Everytime someone makes golden sun related content it makes me happy, cause it always give one step further into finally having a sequel. I'm still optimistic, just hope I'm still alive by the time it happens lol
This was certainly not expected. If you’re committed to smaller RPG retrospectives, I would love to see you tackle the Mistwalker trio of Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story.
@datalphalion Blue Dragon would complicate things since there's 2 sequels Blue Dragon Plus and Blue Dragon Awakened Shadow,a 51 episode anime and the spin of manga Ral Grad which had 4 volumes. Sakaguchi really tried making Blue Dragon a thing.
I'm a huge Golden Sun fan. It was one of my favorite games as a young teen and still one of my favorite battle systems of any RPG. I've even got a djinn tattoo on my stomach.
Honestly, to me, Dark Dawn's biggest flaw wasn't that it felt dated, it were the multiple points of no return that came out of nowhere. I still like the game, but things like that were unacceptable, even back then.
Great video, Derrick! And for anyone who misses Golden Sun: I HIGHLY recommend Shining the Holy Ark! Many of that game’s ideas were the basis of Golden Sun’s mechanics and aesthetics. It’s fairly easy to emulate if you don’t have access to a Saturn.
Ah golden sun! I got dark dawn for DS for Christmas one year and loved what I played. So excited for this to drop on NSO! Also great video Derrick! I hope you do more short form retrospectives. But most of all don't burn yourself out on these retrospectives. They are top notch and well worth a watch and many rewatches.
First two Golden Suns, along with Paper Mario, are what introduced me to traditional JRPGs and right away made me set a high bar on the wealth of variety and detail I expected from long-form adventure games. Those series are special to me. I almost had a stroke from excitement when Dark Dawn was announced at E3. Still hoping they'll make a 4th game so I can almost have another one.
The Switch has done wonders for many franchises. Of special note here, Metroid and Xenoblade. Metroid was assumed a forgotten franchise prior to the Switch and now there's not only the long-awaited sequel in Dread but the ENTIRE 2D story on the Switch (bar Zero Mission for now and Samus Returns). Oh, and then there's Prime 1 Remastered with 4 on the way and very likely 2 and 3 Remastered. Then there's Xenoblade that went from a single entry on Wii and pseudo-sequel on Wii U to a complete trilogy on Switch and then some (Torna and the upcoming DLC for 3). Takahashi said the story is complete. I assume his original vision from so long ago that you mentioned in the Retrospective has finally been realised. So with that I assume Golden Sun on GBA NSO is only the beginning. Can't have Part One without Part Two, right? And when we get DS NSO or a remake/port of Dark Dawn, then we'll hear about the next game. At least, here's hoping. (Now speaking of hope, please Nintendo do something similar with Star Fox. Adventure Remastered/Remake please. Oh, and Assault 2!)
Thank you for this video! Golden Sun is such a great rpg, and I'm so happy you are able to educate us on this legendary game series. I hope there's more.
As a quick follow up to my last comment, I remember watching the E3 reveal of Dark Dawn back on G4 years back and you could hear the fans cheer when it was shown for the first time that it was going to happen.
I agree. I think it gets too much hate. Then again, it's the one I started with and I played it for years (honestly the only ds game I am willing to go back to any time) so I'm kind of biased
It legitimately had the best story and characters of the three games. It really could have used some more gameplay refinements, though. Cause the Djinn system was always a pretty awkward and clunky system that had little benefit and too much risk in engaging with. I felt they should have overhauled it between games.
@@xmant8842 The only reason why Golden Sun was made is because Nintendo wasn't sure if Square Enix would make games on the Gameboy Advance. They were mostly right, we didn't get any Dragon Quest games in the West for it, and Final Fantasy 4 wouldn't be on it till late 2005. Now a days RPGs are everywhere so Golden Sun is no longer necessary. It's like Nintendo doesn't have much passion for it, and was made out of Obligation.
It didn't really occur to me that Mario Sports and Golden Sun shared a composer, until I was replaying Mario Tennis 64 on NSO. Some of the tracks feel like they could easily slide into Golden Sun.
I have never played a Golden Sun game but am very interested and will definitely play the rerelease. Thanks for the video! Interesting to get the full story.
Have only ever played Dark Dawn but it is definitely one of my favourite rpgs ever. Am looking forward to the first two games being released on nso so I can finally play them properly.
Bought it back in the day, because it came out on my birthday and I didn't know what else to ask for. Been a fan of the series ever since. I reeeaaaallly hope we get another a 4th one, one day...
One of my favorite J-RPG series that had its humble beginnings when I was beginning high school. More innocent times... (sighs) Great video, fellas! :)
Honestly, it's a shame the industry hasn't learned much from Golden Sun, Breath of Fire, (arguably) the Lufia series, and the Mario RPGs about dungeon design. The puzzle dungeons where your party has contextual actions that can be used to solve them really makes dungeon travel more engaging and fun than waltzing through a bunch of empty rooms, or even interacting with an internal puzzle seeing as knowing your character's abilities and being able to use them effectively makes each party member feel more important and builds a connection between them and the player.
@@HunterAnsorge-ok9jk Those are Action Adventure RPGs. It's an entirely different genre. They're more comparable to stuff like the 3D Zeldas, Okami, Beyond Good and Evil, etc. We've had some turn-based RPGs with more puzzle aspects to dungeons, but only recently with stuff like the Toby Fox games, Bug Fables, and more recently Sea of Stars. And it's still a rare thing in general as it takes a lot of work and most people stick to baseline RPGMaker.
Thank you for making this! I love golden Sun and I really want the series to return. Ported to NSO is a nice step forward afte rliterally nothing, but a new game or even a remake would just blow me away.
Happy for the new retrospective Sad because it's so short Even sadder that the fact it's so short is because of the small amount of games in the series
Golden Sun was one the first video games I ever played. I got a GBA one Christmas that came with Golden Sun packed in. I instantly fell in love with it. My favorite RPG, that's for sure.
I got Golden Sun on a whim, I remember it was a choice between that and the Breath of Fire port as a kind of random gift from my dad and I went with the former due to the 3D visuals on the back of the box screenshots piquing my interest. I was blown away by everything in the game and was ~hooked~ for both future releases. Really hope to see that sun rise again someday ☀️
I'm just here to say the first one on GBA drove me crazy because your party wouldn't auto attack the next enemy if the enemy you told them to attack died before their turn. Drove me nuts!
I have both GBA Golden Suns and beat them both. I also have the DS game, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Really hoping for a new entry one day.
@@harimakenji2117 The only reason why Golden Sun was made is because Nintendo wasn't sure if Square Enix would make games on the Gameboy Advance. They were mostly right, we didn't get any Dragon Quest games in the West for it, and Final Fantasy 4 wouldn't be on it till late 2005. Now a days RPGs are everywhere so Golden Sun is no longer necessary. It's like Nintendo doesn't have much passion for it, and was made out of Obligation.
Golden Sun & Golden Sun: The Lost Age were two of my favorite GBA games back then! I haven't played the DS one though. I hope it gets a remake for Switch (or praying maybe it could get an anime adaptation!)
Great video and a good summary of the mechanics and story of Golden Sun. Hopefully this video and the upcoming release of the original Golden Sun on Switch Online expansion pack introduces even more new people to this great franchise. Golden Sun was one of my first GBA games and an important part of my childhood. The two GBA games are still my favourite and I try to play them yearly. They still hold up great.
Someday I hope we get a remaster or remake of the first two games! Still remember my dad asking me what game I wanted for the drive to Disneyland. I picked Advance Wars as it had just came out (as did Golden Sun). My dad ended up getting me Advance Wars and Golden Sun in secret mainly because he thought I would like it after reading the review in Nintendo Power. Incredibly thankful he got me Golden Sun as well!
The music alone causes so much nostalgia for me. Incredible games, at least the first 2, was not a big fan of the DS game. I wish they did something new with the series, I recently replayed both games on the switch
Thank you so much for this video. The 2 first Golden Sun games will forever be symbols of my teennage. I believe the lore of the 2 games was incredible with such a strong shift in perspective of the world between 1 and 2. This strengthened the feeling of exotism and exploration very much, and this is what I remember the most from the games.
I absolutely loved the original two on the GBA. I bought Dark Dawn when it came out but never played it. I still have my original copies of all 3. Great video man.
My first time with this game was watching my older sister play it once on her GBA when I was a kid. Years later I saw the game being sold at a game store. I was curious and vaguely remember the name at least. Got it, played it. Begged my dad to get me the second game. Had to work so much, got Lost Age as a early birthday gift. Then I got Dark Dawn like maybe a year or two after its release. Thought it was okay, but after multiple replays of all games I realized that Dark Dawn had really big shoes to fill and that ending didn't help either. I think Lost Age after transferring everything is peak Golden Sun. It was one of my first RPGS outside of pokemon and helped make me the person I am today with how much I love the genre. If we can't get a fourth game I would love an HD Remaster in the vein of Octopath Traveler style on Switch
I have played all the Golden Sun games and still have those games although I currently don’t have a way to play the GBA carts. My GBA and original DS don’t work anymore. I’m glad to see the first Golden Sun heading to NSO. It makes me hopefully the Lost Age will come as well.
I loved the two GBA games, but while I bought the DS one at launch, it took me awhile to finally play it. And it didn’t last long for me. Playing as the hero’s kids with a 30 year time jump was discouraging. Doubly more that the password option given at the end of Lost Age wound up going unused. I was expecting my work and effort in the first two games to continue on, and that sadly never happened.
Mario Party Island Tour(and 10) had nearly everything different between the NTSC and PAL versions. For example, the minigame Quickest Cricket was changed to something involving grasshoppers.
Golden Sun was my first GBA game. I remember 10 year old me begging mum for this $25 preowned game. So many hours spent, no regrets and have replayed multiple times. Never got around to Lost Age and Dark dawn though
A truly amazing series but sadly I have no hope of this series ever being revived outside ports/re-releases. I actually emulated the games the first time I played them, it was amazingly fun and nice to see such an amazing world on GBA. Was my favorite JRPG series for a long time until I played the Xenoblade games. I was lucky to find physical cartridges of 1 & 2 a few years back, and I'm really glad they are coming to NSO online so many more people have a chance to play these gems.
I still remember I reset the game after losing the first fight 😅, not knowing that was supposed to happen. Was never able to defeat the final boss and so I never played GS2 or DD. Still, love the first game though.
How in the world did some people think that the 1st and 2nd stories were unoriginal?? On another note, I never had a problem with the long dialogues, it made the story much more rich and complete. If anything I would say that the "choices" in conversations where kinda pointless as it didn't have any effect. And yes, my problem with GS3 was that it took place too soon in the timeline and made no sense. Should have been like a 100/200 year gap between the two first ones. That way, you can see the longevity of the first two characters and also it makes sense seeing the new civilizations and countries so developed.
I LOVE games that let you recharge your MP while simply walking around or even in battle naturally. Makes the game far more fun! They simply need to make the game harder to compensate! Make the bosses hit like trucks, etc. That is the best approach for any RPG imo, make the party overpowered but also the enemy as well.
Great retrospective on this awesome series! I hope the NSO release exposes the series to more players, and I'll still hold out hope for a remake one day. Two very very minor nitpicks: The classes other than the default mono-element classes were implied to be weaker, but the multi-element classes actually have noticeably better stats on average than the mono-element ones (presuming you have the appropriate Djinn loadout) alongside generally being more versatile. I don't know that I'd say Dark Dawn "Wrapped up its story" - major plot points introduced early in the game (Psynergy vortices, etc) were left unresolved and never followed up on, the main villainous organization is still at large and their motivations behind putting Dark Dawn's plot into effect aren't even clear, etc. Dark Dawn reads to me like the first half of a story, much like the first game was the first half of the story which The Lost Age concluded.
These series-wide Derrick retrospectives are my favorite videos! I’ve rewatched the Xeno and SMT ones so many times. I hope someday we’ll see some for Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, and/or Castlevania since they feel they’d be suited for this style
I stumbled on this video, and I had no idea Bitner was part of this channel! GX hasn't been the same since you left, and I really enjoyed your Fire Emblem playthroughs.
I've played them all. The biggest wtf with Dark Dawn was that there is a "point of no return" in the game that makes a number of Djinn permanently missable. I love the first two though. I've wanted Isaac in Smash since I played them. I'm hoping if Camelot has time with the Mario sports out of the way that they've had time to work on a new game.
@@orangeslash1667 you got a good point maybe they didn't have enough time to incorporate all of his psyenergy powers just to make him a assist trophy with just the move psyenergy as his one attack in Brawl.
GREAT to see some love for the Golden Sun series. Have you considered covering other concurrent franchises that were left in a similar state at the time? Advance Wars would be great to look over. Especially with the remakes releasing soon! Also Puyo Puyo as well considering it has a rich history spawning as far back as the SNES era.
Fellow Legend of heroes trails fan here. When you plan to cover the trails series I think the two best options are you play/cover them by the arcs like you are doing for dragon quest then put a video up on them or you and Daniel both go thru the series together arc by arc and co-develop the retrospective videos together similar to your one piece at a time and call it idk “Many Trails along the Path”. I do believe you and Daniel will enjoy the series. I know y’all have seen my comment a couple of times about it. The series needs more eyes and players I know for people who love xenoblade characters and world building will love Trails
What I would like to see is a prequel. I would like to play a prequel story of GS: Dark Dawn from Alex's perspective. And his adventures between the events of TLA and Dark Dawn. His connetcion with the "dark adepts" and the love with Veriti. Besides, I'd also like to see a prequel of the original games. With the "old-new" map of Weyard from the Ancient Times. Yegelos and Hoabna's story or Lemuria in the Golden Ages... I think these prequels can connect the original games with Dark Dawn more. :)
The only things I want from the next gen Switch are 1- a solid 60fps at 1080p on all games 2- backwards compatibility and 3- a new golden sun game. If they release it in the gameboy advance/gamecube indigo color that would just be a cherry on top.
Golden Sun fans, the dream of a remaster still lives on, but in the meantime, I stumbled upon Sea of Stars, and it's a hidden treasure! If you're patiently awaiting a Golden Sun revival, Sea of Stars will quench your thirst for an epic RPG adventure with its masterful storytelling and captivating gameplay. Dive in and prepare for a journey you won't forget! 🌟🌌
I played every golden sun and have the first and the ds one ( america import btw) as phisical , i used to have lost age on my wii U but i think my wii U might have died for good . I first eperienced these games in an emulator but loved them so much i had to go and buy them. I think the general concept has lots of potencial, i mean avatar the show can have a good game and half of the potential and i still think it would be worth having a new GSG ( it would be a dream if monolith helped remake the games or the people that did links awakening...one can dream)
I think if they released a remastered Dark Dawn on the Switch, IE same underlying code, updated graphics, it would be a hit. Ideally they'd trim some fat from the dialogue, too, and add some basic interface upgrades such as ability to sort the battle and overworld psynergy menus (something like "press Y to sort), a main menu settings option (god I hate the squeakies and they're turned on by default), and the ability to turn off the animations for summons, unleashes, djinn, and battle psynergy (separate toggles for each). Adding "HP remaining" counters to enemies (that could be toggled off if you prefer a more classic look) would be great, especially for players who go for djinn kills. That said, for all the interface and dialogue problems, it was a used copy of Dark Dawn from Gamestop that got me into the series, and I do replay it just as regularly as the others. In the very best world, they'd release a remaster, with or without the above tweaks, and then a sequel a few months later (I don't think that would burn people out, as a remaster is primarily a graphics update). Given the technical capabilities of the Switch, it would be easy for a GS4 to use a QR code (generated by a patch added to GSDD) to transfer data elements such as the Cleric's Ring or "artifacts available" to the new game. As for the first 2 games, I wouldn't want to remaster them. Modern emulators, particularly the current release of VBA, have something called a "Bilinear Filter" that sharpens up the edges of rounded things (such as characters) really well. The pixel art for buildings in the GBA games, such as the Elemental Rocks and the Lighthouses, is spectacular, and I wouldn't want to lose it. What I *would* like to see that would be similar to a remaster, and what I think may have been the original plan for Dark Dawn (which just reeks of being unfinished, between hanging plots and permanently inaccessible locations--unless you do the Endless Wall glitch perfectly, I mean), is revisiting locations from the GBA games, but they've been changed by time, weather, and the effects of the Golden Sun and the revival of Alchemy itself. Considering what happened after the Venus Lighthouse was lit, it's only logical that the Rocks would melt down like so much cheese in a microwave and then reform, complete with new layouts, puzzles, and djinn and artifacts to be discovered. In addition, Dark Dawn sets up the theoretical framework for "super-elements" combining the four basic elements into 2 stronger ones---it's unclear if Dark would be Jupiter+Mercury (combining sister elements, plus both are considered "cold" in the original games) or Jupiter+Venus (combining opposites), or even Mercury + Venus (elements that tend to make adepts slow??? idek), etc, though obviously Fire goes into Light---and perhaps cementing the Golden Sun itself as an Ur-Element that contains all things (and/or the Golden Sun must be countered by a dark half to make the Ur-Element). Obviously, if we've got new magics, that means new djinn and adept alignments and classes (someone else do the math on how many, I should have gone to be 2 hours ago) and new summons. This means there's also a potential to introduce new playable characters as well (in fact, I would remove all but Matthew, Karis, and Tyrell as playable in a sequel), and there's a few minor NPCs from DD who are perfect for development into playable characters. With regards to plot, well, they never did resolve the psynergy vortices, though obviously Spoilers McMaskFace and the Tuaparang are behind them, or most of them. So: the bridge breaks due to vortex after the post-credits cutscene from DD, which conveniently sets the core trio back to level 5 or whatever due to nearly dying, and scatters their Djinn. Now they have to rescue Weyard from the psynergy vortices. After much exploration to pick up people, powers, and, IDK, a magic set of thingamagummies that have to be put together to create a superweapon or something (or, maybe, a mini airship, and/or Tyrell should actually learn to use that soarwing now that it's probably fixed, I mean we did get that roc feather and bring it back), we fight through the Tuaparang Airship and maybe a flying palace to find out that Spoilers Man orchestrated everything in Dark Dawn, including the dispersal of the Grave Eclipse, to set things in motion for his master plan, which is probably a mega-Mourning-Moon that's the counter of the Golden Sun that will give Spoilers Dude (who, unsurprisingly given his last appearance in TLA, is an outrageously powerful Light Adept) Tyrian Eclipse-induced Dark powers to go with the Light powers and allow him to become God, and/or face down the Wise one, and/or end the world and end his suffering from having an unnatural amount of powers ("It's burning me from the inside out! Were it not for the healing powers of the Mercury Clan, I would have turned to ash thirty years ago"), and/or kill the entire world and turn every formerly living creature in it into his personal zombie army, and/or reincarnate the world in his own image...basically go for whichever one does best in A/B testing, they're all pretty classic JRPG villain plans. (BTW, Tyrian is a very fancy and expensive type of purple, so I thought it was a good counter to "Golden.") Anyway, you defeat him and either you stop his plan, or the Tyrian Eclipse happens anyway but the powers actually cancel out and he turns into a baseline human who can't so much as cast Move (IMO, this one would be more satisfying), and Weyard is saved, you get to talk to all the PC's before you go home, credits roll. It would be really cool if Karis is the lead overworld character for a sequel, or at least if there's an option to unlock "have cursor character be other characters" on New Game+ or via a promo code. One, she's a BAMF. Two, she has a really cool outfit (IDK I like purple). Three, her color scheme and element fit well with a Tyrian Eclipse theme. Four, would not an ultimate weapon being a massively OP bow be super cool? I mean, that's super cool. Objectively. Also, I think a lot of women would want the option to play as a female character. In a similar vein, there's never been a Jupiter adept or a female playable character that could use Longswords or Axes, and I think that's a shame. Just from a gameplay variety standpoint. It's really not fair that the Venus adepts get everything! Also, we should totally get to punch Ryou Kou. God do I want to punch Ryou Kou. The entire Grave Eclipse might not've happened if someone had just punched his stupid face. Please let me punch him. I'd pay money for this. BTW, if anyone has game recs for games with similar playstyles that don't require much physical coordination (so, heavy on puzzles, low on timing, nothing trickier than, say, that one hovery bit where you have to dodge the whirlwinds on the right Jupiter Lighthouse sub-tower, and ideally turn-based), please tell me!
