After writing up this post wondering why Jack Wade wasn't featured in any fashion in the GoldenEye 007 video game for Nintendo 64, I started thinking about other characters that were included in the game. Somehow, we have Oddjob and May Day, but no Jack Wade. It seems odd, as he's an actual character in the movie, while the legends characters aren't even from the Pierce Brosnan era (as he had only done one film at that point).
This, in turn, led me down a path of thinking about other characters that could have been included in a similar fashion if they had the cartridge space, the development time and wanted to add more characters.
That is what we'll be discussing here as we discuss more characters that would have been interesting to add into the game's multiplayer system.
Jack Wade
Again, he's already been discussed here. However, for the sake of being complete, I needed to put him on this list. Moving on!
Bond Villains
Dr. No = Put him in the black gloves and the collared shirt, but maybe not the hazmat suit. He's the first true villain of the series (at least in the films) and his inclusion makes perfect sense.
Red Grant or Rosa Klebb = Klebb is the more interesting choice, but they can't really make a shoe-stabbing mechanic for the game specifically for her. Grant is an easier character to model as he's just another stock male figure with a few tweaks.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld = Specifically, the version from You Only Live Twice. I suspect one of the reasons this didn't happen was all the legal nonsense going on with the character and Thunderball/Never Say Never Again that was still prevalent at the time. One problem I do see, though, is that his outfit is very similar to Dr. No and that might be a bit confusing for people, so they might have to pick between the two. Assuming you can't do Blofeld for legal reasons, go with No. If you can do Blofeld, go with him and maybe give No his hazmat suit so people can tell them apart.
Francisco Scaramanga = You've got the Golden Gun in the game! Why is Baron Samedi the one in that level? This guy is a guarantee on this list and I'm happy they added him to The World is Not Enough.
Franz Sanchez = This is my biggest stretch, by far. However, I just love License to Kill so much and since he was the most recent villain before this—as well as one of the more brutal ones—he'd make for a cool evil character to choose.
You might be asking yourself why some people aren't on this list. Obviously, characters like Aristotle Kristatos just aren't popular or memorable enough for anyone to clamor for. Someone like Emilio Largo would be an odd choice to have walking around shooting people. Brad Whitaker isn't memorable enough and clearly, Joe Don Baker isn't allowed to be in the game, for whatever reason, but I was tempted to put Necros in there if not just to have exploding milk bottles.
Others already have characters representing their films. No need for Goldfinger, as we have Oddjob. May Day takes over for Max Zorin. Baron Samedi throws Mr. Big / Kananga out of the mix. Jaws takes care of Karl Stromberg and Hugo Drax.
I gave a lot of thought to adding Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd to the list. However, I ultimately decided against it for a few reasons. That would mean 2 characters filling up spots, which is precious real estate. Plus, while they're memorable, I don't think they have anywhere near the same level of interest that some other characters have. Oddjob is iconic, while Wint and Kidd are footnotes in comparison.
Just for argument's sake, if we were remaking this game today, we'd also have access to characters that came out past GoldenEye's release. Obviously, they never would have included people from Tomorrow Never Dies into the game since they couldn't see the future. However, if we could make this an all-inclusive Bond game of all stars, here are some other villains I think could be included:
Renard = Maybe, if it doesn't mess with balancing issues, he's even harder to kill?
Colonel Moon / Gustav Graves or Zao = Definitely not Mr. Kil. Zao makes for the more interesting visual, so I'd lean more toward him.
Raoul Silva = Very cool former agent.
Mr. Hinx = Giant Dave Bautista makes sense.
Bond Girls
Ideally, there would also be more female characters to choose from. There are only a few in the game (Natalya, Xenia, May Day and the extras). So let's add some more, shall we?
Honey Ryder = White bikini, rather than what she wears at the end of the film.
Jill Masterson or Pussy Galore = Galore makes more sense as she's the more capable of the two and action-oriented, but it would be kind of neat to have a completely gold-covered character representing Jill, wouldn't it?
Fiona Volpe = Badass sexy villain with some action going on. Sign me up. She's awesome. Love her character. You're also not going to find Helga Grandt on this list because she's just a discount Fiona, and because I think you should include...
Aki or Kissy Suzuki = Give us a Japanese character on the list. For my money, Aki is so much better than Kissy Suzuki, but I can see why they'd want to go with her instead.
Mary Goodnight = She's a ditz, but she's also an agent.
Anya Amazova = Agent XXX is a must for this list. Give her the outfit she wears at Stromberg's place.
Dr. Holly Goodhead = Above everyone, Holly is perhaps the absolute best pick for this list. She even could have appeared in the Aztek level, as that was inspired by Moonraker. She's a competent CIA agent who kicks some ass in the film.
Melina Havelock = I'm not big on Melina, but my bias shouldn't disqualify her. In fact, maybe they could have even had a crossbow weapon in the game to replace one of the least interesting guns like the Phantom (which looks cool, but does anyone really ever use it?)
Pam Bouvier = Another obvious pick as she's an agent and gets her hands dirty. Let's go with the short hair design.
The main ones who didn't make the cut for me, but I had in my mind at least temporarily, were Paula Caplan from Thunderball (already have Volpe), Tracy from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Tiffany Case from Diamonds are Forever as well as Bambi and Thumper (just no), Solitaire from Live and Let Die (not a fighter) and Octopussy (just not engaging enough outside her name).
Now, once again, if you could look ahead into the future and add other Bond girls from movies that came out after GoldenEye, some other candidates would be:
Wai Lin = Duh.
Cigar Girl = More eye-catching in her red jumpsuit than Christmas Jones and more action-oriented than Elektra King.
Jinx Johnson = She's an NSA agent. Duh.
Camille Montes = Bolivian agent and definitely on the action side of things. No iconic design and not a beloved film, though.
Eve Moneypenny = Keep her away from shooting James Bond though!
Those are my lists, but who else do you think would make for interesting additions to a James Bond multiplayer lineup? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and tell me which characters you'd pick to play as!
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