Overview
Beyond Oasis is an action-adventure game with RPG elements for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. It was released in Japan in 1994 and in North American and PAL regions the following year.
You play as Prince Ali, the treasure-hunting son of the royal family of Oasis, who stumbles across one of two ancient arm braces that has the power to summon elemental beings. Someone is using the other arm brace to unleash monsters and sow chaos throughout the kingdom. Prince Ali must master four elements to track down and stop this evildoer. Along the way, you’ll explore the land of Oasis, delve into ancient ruins, and wander through abandoned castles.
Gameplay
Beyond Oasis is often compared to The Legend of Zelda, but the game isn’t as deep or polished as any of Link’s adventures. As Prince Ali, you start with a basic unbreakable dagger and have the opportunity to find and equip swords, bows, and bombs with limited durability or ammo. It’s unfortunate that you otherwise can’t upgrade Prince Ali’s main weapon, because the dagger is quite weak and doesn’t have the reach of other melee weapons. Using a sword makes combat more enjoyable, but you always have to return to the dagger when your subweapon breaks or is depleted.
Prince Ali’s movement is plodding and heavy; walking feels like it takes effort. Running is a more effective way to move and allows you to strike harder with any melee weapon. However, you can only run in one direction and have to stop and resume Ali’s motion if you switch from the x- or y-axis. Prince Ali’s awkward movement is most apparent in some of the light platforming areas. Jumping onto a moving platform or between cliff tops is harder than it should be. In places where you’re working against wind or water, getting to the next section can feel particularly frustrating.
While some of the dungeon puzzles or platforming areas feel challenging, the game’s bosses are anything but. Managing your inventory of restorative goods and choosing the right elemental companion means you can usually defeat the dungeon bosses — including the game’s final boss — with little difficulty. This involves some strategy, as there are areas that have limited supply drops.
Summoning your elemental companions is one of the game’s unique mechanics. Using a blast from your arm brace, you can call a water fairy, fire jinn, shadow creature, and sentient plant. As part of the dungeon puzzles, you’re often tasked with summoning the needed creature in a unique way, requiring you to think around corners on how to move forward. Yes, you can summon the fire jinn from expected places like wall braziers and campfires, but you can also use bomb explosions (if you’re quick enough). Likewise, you can get the water fairy from typical water sources and also from water-based enemies. As the game progresses, you’ll often be switching between elementals to solve increasingly complex puzzles.
Graphics & Sound
One area where Beyond Oasis excels is its visual style. The graphics are exceptionally good, with colorful characters and environments. The pixel art is some of the best of the 16-bit era. Of particular note are the bosses. While these fights often aren’t challenging, their on-screen presentation is wonderful. From dragons and spiders to screen-filling rock snakes, the bosses of Beyond Oasis are something to behold.
Composer Yuzo Koshiro, who is perhaps best known for his work on the Ys and Streets of Rage series, wrote the game’s soundtrack. While the music fits the game well, it’s not particularly standout among Koshiro’s credits. That’s not to say that the music isn’t perfectly serviceable, but you likely won’t be humming it long after the game is over. The rest of the game’s sound design is a mixed bag, with some of the enemy screams becoming quite tiresome.
Story
Playing through Beyond Oasis, one can’t help but think that part of the story got lost during translation. While the tale begins with a fairly common RPG premise, it takes an abrupt left turn midway through to introduce Prince Ali’s second, missing sister — who is never mentioned prior to that point. This wouldn’t be a huge deal if it wasn’t so critical to the plot. Given this character’s importance, you’d think that she would have been mentioned much earlier in the story. This, unfortunately, makes the game’s conclusion fall a bit flat.
Final Thoughts & How to Play
Newcomers to the action-adventure genre may find an excellent entry point in Beyond Oasis. The beautiful graphics and low difficulty make for a breezy playthrough that doesn’t require hours of investment. Upon finishing the game, you’re given stats on your play time and how many elemental gems you were able to find. This is a good inducement to play again with an eye toward a faster playthrough or a more complete run.
However, these same characteristics may be off-putting to seasoned gamers looking for a deep play experience. Beyond Oasis is very much a surface-level game that only takes about 6 hours to finish. Plus, the awkward movement and inability to upgrade your basic weapon may warn away some players.
Loose copies of Beyond Oasis cost about $50-60 on the secondary market, while complete copies can fetch upwards of $200. The game has been rereleased a number of times on different platforms, so only true collectors may want to shell out for an authentic Genesis / MG cartridge.