The original Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for the Game Boy Advance were two titles that received critical acclaim and eventually grew into cult hits.  The games featured graphics and sound that were otherwise unimaginable on a handheld and without a doubt pushed the Game Boy Advance to its technical limit.  It’s been seven years since The Lost Age came out, and ever since the long-rumored third entry in the series was unveiled at last year’s Nintendo E3 Press Conference, hype has continued to surround this title at an alarming rate.

Trailers reintroduced players to the seemingly sunbathed world of Weyard, where light platforming in the game’s environments seemed natural.  The battle system, while not perfect, seems to have made a return in the game along with its summoning system–whose visual prowess rivals the greatest Final Fantasy games.

While the only thing featured this year was another trailer, the amount of additional information we have should make Golden Sun fans salivate.   Entitled Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the game’s main story takes place 30 years after the events that transpired at the end of The Lost Age.  Since then, continents have shifted, new countries have been formed, and new species have been discovered leaving one to believe that things are peaceful.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the case as vortexes have emerged sucking all lifeforms possessing Psynergy—the source of all alchemy that gives the land its form.

Early trailers have caused players to believe that Isaac and the crew from previous games are back for more action, but that isn’t the case.  It’s been 30 years since the Golden Sun event took effect on Weyard, and since then the original heroes have made families of their own.  The new set of heroes are all descendents from those in the previous games, and while we don’t have names yet, it would be safe to assume that all our original favorites will at least make an appearance.

One of the features that made the original games such classics was the abilities and puzzle solving that happened outside of battle.  Using their magic source called Psynergy, the heroes could move statues that block their paths, grow plants into climbable vines, freeze puddles of water into ice pillars, and all sorts of actions to keep players thinking on their feet.  With the touch screen controls of the DS, the possibilities are endless, and that’s just the tip of the iceburg for what to expect with this upcoming title.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is slated for release this holiday season, and once we have more information on the game, you can bet that we’ll have it here.  Until then, enjoy the rest of live coverage from E3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

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About This Author: Danreb Victorio

Danreb Victorio is SmashPad's longest tenured staff member and has been writing for the publication since its existence as Gaming-Nation, Inside Gamer Online, Amped IGO, Amped News, and Gamer 2.0. Though SmashPad has gone through many branding changes, Danreb has remained the same--he pushes out content while also improving his craft with every piece that gets published. As a Co-Managing Editor, Danreb, along with Chris Selogy, is in charge of assigning, maintaining, and providing SmashPad's editorial content. Danreb is currently an undergraduate at San Jose State University studying to earn a bachelor of science in magazine journalism. In addition to SmashPad, you can read his work on Yelp.com and San Jose State University's student newspaper, The Spartan Daily.

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