Rare ware

[LeotheLateBloomer]

I'm sure you guys remember playing games by one of Nintendo's most prominent 2nd party studios, Rareware. I first played their games through Donkey Kong Country and the sequels that followed it. Then I remember playing Goldeneye 007 and that was a blast. Battletoads was also a good game too. My favorite game they made to this day is Donkey Kong 64! I love that game.

What are you guys' fond memories of Rare's games and what do you think of Rare?

[Prowler]

The DKC SNES trilogy and its N64 classics were big parts of my childhood. Banjo-Kazooie, Blast Corps, DKC1 and Diddy Kong Racing being some of my favorite games back in the 90s.

It's a shame Rare is a former shell of itself these days. A real shame.

[TigerClaw]

Ever since Microsoft bought Rare, all they been doing is the Avatar stuff and they never got around to making any games.

[The Stryker]

They made a bunch of pretty great games.

And Goldeneye but I won't hold that against them.

[CyberCubed]

Donkey Kong 64 was horrible. The perfect example of a god awful collect-a-thon with poorly designed levels and controls. If it wasn't a DK game it would have just been some forgotten N64 platformer.

Most of Rare's other N64 games were good especially Banjo Kazooie. Also for the time Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were great FPS.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by The Stryker

They made a bunch of pretty great games.

And Goldeneye but I won't hold that against them.

I was never a big fan of GoldenEye either, although I'm not sure if that's because I was a bit too young to appreciate it back when it came out or if it was actually overrated. That being said I don't have any interest in playing it again after all these years because it has aged terribly, supposedly.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I was never a big fan of GoldenEye either, although I'm not sure if that's because I was a bit too young to appreciate it back when it came out or if it was actually overrated. That being said I don't have any interest in playing it again after all these years because it has aged terribly, supposedly.

At the time it was released Goldeneye was amazing. Back in 1997 I hadn't played many shooters and it was a new experience for many.

It's also the first game that taught me about stealth since everytime you fired guards would be altered.

I must have only been like 12 years old when I first played it.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Donkey Kong 64 was horrible. The perfect example of a god awful collect-a-thon with poorly designed levels and controls. If it wasn't a DK game it would have just been some forgotten N64 platformer.

Most of Rare's other N64 games were good especially Banjo Kazooie. Also for the time Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were great FPS.

I liked DK64 back in the day. It wasn't as good as Banjo, that's for sure, but I still liked it a lot back when I was a kid. Haven't played it in over a decade, though.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

At the time it was released Goldeneye was amazing. Back in 1997 I hadn't played many shooters and it was a new experience for many.

It's also the first game that taught me about stealth since everytime you fired guards would be altered.

I must have only been like 12 years old when I first played it.

It certainly was influential. Back then shooters were mostly a PC genre(Wolfenstein, Doom, etc).

I didn't hate it or anything, but I didn't enjoy it as much as OoT, SM64. Banjo, etc.

[CyberCubed]

I thought DK64 was tedious in 1999 and now in 2013 its painful. That's the game that traumatized people away from playing 3D collect-a-thon platformers.

It says a lot that Nintendo never made a 3D platforming Donkey Kong game afterward, and instead kept DK in 2D with Jungle Beat and Donkey Kong Country returns.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Ever since Microsoft bought Rare, all they been doing is the Avatar stuff and they never got around to making any games.

Bullsh*t. One of the best games they ever made, Viva Piñata, was created long after the Microsoft buyout. It's up there with Rare classics like BK and CBFD, easily.

[CyberCubed]

Of their N64 lineup:

- Killer Instinct Gold = guilty fun.

- Blast Corps = good for the time but nowadays the controls are tedious and the missions are unforgiving

- Diddy Kong Racing = great

- Goldeneye = back in 1997 it was the best FPS on consoles. Only playable now for nostalgic purposes

- Banjo Kazooie = amazing

- Jet Force Gemini = a bit tedious and dated, third person shooters have evolved a lot since the N64 days

- Donkey Kong 64 = terrible

- Banjo Tooie = good, although not as great as Kazooie. Suffered from similar problems as DK64

- Perfect Dark = again back in 2000 it was top quality FPS.

- Conker's Bad Fur day = pretty funny and good platformer

[sdp]

The problem with DK64 is that it came out after a dozen of 3D platformers and BK with BT on the horizon, it just had nothing going for it. Rare also went crazy with their collectathon mentality there. It just didn't stand out enough from other 3D platformers and didn't have the humorous charm that BK did but overall it's really not that bad of a game, its just a step below SM64 and BK. I almost thing that Rare wanted to distance themselves more from Nintendo IPs (like in Diddy Kong Racing) which is why so much love was put into BK which DK64 simply lacked. I mean BTooie came out a year later and while also not a huge success because of the time it came out it had more appeal than DK64.

DK64 really killed the franchise for a while, Nintendo marketed DK64 as the next Mario game which made sense based on DKC on the SNES but it didn't hit feel like the evolution from SMW-DKC when compared to SM64. Because of this DK kind of got sidelined for a while since they didn't know what to do with him and Nintendo no longer felt confident in having another character taking up Mario's shoes in platforming so he ended up getting a bunch of failed spin-offs like Donkey Konga of King of Swings etc. He did get a Bongo platformer on the GCN but while fun it was released on a small install and even less people had the bongos.. The franchise was salvaged by DKCR on the Wii but the sequel seems like it's going to put the franchise on hold for a while again since I doubt it'll sell too well.

As far as Rare, I've read many articles about Rare and even from people who worked there and it's clear that it wasn't just Microsoft that ruined Rare but they definitely sped things up.


I'm actually a bit nostalgic for the 64 bit era platformers, I was thinking about buying that new Pac-Man game since it looks like a game with mechanics from 15 years ago. The reviews seem to agree saying that it offers nothing new and that it's a generic 3D platformer, which is exactly what I want, I haven't played that type of 3D platformer in a long time and it's what I want to play. I'm still unsure but it's only 20 dollars and the negatives of the game in review sites are the things I'm looking forward to.

[Prowler]

Man, Blast Corps was so awesome back then. So much fun destroying buildings so a pink truck wouldn't crash into them and blow up. The irony

[LeotheLateBloomer]

I actually like DK64. In my opinion, it's one the best games I ever played on the n64. I can see what people's problems with that game were and I'll admit some of the missions were annoying but I didn't have nearly as much trouble with certain Bananas as other people did. I always thought the game's way of exploring worlds was much more emersive than Mario 64. At the very least you do get rewarded with a lot of cool features and so, which are more than I can say for Sonic Adventure 2's final reward, in all honesty.

I never played Banjo-Kazooie until recently, and it is enjoyable. I haven't played Tooie. I heard a lot of mixed things about Nuts and Bolts; some like it, some hate it.

One series you can never forget from Rareware.....Battletoads!

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Of their N64 lineup:

- Killer Instinct Gold = guilty fun.

- Blast Corps = good for the time but nowadays the controls are tedious and the missions are unforgiving

- Diddy Kong Racing = great

- Goldeneye = back in 1997 it was the best FPS on consoles. Only playable now for nostalgic purposes

- Banjo Kazooie = amazing

- Jet Force Gemini = a bit tedious and dated, third person shooters have evolved a lot since the N64 days

- Donkey Kong 64 = terrible

- Banjo Tooie = good, although not as great as Kazooie. Suffered from similar problems as DK64

- Perfect Dark = again back in 2000 it was top quality FPS.

- Conker's Bad Fur day = pretty funny and good platformer

I swear you are so hit and miss its rediculous. You cant call a game terrible all because you didn't like it. You can say you didn't like it, but DK64 can be argued as the best N64 game of all time. All bc you dont like the game doesn't mean it bad.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Is it worth Nintendo finding a way to buy back Rare's IPs because let's face it, Rare themselves are a shell of their former selves. But are there IPs even worth value anymore?

[Ecto Jedi]

Battletoads! Still the best game on the NES, in my opinion. Battletoads & Double Dragon was great, too -- along with Battlemaniacs.

Also, Diddy Kong Racing.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

Is it worth Nintendo finding a way to buy back Rare's IPs because let's face it, Rare themselves are a shell of their former selves. But are there IPs even worth value anymore?

I think the question is actually "do those IPs hold any value for Nintendo?" And that answer is a resounding "No".

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Yes, that's what I meant to say. And why do you say no?

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Sorry to bring this old thread back, but do you think Rare will eventually close down and go defunct? If so, what happens to their old IPs?