The Zelda-inspired James Bond 007 Game Boy RPG that time forgot - SociallyKeeda

Forget an exploding pen: all you wanted had been a number of spare batteries to take pleasure in this forgotten gem of the early handheld period. Goldeneye could be the extra fondly-remembered 90s outing for the tremendous spy, however James Bond 007 on the Game Boy went to locations that no Bond sport has ventured to since.

Developed by Sapphire Corporation and revealed in 1998, a yr after Goldeneye 64 had taken the primary individual shooter style by storm, the Game Boy’s tackle the James Bond franchise was one of many extra formidable takes on the character we’ve seen to date.

Top-down Zelda gameplay meets pun-laden tremendous spy antics? You betcha. The reality that so few folks bear in mind it looks like a conspiracy that solely Blofield himself might mastermind.

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A view to a thrill

If attainable, forged your thoughts again to the licensed 8-bit and 16-bit video games of the Nineteen Nineties. While Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Jedi: Fallen Order are actually massive-price range, vastly formidable takes on current franchises, the potential was a lot smaller within the 90s. Slap a recognizable character and brand on the field, make a crude approximation of stated character out of a handful of pixels, make a aspect scrolling platformer – job’s a superb’un. This describes the overwhelming majority of tie-ins on the time.

James Bond 007 Game Boy — (Image credit score: Future)

Sapphire Corporation, primarily based out of American Fork, Utah, had different concepts although. Working to the strengths of the platform it had been saddled with, James Bond 007 was as a substitute a Zelda-like, prime-down journey the place exploration and clue gathering was as vital as sharp capturing and fisticuffs. Like in Link's Awakening, you may map gadgets to the A and B buttons as you noticed match, exploring places for secrets and techniques and options to puzzles, in addition to taking the struggle to mobs of henchmen.

Travelling from China to Blighty, Marakech to Russia in globetrotting Bond type, it could not characteristic Zelda’s again-monitoring unlockable secrets and techniques, however its degree-primarily based design undoubtedly takes inspiration from Nintendo’s pointy-eared mascot. There are puzzles aplenty on supply right here, whether or not it’s rifling via homes to search out instruments to restore a pivotal bridge, or capturing out the lights to get previous a very vigilant guard, there have been a lot of intelligent concepts that went past the same old, brainless, ‘license to kill’ stuff.

Telling an unique, if light-weight, ‘save the world’ story, it performed out a bit like a James Bond biggest hits, too. You’d encounter MI6 boss M, commerce blows with Oddjob and Jaws, and even woo a ‘Bond girl’. This was very a lot the Roger Moore of Bond video games, with its cheeky asides, ludicrous conditions and tongue-in-cheek angle, for higher and worse.

And although the household-pleasant nature of the Nintendo handheld was by no means actually breached, gunfights apart, there may be very a lot a transparent suggestion that previous James ‘Thunderballs’ Bond partakes within the companies supplied by a brothel to be able to pilfer a diamond.

The finest bit, although, is simply the way in which it captures all of the different stuff Bond does. Games concentrate on taking Bond on killing sprees via secret bases, or bombing alongside in sports activities automobiles in pursuit of some dastardly villain. But they by no means let you will have a chat with Q, or flirt with Moneypenny. They hardly ever allow you to outwit the unhealthy man, or allow you to relax and hit the on line casino. It might have been visually restricted, however the scale of its ambition was solely constrained by the {hardware}’s modest limitations.

What’s subsequent for Bond in gaming?

The Bond universe is in a state of flux proper now, making it unsure as to what {shape} 007’s subsequent gaming outing will take.

For starters, Daniel Craig’s tough-and-tumble interpretation of Ian Fleming’s spy has now been put to mattress, with Craig handing in his license to kill. The search is now on for a brand new Bond and, presumably, a brand new path to take the nicely worn franchise in.

In addition, the rights to the James Bond universe have just lately modified fingers. Amazon seemed to spice up its Amazon Prime Video providing with the acquisition of the Bond property through a whopping $8.54 billion deal for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, also referred to as MGM. (Incidentally, the acquisition additionally fingers over the rights to Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ motion pictures. Bond vs Balboa, anybody?). Who is aware of how Amazon plans to make use of the franchise throughout its many platforms and companies, however its nascent gaming ambitions will certainly see Bond play an element.

For now, although, the franchise sits within the succesful fingers of IO Interactive, the makers of the fittingly-spy-like Hitman series. Its ‘Project 007’ will probably be an all-unique story set on the earth of Bond, presumably that includes among the stealthy mechanics that have made the Hitman video games so satisfying to play.

But right here’s hoping they take somewhat inspiration from the story-pushed, explorative coronary heart of James Bond 007 for the Game Boy.