Mace

A Mace (Middle Mace in the Japanese version) is a common Mace-class weapon that appears throughout the Golden Sun series. In all games, it is the first Mace-class weapon available to the player.

Basic Information
A Mace increases the wielder's attack by 6 points. As a common item, it can be bought repeatedly for 80 coins each and sold for 60 coins each.

In Golden Sun, it is sold in the towns of Vale and Vault, and can be equipped by Isaac, Garet, and Mia. In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, it is sold in the towns of Daila and Madra, and can be equipped by Felix, Sheba, and Piers.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the Mace is sold at Patcher's Place, and can be equipped by Matthew, Tyrell, Eoleo, and Rief. Like all common weapons, the Mace acquires an Unleash due to revisions to the Unleash system. Its Unleash, Critical Strike, is a non-elemental physical attack that does 50% more damage than a typical attack.

Analysis
In Golden Sun, after the prologue sequences, the player begins in present-day Vale with a level-1 party of Isaac and Garet each holding a Short Sword and Jenna as a guest character holding a Wooden Stick, and 310 coins in your inventory. However, the Mace is not at all a helpful thing to invest in at the town's vendor because it does actually less damage than the two Short Swords Isaac and Garet start out with, and Jenna is unable to equip a mace. Ivan can not equip Maces, and Mia joins the party later in the game with a far stronger weapon in her inventory). It would actually be a waste of limited money to buy a normal mace in the first game any way you look at it.

In The Lost Age, though, there might be a vague hint of merit in buying a mace in that game's first town of Daila because Sheba, who starts out with an even weaker Wooden Stick, is able to equip it (she can also be equipped with the Shaman's Rod that Felix's inventory starts out with, though, but that weapon might be better off equipped on Jenna at the game's start anyway). Stronger weapons for the party would be found pretty quickly over the course of the game's first legs, so pretty much every player would neglect to give the mace any consideration in either game.

When the Mace first becomes available in Dark Dawn, it will be much weaker than the weapons Matthew and Tyrell each possess. Karis cannot equip Maces, and by the time Rief joins the party, the Mace will be outclassed by other weapons. Thus, buying a Mace is a waste of money.