Rare was flying so blind while creating Goldeneye that multiplayer was added after two years of development – and neither Rare nor Nintendo’s management knew it existed. During his GDC Europe post-mortem for Goldeneye 007 , director Martin Hollis explained the lengthy and interesting history of the classic Nintendo 64 shooter.

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When Goldeneye began, it was born conceived as a Super Nintendo game, for one thing. That project was abandoned before Hollis picked it up again purely out of personal interest. He was allowed to hire on his own small team to flesh out his ideas, and the vast majority were new blood to the industry who’d never made a game before.As Goldeneye transitioned from the SNES to Nintendo’s next console, Hollis started building out the kind of game it would be. Because the Nintendo 64 didn’t exist yet, however, the team didn’t even know what kind of controller to design around. The N64 version began as a Virtua Cop-esque on-rails shooter to start, but Hollis says “there was a rumor there was going to be an analog stick,” which gave Rare the opportunity to give Bond movement in addition to just aiming and firing.“The game wasn’t supposed to take nearly three years to make,” Hollis explained. It took a full 32 months from start to finish. Multiplayer was added last minute, and the higher-ups didn’t discover its existence until it was functioning. What’s stranger about this move is that Rare was already well behind on deadline for Goldeneye. This move is completely unheard of, if not impossible in modern development.Against all odds, Goldeneye of course became a classic. It dominated dorms and living rooms, proving that multiplayer on consoles wasn’t an impossible feat. Hollis says he’s still not a fan of the PC versus console mentality, especially this far out from Goldeneye’s 1997 release. It’s since seen two remakes in addition to a fan mod, Goldeneye Source, that have kept the legacy going strong.

Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor for IGN's Xbox 360 team. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN