Oftentimes, the mere mention of GoldenEye 007 conjures up nostalgic memories of everything from playing the "Facility" mission over and over to enjoying a good round of "Slappers only!" with a few friends. It is renowned as the game that made first-person shooters popular on consoles, paving the way for series like HaloCall of Duty, and Medal of Honor. However, while gamers think of Rare's classic on Nintendo 64 as a conventional first-person shooter in which the player moves around freely, firing away at enemies, it was - at one time - an old school on-rails shooter.

Indeed, GoldenEye 007, a game worthy of a Nintendo 64 Classic, was once in the style of arcade on-rails shooters like Time Crisis and other console ones like Virtua Cop. The only caveat is that the Nintendo 64 controller was still used in place of the firearm-like accessories used for arcade on-rails shooters.

Thanks to YouTube user GoldenCube007, there is footage available of the beta version of the game, which demonstrated its scripted, on-rails gameplay. The trailer from 1997 displays this perspective in the mission "Silo," which was altered before the game's final release. In the trailer, Bond is taken up several levels by an elevator, which does not appear in the released game, and exits the elevator moving in a rather slow-paced fashion while shooting nearby aggressors. The video ends with a spinning Nintendo 64 logo, which is another relic of nostalgia.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=19&v=3wFjakWJIWU[/embed]

In light of the recently-posted trailer, Twitter user Nickbond tweeted at game designer David Doak, who worked on GoldenEye 007, and was inspiration for a character model in the game. In response to Nickbond's request for clarification on whether there exists another "Silo" stage, Doak confirmed on Twitter that, before he joined, the game was most like an on-rails shooter rather than its final version providing freedom of movement.

[embed]https://twitter.com/drdoak/status/1122966458466652161[/embed]

Since GoldenEye 007 has been considered a traditional first-person shooter for over two decades now, it's a bit surreal watching this footage. It is always neat to see what is, or was, on the cutting room floor.

GoldenEye 007 was released August 25, 1997.

Source: Nintendo Life