Golden Sun

PRESS START

An Introduction To Today’s Game

Before the Switch, before mobile phone gaming, before every RPG had a minimap and a waypoint arrow, there was a small cartridge with a big world inside it. Golden Sun arrived on the Game Boy Advance in November 2001 and wasted no time making an impression on me.

My friend Justin and I had waited eagerly for months for the GBA to release. Despite an underwhelming launch lineup, the device was a hit with us. Being a huge RPG fan, all I needed was one RPG to release for me to fully love the system. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long, as this classic released a few months after the system did.

It was colorful, it was familiar, and it had a battle system that felt like someone had actually thought it through. For a generation of Nintendo fans who had been waiting for a proper RPG on a handheld, this was the moment.

And for many of them, it still is.

BEHIND THE PIXELS

Let’s Dive Into The Game

Golden Sun is a turn-based role-playing game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance.

You play as Isaac, a young magic-user called an Adept, who lives in the village of Vale at the base of a sacred mountain. When a group of antagonists raids the mountain and steals three of four powerful elemental artifacts called Elemental Stars, Isaac and a small group of companions are sent to pursue them across the world of Weyard and prevent a destructive ancient force called Alchemy from being unleashed.

The core gameplay loop involves exploring towns, navigating dungeons, solving environmental puzzles, and engaging in random turn-based battles. Typical JRPG stuff here.

What sets Golden Sun apart from other JRPGs of its era is the Djinn system. Djinn are small elemental creatures scattered throughout the game world that can be assigned to your party members.

Equipping them affects a character's stats and class, while using them in battle triggers powerful effects. String several Djinn together and you can call upon screen-filling Summon attacks that are, frankly, ridiculous in the best possible way for a GBA game.

The puzzles deserve their own mention.

Golden Sun uses a mechanic called Psynergy, which allows characters to interact with the environment outside of battle, moving objects, reading minds, revealing hidden paths, and more.

These puzzles range from clever to genuinely tricky, and they give the dungeons a texture that most RPGs of the period lacked. The game rewards players who explore thoroughly, with optional Djinn and items tucked away in places that require some thought to reach.

Visually, Golden Sun was a standout in 2001 and remains impressive for the hardware.

Battle sequences feature a rotating camera and particle effects that pushed the GBA well beyond what most developers were asking of it.

The soundtrack, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, is sweeping and atmospheric, with individual area themes and battle music that a lot of players remember vividly decades later. The main criticism that has followed the game is its pacing: the opening hours are heavy on dialogue, cutscenes move slowly, and the story relies on familiar JRPG tropes without doing a great deal to subvert them.

The game also ends on a hard cliffhanger, which requires Golden Sun: The Lost Age to resolve.

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GAME INFORMATION

WHERE TO PLAY

• The game can be played on the Nintendo Switch Online service along with the GBA library app installed.

• Original Copies of the Game (All prices in USD)

  • Loose: $35

  • Complete: $100

  • New/Sealed: $220

COVER ART

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GAME OVER

Why You Should Play This

Here is the pitch for playing Golden Sun today: it is available right now on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack at no additional cost beyond the subscription, alongside its sequel The Lost Age.

Both games together tell a complete story, and the Switch version scales cleanly to modern screens. If you are a fan of classic JRPGs, the Djinn system alone is worth the time investment, and the dungeon puzzles hold up well.

If you have never played it, the game is short enough by RPG standards, around 20 hours for the first entry, that the commitment is manageable. If you played it as a kid and remember it fondly, most of what you liked is still there.

The dialogue is still wordy. The random encounters are still frequent. And the summon animations are still completely over the top.

Unfortunately, the series has been dormant since 2010, with only three games ever released. Like Banjo-Kazooie, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Dino Crisis, inFAMOUS, and many other once-great franchises, it has quietly faded into obscurity. 

SUPPORT

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RETRO HARDWARE

The Miyoo Flip V2 is a tiny clamshell retro handheld that lets you carry a whole library of classic games in your pocket. With a bright screen, solid controls, and the nostalgic flip design we all remember, it’s perfect for quick gaming sessions anywhere. Click the picture to check it out. My readers can use the following code for a 12% discount: NY12

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