Preserving video games is often a surprising and enjoyable space. It was recently proven again that a GoldenEye 007 remaster, originally intended for release on the Xbox 360 in 2007, was leaked online in a playable state after a full replay uploaded to YouTube.
If you are familiar with the original N64 version of GoldenEye 007, you will see in the video how faithful it is. Gameplay, music and sound effects remain intact, while the game’s textures have undergone a significant boom.
This is not entirely different from 4J Studios’ 2010 remaster of Perfectly dark, which was also released into the Xbox Live Arcade ecosystem. One major difference in this is that the GoldenEye 007 remaster has not been outsourced. It was rather developed by Rare himself.
A load old Boris
Unfortunately, the GoldenEye 007 remaster was canned due to copyright issues, but it appears to be in an almost complete state. The full remaster is now available for download and can be played on an emulator.
It has been confirmed that the game is playable, and also in a pleasant state, with John Linneman of Digital Foundry quoting so much in a tweet posted earlier today.
Think about holding a DF livestream this afternoon to discuss and play the version of Goldeneye 360. That’s really good. Any interest? pic.twitter.com/h9J84JymMP3 February 2021
Thanks to several efforts, the GoldenEye 007 remaster has been preserved for fans of the original to go and watch at their leisure. In a typically witty way, Rare did not let the project die with a whimper either, acknowledging his likely downfall with this brutal splash screen:
Although an officially released GoldenEye 007 remaster would be extremely welcome on the XBLA platform, the rights to 007 video games are hard to navigate. The IP is jointly owned by Danjaq LLC and Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Several video game companies have had access to the franchise over the years, including EA, Activision, Nintendo and most recently the Hitman developer IO Interactive.
Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has always been very aware of the interest in an official remaster of GoldenEye 007. In 2015, Spencer tweeted that the rights “are so challenging, many times looked at this. Many [sic] from different parties to work with, we have always given up hope. “So there is still hope for an official revival of this iconic game.