Rare Ltd.

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Rare.jpg
Rare Ltd.
Type Former Second Party
Founded 1982
Status Active, Owned by Microsoft
Base Twycross, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Bestseller Donkey Kong Country
Homepage Homepage
Notable Members Chris Stamper
Tim Stamper
Key Franchises Battletoads
Banjo-Kazooie
Conker
Killer Instinct
Perfect Dark

Rare (formerly known as Rareware) is a former Nintendo second party developer that went on to be owned by Microsoft. While working with Nintendo, they worked primarily on the Donkey Kong series, known for reinventing the series with the development of Donkey Kong Country and its sequels, and they also created several series of their own with a number of titles launching in the Nintendo 64 era. They are based in Twycross, Leicestershire, England.

History[edit]

Ultimate - Play the Game[edit]

Rare was founded by Tim and Chris Stamper in 1982 as Ashby Computer Graphics. Under the label "Ultimate Play the Game," they published games for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. Their breakout game was Jetpac, which received critical acclaim. They went on to release 14 games for the Spectrum. In 1985, they sold their name to U.S. Gold and took on the name "Rare."

Rare and Nintendo[edit]

Seeing the Nintendo Entertainment System, the brothers felt that it was the future of gaming and developed games for it. They impressed the company president of the time, Minoru Arakawa, with a demo and he agreed to publish some of their games. They created almost 60 games for the NES.

During the early days of the Super NES, Rare initially did not produce many games beyond several Battletoads games. They were determined to create something groundbreaking, which eventually came in the form of Donkey Kong Country, which used advanced graphics and reinvented the Donkey Kong series. After Donkey Kong Country, Rare came up with the arcade game Killer Instinct. Nintendo was so impressed with the upcoming home version of the game that they bought 25% of the company's shares and made them a second party developer.

On the Nintendo 64, Rare continued with a few Donkey Kong-related games, but they also focused on branching out in launching their own series such as Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Perfect Dark, which all found audiences. One of their most well-known works would end up being Goldeneye 007, a tie-in for a James Bond film.

Since the Nintendo 64 days, Rare had been working on an RPG called Dinosaur Planet. At some point in its development, suggestions from Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo led to the game being retooled with Star Fox characters. It was ultimately released for the Gamecube in 2002 as Star Fox Adventures. This was the only game they made for the Gamecube and the last game that they released as a second party developer to Nintendo.

Rare and Microsoft[edit]

The company had trouble keeping up with the rising costs of game development, and they felt that Nintendo was helpful in not providing more funds or buying out the rest of the company, and so they started looking for potential buyers. In 2002, the Stamper brothers left Rare and sold their 51% of the company's shares to Microsoft. Nintendo, realizing that Microsoft now controlled the company, sold their shares to Microsoft as well. Rareware's Nintendo games that were in development were cancelled (such as Donkey Kong Racing) or retooled with their own characters.

Since then, Rare has continued some of its own series on X-Box with Perfect Dark Zero, Conker: Live and Reloaded and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Dolts. It has also created original games for Microsoft including Grabbed by Ghoulies and Viva Pinata while also spending some time regulating themselves to developing games for Microsoft's Kinect. Many of their past titles (with the obvious exception of their Donkey Kong games, as well as Goldeneye 007 until 2023) also became available through Xbox Live Arcade and later through the Rare Replay compilation on the Xbox One.

Though they now work for Microsoft, Rare was still allowed to develop games for Nintendo's handheld system, as their contract only forbade them from developing games for systems that directly competed with their Xbox line, and Microsoft did not have any handheld systems. Rare made remakes of the Donkey Kong Country series on the Game Boy Advance and Diddy Kong Racing DS on the Nintendo DS, which were their last Donkey Kong-related projects. They also retooled some of the Donkey Kong games that had been in development prior to the buy-out into games featuring their own characters: Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers became It's Mr. Pants!, while Diddy Kong Pilot was reworked into Banjo Pilot. They also attempted to retool Donkey Kong Racing into an Xbox game that would be called Sabreman Stampede, but that project was ultimately cancelled.

In later years, Rare became known for the pirate-themed multiplayer adventure game Sea of Thieves and worked with other studios on revivals of some of their older properties, collaborating with Dlala Studios on a new Battletoads and overseeing Double Helix Games and Iron Galaxy in the making of a new Killer Instinct. As Microsoft became friendlier with Nintendo, some of Rare's past games became available in the Nintendo Switch's Nintendo 64 app, and Banjo-Kazooie was allowed into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC character.

Several prominent Rare employees have also split off into different companies, such as Free Radical Design (known for the Timesplitters series) and Playtonic Games (which developed Yooka-Laylee, an attempted spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie).

Games[edit]

Nintendo Consoles[edit]

Nintendo Entertainment System[edit]

  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Anticipation
  • Arch Rivals
  • Battletoads
  • Battletoads / Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team
  • Beetlejuice
  • Cabal
  • California Games
  • Captain Skyhawk
  • Cobra Triangle
  • Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat
  • Digger T. Rock: The Legend of the Lost City
  • Double Dare
  • High Speed
  • Hollywood Squares
  • IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II
  • Jeopardy!
  • Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary
  • Jeopardy! Jr.
  • John Elway's Quarterback Challenge
  • Jordan vs. Bird One-on-One
  • Marble Madness
  • Pinbot
  • Pirates!
  • R.C. Pro-AM
  • R.C. Pro-AM II
  • Sesame Street 1-2-3
  • Sesame Street 1-2-3 & A-B-C
  • Sesame Street A-B-C
  • Silent Service
  • Slalom
  • Snake Rattle 'n Roll
  • Solar Jetman
  • Super Glove Ball
  • Super Off-Road
  • Taboo: The Sixth Sense
  • Time Lord
  • WWF WrestleMania Challenge
  • WWF Wrestlemania
  • Wheel of Fortune: Family Edition
  • Wheel of Fortune: Featuring Vanna White
  • Wheel of Fortune: Junior Edition
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
  • Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros Visions of Power
  • World Games

Super NES[edit]

Nintendo 64[edit]

Gamecube[edit]

Nintendo Handhelds[edit]

Game Boy[edit]

Game Boy Color[edit]

Game Boy Advance[edit]

Nintendo DS[edit]

Arcade[edit]

Other Consoles[edit]

SEGA Master System[edit]

  • Battlemaniacs

SEGA Genesis[edit]

  • Battletoads
  • Battletoads / Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team
  • Championship Pro-AM
  • Snake Rattle 'n' Roll

Xbox[edit]

  • Conker: Live & Reloaded
  • Grabbed by the Ghoulies
  • Kameo: Elements of Power

Xbox 360[edit]

  • Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
  • Kameo: Elements of Power
  • Kinect Sports
  • Perfect Dark Zero
  • Viva Pinata
  • Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

Xbox Live Arcade[edit]

  • Banjo-Kazooie
  • Banjo-Tooie
  • Jetpac Refueled
  • Perfect Dark

Xbox One[edit]

  • Battletoads
  • Killer Instinct
  • Kinect Sports Rivals
  • Rare Replay
  • Sea of Thieves

All of these games except for Kinect Sports Rivals and Rare Replay were also made available on Windows PCs.

Other Handhelds[edit]

SEGA Game Gear[edit]

  • Battletoads

Home Computers[edit]

Amstrad[edit]

  • Alien 8
  • Cyberun
  • Gunfright
  • Knightlore
  • Nightshade
  • Sabre Wulf

BBC Mirco[edit]

  • Alien 8
  • Cosmic Battlezones
  • Jetpac
  • Knightlore
  • Lunar Jetman
  • Nightshade
  • Sabre Wulf

Commodore 64[edit]

  • Blackwyche
  • Dragonskulle
  • Entombed
  • Imhotep
  • Nightshade
  • Outlaws
  • Sabre Wulf
  • The Staff of Karnath
  • Underwurlde

Commodore Vic-20[edit]

  • Jetpac

MSX2[edit]

  • Alien 8
  • Cyberun
  • Gunfright
  • Knightlore
  • Nightshade
  • Pentagram

Sinclair ZX Spectrum[edit]

  • Alien 8
  • Atic Atac
  • Bubbler
  • Cookie
  • Cyberun
  • Gunfright
  • Jetpac
  • Knightlore
  • Lunar Jetman
  • Martianoids
  • Nightshade
  • Pentagram
  • Pssst!
  • Sabre Wulf
  • The Collected Works
  • Tranz Am
  • Underwurlde
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