolf, will quickly leap across the ground from right to left.

Boss: Octeyes

Once again, Neff will only transform into the boss if you have transformed into a Dragon. If you have not transformed into a Dragon by the third time you encounter Neff, he will transform anyway, and the battle against the boss will be near-impossible.

Octeyes is a large plant-like creature that remains stationary on the right side of the screen. At rest, you can see one very large eye. However, it peels back its leaves to reveal a large collection of eyeballs, many of which Octeyes will send out toward you to attack. The eyes can be removed by striking them and doing enough damage. But it's the center eye which is Octeyes' weak point.

To defeat the boss, shoot the main eye between its volleys of attacks. Well timed use of your kick attack will paralyze the eyes, and can damage Octeyes as well from close range. If the eyes get too close for comfort, retreat and keep using the lightning area attack until you can approach the boss again. With two players this boss is incredibly easy, as they can overlap their area attacks to permanently paralyze the eyes.

Oracle Eye

After defeating Octeyes, you are given another glimpse of Athena's fate. Once captured, Athena has been tied up to a cross before a cauldron, where a sorcerer (perhaps Neff himself) is chanting a spell that will initiate the beast transformation process in Athena.