Believe it or not, SEGA actually made several Zelda-style games on the Genesis.
Golden Axe Warrior and Crusader of Centy are the obvious ones. Both are straightforward takes on the formula. Faithful. Competent. A little safe.
Beyond Oasis is also a Zelda-like. But it’s clearly bored of just doing Zelda.
Released in late 1994 in Japan and early 1995 in North America, it lands at the absolute tail end of the Genesis lifecycle, after the Saturn was already out in the wild. Bad timing. Instead of cloning Zelda outright, it twists the formula.
You play Prince Ali, who wears a gold armlet that lets him summon elemental spirits. Water, fire, shadow, plants. Each one interacts with the environment differently and temporarily buffs your abilities. Combat, puzzles, and progression are built around that system rather than inventory juggling and menu fiddling.
It also feels different. Big sprites. Saturated colors. That slightly bouncy animation style Genesis games loved near the end. Think Aladdin, Cool Spot, Earthworm Jim. There’s even some light platforming mixed into the overhead exploration, because why not.
The other thing people tend to overlook is who made it. This wasn’t just scored by Yuzo Koshiro. It was developed by Ancient, the studio he co-founded with his mother. That’s right, he was running the whole thing.
And yes, he also wrote the music. Obviously. The soundtrack is still held in such high regard that Sega re-issued it on vinyl in 2024, sourced directly from Mega Drive hardware.
Reception at the time was… mixed. Some magazines called it one of the best action RPGs on the Genesis. Others gave it a polite shrug.
And the criticisms aren’t wrong. Hit detection is weird. Ali’s hitbox is massive. Enemies feel like they’re made of soap.
But combat is also trivial, largely optional, and mostly unrewarding in the traditional RPG sense. There’s no real leveling. Enemies respawn endlessly. Once I clocked that, I stopped caring and just ran past most of them.
The story barely exists. Gold armlet good. Silver armlet bad. Go stop the guy. Done.
Where the game actually shines is in its puzzles. Figuring out when to summon which spirit—when to freeze water, burn obstacles, or manipulate terrain—is consistently satisfying. That’s the part of the design that aged best. It’s also where Beyond Oasis quietly pulls away from Zelda instead of chasing it.
Is it a classic? Maybe. Is it a weird, late-era Genesis experiment that most people missed purely because of timing? Absolutely.
