Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia is a feature introduced in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. It is viewable in-game while your action menu is open, appearing as an option alongside returning menus like Psynergy, Djinn, status, and so on. The Encyclopedia contains information on various terms, people, and locations brought up in conversations throughout the game.

Much of the game's dialogue features words and terms that are highlighted in red. Whenever one appears on screen for the first time, the Encyclopedia's entry on that word or term is permanently added to the encyclopedia, regardless of whether it is opened up while the dialogue remains on-screen or not (the term can either be tapped with the stylus or, more reliably, shifted to using the DS' shoulder buttons). When a page is opened, it is displayed on the upper screen of the DS, and it displays text that explains plot and mechanical information about the term to orient players whether they have played the GBA Golden Sun games or not.

It should be noted that not all entries appear as a result of spoken dialogue; some are added upon entering a new town, acquiring a new item, or following a cutscene. In addition, many entries are updated as you proceed through the game. One can read these "silent" entries or updates by either opening the encyclopedia or waiting for it to come up it conversation.

In addition to the Encyclopedia, Dark Dawn introduces the Djinn Guide. The Djinn Guide is basically the same as the Encyclopedia except that it is exclusively for Djinn, as the title suggests.

Dark Dawn's Encyclopedia
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn contains a total of 179 Encyclopedia entries. Some entries have pictures, and some replace themselves with more complete or different text descriptions as the game progresses — but no single entry undergoes more than one content change. If the game is deliberately played so that as many entries are missed as possible, the player will end up with a minimum of 165 entries upon starting a postgame save file. By that point, all but three of the missing entries can be subsequently picked up: Lord McCoy, Mercury Lighthouse, and Dream Leaf, which are permanently missable once the segment of the game taking place in Morgal is concluded.