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Did You Know GoldenEye Was Originally An On-Rails Shooter?

pklepek
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Posted August 14, 2009 - By pklepek


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Did You Know GoldenEye Was Originally An On-Rails Shooter?It's been 12 years since the release of GoldenEye and we're still learning more tidbits about the game. In a long-ranging interview with GoldenEye designer Martin Hollis -- his most recent work was Bonsai Barber for WiiWare -- he revealed to Gamasutra that the original pitch for GoldenEye was an on-rails shooter, something not unlike Sega's Virtua Cop.

"I know what I liked," said Hollis. "Mark Edmonds, who was the first guy on the project after me, liked Virtua Cop. And B. Jones and Karl Hilton. We liked Virtua Cop. That was what we were excited by initially, and it felt fairly makeable. It didn't feel too big in scope. But, you know, meanwhile, I also had some ambition, and I guess the other guys had some ambition as well, to make it something that wasn't so shallow in a human sense. We like the visceral, and immediacy."

Eventually, Rare realized it had the technology to do something more. Development on GoldenEye was started before Rare even really knew what the Nintendo 64 was, but after the release of Super Mario 64, the studio realized it could raise its ambitions.

The more you know, eh?

Source

[image credit: flickr / cozmo88]

Tags: Videogames
Did You Know GoldenEye Was Originally An On-Rails Shooter?
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  • WildGunMan001

    I think god spoke to rare and said this
    God: Employee's of rare , i have chosen you too make history in gaming and start a new genera in gaming called the first person shooter. Stop making golden eye on the super nintendo nintendo will make a new system very soon called the nintendo 64 you will make a 3-D game where the player feels like he is james bond. You must do this for the future of gaming.
    Rare: well... ok hey god sense your god and all will you tell us about the companys future, we'll be the best company ever right?
    God: No you'll leave nintendo and go to microsoft with a system they will make called xbox360
    Rare: But our games will be the best in the market right?
    God: No they will all suck
    Rare: aw :(
    God: So in 2005 don't make any games unless its about pinatas.
    Rare: Fine
    Ten years later
    Rare: damn it we should of listen to god

    Posted: August 15, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Report
    WildGunMan001
  • vismortis

    most of Rares games rock the only major flop was Perfect Dark Zero. That disaster was mostly due to Microsoft And Halo 3. PDZ was going to be a GC game then was scraped and restarted for xbox then Halo 3 was over a year out so MS needed PDZ for the 360 launch so rare was told to scrap it again and start all over meaning they had 7 months to make the entire game and didnt even have the finished 360 specs till near the end. As we know it takes atleast 2 years to make a game like PDZ (IE COD's IW switch off). It leaked a while ago that Rare is doing Perfect Dark 2 and MS is giving them all the time they want as it would be the first true successor to PD/Goldeneyemost of their games rock the only major flop was Perfect Dark Zero. That failur was mostly due to Microsoft And Halo 3. PDZ was going to be a GC game then was scraped and restarted for xbox then Halo 3 was over a year out so MS needed PDZ for the 360 launch so rare was told to scrap it again and start all over meaning they had 7 months to make the entire game and didnt even have the finished 360 specs till near the end. As we know it takes atleast 2 years to make a game like PDZ (IE COD's IW switch off). It leaked a while ago that Rare is doing Perfect Dark 2 and MS is giving them all the time they want as it would be the first true successor to PD/Goldeneye

    Posted: August 14, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Report
    vismortis
  • partyboy8967

    Golden eye should come out on XBLA

    Posted: August 14, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Report
    partyboy8967
  • HomerKong

    If there is a game that deserves a Re-mix...it's this game! That game was 1 of 3 reasons to own a Nintendo 64, the other 2 are Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda! Yeah I saw the pictures of the "NEW" Goldeneye...but I wasn't too impressed! This game should be re-built from the ground up and what I mean is Killzone 2 or Halo type graphics! I miss my Nintendo 64

    Posted: August 14, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Report
    HomerKong
  • vinny87

    To me the greatest shooter I ever played. I know it is in the top 5 of greatest shooters ever made.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply | Report
    vinny87
  • Scottydsntknow

    I knew about it, just read the wikipedia page

    Posted: August 14, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Report
    Scottydsntknow
  • BONERJAM

    I loved GoldenEye. My friends and I would play License to Kill mode with pistols only on, it was so much fun and we always found it super funny when you would take one shot to the foot and die.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Report
    BONERJAM
  • MasterNoble6

    so is microsoft

    Posted: August 14, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Report
    MasterNoble6
  • spacemonkey086

    rare was bought by microsoft and they ruined the brand. perfect dark zero was horrible.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Report
    spacemonkey086
  • shagdaddey

    Great comments so far - I agree. As someone who really does not like FPS, Goldeneye was an exception to that. This game was, and is, one of the biggest "game changers" the industry has ever seen.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 11:48 AM | Reply | Report
    shagdaddey
  • EKG

    That is awesome info. And after I read it, I dropped down to me knees and thanked Gos they didn't stick with the On Rails idea. Goldeneye is still an amazing game. And I laugh when people, like G4, say it hasn't aged well and it is not fun anymore. Bullcrap. I STILL, to this day, have people over for some 4 player Deathmatch and we have a blast.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 11:43 AM | Reply | Report
    EKG
  • Kanaye

    Ah, interesting tidbit of info. I never would've thought of it. I think if they would've gone with their original plans, GoldenEye wouldn't be the revolution on first person shooters it was.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply | Report
    Kanaye
  • Gutsyisland

    wow that game is getting old... a couple of months ago me and some friends found my old 64', and the first thing we played was goldeneye. probably the best fps ever made.

    Posted: August 14, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Report
    Gutsyisland
  • RRODisBack

    What happened to Rare?

    Posted: August 14, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Report
    RRODisBack

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