I wrote a post the other day on Default Prime about Golden Sun, and how I thought it was a lost gaming gem in the current generation. I’m going to post it here for you guys to check out, and if you like it, make sure to drop a comment!

This is going to be a new series that I am going to start, and I guess, expand over a certain amount of time, so, pretty much until I get bored with it, or I run out of things to write about. This week, I’m going to write about the RPG series Golden Sun for the GBA. You can check out my dedicated Golden Sun blog at http://goldensun3.wordpress.com. Also, if you have an idea for a lost gaming gem that I should write about, leave a comment here or hit me up with an email at tips@defaultprime.com.

You owned a GBA, I owned a GBA, and everybody owned a GBA. Also, there were tons and tons of role-playing games coming out on the console from (at that time) RPG behemoths like Square Enix, Camelot, and even Nintendo! With all of these great RPG’s coming out on the system, there were a lot that were overlooked, and that were also extremely good games.

One possibly overlooked, or just forgotten about gem in the GBA age was the Golden Series developed by Camelot, and published by Nintendo. Golden Sun came in two parts on the Game Boy Advance, one in the form of the first game just entitled Golden Sun, and the second in the form of Golden Sun: The Lost Age, a sequel to the first game.

Now, let me give you a little back-story on the first Golden Sun game. Here’s how it goes: The whole “universe” that the Golden Sun series takes place in that is fairly typical to that of classic Final Fantasy games. You yourself walk on the world, known as Weyard, and can go into towns, go boat in the sea, go into towers, and the like. All of your characters can use an ancient magic called Alchemy, which is how you will fight the majority of your battles, while also using various weapons.

In the first game, you play as the main characters Isaac, Garet, and Jenna, who are all adepts (people who can use alchemy). The story revolves around the two antagonists in the game Saturos and Menardi, whose goal is to restore alchemy to the world. You pursue Saturos and Menardi through various caves, towns, and lighthouses (which signify the various elements of alchemy).

You are also introduced in the first game to the D jinn system in the game. What this system is, is the idea of collecting and manipulating of magical creatures called Djinn. Each Djinn represents one of the four basic elements of alchemy, and throughout the game, you can find them in various places, some of which take a lot of thinking to get to, while others you have to battle before they join your group. Attaching different Djinn to characters can change the characters class, which modifies that characters hit points, magic points, agility, and all of the standard RPG character stats. You can also use Djinn in combat to enhance magic spells, change character stats like healing, and probably the most important of all, attack the enemy, which in the game, is the most powerful method of attack.

The second game in the series, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, takes place in the same world as the first game, with the same locations and most of the same characters (albeit the main characters are different in the beginning). The main characters in the game are Felix, who was the antagonist in the first game but in the sequel Is not the protagonist. His younger sister, Jenna, a younger girl named Sheba, and further in the game a powerful Mercury Adept named Alex. Felix and his pals were at first trying to activate all of the lighthouses of alchemy to restore alchemy to the world, which is what the protagonists in the first game were trying to stop. Eventually, after battles here, bosses there, talking here, the characters finally meet up with that of the main characters of the last game, and persuade them to join them. That’s all I’m going to tell you, because I don’t want to ruin any of the story for you guys, because I know how you get pissed easily.

Both games have been praised by websites and gaming magazines everywhere, with IGN saying: “arguably be one of the best 2D-based Japanese RPGs created for any system.” Reviews have been great for both games, ranging at average 8.5/10-9.3/10 on the most common rating scales for reviews. Golden Sun was ranked 94 on IGN’s Readers Choice Top 100 games ever. The game has also been praised for using all of the GBA’s 32-bit graphics to it’s highest power, with a beautiful world, characters, and visually-pleasing visual effects when fighing. Personally, it’s my favorite series that has originated on the Gameboy, and both games are in the top 5 favorite games of all time on the console. The game is definitely a one-of-a-kind in the RPG genre in gaming, especially for the GBA.

So if you’re interested at all in RPG’s, you own a console capable of playing GBA games, then this is a must-play and you will have one hell of a time playing it all until you get through the game, and you will leave you asking for more. Maybe a sudden spike in sales of the games will finally persuade Camelot to create a third game, hopefully for the DS or maybe even the Wii. Either way, play the games, and have tons of fun.

Buy:

Golden Sun From Amazon ($8.45)

Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age from Amazon ($9.99)

Originally posted at Default Prime

1UP pays homage to one of the greatest RPGs ever:

Part of the secret was in the presentation. Whereas many other handheld RPGs featured a static background for its battles, Golden Sun featured a smoothly rotating camera that quickly leapt from protagonist to antagonist. When selecting a command, the viewpoint was similar to Phantasy Star II, but when going on the attack the camera jumped to a view more reminiscent of Final Fantasy IX. Compared to that last though, Golden Sun’s battles were brisk and animated well. Using sprites rather than hardware-taxing 3D models might have had something to do with it.

Read the full story here

Golden Sun Realm

Golden Sun Syndicate 

Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age Official Website

Enter last town visited

When you load a saved game, hold the L+R+Start buttons while you load the game. If you entered the code correctly, you will be in the Sanctum of the last town you visited.

Naming Every Party Member

To give alternate names to Jenna, Sheba, and Pierrs, press select 3 times while naming Felix.

If you are doing a non linked game, you may name Garet, Ivan, and Mia, too. To do this press UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT, UP, and SELECT. You will hear a ”ting” and will be able to name Garet, Ivan, and Mia.

Listen to all Golden Sun music

Go into Battle Mode on the title screen (must be Golden Sun: The Lost Age), and walk over to the woman on the far left. Hold down the R button and talk to her. A whole list of music from Golden Sun 1 and 2 will come up, and you can listen to any you want by pressing A.

Avoid water monsters and waste almost no PP

Only works after you get the flying wings and the hover jade. Go in the boat and instead of pressing b to fly, go into your psyenergy menu and select hover. The boat will rise and then fall but the bar will still be there and it won’t go down (you won’t lose PP). During that time the game will think you are flying, so no monsters will attack you and you will hear the flying noise and music (but you aren’t flying). The glitch stays until you press B. In which the flying music will get louder and you will actually fly.

Trial Road Duplication Trick

The glitch at the Trial Road Dungeon makes copies of items in the artifact inventories of the shops. From the time that Moapa opens the dungeon and until Felix beats Moapa every item that Felix and friends drop will be returned to Felix’ inventory when he leaves Trial Road. Entering dropped items in the artifact inventory of the shops is already part of the game design. Only the Laughing Fungus, Large Bread, Bone, Smoke Bombs, Sleep Bombs, Bramble Seeds, Oil Drops, Crystal Powder, and Weasel Claws will not be copied to the shop inventory.

When you enter trial road as soon as you control Felix drop an item you want to duplicate and then leave Trial Road. Go to an item shop and buy the duplicates of the item you dropped.

This can be used to duplicate Hyper Boots, the Swift Sword, Tear Stone, Lucky Medals, and Waters of Life.

Visit land from Golden Sun

It is indeed possible to get to the land from the first Golden Sun! First, go to the small beach southwest of the village Loho. Get on your boat, and face in between the small beach, and the tiny piece of land below it. Hit the A button to get off your ship and you should end up on the other side of the mountains! All of the towns are gone, except for Vale, but you can’t enter it. All of the caves are gone, so you can’t explore the entire world. The only other visible places are Venus Lighthouse and Babi Lighthouse. You won’t be able to reach either of them, though.

An extra way to get the Golden Sun: Book Two Theme in Battle.

Put Felix, Isaac, and Jenna into the back row of the party. Now, when you enter Battle, you’ll hear the Golden Sun: Book Two Theme.

Bonus Dungeon

When you get all of the Djinni from Golden Sun and Golden Sun 2. go to Contigo and use teleport in the circle in the middle of the town. You will gain access to the dungeon only if you have all of the djinni.

Easy Mode

After attaining a Clear Data file, select new game. After transfering, the game will ask if you want to play [Insert Mode Here]. Select No until it asks if you want to play on Easy Mode. Select Yes

Hard Mode

You need to have a ”Clear Data” file and an empty file. Select ”New Game” and after you transfer data or choose not to, then it will ask you if you want to play ”Easy Mode”. Select the ”No” option and it will ask if you want to play ”Hard Mode”. Select ”Yes”. Hard Mode is like Regular mode except all enemies are a lot stronger.

Hint: The Three Alternate Battle Themes

For the original Golden Sun book one battle theme, simply have Isaac in your party without Felix and enter battle.

For the Golden Sun book two theme, place felix in your party and enter battle.

For ”Jenna’s Theme” (Song number 47 in battle arena’s song request and played at the beginning of the game before Felix rejoins the party), have Jenna in your battle party, but exclude Isaac and Felix to the back row and enter battle.

NOTE: All of the stated above themes can also work identically the same when used in battle arena in addition to battle in the game itself.

Here are some screenshots from Golden Sun and Golden Sun 2: Tales of Time.

Here’s some box art for the original Golden Sun, and Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age