The ban on GoldenEye 007 in Germany has been lifted thanks to a recent request from Nintendo. Nintendo's classic first-person shooter game was both a critical and commercial success in 1997. Goldeneye 007 is so timeless that people are still trying to remake it to this day. At the time of its release, FPS games were typically limited to PC. Developer Rare created GoldenEye for the home console, paving the way for other popular first-person shooters on home consoles. With its multiplayer mode and realistic gameplay, GoldenEye 007 set a precedent for all other first-person shooters that followed it. Unfortunately, its realistic gameplay did not go over well in Germany when it was first released.
There has been some renewed interest in the Nintendo 64 game. Earlier this year, footage of a cancelled Xbox Live Arcade remastered version of the game leaked online. Microsoft purchased Rare in 2002, and the developer released upgraded versions of its old Nintendo titles. An updated GoldenEye was planned but ultimately scrapped thanks to objection from Nintendo. A few months before the remake was set to be released, the Japanese publisher pulled the plug on the project because GoldenEye was not one of titles that transferred over when Microsoft bought Rare. Fortunately for the game's fans, that remake can be downloaded and played on PC.
As reported by Nintendo Everything, the German ban on GoldenEye 007 has now been lifted thanks to a request from Nintendo. The removal of the ban comes more than twenty years after its original release. Germany's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons placed GoldenEye on its list in 1998, banning the advertisement and sale of the game to minors. At that time, the department found that the game's perceived glorification of violence and death scenes were harmful to youth. This is not all that surprising, since Nintendo forced Rare to cut out added violence before releasing the video game.
Every 25 years, the media titles on the German department's list are once more reviewed. Though GoldenEye is just shy of that mark, one of Nintendo's European partners requested that the department review the game once more. After deliberation, the department has lifted the ban so that minors can now legally buy the game. Though the ban's lift comes long after the discontinuation of the N64, it's significant that Nintendo would bother to request a review of a decades-old game. It's reported that some people are speculating that Nintendo requested the review because the company is looking to put GoldenEye on its Switch Online + Expansion Pass service.
Nintendo's GoldenEye 007 remains popular despite its age. It's become a staple of speedruns, and fans often pay homage to it in other games. In fact, one fan recreated all of the GoldenEye 007 levels in Far Cry 5. Though the 2008 remake of the game was cancelled, there's hope on the horizon that with this German ban being lifted, GoldenEye 007 will be released once again in some official form.
Source: Nintendo Everything