Daedalus

Daedalus is a Summon sequence of the Mars element found only in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. When four Mars Djinn and three Venus Djinn are on standby, and Daedalus’s Summon Tablet has been collected, the Daedalus Summon sequence can be activated. It resembles a giant monolithic golem-like statue emerging from a forest and launching an array of artillery missiles fueled by some sort of fantasy technology. Then Daedalus launches a much larger missile.

Daedalus is not automatically summonable once one collects the required Djinn. Daedalus can only be summoned once the Summon Tablet containing the sequence has been found in the deepest depths of Yampi Desert Cave near the end of the game; the optional boss Valukar guards the summon. Players of the game who have not enhanced it with a password from the first Golden Sun will find that this is the strongest Mars summon at their disposal.

Daedalus is the summon sequence with the most unique method of attacking; it is quite literally two attacks in two turns. When summoned, Daedalus’ armada of small artillery missiles damages all foes with a base Mars power of 100 and also does additional damage equivalent to 7% of the enemy’s maximum HP. The battle is then waged as normal until the end of the next turn; suddenly, a giant missile from the previous sequence slams into the opposition and explodes, damaging the enemy party with a Mars power of 250 and also does additional damage equivalent to 15% of the enemy’s maximum HP.

Daedalus is among Azul, Catastrophe, Charon, and Iris as “ultimate” Summon sequences in the Lost Age, though as a Mars sequence Daedalus is the only one not to actually be considered “ultimate” because of the far more powerful Iris summon sequence. One may be excused for thinking of the Daedalus setup of two attacks in two turns as an inconsequential gimmick, and that it would have been better if both attacks were treated as one in the turn it is summoned like in all other summon sequences. A strategy that can be used to take advantage of this setup is to summon Daedalus in the first turn, then in the next turn lower the enemy’s resistances so that the impending missile attack at the end of that second turn will do more damage.

Cultural Allusions
Interestingly enough, the Daedalus summons bears no resembelence to its Greek counterpart. In Greek mythology, Daedalus fled to Crete with his son Icarus after killing his nephew Talos. King Minos refused to let them leave, so they fly away from Crete using the feathers of birds as wings.