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They were at one point in time called the best game developers that had ever produced a video game, but since that sad day in 2002, when Nintendo handed over their exclusive developers to Microsoft, Rare have since then have fallen badly, not even showing one ounce of that magic they had whilst working with Nintendo.
Rare started out life with Nintendo working on titles for the SNES. 1995 saw Rare produce their first masterpieces in the form on ‘Donkey Kong Country’, a project Nintendo handed to Rare, and also the gruesome brawler that was ‘Killer Instinct’. And looking from the majority of their titles, Rare were gearing up to be once of the most innovative games designers in the video games market.
Times then moved on, and Rare reached their peak during the years of the Nintendo 64. Starting out with enjoyable and original titles like ‘Blast Corps’ and ‘Diddy Kong Racing’, Rare then began to produce titles that were some of the best games to date. Rare stunned us all with ‘Goldeneye 007’, arguably the greatest FPS ever made and the game that sold N64s by the truck load, selling globally over 8 million copies.
Rare then took DK into the next generation, going 3D and by god did it go bananas, full of Rare’s trademark and humour, and accompanied a mouth-watering line-up of platformers on N64. Then came the ground-breaking adventures from Banjo and Kazooie, which were frighteningly huge and fantastic titles. They then shocked us Brits with the crude yet hilarious ‘Conker’s Bad Fur Day’, and accompanied it with the brilliant ‘Jet Force Gemini’ and the superb ‘Perfect Dark’. Now Rare were acclaimed world wide as one of the best developers on the market.
But then it all started to slope downhill for Rare. 2002 saw the launch of Nintendo Gamecube, and due to business reasons, Nintendo did not buy their remaining stake in Rare, instead selling them to Microsoft. The world was astonished, and many Nintendo followers were horrified at the news. But Rare did leave us with the good but not fantastic ‘Star Fox Adventures’, and confirmed to Nintendoroids that they would still produce GBA titles.
But from there on in the decline of Rare increased through the years. Their GBA titles were far from what they were capable of, as the likes of ‘Sabrewulf’ and the third Banjo title were disappointing affairs. And Rare were not delivering the goods for their friends at XBOX either, with only the average ‘Grabbed by the Goulies’ to show for their efforts. The people of Nintendo now didn’t care Rare had gone, as their turnout to the market was so disappointing.
There may be life left in Rare though. Rare have confirmed a few follow-ons from their N64 titles, which include ‘Conker: Live and Uncut’ and ‘Perfect Dark Zero’. Plus, they have also unleashed new footage of GBA titles such as Banjo Pilot, and also have a new Banjo game in development for the XBOX, but whether it will appeal to the majority of adult gamers is yet to be seen.
So Rare basically are the tragedy of the gaming world. They looked so promising whilst working for Nintendo, but under Microsoft’s wings they have failed to produce. Could it be Microsoft’s fault for the decline? The questions are limitless, but one thing is for sure; Rare have gone from ‘Heroes’ to ‘Zeroes’ up until now. Only time will tell if Rare can start producing the magic they once did, but I fear their glory days are now over.
Rare started out life with Nintendo working on titles for the SNES. 1995 saw Rare produce their first masterpieces in the form on ‘Donkey Kong Country’, a project Nintendo handed to Rare, and also the gruesome brawler that was ‘Killer Instinct’. And looking from the majority of their titles, Rare were gearing up to be once of the most innovative games designers in the video games market.
Times then moved on, and Rare reached their peak during the years of the Nintendo 64. Starting out with enjoyable and original titles like ‘Blast Corps’ and ‘Diddy Kong Racing’, Rare then began to produce titles that were some of the best games to date. Rare stunned us all with ‘Goldeneye 007’, arguably the greatest FPS ever made and the game that sold N64s by the truck load, selling globally over 8 million copies.
Rare then took DK into the next generation, going 3D and by god did it go bananas, full of Rare’s trademark and humour, and accompanied a mouth-watering line-up of platformers on N64. Then came the ground-breaking adventures from Banjo and Kazooie, which were frighteningly huge and fantastic titles. They then shocked us Brits with the crude yet hilarious ‘Conker’s Bad Fur Day’, and accompanied it with the brilliant ‘Jet Force Gemini’ and the superb ‘Perfect Dark’. Now Rare were acclaimed world wide as one of the best developers on the market.
But then it all started to slope downhill for Rare. 2002 saw the launch of Nintendo Gamecube, and due to business reasons, Nintendo did not buy their remaining stake in Rare, instead selling them to Microsoft. The world was astonished, and many Nintendo followers were horrified at the news. But Rare did leave us with the good but not fantastic ‘Star Fox Adventures’, and confirmed to Nintendoroids that they would still produce GBA titles.
But from there on in the decline of Rare increased through the years. Their GBA titles were far from what they were capable of, as the likes of ‘Sabrewulf’ and the third Banjo title were disappointing affairs. And Rare were not delivering the goods for their friends at XBOX either, with only the average ‘Grabbed by the Goulies’ to show for their efforts. The people of Nintendo now didn’t care Rare had gone, as their turnout to the market was so disappointing.
There may be life left in Rare though. Rare have confirmed a few follow-ons from their N64 titles, which include ‘Conker: Live and Uncut’ and ‘Perfect Dark Zero’. Plus, they have also unleashed new footage of GBA titles such as Banjo Pilot, and also have a new Banjo game in development for the XBOX, but whether it will appeal to the majority of adult gamers is yet to be seen.
So Rare basically are the tragedy of the gaming world. They looked so promising whilst working for Nintendo, but under Microsoft’s wings they have failed to produce. Could it be Microsoft’s fault for the decline? The questions are limitless, but one thing is for sure; Rare have gone from ‘Heroes’ to ‘Zeroes’ up until now. Only time will tell if Rare can start producing the magic they once did, but I fear their glory days are now over.
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Tiltawhirl wrote:
> How could they screw up what is basically a remake of the original? An
> exact carbon copy really with better graphics.
>
> Rare have always been good at doing stunning graphics which really
> shows in the screens of Conker, it's the game play which they seem to
> be faltering on of late. To be honest I don't hold that much hope for
> the online game, it'll look good but whether it'll actually be a
> worthwhile game online remains to be seen.
>
> Oh and Perfect Dark 0 isn't necessarily gonna be cel-shaded. It's
> just the first pictures of Joe were in a kind of Manga style. There
> were lots of shots like that for the original Perfect Dark on N64 but
> that wasn't cel-shaded. I doubt very much that Rare would make the
> blunder of turning it into some kind of Wind Waker with guns type
> scenario, specially now that XIII and the whole cel-shaded craze has
> blown over.
>
> I'll regain my faith in Rare when I see a Banjo sequel.
I didn't know the new Conker game was a clone. Yes, and I apologise for pointing out Perfect Dark was cel-shaded. I saw a clip of the new 'cartoon-style' Joanna and basically got the wrong end of the stick. It will adopt to a more stylish, rather than realistic looking visual I think.
> How could they screw up what is basically a remake of the original? An
> exact carbon copy really with better graphics.
>
> Rare have always been good at doing stunning graphics which really
> shows in the screens of Conker, it's the game play which they seem to
> be faltering on of late. To be honest I don't hold that much hope for
> the online game, it'll look good but whether it'll actually be a
> worthwhile game online remains to be seen.
>
> Oh and Perfect Dark 0 isn't necessarily gonna be cel-shaded. It's
> just the first pictures of Joe were in a kind of Manga style. There
> were lots of shots like that for the original Perfect Dark on N64 but
> that wasn't cel-shaded. I doubt very much that Rare would make the
> blunder of turning it into some kind of Wind Waker with guns type
> scenario, specially now that XIII and the whole cel-shaded craze has
> blown over.
>
> I'll regain my faith in Rare when I see a Banjo sequel.
I didn't know the new Conker game was a clone. Yes, and I apologise for pointing out Perfect Dark was cel-shaded. I saw a clip of the new 'cartoon-style' Joanna and basically got the wrong end of the stick. It will adopt to a more stylish, rather than realistic looking visual I think.
MJ wrote:
> Ok, I'll admit it and say I haven't read the topic yet, but I thought
> I'd point out a mistake with your second paragraph. Rare didnt
> start off making games for the SNES, the company was developing games
> for the Spectrum long before under the name Ultimate. Games like
> Knight Lore being one of their highlights :)
>
> They also developed for the NES, making games such as Marble Madness
> and BattleToads which I'm sure you've heard of, just a shame people
> dont really recognise them for their Pre-SNES games anymore, although
> in saying this, Donkey Kong Country on the SNES really was a big game
> for them and was the game to make the biggest impression for the
> company.
Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't realise they made titles for the NES and earlier consoles. Iwas only aware of DK, Killer Instinct and so on.
> Ok, I'll admit it and say I haven't read the topic yet, but I thought
> I'd point out a mistake with your second paragraph. Rare didnt
> start off making games for the SNES, the company was developing games
> for the Spectrum long before under the name Ultimate. Games like
> Knight Lore being one of their highlights :)
>
> They also developed for the NES, making games such as Marble Madness
> and BattleToads which I'm sure you've heard of, just a shame people
> dont really recognise them for their Pre-SNES games anymore, although
> in saying this, Donkey Kong Country on the SNES really was a big game
> for them and was the game to make the biggest impression for the
> company.
Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't realise they made titles for the NES and earlier consoles. Iwas only aware of DK, Killer Instinct and so on.
Wind Waker was excellent, but that's a totally different subject.
god winwaker was awful.Zelda was probably the second best game of all time. Windwaker was botched to hell.it hurt my eyes and ripped the soul out of gaming.
How could they screw up what is basically a remake of the original? An exact carbon copy really with better graphics.
Rare have always been good at doing stunning graphics which really shows in the screens of Conker, it's the game play which they seem to be faltering on of late. To be honest I don't hold that much hope for the online game, it'll look good but whether it'll actually be a worthwhile game online remains to be seen.
Oh and Perfect Dark 0 isn't necessarily gonna be cel-shaded. It's just the first pictures of Joe were in a kind of Manga style. There were lots of shots like that for the original Perfect Dark on N64 but that wasn't cel-shaded. I doubt very much that Rare would make the blunder of turning it into some kind of Wind Waker with guns type scenario, specially now that XIII and the whole cel-shaded craze has blown over.
I'll regain my faith in Rare when I see a Banjo sequel.
Rare have always been good at doing stunning graphics which really shows in the screens of Conker, it's the game play which they seem to be faltering on of late. To be honest I don't hold that much hope for the online game, it'll look good but whether it'll actually be a worthwhile game online remains to be seen.
Oh and Perfect Dark 0 isn't necessarily gonna be cel-shaded. It's just the first pictures of Joe were in a kind of Manga style. There were lots of shots like that for the original Perfect Dark on N64 but that wasn't cel-shaded. I doubt very much that Rare would make the blunder of turning it into some kind of Wind Waker with guns type scenario, specially now that XIII and the whole cel-shaded craze has blown over.
I'll regain my faith in Rare when I see a Banjo sequel.
Ok, I'll admit it and say I haven't read the topic yet, but I thought I'd point out a mistake with your second paragraph. Rare didnt start off making games for the SNES, the company was developing games for the Spectrum long before under the name Ultimate. Games like Knight Lore being one of their highlights :)
They also developed for the NES, making games such as Marble Madness and BattleToads which I'm sure you've heard of, just a shame people dont really recognise them for their Pre-SNES games anymore, although in saying this, Donkey Kong Country on the SNES really was a big game for them and was the game to make the biggest impression for the company.
They also developed for the NES, making games such as Marble Madness and BattleToads which I'm sure you've heard of, just a shame people dont really recognise them for their Pre-SNES games anymore, although in saying this, Donkey Kong Country on the SNES really was a big game for them and was the game to make the biggest impression for the company.
I'll be keeping an eye on Rare. If they screw up CBFD I shall personally torch their offices.
They will have the chance to redeem themselves with Perfect Dark Zero. If they screw that up too, I'll personally torch their Family's houses.
They will have the chance to redeem themselves with Perfect Dark Zero. If they screw that up too, I'll personally torch their Family's houses.
Johnson wrote:
> Hello, Im back
>
> Banjo 3 will not sell on XBOX cuz older gamers won't buy it. Look at
> Blinx, he didn't exactly blow the sales chart.
BUT, supposing RARE make Banjo-3 an 18, by doing what they did to Conker. Give the 'Banjo-Kazooie' cast some guns, booze and lads-mags(Nuts or Zoo)
Definately start selling if they do that!!!
:D
> Hello, Im back
>
> Banjo 3 will not sell on XBOX cuz older gamers won't buy it. Look at
> Blinx, he didn't exactly blow the sales chart.
BUT, supposing RARE make Banjo-3 an 18, by doing what they did to Conker. Give the 'Banjo-Kazooie' cast some guns, booze and lads-mags(Nuts or Zoo)
Definately start selling if they do that!!!
:D
Hello, Im back
Banjo 3 will not sell on XBOX cuz older gamers won't buy it. Look at Blinx, he didn't exactly blow the sales chart.
Banjo 3 will not sell on XBOX cuz older gamers won't buy it. Look at Blinx, he didn't exactly blow the sales chart.
I think Rare have lost it, well at least at the mo. The games they produce now are nowhere near as good as what we saw for the N64.
Grabbed by the Ghoulies was a rushed game that did contain some of the Rare humour but not the full dose.
What i think is that Microsoft might have Rare employees chained to a desk and now heavily concentrating on producing some great release titles for the Xbox 2 , such as Perfect Dark Zero and Banjo 3.
Grabbed by the Ghoulies was a rushed game that did contain some of the Rare humour but not the full dose.
What i think is that Microsoft might have Rare employees chained to a desk and now heavily concentrating on producing some great release titles for the Xbox 2 , such as Perfect Dark Zero and Banjo 3.
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