GoldenEye 007 Originally More Violent, Miyamoto Suggested Different Ending

GoldenEye 007 is one of the most beloved and esteemed games of all time. But Nintendo had concerns about its violence, co-designer Martin Hollis said during a recent talk. In fact, Miyamoto felt that the game was "too tragic" and proposed an entirely different, more peaceful ending, according to Hollis.

When development was wrapping up, Hollis said Miyamoto sent a fax to the team at developer Rare with some suggestions. Rare didn't adhere to every piece of feedback.

"One point was that there was too much close-up killing--he found it a bit too horrible," Hollis recalled in a talk at Nottingham's GameCity festival this weekend (via The Guardian). "I don't think I did anything with that input. The second point was, he felt the game was too tragic, with all the killing. He suggested that it might be nice if, at the end of the game, you got to shake hands with all your enemies in the hospital."

Of course, that's not how the game ended. But it appears Hollis did take Miyamoto's note to heart, at least somewhat. After receiving this feedback, the team implemented a film-style end credits sequence that was meant to help people understand that all of Bond's murders in the game were "not real killing."

Hollis also reveals that the original vision for GoldenEye 007 was going to be far more graphic in its representation of violence, featuring fountains of blood and more. This was toned down, however, and the game ended up receive a T-for-Teen rating instead of M-for-Mature.

“Bond is a violent franchise and making that fit with Nintendo, which is very much family-friendly, was a challenge," Hollis said. "For a while we had some gore, it was just a flipbook of about 40 textures, beautifully rendered gore that would explode out. When I saw it the first time, I thought it was awesome, it was a fountain of blood, like that moment in The Shining when the lift doors open. Then I thought, 'Hmm, this might be a bit too much red.'"

Be sure to read the full story at The Guardian for more.

In the story, Hollis talks about the GoldenEye 007's budget ($2 million), says its multi-objective levels were inspired by Super Mario 64, and reveals that Rare was offered a contract for another game based on a Bond movie but declined. Instead, the company developed Perfect Dark.