Beyond Oasis

An Action/RPG for the Sega Genesis.

Overview

Beyond Oasis is an action adventure similar to the Legend of Zelda series, whilst taking a more action/combat heavy approach. The game has a series of elemental dungeons, where the player can acquire one of four elemental spirits needed to progress through the game. These can be upgraded through finding hidden "spirit gems" in the world, often using the corresponding spirit to find it.

The Return of the Prince

In Beyond Oasis, you play as the ever resourceful, Prince Ali. On one of his treasure hunts, Ali comes across an uncharted

Ali, escaping the island.
Ali, escaping the island.

island, and decides to explore the island's cave. There he discovers the Golden Armlet. Curious, Ali decides to put on the Armlet. As he does, a strange glow fills the cave. A face appears and begins to tell Ali that "[m]any ages ago, a devastating battle was waged in the shadowlands of the Kingdom of Oasis...", expounding that Ali must find the four spirits that the Golden Armlet governs, to stop the the evil of the one who wears the Silver Armlet. As the face disappears, the cave begins to shake and crumble. Ali swiftly makes his way back to the boat and escapes, and the island sinks below the ocean. Ali arrives at the shores of Oasis.

Ali is in pretty good physical condition, and is able to preform various combat techniques, most of which involve flips and spins. He can also sprint for an unlimited amount of time.

The Map

Oasis
Oasis

The Map is used throughout the player's adventures to check the current location and itinerary. While the world is open, the player may only go to certain places through certain quests, revolving around one of the four spirits and beyond. While it may look small, Oasis is quite a big place, full of secret areas and challenges.

The Four Spirits

"Dytto" The Water Spirit

The ever helpful Dytto can be a lifesaver in tough situations. She can be summoned from any source of water, including spouts of water and water droplets. She is key to surviving the hidden underground gauntlet.

Abilities:

  • Pressing the A button once will summon a "Magic Bubble" to stun enemies.
  • Pressing the A button twice restores a significant portion of health.
  • Holding the A button and releasing will summon a "Magic Storm", which will damage anything in its path.

"Efreet" The Fire Spirit

The mighty powerhouse Efreet can smash through enemies, and destroy certain structures with powerful fire attacks. He can be summoned from any fire, and, if fast enough, though explosions. Efreet punches enemies automatically, protecting you from most threats. Efreet is used to win the special race, using his fireball dash ability.

Abilities:

  • Pressing the A button once will cause Efreet to breathe fire, which can beset enemies and unlit torches
  • Pressing the A button twice will cause Efreet to transform into a fireball, dashing at quick speed in the direction the player is facing.
  • Holding the A button and releasing will summon a "Melt Bomber" firestorm, which can decimate multiple enemies, and also set unlit torches on fire.

"Shade" The Shadow Spirit

While not as attack focused, Shade offers a special passive effect, protecting you from attacks and saving you from falls unscathed. This, of course, comes at the price of the SP bar being reduced per hit and fall. Shade can be summoned from reflective surfaces, including Knight's armor.

Abilites:

  • Pressing the A button once will summon Shade's "Dark Claw", which can be used to grab hooks and hard-to-reach objects, as well as damage enemies.
  • Holding the A button and releasing will cause Shade to become your "doppelganger", which can be used to solve certain "puzzles".

"Bow" The Plant Spirit

The hungry plant Bow is required often, to eat through certain green "caged" doors; however, he can also be used to attack. Bow can be summoned from tiny plant saplings.

Abilities:

  • Pressing the A button once will cause Bow to bite.
  • Pressing the A button twice will summon Bow to where the player is standing.
  • Holding the A button and releasing will cause Bow to pop, releasing "Poison Pollen", which slows and stuns enemies in the area.

Food and Items

Throughout the game a variety of foods can be used to restore health. These can be found in numerous areas and are often awards for defeating a room of enemies. Not all types of food will heal, however, as fruit will restore spirit. Some items will effect both statuses. Here is a comprehensive list of foods and their effects:

(H.P = Hit points

S.P = Spirit Points)

  • Cheese H.P 1/4
  • Fish H.P 1/2
  • Steak H.P 3/4
  • Roast Beast H.P To Full
  • Orange S.P 1/4
  • Apple S.P 1/2
  • Pomegranate S.P 3/4
  • Grapes S.P To Full
  • Mushroom H.P/S.P 1/4
  • Lettuce H.P/S.P 1/2
  • Garlic H.P/S.P 3/4
  • Toadstool H.P/S.P To Full

There are also summon items, which can be used to summon a specific spirit, without having to use their traditional method of summoning. A pitcher of water will summon Dytto, a lantern will summon Efreet, a mirror will summon Shade, and a plant pot will summon Bow.

Genesis Collection

Beyond Oasis recently appeared in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Even though Beyond Oasis was called The Story of Thor in other parts of the world (including Europe), the European "Mega Drive Ultimate Collection" version still contains an emulated version of "Beyond Oasis", even when the menu still says "The Story of Thor". This is easily understandable, as there is no reason to emulate a separate version of a game that is identical. The same applies to all of the box art for the games, which are all North American.

Freeing Dytto earns a 20G Achievement

Soundtrack & Trivia

The game's soundtrack is provided by Yuzo Koshiro and his studio Ancient, and an early demo of the game's song 'Concentration' can be found on the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack, which he also contributed to. Strangely, Ancient ported over most of the sound library from Streets of Rage 3 and while they can be found in the cartridge data, hardly any of them are used besides the item pickup/eat food sound.

System Requirements

  • OS: Windows® XP or higher
  • Processor: Intel Pentium 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 2GB
  • Graphics: 32MB or greater graphics card
  • DirectX®: DirectX® 9.0 or greater
  • Hard Drive: 50MB free disc space