GoldenEye 007 lands on Nintendo Switch and Xbox Game Pass this week

25 January 2023 , 16:17

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N64 classic GoldenEye 007 is coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox's subscription services this Friday (Image: Nintendo)

It's time to put on your best tux and party like it's 1997, as Nintendo and Microsoft have confirmed that Rare's seminal shooter, GoldenEye 007, will be making its way to Nintendo Switch Online and Xbox Game Pass this Friday, January 27.

Hooboy, I have waited for this day, and I still can't quite believe that GoldenEye 007 will be back on both Xbox and Nintendo consoles in a matter of days.

If you are a gamer of a certain post-30s vintage, chances are that multiplayer matches in GoldenEye 007 took up a lot of your spare time, as did the fights when Steve inevitably decided to stop playing as James Bond and be Odd Job instead. (the names have been changed to protect the guilty, you know who you are!?)

The Nintendo Switch version of the N64 classic will be available for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass subscribers on Friday and features widescreen, modern controls, classic split-screen multiplayer, and, best of all, online play. Meanwhile, the Xbox version will be available on both Xbox Game Pass, and as a free download for existing owners of Rare Replay.

Unfortunately, although the Xbox version is in widescreen and has the classic split-screen multiplayer, GoldenEye 007 on Xbox Series X |S and Xbox One does not have online play, resulting in the rare occasion when the Switch version is the best one.

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To say the release of GoldenEye 007 on modern hardware feels like a minor miracle is an understatement.

After Microsoft bought Rare back in 2002 for $375million, the rights to arguably one of the most important shooters of the 32/64bit were split in such a way that it has taken more than 20 years for the game to be playable on modern hardware.

After years of failed negotiations, an HD port for the Xbox 360 that was never released (well, officially anyway), and a pretty good remake by Eurocom with Daniel Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan as 007, finally, after all these years, we get to play the game again as intended.

So come Friday, January 27 – some 21 years later – you can get the guys around, order a pizza, crack open some beers, and relive your well-spent youth – at least until the kids get back from swimming. Unless you like playing as Oddjob, in which case you can get out of my treehouse.

Gareth Newnham