Rare, the acclaimed British development studio behind such franchises as Donkey Kong Country and Banjo Kazooie has told Industry Gamers that the company hasn’t ‘fallen of the map’ since they joined Microsoft back in 2002.
“We didn’t fall off the map. We might have changed and evolved. Our focus is different, but we haven’t fallen off the map.”
“Fallen off the map is interesting when you sell over three million units.”
“I like that falling off the map. It’s great success in this industry.”
“If you look at what Rare has done, whether it was Killer Instinct in the arcade or Donkey Kong Country and pushing pre-rendered graphics, they always innovate as a studio. That has stayed the same.”
“We delivered as much to the platform as any other studio. With the success of Kinect Sports and what I believe will be a successful Season Two, I think Rare lived up to its potential.”
– Rare’s new leader, Scott Henson
Microsoft took Rare because Rare was helping Nintendo big time… Now we have Retro Studios taking Rare’s old job
Speaking of which, I’m excited for Mario Kart 7!
Who isn’t?
By the way, I wonder what Retro Studios is working on.
Is that sarcasm? They’re working on MK 7, and you know maybe another DKC game, maybe, instead of Donkey Kong Country Returns, it will be Return to Donkey Kong Country. Maybe. I’d like to see some more Kongs in it though, and maybe a 3ds DKC game…
they helped build some levels in MK 7, but they’re not the main team behind that game.
Retro Studios is working on the Donkey Kong Country Returns-designed stage(s) in Mario Kart 7. The main team behind Mario Kart 7 is Nintendo EAD.
I’m pretty sure they said a while back that they’re working on “something everybody wants them to do” for the Wii U, but “not Metroid or DK.”
It’s already confirmed that Retro was one of the first development studios to get the development kit for the Wii U.
I’m holding out for an amazing Star Fox game by Retro. They can nail the space theme no problem and have always been great at adapting older gameplay mechanics to newer devices.
I don’t get how they can say they are making a game everyone wants them to do, and yet, no one has any idea what it is. seriously.
I wonder what Retro Studios is working on right now…….
” 0_o ?”
They are working on some game for Wii U that ‘everyone wants them to make’. Some claim it’s a FPS.
Im personally okay with that to be quite honest. Rare was and is amazing, but having played very little of the N64 I guess I’m a little biased towards the studio whos games I grew up playing and loving. They are both amazing, but I would rather be able to play Retro Studios games than Rare.
I sometimes wished Rare was still with nintendo. Rare developed Donkey kong 64, Star fox Adventures, And don’t forget Conkers Bad Fur Day :D
Rare has changed a lot since 2005.
don’t forget banjo-kazooie and Goldeneye! BEST GAMES ON 64 EVAR!
There’s a typo. Rare didn’t create Donkey Kong Country Returns
Yeah, that was Retro Studios.
Yeah…why would Rare make a Nintendo game with it being owned by Microsoft now…
Wait! Rare quitted Nintendo in 2002. Why did rare make a Donkey Kong racing game in 2007 for DS Called Diddy kong racing?
Rare was still working with Nintendo on handheld games back then.
What OOT3D said. The fact that Microsoft has no handheld in the market also meant they weren’t competing against themselves in making that game.
RARE who? lol, Never liked Kinect sports though, already have Wii sports
I’ve been waiting for Conker 3 for so long >:L
You mean Conker two? There’s only been Conker’s Bad Fur Day for the N64, and a REMAKE of Bad Fur Day for the original Xbox with multi-player support. There hasn’t been a Conker 2 yet.
Considering 2 isn’t out yet you will be waiting a lot dude.There was only a remake of the 1st one Live and Reloaded.
What has happened to Rare is one of the saddest things in gaming bar none. It is expected that they would deny this.
I was gutted when Rare left Nintendo… I lost all faith in Nintendo’s shooters after they left. ;_;
I was absolutely GUTTED when Rare left to join Microsoft, but it almost seems like a lucky escape. Every title they made for the N64 was fantastic, but with Microsoft they’ve just done two remakes, that horrible horrible “reboot” of Banjo-Kazooie, and Kinnect mini-games…What happened to them? It’s a shame really, but hey, still got Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, DK64, Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing and Jet Force Gemini :’) <3
Nah Dude, if you’ve actually played Nuts & Bolts, it’s fantastic. And it’s not a reboot, it’s the third sequel. Gameplay is different but it really is fantastic.
I’ve played the demo, it’s good but it doesn’t match up to the first two.
Agreed.
It is really far from fantastic.It focuses way too much on building cars and driving them rather than exploration and platforming.It was a big disappointment.
If you actually read what I wrote, I clearly stated that the gameplay was different, but fantastic anyway. It has exactly the same flavor and spunk as the previous entries. Sure, everyone would have preferred a “classic” title, but changing gameplay into something unfamiliar doesn’t make it any less fantastic. The game worked and was very fun. So it may have been a disappointment to YOU, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good.
I was pretty good, but Banjo-Kazooie just felt pasted in. I was also a bit turned off when the game mocked the people who weren’t necessarily fans of the change anyways (like me). I gave it a run, but it didn’t feel like Banjo to me.
it was fantastic in its own right but not as a banjo sequel… in which case it was dismal
nuts and bolts sucked arse dude, what are you talking about?!
rare are you joking ? you are just a shadow of the past!
Agreed, they’ve had their limelight, and their time has passed. The best games were for the N64, Starfox Adventures for the cube, and Time Splitters 2 for the PS2. Other than that, RARE SUCKS NOW. Fucking M$ Sellouts…
wasnt timesplitters developed by freeRadical? im not really sure but thats what i always thought,speaking of it , anybody as excited for Timesplitters4 as i am? lol
They weren’t sell outs, Microsoft owned 51% of them, nintendo owned 49% so nintendo sold.
conker’s bad fur day was a great game – it’s those games that have fallen off the map – Killer Instinct was the bomb too
Rare didn’t make Donkey Kong Country Returns.
Honestly I stopped following Rare since they launched Perfect Dark. Banjo Kazzoie did not mean the same success as it did for the N64. And as for Retro Studios, they have done an amazing job so far. I miss Killer Instict though.
Shut up…just…shut up. By the time you went Kinect 24/7 you were already hitting rock bottom. You RUINED great franchises that were legendary, and God forbid you ruin Killer Instinct by turning it into a Kinect-only title. GOD FORBID.
Uh I agree with some of what they’re saying, I do think most people that bitch about the recent games Rare came out with are a bunch of nostalgically blind elitists because I fail to see why Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is crap for one example. (Perfect Dark Zero, okay that’s understandable)
That being said, being forced into Kinect development HAS led to them falling off the throne they once sat in though. It’s like Microsoft only bought them in hopes of turning the tides on Nintendo but they really don’t know how to do so or what to do with the company anymore.
It is really far from fantastic.It focuses way too much on building cars and driving them rather than exploration and platforming.It was a big disappointment
Go watch a review bro
kinect sports and banjo kazooie nuts and bolts were awesome. though rare hasn’t fallen off the map, they would’ve benefited more by staying with nintendo.
Agreed. I also wish Rare and Nintendo kept the rights to James Bond 007, because the second bond game for the N64 (T.W.I.N.E.) sucked ass, since EA made it and not Rare.
It doesn’t help though that most of the original crew from when Rare made games for the Super Nintendo and N64 have left it is a shame what has happened to them but at least Nintendo have got Retro Studios I yearn for another Donkey Kong game with K Rool and the Kremlings :)
I know right? They said they have remained basically the same.
Umm… not with the original core members gone.
They’re not Rare anymore, they’re Uncommon.
>kinect sports being a success
sure it’s a success but who are you pleasing
I’m thinking, that’s what you get for leaving. It’s a shame when I boot up the old classics and see Rare’s logo on it. Just wish we’d get some of these titles on the VC now.
Due to the world running on these shitty “licenses” systems now, there will never be Rare games sold on the Virtual Console for the Wii, and I want Goldeneye so badly… -_- I have it emulated PERFECTLY on my soft-modded original Xbox though, so it’s not like I’m going without exactly… :P
I was chatting with a co-worker, why can’t they just make multi-platform? Everybody wins. I could care less if it was on Xbox Live AND Nintendo Wii. They can update it and do whatever, and I can have the original on Nintendo. Rare can take a cut, Activision can take a cut, Microsoft and Nintendo can get the rest. Big deal, everyone gets paid, consumers get one of the best games of all time.
I’ll always think of Rareware as the amazing developers. They created my favourite childhood game, Banjo Kazooie, aswell as other amazing games.
Rare, however, are the terrible developers, that made an okay-ish Banjo Kazooie Sequel, then loads of rubbish. I’m glad that the original team all left, Grant Kirkhope, Robin Beanland, and all the creators of the original Rareware would do better elsewhere, and i’d be dissapointed if they’d stayed after how much Microsoft changed Rare.
I believe they have fallen off the map, think about it. There was a time Rare was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. But now, rarely (hehe) are they talked about doing anything. Seriously I didn’t even know they were responsible for Kinect Sports (which just goes to show the type of games they’re developing, good or not). Makes me sad.
I’m sorry but, yeah, they have pretty much fallen off the map. Opinions are mixed to negative when it comes to their work for Microsoft over the last 10 years, which is a huge step down from the near unanimous praise they had then they were working for Nintendo. But even if you liked the games they’ve made during that tenure, the fact that they’ve been relegated to Kinect duty is pretty much a nail in the coffin. Kinect isn’t something with a future, nor is it something anyone really cares about (unless you’re a casual).
Damn. I didn’t realize that it’s been 10 years already.
Well he’s not going to agree is he? Of course Rare have fallen off, he should check out the fan base they used to have when they were a lit of people’s favourite developer. Just because they shoved 3 million units of Kinect sports down people’s software starved necks due to a weak launch line up doesn’t mean they’re hot! Wake up and smell the coffee!
I wasn’t even aware they made games any more… They were a total juggernaut back in the day, then they made the move and bit by bit they seemed to lose all relevance.
That said, if they brought Banjo Kazooie to the 3DS I could hardly say no…
Anybody else miss killer instinct?
I do. I miss Killer Instinct hard. I can’t enjoy a fighter that doesn’t have Glacius, Terry Bogard, Paul Phoenix, or Ukyo Tachibana in it somewhere.
…unrelated to Rare but related to Square(Enix) and fighters…I miss Bushido Blade as well.
I did, then I found an arcade near my house is $15 for an all day pass, all the machines on free play. Had the KI machines which I definitely had to play. Also got to play original MK games too, had a pretty sweet day.
Rare believes that they haven’t fallen off the map since they left Nintendo? They fallen off the map ever since they were acquired by Microsoft, to begin with! If Rare stayed with Nintendo after the completion of Star Fox Adventures, they would have given us those games we wanted like the sequel to Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong Racing, and a possible Killer Instinct 3, to name a few. However, since Microsoft and forcing Rare to make Kinect games, they have become a shadow or a corpse of their former self. Thank you for ruining and killing off Rare, Microsoft!
On a lighter note, Retro Studios is the new Rare, in my opinion. If Rare isn’t committed to give us the games we want, then they should sell their properties to other companies like Nintendo or Sega if they are now stuck as a developer for Kinect games.
Huh, I didn’t know the Nile flowed through the English countryside now. That must have been one hell of a civil works project.
R.I.P Rareware, 2002.
Tim and Chris Stamper were Rareware. It’s NOT the same people anymore.
Company started as a creative outlet between brothers Chris and Tim, and now it’s basically just a money machine…that doesn’t even make money. Just look at what they did to Banjo… Oh. Poor Banjo.
R.I.P.
Yeah right. All the core members that worked at Rareware left after Rare was acquired by MS. The Rare now is nothing but a bunch of random people using the name Rare. With the games they have created these days, I’d rather Killer Instinct stay dead than to see it come back just to suffer a brutal death. I want to remember it as being one of the best fighters I have played. Rare was in everyone’s ears back in the day; they’re a joke now.
PLEASE MAKE GAMES WITH RARE AGAIN I REALLY NEED CONKER’S BAD FUR DAY FOR THE 3DS
I gotta say I miss Rare and their games. Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Blast Corps, The Donkey Kong Country series on the SNES and N64, the Ken Griffey Jr baseball game, the Banjo Kazooie series, Star Fox Adventures, even RC Pro Am for the NES. I wish Rare would come back to Nintendo.
Picture this:
Conker’s Bad Fur Day 3D
Banjo Kazooie 3D
GoldenEye 64 3D
DIDDY F*CKING KONG RACING 3D
PLEASE RARWARE PLEAAAASEE
RAREWARE* jeje
PLEASE
Diddy Kong Racing already had a revamp on the DS, there is a version there to check out. Diddy Kong is owned by Nintendo, so they can make the racing game.
the revamp was horrible… did you play it?
All the voices are changed and the elephant sounds like a pedo now, it’s just wrong…
Diddy Kong racing is a bad game after all. A bad copy of Mario Kart 64
Donkey Kong 64 3d
Killer Instinct 3d
Oh yeah! I spent many hours trying to perfect the combos in Killer Instinct Gold. Never did play Jet Force Gemini, but Diddy Kong Racing was a fun racing game.
I can remember getting a classified dossier in the mail before Golden Eye was released. It was a genius way to market the game and I was hooked by the whole presentation. Did anyone else ever get it? Golden Eye was the first game I bought with my own money so it’ll always have a special place in my heart.
Fallen Off the Map: When fans of a genre of anything choose to remember an entity (game company, band, actor, etc) more for their popular past works and largely ignore or express disdain for their current works or works that followed the popular works. This or remain indifferent toward or refuse to acknowledge their modern work usually stating that their body of work ended after X year, X game, X movie, or X album.
*see: Metallica, Anthrax
Appreciation: When fans of a genre of anything choose to remember an entity on their popular works and actually give the modern works a chance whether good or bad.
*see: Final Fantasy franchise
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Rare was amazing, then they killed themselves. They make games Nintendo fans want, and there not willing to admit that HUGE mistake.
It’s “Fallen OFF The Map” not “Fallen OF The Map”… just an observation.
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I loved rare for conkers bad fur day, and hated them ever since they went with microsoft and made that crappy remake. Now, my once-favorite 2nd party developer is set on shovelware, and dissapointing sequels…
Rare, the big question that I’d like to ask is…. Will there be a new or remake of Killer Instict???
Yeah, and the game you sold for 3 million units was the most advertised game on the most over-hyped and over-rated peripheral since ROB the robot…
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Units sold =/= how relevant you are in the industry. Kinect sports is hardly innovation, and I can promise you no-one will know to say “Rare” when they get asked who dev’d it.
Get back to making games that made you famous- you’ve forgone your roots and Nintendo has replaced you with Retro Studios
#RIP_Rareware