Released in 2021 but updated multiple times since, with the most recent update bringing it up to version 3.17 and adding 15 more multiplayer maps, the GoldenEye With Mario Characters mod is one of those real “everything that’s great about modding” achievements. Not just because of the wonderfully demented idea, but because of the follow through. The modder known as StupidMarioBros1Fan and their collaborators weren’t content just swapping GoldenEye’s bad guys with Koopa Troopas and calling it a day. Oh, no.
For starters, the dialogue (subtitled) has been rewritten to reflect the new character models. Alec Trevelyan’s line, “For England, James?” made sense when he was being played by Sean Bean. Now that he’s been replaced by Luigi, the line goes, “For-a Brooklyn, Mario?”
Everyone in the singleplayer campaign has been replaced appropriately, so Natalya Simonova is Peach, Xenia Onatopp is Daisy, and Valentin Zukovsky, the Russian gangster played by Robbie Coltrane in the movie, is now Wario. Of course.
There’s more, including restored beta content, recreated content, and new cheats. In multiplayer there are more weapon sets to choose from, including jungle weapons, explosives, and full automatics from the 2005 total conversion GoldenEye: Source. The additional maps include two that were found unfinished in the game’s files, some recreated from the canceled Xbox Live Arcade remaster of GoldenEye that was leaked online, and some from GoldenEye: Source.
“The new Multiplayer Maps will be released for regular GoldenEye 007 at some point in the future,” StupidMarioBros1Fan says in a video description, ” have to mess around with the Memory Allocations to make sure there aren’t any issues with the Original Characters.”
You can download GoldenEye With Mario Characters from ModDB, and if that’s not working because the site’s too busy, grab it from Google Drive. To install it you’ll need the GoldenEye Setup Editor, and a clean GoldenEye 007 (NTSC-U) ROM to apply it to.
(Image credit: StupidMarioBros1Fan)