In North America to be more precise. It released in Japan on June 28, 2002 so it's almost the 15th anniversary of this GBA classic. It took almost 10 months to localize what was considered at the time a huge RPG world for a portable game, spanning continents seperated by oceans, multiple towns with their own characters and backstories, and many secrets including djinns, summons, weapons and secret bosses. Fans were eager to continue the story as players only beat the first two Lighthouses in the first game. As a way to connect both games, The Lost Age offered a way to port your party members in the first game complete with level, items and djinns to the new game. Either players could dump the data with a link cable or type in a very long password, which left many frustrated. Still, you had to do it for Isaac and co.!
The game reached cult status due to a variety of reasons. It offered a unique summon and class system, where both are intermingled to create a satisfying combat system. While the combat is turn-based, it's still deep and rewarding for those who delved deeper into its workings. Djinns are all-powerful as they dictate your available summons, your class and the psynergy the class provides. Djinns are found everywhere in the world, usually in clear view and requiring a bit of puzzling to reach them. Once you catch them, you can give the djinn to one of your party members. In total, there are 72 djinns in the game, 44 more than in the first game. Djinns are seperated into four types: Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury. Each djinn offers a unique attack or buff. You can use them in battle to set them which lets you summon powerful deities, or you can set them pre-combat. Every time you summon, the djinns you used will be in cooldown. It doesn't matter for random battles, but boss battles usually require a bit of strategy. You see, every djinn that's in set mode or in cooldown mode, devaluates your class. Your class only operates on djinn that are in neutral mode. Use them and your class might change resulting in lower stats and different available spells. Sometimes you might realize that class doesn't have a revive, heal or buff spell anymore, making you more vulnerable to enemy fire. There are in total 110 classes, so there's a bit of mix and matching! Usually it's not optimal to give your party members the same type of djinns. The more powerful classes are gained by giving your party members opposing djinns.
Another reason the game is beloved is the puzzle solving. The psynergy I mentioned before also has utility spells that are mostly used to solve puzzles, whether it's moving, breaking, teleporting or even mind reading. Towns, dungeons, caves, mountains, every part of the world can be interacted with in some way. You'll go through every possible nook and cranny to find anything that's helpful in your quest. And there are a lot of quests. Not just the game's main dungeons, the Lighthouses, are headcrackers. The many smaller dungeons aren't pushovers either. You'll have to think long and hard to complete them which is a breath of fresh air compared to RPGs a generation ago where you have to walk linearly through corridors with a number of random battles and chests inbetween. Every town has its own locales, culture and beliefs. Some may be antagonistic until you complete a quest. Some are even sacrificing their own people to appease the gods! At some point, you can travel freely and go wherever you want. It's not quite an airship but it is a much more rewarding world. Who didn't grind Mad Demons for Lachesis' Rule, save scum Orihalcons to forge the Excalibur and let out a gasp when you finally found the Sol Blade, mother of all unleashes?
It's also just a really pretty game. The game boasts pseudo 3D effects to help the presentation become more immersive. Sprites are colourful and expressive. Summons are amazing to behold. The soundtrack offers a variety of music, from town music to character themes used as battle themes to epic music used for dungeons and dramatic moments. An official soundtrack has never been released, but some of the music has been rearranged for games such as the Super Smash Bros. series. Nintendo deemed the music so good that it had to be a part of Nintendo's game that celebrates its history. Most of all, it's just a fun game with fun characters on an adventure to save the world. On a Game Boy. How could you not love it?
The Elemental Stars
Sol Sanctum
Venus Lighthouse
Saturos's Theme
Fusion Dragon
Walking Forward with Determination
Air's Rock
Mars Lighthouse
Felix's Theme / Doom Dragon
The Golden Sun Rises
