A modder and their team are quickly making headlines with their in-depth mod of the Nintendo 64 classic GoldenEye 007, with their version of the game replacing the entire film cast with various characters from the Super Mario franchise. While mods usually tweak or add in some zany type of element to the game they're being used in, this one in particular completely overhauls the iconic shooter with Mario, Luigi, plenty of Koopas, and more.
Originally released in 1997, GoldenEye 007 is a first-person shooter made exclusively for the Nintendo 64. Often considered to be one of the best video games of all time, the title was recently announced to be coming to modern consoles. Somewhat surprisingly, however, is the fact that online multiplayer for GoldenEye 007 is exclusive to Switch, with the Xbox version seemingly lacking the important modern-day feature.
The wonderfully weird mashup comes from a modder who calls themselves StupidMarioBros1Fan, who went much further than merely replacing enemies with Koopa Troopas. In addition to swapping in the core Super Mario cast in the campaign, the dialogue has been humorously re-written to reflect the newly implemented characters, like actor Sean Bean's famous, "For England, James?" line replaced by Luigi saying "For-a Brooklyn, Mario?" In addition to the revamped story content, the GoldenEye 007 mod includes restored beta content, recreated content, and new cheats.
Some of the content the modders were able to put into their version of GoldenEye 007 include jungle weapons, explosives, and full automatics in multiplayer from the 2005 total conversion GoldenEye: Source. The mod's additional maps include an unfinished pair discovered in the game files, a few from GoldenEye: Source, and several from the canceled GoldenEye Xbox Live Arcade Remaster that leaked online early in 2021.
While this particular mod may have brought Super Mario to GoldenEye, other modders have brought GoldenEye to Super Mario. A viral video shows a full run-through of a GoldenEye level, except that level happens to be Princess Peach's castle from Super Mario 64. The clip bears many similarities to the one above, with Koopas featuring as foot soldiers with Bowser as the ultimate big bad. Although Nintendo would almost certainly never create a dedicated shooter featuring Mario and company, the various mods mashing the two together show that a substantial level of interest is there.
Gamers interested in trying out the Mario-modded version of GoldenEye can download it from ModDB, or grab it from Google Drive if the site is too busy. Installation requires the GoldenEye Setup Editor and a clean GoldenEye 007 (NTSC-U) ROM. With plenty of funny things to do in the regular GoldenEye 007, the Mario mod version should prove to be even funnier.
Goldeneye 007 is available now on Nintendo 64 and is coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: PC Gamer