E3 2010: Golden Sun Dark Dawn Hands-On Impression

It was almost a decade ago when the last Golden Sun game made an appearance on a Nintendo handheld. Golden Sun: The Lost Age was the last Golden Sun game that we played, and finally, a follow up title with brand new characters is set to release this year on the Nintendo DS. In this year’s E3, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was one of the big guns at Nintendo’s Media Briefing. When Golden Sun was announced by Reggie Fils-Aime, the people inside the Nokia Theater were thrilled and excited..

The demo that was available for everyone to try out was very limited, and it didn’t really show that much. It was split into two modes, an Adventure mode where I get to see the early part of the game, and the Battle Mode, where I get to see the battle system. The adventure mode of the demo gave me a quick glimpse of the environments in game, and a brief tutorial of how Matthew, the main protagonist of the game, can use a Djinn via the touch screen. Comparing the visuals of Dark Dawn to Lost Age, Dark Dawn has escalated the graphics, making the game more visible and vivid on the Nintendo DS screen. Since the game was demoed on a Nintendo DSi XL, it looked a little bit pixelated; but the graphics were good overall.

The battle system of the Dark Dawn isn’t any different compared to the past two Golden Sun titles on the Gameboy Advance. It is still the same turn based system where the characters can use a magic called Psynergy. For fans of the first two titles, Dark Dawn is something you should look forward to. The brief moment that I’ve had with the game itself got me really excited.

Nothing on the story was revealed on the demo of the game. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn takes place years after the events of The Lost Age. Older versions of characters from the first two games will be making an appearance in the game, including Isaac. The game is scheduled for Holiday 2010 exclusively on the Nintendo DS.