The first thing you have to realize about the music of Golden Sun is that when the game was first released, the only way to play the game was on the very first iteration of the Game Boy Advance. This system only had one actual speaker and yet the music managed to sound absolutely phenomenal. In these three games, Motoi Sakuraba goes on to compose some of the finest music he has ever done. Sadly, to this day, no official soundtrack of either Game Boy Advance game has ever been released. There are plenty of direct game-rips out on The Internet, though.
Golden Sun (The Broken Seal) and Golden Sun: The Lost Age
- For starters, check the extended main series theme, then experience the second game's triumphantly epic endgame overworld theme. And if the second game's normal battle theme and final boss theme don't blow you away, Brawl's medley remix of the above two songs will.
- If you thought the main theme was good, check out this very sad, minor version that plays during the scene where the heroes find Vale destroyed. It just suits the scene perfectly... (The video title is a spoiler, so be careful!)
- The second games also gives us Moving Worlds, an upbeat remix of the main theme, which plays during the password input.
- The main overworld theme.
- The first game's normal battle theme kept things interesting while you messed around with and learned all your combat options.
- Battle with Saturos is the gold standard for a boss battle theme. This remix of Saturos' solo battle theme by Chaotic Marin is a great one that makes use of the soundfont from Pokémon Black and White.
- Agatio and Karst Battle Theme for epic unholiness. Their event theme is also worth mentioning... you can almost touch the tension!
- The criminally-underused Non-Adept Battle. Plays all of twice in the game.
- On the subject of wasted songs, did you know Briggs gets his own Leitmotif? You do now.
- All this is to say nothing about a lot of the environmental and dungeon themes. For starters, each of the ginormous Elemental Rock dungeons gets its own awesome background music (Air's Rock, Aqua Rock, Gaia Rock, and especially Magma Rock). And then we've got the first game's main menu theme, the Kalay town theme, the scintillating Elemental Star Chamber theme, the magnificent Karagol Sea ship theme, the uplifting-yet-relaxing Alhafra town theme, the haunting town of the werewolves, the sort of idyllic hometown theme that makes you never want to leave unless you're planning to go to a town with music like this, the Shifting Sand Land theme of the games' deserts, the Tundaria Tower theme that puts a somewhat foreboding twist on the Slippy-Slidey Ice World aesthetic, the truly dark and foreboding cave/dungeon theme in the second game... The list goes on and on.
- If you think the original version of the Elemental Star Chamber theme is CMOA, just wait until you hear this version of it. There's also a beautiful, soothing remix of "Elemental Stars Chamber" by Chaotic Marin that utilizes the soundfont of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, exemplifying the underwater thematic element of Ruby/Sapphire while retaining the mystery and intrigue present in the numerous locales of Weyard and Hoenn. It's sure to send chills up the spine of Golden Sun and Franchise/Pokemon fans alike. Then there's this version that was entirely reorchestrated!
- One of the most epic tunes in the first two games is the one that plays in the Venus Lighthouse.
- Ditto Jupiter and Mars.
- The Mercury theme is pretty awesome as well.
- For a group of islands about to disappear at any moment, The Apojii Archipelago sure is pretty uplifting!
- Forest's Requiem is a very beautiful, very sad song. Haunting, too.
- This track. The tense beginning, the timid flute urging for your progress before some unspeakable catastrophe falls upon you or your village... It's short, yet it's incredibly efficient in setting a feeling of urgency and hovering danger.
- Prox. A gloomy, grim, cold theme that fits Prox perfectly. It also gets an Early-Bird Cameo near the end of the first game, when Sheba is about to fall from Venus Lighthouse. In both cases it suits the desperate mood.
- The Sailing Music. And speaking of sailing, crossing the Eastern Sea would've been tedious if it hadn't been because this upbeat battle theme whenever you stumbled with a random encounter.
- The file select screen music. Between 0:33 - 1:27 is some of the most beautiful music in the series.
- The freakin' epic opening theme for the second game.
- Yallam's theme music is just sad enough to convey the plight of a struggling town.
- TUNNEL RUINS. Dark, forboding, confrontational. Amazing contrast between the base/chant lines and the flute solo.
- "A Little Friendship", more casually known as "Ivan's theme".
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
- A new version of the main theme which sounds more epic and adventure-inspiring than ever.
- Fight of Sons, the first battle theme — which unfortunately is temporarily replaced after the prologue in which Isaac is a Guest-Star Party Member (it becomes the main battle theme later in the game). This techno remix by DJtheSdotcom amplifies the awesomeness of the song, especially when it rises in pitch during the last minute or so.
- ...not that Matthew's first battle theme is that bad either, as well as the remix of it that plays when getting into a battle while sailing the ship.
- The one that most fans are excited about? This rearrangement of what was arguably the most popular battle theme from the first game, which plays during Superboss fights.
- And to bring something that isn't the game's Leitmotif or a battle theme in, the music for the cloud passage to Craggy Peak, and Talon Peak.
- Some other great tracks include the revitalized Passaj, Isaac's cottage.
- The piece of music so epic, it becomes a major plot point: Arangoa Prelude! The other pieces the band plays certainly aren't lousy, either.
- Blados and Chalis' battle theme. The fight may have been a disappointment, but damn that music is epic. Their non-battle theme is incredibly, badassedly evil as well.
- The Luna Tower theme is absolutely bad ass.
- As is the theme that plays inside Luna Tower's core.
- The History of Weyard and The Present Weyard playing over the recap and introductory cutscene.
- Gathering of Darkness, the theme that plays after the Alchemy Dynamo is activated, is an intense, panic-inducing theme that screams the fact that you’re in danger, as the Luna Tower is ascending and the Grave Eclipse is soon to begin. With that being said, this theme is really terrifying, and the alarm sounds that are heard the first time this theme plays only adds to the terror.
- An Eclipsed World is one of the most pants-shittingly amazing dark world themes out there.
- Under The Eclipse is one (magnificent) way the game says "Welcome to hell".
- This track gets you pumped for your upcoming adventure.
- Kolima. Bright piano, chimes and an ethereal voice show the calm and peaceful nature of the forest town.
- The Dark Reprise of "Kolima", Cursed Kolima. Slow, solemn piano and flutes depict a town gripped by Sludge's curse of nightmares.
- Endless Wall/Apollo's Ascent. Few tracks really capture that intense urgency that comes with saving the world.
- Apollo Sanctum theme. The appropriately tense drums and bassline really drive home that this is a very dangerous place but the bells add an almost mystical feel as befits the name Apollo Sanctum.
- The final boss theme is a dark, booming theme that screams at the player that the fate of all of Weyard is at stake.