It’s been nearly 20 years since the release of GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64, but we’re still learning new tidbits about the game’s fascinating creation.
Game director Martin Hollis spoke about the game at the GameCity event in Nottingham, England over the weekend, and The Guardian took notes.
Hollis revealed some of the early feedback Miyamoto had about the game. Specifically, the violence upset him.
“One point was that there was too much close-up killing — he found it a bit too horrible,” said Hollis. “I don’t think I did anything with that input. The second point was, he felt the game was too tragic, with all the killing. He suggested that it might be nice if, at the end of the game, you got to shake hands with all your enemies in the hospital.”
A sign of the times, Miyamoto’s comments were delivered to Hollis via fax.
Hollis took second comment to heart, and it’s why the game’s credits include a nod to the “cast,” which Hollis said “told people that this was not real killing.”
These details and others — including how gory the game used to be — are part of The Guardian‘s writeup from the event. Make sure to check it out, it’s good stuff.
Comments
20 responses to “Nintendo Wanted GoldenEye To End With You Shaking Everyone’s Hands”
Miyamoto says too violent whilst developing a game that literally has a 10 year old boy plunge his sword deep into the forehead of the villan.
Yes but that was a fantasy world compared with something which at the time was quite realistic violence that could be compared to the real world lol. not defending him just thinking out loud.
I distinctly remember that moment. Nothing else in that game prepared me for that level of violence. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it because it was so unexpected. But wow, I don’t think you literally impaled anything else in the game until right at the end – and in someone’s forehead no less.
Has he ever seen Mario drown in Mario 64?
Grasping at his throat. Kicking his legs in vein. Staring towards the surface as his movement fades, his lungs bloating as the life dims from his eyes…..
Though I love the description, I don’t think you could actually see the life dim from his eyes on N64 hardware… Maybe next gen Mario?
No I don’t think you actually could, I was being a bit dramatic.
The best kind of dramatic
Well it had some details on par with Call of Duty on the Xbone – fish get out of your way.
Dude. That was hardcore.
I’m glad that Nintendo didn’t end up enforcing any of their suggestions. You don’t garner diversity in your library by turning third parties into miyamoto subdivisions.
Once goldeneye was out I bet they were glad they left rare alone, and I doubt any similar concerns were voiced from then on. And it ended up culminating in conker, which is just great.
They didn’t leave it entirely alone though. Originally the game had blood spurting out of wounds when you shot someone. They toned it down to simple red patches. Admittedly I don’t think the game needed the blood spurts but regardless, it didn’t go entirely untouched.
I may be wrong, but isn’t it just the Australian version that’s toned down? IIRC the box art shows people missing limbs and spurting blood.
It would have to be a pretty big hospital.
Full of guys i shot in the nads.
Can I be a bad person and suggest it might have been cool if the gore was kept in?
Not to change Goldeneye- the game was (at the time) perfect, it’s just that to this day Perfect Dark might be the most satisfying shooter I’ve played in terms of blasting enemies.
It’s not realistic, but there’s something so satisfying about the dull thud of the bullets, the blood and the death animations that are both canned and dynamic (the body animations are fixed but the head will whip around independently when shot). When you play it with the slow-mo cheat on it’s like some kind of zen experience.
Thing is thought, the game was more faithful the the Bond movies without the gore. Yes, they have some amount of blood and gore but it is more subdued than similar movies.
I agree fully. Goldeneye didn’t need it, but it did make Perfect Dark better.
This would’ve made for the most bizarre ending to a game, wish they had of made this an alternate ending.
Should have been a big dance number to a song that was big in the 70s or 80s, “CG-animated-movie-from-the-2000s” style.
Should we shake hands with all of the poor Pikmin we have slaughtered over the years…? 🙁 Their tragic little death cry still breaks my heart.