PSRM - 002570 SCUS - 94702 Barco

Game Box Summary
An Evil Force, shackled for centuries, throbs like a heartbeat within the Earth as it seeks open air! And in the body of a youth beats the soul of a poet and the heart of a lion. Stride into Darkness with young Finn and his vigilant fire-breathing dragon as they hunt down the Evil that threatens an annihilate the world. Launch into the quest Beyond imagination - and possibly Beyond endurance.

Game Review
Role Playing Games (RPGs) had it rough during the early months of the PlayStation’s life. With the first RPG-like game being the dismal and very clumsy King’s Field, gamers would have to wait 7 months before the first true classic style RPG would hit. When Beyond the Beyond finally launched, it was met with a lukewarm response, if not subtle apathy.

As much as Camelot would hate to hear it, the only real claim to fame BTB has is that it became the turning point for the genre. While still holding onto the 16 Bit graphic style with sprite based characters and towns, it started to accept the 3D aspects by creating a polygon based world map and experimented with camera angles in-battle. The result is a sometimes confusing performance as the camera quickly jerks between the active performer and their target.

Everything else in Beyond the Beyond is just standard fare, including most of the storyline clichés you’d expect. This one’s only for those who really want to play every RPG there is to play.

Trivia
Access a hidden movie intro by holding Up and Triangle during the Camelot logo.

There is a point in the game where you need to somehow cross a body of water. A local character wants to sell you a boat that costs more than the maximum amount of money you can hold. While the object was to simply find another way around, the script was written in such a way that many gamers thought this to be a programming glitch and gave up on the game!