Everything changed when James Bond made his debut on the Nintendo 64 in 1997 with GoldenEye 007. Suddenly there was a “first-person shooter with blood” from Nintendo that, despite the limited storage space of a cartridge, eclipsed everything I had experienced in shooters on consoles before. I was 17 at the time and had never really warmed to the N64. After my beloved Super Nintendo went out of fashion, due to lack of money I decided to get a chipped Playstation with corresponding “backups” of all the exciting new 3D games like Tomb Raider, Tekken or Resident Evil. But with GoldenEye 007 at the latest, Nintendo had me back.
James Bond’s GoldenEye 007 is the breakthrough for first-person shooters on consoles
As a console player you knew Doom, but back then you played FPS shooters on PC with WASD and mouse. Shooting games from the first-person perspective were considered unplayable with a joypad. But GoldenEye 007 (buy now) and the N64 controller’s analog stick changed everything. The agent adventure from the then legendary developer studio Rare impressed with breathtaking foresight (keyword: sniper rifle), stirring music (keyword: Grant Kirkhope) and gripping multiplayer duels (keyword: four-player split screen).
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GoldenEye 007: New trailer reveals release date for Switch and Xbox!
More than 25 years after the release of GoldenEye 007, the classic is now also available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. The title will be available from January 27, 2023. All Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack or Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have direct access to the shooter at launch. In the trailer there is a look at the improvements of the new edition.
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After I had already bought a Nintendo 64 during the Corona pandemic, I bought the 96 megabit module from GoldenEye 007 in a rustic game shop for 30 euros during a city trip to Amsterdam. As soon as we got home, we immediately went hunting for opponents in a tuxedo as James Bond. And what should I say? GoldenEye 007 was still terrific. The atmosphere, the level design and the many memories… nostalgia can hit you really hard.
GoldenEye 007: Awesome 4K version on Xbox
When GoldenEye 007 was announced for Nintendo Switch and Xbox a few weeks ago, I was happy, but I also thought that I personally didn’t need the new edition. My N64 is pimped with an Expansion Pak and I have a PAL 60Hz TV and a scart cable. I play anything between 8-bit and 64-bit on tube TVs as a matter of principle, as I love the authentic aesthetics of the picture. However, since I’m also a Game Pass subscriber, I took a look at the 4K version. And I was really surprised how good James Bond looks in high definition graphics.
CRT TV vs. 4K: GoldenEye 007 looks so awesome on the Xbox (2) Source: TenBoe Media for PC Games
I usually have a hard time playing retro games on modern screens. In particular, the pixel look of NES, Master System, Mega Drive or Super Nintendo benefits greatly from the slightly washed-out flicker look of old televisions. Early polygon graphics have it harder. The 3D look of Saturn, Playstation and Nintendo 64 has aged extremely badly over the years. I was even more surprised by the look of GoldenEye 007 in 4K on the Xbox.
CRT TV vs. 4K: That’s how bad GoldenEye 007 looks on the Xbox (3) Source: TenBoe Media for PC Games
On the one hand, the angular graphics with the washed-out textures, which seem completely weird these days, have been retained, but the edges of the individual objects have been beautifully smoothed out. Since the individual colors are richer due to stronger contrasts, NPCs and opponents stand out much better from the scenery of the game world. The controls are still clumsy and sluggish, but thanks to the contemporary use of both analog sticks, they’re not quite as clunky. A direct comparison to the N64 version on my old TV eventually drove all retro romantic nostalgia out of me.
GoldenEye 007 paved the way for Halo, Call of Duty, and countless other first-person shooters on consoles. It’s still worth catching up on this grandiose classic today. On the one hand, the makers of the new edition succeeded in retaining the brittle charm of the original, which had gotten on in years, but on the other hand significantly increased the playability thanks to the careful use of modern technology. And you have to do that first. So in the future I will continue to fondle my N64 with the GoldenEye 007 module plugged in, but I’ll probably go for the 4K version in Game Pass on Xbox in the future.
