See What GoldenEye 007 Could Have Looked Like In HD

If you grew up in the '90s, you likely remember a revolutionary first-person shooter by the name of GoldenEye 007. The game rose to legendary status due to the fact that it allowed four players to duke it out in competitive modes. Super common these days, but revolutionary in a console game for its time. So what would the game have looked like in HD? Well, we may now have an answer.

The above video was posted to Youtube by user Rare Thief. It's allegedly half an hour of footage of gameplay from GoldenEye 007 HD, which was being developed for the XBLA platform. Whether or not this is legitimate remains to be seen, but, let's face it, who would fake a 30-minute video when a five-minute video would have the same effect?

After a brief introduction, followed by the classic spinning Rare logo, we're straight into that all-too-familiar opening shot and the first mission on the Byelomorye Dam.

Honestly, I was having trouble appreciating this HD-ification and had to look up footage of the game running on a Nintendo 64 to really grasp what we're seeing here. The problem is, back when I played GoldenEye, it was cutting-edge goodness for its day and age. In other words, nobody remembers a beloved game looking grainy or blurry. What I'm seeing here is what the rose-tented memory of GoldenEye looks like in my head.

Of course, then I found out that I didn't need to go through all of that effort. A lot of HD remakes of much older games like to give players the option to switch between the new and old graphics, which was apparently built into this remake of GoldenEye. The switch is shown off amidst the five or so missions on display here, giving you the opportunity to see the differences without looking up additional videos.

It's clear that this was an unfinished project, too, as the occasional graphical hiccup rears its ugly head, including a soldier with, well, no head.

Originally planned to launch on the Xbox 360 back in 2008, this HD relaunch of GoldenEye would have come out just past the game's 10-year anniversary. It was originally released back in 1997. However, seeing as how 2017 is right around the corner, maybe there's a chance we'll get something special for the 20th anniversary? A guy can dream, I suppose.

Sadly, it's no surprise what kept this project from ever seeing the light of day. As mentioned earlier, GoldenEye was originally a Nintendo exclusive. For whatever reason, copyright issues got in the way and, poof, this HD remake became vaporware.

Anyway, there's your fun little blast from the past for the day. Let us know your thoughts on this remake of GoldenEye in the comments below. If nothing else, at least we got the Reloaded version a few years back. Still, it's just not the same.