Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (黄金の太陽 漆黒なる夜明け, Ōgon no Taiyō: Shikkoku Naru Yoake) is a role-playing game for the Nintendo DS developed by Camelot Software Planning. The game was first announced as "Golden Sun DS" in E3 2009, and Dark Dawn was featured in Nintendo's E3 2010 presentation, where its official name and release window were revealed. It is the third title in the Golden Sun series, released 7 years after its predecessor, Game Boy Advance game Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Dark Dawn is set 30 years after the events of the first two games and follows the path of the descendants of the earlier games' heroes. Players control characters as they travel through the fictional world of Weyard. The player uses magic (called "psynergy") to defeat enemies and discover new locations, help local populations and find elemental djinn which augment the characters' powers.

Gameplay

Dark Dawn, like its predecessors, uses the traditional role-playing video game formula. Players guide characters through a fantasy-themed world as they interact with other characters, battle monsters, acquire increasingly powerful Psyenergy and equipment and take part in a predefined narrative. Unlike the previous games, some locations become inaccessible after certain points. A new feature is the addition of an encyclopedia system, which explains and keeps track of concepts that are relevant to "Dark Dawn" and its predecessors.

Golden Sun

Golden Sun (黄金の太陽 開かれし封印, Ōgon no Taiyō: Hirakareshi Fūin, "Golden Sun: The Opened Seal") is the first installment in a series of fantasy role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It was released in November 2001 for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and was followed by a sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, in 2002. The game is notable for certain distinctive game elements, such as the use of special "Djinn" that empower the player and can be used against enemies.

Golden Sun's story follows a band of magic-attuned "Adepts" whose purpose, as it is revealed early on, is to protect the world of Weyard from alchemy, a potentially destructive power that was sealed away long ago. During their quest, the Adepts gain new abilities (called Psynergy), assist others, and learn more about why alchemy was sealed away. The story continues in The Lost Age, this time from the perspective of the antagonists.

The game was highly praised by critics; IGN's Craig Harris said that Golden Sun could "arguably be one of the best 2D-based Japanese RPGs created for any system." The game has sold more than one million copies in Japan and the United States. A third game in the series, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, was released in 2010. Golden Sun was re-released for the Virtual Console via the Wii U eShop in April 2014.

Golden Sun (series)

Golden Sun (黄金の太陽, Ōgon no Taiyō), is a series of fantasy role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and produced by Nintendo. Golden Sun follows the story of a group of magically-attuned "adepts" who are charged with preventing the potentially destructive power of alchemy from being released as it was in the past. It later focuses on the descendants of the original heroes. In this strain, Golden Sun follows the traditional RPG theme of wandering around and fighting.

The original two games, Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age, were released in 2001 and 2002, respectively, for the Game Boy Advance platform. Following a six-year hiatus, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was announced at the Nintendo E3 2009 conference on June 2, 2009, for release in 2010 for the Nintendo DS platform. In Golden Sun, the player plays as Isaac and his friends as they set off into the world of Weyard to prevent a group of anti-heroes from releasing alchemy to the world. Golden Sun: The Lost Age, however, follows the plight of the surviving members from the previous game's antagonists as they continue to pursue the release of alchemy into the world by means of lighting four elemental lighthouses.Golden Sun: Dark Dawn follows the path of the descendants of the previous two games' heroes.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Golden Sun: The Lost Age (黄金の太陽 失われし時代, Ōgon no Taiyō: Ushinawareshi Toki), released under different names in some regions, is a 2002 role-playing video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. The Lost Age is the second installment of the Golden Sun series, being the "second part" to the earlier Golden Sun. Players can transfer their characters and items from Golden Sun to The Lost Age by means of a password system or Game Link Cable, and players are rewarded for fully completing both games.

Picking up the story during the events of the previous game, The Lost Age puts the player into the roles of a magic-attuned "adept" named Felix and his allies as they seek to restore the power of alchemy to the world of Weyard. Along the way, the player uses psynergy to defeat enemies and discover new locations, help out local populations, and find elemental djinn which augment the characters' powers.

Upon release, The Lost Age was generally praised, although many publications found that the game was not as good as Golden Sun. Nonetheless, IGN ranked the game as the eighth-best Game Boy Advance title of 2003 and the 22nd-best GBA game of all time. It has sold over 680,000 units. The long-awaited followup, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, was released in November 2010.