Their first solo-developed title would take some inspiration from the work they did on Streets of Rage, building on that beat-em-up experience and utilizing it in a fantasy setting, all while weaving in magic systems and RPG elements. That game would end up becoming Beyond Oasis. It never ended up spawning a series—though it did get a prequel—and it has nowadays mostly become relegated to "hidden gem" status, a title that only really gets a look in from dedicated fans of the Genesis. It's certainly a treasure worth digging for.

A lot of modern commentary on Beyond Oasis seemingly can't help but compare it to a pair of titles over on the SNES, which, if anything, is a bit reductive. This is a combat-focused game first, and the DNA from SoR2 is definitely still there, right down to the secret inputs for powerful attacks. It controls very well for a 2.5D beat-em-up, and typical issues such as poor depth perception or questionable weapon range are basically non-existent here.

The combat flows very well, and its boss fights are largely impressive and memorable. The RPG elements are very light here—you'll occasionally increase a level to get more health or find a gem that boosts your magic—but that works out for the best, as the game doesn't bog itself down in any unnecessarily complex systems. You see monsters, you hit them, and it looks fantastic while doing so—a benefit of being a late-era Genesis title, for sure. Animations are smooth, and environments are colorful and varied. (The soundtrack, it should be said, is a bit of a disappointment.)

The magic system is, perhaps, one of Beyond Oasis's weaker points, more so because it's conceptually a lot more interesting than it ends up being. You gain four types of elemental magic here, each having their own abilities and practical uses, and each needing to be drawn from a specific set of locations in the game to be used. When you're grabbing different magic summons to solve puzzles or progress through dungeons, it feels very fun.

The puzzles in this game are generally pretty simple, so you'll at least never get stuck for long. But they rarely serve a greater purpose in combat and, in the worst case, will even help to trivialize some of the game's more exciting encounters. You're almost always going to want to have Dytto, the water summon, as your magic for any significant boss fight, and that's just so she can heal you while you whale away at enemies with your altknife.

That is, unless you manage to find some secret areas that hold Beyond Oasis's most powerful weapons. The game's world is relatively small, but there are still a healthy number of secrets to find, and what's more, a healthy amount of variety for unlocking those secrets. While one ultimate weapon might be unlocked by racing against a time limit, another might be found by navigating a secret path, or defeating a massive amount of enemies, or performing some genuinely challenging platforming. Beyond Oasis's brawling action might be its principal focus, but the game is always willing to switch things up and keep things interesting. And while it may not be the biggest adventure game of its time (in spite of what its box art would have you believe), it certainly uses its time wisely, delivering a succinct yet very well-put-together adventure.

The only real thing missing from the standard adventure here is a narrative. Many like it have shown you don't need a strong one to carry this type of game, but Beyond Oasis really pushes the envelope of the phrase "barebones storytelling."

That's something that's pretty easy to shrug off when the core gameplay is as fun as it is here, though. Beyond Oasis takes what might have been a 20-hour RPG, were it developed by someone else, and squeezes that into 9 hours of awesome beat-em-up action. You are almost always in the "good part of the game." It's tremendously paced and comes to a satisfying conclusion (from a gameplay perspective, at least) without ever becoming boring. It's constantly introducing new types of enemies or combat encounters that build on what you've experienced before. It's true that over-reliance on the game's magic system might subconsciously rob you of a bit of the engagement that the game otherwise delivers so well. But Beyond Oasis delivers such a compact adventure that excitement always feels just one screen away. Take a page from Ali's book and go grab a shovel—and a sword. This is a gem that heavily deserves to be unearthed.