Prerelease GoldenEye
This section is for the history of Goldeneye 007 prior to release. Sometimes you'll also hear this period called "beta" GoldenEye. The game was in development for about two and a half years and it went through countless changes before release. A prerelease cartridge has never leaked so we dig into old videos, screenshots, and articles to do some video game archeology.
PRERELEASE LEVELS
Subpages
Timeline
This timeline is incomplete and will be expanded as more research is done.
- January 1995 Programmer Mark Edmonds joins the team.
- February 3, 1995 First notes we have from GoldenEye's development.
- April 1995 The first article on a GoldenEye video game appears in Nintendo Power volume 71.
- April 10, 1995 Project Lead Martin Hollis prepares the game's Design Document.
- First half of 1995 Background artist Karl Hilton joins the team.
- Nov 22–24, 1995 GoldenEye 007 makes its first public appearance at the Shoshinkai trade show in Japan.
- May 1996 GamePro Issue 092 rates GoldenEye as 30% complete. (GamePro Issue 092 on Magazines Page)
- Spring 1997 Work begins on multiplayer. (Source)
- Aug 23, 1997 GoldenEye 007 released in Japan.
- Aug 25, 1997 GoldenEye 007 released in North America.
- Nov 7, 1997 GoldenEye 007 released in the UK.
All Bonds
TODO: expand this section.
The defunct website Mundorare posed the question to programmer Mark Edmonds, "Was the last blank space in the cheats menu where the ‘All Bonds’ option should have been placed?"
‘All Bonds’ wasn’t a cheat option actually. On the folder screen where you choose between the four saved games you could switch between the different Bonds for a new saved game by using the D-pad.
— Mark Edmonds (Source)
I'm not sure why Mundorare thought "All Bonds" would be the 24th cheat. It shows how rampant the rumors were back when the interview was done. The really interesting thing though is you could have chosen your preferred Bond actor every time you started a new save. That would have been so cool!
Mundorare: "Was the ‘All Bonds’ option removed due to legal problems with the other Bond actors, as it’s been long said?"
Yep. I remember the main problem was going to be the cost of using their likenesses – I remember some figure like $1M would have been needed for one of the actors.
— Mark Edmonds (Source)
Not for actual legal problems, more to forestall them - Pierce Brosnan’s contract covered us using his likeness in the game, but other actors would have needed their own special contracts for that (I assume that is the case, since that’s how it normally works).
— Duncan Botwood (Source)
In an interview with Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground, Dr. Doak also had this to say on the matter:
The impression I got was that their [MGM's] big concern was that Sean Connery would want money, and when the other ones found out Sean Connery was getting money, they'd want money.
— Dr. David Doak (Source)
General Changes
1. Logo Change
The title screen logo originally lacked the red ring around the 'E'. This can be seen in a promotional trailer.
2. Neither Shaken Nor Stirred
There are many crates around the game with the word "вадко" written on the side. These originally said "водка," the Russian word for vodka. Someone at Nintendo spotted the alcoholic reference and Nintendo, always keen on having a family-friendly image, made the Rare team change it. (Source: GoldenEye 007 by Alyse Knorr, p. 43-44)
