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Based on the 1995 movie of the same name, Goldeneye 007 is widely considered one of the most popular game on the Nintendo 64 Entertainment System. Goldeneye 007 sold over 8 million copies throughout its lifespan on shelves. The third most sold game for the N64! With numbers like that you may be surprised to learn that the game was made by a relatively inexperienced team of developers. Most of the small team had only worked on one other video game before this. Killer Instinct for the Arcades.

Goldeneye 007 released August 25th, 1997. Twenty-three years ago a bunch of kids were experiencing the joys of blasting their friends in the crowd favorite 4 player Multiplayer game modes. It is not uncommon to ask a friend where they spent the majority of their middle school weekends to hear "playing Goldeneye all night long!" I know I did it with my friends. My brother did it with his friends. Hell once I even saw my dad do it with his buddies! Up all night just playing death match or capture the hill until the sun comes up and the eyelids droop down.

For england, James.

The part of Goldeneye 007 with the most substance was the campaign, though. The multiplayer is remembered fondly, but the campaign was where the adventure was. It attempted to follow along with the movie as accurately as one could ask a video game to be, anyway.

James Bond and fellow 00-agent, Alex Trevelyan back in time to 1986 where they have been sent by MI6 to investigate possible chemical weapons being made by the soviet union. Alex is killed in an ambush, while Bond escapes via airplane. It then moves forward a few years, progressing through different key scenes from the movie. The level select screen is even film strip, which is a reference to both, the Bond movies as well as spies and their love for sneaky photography.

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Possibly the most unique tidbit about the game is that it was initially pitched as a 2 dimensional side scrolling platformer/run-and-gun following the success of Rareware's Donkey Kong for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was director Martin Hollis who suggested the game be "a 3-D shooting game" for the unreleased "Ultra64" from Nintendo. I think you can guess what title that unreleased console chose.

Shockingly, Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 released only three years after the groundbreaking first-person shooter DOOM. An amazing testament to how fast the video game scene was adapting and changing to advancing technologies. Both of these games stand up as good titles to play around in and have some fun while showing you the roots of first-person shooter games.

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If you enjoyed it in the past consider finding a way to play it sometime in the future. N64 can be easily emulated on most gaming pc's and will provide you many hours of nostalgic fun, listening to the music of your favorite old titles.

Dive back in to Goldeneye 007 today!