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November 18, 2000
AKA
Rare |
Position
Nintendo 2nd Party Developer |
Location
UK |
Notable Titles/Series
Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong 64, Killer Instinct series, Banjo-Kazooie,
Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, Jet Force Gemini, Banjo-Tooie,
Conker's Bad Fur Day, Dinosaur Planet, Mickey's Speedway USA, Battle Toads,
plus many, many more on previous machines. |
About
If you think about it... Rareware saved the N64 as much as Nintendo
did. Goldeneye was left as a reason to get the machine ever since its release,
and their semi-sequel Perfect Dark was obviously as anticipated as (or
close to) Zelda 64. Rareware is known to make quality games no matter what
genre they are. Who can forget Donkey Kong Country on SNES? Yep, Rare's
the ultimate Nintendo-partner that that has made ground-breakig new games
on all kinds of systems, Nintendo machines that is. Rare started off its
N64 phenomenon with the release of Diddy Kong Racing, a fun racing game
that was so addictive in single player and smashed Mariokart in the single
player. Actually, before that was Killer Instinct Gold, a not-so great
2D fighting game that was nevertheless addictive. And who could forget
Blast Corps, the innovative, addictive extraordinary game? Diddiy Kong
Racing turned out to be a majo hit, until they released Goldeneye.... and
boy did it sell. Sill today I sometimes play Goldeneye multiplayer and
think it's still more addictive and tension-full than PD. However, Rare
wasn't done yet. They came up with a game called Banjo-Kazooie, which everyone
thought would just be a pathetic Mario clone with a barely known character.
However, this game was amazing. While being on the 'kiddy' side, this game
was so detailed in terms of visuals and gameplay, and it was so addictive
and as fun as Super Mario 64. Then they made Donkey Kong 64... which they
basically poured everything they could into the cartridge. Most recently,
however, is Perfect Dark. Everyone wanted something even better than Goldeneye...
and that's exactly what they made. This is Rare's guarantee you can trust
- when they make a sequel, it's gonna be better than the prequel. Period. |
| Strengths
They could tackle new genres for the first time and turn it into a masterpiece.
They are capable of coming up with new franchise.
Like Nintendo, they delay their games until they are happy.
All their games are major hits or masterpieces.
They are actually capable of 'copying' a well known game and making it
better.
Multiplayer seems to be in most of their recent games.
They can make a very kiddy game then next up they could make a very mature
game... if someone played Banjo-Kazooie then PD for the first time, they
wouldn't have a clue the same company made both.
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| Weaknesses
They delay games for lunch.
Most of their games can be considered 'kiddy', and aimed at a young audience.
They might be criticized for 'cloning' games.
Most of their games are 'samey', basically upgrading an existing game with
better visuals, different gameplay, etc.
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Relationship With Nintendo
You could say Rare is part of Nintendo... some people even get confused
which of the two made Donkey Kong and who made Banjo and Conker.
This company will perfectly fill the gap of Nintendo's own software
lineup if there's anything missing. (Does this mean they'll make Killer
Instinct 3 for launch? We hope so!) This is what made the N64 a winner
in the FPS area. |
Most Recent Title
banjo-Tooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day. |
Confirmed NGC Titles
None, but possibly Perfect Dark 2, Banjo-Kazzoie 3, and maybe Donkey
Kong GC may be in works. It's rumoured that they are underway with KI3,
but all of the rumoured Rare games are rumours... that's it. |
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