Perfect Dark is a video game released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64. It is one of the most infamous video games ever made, with many citing it as one of the greatest and most influential first-person shooters of its generation. Despite its infamy, however, only one other game in the series was ever made, a prequel entitled Perfect Dark Zero that was released in 2005, and has seen little to no success outside the world of video games.

As for why this is, the original Perfect Dark was made by Rare (Battletoads, Donkey Kong), who, despite being one of the most prolific game developers of their time, went under in 2002 when the company was purchased by Microsoft. Now that Microsoft owns the rights to Perfect Dark, they appear content to dump all their money into their more recent and more successful series like Halo because it is a guaranteed money-maker. Despite living in the shadow of its successors, however, Perfect Dark, and its extended universe of characters, still live in the hearts and minds of those who grew up in the early Nintendo days and with first-person shooters in particular.

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What gives the original Perfect Dark the potential for a successful adaptation is that it is very cinematic in a way that wasn’t present in many other games on the Nintendo 64 at the time. This is not surprising at all, given its roots. Still, even for its time, Perfect Dark presented itself not just as a video game but as a sort of big summer blockbuster with an instantly likable character, big action set pieces, and the best cutscenes that Rare and the Nintendo 64 could produce in the year 2000.

The Nintendo 64 was revolutionary for video games to make possible the transition from 2D to 3D graphics, even in 2000. However, there still was not a lot that could be done with those cutting edge graphics because the idea of 3D was still new, and developers were still figuring out exactly what they could do and get away with. The original Perfect Dark merely scoffed at such things and sought only to present itself to its potential audience in the best way possible, and with what it had to work with, it certainly did.

Perfect Dark’s Cinematic Roots

     Microsoft

Anyone trying their hand at the original Perfect Dark for the first time could be forgiven for thinking the game was little more than a re-skinned James Bond story with a female lead. This is not an accident or a coincidence, as the original Perfect Dark has its roots in the James Bond franchise.

In 1997, three years before the release of Perfect Dark, Rare released GoldenEye 007 to the world. While it was little more than a videogame adaptation of the 1995 James Bond classic, the game was so well-made that many still consider it to be one of the greatest first-person shooters ever made. GoldenEye 007 was so successful that fans practically demanded that Rare make a sequel. Or at least another James Bond game.

Unfortunately, Rare lost the James Bond license, and MGM and Eon Productions (who own the James Bond franchise) were unwilling to re-negotiate a new deal with the game company. Unfazed by this, Rare was still determined to give their fans the sequel they demanded, even if it wasn’t an official James Bond game. They simply took the game engine they had built for GoldenEye 007, updated it slightly, fixed whatever bugs were present, and re-skinned everything to avoid copyright infringement. In 2000, the company released a brand-new IP to the world that plays exactly like the game that fans wanted a sequel to.

Because of this, many do consider Perfect Dark to be a sort of spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, even if the two games have nothing to do with each other. Perfect Dark’s connection to the James Bond franchise is part of why the game makes an effort to be as cinematic as possible.

Perfect Dark’s Alien Conspiracy

The plot of the original Perfect Dark centers around the perfect field agent Joanna Dark (hence the title), who while on her latest mission uncovers a hidden conspiracy of two warring factions of alien races. However, being partially based on ’90s popular culture, the aliens themselves are very uninspired. One of the races is little Area 51-style grey aliens with big, black eyes. The other is green-skinned versions of the insects from 1997’s Starship Troopers.

While the aliens themselves are uninspired, the story they tell with them is very nuanced. Both sides try in their own way to influence humanity so that they might later join them in their war against the other. However, the designs of the aliens might be endearing as they are very recognizable forms of aliens that people are used to seeing in fiction and pop culture.