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Beyond Oasis

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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#

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.

Sound Driver Credit(s)#

Two messages that credit the sound driver's programmer are present at both 060010 and 062E58 respectively.

Ancient Music   
Driver -MD-     
68000 Program   
    Version 1.06
Copyright(C)1994
Ancient corp.,  
Programmed By   
   Hideki Koyama
Ancient Music   
Driver -MD-     
Z80 Program     
    Version 1.06
Copyright(C)1994
Ancient corp.,  
Programmed By   
   Hideki Koyama

Unused Graphics#

Beyond-Oasis-unusedsignscreen.png Beyond_Oasis-unusedsign.png

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?

Beyond_Oasis_-_unused_items_1_.png Beyond_Oasis_-_unused_items_2_.png

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

BeyondOasisCredits3INT.png
BeyondOasisCredits4INT.png

BeyondOasisCredits3NA.png
BeyondOasisCredits4NA.png

"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.