Some of my favorite snapshots and images from Goldeneye 007 on Nintendo 64
Some
of my favorite snapshots and images from Goldeneye 007 on Nintendo 64
Written
by DetErest
Citadel
|
 A
simple leftover text reference was the first clue to the Citadel's existencel...The lowercase and capitalized name "Citadel" was found in the game's internal memory, appearing immediately after the "Egyptian". |
 Along
with the strings of "Citadel" text, a reference to an unused "cat"
level was also found. Some believed that it stood for Cathedral, which was actually
Citadel. It was a viable theory, considering other levels had undergone name changes.(Destroyer to Frigate, Crypt to Egyptian) The assumption was correct, eventually the Citadel/Cathedral level was discovered... |
 I
suppose every GoldenEye fan had a mental image of what the long lost Citadel level
would look like. For some reason or another, I had a vision of tall pillars stretching
to the sky. I suppose when the first ever confirmed Citadel screenshots and codes
were released by hackers, this snapshot overloooking the Citadel has always been
a favorite of mine. |
 The walls are paper thin, and the textures don't line up... But part of the fascination with this map is that Multiplayer Goldeneye was born right here. |
Around 2004-2005, codes went viral on the internet, and the gaming world was amazed
when players could finally explore the Citadel for themselves... |
I did believe rareware's claim that it was a rough test level, So I figured the
map layout would likely be square, with a few pillars for testing. And although
it was originally unplayable as a multiplayer level, dedicated hackers have since
made it playable, with weapons, ammo, body armor, and spawn points. |
So when was the Citadel officially unearthed? That's a debate, for sure. The internet
was flooded with hundreds of fake screenshots and codes, so it was easy to dismiss
anything that didn't have a code to back it up. |
A batch of fairly clear screenshots showing a few segments of a mysterious level
that looked to be slightly like recycled parts of the Complex and Stack... The
earliest record I have is a screenshot from January 18, 2000... Hindsight is always
20/20, and knowing what we know now, these images were clearly taken from someone
who had been there at the turn of the millenium. |
Here's
a youtube video featuring a 3-player deathmatch in the Citadel: |
|
Rareware's
official response to a rumored "Citadel" map in GoldenEye 007 was that
it was nothing more than a rough multiplayer test level.
Now completely playable around the world via ROMs and emulators, dedicated hackers
have brought the Citadel back to life, adding what seems to be infinite replay
value to what was already one of the greatest games ever made.
In an awesome example of GoldenEye modification, patches have been created that
will allow the Citadel to "replace" an existing stage.