I beat this game in the early Summer of 2014 and said to myself, "I'm gonna make a review of this game." As you can see, it took half a year before I finally got around to it. Golden Sun is a unique RPG made by Camelot in the 1900s. Or maybe the 2000s, I dunno. It has sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide and was critically acclaimed as an incredibly good RPG. But... how come no one has played it? Have you played it? It's not very well known unless you're aware of the high request for Isaac in the Smash Bros. community. Anyhow, onto the review!

Graphics - 9

The GameBoy Advance was a big step in mobile graphics. You look at the GameBoy Color, which basically looks like crappier NES graphics, then you look at the GameBoy Advance and see graphics better than the Super Nintendo. Golden Sun is no exception to this, certainly not. It has among the best graphics the system can offer. Bright and beautiful color, really cool effects when you attack, and some pretty well-made portraits. The only "bad" graphics are the battle sprites. They have probably 4 different frames they can change between.

Sound - 10

This game has pretty generic RPG noises for the dialogue and battle sound effects. But the music? Oh boy, the music. Golden Sun is known for its battle music. Behold, the famous Isaac Battle Theme. It repeats a lot but... It never gets annoying. It's that good of a song. But there is another song that blows people's minds... This song gives you a sense of courage and heroism in the game and keeps motivating you to play until you complete the game. Ladies and gentlemen, I am talking about the Venus Lighthouse theme. Each type of location (village, forest, overworld, etc.) also has unique music.

Gameplay / Addictiveness - 10

This game is fun. You thought RPG's by Squaresoft/Square Enix are the best? You thought Paper Mario was a very good RPG series? You haven't seen anything until you've played Golden Sun. Golden Sun is a bit different than most RPGs. Instead of having magic/mana/MP, you have PP, or Psynergy Points. Psynergy is when you take control of an element and use its power to attack your enemy.

Each of your 4 characters control a different element. Some of the element names are a bit... unfitting. Isaac controls Venus (Earth), Garet controls Mars (fire and lava), Ivan controls Jupiter (Lightning, wind, and stat boosts), and Mia controls Mercury (ice and water, but mainly for healing). These attacks become stronger and you can use different attacks be equipping Djinn. Djinn are cute element spirit things that you can give to any character. The Djinn also have elements, but you can equip any Djinn to any character (e.g. Mars Djinn to Mia) and it will give them different Psynergy. Of course, there's also regular attacking with critical hits. If you have a stronger weapon and get a critical hit, it will unleash a unique ability. For example, Mia has a staff that has the ability "Drown," which can 1-hit-KO regular enemies. Isaac has a sword that unleashes Titan Blade, an extremely powerful attack.

But when you're not in battle, the game is a puzzle. Literally. It's not like "Hmm, I did this cutscene, so now where do I go and what do I do with this jewel?" In Golden Sun, you have to solve puzzles using non-battle Psynergy such as Lift, Move, and Pound. These are really fun.

With all that fun unique stuff, you never get tired of the game. I played this nonstop until I beat it. I don't think I've ever played a game so addictive before.

Story - 8

The story is pretty cool. I'll try not to have any spoilers (this game has a really deep and important story, so I can barely say anything). Basically you go on a trip with your teacher to Sol Sanctum, a place of elemental central power. You do all this crazy puzzle stuff and open a portal. You go through the portal and you're in a cave with four statues holding "Elemental Stars." Your teacher then confesses that he was going to Sol Sanctum to see if the ancient legends of the Elemental Stars were true. He tells you to go get them, but when you're getting them... Oh no! Saturos and Menardi, two extremely powerful Mars Adepts come and grab Kraiden, your teacher. They tell you to put the Elemental Stars in a bag for them, so you do that and they run away and blah blah blah you have to go find them. It's a really cool story with lots of cutscenes... Lots of cutscenes. The only problem with the story is that it tries to turn the game into a movie. Nothing else that's bad though.

Depth - 6

After you complete the average-length main quest, there's hardly anything to do. RPG's usually have a big aftergame, but in Golden Sun there's two sidequests: One, to get all the Djinn. There's no reward and it's hardly a sidequest -- It's really just to get more powerful. The second is Crossbone Isle, which is actually one of my favorite sidequests in any RPG. There's 10 floors of Crossbone Isle filled with very difficult puzzles, powerful monsters, and really good "cursed" equipment. At the end you fight Deadbeard, a really creepy and powerful Cyborg-Pirate superboss. After you defeat him you get the best armor in the game and the "Angel Ring," which removes the curse effect of any cursed item.

Difficulty - 6

The game has pretty average difficulty. Not much else to say. The bosses are really hard, but all you need to do is grind levels.

Overall - 9

Overall, Golden Sun is definitely worth the money (or emulator hurrhurrhurr). It has great graphics, great music, and a great story. It may be short, but it has a unique and extremely addicting playstyle. I must issue a fair warning: You may not be able to stop playing once you get past the Sol Sanctum, the opening level. This is one of my all-time favorite games... There's only three better. Star Wars Bounty Hunter, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and one more... Golden Sun: The Lost Age (basically this game but with all the negative bits fixed).

As a humorist, I much prefer Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. Golden Sun's (and it's sequel's) plot was too serious and ridiculous imo. The so-called "Wise One" was manipulative and perhaps confused himself. But, sadly, the plot doesn't seem to go into that enough. I...really disagree with your last statement, though. It's highly subjective imo Your favorite games, maybe, but best? I'm not sure there's any one "best" game, imo. If there is, I think it could be best judged by the enjoyment it gives in the long run. A game may be enjoyable at first, but not have staying power. People can speed run Mario games, play Smash competitively, and play puzzle games that allow free design of levels, such as Portal 2, and not ever get bored or stop learning new things about them in their lifetime. A game may have nostalgia value, but little entertainment value in the long run. Each game has its advantages and disadvantages, and appeals to people in different ways.

RANT OVER

GAME OVER

INSERT TWENNY WAN QUARTERS TO CONTINUE

Thanks for listening! I hope you come back for more "Gametalk" next week, where we insult your game...and maybe you, too!

But really, Golden Sun's gameplay system was top notch The Djinn system was genius. And Melee is da bomb. But TBH, I've barely even heard of Star Wars Bounty Hunter. I'll look it up.

supernerd117 : I never said best in the last statement, I said that halfway through. I do admit I agree with you about that. As for the "staying power," you are also right. I already talked a little about it, but it has almost no replayability. There's not much you can do with the game except play it. But it's an RPG. They usually do have a nice aftergame but there's not a whole lot you can do except just play the game and maybe try different equipment. This game is still super fun going through the first time.

Thank you for your constructive criticism. As for Star Wars Bounty Hunter, it's a really fun platformer/shooter/stealth mix. My brother likes to say that he bought all the PS2 games that no one's ever heard of, because those are the best games, the hidden gems.

TheFadedWarrior : Ah. I inferred that you believed they were "best" by the statement "There's only three better". I'm sorry if I misinterpreted it. But PS2 had an incredible library I've never owned one, but if I do, I'll be sure to pick that game up!