Save Golden Sun! Contribute to Operation Sunrise!

The first two Golden Sun games were iconic RPG's on the GameBoy Advance. With the attractive graphical style, the charm of the characters and their interactions, the wonderful soundtracks, and the ease of play, these games oozed greatness from every metaphorical pore. Golden Sun 3, "Golden Sun: Dark Dawn", was released at the very end of 2010, and ended on a cliffhanger, with major story elements just floating in mid-air. It's been said that the first two games were meant to be prologues to something bigger....

Now for some awesome music, and in-game footage that shows you what the action in Golden Sun is like!

You might recognize this song. It was in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl soundtrack, and it's from the Golden Sun series.

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Here's a spoilerific demonstration of the battle system, from Golden Sun: The Lost Age (note: this is the final boss battle).

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And here's some footage from Dark Dawn. This is a battle against the most powerful superboss in the game.

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Now, it seems that the series might be in jeopardy. Apparently it never put up the sales numbers that many think it deserves, probably due to it being a handheld-only series. Nintendo never made it one of their big series, despite the fact that it really does have the potential to develop legs. Fans were left waiting for seven long years for a third installment in the series, and now, after Dark Dawn, fans are waiting for a resolution to the story, at the very least. Golden Sun deserves to be a Nintendo phenomenon.

One of the developers of the series, Hiroyuki Takahashi, had this to say:

Originally Posted by Hiroyuki Takahashi

I’m very pleased that you enjoyed Dark Dawn. RPGs take a very long time to make and need a lot of effort. As you will appreciate if you have played the game, the number of ideas that went into the story was rather substantial. When writing a story like that for a Golden Sun game, I really feel like I am pouring my soul into it and when I am finished, I always feel really drained. Everyone else working on the project also really devoted themselves to it, treating it like their life’s work. So it really is a huge encouragement to us to get a positive reaction from the people who play the game.

A big reason for us making RPGs comes from the requests from all the people who have enjoyed our RPGs in the past. Perhaps if there are enough Nintendo users asking for another game in the Golden Sun series, then this will naturally lead to the development of such a game.

Speaking personally from the perspective of the story, I think that honestly it may not be so likely because Golden Sun really requires a full effort to be put in. But of course, if there are enough people saying that we really must create another game, then we may just have to listen to them. Still, you would need to give me a bit of time to work on ideas for the story before we could release a fourth game in the series

Source: Zelda Informer

This is everyone's chance to show Nintendo that we want more than just Mario and Zelda. We want them to use what they've created in the past, and I think the Golden Sun series is one of their most promising properties. The only attention fans received in the seven long years between the last two games was the inclusion of an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Isaac). Going forward, this lack of attention to Golden Sun is unacceptable.

Zelda Informer (the source for this news) has started Operation Sunrise to show Nintendo that we want more Golden Sun. If you're interested in not letting this wonderful series die, and if you want more than the usual from Nintendo, please go to the first source link above, and from there click on the links that will take you to the Operation Sunrise Facebook page and online petition. "Like" the FB page and sign the petition, please! Every person's contribution counts!

I imagine Nintendo doing a sequel for the 3DS. Nintendo never leaves cliffhanger endings, anyway. Next year will probably be the year we see it.

Anyway, I think I've contributed to Sunrise, I already order this game three times (Gave one away, order one for a friend and purchased myself a copy)

There was a Golden Sun game for DS not that long ago. Not to mention that its been confirmed that Operation Rainfall had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the decision making of whether to bring those games to the west or not.

I guess this could be okay as a general Golden Sun thread, but uh.. yeah.

I loved Golden Sun and Lost Age equally, but the DS one looked pretty "meh" compared to those two. I'll still support this, though.

Nintendo made a Golden Sun game a year and a half ago, and haven't stated that they aren't making one for the 3DS. So essentially you're petitioning to have a game that is probably already being developed made. That is what's irritating about these "operations", they just reek of a desperate search for self importance by Zelda Informer so that when Nintendo releases the new Golden Sun or Majora's Mask 3D they can proclaim "Look how awesome we are, Nintendo listened to us" when in reality Nintendo probably isn't aware of their petition and even if they are it didn't affect them one bit because they did what they were planning to do all along.

Originally Posted by GKANG

Not to mention that its been confirmed that Operation Rainfall had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the decision making of whether to bring those games to the west or not.

They could just say that, it did have an effect, whether they admit it or not.

I really disliked Dark Dawn (this was the reason I got a DS in the first place, and it disappointed greatly). Having said that, I loved the first two games and would love it if more GS games were made with the same mindset.

I highly doubt they wouldn't make another GS game regardless of any petitions. But meh... I signed it anyway. It can't hurt I suppose.
I absolutley love the franchise ^^ I played Dark Dawn first, which got me into the series causing me to buy the original two. The first two are just amazing. While Dark Dawn isn't as great as Golden Sun and Lost Age, it's still a good game and I'd like to see more. Espescially with that cliff hanger of an ending

I think it's all but a consensus that the first two games were the best. I'm willing to give Camelot ONE pass as far as quality is concerned, because we know that they can do better (assuming key people didn't leave).

I thought Dark Dawn was enjoyable, and I didn't know about the GBA ones until Dark Dawn came out, and I haven't played either.

I thought all the games where good. Dark Dawn wasn't what I was expecting (Voice acting and cutscenes would be nice) And it didn't stray from the Golden Sun formula at all.

The graphics where amazing and I loved the fact that the World was in a full 3D and the camera shifted constantly to keep frame of the action.

I expect full VAs, cut scenes and more game-play improvements.

Damn, how stupid the reasons to end the Golden Sun series can be? O_o

Golden Sun: The Lost Age is one of the two games (the other being OoA) that I HAD to order on eBay through a very complicated process (there's no PayPal in Serbia) all the way from the US and it arrived at my work, I had the GBASP ready, so I ditched everything (had it announced days before) to try it out.

I loved the first two Golden Sun games for the GBA. Nostalgia plays a huge factor, but as well, it was simple, good story, and one of Camelot's finest titles.

Not going to lie, but Dark Dawn. I never actually beat the game, nor have I been inclined to finish it. Trying to juggle a party of 8 just got the better of me to be quite honest. Golden Sun you had 4 members, simple. Lost Age, you had 4 members up until the last hurrah where you get 8, but you still juggled a party of 4 throughout the game.

Now leveling up 8 different characters in Dark Dawn, it just became more of a hassle to me. Not only that, but I wasn't impressed with the visuals, I was expecting something a bit greater in terms of display.

I will try and get back into it, I'm just hoping if they make a Dark Dawn Part 2, that it will be for the 3DS, and have impressive visuals

I decided to re-play Golden Sun 1 and 2 again for the umpteen time, love this game, still own both of them for the GBA. For a game that was for the GBA, it had one of the best soundtracks you can get in a video game and they sound great. So many memorable themes, from Sol Sanctum to the Venus Lighthouse...unforgetable.

Dark Dawn was decent but what annoyed me was it was a bit too linear where you can't go back to a certain part of the map once your past a certain area, which means, if you missed a Djinni, its gone and there is no way you can get it. That I found lame, the best thing about the original two was how open the world was. You could go back to say a town you visited at the begning of the game to get a certain Djinni/weapon or complete a sidequest you couldn't do do due to not having the right Psyenergy. Dark Dawn didn't execute this as well. It was still a good game but not as good as the originals.

I think it would be interesting if we could continue Isaac's mission in the second game, where rather then controling Felix, we continue the mission with Isaac and then meet Felix and co Jupiter Lighthouse, obviously the mission would be slightly different and maybe visiting certain parts comes in different order. That would be pretty cool.

Yeah, I haven't really played Dark Dawn cause I don't own a DS yet, but I heard it's not as good as the first two.

I played the first game at least 4 times. The elements they put into that game make it hard to become boring, provided that I replay it once a year approximately. IT goes beyond standard console RPGs, plus it is on a handheld system, and it's performance is very pleasing to eyes and ears. All in all, quite a rare kind of game.

I only really had three problems with Dark Dawn.

The boss fights are extremely easy.

There's no backtracking (so you can miss stuff forever)

And You can't fix the eclipse thing before the game is over. I was looking forward to playing in a world without the eclipse ever since it started.

Excluding those three things, I think I enjoyed the game about as much as the first one.

The dialogue was worse (very repetitive, and people made it out to be as if the protagonists had gone on a giant, Lost Age-like journey, when the world is a lot smaller).
The art and 3D turned me off somewhat.
The soundtrack wasn't as good, on the whole (though there are a few standouts).
The sound effects were garbage (not in terms of quality, but rather in terms of fit).
Attack Psynergy is just as useless later on (a complaint about all of them, not just DD).
Everything except the final boss and Dullahan were too too too too too easy.
You can't go back to Morgal after the eclipse.
A majority of the game is a wild goose chase of a fetch quest.
The addition of the last two party members seemed forced (especially the last one); the game could easily have had a four-character party.
The menu system sucks. And maybe it's just me, but I liked being able to set Djinn to Set or Standby with just a single press of R in the old games. Now you have to press A twice. This kills my thumb when I want to see base stats in order to assign stat-boosting items, and weapons and armor, appropriately. That's 144 presses of A with the thumb that does almost all the other work in the game already. 72 presses of R with the index finger would have been much better.

But despite all that, it's not like the game isn't fun at all. It just isn't as good as the first two, IMO. And again, I'll easily give Camelot another chance. Everyone should be allowed to screw up from time to time.