Golden Sun is a 2001 role-playing video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The game follows a band of magic-attuned teenagers called Adepts on a mission to protect the world of Weyard from alchemy, a potentially destructive power that was sealed away long ago. During their quest, the Adepts develop new magic abilities called Psynergy, assist others, and learn more about why alchemy was sealed away. Golden Sun is followed by a sequel, The Lost Age, which together form a complete story.

Golden Sun was released in August 2001 in Japan, November 2001 in North America, and February 2002 in Europe. It began as a single planned game for the Nintendo 64, but production shifted to the Game Boy Advance over the course of development. After facing hardware constraints, the developers decided to split the game into two.

Golden Sun was critically and commercially successful, being the top-selling game for four months in Japan and selling more than one million units worldwide. Critics praised its narrative, visuals, gameplay, and innovative mechanics, and celebrated its ability to rival console RPGs, with minor criticisms directed toward its slow start and occasional mechanical quirks. The game spawned a series that includes three games and appearances in other media.

Gameplay

frame|left|Golden Suns form of magic, Psynergy, can be used in and out of combat. Here, an ice spell is used to create a navigable path of frozen ice pillars from puddles of water.|alt=See caption

Golden Sun is a role-playing video game. The primary game mode is single-player and story-based, in which the player controls a cast of four characters as they embark on a quest, interact with other characters, battle monsters, and acquire new abilities and equipment. Golden Sun features an optional battling mode accessible from the menu screen, in which players can enter a team from their saved game files into an arena environment to battle CPU-controlled enemies. There is also a two-person player versus player battle mode, which requires each player to have a copy of the game and a Game Link Cable.

The overworld of Golden Sun, which players explore from a top-down perspective, contains towns, caves, and dungeons. Environments often contain puzzles, which require the player to perform actions such as creating makeshift bridges by pushing logs into rivers or shifting the track of a mine cart to gain access to new areas. Psynergy is used in both combat and the environment; for example, the "Whirlwind" spell, which damages enemies in battle, is also used out of battle to remove overgrown foliage blocking the player's path. and boss battles that advance the story. During combat, the camera shifts to a pseudo-3D view, spinning and zooming depending on the attacks and items used.

Players can change their characters' class and powers using collectable creatures called Djinn. IGN described the finished product as a testament to the positive results a long development cycle can bring.

thumb|right|Golden Sun was originally intended as a single game for the Nintendo 64 console, but evolved into a duology for the handheld [[Game Boy Advance (pictured).|alt=A photograph of the Game Boy Advance]]

Camelot originally planned to create a single game instead of a series, and in the early stages of the project created a game design document for Golden Sun on the Nintendo 64 console. When it became apparent the Nintendo 64 was being replaced by the GameCube, Camelot shifted their focus to making a game on the handheld Game Boy Advance. Due to the developer's ambitions for the scope of the game and the hardware limitations of a single Game Boy Advance cartridge, the single game was expanded to become two. Scenario writer Hiroyuki Takahashi and director Shugo Takahashi had previously designed Shining Force III, where the story involved playing through the perspectives of both the "good" and "bad" characters. They incorporated elements of this storytelling methodology into the two-game setup of the Golden Sun series, having the player control the protagonists in Golden Sun and the antagonists in the followup.

A major goal with Golden Sun was to make the game's magic usable outside battle for puzzles, and offer players a high level of freedom in how to approach events, rather than a linear story that could only be experienced one way. Camelot's President Hiroyuki Takahashi asserted that players would be unable to experience all story paths in a single playthrough, and that this combined with the game's multiplayer mode would add to Golden Suns replay value.

In August 2000, Camelot showed an early but playable version at the Nintendo Space World Expo in Japan. The game was intended to launch alongside the Game Boy Advance, but slipped to the summer and released in Japan in August 2001. While it was eagerly anticipated in the west, players had to make do with Japanese-language imports until the game was localized and released in North America in November, and Europe in February 2002.

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| EGM = 9/10

| Fam = 9/10, 8/10, 9/10, 8/10

| GI = 8.5/10

| GamePro = 5/5

| GSpot = 8.6/10

| GSpy = 94%

| GRadar = 94%

| IGN = 9.7/10

| NLife = 8/10

| NP = 5/5

| XPlay = 5/5

Golden Sun received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator platform Metacritic.

Golden Sun was regarded as visually spectacular for a GBA title, with D'Aprile claiming it was graphically better than some PlayStation RPGs. and sold 740,000 copies in the United States and another 338,000 in Japan. It was followed by Golden Sun: The Lost Age in 2002, and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn in 2010. Golden Sun was re-released for the Virtual Console via the Wii U eShop in April 2014, and was released for the Nintendo Classics service in January 2024.

Golden Sun won "Handheld Game of the Year" at the 2002 Golden Joystick Awards. During the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Golden Sun in the "Hand-Held Game of the Year" and "Console Role-Playing" categories. It was a nominee in GameSpots annual "Best Game Boy Advance Game" in 2001 and, among console games, "Best Role-Playing Game" award categories. Golden Sun was ranked 94 on IGNs Readers Choice Top 100 games ever. The publication later named the title the 24th-best Game Boy Advance game of all time. It was rated the 31st best game made on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.

References

  • The official Nintendo Golden Sun website
  • The official Camelot Golden Sun website

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