Announcement
Rare announced that their follow-up to GoldenEye 007 would appear as Nintendo's lead game at the June 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally intended to be released in summer 1999 and later in December 1999, Perfect Dark was heavily trailed in video game magazines, with Nintendo Official Magazine predicting that it would be "the best shooting game this century". A working version of the game appeared at the European Computer Trade Show in September 1998; N64 Magazine described the preview as having "the kind of attention to detail that had everyone who saw [it] drooling". A more complete version was presented at E3 in May 1999, where the game's compatibility with the Game Boy Camera was announced, and at Nintendo Spaceworld in August 1999, alongside Rare's Donkey Kong 64 and Jet Force Gemini. Shortly before release, Rare unveiled a website for the in-game company dataDyne to promote interest in the game's storyline.
Promotional Card of the time
Michele Merkin as Joanna Dark
Promotions and Reveal
Perfect Dark was first released in North America on 22 May 2000. Nintendo arranged a number of publicity stunts, including hiring model Michele Merkin, who appeared as Joanna Dark in commercials and in-store promotions for the game. The game received a Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, particularly for its graphic content and adult language. This generated some controversy because Nintendo has a reputation for family-friendly games. The European release followed on 30 June 2000. To supplement the game, Rare released a Game Boy Color counterpart, also titled Perfect Dark, shortly afterwards. The Game Boy Color game features a compatibility mode that allows certain cheats within the Nintendo 64 game to alternatively be unlocked via the Transfer Pak. In Japan, Perfect Dark was released on 21 October 2000.[66]
Release
Perfect Dark features a different box art for each regional release. Rare's art director Kev Bayliss, who created the North American and European artworks, designed the North American version in one day because Rare needed it very quickly. He then created a more suitable Joanna Dark model for the European version and all the promotional material at the time. For the Japanese release, a completely different image was requested by Nintendo, who originally considered releasing the game in Japan under the title "Aka to Kuro" (赤と黒, lit. "Red and Black"). "Perfect Dark" does not translate well into Japanese, and the title "Aka to Kuro" was considered sufficiently edgy. However, the game was ultimately released as パーフェクト・ダーク (Pāfekuto Dāku), a transliteration of the Western title.
All covers for the Perfect Dark releases(Top - US/ Middle - EU/ Bottom - Japan)
Joanna Dark Model on release day of Perfect Dark
Reception and Sales
According to NPD's Toy Retail Survey Tracking system, Perfect Dark was the second best-selling game of May 2000 in North America, behind Pokémon Trading Card Game. The Japanese launch saw sales totalling 35,000 units in its first week. As a bestseller, Perfect Dark joined Nintendo's "Player's Choice" game selection on 21 December 2000. The game sold relatively well through the year's holiday season, reaching No. 23 on the all formats chart for the week of 24 December 2000. As of March 2003, Perfect Dark had sold almost 1.3 million copies in the United States and 77,000 copies in Japan. Total sales in the United States reached 1.5 million by December 2007. In a 2011 interview with Eurogamer, game designer Chris Tilston revealed that lifetime sales for the game reached 3.2 million, but did not clarify if the figure accounted for units shipped to retailers.