Just A Quick "What If"...What if,the hit N64 game Goldeneye 007 Never existed? this game is praised as a revolutionary title on FPS Genre..but..what if the game itself never existed?
WI: No Goldeneye 007
- Thread starter AudieonAHCom
- Start date
Pkmatrix
Monthly Donor
Well, the N64 might not have been as much of a hit as it was, for one.
The most important thing about Goldeneye, historically, was that it was the first successful FPS released on a videogame console. There were earlier FPS games, especially for PC, but I can't name a single one for the consoles (except for maybe Duck Hunt) before Goldeneye. As a result, all console FPS games can trace the origins of much of their design philosophies to Goldeneye - cut that out, and I start to doubt whether or not first person shooters ever actually get off the ground in home consoles.
The entire genre, at least on the consoles, could be completely different, if it exists in any appreciable form at all beyond the PC.
The most important thing about Goldeneye, historically, was that it was the first successful FPS released on a videogame console. There were earlier FPS games, especially for PC, but I can't name a single one for the consoles (except for maybe Duck Hunt) before Goldeneye. As a result, all console FPS games can trace the origins of much of their design philosophies to Goldeneye - cut that out, and I start to doubt whether or not first person shooters ever actually get off the ground in home consoles.
The entire genre, at least on the consoles, could be completely different, if it exists in any appreciable form at all beyond the PC.
Erm.. why? Its a bit like saying "if someone hadn't invented the wheel, it might never have been invented".
Sure I guess that could happen but it seems incredibly unlikely. As you say there were FPS games out on the PC and while I would argue GoldenEye pre-dates the the golden era of PC FPS by a year or two there seems no reason to believe people are not going to try and develop console FPS.
It follows that eventually someone is going to make a good one.
The Storyteller
Banned
I think when he says 'first successful console FPS', I think he means 'first successful console-exclusive FPS' - as far as I know, the majority of console FPS's before then were ports of PC games (Duke Nukem 3D, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, et al). It wasn't until after GoldenEye that we got console-exclusive shooters like Perfect Dark, Halo, the Medal of Honor/Call of Duty games, etc.
You know it is a good game when you can plug it in and its still as much fun as it was 16 years ago 
Even if it does take a few campaign levels on Agent to get used to the controller scheme again. I was playing it this weekend, decided to give the XBOX 360 a break.
But yeah, Goldeneye was the reason me and most of my friends bou... er, got our parents to buy us a N64 (well, that and Mario Kart), as well as the reason you insisted that yes, you did need 4 controllers instead of just two.
Even if it does take a few campaign levels on Agent to get used to the controller scheme again. I was playing it this weekend, decided to give the XBOX 360 a break.
But yeah, Goldeneye was the reason me and most of my friends bou... er, got our parents to buy us a N64 (well, that and Mario Kart), as well as the reason you insisted that yes, you did need 4 controllers instead of just two.
The Storyteller
Banned
I've only known one person who ever owned an N64, and GoldenEye was pretty much the main reason from what I remember.
Rex Mundi
Banned
I don't know where you live, but that is almost surely a false statement. It is, for all practical intents and purposes, a mathematical certainty that a much larger portion of the people you've ever known have owned a N64, irrespective of whether they discussed that matter with you.
The Storyteller
Banned
While that's almost certainly true, the fact is, I'm originally from the West Highlands - not a lot of people there means not a lot of console-owners. Even then, I've only ever met three people who owned Nintendo home consoles (not counting the Wii) - everyone other console-owner either had a PlayStation or a Mega Drive.
That being said, I've only known two people who owned the original Xbox, so... yeah, chalk it up to a rural upbringing.
Pkmatrix
Monthly Donor
Of course someone would eventually make one, and eventually you'll have a hit. But, no Goldeneye would certainly delay that and, atop that, the design philosophy behind later console FPS may be totally different depending on what ends up being successful. Just look at PC shooters: there's no one way to design these things, yet until Halo came along you could safely call most console FPS games "Goldeneye clones" IMO.
So, if Goldeneye doesn't become the breakout hit that introduces FPS as a major console genre alongside platformers and all the rest, what does?
Ah, I remember Thande mentioned a couple times that Nintendo wasn't nearly as popular or well-known in the UK as it is in America...
Here's a cynics take: If there was no Goldeneye, then I wouldn't have to hear people saying it was the greatest FPS and that they'd play it over any modern shooter, which I have heard said. And the problem with that being that it's extremely outdated now just in gameplay, and if it had come out now the way it was (but with modern graphics) people would lambast it as mediocre if not outright bad. And they made a remake of it for god's sake.
It has an legendary quality about it which would not be there if it hadn't existed.
It has an legendary quality about it which would not be there if it hadn't existed.