GoldenEye 007's Return Could Be Close

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Exciting times! This will be HUGE whether it comes to Switch or not. Hoping it does but I’m not too hopeful. But also I wouldn’t be surprised given the rapport Microsoft seems to have with Nintendo lately. Here’s to hoping.. either way, I still have my original cart but a nice upscaling on modern consoles would be great!

Hopefully Switch gets a purchasable port, if they just add it to NSO Expansion Pack (which I think they will) I'll buy it on Xbox.

Hopefully it gets a full physical release. Even more hopefully they do a collectors edition version with gold coloured joy cons like how they released it with a gold classic controller on wii.

Wasn’t the issue with rerelease before some kind of disagreement with Nintendo? If it’s being rereleased now with their go-ahead then I think that also signals it’ll be on Switch too.

If both Swich and Xbox get this game, I’m guessing Switch will get the 64 version on the online service, and Xbox will get the 360 version. I’d like to play it again for old times, but not holding my breath it’s coming.

The best thing to do if it’s released ( and it’s the N64 version without any technical upgrades ) is to keep your expectations very low. It’s dog rough by todays standards.

I can't see this coming to Switch. It would be amazing if it does, but I don't see why it would.

I call Oddjob, and I'm running straight for the nearest Laser Rifle. Ah, the memories.

I bet Switch gets it only in the N64 service as it's original version, and Microsoft gets an improved updated version.

@GrailUK well Switch got Banjo Kazooie in the N64 service, seems like any Rare game could be on the table. In fact, maybe a deal was made so that it can appear in the N64 service if Nintendo allows Rare to also releases it in some form on Microsoft's platforms.

It would be nice if this and Rare Replay got PC releases. I haven't had any interest in Xbox since the 360.

Perhaps GoldenEye will be the July N64 game on NSO+?

We're going to need a lot more N64 Controllers Nintendo... the multiplayer is what I am most excited about with this release. Especially if it supports online.

Rose tinted glasses? GoldenEye multiplayer is even better today than it was back in the day because now we have the collective knowledge that nothing released since came close!

@AtlanteanMan if you're picking Oddjob, I'm doing the cheat that unlocks 64 playable characters and choosing the Moonraker Guard that I think was right at the end bar one maybe? Anyway, she's dressed in yellow and is the same height as Oddjob!

Am I the only one who thinks this won't arrive on Switch?

Nintendo still has some rights to the Goldeneye 007 brand, so if a game is coming out, it's likely coming out to the Switch in some way.

@nocdaes The Helicopter Pilot and Boris were always my go-to choices back in the day.

@Tasuki I agree with you there most people tend to play many older games only briefly because it's not as good or harder than they remember.

Honestly as someone who loved the original I don't think it holds up well at all even when emulated and controls mapped to a modern layout. From what it seems even the Xbox version is the original N64 version and not the cancelled port from years ago. Games like this are often good for their time period but are one of the genres that age poorly unless enhanced to take advantage of better technology.

It has never left my house, gets regular use on my N64.

You keep waiting while I'll keep playing.😁

@Grumblevolcano Hell, no. Never in a million years would it be a good idea to encourage Nintendo to re-release an outdated version of this game when there's the remastered version on the horizon. Brilliant thinking there

Still not played an fps that manages to capture the atmosphere of Goldeneye. I do think it should be the 360 version though to be released, madness to just port the N64 version.

@ThomasCasson

Yes, because Nintendo is who blocked the 360 version from getting released so it's painfully obvious that Microsoft and Nintendo are working together on it this time.

Didn't play the original so just looked up some gameplay on YouTube, and my god what did I just watch 😂 they have real faces just stuck onto the enemies lol if this isn't a modern remake then I'm stay far away from this

Give me Wave Race 64 you cowar… No actually, this’ll do fine!

TBH I really want that 360 version on Switch as a physical release. I have been playing the FAR CRY 5 multiplayer maps, and it's nice, but we need a true dual stick update and texture up-res with all the objectives, music etc. Throw in the removed ability to play as Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and maybe even Craig and I would pay $60.00 USD for that damn thing!

@Tasuki @Zenszulu I last played GE in 2019 after a hiatus since 2002.

Muscle-memory instantly came back and I had no issues with gameplay.
Graphically, it obviously doesn't look as good as anything released today and I agree at times I thought it looked bad but I think GAMES aren't really about graphics but GAMEPLAY. I still found it fun in single player mode.

I only HOPE that if this Game is to be re-released that the Cheats are EASIER to input/unlock than the thumb-twisting N64 button combinations/tight completion times.

@Hank_Scorpio How many times have you said that you want Wave Race 64? I’m guessing at least 5 times at this point.

I just hope we can buy this game, if it’s an N Switch online game it’s a pass for me:/

i would love to run over the enemies with the tank hearing bone crunches and screams on golden eye 64 fun times.

The big question I suppose is if there gyro aiming? Is all the original sound track still there?

People want a port of this game so bad but my question is, is it worth the cost? I doubt they will make a profit from a port. However, a remake is definitely worth it indeed.

I got the NSO Expansion pack, purely so I could buy the N64 controllers, solely on the off-chance that Goldeneye would be coming to the Switch…

@Tasuki agree. I was super excited for a new Metroid 2d, because I loved playing Super Metroid (snes). So I played Metroid Dread and I didn't like. Good thing I didn't buy it. The reality "today" is quite different from the memories of the past. I also think I will feel this with 007 Golden Eye.

@WeLiveInASociety Pretty sure I say it in my sleep at this point. I don’t understand why the cowards won’t give me Wave Race 64. 😂

Sure wish Nintendo wasn't a decade behind always and had achievements.

If anyone hasn't played GoldenEye in the last 10 years though...it just does NOT hold up well. At all.

Crossing my fingers that Nintendo doesn't put the nintendo 64 rom in the nintendo switch online. It would be nicer having the remaster with crossplay in the eshop.

Some think the game hasn’t held up well, but honestly if you give it a proper go, it’s still amazingly fun. The 1.2 control layout is perfect - c buttons for movement and analogue for aim. So satisfying, the missions are still great - it just takes giving it a little time to get readjusted. You can even use 2 controllers for dual analogue.

@Hank_Scorpio Well, I might as well join in. GIVE ME CONKER’S BAD FUR DAY YOU COWARDS

@UltimateOtaku91 You just watched a landmark and much loved piece of media from 1997 and complained about the graphics.

"they have real faces just stuck onto the enemies lol"

You mean like how they scan real faces on to character models today?. It was actually advanced stuff compared to what some games were doing that year.

@Chibi_Manny They did remake it. It was terrible and sold poorly.

Secret Agent? On who’s side ?

I played this in single player back in the day and it had loads of flaws and stuff and that awful frame rate . . . But it also had that feeling that you were bond which was priceless. I hope this gets released somewhere somehow. I think bond can pull me back into gaming xxx

if it were brought to the N64-Nintendo Switch Online, it would ALMOST justify the $50/year for the service

Xbox will likely get the Xbox remaster. Switch, I don't know.

@GrailUK Unless it's a port of the 2010 remake of GoldenEye 007, it had to be released for Nintendo. Nintendo own the original source code for the N64 version of GoldenEye 007. It would make sense if this is just a remastered of the 2010 version since that one is done by Activision and now Microsoft own Activision.

@bonjong23
Unlike many other Rare titles, Nintendo funded for the development of this game in a similar manner to Bayonetta 2 and 3. So as a stakeholder, Nintendo has quite a lot of influence being the firm that kickstarted this game.

But the real reason why this game was suffering from legal discrepancies that prevented its release was because the numerous stakeholders in this (film publishers, actors and their managers, Nintendo, Microsoft) never took the time to sit down and discuss how they wanted to clean up this complex ownership over the game.

@Tasuki
It's more of the impact that this game has that gives off its reputation. This was one of the very first games to use the modern camera control scheme in the FPS genre.

Already have my big head cheat locked and loaded.

@Tasuki Doesn't matter if "it didn't age well," it's still a very fun game to play regardless for many others (including me).

@Hank_Scorpio You know, I always wondered why they didn't do anything with Wave Race 64 since the Wii U. Seems like a no-brainer, but what do we know!

NINJA APPROVED

@Tasuki I happen to agree with you. It has many fun ideas, but at this point modern advances in FPS games make going back to it REALLY show it's age!

@Serpenterror @Serpenterror Is it confirmed they own the source code? Also, it's most likely the cancelled remaster/remake of the original.

It’s good Nintendo and Rare/Microsoft could work together to bring this back since the rights were a bit awkward. Not a chance Nintendo would agree for this to only come to Xbox and vice versa.

Loved the original and still have my cart, but I'd prefer to see a graphically updated version with a few QOL improvements that we've gotten used to since the late 90s. Release the original to the Switch Online service, though, or feature it bundled with an updated version as an unlockable

I'd assume if it came to Switch it'd be only for the Expansion Pak. It wouldn't make sense otherwise, but they also sold Fire Emblem separately from NSO so who knows. If it's also locked to GamePass-only on Xbox, I'd rather spend the 10 bucks extra for that, at least with the current state of the Expansion Pak. If it's a $10-20 port on Xbox, you can bet I'm playing it that way.

@SteamEngenius Achievements & Trophies are such a small thing, but they're just a quick nice feeling, and it can be fun to go back and see when you got which ones. What's more confusing is why Nintendo fans seem to hate the fact they exist, even on another console. I hope it's just a vocal minority, but it's not exactly uncommon either for people who only play Nintendo/Xbox/PlayStation/PC/Sega to act like xenophobic island tribals for any kind of other console's ideas or practices...

If this comes about, I can't see Microsoft stitching Nintendo on this. I expect it will be a collaborative effort.

At worse, free on Gamepass, paid for on Nintendo. But at least available on the Switch.

@Serpenterror "It would make sense if this is just a remastered of the 2010 version since that one is done by Activision and now Microsoft own Activision."

The achievement art and descriptions are clearly showing that this is the N64 title and not the 2010 remake (and it was a remake. technically a reimagining, definitely not a remaster).

Besides, No-one asks for the 2010 version. Half the comments seem to not know that game exists. It's always the N64 version people ask for. If they bait and switched for the 2010 Goldeneye, people would riot.

@SteamEngenius I played the "leaked" Xbox version on PC in 2021 and you are right. It does nog hold up tot modern standards. The Wii version is mutch better Playable. But when it comes out for nostalgia I'm gonna play it again.

@Serpenterror Nintendo don’t own the source code though!

Wish we had achievements on Switch, love games that have them built in, but would love to show off to people.
Anyways, Oddjob was banned in my games as cheating, and always played pistols one shot kills, then you needed skill.

I’m hoping it’ll be part of a compilation release. This year is James Bond‘s 60th anniversary. Every 10 years we get a box set of James Bond movies. Maybe this year they’ll include James Bond games. There’s something cool to think about.

@Serpenterror Nintendo doesn't own the code, just the publishing rights and they expired in 2017. The code is owned by the makers of the game, Rare. When the acquisition of Rare happened, Nintendo only received the ownership of games that had Nintendo characters in them.

IF you're not excited by GoldenEye, at least you have the silver lining of whatever 64 game you DO want to see having a slightly increased chance because GoldenEye is something of a holy grail for a release that we hoped for but ultimately never thought we would see.

Great news if true, it's still an excellent game and puts a lot of modern shooters which just focus on mowing down mindless grunts to shame.

Unless Nintendo have implemented a special control scheme for it in the NSO app (I doubt that considering Kirby released with an obvious game breaking bug) it will really only be playable using the N64 controller. Using the right analogue stick for the c-buttons just doesn't work well, especially so for GoldenEye.

Long long long overdue. Just hope it releases on the switch as an n64 game or even as the updated remaster. Actually I’d love all the remastered raw n64 games to get in the switch.

@BulkSlash you dont have to use the right stick

Just going to list some of my favourite multiplayer setups...

Complex - Golden Gun (always adored Complex. I think it is the best level overall, and the Golden Gun is particularly good on this one - especially when you have a team of 3 against 1).

Complex - Proximity Mines (so... you place a Proximity mine on a green ammo crate, then quickly pick up the green ammo crate and you end up with an invisible Proximity mine. Works brilliantly on Complex because of the layout and the "two bases" where the Mines spawn).

Facility - Hand Grenades (unofficial bonus point if you manage to kill someone with a grenade whilst they're in the toilet cubicle without killing yourself!)

Facility - Proximity Mines (starting in the vents when you know someone has almost certainly placed a mine in that toilet!)
Basement - Proximity Mines (Facility may generate more laughs, but Basement was the real challenge and always found it to be a close game)

Bunker - Remote Mines (so if you placed and detonated a remote mine on the bracket holding up the multi TV screens that hang from the ceiling in the main control room, your remote mines will then be placed in mid air from then onwards (so wherever you are stood/looking as opposed to thrown onto a wall/floor). I think it did work with Proximity too, but remote was a lot more fun as you can run past your own mines. Pretty funny walking around and spotting a mine in your face just before the inevitable death!)

Temple - Rockets (nothing more satisfying than landing a long range kill with a rocket on Temple! Well apart from perhaps landing a rocket kill by firing down onto someone through the big hole in the middle of the level!)

Archives - Slappers Only - License To Kill (needs no further explanation! Throwing Knives was a great alternative too!).

@Bustacap How do you use the c-buttons then?

Couple of observations on those Xbox Achievements that have gone live.

• The big head mode cheat write-up (which is all new text that wasn't on the original game) still references it as "DK Mode". Seems unlikely to me they would keep that clear Nintendo reference if this wasn't also coming to Switch.
• One of the Achievements is called "A Treehouse Classic" which is completed if you play a particular multiplayer setup. Seems unlikely to me they would write such a blatant Nintendo reference if this wasn't also coming to Switch.

@BulkSlash holding ZR will turn abxy into c buttons

@Bustacap That's not going to cut it on GoldenEye if you want to be opening doors while strafing and changing weapons.

I don't think "advances in modern first person shooters" matter much, because I played Doom, Quake, and Half-Life in the past two or three years and those are all 10s in my book. That being said, Goldeneye is a game I didn't really love back in the day. (I was more into Perfect Dark.) I had a lot of problems with Goldeneye's graphics and art design back in the late 90s. That being said, Goldeneye was also my first FPS (though I did play Duke Nukem and Quake 2 at a friend's house) and I had no context for it. Now I do, so I'm interested in giving it another shot. John Linneman has a really interesting video on Goldeneye over at DF Retro and he mentions how its design is informed by the fact that, originally, it was going to be a light-gun game. This, combined with certain aspects of its level design, actually make Goldeneye (and Perfect Dark) kind of unique in the history of first-person shooters. I think people sort of overstate the impact of Goldeneye. Yes, the control scheme, the multiplayer, the fact that it was the first console FPS that made a dent in the gaming culture... Not downplaying those achievements. But I feel the evolution of the genre was really happening on PCs at the time, as Half-Life reinvented the Doom-clone in 1998. So Goldeneye and everything it was doing, in terms of flow, enemy encounters, mission-based structure, and so on, remains a kind of rarity along the genre's evolution. I would say Halo was the real trend-setting console FPS a few years later, as far as actual gameplay mechanics and level design are concerned. even if Goldeneye's success is responsible for making Halo a viable proposition.

@Bustacap @BulkSlash I'll definitely try the hold ZR abxy method as it may work well - will require some practice and muscle memory to get the strafe/door/gun working succinctly.

Ultimately I expect that the N64 controller will be the best way to play the game, but alas we live in a world where even having ONE of the 64 controllers is a luxury.

So yea, definitely going to need to practice some alternative control methods for the multiplayer - unless Nintendo have synced a huge N64 controller dump for next week - which I think we all know is not going to be the case!

@Beaucine 100% agree with you on this. I think it gets diluted down the years that the context in which GoldenEye is absolutely legendary is squarely in bringing FPS and multiplayer deathmatch to a broader console audience - and of course that analogue stick and local couch play.

Perfect Dark went even further when it added couch co-op and multiplayer bots.

Meanwhile, years before , and throughout this period, PC was very much so miles ahead - but crucially, only if you liked sitting on your own !!

@nocdaes

Yeah, that method is how I play most N64 games on NSO, especially Zelda. Even with Banjo, where mapping the camera to the right control stick felt theoretically natural, I still reverted to holding ZR, simply because the game would often interpret my left and right inputs as up or down, and zoom into or out of my character, which got really annoying. Holding ZR and pressing actual buttons to control the camera, as in the original N64, worked better for me.

@nocdaes It'll probably be possible to play using ZR, but I suspect beating Facility under 2:05 and Archives under 1:20 will be a lot harder if you can't strafe run and open doors at the same time.

I wouldn't mind playing this a few times with my sons who never played it. Yet at the same time feel that it'll probably not be as good as I remembered it. The early 3D games from the N64/PS have not aged well in my opinion. When I revisit an old 3D game from that generation I'm always excited......until I play them!

I would prefer a HD remake of Bond if anything.

@nocdaes I don't think those references means that the game will be coming to switch.(Nintendo can't sue references). Anyways, there is no reason why Nintendo would let microsoft "use their ips" in exclusive xbox achievements, even if the game was going to be released on both consoles.

I'd prefer a rare collection on switch as opposed to being released on the expansion pak. But, it probably won't happen!

@Tasuki I still play and love it. It holds up for me.

I’d rather have them bring back 007: Nightfire

That game was my jam back in ‘02 on the OG Xbox

@nocdaes The multiplayer of this game is absolutely brilliant but the campaign is probably the best I've ever played in a shooter. I hope that this is the Xbox 360 remaster, at least on Xbox.

Put this and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo Switch and it's a Day One purchase for me.

Side note: people seem to forget that the cancelled XBLA port have the option to alternate between the old N64 graphics and the more contemporary ones, and just assume that this isn't going to be the remaster. Halo 1 and 2 had remasters which capitalized on this feature via a press of a button, so why wouldn't that be the case with this?

@Tasuki Speak for yourself. Sure, some people who haven't played the game in a decade or so probably don't have time to re-adjust to the quirkiness of an old game, but this idea of games "aging poorly" is absurd; things aging poorly is something like food that can spoil or turn rotten over time, not pieces of entertainment. Games don't change; people's tastes do.

It's also insulting to think people can only enjoy these 25-year-old games through "rose-tinted glasses" because you're basically invalidating others' opinions of the game because you personally don't enjoy it as much as other people. I first played the game on original hardware back in 2016; I think it holds up, nicely. It has a great soundtrack. Its non-linear approach to level design is something I wish more shooters did as well — along with its clever use of making difficulty add to the list of objectives to complete, instead of just lazily making enemies harder to kill/the player dying quicker. Playing with cheats is fun, and Multiplayer is still a good time.

@Tasuki I disagree with that. The game has aged beautifully. Obviously, nobody would play any N64 game and expect it to feel current. The Xbox updates look amazing, especially when you switch back & forth to see the remaster vs. the classic graphics. I also don’t think there is anything wrong with playing a game for nostalgia, nor does that make it less enjoyable. Remember when people had imaginations? Not every detail had to be spoon fed? I just hope it actually gets released.