DF Retro EX - GoldenEye 007 - New Xbox Series X/S and Switch Versions Tested vs N64

John Linneman tests out the new versions of Goldeneye 007 that arrived recently on Xbox Series X/S and Switch in the latest episode of DF Retro EX. Are any of these emulated re-releases worth picking up, and how do they stand up to the legendary Nintendo 64 original in terms of visuals, controls and sound?
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[@jmi_music]

I could tell this was a John video before I heard the voice based entirely on the love put into that amazing intro.

[@sicKlown86]

It's really nice that the DF team has expanded so John can satisfy his obvious creative urges without feeling he has to rush to put out content.

[@mmert138]

@@sicKlown86 do you know if they are hiring? I wanna apply.

[@MERCERENiTY]

Itz the John camera angles, the John atmosphere, & the John audio. 😁😂

[@narata1541]

True! I feel that John is one the only few who actually enjoys looking into videogames and tries the hardest, which is why his videos are so good. I'm sure the others will get better, as they are almost close to John!

[@mikeslemonade]

Shutup John simps

[@cosmosofinfinity]

That Tiger Electronics version frame rate test is the best work Digital Foundry has ever done

[@Daniel-yz3zf]

Every moment since the dawn of the universe has led to us sitting here watching that Tiger Electronics performance analysis. Our species has peaked

[@o0junglist0o93]

Not getting the XBLA version released is genuinely heartbreaking. Especially considering how good 4J studios Perfect Dark 64 port is.

[@budthecyborg4575]

Except the XBLA port of Perfect Dark is almost unplayable with the horrific deadzone, analog aim on Perfect Dark feels like you're aiming with a keyboard. Contrast that with Goldeneye where you can properly tune the deadzone it almost plays 1:1 as good as the original, which is saying a lot because the N64 analog stick is one of the most responsive analog sticks in history (due to the position sensors being directly connected with the spring centering mechanism on N64, modern controllers separate these functions so you will never be able to perfectly replicate the feel of an N64 controller, but a fresh controller with a fine tuned deadzone comes surprisingly close). Had 4J handled the port of Goldeneye, or even Rare themselves, in all likelihood we would be stuck playing Goldeneye with the same obscene abomination of a deadzone as Perfect Dark still has because that was just the norm for all shooters on Xbox 360. Now that we have the contrast of the two games, and given that Perfect Dark is outright owned by Microsoft, I'm really hoping they go back and patch Perfect Dark with deadzone tuning because it was left in a very sad state.

[@DavidStudiosproduct]

@@budthecyborg4575 dude, Perfect Dark XBLA is perfectly playable and better than the N64 version. Are you thinking of Perfect Dark Zero?

[@thetombuck]

@@DavidStudiosproduct exactly, controls aren't great but it's perfectly playable. Dude is just being a drama queen

[@PolitecnicoUSP]

What? Perfect Dark XBLA port is much better than the original N64 game.

[@budthecyborg4575]

@@PolitecnicoUSP The graphical side is all dramatically improved, but the analog aim is practically unusable on Perfect Dark XBLA.

[@andrews4731]

Beautifully edited intro. True appreciation of the art !

[@weighted_companion_cube]

I came into the comments to say the same thing! Good job guys.

[@CakeSublime]

I was kind of hoping to see Richard Leadbetter to strut in encircled with the barrel of a gun though.

[@iPlayiOS]

@@weighted_companion_cube I too came to say this! 👍👍

[@winlover37]

Was just gonna say this too haha, DF is always true to the classics.

[@nick13b]

great year for xbox and pc gaming!

[@SDMasterYoda]

License to Kill, Proximity Mines, on The Stack. You can't use weapons to shoot other players, only the mines. One of the best multiplayer experiences of my childhood.

[@mikewade777]

The Facility Proxy run.

[@Spydah3kgt]

Grenades only in the stack. More skill due to the stupid walls/ceilings lol

[@itsd0nk]

Remote mines was the more sophisticated version of this game type once you discovered the secret hack that you could detonate the mines by pressing A+B and not having to switch to the watch. You could blow them up midair or time them perfectly as a trap.

[@GalactusTheDestroyer]

@@mikewade777 That was our go to map for prox mines.

[@BlueZirnitra]

I don't need any particular rules. So many combinations were brilliantly fun.

[@omg_wtf_not_now]

I remember playing Goldeneye for years, and never saw the film....until one day it was on TV randomly. I watched it from the start and I couldn't believe how the scenes matched up. It made me feel like the film was another console from the future with better graphics.... just felt my mind being blown.

[@pachinkor83]

Excellent work as always John. Shame that the 360 edition never saw the light of day feels like that's the version that we should have had here. At least they managed to utilize that work for the 360 edition of Perfect Dark. Playing 2 player with hard AI's and only explosive weapons was a blast back in the day, huddled around a 21' CRT lol.

[@OneLastScholar]

Now that Xenia is on Xbox and GoldenEye Reloaded runs on it, we can see some more of it as the emulator improves.

[@Keepskatin]

Old game and 360 is weak sauce, use Superior pc emulator at 60 fps with bugs or the series x locked 30 frames

[@stevemartin9396]

My vote is with the Tiger Electronics version to be honest. It's not marred by inaccurate emulation like the current builds, and it's crisp lines, and dedicated Q button really help set it apart.

[@braedonlock3359]

Obviously there was licensing issues. It’s still great at 4k with modern controls. The licensing with Nintendo has been terrible for almost a decade. Im just happy this even happened at all.

[@stevemartin9396]

@@braedonlock3359 I think Tiger Electronics were the real reason that we haven't been able to get this game rereleased for so long...

[@systematicallyshocked]

@@stevemartin9396 that would be an almost hilarious but sad twist at the same time 😂

[@Nick930]

Love the intro John! Getting some DFRetro vibes with this one! And you captured some great b-roll of the cartridge and console too.

[@dr.loomis4221]

Trying to jack some of their viewership eh bud? I get it...gotta get paid.

[@callmeivan2064]

@@dr.loomis4221 or... Nick just enjoys DF videos? Really?

[@HugoStiglitz88]

@@dr.loomis4221 he doesn't need to lol he gets plenty of views. Youre acting like hes some small channel. His channel is huge. it's obvious he's just a fan of df

[@orijimi]

"Getting some DF Retro vibes with this one!" is such a stupid thing to say on a DF Retro video.

[@DonjiPicudo]

@@dr.loomis4221 You have some illness, buddy

[@radornkeldam]

A note on vertex warble: GoldenEye and Perfect Dark have an internal scale where ingame world geometry precission matches real world centimeters, and a coordinate length of, I think, 16 bit, so, basically 655.36 meters in each axis. While the later Perfect Dark has all it's levels modelled at 1:1 scale, GoldenEye uses a scale factor specified for each level, which are all modelled at different scales for whatever reason. I don't know whether this was a deliberate design decision or a side effect of the adhoc development process where many levels and assets were modelled first and then they decided how to use them. Perhaps they modelled without caring for scale at first and then used the scaling feature to fix it ingame. Whatever the case, All levels have different scales, and DAM, if I remember correctly, has one of the smaller scales because of how big it is, and then it's made bigger by the in-engine scaling. Not sure how the scaling is done, whether the level is made big or bond is made small, so to speak. I suspect that maybe bond is made small, which would seem consistent with how DAM is on the warblier side of things and other levels are more solid.

[@JimboJimbolina]

Honestly I look forward to DF Retro vids on KZbin more than any other content atm

[@BlueZirnitra]

OK mate

[@brokenscart7989]

God the music is just so so good. One of the best game soundtracks ever..

[@Videogamelover58]

Facts

[@itsd0nk]

This and Perfect Dark were amazing soundtracks. Same composer. Total legend.

[@iniguezawsome]

Never heard it before this. That one song is a banger

[@G0bus]

This is something Rare was good in at that time.

[@eSKAone-]

My first Dark Techno track I believe 💟

[@ArcadianLegend]

Fun Goldeneye (and Perfect Dark) fact that people nowadays might not know is that they are represented in Smash Bros 64 & Melee via the "Motion Sensor Bomb" (Proximity Mine) and Cloaking Device. The mine in Japanese Melee takes the design from PD instead. That's it except for PAL Brawl where they're mentioned in the Chronicle.

[@Silvergun_Raven]

I just got all of the achievements on the Xbox version and while it felt more difficult than it did on N64 back in 1997, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a great time revisiting the game on 00 Agent and unlocking everything! I'm glad that we do have access to the unreleased XBLA game that was due out in 2007 and can play it anytime on Xenia, but if only it were feasible to have that officially released with online multiplayer. I'm hoping we eventually get that TimeSplitters remaster as that's the closest thing besides Perfect Dark on XBLA and TimeSplitters Rewind on the horizon.

[@DEVILTAZ35]

I think i am going to use this one for the 50 pts a day towards more Gamepass :)

[@82wethepeople]

it felt way easier for me probably the controls but getting 2.05 on facility back then felt impossible back then got it in a couple trys on xbox however

[@MisterLindsay]

I replayed it start to finish on Switch, using the N64 controller, in a couple of days. The lack of single-digit frame rates when going through smoke and the ability to save-scum my way past the worst of the "RNG" when completing the time-trials made it a lot easier, and it was still great fun.

[@WH250398]

Nightfire and Everything or Nothing are both outstanding games. From Russia With Love and Agent Under Fire were very fun as well. These games deserve much more credit than they got.

[@eduardoarmenta9232]

I liked From Russia With Love, I think it was the last good game from the license. Now I'm eager to see what IO Interactive does with it, the Hitman Series is one of my favorites and they did a fantastic work with the new trilogy.

[@modermonkula]

Whichever one had the grappling hook i think was better then Goldeneye. Excellent multiplayer at the time

[@WH250398]

@@modermonkula Nightfire!

[@WH250398]

@@eduardoarmenta9232 I actually liked 007 Bloodstone too. Flawed, but fun.

[@frankjoz2803]

Nightfires intro and multi-player are fire

[@sneakingelephant]

The quip at 4:37 about “one corporation or another” made me laugh out loud😂

[@adamdavis1737]

I think it's still just a crime that that remaster / remake for Xbox live arcades still sits unfinished and instead we just get something like this

[@bt3743]

If the game is that good you wanted a remaster then you shouldnt have a problem with playing the original

[@marklabonte2925]

Give it a year- once the excitement dies down on the ‘original’ I’m sure the the remastered one will be available for like $49.99 on both platforms 🙄

[@kennypowers1945]

I’m fine with playing this lol. The remaster would still be old af so it doesn’t really matter. Now if it was in todays graphics than yea I’d want it

[@UltraCasualPenguin]

Blame MGM. The're most likely reason it will never get released. Selling it now after it has been on pretty much everyone's PC/Xbox 360 would be pointless.

[@wussup12345]

@@bt3743 what kind of reasoning is that? If I liked the original, I would play it on a N64 or on an emulator. If I liked the game, why wouldn’t I be upset that an updated remaster of the game for new consoles is just sitting there never to be released? Dumb kid

[@Hirnlego999]

Love the soundtrack, and it was very difficult to beat it at highest difficulty. I'm glad this inspired Thief: The Dark Project on that part

[@MorganBlackwell]

Frame counters on Tiger handhelds.. Just another reason to enjoy DF Retro.

[@AspirationHD]

Beautifully edited intro John. Great DF Retro. I laughed at the bit when you quote your son saying GoldenEye had the oldest graphics he has ever seen.

[@DarkReturns1]

That intro captured all feels perfectly John, well done

[@GeraldTN06]

Ah that glorious multiplayer running at like 3 frames per second 😁

[@millrrs]

Best intro you ever made John. Glad to support DF Retro.

[@ryanwalker1982]

Would have been intriguing to see how the 360 version compared for visuals and perfomance

[@kirby0louise]

Hop on the Xenia train and find out

[@ryanwalker1982]

@@kirby0louise oh I have certainly played this on PC already. Would just like the analysis on DF :)

[@zk0rned]

@@kirby0louise Pretty sure that isn't the same thing at all

[@codezero7981]

locked 60fps with no dips and even the N64 switch option in the XBLA version looks better than the new release

[@kennypowers1945]

Been playing it on series X and am having an amazing time. Looks and runs great, not to mention the controls are so good now.

[@creativerayn]

I always get a wonderful child like feeling when comes to your retro doc style videos… reminds me of the feeling I got opening a new console box (n64, snes, GameCube, Dreamcast even the Saturn) a feeling that I don’t get much anymore - although I did get it opening my ps5. Thank you! A massive fan of the way you put them together and the clear love you have for it ❤ not many gets that feeling across

[@TomSestilio]

Loving how he managed to work in an Ikaruga IGN reference to a Goldeneye review hahaha

[@3dmarth]

I finally play Ikaruga for the first time ever, and what quote do I hear that same day? :P

[@goukigod]

What a video! Great work John. This is exactly why I continue to watch DF retro.

[@b5quared]

My respect for this game has only grown over the years. I remember playing it on N64 Christmas day in '97 and that childhood magic still remains.

[@mrhobs]

That whole opening (up to around 2:35) was so well edited, perfect placement of that awesome Goldeneye soundtrack. Good job! Now I'm gonna watch the rest.

[@WBF_III]

This was a real treat. Your appreciation for the source material made this for me. Well done!

[@Neukom720]

great video! Such a huge shame the remake was cancelled! Glad it leaked but wish that got the full treatment and released!

[@marciamakesmusic]

Didn't it get a remake on the wii?

[@roytore5062]

@@marciamakesmusic Yes, an Activision Call of Duty remake, but neukum is talking about the unreleased remake made for xbox live arcade that was the N64 version with new HD textures. I really thought that was the version we would get on game pass. So disappointed...

[@HEADSHOTPROLOL]

@@roytore5062 it's such an amazing version too, real shame we didn't get it in an official capacity

[@MetalJody1990]

Huge shame indeed. It's still loads of fun to play tho despite the things it lacks.

[@roytore5062]

@@HEADSHOTPROLOL Have you played it? I've only seen videos. Do you know if it's playable all the way through?

[@rob4222]

The Xenia emulator was ported to Xbox Series. You can now play the 360 version on the new consoles 😁

[@Retro_Gamer_89]

Not all 360 games work

[@rob4222]

@@Retro_Gamer_89 But Golden Eye works. Did I mention that all games work?

[@Agent-mb1xx]

link please

[@rob4222]

@@Agent-mb1xx KZbin doesn't like links. Search for "xenia xbox series".

[@D1360VR]

@@Agent-mb1xx u cant share, you can bit ithers wont see

[@Ingel_Riday6690]

It warms my heart to see GoldenEye 007 available to so many people on modern rigs. A darn shame that the Xbox 360 version never saw the light of day, but still... a solid 30 fps and modern controls on this bad boy are nothing to sneeze at. I can't complain too much. Good times. 🙂 Thanks for this video.

[@rustynuts89836]

The music on this game and perfect dark are some of the best music to come out

[@Graslu00]

Great video! Although I wish more was said about the Xbox version slowdowns. Interesting that it maintains 30FPS, but it's clear the game goes into slow motion very often. Honestly a deal breaker for me. As pointed out, the intro plays at 30 but on top of that it even has slowdowns there.

[@2023PerfectDark]

Yeah it just doesn't make any sense why their built in emulator's frame rate is not accurate to what the Xbox thinks the frame rate is.

[@thanksbetotap]

I see you’re the GoldenEye champion quoted extensively throughout this video. Realllllly hope Code Mystics can/is allowed to fix the collision and slowdown problems. Or the audio emulation, or the texture filtering, or…

[@Dac_vak]

Lol at John dunking on the Tiger Electronics version

[@KingGameReview]

I love that you tracked the framerate of the tiger electronic handheld 🤣

[@JazzemBros]

Amazing work as always! I never knew how much I needed to see a frametime graph on a Tiger Electronics LCD game :'D

[@MrLeo34]

Appreciate covering the Tiger LCD game - I'd love more coverage of those things. Seriously.

[@TheCoolDave]

Well done. I've been reading about this and have played the "leaked" 360 version before playing the Series X version. The Series X version closer to the N64 version but, what could have been done if they used the 360 version as a base. Think about it, updated 4K textures and better audio by far, it could have been amazing. In this modern day, I kind of expected a little more than an emulated version of 25ish year-old version. It's good, it's Goldeneye but, kind of not what people were expecting, there was lot of videos and detail on the unreleased 360 version. The hype was around that one. It's why a lot of people are disappointed...

[@UltraCasualPenguin]

So, what did MGM say about that? You seem to know a lot about what was said in negotiations. Do you know who blocked it originally? Also, they never promised remake. That was only in your head.

[@zevindd]

Great video, great intro. Extra love the Tiger Electronics framerate graph, lol!

[@G0bus]

22:36 this is why I rather use the ZR-button to toggle YXBA to be the C-buttons before I would change the mapping to have a modern style. Even more because I couldn’t use straferunning with the altered controls.

[@kosmosyche]

I'm a big fan of this "downsampling technique" John describes and showcases. I've played through Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 and Metroid Prime on Dolphin using this method by rendering the game at 4k and downsampling to the original 480p resolution (although I should add that I was playing on a CRT monitor, which makes low resolutions look much more natural and better than modern monitors). This is basically supersampling antialiasing of the original resolution, tbh, so it's nothing new really, but I found the resulting picture much more appealing to my eyes and more coherent than straight 4k rendering, although those who prefer the highest possible sharpness above all won't like it probably.

[@winlover37]

Goddamn it I didn't need a reason to go buy a CRT monitor now. Overlays just won't do anymore 😂

[@BlueZirnitra]

Sharpness is overrated. Many modern games are a low key eyesore because everything has gritty detailed edges that are hard to process as a coherent clean image to the eyes. Honestly sick of having to squint at "impossibly detailed graphics" smothered in layers of blurry post processing.

[@winlover37]

@@BlueZirnitra I feel where you're coming from. I play a lot of PVP FPS games and over the years, and in their pursuit of photorealism, they have made visibility really hard when it shouldn't be.

[@10secondsrule]

@@winlover37 I totally agree plus this pursuit of photorealism often ends up looking very “computer gamey”

[@cellspeed8682]

I would rather render it at original resolution and stick with the jaggies than having a 4K image downscaled and looking as blurry as in this video, where the backgrounds seem to be totally detatched from everything. It is like looking at these badly upscaled, blurry backgrounds from the Final Fantasy 7,8,9 remasters.

[@Spydah3kgt]

Didn't notice any of the flaws talked about while running on Xbox. I was just too happy to have a copy again and for free no less. 60fps is the only lament for me, otherwise it's all I could have asked for. Anything beyond is just icing on the cake.

[@DangerStepp]

Great intro! I knew it was John before the voice over! He always puts so much thought into these.

[@jasonw1776]

I think this is my favorite DF video yet! It points out things I didn't know we're inaccurate (The switch distance fog) and suggests down sampling for emulation which I will definitely try!!

[@octoman_games]

We are NEVER going to recreate anything from that time. We were kids and this was one of a kind in that era. We re adults now and we aren't into games like we were before. It's not like you're having meetups after school with your friends nor sleeping over your cousins house over the weekend, playing this all night. It wasn't just the games we hold dear, it was the total package of the culture. What we were experiencing at the moment as a whole is what we are fond of. 25 years later, we have seen better games, we look at this and go urghhh its not the same...It IS the same, maybe even better but everything else that came with the good memories isn't there and thats why we say it isnt good.

[@fensoxx]

Agreed, BUT, there were tons and tons of games released at the same time. And this one has risen to the top of that group for a reason. It’s not all childhood memories, it’s that, plus incredible game design.

[@Petesey0]

Why do you think we've seen better games after apart from the obvious technology updates, games like this, Doom, Zelda, Mario all are in part responsible for a lot of what we see today imo of course

[@GiovannisNintendoPlaylists]

@@fensoxx Yeah, the game design was so innovative, as pointed in the video. But that may be why some people who discover the game today say "it's not good". Since it was so influential, you can find elements of GoldenEye in pretty much every console FPS released ever since (and arguably done a bit better). So, going back to it, you don't see why it was so good - because it was the first to do it.

[@DerdOn0ner]

TLDR: nostalgia

[@Moon_Presence]

Please do not lump everyone in with this comment. Some people still do things like this. Albeit not many.

[@PMSJordans]

It’s a shame they didn’t use the Xbox 360 Remake for this release.

[@destroyermcw626]

“Remaster”

[@UltraCasualPenguin]

After it got leaked and downloaded to millions of PCs? I wonder why...

[@Rschr101]

Thanks Nintendo

[@brandogg]

Throwing in the "frothing demand" reference was pretty great. You guys are so meta, I love it.

[@LukeHimself]

The *soundtrack* was one of the best things about the game

[@AgentHeX_0007]

When you blow up the barrels and the screen shakes up and down smoothly on the N64, Rare were more than likely using a hardware trick to move the whole screen/frame buffer up and down. This explains why it is missing on the XBox version as the trick has not been emulated. That N64 hardware trick probably does not use the cpu or gpu at all which is why there is no slow down on the original. There were many tricks and undocumented features discovered on consoles of the 8/16/64bit era that featured heavily in games.

[@thetinpin]

Very good point! That didn't occur to me.

[@SuperHydroThunder]

Absolutely wonderful video, thank you so much! While I don't personally tend to agree with a lot of the critiques (which I suppose makes me a much more casual gamer than I realized), this gave me a very good understanding of what went into the different versions and what made the original such a classic. Yes, definitely longing for the 360 port (360 was the BOMB), but very happy with the XB1 game, "warts" and all. Really takes me back. Soundtrack sounds fine to me (and again I thought I was somewhat an audiophile, but you've appeared to prove that wrong too!), and it's not something I've had the pleasure of experiencing recently so that is probably a big factor. Agree strongly with the end conclusion - it's now more available than ever, and that's a GREAT thing.

[@zybch]

I think the music section got messed up in editing. There was no difference other than the onscreen indicator. So both versions sounded fine because we only heard 1 of them.

[@fullauto86]

That intro is so good, johns retro videos in general are so good

[@luxerhusku2609]

You can't have a John video on DF without him ever mentioning Ridge Racer! Love that you're still a big fan of the series, John! :D

[@colinfoster7149]

I bought the N64 bundle with the game and gold controller back in the day, it felt like the future! I noticed the frame rates of course, but it surprisingly didn’t matter, the game was immense.

[@izuthree]

Only just started, but I can tell you had fun with that intro, lmao (Edit rather than making 100 comments) What the hell, those downsampled emulation results look incredible, especially RRT4. Why haven't I been doing this already?

[@monkeyman245]

Hey DF. Oh yeah! I have been waiting for you guys to do this video. And surely you didn't disappoint. Thank you. 🤘

[@Salty_Bass]

Great intro. At 4:43 what a great way of saying whose fault it is without using your words lol.

[@IazuJS]

Eff yeah to downsampling. It's such a great feature in Duckstation. Using that, PGXP, and the built in CRT filter you can get some beautiful results. It works especially well for games like Resident Evil where just running the games in a higher res makes the 3D models stand out badly against the prerendered backgrounds.

[@MetalJody1990]

I only use downsampling on games with prerendered backgrounds + 3D models. On games where it's all 3D or mostly 3D, the highest resolution is what I aim for. Along with downsampling, I also use an advanced crt shader. Makes Dino Crisis 2 look really nice on my flatscreen.

[@jaertosilva7382]

Its always nice to see a classic receiving some love

[@dr.loomis4221]

It received very little love by the looks of it

[@jaertosilva7382]

@@dr.loomis4221 its a humble beginning

[@systematicallyshocked]

@@dr.loomis4221 oh my goodness gracious man.

[@michaeloffgrid]

I love the "our frothing demand" quote. That's a classic reference from 20 years ago!

[@SylphidUndine]

i love the 'shoot an enemy while he rolls' it's like "ow, you got me! but let me just finish this evade animation first..." dead.

[@ther0n1nnamed47]

Sorry John have to point out Goldeneye Rouge Agent (2004) was not the last EA Published James Bond Licensed game, From Russia With Love (2005) was the last EA Published James Bond game

[@arioca]

You're right, with a PSP port released in 2006.

[@ther0n1nnamed47]

@@arioca indeed let's not forget about the psp port ^-^ I kinda liked it personally

[@fnsonicrick]

The video is only 1080p , so the Xbox version looks even better than what is shown here. I think the 4k does well to smooth out the graphics. I like old games with sharp visuals.

[@atlien1988]

Played Goldeneye with the kids over the weekend & we were having a blast. This game is a true classic man. We used to play this game at college kickbacks in the mid 2000s so I know it wasn't just nostalgia. I'm thrilled knowing that my kids found the same enjoyment I had as a kid.

[@queens2nd2none]

4:47 that made me bust out laughing as I got that Ikaruga reference 😂😂😂... "Frothing demand!" 😂... David Smith is an absolute legend for that

[@ChrisCarlos64]

Replaying this since last on a CRT in the days of the N64, I don't think this game has aged so badly. I'm currently playing the NSO version, as I don't have an Xbox, but controls are what I remember. Not bad but hard when the N64 controller was unique in its design and made games that used it well, like this, hard to b play on modern controllers. I overall love the mission based structure that changed based on difficulty and would allow you to see parts of the level you wouldn't normally see on lower difficulties. In fact I wish this was more brought out into modern games, I'd love to see it make more intimate levels that had more to do in smaller scopes so we could get more detailed levels and less large generic Hollywood sets of today's shooters or just boring open ended world with no character. There are some things that don't work well sure, but like any modern lens into a game of the past, it isn't fair to always judge a game in today's lens from the past. It doesn't mean you cannot find the game fun or good now, but when viewed from the past, it was still a good game. Like Halo CE, these games modernized how FPS games would work on consoles when the genre was primarily believed to be a PC only genre because of its controls.

[@ChrisLT]

Good tp see Goldeneye back, but Perfect Dark's remaster makes PD the much better game to return to.

[@daniellevy7733]

This is a superb video, editing really on point ❤️

[@DarkBowser64]

Excellent video and I appreciate the attention to detail. The complete lack of the screen shake effect on N64 NSO could be down to a desire to prevent epilepsy, OR lack of emulation for the effect. A lot of special effects are stealthily toned down on rereleases of older games on recent platforms, a prime example is the Lightning item in Mario Kart 64 which only flashes twice on NSO and then uses a slow fade afterward as opposed to the constant flash on original hardware. So it's at least possible that it was intentional. Worth noting that there's a way to remove the annoying control guide on the N64 NSO (and others like NES/SNES). It can be disabled from the menu, the same one where you can toggle the Rumble feature as well, or in NES/SNES/Genesis, the image settings (4:3, pixel perfect, CRT filter modes). The image is actually scaled down on N64 NSO when the control guide is showing in a lot of cases so you'll get a bit more screen real estate, specifically in 4:3 mode for other N64 titles.

[@sokarash]

The framerate graph for the Tiger handheld is freaking brilliant.

[@xuano666]

Nice technical analysis John! I was just thinking... I should try to hook the Xbox to the Retrotink 5X Pro and downsample to 240p... and also to upscale the N64 version on my RGB modded console. Would be interesting to compare on image quality, though on performance, the re-release will have the edge, obviously.

[@WCBs]

I always thought I nitpicked until Goldeneye was released. I'm having as much fun now as I did in 98

[@labroomes]

Been waiting on this video since the game released! Fully enjoyed this, brilliant intro.

[@PetrCobra]

I must be one of the few people who actually really liked Eurocom's COD-like take on Goldeneye on the Wii. Thanks to being released under Activision, it even survived the closure of Wii's online systems - haven't checked lately, but only a few years back it was still alive and kicking. Seeing this only makes me want a modern re-release of that one... too bad they killed Eurocom by making them rush the sequel which is apparently really bad (haven't found the guts to open my copy over the years).

[@marciamakesmusic]

The multiplayer was so fun

[@dcashley303]

I seem to remember people having issues recently where it wouldn't boot anymore. Not even single player due to its online elements being out of wack. May need some further investigation though.

[@danny200mph5]

That game was fun

[@BALLOOROOM]

One of the few as well. Love using the Wii remote as a light gun as well, works so well. Looks awesome on Dolphin emulator at higher resolutions and I don't notice any differences in gameplay from my Wii when using LLE sound emulation and Bluetooth passthrough for Wiimotes.

[@andrehena]

This is Linneman's masterpiece, one of the best videos on the Internet, a landmark. *slow clap*

[@jamiepoirier1444]

John, I don't think it's possible for you to hear this enough-the handcraft edited sequences you place throughout your videos are always great to see. That stuff is definitely laborious but it's one of the many things that keeps people coming back. Or we'd always like to think, at least. lol

[@joseabraham777]

I really enjoyed Nightfire

[@WH250398]

I like it much more than Goldeneye. Amazing singleplayer and multiplayer.

[@jamesoloughlin]

That’s a crisp box. Impressive. Was it sealed in a vacuum safety enclosure.

[@MetalJody1990]

Beautifully-made video John. GoldenEye has stood the test of time with the help of our community. It's amazing that GE finally got officially released for modern consoles, but it's still a far cry from the experience of running the game on "1964" on PC. There is a programmer who got gyro aiming to work in multiplayer and I plan on making a video showing it off in a real 4-player match with a stable 60 fps. Gyro aiming would make GE waaay more fun and engaging imho. See my latest vid to see the gyro working on 4 PS4 controllers. Hopefully we'll see another release of GE in the future with loads of QoL improvements such as gyro aiming.

[@davidt3563]

Thanks for this! I read about the differences but it's much easier to understand in video format.

[@MrRetrostage]

Will continue playing this masterpiece on X360... 🥰

[@coreymiskell410]

Loved the end bit about your son and the "oldest looking graphics he'd ever seen" and ending up having a blast. That's what it's all about and as good as that game is single player and as a whole those kind of memories with my brothers and cousins are the ones I'll always remember playing this game

[@shannons1443]

Your "Our frothing demand for this game increases." reference did not going unnoticed or unappreciated.

[@bradtraq1]

Intro so good! Can tell you had fun making that

[@thiagovidal6137]

I've been emulating Goldeneye in high resolution since 1999. Not too long ago, I emulated it in 4k as well. It never had this wobbly vertices. I was shocked when I loaded up the game on my Xbox this past weekend. I've never seen anything this awful. So disappointing they didn't finish the X360 remake and released that one, which was a proper source code port rathet than emulation. I will stick with Xenia.

[@3dmarth]

Yeah, it's like PlayStation or something. :( Most N64 emulators, including the Switch one, use much higher precision than the original N64 by default. The Xbox release is the odd one out. John attributed it to the Switch's slightly lower resolution, but that's not the case.

[@NewsanceInHD]

Now this is the comparison video the world needed. Glad to see the N64 in there.

[@MacDork]

Solid breakdown again, team! Keep up the great work!

[@Asobitech]

Great video. In depth as always.

[@Frank-fi1fb]

This release is just perfect with all the flaws. It is golden eye as I remembered as a 10yo boy in 1997 when I played this. I love the performance issues. The level Jungle ran in 10fps in the original. In that time you didnt knew better. I love this release!

[@metsallica]

Is John Corp or Richard Leadbetter Inc hiring?!

[@jubei20111]

I've been playing thru the game trying to unlock the Egyptian stage and just a few stages to go. So much fun.

[@WickedRibbon]

That intro was beautifully done 👌

[@jesseseymour4011]

I never thought I could share my younger years of playing multi-player with people in the same room with my son. We played this and had a blast 👍🏻

[@ak2112]

Far from perfect, but I still love having it on the xbox. Being able to play Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Doom 64 and Turok 2 with good framerates is something 15 year old me only dreamed about back in the day.

[@DarkReturns1]

True, but if I remember Doom 64 ran great back in the day.

[@ak2112]

@@DarkReturns1 yeah it did run smooth on the 64, though it was pretty dark and murky. The night dive remaster is so good.

[@8-bitafterparty292]

The thought of John being a cool gamer dad on top of all the other great info he always provides is my favorite thing I learned from that one.

[@ENDWARO7]

The amount of personality makes me think 💭 that John actually edits the videos instead of having it send to an editing team at least to a degree

[@thingsiplay]

I watched Goldeneye in the theater when I was a teenager. And then the game came out and off course my friend, bro and me played it on a small CRT. Later Perfect Dark came out, which was the better game to me, but people mostly talk about Goldeneye nowadays.