I did not get Goldeneye's appeal until after N64's cycle. Mind you, Quake2 came out not long after, and I was already in the midst of playing Quake1 online. So sorry to Goldeneye, but it did not resonate at all because A) Q2 looked much better of course, B) Keyboard & mouse >>> controller, and C) Network play.
That stated, and I know I mentioned it earlier in this thread; Goldeneye was ground-breaking for playing FPS's on a console. I also think the control stick was the first of it's kind, and allowed for easier free look than a 4 position pad. And hearing, and seeing everyone (including my friends in that time period) play it, and speak fondly of it, I understood it more. It also I think paved the way for more realistic FPS games. I could be wrong, but many FPSs of the time were more sci-fi, whereas Goldeneye had things more grounded in reality setting wise. I can only think of Wolfenstein being set in a more realistic environment.
And what is overlooked at times is the single player. It was done extremely well, and followed the movie the best it could I felt. The scenes from the movie were all there, and the amount of weapons was very cool.