In 1966, television audiences were introduced to the Impossible Mission Force, a secret government agency that delivered instructions via self-destructing tape recorder. 30 years later, the first of eight Mission: Impossible movies debuted in theaters while an N64 game based on the franchise was set to release a short time later. The movie was a hit, but the game saw years of delays, and its development started to look like the true impossible mission. It finally released in the summer of 1998 to mixed reviews, and commercial success.