N64 Classic GoldenEye 007 No Longer "Banned" In Germany, Could A Re-Release Be Coming?

Now then…

If this is added to switch online it’s suddenly worth the price…..

the german BPjM list of "Media Harmful to Young Persons"

This sounds like a placebo list

Na. Despite playing hundreds of hours of 4 player "Golden Gun" after work every night (usually till 5-6am), the N64 original hasnt aged well. The graphics, framerate and controls are dated relics from a console generation that has aged worse than any other. The XBLA version is absolutely stellar, refines it to perfection and more than makes up for the lack of the original on Switch etc. Not to mention the fact that Goldeneye runs really well on emulators, upscaled to 4K with dual analogue controls. An online multiplayer mode might just get me interested again though. Such a shame they couldnt get the Xbox remake out of licenceing limbo and into the marketplace. It woulda sold like hotcakes.

This would actually get me to upgrade to the new NSO tier if it happens. I’ve been replaying GoldenEye loads on my N64 and it’s still amazing. The AI is always doing something unexpected every time I play it, which makes every session unique. Plus I love how the mission objectives are so varied so the levels never feel repetitive.

This is really a strong indication! In the past, it was even forbidden to mention GoldenEye in video game magazines, the usual term was „SilverEye“ back then.

@fluggy I have to imagine that if this works its way to the Expansion Pack, the remaster is almost certainly going to hit Xbox.

Maybe adding the original to NSO would be less difficult to license than releasing a remaster?

Halo 2 comes to mind, Halo 2 Classic in MCC is unchanged from the original game but Halo 2 Anniversary in MCC removed the Breaking Benjamin and Incubus songs because of music licensing.

As others had said, this would make the NSO pricing more palatable, though the emulation of current N64 titles on the Switch could do with a few patches too. Having these classics at a (close-to) locked 30fps would be bliss!

I sure hope and Pray we Get Goldeneye for N64 Online via Nintendo Switch Online! Please #Nintendo make it happen! Online multiplayer for this Masterpiece would be Incredible!

I'm so Glad I have the Expansion Pack! Getting New Nintendo 64 games added to the growing library will be like Christmas Morning!!! Nintendo Switch Online is Awesome!

It's likely this may be one of the 38 N64 games that's coming soon to NSO this year.

@Stocksy but they have to patch the multiplayer spawn traps

Now at least German nintendo gamers can finally enjoy this classic game after 25 years

Goldeneye for NSO confirmed !

Too bad its still not fun to play

Nightdive moment!

Seriously tho, the expansion pack could include more than just the original version because animal crossing is on its way out

I want to buy it! No rental of such games, please!

Fingers crossed this is a sign!!

Oh I need goldeneye on n64 online

The trolls in here looking for biters…. It’s no good to play and it’s not aged well…. If we love this game we are probably over 35 and too old to be baited online nice try though.

Never say never,

Oops, wrong film.

Damn. With this I would reluctantly buy the N64 Switch Online tier. I just love this game so much.

Tried the leaked remaster earlier but it almost burned down my poor Surface Pro 6 (I don't own a gaming PC), would love a proper release for Xbox Series X

Hopefully if it's coming for Switch, Xbox gets to release their remaster in return.

I was thinking that if only Goldeneye were added to the NSO N64 app, suddenly it would be a much better value proposition. As long as the local and online multiplayer works!

Maybe they can arrange to have the never cough cough released XBLA port be on Switch.

@fluggy
I would disagree regarding Goldeneye. It's always been funny looking, but the scenarios built into it, the multiplayer, plus the meta-game of trying to beat the best times of the developers to unlock cheats, give this game a shelf-life that's almost unmatched. There are still people out there speed-running this game. You always had to suspend disbelief to enjoy this game, and now it's no different.

Goldeneye is still great fun to play to this day so this would be a hugely welcome addition to NSO and the N64 pad is basically tailor made for that game. It'd be cool to see that Xbox version see the light of day as well

A tasty proposition to be sure, but as others have said I feel without some fairly substantial overhauling of the controls this will only really have value as a nostalgic curio, as it is close to unpayable nowadays

Still "banned" elsewhere due to copyright

@fluggy Having never played it originally i played it for the first time properly last year on a mates old N64 and yeah its awful nowadays, even by PS2 standards what was one gen later its pretty bad. I understand why it was loved and what it done for gaming but as you said it comes from a Gen of gaming where most of its games rarely hold up and have aged the most, i suspect with some big tweaks what i guess that remaster was going to have as well as what Mods do add on PC the game would be a lot better but the game as it is on N64 just isn't that good now and is a very rusted relic.

If Goldeneye 007 comes to NSO, so will button remapping. Goldeneye was one of the very first FPS games (if not THE very first) to utilize the "dual analog controls" used in virtually every first-person shooter game nowadays (left stick moves person, right stick moves camera), and with the current button mapping, you wouldn't be able to play Goldeneye properly.

I'll take the NSO expansion pack at the very second this game is announced.
And if it could also launch on Xbox, under the remake that leaked... I'd take that too, please

Loved playing this way back when. Had to be ‘Licence to Kill’ rules though, and Oddjob was banned

Ah, Piers Brosnan, that English actor with the giant mouth.

Now all the haters will buy the expansion hahaha. Something MIGHT happen, but don't get your hopes up.

GoldenEye 007 was never rereleased, the only way to play that game without pirating, is finding the original N64 carts, this game is a big proof of what I always say:

• Piracy is a necessary evil to preserve videogame history, after all, physical media is not perfect either, even the cartridges which are very sturdy, someday will stop working.
• Videogame companies need to be more careful with licenses, if you paid for a license to make a game based on a movie, after the license expires, you should be still allowed to sell the game, you just can't make another, Hollywood movies rarely have this problem because they care about preservation more than videogame companies.

If it's a choice between an emulation on NSO and a remaster on Xbox, I'm picking the remaster.

"mostly on Nintendo"

To what? How is getting a game based on an MGM movie sub licensed from Eon Productions licensed from Danjaq made by a company owned by Microsoft re-licensed for release MOSTLY ON NINTENDO

Please explain this to me.

Is dying light still banned

Goldeneye with online multiplayer might be enough for me to opt-in on the expansion pack. If I also could get the N64 controller. Been a good 20 years since I last stood in that window on the complex level, firing the screaming rockets at Oddjob.

@HeadPirate I'd have to do some googling, but I remember there being some talk that, out of all the groups involved, it was Nintendo who didn't want to move talks along.

Edit: https://screenrant.com/goldeneye-xbla-remaster-cancelled-nintendo/

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/02/the_real_story_behind_rares_cancelled_goldeneye_007_remaster

I'll definitely get the expansion if this gets added 😁

This does not mean it is coming to the switch online, it could be that they want to do a 25th anniversary re-release in 2022 or put it on a N64 classic

Of all of the massively popular games from the 1st quarter of the N64's life span (Mario, Star Fox, Wave Race, etc.), this is probably the only one that has completely failed to age decently. The controls, AI, graphics and subject (Goldeneye isn't even in the top 15 best Bonds) leave a lot to be desired.

@Richnj

Sure, but even if true that just means 1 of the 8 parties you need to sign off on it might not be interested. It's only "on Nintendo" if you have permission from the other 7 already. On top of that, I doubt the own anything other then the right to call it "Golden Eye 64" ... so for Nintendo to publish it online they need the permission of everyone but Microsoft wouldn't need Nintendo's permission to publish it as "Golden Eye - Master edition"

It just seems like way too much control is being assigned to a very minor rights holder.

@HeadPirate "Sure, but even if true that just means 1 of the 8 parties you need to sign off on it might not be interested. It's only "on Nintendo" if you have permission from the other 7 already."

May I please refer you back to the link that I and NL provided that states that everyone but Nintendo signed off on the project.

" On top of that, I doubt the own anything other then the right to call it "Golden Eye 64" ... so for Nintendo to publish it online they need the permission of everyone but Microsoft wouldn't need Nintendo's permission to publish it as "Golden Eye - Master edition""

If that was true, the remaster would have been released without the '64' in the title. Since we know Nintendo has zero ownership of the "Goldeneye" trademark. And since we know Rare most likely has ownership of code and content of Goldeneye, since they were able to release Perfect Dark, my guess is Nintendo still retains ownership of publishing rights of the title. Which is a pretty big deal.

It's a shame the game really doesn't hold up well, anyone getting too excited hasn't played it in at least 8+ years I'm guessing. It's kind of rough to get into now, for me at least.

@Richnj

I'm not speaking hypothetically ... we absolutely know Nintendo doesn't own the rights to "Golden Eye", they let it expire in 2017, and it's now held by Activation who hold exclusive rights to publish ANY new Bond games (but not retroactive rights to republish old games).

So to recap, because it's messy, the name "Golden Eye 64" belongs to Nintendo ONLY because they still own the copyright on Nintendo 64. The GAME Golden Eye 64, it's code, and all sub licenses are owned by Microsoft. The PUBLISHING rights to all Bond games, regardless of developer and system, are with Activation.

Again, not speculation. Not guessing. This is how it plays out, and Nintendo has almost no pull here. The ONLY thing they can prevent is the game being called Golden Eye 64 remastered, but in the end, that's enough to make a re-release impossible. People are not going to buy a new Golden Eye game even IF it's the same game (Also not speculation, Golden Eye reloaded is a re-release of the N64 game without the name and sales were horrible) because without that nostalgia, no one is buying it.

Microsoft and Nintendo could release Golden Eye 64 UNTOUCHED without Activation. Microsoft and Activation could release "Golden Eye - The same game as the one you played on that other console please buy it". It would take all 3 of them to release "Golden Eye 64 Remastered". In no scenario is Nintendo the most important, and in the one we are talking about, releasing Golden Eye on NOS ... that decision is completely with Microsoft.

@HeadPirate Microsoft and Activation could release "Golden Eye - The same game as the one you played on that other console please buy it""

So why didn't they?

""Golden Eye", they let it expire in 2017, and it's now held by Activation"

Are we talking trademark? Because Acti don't own that. Danjaq do, as seen in @Slowdive's comment. And if we aren't talking TM, then what?

@TCF it won't come to xbox just Diddy kong racing will come to nos but never to xbox

@Richnj because Nintendo has rights to it. Just like you will never see Diddy kong racing on xbox

@carlos82 you talking about goldeneye reloaded which was on wii,ps3 and 360.because the original n64 version was never on anything but the n64

@Darkyoshi98 what now? I never said the original Goldeneye ever released on anything else

I still enjoy playing Goldeneye, especially with custom levels.

@HeadPirate Goldeneye reloaded isn't a rerelease of the original N64 game. It was a modern (for its time) retelling of the Goldeneye story that had different levels and story elements. It also had a very different multiplayer to the N64 game so it was quiet different from the N64 game.

the german BPjM list of "Media Harmful to Young Persons"

Sounds so 2021.

Except, it would read: “Media Harmful to Grown Adults” before they censor it.

So they banned Goldeneye in 1997... yet they allowed young peeps to buy Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct. O....K....

@HeadPirate The game isn't called GoldenEye 64 officially however, it's title was GoldenEye 007. So that part of this discussion isn't a factor in the game's lack of re-releases up to this point. It didn't stop Doom 64 from getting released on PS4, Xbox and PC with that title anyway.

Activision hasn't had the licence to 007 for years either.

@Orpheus79V I believe they made up the whole "Nintendo only own the Golendeye '64' trademark" just to diminish the role Nintendo played in blocking the game's re-release. That's why I was pushing them on it.

Timesplitters 2 is the shooter I want again.

@Piyo I think you missed my point…

@Slowdive welcome back…

I played Goldeneye on an original N64 about 18 months ago and it's excellent. No nostalgia talking here - the game plays great. The controller is great.

All this talk about being unplayable and not ageing well is nonsense.

When I think back to playing Turok for the first time (the first game I played on N64 that required analogue stick for looking around and yellow buttons for movement) I remember it taking a while for some people to get their head around it and it was genuinely unplayable for some people- until it clicked. Seems to me we have some impatient gamers that haven't waited for the Click!

I enjoyed my time with the game already. Unless its an updated remake, I'm not interested.

Tbh, I'm a little sceptical of how well a re-release would turn out. Goldeneye 007 is very much designed with the range and sensitivity of the original N64 joystick, trying to play the game with a 3rd party joystick or different controller makes it control way worse. I'm not sure if I trust Nintendo to actually put in the effort to make it control well in N64 Online.

What I do recommend though, especially for people who find Goldeneye unplayable these days due to dated controls + low framerate, is to check out the 60fps keyboard+mouse romhack for Goldeneye on PC. That's an amazing way to play the game.

I would rather have GOLDENEYE than PERFECT DARK. So here is to a slight chance we see it.

Now bring it to NSO and I'll consider the expansion. Throw in Perfect Dark while you're at it 😁