Beyond Oasis

Beyond Oasis
Also known as: The Story of Thor: Hikari wo Tsugu Mono (JP), The Story of Thor: A Successor of The Light (EU) Developer: Ancient Publisher: Sega Platform: Genesis Released in JP: December 9, 1994 Released in US: March 15, 1995 Released in EU: March 1995 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused items. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article

Beyond Oasis is the story of Ali, a prince who found a magical Gold Armlet. Throughout his adventure to stop the Silver Armlet's user (including dungeons, breakable weapons, food items, puzzles, boss battles, and sidequests), Ali can summon water, fire, shadow, and plant spirits.

Ali also has a versatile-yet-weak knife, but once he gets the infinite Omega sword...!

Sub-Page

Prototype Info

Title Screen Codes

There are several hidden options available on the title screen:

• Skip to the demo: Hold Down + Right and press Start.
• "5 Best Players" screen: Hold B and press Start.
• Clear "5 Best Players" records: Hold Up + Left + A + B and press Start.

New Game Codes

These require a 6-button controller. Before using these, make sure the Diary screen highlights an empty save slot by default when you open it.

On the title screen, hold any of the below sets of buttons while pressing Start twice (the first to open the Diary, the second to start a new game). A sound will confirm the code was entered correctly.

Note that these codes don't always appear to work, and it normally helps to hold Start for about a second each time you press it.

View Ending

• Down + Left + A + B + Z

Full Inventory and Upgraded Stats

• Up + Right + A + Y

The rank given appears to be random, with 21-50 having been seen so far.

Area Select and Dialogue Viewer

• Down + Right + A + Z

During gameplay, hold MODE while opening the save screen to access the area list:

• Up/Down: Change the selected area.
• Left/Right: Change the page.
• B: Warp to the selected area.

To access the dialogue viewer, hold X + Z during gameplay and press A or C to close the menu you just opened. With X + Z still held, walk up to an NPC and press B to talk. The game will now cycle through the story text.

Sound Test

On the file select screen, highlight an empty slot and press B + Start at the same time. On this menu, press C to play a sound, B to stop it, and A to fade out. While a song is playing, some stars fall from the top of the screen.

Interestingly, this menu and other data somehow got copied into Crusader of Centy.

Unused Sounds

Among the sounds present in the sound test are some from Streets of Rage, another game Ancient worked on in regard to the audio. At least some of these are unused.

Developer Messages

Text beginning at 060010:

Ancient Music   
Driver -MD-     
68000 Program   
    Version 1.06
Copyright(C)1994
Ancient corp.,  
Programmed By   
   Hideki Koyama

A slightly different message is at 062E58:

Ancient Music   
Driver -MD-     
Z80 Program     
    Version 1.06
Copyright(C)1994
Ancient corp.,  
Programmed By   
   Hideki Koyama

Unused Graphics

A simple sign, used in the April prototype.

Unused Items

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: How do you put these in your inventory?

Present in the game are 19 unused items, IDs 0x2B-0x31 and 0x33-0x3E, all of which use placeholder graphics. None of the items can be used as weapons, food, or equipment, although 0x2B-0x30 can be dropped on the floor.

Oddly enough, the Large Cube, which does make an appearance late in the game, sits amongst the mass of unused items at ID 0x32.

Regional Differences

Title Screen

Japan	Europe	US

The Japanese and European title screens are pretty much identical, while the US version changes the name and background.

Gameplay Changes

Menu controls are different between regions:

• In the Japanese version, the A Button and C Button confirm menu selections, and the B Button is used to either go back to the previous menu or exit the main menu.
• The International versions switch this up: The A Button and C Button exit the current menu, and the B Button is used to confirm menu selections.

This is a rather confusing change and seems counterintuitive to how menus work in most other Sega games. The player presses the B Button to attack, so maybe someone on the localization team thought the attack button should be the confirm button...?

Text Differences

The European version is actually based off of a slightly earlier build than the US game, so there are a few text differences between versions. Differences are underlined in the comparisons.

Europe	US
I am Dytto, a spirit of water. Water has a power to purify and can wash away evil.	I am Dytto, a water spirit. Water has the power to purify and can wash away evil.
Notes Slight rewriting of Dytto's introductory text.

Europe	US
Instruction	Instructions
Notes 'cause, you know, there's always more than one instruction. This change applies to all four spirits.

Europe	US
Press A,B and C buttons together to cancel summon	Press A,B and C buttons together to cancel the summons
Notes Slightly better English on the cancelling instruction. This change applies to all four spirits.

Europe	US
"Magic Storm" Hold Button A for 1 second to blow off the enemies with a water tornado.	"Magic Storm" Hold Button A for 1 second to attack all enemies with a water tornado.
Notes I think you know why this was changed.

Europe	US
He found Dytto, a spirit of water who had been sleeping in Water Shrine.	He found Dytto, a spirit of water who had been sleeping in the Water Shrine.
Notes The European script is missing a "the" here.

Europe	US
He found Efreet, a spirit of fire who had been sleeping in Waterfall Shrine.	He found Efreet, a spirit of fire who had been sleeping in the Waterfall Shrine.
Notes Another missing "the."

Europe	US
Ali defeated the gargoyle. He headed his boat in the direction where Silver Armlet disappeared.	Ali defeated the gargoyles. He headed his boat in the direction where Silver Armlet disappeared.
Notes Ali has to fight two Gargoyles on the boat, so the US line is the correct one.

Credits

International	US

The Japanese and European versions have the game's title before the credits. Instead of making new graphics that say "Beyond Oasis", the US version just cuts out everything but "Staff."

The US version changes a few of the staff titles in the credits. The European version branched off from the US prototype builds before these changes were made, so the European and Japanese credits are identical.

International	US

There's an added space after the comma in the US version.

International	US

"Art Direct" changed to "Art Direction."

International	US

"Back Ground" was corrected to "Background" in the US game.

International	US

"Script Write" changed to "Script Writer."

International	US

Yuzo Koshiro is no longer fruit and/or vegetables.

Japan	Europe	US

The European version keeps the copyright information the same but updates the copyright year. The US version changes the text so the copyright year is immediately after the copyright symbol in both strings.

Japan	International

"DEADS" was corrected to "DEATHS" in the international versions of the game.

Japan	International

The Japanese version has instructions on how to display the "BEST 5" list from the title screen. For some reason, these instructions were removed from the US and European versions.