Subscribe to Nintendo Life on

For many gamers of the late '90s, GoldenEye 007 was a fixture of both solo and multiplayer gaming sessions that is burnt into their very consciousness. Watching the above clip from a contemporary promotional video will surely bring back memories, but veterans of the game will immediately notice that something's now quite right.

Bond never used an elevator like that in the Silo mission, and the movement looks a little slow, too. That would be because it's early demo footage from when the game was still an on-rails shooter. David Doak - famed developer on the game and also star scientist of the Facility level - was asked to provide information on the footage and confirmed that it comes from before he joined the project:

Early demo footage of #GoldenEye007 (from before I joined the team). At this point the player movement was automatic and followed a scripted spline path. The original design was that the game would be more like Virtua Cop / Time Crisis. https://t.co/ycrbkeQ8eM April 29, 2019

It's well-known that GoldenEye started out as an on-rails shooter before it evolved into its more familiar form, but getting a glimpse of that footage is fascinating. If you check the back of your trusty GoldenEye box, you'll find a screenshot that looks to be taken from that very clip.

It's also visible in a larger 1996 promotional VHS tape from a company called GIG Electronics, Nintendo's Italian distributor at the time. That video contains lots of early footage of the Nintendo 64's early years and is well worth watching to see just how varied and promising that console's software lineup was back in 1996.

We interviewed David Doak a little while ago, so check out our feature for more information from the man himself, and a couple of years ago he spoke at length about the game's development at the Norwich Games Festival. It's a great talk and fascinating for anybody interested in the development of one of the most influential first-person shooters ever.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on

How do you think GoldenEye would have worked as an on-rails shooter? Will we ever see the game released on a modern platform? Feel free to share your opinions in the usual place.