Goldeneye Speedrunning basic info

"Why are you looking at the floor?"
So that the game renders less things and runs at a higher framerate. Because the in-game clock runs very close to real time, it creates less lag frames, therefore it SAVES TIME.
Other things that also reduce lag are killing a bunch of guards, looking full up.

"Why are you playing on japanese?"
"What are the version differences?"
*** JAPANESE TEXT IS NOT FASTER ***
A lot of times it's just preference, but here are a few differences:
- Japanese version (NTSC-J) has more body armors and better autoaim on higher difficulties. Seems to be better for Bunker 2 (A)
- PAL's AR33 and Watch Laser have better firing rate.
- PAL is faster on Train, Jungle, Aztec, Caverns (SA/00) (JAP is the 2nd choice for those without PAL, and most preferred one on Aztec 00 (better autoaim) and Caverns 00 (body armor))
- Japanese and English are both NTSC and the "region lock" is entirely physical (means you can play JAP on an english console, and vice versa, as long as you swap the cartridge's backs or take off / drill the console's internal plastic board)
- English is used over JAP on most longer strafing levels, it is believed to have less lag and be faster (Dam SA/00, Surface 1 SA/00, Archives SA/00, Statue...) (it doesnt seem have make much difference on Streets, though)
For more details go here: http://tcrf.net/GoldenEye_007

"Why do you switch weapons on doors (or ladders)?"
"What is 'warping'?"
Switching weapons gives a lag 'spike', which messes up collision detection, and enables you to "warp" past small cracks (mostly opening doors) or instantly get up on ladders.
Ladder warps are commonly seen on Surface 1 and Jungle.
Other non-door "warping" instances are Depot (A) closed rollerdoor, and Frigate (SA/00) pipes.

"What is A, SA, 00?"
Agent, Secret Agent, 00 Agent - the three difficulties of the game.
Goldeneye has 20 levels, 3 difficulties total = 60 levels. Each one is ranked separately, even though some of them are very similar (for example, Archives Streets Egypt SA/00)

"Why are you playing with two controllers?"
"What are the control style differences?"
It is recommended to speedrun this game on the 1.2 (or 1.4) control style, because the move+strafe combination is on the same set of buttons (mainly the C ones). 1.1 or 1.3 uses the analog to move forward and turn, which means you're likely to lose speed whenever you turn, because cease holding fully "up" when you turn (if you don't cruise-control your stick), therefore, losing speed. Also looking up/down takes more time (because they're on buttons instead of the analog).
On the dual-controller styles, actions of the second controller are "processed" during the cutscenes, so it allows you to start the level at full speed, saving about 0.3 seconds, and also other time savers like opening a door that is in front of you (Caverns (A)) and shooting (Depot (SA/00)).
2.X refers to 2.2 or 2.4 (2.1 or 2.3 are generally bad, because they're similar to 1.1 and 1.3)

"Do people do full game runs of this game?"
Yes, but the competition is much bigger on individual levels!
The full game categories people run mostly are Any% (Agent) and 100% (beat all levels on 00 agent and unlock all cheats)
Check out http://rankings.the-elite.net/goldeneye/single-segments