Machete

A Machete (Work Sword in the Japanese version) is a Light Blade-class weapon that appears in the prologue sequence to Golden Sun. It is equipped on young Isaac and young Garet for the duration of the prologue, and it increases their base Attack ratings by 6 each. The Machetes, which are described by the games as "used for chores", will disappear forever once the prologue concludes and the attention shifts to the modern day.

What is very unusual about Machetes is that they cannot be unequipped once equipped. In the context of the prologue this was done by the developers to ensure that new players would not accidentally de-equip them, in turn ensuring that young Isaac and Garet would have the attack ratings necessary to more effectively combat the weak Vermin, Bat, and Wild Mushroom enemies that are encountered during the prologue. Also, if you use a hacking device to start off in one of the first game's Debug Rooms, the lone Isaac you will be controlling will be equipped with a Machete that he can't remove.

If you use a hacking device to cause Machetes to appear in your inventory either directly or through the Debug Rooms, you will find that these items, while unequipped, are classified by the game as common Light Blade-class weapons that can be sold for 22 coins, which would make their technical buy values 30 coins. In spite of being Light-Blade class weapons, only Isaac and Garet can equip these with Ivan being unable to, but take great care and make sure to never actually equip Machetes on either of your warriors (or be sure never to save your game if you do) because, once equipped, Machetes will remain equipped on the two warriors permanently and will be impossible to unequip, unless you figure out some other way to hack them off with a hacking device.

In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the Machete returns fully coded in the game cart exactly as it was the last game, but it does not actually appear in any form during normal gameplay in this game. Like before, it can be hacked into your inventory either directly or through that game's Debug Rooms, and like before, it can be sold for 22 coins and only Isaac and Garet can equip them, but under no circumstance would Isaac and Garet ever want to equip these unequippable items unless they want to play through the game with a huge offensive handicap.