The Midas Touch...

 "What's Your Game, Mr. Bond?"

The iconic movie Goldfinger stands up as an all-round fan favorite James Bond film.
Many Bond cliches have their roots in this third installment of the 007 franchise.

Even the mute henchman Oddjob regularly appears on lists of best all-time Bond villains.

Golden Girl

The film's "Cover Girl" Jill Masterson (portrayed by actress Shirley Eaton) was a tragic character who met her fate being asphyxiated in gold paint.

Lore often misstates that the character was completely nude - Some art depicts her as such.

It's also been said that she wore a thong (technically I'd consider it to be a tanga).

MI6 DOSSIER - GOLDFINGER  [JAMES BOND 007 MOVIE FILE]   GOLDFINGER [film] 1964 [Bond #3] BACKGROUND "Sean Connery returns as Agent 007 and faces off with a maniacal villain bent on destroying all the gold in Fort Knox - and obliterating the world economy! Goldfinger is 'the best... of all the Bonds' - Roger Ebert" -Goldfinger 2008 DVD "...A fully-armed Aston Martin DB-5, a nude woman painted from head to toe in gold paint, the mute Korean manservant -- Oddjob -- with his steel-rimmed bowler, Bond's near-emasculation by a laser beam atop a gold table... This third adventure brought cinema's James Bond to a new level of popularity. 'Bond is Back' touted all the ads, and indeed he was... Shirley Bassey's powerful rendition of Goldfinger not only added a rich shimmer to this third James Bond movie, it created the first American hit song out of a Bond title theme." -The Best of Bond... James Bond Movie Soundtrack "The classic title song was performed by Shirley Bassey , whose powerful vocals helped propel [the] soundtrack album to number eight on Billboard... The song makes a subtle reappearance in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1971) when a janitor whistles the tune...Goldfinger" theme sung by Shirley Bassey" -James Bond Special Edition DVD "Ian Flemming died shortly before the film's release, never knowing how popular the films based on his novels were eventually to become" -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin CAST James Bond SEAN CONNERY Auric Goldfinger GERT FROBE Pussy Galore HONOR BLACKBMAN Jill Masterson SHIRLEY EATON Tilly Masterson TANIA MALLETT Oddjob HAROLD SAKATA "M" BERNARD LEE Solo MARTIN BENSON Felix Leiter CEC LINDER Miss Moneypenny LOIS MAXWELL   GOLDFINGER [villain] BACKGROUND "Obsessed to the point of madness with gold... in love with its color and brilliance all his life... He has amassed his wealth through a crafty method of smuggling... Goldfinger has elaborately planned 007's death by means of a laser beam slowly cutting its way between the legs of Bond, who asks Goldfinger if he expects him to talk... The incorrigible villain replies, 'No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die'." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin   ODDJOB [villain] BACKGROUND "A diminutive villain sporting a bowler hat. He's small and deadly." -GoldenEye 007 Instruction Booklet We're led to believe that Oddjob is from Korea... "...Actor Harold Sakata was a Hawaiian wrestler billed as 'The Great Togo' before he worked on Goldfinger... Won a silver medal for the USA weightlifting in the 1948 Olympics... Knowledge of judo and karate... Renowned for his coldly unexpressive countenance - a feature which obviously stood him in good stead for the equally unresponsive Oddjob." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin   MASTERSON, JILL BACKGROUND "Jill Masterson finds a novel way of playing Goldfinger's game - using binoculars and a miniature radio to spy on the opposition card hand." "He pays me... And to be seen with him - Just seen."   "The film's most indelible image is undoubtedly Jill Masterson's gold-painted corpse, which required actress Shirley Eaton to undergo two hours of make-up... a patch of skin over her stomach was left uncovered to prevent the epiderman asphyxiation that her character suffered" -James Bond Special Edition DVD (circa 2000)   "Shirley wasn't completely naked during the gold paint scenes, she wore a thong and just to be safe the makeup artist, Paul Rabiger left a small patch of skin about 6-inches long on her abdomen as a safety precaution and the studio even had doctors on standby for Miss Eaton's safety." -https://morleymakeupartistry.weebly.com/   GALORE, PUSSY BACKGROUND GoldenEye 007 Controller Setting 2.3 Galore is of course named after one of the most memorable Bond Girls. "The unforgettably named Pussy Galore is played by Honor Blackman... Ms. Galore is first and foremost an ace pilot, indeed Goldfinger's personal one, who is training a squad of female aviatrix to spray a deadly nerve gas around the fort Knox area..." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin

Keep On Truckin'

Standard Operating Procedures...

 

Promotional image scanned from the GoldenEye Special Edition DVD.

Natalya's lower back may distract one's attention from the legion of troops at the bottom portion of this "mini-poster".

Pair of trucks in photo with a backdrop that closely resembles the Dam/Runway of Arkangel(sk).
Can't seem to find these vehicles in the movie.
Two different trucks can be briefly seen parked outside the Archives in St. Petersburg.

Definitely perplexed by this image... Was it part of a scene?
It looks a bit to complex to be just a promotional still.

Pretty sure I don't recognize the central figure...
He's a bit heavier-set than the others (so I can only assume he's the ranking Officer).


The tank is obviously familiar military hardware.
In the movie, the soldiers definitely had Jeeps (or something similar, apparently called UAZ 31514).

Although with cardboard cut-outs, bluescreen and other effects, it's hard to say what's actually real.

(A moving Jeep was also something that was intended for the game, and was either never finished nor implemented completely)


It's the pair of trucks has caught my attention....


Of course there's a lone truck at the beginning of the Dam mission in the GoldenEye game. It may help "guide" a new player further into the level, and can be used as cover.

But was the truck completely invented for the game?
Or was it based on something from the movie?



The background of the photo appears to be a snowy landscape with trees - Closer to the Dam and Runway.

Re-watched the GoldenEye movie just to be sure, and couldn't spot a truck anywhere in the Dam-Runway sequences.


Right after Bond breaks out of the Archives, he subsequently steals a tank and takes to the Streets.
A couple of trucks can actually be seen parked in the yard (visible onscreen for about two seconds). These trucks outside the Archives appear different than the ones in the above photo.

The trucks are not part of the chase, but may very well have been the inspiration behind the truck model used in the Dam mission.

Familiar green military truck from the Dam mission.

Following on the heels of a daunting tanker truck chase scene in the previous Bond film License to Kill (Timothy Dalton's Bond versus Drug Lord Franz Sanchez), a truck scene in GoldenEye could have been tough to match...




EDITOR'S NOTE: Stumbled on a page where they've documented practically every single car or truck that's appeared in the entire 007 franchise... Even if the particular vehicle wasn't involved in the action.

https://www.007museum.com/goldeneye.htm


Just browsed the GoldenEye page on a whim, not expecting to find out truck - But there it is!
Parked right outside the Military Intelligence Archives or "Hall of Records".
(In the very same yard that James Bond steals a tank)


The truck in question is apparently a 1977 Ural 4320.

These trucks are often equipped with the big canopy/tarp/shelter/cover on the back - Which definitely changes the overall look of the truck. With this in mind, the pair of trucks on that poster could feasibly be the same trucks parked outside the Archives...



https://findblueprints.com/catalog/cars/ural/ural-4320-truck-1977

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X-Ray Document Scanner

Also of interest:

"Other GoldenEye gadgetry from "Q" banch includes a leather belt with a 75-foot rappelling cord built into the buckle; a gun that fires a piton attached to a power-retractable high tensile wire designed to support Bond's weight; a silver tray which doubles as an X-ray document scanner; a pen that becomes a class-four grenade, and a laser-emitting watch that also serves as an arming device."

-GoldenEye Special Edition DVD Booklet



Mentioned only by name in the GoldenEye movie.
"X Ray Document Scanner"

Q doesn't explain much beyond that, but the viewer gets a brief demonstration.
The device appears to scan an envelope containing Bond's plane ticket to St. Petersburg.


Of particular interest, because this item was mentioned just once - And never mentioned again...
Normally, 007 manages to find a use for every single gadget that Q equips him with.

Time Well Wasted...

A Slice of Satirical Analysis

Q is very much looking forward to his retirement - Far away from 007.

 

Altered this classic Cracked Comic featuring Q and 007.
(The original can be found in Blog Post: Some Light Bondage)

Taking absolutely no credit for the artwork - Simply changed the words pertaining to the pie chart.

GoldenEye 007 "Beta" Stuff
Definitely the motivation to acquire a Gameshark.

It's highly possible that I've spent more time messing with the GoldenEye 007 game than I have actually playing it. While the size of the slice might be exaggerated, it's not that far off...

Destructive Prowess
With twenty tanks to be destroyed in the Bottling Room, one rises to the challenge.

Looking Back at The Bond Booklet...

GoldenEye 007 Instruction Manual
Page 16-17

A few favorite (and consecutive) pages from the GoldenEye 007 booklet that came with the game.
Of course, there's the Spyder (aka Klobb) listed in the WEAPONS section.

Terrorist armed with a Phantom

The 'Phantom' sub-machine gun being mentioned as "A terrorist favorite". Connect the dots, and the unused 'Terrorist' character would seem like it was designed for the Destroyer/Frigate mission.

Unused items that can be restored with a Cheat Device, Game Enhancer or Emulator.

Interesting how the "Bungee Equipment" is listed in the GADGETS section. In the finished game, there is no such item available. However, any GoldenEye fan with a Gameshark has undoubtedly seen the "BUNGEE" along with other unused item text like the "Piton Gun" and "Lock Exploder"

Micro Camera as seen in Bond's inventory.
Added to the Bunker via Emulator.

The instruction manual appears to list the "Camera" as "Micro Camera".
Whether or not this is a an oversight or merely a typo is debateable... But the "Micro Camera" is actually a completely separate (albeit unused) gadget and prop.

Micro Camera: There's no way to obtain this item in the finished version of the game, without modifying the setup with an enhancement device.

GAMESHARK CODE: Modify Pick-Up Object to Micro Camera

Dam: 811FA522 0030
Runway: 801D9258 0030

In either mission, kill the first guard and collect his gun.
Pause the game, and select the MICRO CAMERA from the inventory.

The Micro Camera gadget is fully functional (in the sense that you can fix it to the wall - And it's cool to look at). Infinite Ammo or Maximum Ammo are required in order to plant the devices.

Pickup Text also exists for the Micro Camera (The Bungee and Piton Gun as well).

Unused Gadget: Watch Magnet Repel.
(Modified Bond's inventory in Bunker 2)

Just a minor detail - The booklet lists the "Watch Magnet" but does not specifically indicate the function.

GoldenEye players are familiar with the "Watch Magnet Attract" (from the Bunker 2 and Archives missions) - An unused counterpart also exists within the memory...

The "Watch Magnet Repel" was yet another gadget that was designed for potential use - But never actually included in the finished game. Appears to be no ammunition or "charge" available to actually use the Repel function, however.

GoldenEye 007 Instruction Manual
Page 18-19

"Try and find these four villains!"

Players hunted for the other classic Bond villains Mayday and Oddjob, not satisfied to have found them (only) in Multiplayer Mode.

It seemed like a tease that we only fought Jaws and Baron Samedi in the main game...
Video game logic seemed to dictate that Oddjob and Mayday had to be there somewhere.

GoldenEye 007 Instruction Manual
Page 20-21

The image of the famous white tuxedo, along with another Bond suit missing from the final game.
Even the character screen on page 21 shows Sean Connery's select picture (faded just to the left of Boris).

Connery photo retrieved from the game's memory.

Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton, restored for Multiplayer in GoldenEye X.
A much better look at those suits seen briefly in the booklet.

GoldenEye fans rejoice as those former James Bond actors (once thought to have been lost forever) were pulled from the memory, and restored to the game with their respective tuxedos.

Just slight changes to the Multiplayer menu.
"Characters" and "Weapons" switching places.
"Handicap" was changed to "Health".
Also, the options for Control Style and Aim were added.

The background graphic for the Multiplayer folder which used to be "CLASSIFIED" now reads "CONFIDENTIAL".

More Rubbish...

The "Rarewhere: GoldenEye 007 Rumour Mill" offered a whole wave of answers for players that had become hooked on the game...

Found in an old binder, the original documents that were brought to my attention decades ago.

These scanned sheets full of HTML code aren't pretty - But they served as confirmation that there was definitely more to be seen in GoldenEye 007.

The questions are pretty much answered in the FAQ.
But there's something about the original answers, right from the source.

https://goldeneye64.blogspot.com/p/more-declassified-documents.html

(There's also a single page of an unused draft of a GoldenEye movie script around here somewhere...)

Citadel - The Obsession, The Fascination...

A plain white pillar stretches to the sky, in a big room full of obstacles.
A testing facility named Citadel was briefly used by the GoldenEye 007 team in 1997,
just months before the game's release.

Tucked inside every GoldenEye 007 game cartridge is an unfinished Multiplayer level called "Citadel".
Twenty five years ago, it seemed unfathomable to ever be playing around inside this fabled, "lost world".

A reference to 'CITADEL' was found in the game's memory, alongside the existing level names.
Remarkable at what's since happened, based off that one little clue.

"Early exploration" began with Gameshark codes, soon progressing to actually modifications of the ROM itself.

In 2004, Gameshark hacker Krijy provided the first known working codes for The Citadel.
(A wonderful explanation was written by SubDrag, with codes by Para and Wreck)

For those who may never actually get to experience the level, a quick explore of "Zoinkity's Citadel" within the GoldenEye Setup Editor. http://n64vault.com/ge-multi-levels:citadel


This isn't a playthrough of the Citadel level itself, merely drifting around it to take a look.

Outside the level, looking in...
Inaccessible via normal game play, a remnant of this rough, test map still remains inside the ROM.

Basically four large rooms, connected via hallways.
Even has an upper and lower level.

The Citadel itself has come a long way since it was unearthed.
A look back at the original level itself, with textures that don't line up.

Visible ammo boxes that have since been added to the level.

That crazy, angled stair/ramp in one of the rooms.

Each room has various obstacles for testing purposes.

Like finding the plans of an unfinished prototype (without all the working parts), GoldenEye enthusiasts have basically taken the blueprint and turned it into a playable level.

(Even one of Stephen King's works was rescued from the rubbish bin)

---

A few snapshots of the Citadel as depicted in GoldenEye X.
(ROM Modification with GoldenEye levels and characters playable in Perfect Dark)

Room full of obstacles.
The Citadel level has been given an Aztec theme.

Bond and Natalya, taking aim in the room full of "mini bunkers".
It's always fun to experiment (she can even climb on top).

Very big room with four pillars stretching to the sky.

Still so much to say about The Citadel that one page is barely a start...

A more complete "walkthru" for this Multiplayer Level exists at GoldenEyeForever.com:
http://www.goldeneyeforever.com/level files/citadel_multiplayer_temp.htm

Lighting in the Bottling Room...

One of three opening camera shots from the Facility Bottling Room...
[The furthest angle]

As the Facility level intro camera fades out, Alec Trevelyan can just briefly be seen walking on screen (from left).

Normally the scene fades just as Alec steps into it.
Some assistance from a surprise "camera flash" that lights up the entire screen...

These "flashes" are happening because Bond is being shot...
Just a funny side effect that occurred as Bond's starting position was modified to begin the mission in the upstairs hallway...

In this case, even before the player takes the controls, guards are shooting at Bond, taking serious damage.
(Normally, Bond starts someplace where guards won't immediately spot him)

Just for fun, here's a snapshot of a bullet passing right through our immortal action hero.

There's a leftover preset in this spot (presumably from beta testing) that just happens to be in the hallway, right where one would preferably like to encounter the Double-Agent Dr. Doak.

Random point of interest - In Multiplayer, your character won't spawn at a start point if another player is too close to another player.

In this case, it appears as if Dr. Doak will not "randomly" appear in the upstairs lab if Bond is there.
Decided to put a camera up there to see what the hell is going on...

Managed to sneak a camera into the upstairs Laboratory.
Here's the level intro cinema sequence, fixed on the ideal Dr. Doak spot.

Of course, it would be totally cheating to know that Doak was here ahead of time - Especially before starting a speedrun. Being playfully inclined to meddle with the game just to see what happens, I couldn't resist.


Still playing that game of Russian Roulette, and Dr. Doak will not appear before the intro camera.

Doak spawns in the spot - But only after Bond's character is loaded into the level.
(Seems the intro camera just missed capturing him...?)

Seems Dr. Doak will NOT spawn if Bond is not loaded (or active)...

To complicate things even further, the event that actually triggers the spawning of Dr. Doak is when Bond enters the Restroom.

So technically, the Double-Agent isn't even in the building until 007 drops down from the ventilation shaft.


Totally blows my mind... Attempting to have Doak appear on the intro screen may have been a waste of time - But relatively entertaining (and nowhere near as frustrating as trying to finish within the target time).


(Something similar happens in Statue Park when Bond must locate the helicopter Black Box. One of several presets is randomly chosen as the game is underway)




Despite not accomplishing what I had hoped, still had fun tinkering with the level setup. It's often a long time between editing sessions, and stuff has to be re-learned each time.

Stumbled upon a few more interesting things about the Facility level - One of the most complex missions in the entire game, in terms of what's happening in the background. The later missions in the game are much more streamlined.

Like many people, I'm sure that I've spent as many (if not more!) hours modifying GoldenEye 007 than I have actually playing the game...

Cardio Caverns...

Jogging is One of My Sub-Routines

We catch a couple glimpses of Trevelyan during the Caverns mission, and he takes off running - All the way to the end of the level. Normally, he's so fast that you can't catch him...

By being even quicker (strafing and/or using Cheat codes like Turbo Mode and Slow Animation)
it's possible to keep pace with the former MI6 Agent.

Doors in the Caverns are open by default, only closing shut after Trevelyan passes through them.



The big spiral walkway is a great place to take the inside track and get ahead of him...

Looking down from the top of the Caverns...
Patrolling guards passed on the way up have given up the chase, as their boss runs like mad.

Racing him is pointless - Except its a fun thing to do.
Before the game was finished, there was a somewhat redundant "beta" objective to "Pursue Trevelyan".

Alec Trevelyan ducks behind his goons and runs away...

Pursuing Trevelyan... All the way to the lift.

Alec doesn't actually go into the lift, however...

Alec vanishes right in front of Bond's eyes.

Unlike the Control Center, Alec Trevelyan actually fades away right in front of the lift...