History VideoGame / GoldenEye1997

* SecretLevel: The Aztec and Egyptian levels. The former deals with the Drax Corporation from ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', and the latter has [[Film/LiveAndLetDie Baron Samedi]], who somehow procured the [[Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun Golden Gun]] and is taunting [=MI6=] with it (that level doesn't make a whole lot of sense story-wise, come to think about it). The levels carry their own unique challenges: the Drax soldiers have an over-reliance on grenades which sharp-shooting players can turn against them, and the Egyptian tomb has a GuideDangIt method of getting the Golden Gun.

* CompositeCharacter: In multiplayer mode, Oddjob is much smaller than other characters. In ''{{Film/Goldfinger}}'', Oddjob is not much shorter than Bond. For the game, he was likely combined with [[Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun Nick Nack]].

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Killing civilians? Pure evil. Killing dozens of soldiers? '''Awesome.''' [[note]]Killing too many scientists or civilians will fail the current mission. The player is never punished for killing soldiers in any way. Most likely because of the tradition "kill or be killed" nature of the FPS genre.[[/note]]

* LevelInBlossClothing: The final story level, the Antenna Cradle, has Bond pursue Trevelyan around the gangways while also fighting off his goons, before cornering him on the bottom platform and delivering him a DisneyVillainDeath.

%%* HeroesWantRedheads: Bond and Natalya.

* AKA47: None of the weapons have real names. For example, Bond's trademark Walther PPK is renamed "[=PP7=]", the Norinco Type 56-1 (a Chinese rifle that resembles an AK-pattern rifle and was modified to resemble an AKS-74) is called the "[=KF7=] Soviet"), and the Skorpion vz.61 is called the "Klobb". The closest to a real name is the RC-P90, which is based on the FN Herstal P90 with a few changes either because they didn't know much about the gun (like its very weird wooden grips) or coding errors (its magazine capacity is bumped up to 80). The actual weapon names can be seen in a few beta screenshots, one of which also showed that the aforementioned Klobb got this trope applied to it twice over (it was originally meant to be called the "Spyder" - the name is also present in the instruction manual).

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Played with. On one hand, people will often react to getting shot. Weaker enemies on most difficulty levels will respond to locational damage: if they get shot in the arm or leg, they may stop what they are doing and clutch at the affected area for a bit. After a few seconds however, they would return to normal, without any indication that they were ever injured other than a bloodstain. This is almost completely played straight with EliteMooks and other characters with absurdly high hit points, who can take up to ''several dozen bullets'' while barely flinching. In addition, because of how explosions work in the game,[[note]](Essentially a localized fireball emitting pulses of damage over a few seconds.)[[/note]] a sufficiently durable enemy standing at the edge of a fireball may show no signs of taking any damage -- until their HP count hits 0, at which point their corpse may go flying.

** The episode ''Depot'' ends with a cutscene of Bond entering a train and killing two Mooks. The gun he uses is the same one you had out when you ended the mission with, with the exception of explosive ones or being unarmed/combat knives. In fact, if fast enough you can kill one, and then the cutscene only shows Bond killing one.

* EasterEgg: One of the programmers hid a Platform/ZXSpectrum emulator in the game's code just to see if it was possible.

* EveryBulletIsATracer: This was among the first games to employ this, despite using hitscan weapons. ''VideoGame/GoldenEyeWii'' continues the tradition, with everything from handguns to fully automatic weapons firing tracers.

* GrenadeLauncher: The game has the cylinder type and the shots can bounce off walls. With the All Guns cheat, [[DualWielding you can wield two of them!]] The [[VideoGame/GoldenEyeWii Wii version]] makes grenade launchers an attachment. They lose the wall-bounce that the N64 version had, but it's still a OneHitKill if the enemy is close enough.

** Nearly every single stage had two sound themes, but the second and more [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic urgent]] themes are almost never heard in full, if at all.

* OneBulletMagazines: Every weapon (except those with infinite ammo, like the Laser) has this. Taken to its conclusion with the Golden Gun, that takes this trope literally.

* OptionalStealth: The game had stealth elements, namely in silenced weapons and alarms that mooks could trigger. Some levels were impossible to complete in total stealth (think Control) while others were very difficult if you blew your cover (think Frigate). Most levels were easy enough to barrel through guns blazing even on the most advanced difficulty, though.

** The [[{{AKA47}} RC-P90]] was incredibly powerful (its power was only matched by cheat weapons and explosives), had one of (if not the) highest firing rate in the game, and had the largest ammo capacity to boot. To top it off, it used the single most common ammo in the game.

** ''[=GoldenEye=]'' was one of the first games ever to include objectives you could actually mess up, to the point where the manual has an entire page warning the player that just destroying everything won't get them far. There are many ways to fail, e.g. destroying the plane on ''Runway'', failing to rescue the enough hostages on ''Frigate'', encountering Janus with a gun equipped on ''Statue'', destroying the radio on ''Caverns'' (00 Agent), ... so many in fact that there's a whole [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/n64/197462-goldeneye-007/faqs/23475 guide]] on this topic, but the game will tell you right away, so while you still can continue playing the level, it's clear it's a failure. However there are instances where the game will NOT tell you that you messed up (or at least, not until much later) and it will not be obvious that you reached a dead end. Examples of these are:

** In ''Silo'' (00 Agent only), you have to put plastique explosives on bottle tanks and these tanks cannot be destroyed in any other way. If you misplace too many of your plastiques, you won't be able to do this as there's not way to collect any more plastiques and thus fail.
** In ''Archives'' (Secret Agent and 00 Agent only) you have to get a safe key from Mishkin to complete an objective. In the room where he waits for you, if you shoot into his direction, even if you miss, he will permanently turn hostile, not helping you anymore, thus you cannot get the key.
** In ''Train'' (00 Agent only), Natalya has to hack the computer after you saved her from Ourumov. The problem is, if you fail to hit Xenia as well during the hostage situation (after shooting Ourumov she's vulnerable for a short period of time) the countdown will not give you enough time to complete all objectives and the train will explode before you can leave with everything done.[[note]]There are two known ways to still beat the level even if you don't hit Xenia, one is with a [[SequenceBreaking sequence break]] that allows you to exit the train early, the other is a million-to-one probability that Natalya indeed DOES survive the explosion (see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4t71eHPWYM here]] for more information), making the level [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable unintentionally winnable]] again.[[/note]]

** A remastered version of the game for the Xbox 360 was almost entirely completed in 2007 for the game's 10th anniversary, but was never released due to licensing issues. The remaster was leaked online in 2021; besides the expected resolution increases (including an option for 21:9 ultrawide in ''2007'') and an improved 60 fps framerate, the game also featured completely redone higher-quality textures, lighting, and character models to move the graphics forward several years, making the game look like something from the ''VideoGame/{{Quake III|Arena}}''[=/=]Unreal Engine 2 era.

* BagOfSpilling: You always start each stage with the [=PP7=], or in Caverns where you start with a [=ZMG=] in addition to the [=PP7=]. This happens even in stages which start immediately after another one, where you built up an arsenal. Justified in Bunker II, since you were captured at the end of Surface II and your weapons confiscated.

* BagOfSpilling: You always start each stage with the [=PP7=], or in Caverns where you start with a [=ZMG=] in addition to the [=PP7=]. This happens even in stages which start immediately after another one, where you built up an arsenal. Averted in Bunker II, since you were captured at the end of Surface II and your weapons confiscated.

''[=GoldenEye=] 007'' (also known simply as ''[=GoldenEye=]'' or ''[[SuperTitle64Advance GoldenEye 64]]'') is an [[FirstPersonShooter FPS]] video game adaptation of the ''Film/JamesBond'' [[Film/GoldenEye movie of the same name]], made by Creator/{{Rare}} for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 in 1997, notably two years after the movie came out.

Complex licensing issues between Creator/{{Nintendo}}, [[Creator/XboxGameStudios Microsoft]] (who purchased Rare in 2002), and ''James Bond'' rights holders Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer and Eon Productions initially prevented any sort of rerelease -- most notably, a planned UsefulNotes/Xbox360 Live Arcade remaster that was nearly completed -- but two new releases of the game were eventually announced in September 2022 to commemorate the title's 25th anniversary. The original N64 version would be made available for Expansion Pack tier UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online subscribers, with online play supported via the app's built-in online multiplayer functionality; meanwhile, Xbox Game Pass subscribers would receive a remastered version developed by Code Mystics in collaboration with Rare featuring achievements, 4K resolution, a smoother framerate and local split-screen multiplayer, with owners of digital copies of the compilation title ''Rare Replay'' getting it for free. Both versions released on January 27, 2023.[[note]]The Japanese NSO release was delayed until November 30. Due to having [[SameContentDifferentRating a CERO Z (18+) rating in Japan]], Nintendo created a new "Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online 18+" app for the title, in order to avoid having to bump up the age rating for the main N64 app.[[/note]]

See also ''VideoGame/GoldenEye2010'', a VideoGameRemake developed by Eurocom and published by Activision for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} in 2010, with an UpdatedRerelease for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 following in 2011. And despite the name, the 2004 Bond game ''VideoGame/GoldenEyeRogueAgent'' is not plot-related.

** Level 1, "Dam", sees Bond fighting his way atop the dam, jamming the base's communications before making the bungee jump that served as the film's opening scene. This level is loosely based on a DeletedScene from the film, which saw Bond cut the telephone wire at a guard post as the first scene before the bungee jump.

* EasterEgg: One of the programmers hid a UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum emulator in the game's code just to see if it was possible.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The fabled Golden PP7, which can absolutely destroy anything in one shot. It's obtained by beating Cradle on the Agent difficulty which isn't that hard with some practice.

* HarderThanHard: Beating the game on 00 Agent unlocks "007" difficulty modes, which is basically 00 Agent in terms of objectives, but it can be customized to be as hard as the player wants. ([[ChallengeGamer 1000% damage? Yes.]]) This has led to the custom ''License to Kill'' (one-shot, one kill applies to both the player and enemies) and ''[[VideoGame/PerfectDark Dark]] Agent'' (all maxed out stats) difficulties. Known in the community as a DLTK run (Dark Licence to Kill) and it is almost impossible[[note]]As of 2023, a full-run has only been officially completed by nine players in the world[[/note]].

* In "Control", if you kill Boris before summoning Natalya, she will refuse to help you, causing you to fail the mission. However, there are still two ways you can get away with killing him. 1) If he gets a slow death animation, you can rush upstairs and summon her. She will not acknowledge his death if you reach her before his body disappears. 2) If you go up using the main stairs at the back of the room, it will trigger him to talk to you and then runaway, meaning you cannot return to kill him later. However, you can use an explosive to blast open the windows and take one of the two smaller staircases to get to Natalya and summon her without triggering Boris' dialogue. This enables you to return and kill him after.
* If you throw an explosive such as a grenade or timed mine in the location of the end cutscene just before you end the stage, it will go off during the end cutscene, potentially killing NPC's during the cutscene (Bond is invincible). This can include Natalya, and the game doesn't count it as a fail if she dies in the end cutscene. You can also shoot her and quickly end the stage. It won't count as a fail so long as her body hasn't disappeared yet when you finish.