History Creator / Rare

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/new_rare_logo_001_4424.jpg

-->--JonTron, on (pre-[[DarthWiki/FallenCreator fall]]) Rare

* ''High Speed''

* ''SnakeRattleAndRoll''

* ''SolarJetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship''

* ''Time Lord''

* ExecutiveMeddling: Even former employees agree that Microsoft's micro-management of the company has hurt their business. To contrast, Rare made tons of games under Nintendo, yet it has probably only made about ten or fewer games for the entirety of their Microsoft ownership.

In TheNineties, Rare enjoyed an extraordinary popularity, thanks mostly to their ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' trilogy and a number of other hit releases such as ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye]]'' and ''BanjoKazooie'', lauded as masterpieces in their time. Near the TurnOfTheMillennium, their popularity declined drastically; most of their releases disappointed former fans and generally failed to attract new ones. Currently, although they still have admirers (the large majority being fans of the titles they made under Creator/{{Nintendo}}), their games have a tendency to pop up on "most overrated" lists and are frequently badmouthed by the gaming press.

* ''Jetpac''

* ''SabreWulf''

* CreatorThumbprint: Keys. ''Enormous'' keys, bigger and heavier than the characters, the most famous being the infamous ice key from ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' / ''Banjo Tooie''. Both ''DiddyKongRacing'' and ''DonkeyKong64'' feature gigantic gold keys as {{plot coupon}}s; finding or using a key is always a momentous occasion.

They've created some games for the ZXSpectrum, 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.

In TheNineties, Rare enjoyed an extraordinary popularity, thanks mostly to their ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' trilogy and a number of other hit releases such as ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye]]'' and ''BanjoKazooie'', lauded as masterpieces in their time. Near the TurnOfTheMillennium, their popularity declined drastically; most of their releases disappointed former fans and generally failed to attract new ones. Currently, although they still have admirers (the large majority being fans of the titles they made under {{Nintendo}}), their games have a tendency to pop up on "most overrated" lists and are frequently badmouthed by the gaming press.

* FollowTheLeader: It cannot be denied that much of their games during their Nintendo years pretty much imitate another popular game, usually another Nintendo game. ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. ''DiddyKongRacing'' imitated ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' imitated ''MortalKombat''. Heck, while they have been making an effort to avoid this during their Microsoft years, the [=Xbox=] 360 Avatars blatantly imitate [[{{Wii}} Miis]]. Somewhat justified because Rare's games improved and expanded upon Nintendo's formulas enough to be considered proper evolutions of the genre and spiritual successors, especially since their games were exclusive to Nintendo systems as Nintendo owned Rare, making it so that they were sort of "stealing from themselves."

** ''Extremely'' [[YourMileageMayVary open to debate]]. Rare did indeed have a tendency to release high-profile video games of a certain genre (platformers, racing games, fighting games, etc.) shortly after another company, usually Nintendo, had done the exact same thing, but the Rare game's similarity to its predecessor has become ''hugely'' exaggerated and can usually be chocked up to the tropes of said genre. Sure, both ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' are 2D platform games featuring a cartoon mascot that runs to the left and jumps, but they have next to nothing in common structurally, aesthetically, or in terms of design philosophy. Play them both side by side and see the massive difference. The same can be said of ''most'' of Rare's alleged "copycat" games.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar ''BanjoTooie''. The tradition is carried on into ''Nuts 'N Bolts'' as well.
* LiveItem ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'', ''DonkeyKong64'', ''BanjoKazooie'', ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures''
* NoFourthWall ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'', ''DonkeyKong64'', ''BanjoKazooie'', ''BanjoTooie'', ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' and ''Conker's Bad Fur Day''

* SubvertedKidsShow blatantly in ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', more subtly in ''BanjoTooie''
* UrbanLegendOfZelda famously in ''PerfectDark'', even ''more'' famously in ''Banjo-Kazooie''
* VariableMix the ''BanjoKazooie'' series in particular popularized it
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' and ''JetForceGemini''

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar (''BanjoTooie''). The tradition is carried on into ''Nuts 'N Bolts'' as well.
* LiveItem (''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'', ''DonkeyKong64'', ''BanjoKazooie'', ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'')
* NoFourthWall (''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'', ''DonkeyKong64'', ''BanjoKazooie'', ''BanjoTooie'', ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' and ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'')

* SubvertedKidsShow (blatantly in ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', more subtly in ''BanjoTooie'')
* UrbanLegendOfZelda (famously in ''PerfectDark'', even ''more'' famously in ''Banjo-Kazooie'')
* VariableMix (the ''BanjoKazooie'' series in particular popularized it)
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential (''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' and ''JetForceGemini'')

In TheNineties, Rare enjoyed an extraordinary popularity, thanks mostly to their ''DonkeyKongCountry'' trilogy and a number of other hit releases such as ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye]]'' and ''BanjoKazooie'', lauded as masterpieces in their time. Near the TurnOfTheMillennium, their popularity declined drastically; most of their releases disappointed former fans and generally failed to attract new ones. Currently, although they still have admirers (the large majority being fans of the titles they made under {{Nintendo}}), their games have a tendency to pop up on "most overrated" lists and are frequently badmouthed by the gaming press.

* ''DonkeyKongCountry''

* FollowTheLeader: It cannot be denied that much of their games during their Nintendo years pretty much imitate another popular game, usually another Nintendo game. ''DonkeyKongCountry'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. ''DiddyKongRacing'' imitated ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' imitated ''MortalKombat''. Heck, while they have been making an effort to avoid this during their Microsoft years, the [=Xbox=] 360 Avatars blatantly imitate [[{{Wii}} Miis]]. Somewhat justified because Rare's games improved and expanded upon Nintendo's formulas enough to be considered proper evolutions of the genre and spiritual successors, especially since their games were exclusive to Nintendo systems as Nintendo owned Rare, making it so that they were sort of "stealing from themselves."
* GottaCatchThemAll: Rare is particularly notorious for this. The trend started in the ''DonkeyKongCountry'' series, where progressively more and more items were needed to attain OneHundredPercentCompletion. Later, ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'', while a great game, had a rather large number of collectibles. Finally, ''DonkeyKong64'' took things UpToEleven and is often accused of [[GenreKiller killing]] the "collect-a-thon" genre of 3D platformers.

* LiveItem (''DonkeyKongCountry'', ''DonkeyKong64'', ''BanjoKazooie'', ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'')
* NoFourthWall (''DonkeyKongCountry'', ''DonkeyKong64'', ''BanjoKazooie'', ''BanjoTooie'', ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' and ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'')

* ''It's Mr. Pants''

* ''Videogame/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' (NES LicensedGame)
* ''PerfectDark''

* ''PerfectDarkZero''

* ''Marble Madness'' (NES version)

* ''WizardsAndWarriors''

* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' (NES LicensedGame)

->''They were like Music/{{the Beatles}} of {{video games}}. They could take on seemingly any genre of gaming'' and ''set the bar while they were at it.''

* ''[[{{WWE}} WWF]] WrestleMania'' (NES LicensedGame)

* ''{{NARC}}'' (NES version)

* FollowTheLeader: It cannot be denied that much of their games during their Nintendo years pretty much imitate another popular game, usually another Nintendo game. ''DonkeyKongCountry'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. ''DiddyKongRacing'' imitated ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' imitated ''MortalKombat''. Heck, while they have been making an effort to avoid this during their Microsoft years, the [=Xbox=] 360 Avatars blatantly imitate [[{{Wii}} Miis]]. Somewhat justified because Rare's games improved and expanded upon Nintendo's formulas enough to be considered proper evolutions of the genre and spiritual successors, especially since their games were exclusive to Nintendo systems as Nintendo owned Rare, making so that they were sort of "stealing from themselves."

* FollowTheLeader: It cannot be denied that much of their games during their Nintendo years pretty much imitate another popular game, usually another Nintendo game. ''DonkeyKongCountry'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. ''DiddyKongRacing'' imitated ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' imitated ''MortalKombat''. Heck, while they have been making an effort to avoid this during their Microsoft years, the [=Xbox=] 360 Avatars blatantly imitate [[{{Wii}} Miis]]. Justified because Rare's games improved and expanded upon Nintendo's formulas enough to be considered proper evolutions of the genre and spiritual successors, especially since their games were exclusive to Nintendo systems as Nintendo owned Rare, making so that they were sort of "stealing from themselves."

* FollowTheLeader: It cannot be denied that much of their games during their Nintendo years pretty much imitate another popular game, usually another Nintendo game. ''DonkeyKongCountry'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' imitated ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. ''DiddyKongRacing'' imitated ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' imitated ''MortalKombat''. Heck, while they have been making an effort to avoid this during their Microsoft years, the [=Xbox=] 360 Avatars blatantly imitate [[{{Wii}} Miis]].

->''They were like {{the Beatles}} of {{video games}}. They could take on seemingly any genre of gaming'' and ''set the bar while they were at it.''

** ''Battletoads & DoubleDragon: The Ultimate Team''

* ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}''

* ''BlastCorps''
* ''{{Cabal}}'' (NES version)

* ''CobraTriangle''

* ''{{NARC}}''