Debug mode is a set of debugging and testing features used by Camelot Software Planning during development of both GBA Golden Sun games, which was left mostly intact in the retail versions of both games. The main features of debug mode are the ability to walk through walls, to warp to any map in the game including the debug rooms, and to view and modify any of the internal flags used by the game to keep track of story events.

The same debug mode also exists in Mario Golf: Advance Tour and Mario Tennis: Power Tour, as both of those games are based on the engine from the GBA Golden Sun games.

Accessing Debug Mode

Debug mode is disabled during normal gameplay and can only be enabled using RAM editing or a cheating device such as a GameShark or Action Replay. To enable debug mode, a non-zero byte must be written to a specific variable in RAM, which differs between games:

Game	Address	CodeBreaker/ GameShark SP	GameShark Advance/ Action Replay	Action Replay MAX
Golden Sun	03001F54	33001F54 0001	0EDDE147 50586B97	643789F3 ECAB35BC
Golden Sun (German)	03001F64	33001F64 0001	68B25EE9 E00CDCB7	DFF8B768 783E7268
Golden Sun: The Lost Age	03001238	33001238 0001	00D3924F 333C8C91	1B8735DA 3C2202E5
Mario Golf: Advance Tour	03001280	33001280 0001	06BCC0CB 8164414E	180AE2FD AEB6A90E
Mario Tennis: Power Tour	03001334	33001334 0001	D29C57FA C536EF57	E2A6A78C A74439E8

Features

• Holding L allows the player to walk anywhere, including through solid objects. The player can even walk outside the bounds of the map, although the camera will not follow them there. This feature also works on the World Map, although it's awkward to use there since holding L will just zoom out the World Map without allowing the player to move. However, if L is pressed and held while in a menu, and then the menu is closed while still holding L, it will function properly.

• Pressing Start+Select at any time will freeze the game and enter frame-advance mode. In this mode, pressing A or B will advance the game forward by one frame at a time. Pressing Start will return the game to normal.

• Pressing R during a cutscene will enter fast-forward mode. All dialogue will be automatically skipped, massively speeding up the cutscene. Pressing L will return the cutscene to normal.

• In battle, holding Start while opening the Status menu will display the enemies' stats instead of the player's. (All enemies will have Isaac's portrait and their class will be "NPC".)

• Three extra options are added to the Start menu: "Rough menu", "Debug menu", and "Restart quest". All three have an unused trash can icon, and none of them do anything when selected.

• On the file select screen, all files will display "(Continue from a Sanctum)" instead of the usual text. Loading a file will always start the player at the last-visited Sanctum, as if they had held L+Start.

Warp Menu

Pressing B+Start opens a menu which allows the player to instantly warp to any map in the game including the debug rooms.

The top row controls the map ID, and the bottom row controls which warp ID within the map to warp to. Every map also has an internal name used by the developers which is displayed by this menu.

Flag Editor

Pressing B+Select opens a menu which allows the player to view and edit all the flags used by the game to keep track of story events. The flags are split into 16 pages of 256 flags each, which can be navigated with L and R.

Palette Editor

Pressing L+Start opens a menu which allows the player to view and edit all the background palettes currently in memory.

• The D-Pad changes which red, green, or blue value is currently selected, though it's somewhat confusing since the cursor is invisible.
• A and B increment and decrement the currently-selected value, respectively.
• L and R change which palette is currently being edited.
• Holding Start will cause the currently-selected color to flash black and white, which lets the user easily see where the color is used in-game. It also helps with the aforementioned invisible cursor.
• Select closes the menu. This also has the side effect of resetting the UI color to the default dark blue, but opening the Settings menu will restore what it was previously set to.

Gameplay elements and mechanics
Collectibles	Artifacts • Broken Equipment • Class Items • Coins • Consumable Items • Cursed Equipment • Equipment • Forgeable Items • Psynergy Items • Quest Items • Rusty Weapons • Stat Items
Travel	Blacksmiths • Boat (TLA) • Boat (DD) • Fortune Tellers • Inns • Item Shops • Psynergy Stones • Sanctums • Summon Tablets • Treasure Chests • Umbra Gear • Wings of Anemos
Combat	Adepts • Attack • Beastform • Bosses • Classes • Defend • Djinn (Master List) • Elements • Enemy Abilities (GS, TLA) • Enemy Abilities (DD) • Level • Mad Plants • Mimics • Monsters • Psynergy • Status Conditions • Stats • Summons • Unleashes (List) (Mastery Requirements (DD))
Information	Atlas • Djinn Guide • Encyclopedia • Sun Saga • Travel Log • Umbra Map • World Map (GS, TLA) • World Map (DD)
Minigames	Colosso • Lucky Dice • Lucky Medal Fountains • Lucky Wheels • Psynergy Training Grounds • Super Lucky Dice • Trial Road
Modes	Battle Mode • Easy Mode • Hard Mode • Debug Mode
Features	Data Transfer • Sound Test • The Reunion
Other	Debug Rooms • Glitches (GS) • Glitches (TLA) • Glitches (DD) • Optional Dungeons • Permanently Missable Content • Random Number Generator • Troubleshooting (GS, TLA) • Troubleshooting (DD) • Unacquirable Items • Unacquirable Psynergy • Walkthrough (GS) • Walkthrough (TLA) • Walkthrough (DD)