Neff

Neff is the shapeshifting god of the underworld, and the main antagonist of the original Altered Beast title.

Appearance
Neff's original form is that of a white skinned but muscular, bald sinister looking mage wrapped in a purple cloak. He has sunkern eyes and a sinister grin.

His most famous form is his Van Vander form, which transforms him into a large muscular anthromorphic rhino form, similar to the Centurion's own beast forms. In this form he is purple/magenta(Arcade version) or white(Mega Drive/Genesis version) and wears golden shoulder pads, wrist guards and golden bracers around his legs.

Aside from these two forms, Neff can also transform into:

Aggar, a brown colored rather jolly and placid looking demon made from rotting corpses. He has a pair of little pointed horns, a pair of muscular arms sitting atop a pile of bones and rotting flesh.

Octeyes, a strange alien looking plant like form that contains an unlimited supply of eyeballs that it shoots from it's flat looking 'face'. It's roots are ocotpus like and small poisonous looking purple flowers sprout from them.

Moldy Snail, a half snail, half salamander creature. The salamander half has a spiked horn upon it's nose, a fin like protrusion that juts from the back of it's head, a pair of small claws and scaly beard like horns from his chin. The snail half is a spiral shaped shell with gnobbly protrusions.

Crocodile Wyrm, a blue/red(depending on the version) large headed crocodile creature with a sun like supernova orb sitting in it's empty stomach. It's hands, tail, feet and head wrap around the supernova core. It's body seems to be a black hole from which multiple supernova balls come forward.

History
Neff, an evil demonic sorceror, seeked to replace Hades as the new God of the Underworld. During his hostile takeover with his legion of monsters, Hades fled to his brother Zeus for aid. To prevent Zeus from interfering with his conquest, Neff kidnapped Athena, Zeus' daughter as a hostage, threatening to harm her should any of the gods interfere.

Zeus as a result raised a champion from the dead, the Roman Centurion and sent him to do battle with Neff, save Athena and restore the underworld, granting him the power of the Altered Beast.

Neff first encounters the Centurion in the graveyard he is raised from. Neff transforms into Aggar, a demon capable of ripping off his constantly regenerating head in order to attack the Centurion, but he is defeated by Zeus's champion transforming into a Werewolf. Neff summons a giant illusion of his head and drains the Centurion of his spirit ball energy turning him back into a human. Neff jumps into his portal, but is followed by the Centurion to the underworld.

Neff attempts once again to get rid of the Centurion, this time by transforming into the Octeyes monster plant, attacking the Centurion with his endless supply of eyeballs, but is defeated once more by the Centurion transforming, this time into a Weredragon. Neff once again escapes, but once again the Centurion follows him after losing his beast form.

Again the Centurion corners Neff in a cave, and he transforms into Moldy Snail. The Centurion in turn takes on the form of a Werebear, and emerges the victor in the ensuing fight, causing Neff to once again flee, escaping to his castle with the Centurion in hot pursuit.

Eventually Neff transforms into Crocodile Wyrm, launching supernova blasts and small demons upon the Centurion, but the Centurion becomes a Weretiger and bests Neff in combat once more, forcing him to flee one last time.

The final showdown between Neff and the Centurion begins with Neff greeting the Centurion before transforming into his own 'Altered Beast' form of the Van Vander, a giant rhinoceros man, and he and the Centurion(who has transformed into a golden wolf) do battle once again.

Trivia

 * In the Famicom version of the game, Neff can also transform into three additional forms; King Ogre form who fights the Centurion in a Werelion form, Kraken form who fights the Centurion as a Wereshark and Great Demon form who fights the Centurion as a Werepheonix.
 * Neff appears as a hero in Sega Heroes. He is a blue beyondering hero.
 * In the arcade version of Altered Beast, Neff, the Centurion, Athena and Zeus are all depicted as actors in a film. Neff is seen with his four stunt doubles, and having a beer with the Centurion at the end of filming.
 * Neff appears in the film Wreck-it Ralph as part of Ralph's villain support group, Bad-Anon. Here he appears exclusively in his Van Vander form. He, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Eggman and Zombie(a double hatchet wielding zombie from The House of the Dead series) are the only Sega characters to appear in the film in person.