Weapon of the Week

Aren't they the most adorable tools of total cataclysm? 

Franchise: Golden Sun

Appearances: Golden Sun, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Type: Sidekick/Power-up

Golden Sun is one of Nintendo’s forgotten franchises that I really wish they’d revisit. Sure, the writing wasn’t the best, but the games had creative worlds, great music, and amazing visuals. But what really makes me miss Golden Sun is the gameplay. Sure, on the surface, it looks likes your standard turn-based RPG- menu based combat, casting spells, defeating monsters for experience points, etc. However, one thing that truly makes Golden Sun stands out are adorable little spirits that can augment your characters abilities.

In Golden Sun, you control a group of youths that are able to use a special type of magic called psynergy. Using their minds, these youths, or adepts, can manipulate the four elements to do things like accelerate plant growth or create fireballs. Psynergy is used as in battle spells and to solve puzzles in the game’s dungeons. While most adepts can learn psynergy naturally, most of their power comes from elemental spirits that hide themselves all over the world: Djinn.

Djinn come in four varieties: Venus (earth), Mars (fire), Jupiter (wind), and Mercury (water). Djinn can be equipped by adepts once they are found. Depending on what Djinn the adept has equipped, his or stats can change dramatically and even learn new psynergy to use in battle. Djinn can also be used to activate unique psynergy, and if enough Djinn are on standby, they can pool their energy to perform powerful summon spells. Djinn are the greatest part of Golden Sun, as they allow for deep customization and a flexible battle system.

Next time, we’ll look at one of the most unlikely swords in video games. Until then, see ya.