Rare, formerly known as Rareware, is a Twycross-based (though they started in Ashby-de-la-Zouch)
video game development company founded by Chris and Tim Stamper in
1982. They're famous for their pioneering of sophisticated technology to make video games, the sheer amount of
crap they get past the radar, the idiosyncratic little mysteries they weave into their games that leave gamers pondering for decades, and their media-shy nature.
They've created some games for the
ZX Spectrum, for which they attained most of their early fame (as "Ultimate Play the Game"), and then for
Nintendo, for which they earned their second wave of fame, but have since moved on to working under Microsoft.
Games developed/published by Ashby Computers and Graphics/Ultimate Play the Game:
- Jetpac
- Atic Atac
- PSSST
- Tranz Am
- Cookie
- Sabre Wulf
- Underwurlde
- Knight Lore
- Pentagram
- Alien 8
- Nightshade
- Cyberun
- Gunfright
- Martianoids
- Bubbler
- The Staff of Karnath
- Entombed
- Blackwyche
- Dragonskulle
- Outlaws
- Imhotep
Games developed/published by Rare (1985-2002):
Games developed by Rare, a subsidiary of Microsoft:
Tropes associated with Rare:
- Creator Thumbprint: Keys. Enormous keys, bigger and heavier than the characters, the most famous being the infamous ice key from Banjo-Kazooie / Banjo Tooie. Both Diddy Kong Racing and Donkey Kong 64 feature gigantic gold keys as plot coupons; finding or using a key is always a momentous occasion.
- Funny Animal
- Follow the Leader: It cannot be denied that much of their games during their Nintendo years pretty much imitate another popular game, usually another Nintendo game. Donkey Kong Country imitated Super Mario World. Banjo-Kazooie imitated Super Mario 64. Diddy Kong Racing imitated Mario Kart. Killer Instinct imitated Mortal Kombat. Heck, while they have been making an effort to avoid this during their Microsoft years, the Xbox 360 Avatars blatantly imitate Miis.
- Gotta Catch Them All: Rare is particularly notorious for this. The trend started in the Donkey Kong Country series, where progressively more and more items were needed to attain 100% Completion. Later, Banjo-Kazooie, while a great game, had a rather large number of collectibles. Finally, Donkey Kong 64 took things Up to Eleven and is often accused of killing the "collect-a-thon" genre of 3D platformers.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar (Banjo-Tooie). The tradition is carried on into Nuts 'N Bolts as well.
- Live Item (Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Star Fox Adventures)
- No Fourth Wall (Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Conker's Bad Fur Day)
- Self-Deprecation
- Subverted Kids Show (blatantly in Conkers Bad Fur Day, more subtly in Banjo-Tooie)
- Urban Legend of Zelda (famously in Perfect Dark, even more famously in Banjo-Kazooie)
- Variable Mix (the Banjo-Kazooie series in particular popularized it)
- Video Game Cruelty Potential (Conkers Bad Fur Day and Jet Force Gemini)
0 reviews