The History of Rare Games
If Nintendo fanboys would wake up long enough to get their heads out of their ass, they would admit that at one point or another they loved a Rare game. Rare has been as much a part of the "Nintendo Differance" as Nintendo themselves. Let's take a look back at all the games Rare has blessed us with over the years.
I could go on about the Stamper Brothers and Co. starting up a little known company in the UK, but I won't bore you. The games are what it's all about. Not who did what or on what console they appear on. In fact, Rare's Battletoads did appear on the Sega Master System.
Like every other developer, Rare made more games during the 8-bit days of NES then at any other time. Their first game on NES? Salom. You had to start somewhere. Looking at a list of their games, I was amazed at what they all did. Some were ports of games like Marble Madness, Arch Rivals, and NARC; others were 100% original masterpieces. Back then Rare wasn't a Nintendo 2nd party developer and most their games were published by 3rd parties like TradeWest or Acclaim. It wasn't until during the SNES era that Rare and Nintendo became joined at the hip. Which was very important to Nintendo during the dog days of N64.
Here are a few of the standouts over the years. Some my personal favorites, others huge blockbusters.
NES
Anticipation: One of the first true 'party games'. Really a board game played on a videogame console. Fun for the whole family!
R.C. Pro-AM: Another NES classic. Simple but fun, and certainly not easy. The idea of racing remote controlled cars was so cool. Another series sadly left for dead.
Solar Jetman: One of NES's "sleeper hits". Its different gameplay moving your ship around with engine blasts to counteract gravity wasn't for everyone, but showed Rare's originality in gaming.
Wizzards & Warriors: A very popular NES game that had two sequals on NES, including Ironsword, and like so many other NES games was never heard of again.
Cobra Triangle: This was RC Pro-AM but with boats. It was cool how they mixed up the gameplay with "bosses" and such, but at the same time it wasn't nearly as good.
Battletoads: Wow! This one of the best games ever. It is a DAMN SHAME that we havn't seen much of them since. Sure there was the crossover with Double Dragon and a SNES version, but that's all. This game had such variety in gameplay from races to platforming to decending down a well and killer ducks, I miss this game so much, sniff. This game is when I, and many others, first took notice of Rare as a developer.
Snake Rattle 'N Roll: This game is still one of my favorites. Take Marble Madness and make it a platformer where you had to eat balls to grow your snakes tail to open the door to the next level. Such genius.
Super Nintendo
Batletoads in Battlemaniacs: While a good game, it seemed to be almost a remake of the original since it just reused all the main gameplay elements. Still, it was the Battletoads!
Battletoads and Double Dragon: Not sure who thought of this crossover, but it worked. They must of played the first stage of Battletoads and thought, hmm let's make a whole game like this and add the Lee Brothers.
Donkey Kong Country: Who would of guessed taking Donkey Kong and giving him his own platformer would be so good. Then again it is Rare. The graphics were amazing for it being SNES, and who didn't love riding the Rhino? The DKC series (all 3) may still be Rare's best overall series to date and put Rare on the map to stay.
Killer Instinct: This came out after the arcade version which of course was based on the N64 hardware. So it was hard to look at a SNES version of it at this point. Big fans of KI just wanted the N64.
Nintendo 64
Blast Corps: On a system devoid of "sleeper hits", this is one of the best. Again the different gameplay is what probably turned many off, but what really made it such a classic.
Killer Instinct Gold: Many love the KI fighting series. I myself am not a big fan of the one-button 50 hit combos. But the 3D graphics with 2D gameplay wasn't all bad.
Banjo-Kazzoie: Take Mario 64 and improve on it in almost everyway. I myself wasn't a big fan, but only because I'd just rather play as a plumber then a bear. Though the gameshow at the end was genius. Then came Banjo-Tooie which you only needed to get that freakin' ice key in B-K. B-T was just more of the same.
Donkey Kong 64: This is one of Rare's mixed reviews games. It did well, but most hated the extremely repetitive collection of items this game offered. Who could blame them.
Diddy Kong Racing: Another sort of 'rip-off' game, but also very well done. I loved Mario Kart, but I liked this version more. Harder and with more variety in gameplay. I was anxiously waiting Donkey Kong Racing on GC, but ops.
Jet Force Gemini: A highly hyped game that didn't meet expectations. It was a good game, but repetivite collection of items boged down this game (but not as bad as DK64).
GoldenEye: It's hard to believe that a movie license could turn into one of the best games ever. GE revolutionized FPS games on consoles. 'Nuff said.
Perfect Dark: The follow-up to GE took forever and was greated with mixed reviews, but overall people loved it. It took the excellent multi-player of GE and added to it. The single-player while missing the Bond feel of GE, was still very well done. Just those stinkin' framerates.
Conker's Bad Fur Day: One of the few games to try and dispell Nintendo's "kiddy" image. Not only was it funny as hell, but it was a great platformer without any "collect this item" crap. Rare at its VERY best.
And now that brings us to GameCube. StarFox Adventures will be the last non-GameBoy Rare game for Nintendo, but it has had very mixed reviews. Yet I have no reason to believe Rare won't return to form. I can't wait for upcoming games like Kemeo, Conker's Next Fur Day, and Perfect Dark Zero. Not to mention the next Banjo-Kazooie and what ever happended to DK Racing. While it is sad to see them leave Nintendo where they had become such a huge part of the so-called "Nintendo Differance", I personally don't care what console gets my money for the next Rare masterpiece. Rare might not be quite the force they once were, but who knows what the future holds. Rare hasn't lost a step over all those years and continues to be one of the best developers out there. That track record of games speaks for itself. Besides maybe Nintendo, who else has such a high quality line?
What's your favorite Rare game?
Full List
| FORMAT: 8-BIT (NES, Master System) ANTICIPATION FORMAT: HAND-HELD AMAZING SPIDER-MAN |
FORMAT: 64-BIT (Nintendo 64 only) BANJO-KAZOOIE FORMAT: 16-BIT BATTLETOADS IN BATTLEMANIACS FORMAT: ARCADE KILLER INSTINCT FORMAT: 128-BIT STARFOX ADVENTURES |
(thanks to XenGen.com forums for this list)