Golden Sun - Reception

Reception

Golden Sun sold 740,000 copies in the United States and 338,000 in Japan. It was received positively by critics; the title is ranked 91% and 90% on the review score aggregator sites Metacritic and GameRankings, respectively. Many reviewers praised the game's graphics, sound, and varied yet refined RPG gameplay, with particular emphasis on the Battle Mode and Djinn system. Certain critics felt that, despite the technical limitations of its 32-bit cartridge, the game's graphical quality was still extremely high; GameSpot wrote that "Golden Sun is a throwback to some of the SNES's best." Complaints generally focused on a perceived overuse of text dialogue in the game's cutscenes—particularly during the prologue section. Some faulted the game for relying on the "wander around, get into a random battle, win battle, wander around, random battle, etc." mechanics present in many other role-playing games.

G4 TV stated, "It's the best original (nonport) GBA RPG to date", while GamePro called it a "huge, fantastic, creative, and wickedly fun RPG that doesn't seem to care that it's 'just' on a GBA". Game Informer called Golden Sun "a visual treat", and said that its graphics "would have amazed Super Nintendo owners back in the day". Noting the game's similarity to previous Japanese role-playing games, the reviewers believed that it was "easily the best original RPG on the GBA", and the "new ruler in the GBA RPG realm". Advance compared the game to the Pokémon series, and considered its graphics "luscious" and sound "incredible cinematic". Despite describing its plot as "Cliche City", the magazine hailed the game as "the best handheld role-player ever".

In 2001, Golden Sun won the Nintendo Power Award for best Game Boy Advance game of the year. Golden Sun was ranked 94 on IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever. In 2007, it was named 24th best Game Boy Advance game in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan; the website also named it Game of the Month for April 2003 because it had "amazing graphics and sound presentation, as well as a quest that lasts for more than thirty hours." It was rated the 31st best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.