How A Tragic Murder Inspired The Epic Retelling Of GBA Classic Golden Sun

The Golden Sun series may have been dormant since the release of Dark Dawn on the Nintendo DS, but it’s a franchise which nonetheless has a passionate fanbase – and one man’s love of the original GBA game has resulted in a very special tribute.

Bryson Elam – known online as Wing Adept – is the guiding light behind the ambitious ‘Golden Sun Broken Seal Director’s Cut’ project, which he describes as “a retelling of the first game, featuring voice acting, rescored music, as well as custom illustrations and animations, to help expand on the game.”

Over the past few years, Elam has assembled a team of talented artists and voice actors (including Mike Pollock, who voiced Dr. Eggman in the Sonic animated series, and Brandy Kopp, the voice of Lady Palutena in Smash Bros.) to embellish the storyline of the 2001 JRPG epic – which, incidentally, turned 20 at the start of this month.

However, his desire to get the project off the ground was inspired by more than just simple affection for the game itself; to Elam, Golden Sun has a much deeper and more meaningful connection – it’s his way of connecting with the memory of his late friend, Fabian Gonzalez.

At this point, we’ll allow Elam to explain:

Fabian and I had known each other since a young age, both of our mothers were single parents and, at the time, working for the US military. Our friendship would form into an unbreakable bond over the years, jokingly dubbing ourselves the Mario Bros. In regards to Golden Sun, I got the game for Christmas that year but was initially disappointed, hoping for another game. However, Fabian advised me to at least try the game out. From there, Golden Sun became my gateway RPG, not only becoming my first, but also my favorite. Its significance evolved over the years it signified the bond I had with him. As we grew older, the two of us went our separate ways; he would join the Air Force, while I went to college, but the two of us both promised to work on special voice over project pertaining the series once we met again. Sadly, before we ever had the chance to start, he was murdered while visiting his family. He was 21-years-old.

Being someone who’s had to move from one place to another, I never really had the opportunity to make a lot of friends. And Fabian’s death left me completely devastated as he was the one person in the world that knew me the best. However, I decided to honour his memory by keeping our promise alive. Going into this, I wanted to make this project special. But I faced a daunting task, with factors such as: similar projects being done by more established groups, along with my limited skillset, experience and resources. I knew this was too big for one person to handle alone.

Fortunately, I would join forces with another passionate fan of the series by the name of Jazz, who had previously contributed to a major project pertaining the series via the Golden Sun Abridged Series. Together, we were able to assemble a small group of voice actors and artists, and, with their help, we would have platform to showcase our work through Memoir Productions (a most fitting name, all things considered).

What started off around with seven voice actors suddenly grew to ten. Then 20; now, the Project features over 50 voice talents (including high profile, professional actors) along with various musicians and a team of artists and animators. However, with this increase of support, I felt an internal pressure to outdo myself, not for me primarily but for the simple fact that I wanted this project to be something people could look back at years later and have a sense of pride being a part of something so grand.