Golden Sun: The Lost Age is one of those GBA RPGs that just sticks with you. You start off with this ragtag crew of adventurers—some familiar faces if you played the first game—and right away, the world feels huge. Like, you’ll wander into some random cave and suddenly there’s a puzzle where you’re moving pillars with psychic powers (they call it Psynergy here, which sounds way cooler).

The battles? Classic turn-based, but with little twists—like setting up these Djinn creatures that boost your stats or change your class mid-fight. Took me a while to figure out the best combos, but messing around with different setups is half the fun. And the sprite work? Still holds up. Those spell animations, especially the big summons, feel way more epic than they have any right to on a tiny GBA screen.

Oh, and the story gets wild—ancient civilizations, lost continents, all that good JRPG stuff. It’s the kind of game where you’ll accidentally spend an hour just talking to NPCs because everyone’s got some weird lore to drop. If you’re into old-school RPGs with meaty puzzles and a world that actually feels worth saving, this one’s a no-brainer.