How I Spent Many Hours of My Childhood

When the movie GoldenEye was released in 1995, it was a smash success. Pierce Brosnan had most of the public captivated with his suave persona as the British superspy 007. This was a time before most people had access to cellphones or computers, so our main form of entertainment (in terms of media) was via television, films, and video game consoles.

I was only 12 when the N64 was released in June of 1996, so some of the details are a bit fuzzy, but I DO remember that it took the country by storm. It offered a whopping 64-bit graphics system, which was double what the preceding Sega Saturn and rival Sony Playstation 1 came equipped to handle. Coming off of the success of the film, GoldenEye64 seemed to be the perfect game to take advantage of the new features available with the N64, such as its analog control stick, which could be used to site enemies while running stealthily through the various levels of the game. To this day, the mere mention of the game harkens nostalgia for many consumers, which is perhaps why they have decided to rerelease the game for a new generation of gamers.

Watching the advertisement for the first time in 25 years definitely sent a flood of memories over my brain. I can't tell you how many times my brothers and I would get into fights while playing the legendary multiplayer version of the game. We logged dozens and dozens of hours playing against each other and against friends we would invite over for tournaments. I remember the multiplayer rounds we played more than the actual game plot, so that points to how fun they made it to play.

I'm not sure who created the actual advertisement posted above, but it was approved by the Nintendo corporation, so they definitely had some say in it. I believe different people (at the time) might have thought they game too violent, because the advert depicts the player going through the gameplay as 007, shooting enemies and blowing things up. For this reason, I would definitely say that the game was targeted at rambunctious kids of the time.

The advertisement also introduces the company's "Rumble Pak" an additional piece of hardware that users could plug into the controller to get physical feedback when shooting and blowing things up:

At the time, toys were definitely marketed towards certain genders, so whereas certain manufacturers catered to young girls, GoldenEye64 marketed itself to young boys. This is evident in a few different ways such as the deep, gravelly voice in the commercial, and also the use of Pierce Brosnan's line "Do you know how to use one of these?" in reference to a gun, who to a large group of heteronormative young men was the epitome of "cool". Using this line could be interpreted as saying "If you don't play this game, you can't consider yourself cool." Parents, young girls, and people who just didn't care for first-person shooters were definitely left out of the conversation. To answer the last question, "Why is this message being sent?", the answer is clear - to sell, sell, sell. Nintendo's advertising budget in the late 80s and throughout the 90s must have been through the roof, because they had a lot of air-time it seems. And, I guess it worked, because here I am, 25 years later, still fondly remembering my times with the game and more importantly, with my friends.