About

Goldeneye 007 is a first-person shooter video game in the James Bond franchise based on the 1995 movie of the same name, which starred Pierce Brosnan as 007. The game is considered one of the most influential video games of all time by many, as its multiplayer mode is widely thought of as a harbinger of competitive first-person shooters. Its renown has also contributed to a lasting online presence and multiple memes in over two decades. In September 2022, the game's developer Rare announced ports of Goldeneye for the Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch consoles.

History

Goldeneye 007 was originally developed by Rare and released on August 25th, 1997,^[1] for the Nintendo 64. The game loosely follows the plot events of the 1995 film Goldeneye and had a multiplayer mode where users could play as characters from the film and other characters from the James Bond franchise, notably Oddjob.

It is widely considered one of the games that proved the viability of first-person shooters on home consoles^[2] and has been credited for paving the way for games like Halo and Call of Duty. ^[3] For this reason, it is widely celebrated as one of the greatest video games of all time.

The game has been rereleased and ported several times in the 25 years since its initial release. Notably, the game was in development for a remaster and rerelease for the Xbox Live Arcade in 2008, but it never came to completion.^[4] A remake was released by Eurocom in 2010.

2022 Rerelease for Switch and Xbox

In September 2022, Xbox and Nintendo announced that ports of the game would be coming to the Xbox Series X/S and Switch. On September 13th, a trailer was then released for the Xbox Game Pass version (shown below).

Online Presence

As one of the most well-known video games of all time, Goldeneye has had a sizable presence in memes and online culture over the years. In particular, there has been a running joke surrounding the character Oddjob being overpowered in multiplayer mode. Every one of the game's playable characters, save for Oddjob, were of equal height, which made them simple to shoot in multiplayer mode, as they would cross the player's line of sight. However, Oddjob is shorter than the rest of the cast, meaning players would be forced to wrestle with the game's aiming system in order to hit Oddjob.^[5] This has led to memes about Oddjob and players of the character (example shown below).

In the late 2000s, there was a running gag that the game's cover art made Bond actor Pierce Brosnan's face look distorted, leading to several memes about the misseen face (examples shown below).

Ryan Lockwood – Streets 1:12

Ryan Lockwood – Streets 1:12 refers to a speedrun performed by speedrunner and Twitch streamer RyanLockwood. The run has garnered renown in the speedrunning community as one of the most famous single-segment runs in the Goldeneye 007 speedrunning community. The run with commentary was uploaded in a YouTube video that has been widely shared on YouTube and Twitch for its exciting commentary by the streamer after he accomplished the run.

On December 25th, 2013, RyanLockwood was grinding for a time of 1 minute and 13 seconds (his personal best being 1 minute 14 seconds at the time). The record at the time was held by a speedrunner by the name of Marc Rutzou at a time of 1 minute and 12 seconds. During his time streaming, RyanLockwood managed to get the right setups and RNG to score a time of 1:12 for the run, tying Marc Rutzou's record (shown below).

Related Memes

Get Down (Geddan)

Get Down, also known as ゲッダン or Geddan, is a Japanese MAD remix fad that originated from a glitch found in the Nintendo 64 first person shooter game GoldenEye 007, in which the characters and vehicles would begin to writhe in mid-air if the cartridge was only partially inserted into the console. In 2008, the glitch phenomenon went onto inspire an extensive collection of dance parodies and re-enactment videos on Nico Nico Douga.

Search Interest

External References