Beyond Oasis (Sega Genesis)

Advertisement for Beyond Oasis for the Sega Genesis from the May 1995 issue of Sega Visions.

Source: Sega Visions – May 1995

Beyond Oasis is an action/RPG hybrid that was released by Sega for the Genesis in 1995. At least that was the name in North America. In Europe and Japan it was called The Story of Thor. Which seems to be a bit odd given that the story has a Middle Eastern flavor revolving around Prince Ali and summoning Efreets and such. I guess in both cases the references are pretty (completely) superficial.

Speaking of story, you play the role of Prince Ali who discovered a gold amulet which once belonged to a wizard. Once upon a time, this wizard waged a war with another wizard, who of course was evil, bearing a silver amulet. You must travel the world learning how to use your amulet because someone has apparently also discovered the silver amulet and you must stop them.

This is an action/RPG and game play is somewhat reminiscent of games like Zelda. You must make your way across the map collecting various items. These include special items to restore health and mana, various weapons to help you defeat enemies, and most importantly, four spirits that will help you defeat the antagonist. These spirits are the water spirit Dytto, the fire spirit Efreet, the shadow spirit Shade and the plant spirit Bow. They can be found in shrines scattered about the game. Your main weapon is a knife but you will also find various swords, crossbows and bombs, all of which have limited usage before they break.

Beyond Oasis got mostly positive reviews but there were some exceptions. The main criticisms were a lack of polish and the game being too short. The ratings were pretty widely spread though with Gamesradar rating it 38th on their Best Sega Genesis games of all time and Next Generation only giving it 2 out of 5 stars. However, I would say that if you like console style RPGs then you would want to at least give this one a try.

This game has had numerous re-releases over the years. It was released for the Virtual Console, as part of Sonic’s ultimate Genesis Collection, and as part of Sega Forever. More recently, it was added to the Nintendo Switch Online service. You can of course also track down an original cartridge for the Genesis. There is also a sequel that was released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn called The Legend of Oasis.