Golden Sun
Nintendo has made multiple forays into the RPG genre, with the most well known of those being the Mother Series (Earthbound) and Super Mario RPG. Another of the companies attempts tends to be more of a cult classic though, and that’s the Golden Sun series.
The first Golden Sun game came out in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance, during the golden age of JRPGs. For being on the Game Boy it had impressive graphical power and gameplay depth, and was one of the earliest JRPGs on the system. One of the most notable features of Golden Sun was an elemental “Djinnn” system that you used to power your party members in the game. These were living being that you could collect that would empower characters with elemental power.
Elements were something that featured heavily in all facets of the game, including the story and puzzle solving which oftentimes revolved around using a certain element via characters abilities called Psynergy. Golden Sun received a sequel called The Lost Age one year later and would then lie dormant for eight years until Golden Sun: Dark Dawn came out in 2010.
Golden Sun’s unique world and battle system helped cement it as a Nintendo classic, and we’d even see the main character of the series Isaac featured as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Seeing as the Nintendo 3DS is a hotbed for JRPGs, a new Golden Sun would be a perfect title to release for the system this year. It gave Nintendo a true role-playing series of their own, and developer Camelot Software Planning is still alive and well, recently having developed Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash.
As one of the greatest game developers of all time, with a huge stable of legendary series, it would be great to see Nintendo taking advantage of other anniversaries. The original games had an interesting world and cast of characters, with a deep and rewarding combat system. Not to mention the fantastic soundtrack. It’s time for this series to get its day in the sun once again on its 15th anniversary.
