Collection essentials #522 & 523: Golden Sun (GBA) & Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA)

Developer Camelot got its start by making RPGs for Sega platforms, when they were originally known as Sonic Software Planning. But after the Sega Saturn, they switched gears and formed a partnership with Nintendo instead. They started out by creating the first two major Mario sports titles, Mario Golf and Mario Tennis, which were not technically the first ones ever, but they really made a splash and kickstarted a trend for the plumber and his peers. With the release of the Game Boy Advance, they were tasked with making their first RPG on a Nintendo platform, so they created an entirely new IP which would be far grander and more impressive than any handheld RPG that had been released previously.

The story of Golden Sun involves a world that’s somewhat like a medieval fantasy setting. The world is composed of the four “classical elements” (earth, fire, water and wind), and magic exists which can use them for powerful spells. Those capable of using it are called Adepts, and they each specialize in one of the four elements. Before the events of this game, there was a more powerful form of magic called Alchemy which apparently involved utilizing all four of the elements instead of just one of them (it’s rather vaguely explained). The game’s plot involves young Adepts who pursue a pair of villains who wish to use four “elemental stars” to unseal the power of Alchemy for their own desires. 

Golden Sun is a JRPG, and carries many tropes of the genre. But when you play it, you will quickly see how well it stands out. This game is far more puzzle-based than most RPGs. Many magic spells are used outside of battle and can manipulate the environment in some way, which is generally what the game’s puzzles are built around. There are tons of secrets to find which are greatly rewarding to players who explore and look out for ways they can properly utilize their many abilities. 

A huge gameplay concept in this game are the Djinn (somewhat based on the real-world concept of genies), small creatures who are each associated with one of the four elements. The original Golden Sun has 28 of them that can be found throughout the world, and players keep them permanently once acquired. A few are found automatically, but the majority need to be sought out and apprehended in many different ways. Some of them are pretty well-hidden. Djinn can be used in battle, and each one has their own move they can use, or they can combine with other Djinn to summon a powerful being for a potent attack or effect to turn the tide of battle. Djinn are attached to a particular character, and having a series of Djinn equipped affects what magic spells that character can cast. Mixing around different types of Djinn with different characters leads to a different set of available spells, which is important to play around with at times.

I wouldn’t say Golden Sun has aged poorly per se, but I have to emphasize how technically impressive this game was back in 2001 back when the world had mostly only known 8-bit portable RPGs. This game is a graphical showcase for the Game Boy Advance, with impressive special effects and occasional pseudo-3D graphics that were pulled off very nicely. It’s probably not possible to truly feel wowed by it in the same way so many years later.

I am choosing to talk about Golden Sun together with its sequel, largely because the two were originally conceived as one huge game, and it does kinda feel that way. The first Golden Sun ends in a straight-up cliffhanger, and the second game picks up right up at that point, though it shifts to a different party of playable characters. You can even use your “clear” save data from the first game as you start the second one to carry over a whole bunch of stuff, making it really feel like one huge adventure.

The second Golden Sun largely feels like more of the same, understandably. The only major gameplay addition I can remember is that it introduced summons that involve different types of Djinn, while in the original each summon only utilized a certain number of Djinn from the same element. Also, the second game is bigger and more open-ended than the first (though the first game is also non-linear at times). Does that mean it’s better? Not necessarily. I found it easier to get lost in the second game (perhaps fitting since “Lost” is in the game’s title) unsure of how to advance the plot, and that could get frustrating. And while the endgame is pretty epic, I don’t think the climax of the story was done all that well. 

I wanted to take a moment to note how Shining Force III on the Sega Saturn, one of my personal favorites, was also made by Camelot, and interestingly an awful lot of concepts were carried over from that game over to Golden Sun even though they’re different types of RPGs. This includes the graphical style, the way shops work, the concept of one big story across multiple titles that you can carry your save data across, the way silent protagonists work, and probably more that I’m not thinking of at the moment.

Interestingly, these games feature versus multiplayer using a Link Cable, allowing two players to fight each other. This feels like something kinda thrown in as a little bonus as opposed to something like Pokémon where competitive multiplayer is one of the main selling points of the game, but this is still something that’s pretty unusual for JRPGs and it’s kinda neat that it exists.

The two Golden Sun games are definitely super cool and do a lot of awesome things. But I stop short of calling them two of the greatest RPGs of all time. These games definitely have their flaws. My biggest complaint is that the game utilizes “random battles” rather than having enemies appear visibly outside of battle. This is particularly egregious for these games because they are so puzzle-driven, so when you’re walking around in the middle of solving puzzles you will frequently get interrupted by fighting random enemies. There’s also the rather annoying lack of “auto targeting” once an enemy is defeated. Golden Sun is one of those turn-based RPGs where the player inputs all of their battle commands, and then they all get executed along with those of the enemy in a certain order. As actions are unfolding, if a character goes first and defeats an enemy that another character was also targeting, that second character will simply do nothing rather than attack a different enemy. This is something that was largely gone from JRPGs as early as the SNES era, so having it in a game from 2001 is a bit of a headscratcher. I also don’t think the dialogue is especially well-written, and I don’t like how the silent protagonist is constantly asked yes/no questions as to me it feels a little too unnatural.

As for my personal history, Golden Sun was one of the first JRPGs I ever played and the first Game Boy Advance game that I owned. My first had been Super Mario RPG, and then the Pokémon games if you count those, and then Golden Sun. As I’ve mentioned before, I got a Nintendo Power magazine subscription in 2001, and reading about Golden Sun and seeing screen-shots sparked a great deal of interest in 11-year-old me. I got my Game Boy Advance late in the year but without any games. With Christmas around the corner, I put Golden Sun on my wishlist, and sure enough I enthusiastically opened it on Christmas morning, captured on a home video taken by my mom which we still have. I believe it was on my next birthday in early February that I got the first issue of “Nintendo Power Advance” which contained a full strategy guide for Golden Sun along with a few other games, and that helped me solve puzzles that my young largely-untrained brain wasn’t good at figuring out yet. 

I played lots of Golden Sun and loved it, beating it at least twice. I eagerly awaited the second game and I remember buying it right when it came out. My cousin Kevin got the first game too, though I can’t remember if we ever battled in multiplayer much. Sadly, though, Game Boy Advance cartridges are very small, and at some point I misplaced my original copy of first Golden Sun and never managed to find it. I put it on my Christmas list (along with many other games) as a potential cheaper gift from one of my siblings years later as an older teen, and I actually got it for cheap a little before Christmas taking a gamble, and sure enough one of my siblings did in fact pick the game off the list and I found myself with two copies of the game. Oops. I think it’s kinda funny that it’s a game that I’ve gotten for Christmas twice in my life.

There was a third Golden Sun game eventually made for the next generation of Nintendo handhelds several years later, but believe it or not I’ve never bothered to play through that one even though I do own it. The game isn’t so closely connected to the first two and I hear it’s not as good, so I haven’t felt motivated to put in the time to experience it for myself (yet).

Nowadays the Golden Sun titles are available to play for free if you have the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Though transferring data from the first to the second game is a pain this way since you’ll need to enter a very long password instead of simply connecting a Link Cable. No matter how you go about it, if you like JRPGs and puzzle-solving, these are games you definitely ought to check out. For both quality and nostalgia, these games are definitely essentials in my collection.