The Zelda-inspired James Bond 007 Game Boy RPG that time forgot

The Zelda-inspired James Bond 007 Game Boy RPG that clip forgot

(Image credit: Future)

Forget an increasing pen: all you needed were a a few plain batteries to enjoy this unnoticed stone of the early handheld era. Goldeneye may be the many fondly-remembered 90s outing for the super spy, but James Bond 007 on the Game Boy went to places that no Bond game has ventured to since.

Developed by Sapphire Corporation and promulgated in 1998, a year after Goldeneye 64 had taken the first person torpedo genre past tempest, the Game Male child's take on the Epistle of James Bond dealership was indefinite of the more ambitious takes happening the fictitious character we've seen so far.

Top-downcast Zelda gameplay meets pun-laden super spy antics? You betcha. The fact that soh few people remember it feels like a conspiracy that lone Blofield himself could mastermind.

Here's our raider-free review of No Fourth dimension to Die
Which is the best Daniel Craig Bond shoot? Casino Royale to No Time to Snuff it, ranked
No Time To Die in Dolby Atmos and Vision has ruined traditional cinemas for Maine

A view to a thrill

If possible, project your brain back to the licensed 8-bit and 16-bit games of the 1990s. While Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Jedi: Fallen Order are now galactic-budget, hugely ambitious takes on active franchises, the expected was so much smaller in the 90s. Slap a recognizable case and logo on the box, urinate a stark approximation of said fictional character come out of a handful of pixels, make a side scrolling platformer – job's a skilful'un. This describes the Brobdingnagian legal age of affiliation-ins at the time.

Sapphire Corporation, based out of American Fork, Utah, had other ideas though. Working to the strengths of the platform IT had been saddled with, James IV Bond 007 was instead a Zelda-like, top-refine adventure where geographic expedition and clue assemblage was as important as sharp shooting and fisticuffs. Like in Link's Waking up, you could map items to the A and B buttons arsenic you proverb fit, exploring locations for secrets and solutions to puzzles, as swell Eastern Samoa taking the fight to mobs of henchmen.

Travelling from China to Blighty, Marakech to Russia in globetrotting Bond style, it may not feature Zelda's hindmost-tracking unlockable secrets, but its level-based figure definitely takes inspiration from Nintendo's pointy-auriculated mascot. There are puzzles aplenty on offer up here, whether it's rifling through houses to find tools to repair a crucial bridge, or shooting out the lights to get past a especially vigilant defend, there were lots of clever ideas that went beyond the usual, brainless, 'certify to kill' stuff.

Telling an original, if jackanapes, 'save the creation' story, it played out a bit like a James Bond superlative hits, too. You'd chance MI6 boss M, deal out blows with Oddjob and Jaws, and flush woo a 'Bond girl'. This was much the Roger Moore of Bond games, with its forward asides, ludicrous situations and tongue-in-cheek attitude, for better and worse.

And though the family-friendly nature of the Nintendo hand-held was never really breached, gunfights apart, there is really much a enlighten suggestion that old James 'Thunderballs' Bond partakes in the services provided by a brothel in order to pilfer a diamond.

The best bit, though, is sporting the way it captures all the else stuff Hamper does. Games nidus on taking Bond on killing sprees through secret bases, or bombing along in sports cars in pursuit of some dastardly scoundrel. But they ne'er let you undergo a chat with Q, or dally with Moneypenny. They rarely Lashkar-e-Tayyiba you outwit the bad guy, or let you kick back and hitting the casino. It may have been visually limited, but the scale of its ambition was lonesome constrained aside the hardware's modest limitations.

What's next for Bond in gaming?

The Bond universe is in a State of flux right nowadays, making IT uncertain as to what shape 007's next gambling outing will call for.

For starters, Daniel Craig's rough-and-whirl interpretation of Ian Fleming's spy has now been put to bed, with Craig handing in his license to kill. The search is now on for a new Adhesiveness and, presumably, a new way to take the well worn franchise in.

In addition, the rights to the James Bond universe have recently changed hands. Amazon River looked to boost its Amazon Bloom Video offering with the buy of the Hamper property via a whopping $8.54 billion deal for Metro-Goldwyn-Louis Burt Mayer, also titled MGM. (Incidentally, the buy out also men over the rights to Sylvester Stallone's 'Rocky' movies. Bond vs Vasco Nunez de Balboa, anyone?). Who knows how Amazon plans to utilise the franchise across its many platforms and services, but its nascent gaming ambitions will for certain see Bond paper represent a part.

For now, though, the franchise sits in the capable hands of IO Interactive, the makers of the fittingly-spy-like Hitman series. Its 'Project 007' will glucinium an totally-original story kick in the world of Bond, presumptively featuring some of the stealthy mechanics that have ready-made the Hitman games so satisfying to play.

But here's hoping they take a little inspiration from the tarradiddle-ambitious, explorative heart of James Bond 007 for the Game Boy.

Who should be the next James Bond? The 007 wannabes hierarchical

Gerald is the Executive director Editor for TechRadar, taking care of the site's dwelling house cinema, gaming, smart home, entertainment and sound output. He loves his gaming, but don't expect him to play with you unless your console is hooked busy a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. Based out of TechRadar Towers, London, Gerald was previously Editor of Gizmodo UK. He dreams of the twenty-four hour period when atomic number 2 can pop on a VR headset and adjoin Lawnmower Gentleman-era Pierce Brosnan. Lamentably, Pierce doesn't share the dream.