You Can Now Play The Cancelled GoldenEye Game

For many years now, old-school N64 fans have been begging for a GoldenEye 007 remaster or remake. No, not like the knock-off version Activision put out well over a decade ago — the one that swapped Pierce Brosnan out for Daniel Craig. Instead, gamers have wanted a souped-up edition of the N64 classic built for modern-day consoles.

It's been known for a while now that Rare was indeed working on such a game at one point. Footage of the unfinished product surfaced online, along with word that the project was inevitably scrapped due to licensing issues. There is some good news to share, however, if you're willing to get your hands a little dirty. According to Eurogamer, a fully playable copy of the GoldenEye 007 remaster has appeared online and can now be played inside an Xbox 360 emulator.

Judging by the gameplay videos posted online, the GoldenEye remaster must have been pretty close to complete. A look at a start-to-finish playthrough doesn't reveal any areas with missing content, nor do there appear to be any major bugs or glitches. And wow, how much more improved are those character models? The upgrades are at their most jarring in the game's intro sequence, where you can see before and after shots of the main cast. The graphics in most N64 games look dated these days, but next to this remaster, the older version of GoldenEye looks downright ancient.

Unfortunately, you'll probably have a hard time finding download links for the GoldenEye 007 remaster. You may have to dig around in some shady places online in order to get it. Either that, or you can fire up your Nintendo 64 and play GoldenEye the old-fashioned way — at sluggish frame rates, and with a controller that looks like the business end of a trident. That method may not get you the prettiest version of the game, but it will get you the most legal one. Since this title never saw the light of day, you can't feasibly claim it to be a copy of something you already own.

With IO Interactive now securing the rights to make a James Bond video game, it seems even more unlikely this GoldenEye remaster will get an official release. Maybe fans will get lucky one day and the issues around rights will work themselves out. Until then, it looks like this leaked version is as close as you'll get to playing a new GoldenEye.