The Wonderful Silliness of N64 Goldeneye (with Alyse Knorr)

"While often lauded for its design innovations, and rightly so, Goldeneye on the N64 is perhaps the goofiest FPS of its era. In this video, I talk with Alyse Knorr, author of ""Goldeneye"" from Boss Fight Books.
Link: bossfightbooks..."

[@slamjackson2137]

5th grade, walking home with a group of kids who lived within a few blocks of each other. We go to the one kids house and there it was, for the first time: Goldeneye, an N64, and 4 different colored controllers. We laughed our asses off playing with the various settings for gameplay. Grenade launchers only. Proximity mines only. Slappers only. “WHO THE FUCK PICKED ODD JOB!” Incredibly fun. What a wonderful time to be a kid. Thanks for bringing me back.

[@timjkoala7556]

Haha, Goldeneye multiplayer brings back so much nostalgia

[@Crlarl]

_GoldenEye 007_ is the game that made me use inverted camera look.

[@ck4181]

14:03 When she mentions the Columbine massacres. I was playing Ocarina Of Time when I heard about that shooting, specifically the Forest Temple and I associated the music of the Forest Temple with the shooting. It was creepy.

[@VistaLargaGames]

I’m a game developer and this was one game that inspires me, not the game itself but what happened behind the scenes. Very indie-esque. Great video. Subscribed!

[@SECONDQUEST]

I thought that said "with Anish Kapoor" for a second. I must be blind.

[@polygonvvitch]

Timothy Dalton Bond era is underrated af.

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Definitely agree! It's surreal that he only did two movies. I watched The Living Daylights while working on this video and it almost felt like watching an alternate-universe Bond movie, or something we weren't supposed to see. But it was quite good!

[@songforbro]

Was always my favourite Bond.

[@Garbageman28]

Closest bond to the books other than the bbc radio adaptations.

[@DackDavenport]

​@@songforbro finally Dalton fans. I love all Bond movies. But Dalton was my favourite.

[@professionalmoron8051]

It was a landmark release in 1997, really massive game changer. But even then some of the motion capture stuff was amusing. Always loved the one where the enemy rolls on the floor (like it's somehow going to help them dodge superfast bullets). Usually they just roll straight into the bullets.

[@yearginclarke]

Yeah usually the rolling on the ground doesn't help them at all. Also I always thought the animation where a guard is running toward you and shooting at the same time just looks hilarious.

[@gamerdood3]

I remember certain games being "off limits" when I was a kid. Now it feels like such a foreign concept. Nice video!

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Thanks so much! And oh, absolutely. I'm still a little surprised whenever I notice the ESRB rating in the corner of a game, like "huh, I totally forgot those existed."

[@lachlank.8270]

You can bet my mum noticed the explicitly marked adults only Restricted rating on Conkers BFD Didn't stop me renting it from the video store tho lmao

[@omnivoreal]

I was thrilled to see Alyse Knorr pop up in this episode; I loved her book on _Goldeneye_ (highly recommend the deluxe version with an extra chapter on the music of _Goldeneye_!), so getting to hear more of her thoughts on the game and Bond as a whole was a highlight. Really loved the structure, too, with the interview interspersed. Great work!

[@steverempel8584]

That Klobb gun that everyone makes fun of. I'm not sure what real world gun it's based off of, but in game it's basically a super fast automatic pistol with a huge clip, not really a machine gun. Use it like a pistol and it's fine.

[@kyledodson2992]

It’s based on the VZ 61 Scorpion. It fires the tiny .32 ACP round and you are correct, it’s a machine pistol.

[@TheFearleader420]

The Klobb is my favorite gun in 007, I'll smoke anyone in multiplayer with it.

[@timjkoala7556]

​@@TheFearleader420bulldust

[@TheFearleader420]

@@timjkoala7556 bruh, I have been smoking fools in multiplayer for 30 years. Very few stand a chance.

[@timjkoala7556]

@@TheFearleader420 What's your strategy

[@taids]

0:25 that's the N64 Magazine crew, not the Rare devs

[@herrerasauro7429]

Great video and interview! As someone who couldnt speak any english back then, I think the campiness and slapstick Alysse points out ( and I never noticed) had an extra point of being able to communicate through visual and gameplay beyond the text. I fondly remember laughing as a kid at trying to sneak only by shooting guards on the dick and/or butts

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Definitely a highlight of the game! It wasn't until I read this book that I realized all those NPC hit animations had to be specifically animated, like guards holding the different body parts that got shot. Would have been a huge amount of work just to make the game funnier, but it was worth it!

[@Nightopian1982]

​@@ComputerLabHighjinksthe almost masochistic way of playing 007 mode and setting enemy health to 1000% so one can spend ages shooting them in various places with a PP7, just to check off how many animations there are. It's somewhat sadistic, but it's almost irresistible to do as a youth, heck, even today as a grown man! No wonder they keep shooting Bond after he dies...

[@zachhiggins1668]

Possibly the heartiest laugh of my life was (and this way before ragdoll physics) playing GE with my friend was lobbing a grenade launcher grenade perfectly behind a guard on the top of the stairs on Frigate and watching him absolutely cannonball to the ground below. The devs definitely were putting their own gameplay wishes and fantasies into the game, total kid brain stuff ftw

[@lachlank.8270]

I think whats incredible looking back is that this is back when you didn't get to patch a game AT ALL and it's shocking that this was not only 99.99% bug free (aside from the very rare nightmare fuel enemy soldier model bugging out - which always led to an immedate crash) but also had minimal FPS issues - AND music in 4 person multiplayer! Maybe RARE just had an incredible QA and testing team, I can't explain it. Passionate employees were definitely always one of RARE's strengths. I may be wrong about the FPS but i cant recall the engine ever really struggling (like Perfect Dark did whenever an N-Bomb went off)

[@lachlank.8270]

(also brother this video is good professional stuff i hope it blows up)

[@TasteTheD]

This was brilliant guys, thank you so much!

[@ryanj99]

This was so interesting. A lot of great topics that were brought to light. Definitely going to look into her book 👍

[@DougUnfunny]

Timothy Dalton is not the most unpopular bond. George Lazenby is the most unpopular Bond but his movie is not bad nor is was Timothy Dalton bond movies. Timothy Dalton bond was more gritty and had shades of the Daniel Craig Bond but it was too ahead of its time. The Roger Moore era went too goofy which lead to an over correction with Dalton films that audiences were not ready for. Pierce Brosnan Goldeneye was perfect balance action, humor and which felt more like Connery era. But even Pierce Brosnan films did not learn the lesson from Roger Moore and got too goofy by Die Another Day. Which lead to Craig Reboot.

[@kevinprendergast5885]

The way they talk about this game I'd assume they're around my age. I played this game when it first came out. She was in university/college? He was born early 90's? This game crossed so many age brackets, genres and sexes. Still iconic!

[@IrrationalNick]

I think I just found my new favorite channel

[@Badguy292]

I feel like the "Everything Explodes" from chairs and tables to computers etc. might've been inspired by the old Hong Kong action films, like John Woo movies. I know that's been touted as an inspiration behind a lot of environmental destruction in early videogames, and having seen Hard Boiled again recently, I see it. Also just a damn good movie.

[@BastardWolf28]

"Mission failure: Natalya has been killed."

[@donatj]

The Sean Connery movies were silly when they came out and not just in hindsight

[@ZhiroMinoda]

Yeah there’s a behind the scenes where he said that bond only made sense for him until unaccepted this was a surreal, silly world and played the part of a guy just going through with it

[@zachhiggins1668]

Diamonds Are Forever is soo close to outright parody imo, favorite Bond movie by a mile

[@AD-kv9kj]

Tomorrow Never Dies isn't a "sequel" to Goldeneye...it's just the next Bond movie. They didn't used to be sequels and endless continuing stories (that become increasingly a big mess because they weren't planned and just thrown together on the fly) like the Craig movies.

[@geedee1264]

Its the same guy, Tracey Bonds husband

[@stu2tru]

its not a "slap" its supposed to be "karate chop" lol

[@joshl8686]

But the in game setting is called “Slappers Only” so even the devs were calling it a “slap”

[@stu2tru]

@@joshl8686 really? i thought it was from the martial arts influence through the 90s

[@timjkoala7556]

The animation is definitely a karate chop. And bond uses a karate chop in the movie as well

[@stu2tru]

@@timjkoala7556 thank you. that was always my impression

[@copyrightsmopyright]

It's both a karate chop and a slapper.

[@eaglescout1984]

Wait, who's complaining about Bunker 2? You leave her in the cell until you kill all the guards (without triggering the never ending wave of alarm-initated guards) and complete the objectives BEFORE opening her cell. And if you're speed running, you let her out, but move so fast through the level she can't keep up.

[@MFKitten]

I wonder if the british humor just made it less overtly goofy to non-brits?

[@mickpatel5126]

The only thing I would like to question or not sure is verified is that the game was already far developed as a rail shooter and they scrapped it to start over. I was always under the impression that during very early development they decided for it NOT to be an on rail shooter. If I’m wrong then is it possible there’s a beta version of most of the game already in an on rail shooter type format?

[@ZhiroMinoda]

It wasn’t far in development. It was far in scheduled time. There were trailers already, anaba they were way by that point

[@mickeshpatel6301]

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. I’m still dying for some sort of beta version lol I was also very shocked that when the whole xbla version came out we saw the possible shooting range

[@LearnHittite]

Goldeneye the film was awesome

[@westontilby2726]

I think that purely in terms of escort mechanics, Bunker II is much worse than Control. Control is just way harder for different reasons.

[@mickpatel5126]

Great watch thanks for sharing

[@PhillipJermakian]

We had the house rule no odd job in multi-player.

[@Nirakolov]

Timothy Dalton best bond

[@Vanu-i4o]

It always had this weird look like it was prerendered to me, I dunno what it is about the graphics and it's hard to explain, it's a look not even Perfect Dark had. I dunno if it's the lighting baked into the textures or the really blurry look or what, it can just look so nice graphically.

[@zachhiggins1668]

I agree. The graphics held up for quite a while, and the first time I ever saw footage of it I thought it was photoreal 😅

[@lachlank.8270]

15:28 they've been playing Oregon Trail i bet you

[@jimmyjim6543]

Was trying to watch a cool video on GoldenEye but the wXman wouldn't stop talking

[@hutlazzz]

subs, good content, thanks !

[@Weezing336]

James Bond is inherently silly. Embracing its fantasy is the only way to take it seriously and to have a good time. Humor doesn't make something unserious. Humor is a reason Bond stands out amongst a sea of other action/spy characters. A little wit, humor, and comic book elements are essential to the franchise.

[@Bubba-Fudd-bulletsmith]

Yall wish you could grow up with suck great games