Rare On GoldenEye 007's Return: "We Just Kept Talking Until We Made It Happen"

It hasn’t “happened” until it’s playable on my Switch. When will that “happen” huh?

Edit: I also don’t believe there is confirmation of any online ‘mode’ per se (read: modified ROM), but rather the confirmation from the Nintendo Direct was that this title will benefit from being playable online with friends just like any other NSO title.

We've certainly come a long way from those days of holding out for it to come to the Wii's Virtual Console only for it to never show.

Do you think we'll ever get an official release of the GoldenEye remake with updated graphics and Daniel Craig as Bond?

Also will we get Diddy Kong Racing on Switch Online, or tweaked to remove Diddy Kong for Xbox?

@mereel Agreed. I worry with Ukraine situation Nintendo will still pull the plug.
Why they did a ‘coming soon’ is still beyond me as it screams this isn’t a formality yet.
Confirm it with a date at least as they must know when they are planning to release it if they don’t then it is t a done deal

Ok but i don't want to buy the dumb expansion pass, let me buy the game myself

I just wish that we knew more about the whole issue of who got what rights when Microsoft bought Rare in the first place. How did Nintendo end up having any of the rights for Goldeneye in the first place, considering that none of Rare's other non-DK related games stayed with Nintendo? Beyond Goldeneye itself, who owns what with Diddy Kong Racing? While I would assume that Nintendo kept everything but the Rare characters for that, since Nintendo kept the entirety of the rest of the DK-related games, the weirdness around Goldeneye makes me question that.

Honestly, I just hope that the next set of N64 NSO games has Diddy Kong Racing in it, so that the last of the big first party N64 games that never got on the virtual console for legal reasons can finally be there. And, while they're at it, Conker GBC, Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, and Banjo-Pilot showing up on the hypothetical GB/GBC/GBA NSO would be really nice, since none of those showed up on Rare Replay. Either way, at least we got Goldeneye, which is still huge.

I can’t wait. Got the switch n64 controller ready for it too. Even if it’s just a cleaned up N64 version rather than the remastered it’s better then nothing, though part of me hopes they’ll consider releasing that rare replay on the switch at some point.

@mereel On the Japanese Direct, it had a coming in 2023 marker.

@alexybubble We know some of Diddy Kong Racing. Nintendo owns Diddy, Tricky the Triceratops (the boss that later appeared with a new design in Star Fox Adventures), and Krunch.

Rare owns Conker, Banjo, and Tiptup without question. I think the rest remain a mystery afaik.

I'm disappointed this won't be upgraded. There's no reason for low-res and slow frame-rate for iconic games.

@Angelic_Lapras_King I wonder if that means Japan has to wait longer than other regions as I don’t get why you wouldn’t put that on other trailers, like someone had to deliberately type coming soon on one and then 2023 on another.
Personally, 2023 is too long. I fear this is Nintendo hoping things will change in terms of the current Russia situation and if it don’t they will pull the pin.
It interesting as the thumbnail on YouTube for the N64 games coming puts Goldeneye front and center and you would assume it is September’s release although that is doubtful

Any chance those conversations can continue and give us a way to play Diddy Kong Racing as well?

Preferably on Switch but I'll happily take it on Game Pass if needed I'm not too fusy

Ha - Xbox will get enhanced and native version of the game, while Nintendo will get original version, that will be playable only through NSO+Expansion Pak service. Why? Why no native version for Switch?... Oh, yeah - there is no Virtual Console... And no backwards compatibility... Thank you, Rare and Nintendo...

@alexybubble Cubby Broccoli signed the agreement with Nintendo to make Goldeneye 007. Nintendo commissioned Rare to be a second party to develop their game. It made sense, they were their active partner at the time.

Cubby was a fan of video games and was keen on seeing what Nintendo could produce, but he died before the game was finished. Barbara took over, she attempted to stop its original release. Her claims were the game did not align with their movies and Bond doesn't go around senselessly shooting people. The original agreement was able to stand, but Eon Production would never let Nintendo produce another Bond game again. EA was awarded the license shortly after Goldeneye was released.

For years after Rare was purchased, two big hurdles stopped the game from getting ANY kind of release on modern systems (including the Wii/Wii U Virtual Console). Until the early 2010s, Hiroshi Yamauchi was "the guy" at Nintendo blocking it (along with other changes happening at Nintendo too). Once he passed away, that barrier went away and I think Nintendo was getting ready to let Microsoft release it.

Enter the BIG hurdle: Barbara Broccoli and Eon Productions. I'm really surprised they let ANYONE release it. Aside from trying to stop the original game, every excuse imaginable came from their camp. Especially one particularly, they didn't want to create "confusion" with who was playing Bond. During the time, it was Daniel Craig and that's why Activision "remade" the game.

Don't know what magic Nintendo and Microsoft had to work to get this game out, but I'll take it anyway I can get it. Thankfully, Nintendo had multiplayer built into the application the game will be playable in.

As for Diddy Kong Racing, it could be on its way to NSO at some point. Microsoft and Nintendo seem to be getting along pretty well.

@Member_the_game, there is no way Diddy Kong Racing would get released on Game Pass. Diddy Kong and all characters relating to Donkey Kong Country are exclusively owned by Nintendo. They allowed Rare the ability to make games with those characters for their hardware exclusively.

I'll stick to my original N64 version on my CRT as I own it and don't have to hand over more money to play a game I already have access to just for multiplayer.
I'll get it on gamepass for the smoother gameplay.
Glad others get to play, shame it is tied to a subscription service and not available without it.

@progx

Oh I completely agree. My point was that as long as it gets a release I really don't mind which console as I'm fortunate enough own all 3 of the current main consoles.

Before anyone points it out I'm fully aware that it will literally never come to PlayStation. More chance of winning the lottery twice in a row and then being struck by lightning the following day

@link3710
Rare also owns everything else of the game except like you said Diddy Kong, Krunch & most likely Tricky.

They also released new "Rare Racers " (since they can't use Diddy Kong Racing) pins via Fangamer, like Timber and Wizpig.

Better late than never! If the delay means we now get the game on two different consoles (home on Switch and an upgraded version for Xbox) instead of just an originally-planned improved version on Xbox, then that's even better!

But if they were in fact trying to get it released only on Xbox originally, it makes me wonder: was Nintendo truly one of the final licensees to make it happen, and NSO is what enticed them to truly warm up to the idea and allow an Xbox version as well... or could this have eventually happened, releasing only on non-Nintendo consoles in some alternate timeline, with or without Nintendo's involvement?

I really do think Nintendo, plus the warm relation Microsoft has created with them over the last several years during the Switch's lifecycle, was instrumental to its release... but the way it's mentioned in the quotes, leads to a few questions and possibilities the way it was said...

I remember I kept calling toys r us for this game. I anticipated it being great since rare had a great track record at the time. I was right and I still love this game. Can’t wait to play it on switch and Xbox series x.

I know this won’t happen but I’d love a physical copy to be released. I loved this game as a kid so it’d be amazing to have a copy on cart to play on a modern system again.

@MrFox Definitely! Sabre Wulf and Alien 8 please.

There is a gold mine of stuff ! Thalamus seems to of dropped off the planet.

@alexybubble
The reason Nintendo has a stake in this is due to the fact that they had funded for the game's development (this also explains why the game was an N64-exclusive), thus also giving them publishing and distribution rights, whereas with something like DK or Bayonetta, those IPs have already been under their respective publishers' belts.

@MrFox I wish I never read your comment because it is so awesome and I’m even more sad we may not get it now! Lol. Those additions to what we’d possibly lose are great ideas. Though I hope if it does ever come we also get a version of conker (n64 is fine with me).

So Xbox players get to buy an enhanced version of the game but Nintendo players can only borrow it via an expensive subscription? Is this the case? Rather lame if it is.

@progx Very interesting! 👍 Maybe now that Craig has finished his stint as Bond, Barbara Broccoli’s objections over confusing people who Bond is are over?

I like Daniel Craig as Bond, but Pierce Brosnan is Goldeneye Bond & nothing else will do (they should've known this the last time).

Can we just have a release date? It's a 25 year old game arriving on an online rental service. The whole "Coming Soon" approach is just annoying people. Is it 2022 or 2023 for a start? And if its 2023, then why show it now?

The Xbox versions sounds superior

@Knightrider1
I'm curious to how you think the situation with Ukraine and Russia will affect the digital re-release of a 25-year-old game. Is it the portrayal of Russia you could see working as a form of aggression?

Physical please

Hoping we’ll get banjo tooie, diddy kong racing, donkey kong 64

@nocdaes
Probably a tactic to get people to keep their expansion pak subscription.

@Don Yes, the thought had crossed my mind.

Releasing an amazing online multiplayer game is surely the better tactic though. And I appreciate Splatoon 3 and MK8D DLC exists - but they don't require the expansion.

Is it possible Nintendo are aligning the release of GoldenEye with the month that the majority of their Expansion Pass customers are due to renew?

If I remember rightly the expansion pass could be attached to existing subscription as a pro rata cost I.e. everyone doesn't necessarily need to renew at the 1 year anniversary, it could be anytime.

Perhaps that is why Japan has 2023 and everyone else is "Coming soon".

In any case, I'll be letting my expansion pass expire until GoldenEye releases. No chance I'm entertaining Nintendo's absolute nonsense "Coming soon" in the meantime.

Seems to me that, after this long, it made no difference that you were talking at all.

@Moistnado Expensive subscription? It's the cheapest subscription on any platform.

@Vyacheslav333 Not sure what the laughing is about, Switch will be the only version with online multiplayer. Backwards compatibility with a disc based system that uses a vastly different architecture than the Switch is nearly impossible...this is the first time in a very long time that a Nintendo system hasn't been backwards compatible, especially for handhelds.

Goldeneye is coming to Nintendo switch as a separate purchase and it will be the Xbox game pass version in 2023. The standard version will be on NSO. The multiplayer will be local lan play only. George lazenby will be playable aswell as grace jones

Not excited. I’d like it remastered on Switch with a physical version. I’m not going to commit to an online subscription upgrade just to play this game. I hardly play online as it is. This is a bust. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

@nocdaes September's pretty much over (Nintendo announces N64 NSO game release dates a week in advance) so I think there's no September NSO game and Goldeneye will be released on October 5th (the 60th anniversary of the Dr. No film). It would also give Microsoft a 1st party Game Pass release for October which currently there's none.

I think I would rather have had it in 2015 if on Virtual Console. I am in disbelief that NSO doesn't emulate battery saves. It's one thing for a playthrough on a SNES game to be at the mercy of save states. But the N64 era is when unlocks became a central tenet of game design. Imagine all of your GoldenEye cheats being un-accomplished by a careless sibling or some errant menu navigation. In the VC vs. NSO debates, I'm surprised this isn't a more prominent point made.

@Grumblevolcano The N64 games have always launched on a Friday, so it's technically still possible for Friday 30th.

If it's not, then it's very likely 2023.

We were shown 3 N64 games allocated to 2022 - Pilotwings, Mario Party and Mario Party 2. That's surely October, November and December.

I am pretty confident the game will be released in October as it will be a part of celebrating the 60th anniversary of the James Bond films. There will probably be additional details released on Global James Bond day (October 5th). If not, it will be a missed opportunity.

Now can we please get Rare Replay on Switch?

I never got to play goldeneye back in the day due to having PS1 so this game will be new to me

@nocdaes They could perhaps do Mario Party 1 and 2 on the same day like they did with the 2 Custom Robo games for Japan.

The Mario Party N64 games are odd ones in the sense that Mario Party Superstars is direct competition. Honestly makes me think Nintendo may have Mario Party Superstars DLC releasing close by and add it to NSO Expansion Pack.

I still play it on my usa n64 in full screen, glad it's coming onto switch but the borders on the n64 games is really annoying.

@Grumblevolcano Definitely possible, but it's weird to then have Mario Party 3 land in 2023 - as indicated in the Direct. There's nothing stopping them from releasing two games in a single month though - hasn't happened in the UK yet, but it's not exactly a set in stone rule and like you said, did happen in Japan already.

@Seacor That's what everyone said about the GoldenEye anniversary in August! Agree it's a good opportunity though. But it still doesn't explain 1. Why we had the whole "Coming Soon" instead of "October" and 2. Why the Japan Direct says 2023.

Persistance pays. Thank you Rare!
Looking forward to playing it on xbox with higher res/smoother framerate. I hope they've sorted out the controls too. All this could make the game really enjoyable rather than just pure nostalgic enjoyment

@nocdaes Yeah, I don’t understand the Japan Direct date.

I’ll play this for about 15 minutes……until I realize that it looks and plays like hot garbage. This is the same thing I do upon release with all the N64 games I played to death and loved as a kid.

I did play it at the time on a friend's N64 (I had a Saturn). It's very much a product of its time, like Virtua Cop crossed with a FPS, but designed for one analogue stick with it's stop and aim mechanics. I did enjoy the game at the time.

I last tried to play it again a few years back on an actual PAL N64, and the blury image and choppy framerate made me motion sick. At least this will be the 60Hz version and N64 games look sharp on Switch, I really enjoyed revisiting Wave Race.

@Pod I personally don’t think it should. That said, with the rumours the game was once in limbo and it was Nintendo holding back due to the war, it make me think the announcement with no defined date is a test on the public reaction- as the game does have Russia as the bad guys.
Also if things get worse they might change their mind
Like I said I think that would be a mistake and shouldn’t be any connection between the two.

@Iconoclysm other platforms enable access to new games. NSO had the least value for money. To play this old 007 game, you need to pay for the more expensive tier. Either way I look at it, it is really expensive for what is on offer.

Ill play it for sure. But it will be on Gamepass.

@nocdaes Agree. Imagine if they had announced and released the game at that moment.
Now, it is like the hype has come and gone a little.
It is not like they haven’t been planning this for like a year or more. I would have no idea why they might release it in 2023, unless it is the January N64 release and they are hoping they will get people buying Switch online over Xmas in preparation for it, but not sure that is likely.
Just an odd thing to say on Japanese video it is 2023 and others ‘Coming Soon’ as why change it, like that is a conscious choice that must have some meaning behind it

@Moistnado Sony has barely had a service like that for 3 months. I pay for all the services on all the platforms, the Switch is a pittance by comparison to what I spend on the other two.

Did people know this was on a few emulation devices baffles me. Yeah looking forward to both versions TBH but is it confirmed it will feature in Rare Replay on Xbox?
Just imagine they released it and it was like 50 quid id laugh

@solarwolf07 agree! And a physical version or I aint buying

The Switch version will be 1080p and probably improved but Xbox has to try and brag (I understand their pain lol) when Nintendo published this game so I'll stick with Nintendo. 😎 💯

@mereel of course, that's what they meant when they said "with online multiplayer". No one expected other thing.

Can't wait for this to be released on NSO. Real men will play it on Switch.

@thomystic. It probably never comes up because it does emulate them. The only thing to watch would be loading a save state saved before unlocking something as the entire game sets to that timeframe.

@Knightrider1
The limbo has been an ongoing situation for fifteen years, so I would not expect the war to have played a role, or that it will be much of a concern from here.

I'm curious as to why it isn't that previously leaked version of Goldeneye, that looks to be much better than the version Xbox is getting now

So much hassle for a game that plays and looks like total ass now.

I'm excited for it just so I can see all the disappointment from everyone looking in their rose tinted glasses at a 20 year old game that aged like beaver milk.

Oh and the fact you're paying monthly to RENT it only makes it that much more comical.

@HalBailman I get it, but isn't this the case with all their NSO N64 ports? They don't polish up any of the other games so why would they with this? I agree it would be a lot cooler if they did, just saying this is to be expected. Meanwhile Xbox gets a polished up 4K version, but no online lol. I think thats even more questionable. It's 2022, why release a shooter with local multiplayer only? I'd gladly pay,as others probably would too, for a remastered version with cleaned up graphics and online play. Kinda what I was expecting to begin with, not on NSO though......they just do straight ports and add online, crappy online to say the least.

I knew we were getting a straight port for NSO, but thought we were also getting a HD version for all consoles??? Xbox is getting an HD version on Game Pass, but no online play, which blows. A game like this is reliant on multiplayer, so why not capitalize on that?? I little disappointed to say the least, especially since they had a version on 360 that was pretty much completed and ready to go many years ago, had polished up graphics and online play, but they had to scrap it due to licensing issues. Ah well....I'll play through the campaign with hopefully what is updated controls and probably just forget about it.

On a side note, adding Mario Party 1-3 is a strange move, seeing as how they released a Mario Party game on Switch almost a year ago with many mini games pulled from these 3 games, but have yet to give us any DLC, for this Mario Party game or the other one as well. Wonder if they're worried about people sitting down MP Superstars once they release MP 1-3? Or they could just release some DLC and make everyone happy? Not sure why Nintendo refuses to support their MP games?

@carlos82 I was actually wondering the same thing. Really not even looking forward to this anymore, total buzzkill

@Knightrider1 especially since theu made it sound like it was ready to be released several months ago, but they decided to wait due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict........now it feels like they're still working on it, but it's not even a true remaster so why push it back if it's just a straight port for Switch, and only a resolution improvement on Xbox? Definitely not gonna get excited for it, was expecting more

@super-nintendo Xbox version is missing online multiplayer, so Nintendo will actually have an advantage. Don't understand why we can't have better graphics AND online multiplayer??? Pretty sure that's what we all wanted.

@Knightrider1 well as Nintendo is currently doing business in Russia and as Russia right now has something of an image problem, I think the game should be uncontroversial.

@Grumblevolcano yea the Mario Party games threw me for a loop. To me, if I'm Nintendo I'd add some DLC for MP Superstars to keep them wanting to play it. Would make more sense to add content from MP 4-7 though, since if we wanted to play mini games from Mario Party 1-3 we could simply just play the N64 ports.

@RollTide19801980 I'm very sure the Switch version will run in 1080p like all Switch Online games do. So the graphics will look better than the N64 days. 😎 I understand what you are saying but Microsoft actually might be timed exclusive with the 4K version until Nintendo gets a more powerful Switch. I can't see this game looking better in 4K than 1080p (it would need a complete overhaul in textures). It might even look worse in some areas. We'll see soon enough.

@HalBailman All NSO games are in HD.

Put Rare Replay on PC imho. My Steamdeck is sad and lonely with no Banjo.

So happy to finally be able to re-play this gem of a game

@YorkshireNed

it's not
nintendo has stopped all business operations in russia since march.
no nintendo products have been exported to russia and the russian eshop is in maintaince mode since march.

@SteamEngenius So for those who can, get GoldenEye on Xbox. It looks/runs great on a PC emulator. I'll take GoldenEye over almost any modern COD-esque piece of 💩.

I remember informing the community GoldenEye 007 was being rereleased on both Switch and Xbox and the Nintendrones on here fought and cried about how it wasn't. Just as the Switch Lite and OLED models were a thing, again the Nintendrones furiously argued against both models. Guess what Nintendrones, Switch 2 is coming - get over it. I'm always right.

@booker_steve I stand corrected. I was confusing battery save with controller pak support.

@RollTide19801980 Goldeneye is an exception because it's being upgraded for XB, so give me that version instead of the old one. Also, GE frame-rate isn't typical of all NSO N64 games. F-Zero X, for example is 60 FPS, making it much less problematic.

@BTB20 There's HD, and then there's HD. It's a much lower level on NSO, sorry. There's also the low frame-rate in Goldeneye. With GE upgraded for XB, we should get that (to buy), not just the sloppy update for NSO.

@Iconoclysm That was an ironic laugh. Because Xbox users will get native version of the game, while Switch users will get only NSO+Expansion Pak Subscription version, which is not a version of the game that runs natively on hardware(Nintendo Switch). You can buy and own GoldenEye007 on Xbox, but on Nintendo Switch - you can only rent it.