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Former Rare Developer Says They “Loved Working Closely With Nintendo”

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Phil Tossell, a former Rare developer who’s now working on Wii U and iPad game Tengami, has revealed that the team really enjoyed working closely with Nintendo, as most of the team composed of Nintendo fans. Tossell says that there was a severe culture clash between Rare and its current employer, Microsoft. He said that as time past the culture at the acclaimed studio changed and it felt more like Microsoft and less like Rare.

“I think most of the people who worked at Rare at the time were Nintendo fans and we loved working closely with Nintendo. Rare was also a close knit family and so it was something of a shock to suddenly become part of such a huge organisation as Microsoft. There was a severe culture clash which perhaps didn’t become apparent at first as Microsoft mostly allowed us to continue as we had always done.”

“However as time passed and there were staff changes at MGS, together with Tim and Chris (Stamper) leaving, the culture changed and it began to feel more Microsoft and less Rare. While Rare continues to put out high quality games, for me it lost some of the spark that had made the company special.”

“I think at the moment the company is going through something of a rebirth as there are lots of new people and most of the old staff have left, so I’m excited to see what they do next. Whatever Rare does it will always hold a special place for me.”

99 thoughts on “Former Rare Developer Says They “Loved Working Closely With Nintendo””

    1. This article sums up how I feel about sony n ms. The love for fun games doesn’t exist there like Nintendo. Once I bought Nintendo products again, the magic returned, so naturally Im staying Nintendo… I can care less about cgi n cutscenes. Nintendo is fun, high quality, and their love for gaming always shines through, unlike the others, where grfx is all they care about, oh and shooters lol! YAWN.ZZZZZZZZZ

      1. Proud Nintendo Fanboy

        @ Anonymous,
        That’s the way it felt for me. I gave the PS2 and original Xbox a chance, but they never had ANYTHING on Nintendo. They were never as fun or entertaining (though I had hours of fun playing Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth and Hot Shots Golf 3 and FORE). When I went back to my Gamecube, everything felt right again. The ONLY thing I wish Nintendo would copy from Sony & Microsoft is the CD Ripper. The CD Ripper is the only feature of the original Xbox that I had fun fooling around with. I wish I could add my own music to Nintendo games. But whatever.

        1. Well, it was mainly the classification boards that forced them to censor the game, it wasnt microsofts fault.

        1. Lol metroid is not an adult game. Sure it’s fps but it doesn’t have humans getting killed or any blood in it. How is that mature?

          1. So humans getting killed is mature? Mature used to mean sensible knowledgeable acts and events that a grown wise and logical good brain could reason. R-rated nudity and violence is off fifthy barbaric skirt wearing little god wannabe Greek mythological nonsense.

          2. Really? So Conker Bad Fur Day has blood and guns and killing other people? I didn’t know that. So Conker is like Halo. I learn something new everyday. Thanks Ness.

              1. It’s funny to see you get owned again and again. And it’s even funnier to see you coming again for more

          3. Actually super metroid showed dead bodies prime 2 showeda group of soldiers getting slaughtered by alien bugs then turned into zombies metroid prime 3 showed soldiers being sucked into vacuum of space and fusion had zombiefied scientist its just that nintendo somehow kept it teen rated

          4. Your saying that for something to be mature it has to have blood and people getting killed?? Thats really ignorant and cliche…Now im 100% sure that your mind is at child level… And dont use LMAO when you respond to this…Think of something original ;)

          5. Metroid Prime wasn’t an fps you fool it was an original game that’s closesy resemble’d Super Metroid more than any FPS. It didn’t require twitch reactions but a thoughtful approach that encouraged experimentation and discovery over pointless bombast and terrible forced storylines it was a First Person Adventure you clown.

          6. Have you actually played the Metroid games? Humans were slaughtered in Super Metroid, all three Prime games, and Fusion, those are the only ones ive played, and yes, it does have blood, not that that somehow makes it mature. If you think blood, headshots, and extreme violence make things mature, then, little boy, you have a lot of learning to do.

    1. Actually Nintendo killed Rare. Whoever the idiots at Nintendo were that decided to sell Rare (and all the other Studios that they had). But the “fanboys” can’t see that, because under the Nintendo fanboys eyes Nintendo can do no wrong and every decision they make is the right one. I liked the old Nintendo who had Rare (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Conker, Jet Force Gemini, etc), Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness), Left Field (Excitebike64), the special relationship they had with Factor 5(the Rogue Squadron games on GC, Battle for Naboo on N64).
      But Nintendo decided to sell all those awesome 2nd party studios years ago. All those studios made games that appealed to me, games that appeal to the ones of us who aren’t interested in all these Mario games.(no offense intended to anyone that likes those games) (Rare’s magic actually came from making more mature type of games, that what they were good at.) Before the launch of the Wii U Nintendo should have started to create new Western Studios to replace all those that they sold and make new IP’s (or work on old ones like Wave Race, 1080°).
      But now Nintendo is only interested in making kiddie games. It took “Operation Rainfall” to try to convince Nintendo to bring some more mature type of games to the west (Xenoblade, Pandora’s Tower,The Last Story), as Nintendo is so out of touch it had no interest in doing so. I liked the old Nintendo who made games for the ones of us who like more mature type of games (and a game doesn’t have to have blood to be mature, I mentioned lots of games above that have a more mature feel to them and don’t have any). Nintendo lost me as a consumer.
      I’m not saying Nintendo should stop making Mario games and whatnot, but they forgot about the other ones of us who want something else.

      1. It wasn’t Nintendo’s fault, Rare made them sell their shares in the company and therefore could be bought by an other company as Rare were selling their own shares as well. I don’t know all the details, look it up on Youtube if you’re interested.

      2. Actually the other day, as a Nintendo fan, I was listing all their dumb decisions and was called a cry baby by other fanboys. They make good quality software but they sometimes make dumb decisions. Then they react to the decisions too late.

      3. Nintendo did not sell them, they couldn’t they never own them, Nintendo had exclusive contracts. Nintendo made an offer to buy Rare but Microsoft outbid them.

      4. Nintendo owned Rare 49%, and then these idiotic brothers sold Rare to Microsoft, abandoned Nintendo and then left the company.

      5. WOW . why did you even bother writing so much when you don’t even know why rare went to microsoft…lol.
        Ok but seriously, so microsft had one of the best developers and what do they do give them shitty games to make; i mean seriously kinect sports, viva pinata ?

        What makes a game “kiddie” the graphics? gameplay? So we can say that donkey kong country returns or zelda are all kiddie games? Well wrong you douche..
        Anyone who has actually played DK will probably know the meaning of hardcore games.. you don’t need guns in every game for it to be mature..

        I think nintendo games are really fun no matter what they are – be it zelda, metroid, mario, the xeno series etc.

      6. I don’t get people have problems when nintendo releases like just 1 or 2 mario games on each system , I mean there are like 5 halo games on the 360, 3 gears of war, BUT hey thats ok cause those are mature games right unlike mario in which the only people you kill are mushrooms ..

        1. Well the Xbox 360 did last abit longer then the Wii in its life span. And the Halo games while good are different…I don’t know how to say it…Halo 3 and Reach and ODST were great. Halo 4 and the next 2 should never have happened. Then Halo CE Anniversary was a simple remake. Halo Wars was junk and doesn’t really count.

      7. No, Nintendo only ever owned 49% of the company because they didn’t wan’t to make the company feel restricted. The 51% owners then sold their share to Microsoft, and because they had the majority ownership, Nintendo no longer had any control and it was pointless not to sell Rare.

    1. Fuck Rare. All I want is the Bear and Bird. They’re just sitting in an Microsoft vault trapped. Those Ips are worth millions if you know what to do with them. The only reason why Microsoft is holding on to them is because they know how valuable those IPs are to Retro and Nintendo.

      1. Do not worry much, once the Apple Armada begins to tear the Xbots on their products department, the Xbots will sooner or later be forced to sell some things and IPs like Banjo and Jet Force Gemini will be the first things to be sold and thus shall High Command reclaim these lost artifacts once more…

        1. I want to believe you but there are two reasons why I cant Nintendo Commander. First Iwanta doesn’t think fast enough. He makes dumb decisions after a game was already released or after the hardware is already completed. You really think he’s going to react to Microsoft selling Banjo-Kazooie before other developers get it? After all in development of 3D Mario world, Online never came to mind. 2nd reasons if it sounds to good to be ture it usually is.

          1. The main problem is that most gamers today believes that online multiplayer is mandatory for every single game out there…

            SM3DW wasn’t even supposed to have local multiplayer but at the last minute they did…

            Main Mario games will always be single player or local multiplayer only because it works and the franchise itself is established accordingly…

            Destroying that formula would eventually shatter its image and will no longer feel special…

            That’s why the Mario franchise has been divided into new IPs so that those could be enjoyed more towards online gaming like Mario Kart…

            1. Will Pikmin is another IP, why isnt that online? People I play againt aren’t good enough to play against and I always beat them. Pikmin story mode doesnt need online. Because if it is something in the game I don’t know about, and I’m playing someone experienced, it would spoil it for me. I guess same goes for 3D Mario World. But what about a four player battle online? You know how Mario games have secret coins and stuff, I rather find them on my own then some expert doing everything for me.

    2. President Iwata-San stated that they are holding off on games releasing next year, so as copystation does not carbon copy nintendo’s masterpieces like they tried with Sony all-stars. Or the move lol. Don’t for get the xbots dumb glass lol.

  1. Most of Nintendo’s games are more mature than anything that has ever hit Xbox or PS3. Trolls thinking blood and death = mature don’t know what a good story is, even if their life depended on it. Good for you, that realistic settings fit your style, but don’t tell me war is mature, or killing is. Nintendo make games that last forever, with rich replayability, and they appeal to most everyone. It’s fun on nobody’s behalf, no nationality is getting mocked, no minority or ethnic group has to endure western stereotyping at it’s best. Nah fuck it, troll all you want, Nintendo is more mature than you’ll ever be.

  2. I know this fanboy crap is annoying, but I want this comment to be an END ALL discussion to the whole debacle, “as there is much more important shit going on that we need to focus our time on, such as the NSA spying on us.”

    Okay, here goes; I LOVE video games, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, 3DS XL, PC gaming, I even enjoy gaming on my Android tablet quite often too. I also collect old video games/consoles, and I have recently began collecting vintage PC hardware too, anyways, with my personal gaming habits aside, “which I put out there to hopefully let you know I am unbiased within the gaming world.” I hope you can understand that I am in no way shape or form trying to bash, or bring down other platforms. Also, I feel the need to put out there the PS1 has the best RPG’s in my opinion, ever. Okay, now, I want to stress this AGAIN, I am not trying to “hate,” on anyone, I am very lucky and fortunate enough to afford all the gaming consoles/games I want, most people have bills and shit to pay, but that’s no reason to hate on other platforms you can’t currently afford, though I’m not accusing you of anything like that, it’s just my two cents on the matter.

    Now, my real point is, I am fucking tired of these arrogant fucking twats that think laughing at Nintendo makes their platform stand out, such as those self pleasuring cum buckets over at IGN, they laugh at Wii U due to its ..sales? Of all things, video games have here recently devolved into this yearly Call of Duty circlejerk of MONEY, BATHING IN MONEY, Nintendo doesn’t have to create a yearly release that rakes in Zillions of fucking $$$$$’s for them to still be relevant within the gaming market. Now, remember when I said I am unbiased, please keep that in mind before reading what you are about to read – E3 2013 was FUCKING BORING, nothing caught my attention, it was less than completely fucking boring, it was just nothing I didn’t expect, I mean, I preordered both the PS4 and the Xbox One, and all the launch games, which did take quite the chunk from my bank account mind you, but all in all, the games shown from both SONY and Microsoft were almost completely boring, but Nintendo, albeit they had a closed doors type of small appearance at E3 this year, their Nintendo Directs, and new announcements for games such as Mario Kart 8, Wind Waker HD, and the Zelda Link to the Past 3DS title, all got me very excited, those were games I actually am wanting to play. But Call of Duty Ghosts, Halo 5, some racing game, and something about SPORTS SPORT SPORTS, and the Price is Right, well, I am not intrigued at all, not excited, not anything, not even the Order 1886, “I think that’s the title,” really intrigued me that much. I saw too much of Watch Dogs, “it’s a title that would have excited me maybe in 2008,” but now we’ve got “albeit shitty,” titles such as Saints Row the Third, and Saints Row IV coming soon, GTAV, and I guess even the OVERRELEASED Assassins Creed titles, I just don’t care about Watch Dogs either.

    Nintendo, while they may not be selling the hottest Netflix/Bluray/Media player box this holiday season, is still a VERY relevant gaming hardware/software developer/company. Stop laughing about them, just because they aren’t getting troves of housewives that need to exercise, or your random whoever that just wants to watch a movie or tv show on the newest box via Netflix or Hulu, doesn’t mean you should laugh at Nintendo, WE SHOULD LAUGH AT YOU! People that say Nintendo should leave the hardware market, or quit altogether, are shitdicks, they know with the thorn Nintendo out of their side, they would run the monopoly on the gaming market. There are also the types of people who are just fucking idiots who think because Nintendo’s sales aren’t up to par with the Xbox 360, that it means they should quit NOW, fuck those fucking idiots, because I cannot FOR THE LIFE OF ME, get those type of people to listen to reason, it’s like going to a football game, and trying to calmly sit someone who is painted up with a certain teams colors, drunk as balls, and nearly stoned, and expecting a level headed conversation with them about why their team is not as good as they think it is, yeah, like that’s going to happen, they’re probably going to shit their pants, vomit on you while yelling to the top of their lungs directly in your face.

    1. These fools are unevolved and cannot see the erroneous misguided agenda the Xbots and others like them are promoting…

      These are the same people that more often have bad families, thinks money defines someone and are basically out of fear that if they would admit liking something that is mainstream disliked and looked down uppon, they would be alone and find no worth in their lives…

      Something inherited by those who thinks that being popular and thinking they are above everybody else is the most important path and reason in the entire universe…

      1. While I am tired of the use of labels within the gaming society, such as Xbots, labels are asinine if you ask me. It just turns every little trivial thing into a “football issue,” I still agree with you, these fools are dependent upon what is “hip,” or what is “trending,.” They are pathetic human beings.

        But I guess this same mindset is why Apple products are so popular, people want a brand over actual content/quality apps. I’m not bashing Apple, or people who enjoy Apple products, honestly I find the iPhone, and iPad to be quite good looking, but overpriced, and underpowered, you can buy a tablet with a tegra chip, running on an Android based system, and play very high end mobile games for SO MUCH less money than for instance, an iPad 3, but Apple fanboys ignore that.

        For all their own I guess, Apple, Playstation, Wii, or Valve, I just fucking enjoy them all but I am tired of idiots bashing each other over pathetic brand loyalty as if it’s a football game.

        1. The only main reason to why I defend Nintendo today is because for the most part, they are basically the only big gaming company supporting these values…

          I’m sure there are others but Nintendo is the top company to promote these values…

          1. Your right commander…. i think this is getting lost on basically everyone in amongst all of this “next gen” hype if it were up to the other two and all of there third party subordinate’s every damn game would have an over emphasis of it’s content being storyline(the walking dead), cover shooting(Gear’s of war,Uncharted), unnecessary mobile app’s(Dead Rising 3), celebrity pandering(stephen spielberg’s fucking Halo TV show), expensive CG(any final fantasy after they thought world maps were dumb for some reason), and pointless expansive environment’s that dont make the game fun but merely make it “BIGGER”(any fucking GTA)
            without NINTENDO no one is looking out for us gamer’s Skyward Sword and the Galaxy twins crap all over anything that the critic’s have erroneously declared “game of the generation”.

            1. GTAIII is still one of my favorite games of all time, but games like Saints Row for example are WAY too overhyped, and over the top, they almost make me feel like vomiting after long play sessions. Nintendo has a very unique charm, one that Sony and Microsoft just don’t have, don’t get me wrong, I am somewhat excited to get my PS4 and Xbox One and play the living hell out of them both just as I do with everything else, but both Sony and MS went with quantity over quality, there’s just not much there this time around other than a quick cash in, Nintendo are listening to what we want, and giving it to us.

              I don’t know, I’m equally excited to play Halo 5 or The Order 1886 as I am to play Mario Kart 8, but other than PC gaming with titles I enjoy such as Counter Strike, World of Warcraft, STO, Portal, Half life, and titles such as that, the Playstation and Xbox brands just don’t hold much charm in my personal opinion. All PS has going for it in my personal opinion, is the RPG’s, which don’t get me wrong I really enjoy, but that’s about it, and with Xbox, well of course it’s online Halo matches/Call of Duty, “yes I play Call of Duty, don’t lie we’ve all played it once.” But Nintendo, is something I grew up with, I enjoy the different titles it has, Donkey Kong, Mario titles party, sports, Mario Bros, Mario Land, all of those, Animal Crossing, Pokemon, I could give you a fucking MOUNTAIN of amazing Nintendo exclusive titles, some of which I’ve even imported to be able to play, and some of which I’ve had to use an emulator for, but I think you get my point, Nintendo is awesome. nuff’ said

  3. His words probably soared over some fanboys who will buy killer instinct with one free playable character hahahahaha.

    1. Do you remember when you bought a game and had 50 or so characters you unlocked and played with, without ever needing a credit card? And you never had a ABSURDLY limited amount of characters?

      Peppridge Farm remembers.

      1. I do and I cherish those memories. Reason why defeating microsoft’s DRM issue was important. If only nintendo could get one of their studios or collaborate with Namco Bandai to bring a great fighter of the realistic sort to the Wii U.

  4. Rare never should have left Nintendo, it is clear the collaboration between them was special. It hurt Nintendo when Rare left but it hurt Rare more.

    1. Yes but we recovered they didn’t….
      Retro took there place the day Prime shipped (the best first party game on the ‘cube abd it wasn’t even made in Japan RARE never were able to beat NINTENDO at there own Game Banjo has nothing on Mario 64 and Starfox adventures is as lame a Zelda clone as they come) and NINTENDO has a very cosy relationship with Next Level and Monster Games who have also proved there worth to NINTENDO as valued collaborator’s(maybe even first party’s one day who know’s).

      1. I find Banjo-Kazooie better than Mario 64, and I’m sure other’s think the same. I also found Star Fox adventures a decent game. Although we wanted some arwing action, it wasn’t too terrible. Let’s hope something happens to make Nintendo an even better company.(Buying companies, new IPs, or buying old franchises from Rare that’ll most likely never be touched again.)

  5. Yes, we get it. Everyone wants Rare to join Nintendo again and frolic in the meadows once more. Rare always talks shit about Microsoft and confess their undying hatred for their current employer. I swear we get an article about Rare every month. -__- 💋

    1. A man screaming about how much a blade cutting into his stomach may be load every time it happens to him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t in pain.

  6. Pingback: Phil Tossell: è stato bello lavorare con Nintendo | NintendOn

  7. Rare was the best and most prolific partner Nintendo ever had. Battletoads, Killer Instinct, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Conker, Jet Force Gemini, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Bast Corps, Donkey Kong 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong Country series, etc. It is clear Rare needed Nintendo, but Nintendo would have been better with Rare staying on. If Rare stayed and was with Nintendo we would have more hit games on GameCube, Wii, and Wii U and Gameboy Advance and DS, and 3DS too. Rare was a great partner with creative collaboration with Nintendo. They both needed each other.

  8. the fanboys on this site are so fucking retarded. ahhhhh the only worse thing are the spammers. now….. let me tell you a story, please que the music while reading. its not so easy to live life as a troll…… kids hungary (sniffs) wife crabby. all because we live under the bad part of the bridge, where food is just so hard to come by. so each and every morning us trolls have to leave early in the morning leaving are wife and kids……. not knowing that when we come back with the little food that we usually get that they might not still be breathing….. alive. its tough…… leaving your family in such a low time and not knowing if they will fend off our enemies while im gone, to protect the little shelter we have. so before you hate…… since we have found mynintendonews, there is hope, coming home with a food that fills up the whole table is something we never thought we could achieve . just seeing our families actually building strength, is all we could ask for. so deal with it you retards if you hate us, why are you feeding us.
    http://youtu.be/l77iaZHaZX4?t=42s

    thanks for wasting your time to understand us, your the one feeding us and helping us. your the ones keeping us around.

            1. Funny how many good games the Game Cube came out with. Exclusive games at that. The only console I disliked was the Wii, and that was due to the lack of games THROUGHOUT it’s lifetime. The Wii U has games coming, and plus it seems third party support may be possible. I see that you like Nintendo as much as I do, don’t lose hope yet.

  9. If Retro Studios got the rights for Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Battletoads and Jet Force Gemini from Rare do you think they’ll treat them better?

    1. Obviously, Nintendo is the best company to make those beloved franchises successful again. I don’t see Microsoft doing anything creative with them. They need to buy at least some of them!

    2. I dunno……it’s a thought, but I don’t know if they’d be able to do a collect-a-thon like Banjo. They’re more specialized in shooters and platformers for the most part, from what I can see….

      1. Banjo basically was a platformer. But I still agree with you. I’m not exactly sure who should take on those franchises if we ever do get them back, but Nintendo will make them known again.

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