Golden Sun is a role-playing game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It came out in Japan on 1 August 2001, in North America on 12 November 2001 and in Europe on 22 February 2002. Shugo Takahashi directed it, Hiroyuki Takahashi wrote it and Motoi Sakuraba composed the music.
The project began as a single Nintendo 64 game, moved to the Game Boy Advance and was split into two games because of hardware limits; the story continues in Golden Sun: The Lost Age (2002). Its heroes are Adepts who use Psynergy, magic based on the elements Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury, and 28 Djinn, seven per element, change their classes.
The game later appeared on the Wii U Virtual Console and was added to Nintendo Switch Online in January 2024.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Golden Sun | Game Boy Advance | Nov 12, 2001 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | 黄金の太陽 開かれし封印 | Game Boy Advance | Aug 1, 2001 | Nintendo | 2 |
| EU | Golden Sun | Game Boy Advance | Feb 22, 2002 | Nintendo | 1 |
| WW | Golden SunVirtual Console | Wii U | April 2014 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | 黄金の太陽 開かれし封印Game Boy Advance – Nintendo Switch Online, added together with The Lost Age | Switch | Jan 17, 2024 | Nintendo | 2 |
| WW | Golden SunGame Boy Advance – Nintendo Switch Online (Expansion Pack) | Switch | January 2024 | Nintendo | 1 |
Also known as: 黄金の太陽 開かれし封印 JP2おうごんのたいよう ひらかれしふういん JP2Hirakareshi Fūin JP3
Box art by region
NA Golden Sun 
EU Golden Sun
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
-
TitleGBA (NA)GBA (EU)
The Japanese subtitle Hirakareshi Fūin ('The Broken Seal') was dropped from the English and European releases.3
-
TextGBA (NA)GBA (EU)
The English script removed references to death, such as Mia's father, and to religion, and its dialogue became wordier.3
-
TextGBA (EU, Spanish)
The Spanish version swaps some symbols on the name-entry screen for Spanish accented letters and Ñ, and uses different glyphs for question and exclamation marks.3
Translations
-
English Official
Nintendo2001Game Boy AdvanceReleased · complete
Official English version, released in North America in November 2001.1
-
Spanish Official
Nintendo2002Game Boy AdvanceReleased · complete
Official Spanish version; for Europe the game was also translated into French, German and Italian.4
Where to play legally today
-
Nintendo Switch Online Subscription
Reception
Golden Sun sold more than one million units worldwide, including 740,000 in the US and 338,000 in Japan, where it was the top-selling game for four months. It holds a Metacritic score of 91/100; IGN gave it 9.7/10.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.