Nintendo Japan makes 18+ service for Switch Online purely for the N64 classic Goldeneye

Nintendo announced today that from November 30, Goldeneye will be joining the line-up of N64 titles available on the Nintendo Switch Online service in Japan. Japanese fans have waited for the classic N64 FPS to be released on Nintendo Switch Online ever since it was added to the service in other regions back in January. However, to be able to play Goldeneye, gamers in Japan must download a separate version of the service called ‘Nintendo Switch Online 18+’ due to the game’s age rating. 

Goldeneye was originally released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997. Developed by Rare, the game was based on the James Bond film of the same name. Players took on the role of the suave British spy striving to foil an international terrorist organization’s schemes. Featuring hi-tech spy gadgets and a variety of weapons, players could choose to be stealthy and sneak up on the enemy or go in all guns blazing. 

Aside from the single player campaign, a big attraction of the original Goldeneye was its split screen multiplayer mode where up to 4 people could battle it out on a single TV screen. The Nintendo Switch version features both online and offline multiplayer modes for up to 4 people. 

Goldeneye was released on Nintendo Switch Online in regions such as Europe, America and Australia on January 27 2023. The Japan release had been scheduled for 2023, but Nintendo had been silent on this the whole time before finally revealing the November release date this week. Another N64 title developed by Rare, Jet Force Gemini, will also be added to Japan’s Nintendo Switch Online service on November 30.

Goldeneye is the first game with a CERO Z rating that Nintendo has added to the service. This is the highest age rating given by Japan’s video game rating board CERO, and is equivalent to an 18 certificate. The classification required Nintendo to make a separate version of their online service in Japan as the existing service was given a CERO C rating (over 15). This likely explains the delay in adding the game to the service in Japan. 

X users in Japan hope that the release of the over 18 service purely for Goldeneye will lead to other CERO Z rated N64 titles being added in the future, such as Perfect Dark and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. 

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (2023-11-22 10:55 JST)