As soon as Nintendo confirmed Nintendo Switch Online would add N64 games to its library, it opened the floodgates for speculation. Tons of big ticket items like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are headed to NSO, but there's still plenty of other classics that aren't confirmed or denied yet. There's lots of great N64 games out there that Nintendo didn't develop, which would make them seemingly inaccessible, but the N64 expansion being paired with a Sega Genesis expansion suggests anything is possible. That's why a rumor that Perfect Dark will arrive on NSO this year isn't so hard to believe.
The Perfect Dark games were once a shining jewel in Rare's crown. During the N64 era, Rare collaborated extensively with Nintendo, resulting in beloved and highly influential titles like Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007. Nowadays, Rare is owned by Microsoft, and Microsoft has plans to reboot the Perfect Dark series. Even so, those machinations hardly stand in the way of Perfect Dark coming to NSO; on the contrary, it'd be a great symbiotic deal for Nintendo and Microsoft. Not only would both companies reap the benefits, but fans would too, getting the beloved Perfect Dark as an alternative to the coveted GoldenEye, which is far less likely to arrive.
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Perfect Dark Can Substitute for GoldenEye
Many N64 fans probably remember the 1997 James Bond first-person shooter GoldenEye 007 as a star title of the console, vastly innovating on the FPS genre and delighting with its multiplayer. As great as the game is, though, it will probably never join NSO's library. Not only would the Rare-developed GoldenEye require Nintendo and Microsoft to strike a deal, but Nintendo might need access to the James Bond license again. GoldenEye's rights are just too messy to have a future on NSO.
Perfect Dark, however, has a much simpler path. As long as Nintendo and Microsoft can come to an agreement, the original Perfect Dark could easily find a home on Switch. Perfect Dark would likely scratch the GoldenEye itch for Switch users, too. Much like the James Bond shooter, Perfect Dark is a stealth-heavy FPS about spies and conspiracies. Rare released Perfect Dark three years after GoldenEye, meaning it had ample opportunity to build on the Bond game's innovations. GoldenEye comparisons aside, Perfect Dark received critical acclaim, making it more than worthy as a potential representative of the FPS genre.
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There May Be Hope for Perfect Dark
There's already a lot of deals in place that make Perfect Dark on NSO look likely. Nintendo and Microsoft have repeatedly signaled a good working relationship, as not only did Microsoft allow Rare's Banjo and Kazooie as well as Minecraft's Steve and Alex to join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there's already a Rare-owned game coming to NSO. Nintendo confirmed Banjo-Kazooie will join the N64 expansion after launch. If that deal is already in place, adding Perfect Dark to NSO would just be a matter of extending whatever agreement Nintendo and Microsoft have in place.
It'd be fantastic to see more Rare games join NSO's library. Rare and Nintendo had a solid working relationship decades ago, producing a ton of highly influential games in a variety of genres. A lot has changed since then, but the past is still worth celebrating, and that's the point of NSO's library of games. It's an easily accessible way for Switch users to access classic moments in video game history. Rare and Nintendo's projects deserve to be celebrated too, and putting Perfect Dark on Switch would be the great way to do that.
Perfect Dark released in 2000 for the N64.
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