GoldenEye 007 Mod Recreates Roger Moore’s Best Bond Movie

Did you know you were originally supposed to be able to play as every James Bond in GoldenEye 007 for the N64? Unfortunately, some licensing issues robbed us of the chance to turn what is already the definitive James Bond video game into an even better version of itself. Fortunately, some dedicated developers have recently released a GoldenEye 007 mod that converts that classic game into a playable version of Roger Moore’s greatest Bond movie: The Spy Who Loved Me.

As spotted by Eurogamer, this GoldenEye 007 mod (which you can find at N64 Vault) completely converts the N64 game’s original campaign mode and instead allows you to play out the major events of the 1977 film, The Spy Who Loved Me. While the mod’s developers recommend playing their project on an actual N64 for the ideal experience, you can technically run it through an emulator as well.

Alternatively, you can just watch someone else play the mod and bask in its glory without dealing with the always awkward process of re-learning how to use an N64 controller after all these years.

While I’ve seen quite a few total conversion mods over the years, I have to say that this one is especially impressive. Granted, I say that as a bit of a James Bond nerd, but the quality of the work here is undeniable. This genuinely feels like a spin-off sequel to GoldenEye that Rare should have been lucky enough to develop back in the day. Crucially, though, it features just enough refinements and new ideas to avoid that copycat feeling that you sometimes get with these fan mods.

This mod also makes you realize that The Spy Who Loved Me deserved a much better video game adaptation than that 1990 game that…umm…tried its best. After all, that movie was not only filled with memorable set-pieces (including that incredible parachute sequence that kicks off the movie) but was that classic kind of globe-trotting Bond adventure that naturally lends itself to a variety of video game levels. I’m a little sad that this mod doesn’t include an underwater Lotus Esprit shooter sequence, but beggers can hardly be choosers when we’re talking about a recreation of Roger Moore’s only great Bond movie.

Yes, I’m standing by that claim. For as much as I love For Your Eyes Only and some of the guilty pleasure Moore movies (Moonraker and A View to a Kill), The Spy Who Loved Me really stands alone in the Moore era. It was Moore’s one Bond movie that properly embraced the sillier elements of that era while still offering a Bond adventure that felt worthy of the character. It shows that Roger Moore was more of a mishandled James Bond than a bad one. It’s also exactly the kind of Bond movie that is easy to return to whenever the franchise’s more serious recent installments leave you feeling necessarily bummed out.

As for GoldenEye 007, reports suggest that the rumored remake/remaster of that game was recently delayed as a result of the war in Ukraine. So, while we may actually be closer to that project than ever before, it does sound like it’s still a ways off.

As for that James Bond game that the Hitman team is working on…well, we haven’t heard about that project in quite a while. As far as I know, though, it’s still intended to be a kind of James Bond origin story. Selfishly, though, I kind of hope that the game’s developers find a way to reimagine a few classic James Bond sequences. As has already been pointed out, the “clown scene” from Octopussy already feels like something you’d find in a great Hitman game.