GoldenEye turned out to be premium Bond

Ahh, GoldenEye 007: so many wasted hours, so many headshots, so many arguments over Oddjob. It all could have been so different had Rare acted on a letter sent by Nintendo that pulled the plug on the shooter.

Speaking to British magazine EDGE, Studio Director Mark Betteridge revealed the team's initial trepidation when approached by Nintendo to develop the 007 shooter.

It wasn't something we were really doing - we were trying to build our own IP, and film tie-ins meant a lot of ownership by the film company. But Nintendo was very keen.

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Rare's hesitation seemed justified as the project faltered, with internal confidence low following a poor response to its unveiling at E3 with Rare believing Banjo Kazooie would be the studio's flagship title on the N64.

The real hammer blow came when Nintendo wrote to Rare suggesting it cancelled the project after significant delays. Betteridge, faced with a decision the benefit of hindsight has told us is hugely important, decided not to inform the development team, letting them put the finishing touches on the game and ship it.

The rest, as they say, is history, but it could have been so very different.

[source gamerzines.com]