From GoldenEye to Banjo-Kazooie: A Look at the Rise and Fall of Rare

Oh, Rare – what happened to you?

A staple of our childhoods, once upon a time it seemed you could do no wrong. Back in the days when you and Nintendo shared a strong, seemingly unbreakable relationship, you brought us classic game after classic game, seemingly never pausing for breath nor breaking a sweat.

Also See: Rare’s Next Xbox One Game Makes 2015 a “Huge Year”, Says Composer

Now, though, it’s the complete opposite. Each new release is more disappointing than the last, and we practically have to pinch ourselves to be reminded that you were the team behind the likes of GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong Country.

With rumors circulating that Rare is working on a game that will be “huge news” for Xbox One owners in 2015, and with our optimism practically run completely dry, it’s time to look at what went wrong with Rare from their rise to greatness, to their descent into mediocrity.

Here’s our look at the rise and fall of the little British studio that could… and then eventually gave up.

From Donkey Kong to Banjo-Kazooie: A Look at the Best (and Worst) Games By Rare

June 1991 - Battletoads (NES)

Though the studio's first game was the 1986 Nintendo arcade title Vs. Slalom, Rare hadn't ruffled any feathers up until Battletoads. Prior to the release of this infamously difficult game, the developer had only put out forgettable (and, in some instances, downright awful) titles that were overlooked by gamers back in the '80s.
This changed with the release of Battletoads in 1991, which caught the attention of many thanks to its beautiful (for the time) graphics, which resembled the cartoony visual style of Saturday morning cartoons.
Though there were subsequent Battletoads games such as a crossover with fellow beat 'em up series Double Dragon, none proved to be as popular as the original game. In fact, gamers are still awaiting a true blue sequel to the game to this day, with its oft-rumored, never realized follow-up having become a famous in-joke within the online gaming community.
June 1994 - Killer Instinct (Arcade/SNES)

Back when fighting games were going from strength to strength in terms of their popularity, Rare came up with a new challenger to a market dominated by Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Killer Instinct popped up in arcades all over the Western world, with its "hook" being its over-the-top combo system, which could see players racking up insane damage on their opponents.
This gave it a unique selling point to go up against the finely tuned mechanics of the Street Fighter series and the arcade-y gorefest of Mortal Kombat, but while the game was widely praised upon its release and its port to the SNES was met with a mostly positive reaction, Rare failed to really capitalize upon it and instead produced a sequel that was far too similar to its predecessor, followed by an upgraded version of the game for the Nintendo 64 titled Killer Instinct Gold.
That's a crying shame because for a period of time it seemed like the series was shaping up to be the plucky underdog in the playground arguments between fans of SF and MK. While I was a rather bloodthirsty child and therefore always favored Mortal Kombat and its gruesome fatalities, seeing those ridiculous Ultra combos being executed in arcades by players far more skilled (and older) than I was undoubtedly inveigling and could have perhaps converted me, if not for the fact that Killer Instinct releases were few and far between.
Rare proved with Killer Instinct that they were more than adept at dabbling in different genres, but many would have hoped that they would have continued with the series past Killer Instinct 2 and crafted a true contender to the big-hitters in the fighting game genre.
A free-to-play reboot of the series was released for the launch of the Xbox One, though developer Double Helix took the reins as the team who had worked on the original Killer Instinct had all but completely left the company by 2013, which is quite depressing when you think about it.
November 1994 - Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Rare burst onto the SNES with a game that outlined the power of Nintendo's 16-bit system, as Donkey Kong Country's revolutionary 3D-esque visuals looked like a glimpse of the back in 1994.
Taking the name of one of Nintendo's most famous IPs and going in a completely different direction with the franchise, Donkey Kong Country was Rare's first foray into the big leagues, and it was an unequivocal success. Seeing Donkey Kong Country for the first time as a kid marks one of my most memorable gaming experiences, sitting alongside F-Zero's Mode 7 enhanced graphics as one of the key factors in my decision to side with Team SNES over Team Genesis.
Donkey Kong Country would be the true beginning to Rare's long-standing relationship with Nintendo, one which would see the studio soaring to greater heights than most other developers and placing them alongside the likes of Capcom as one of Ninty's most trusted partners.
August 1997 - GoldenEye 007 (N64)

Rare had crafted one of the most popular series on the SNES in the form of Donkey Kong Country and its successors, but their first true-blue release on the N64 proved to be a bonafide system seller and helped redefine multiplayer gaming.
GoldenEye 007 was the developer's first foray into the world of the first-person shooter, a genre which was nowhere near as over-saturated as it is today, particularly on consoles.
FPS' had been gaining traction on PC since 1992, with sprite-based games such as Doom and Duke Nukem 3D eventually paving the way for titles making use of 3D polygonal graphics such as Quake. In 1997, one year following the release of Quake, Rare's GoldenEye 007 hit store shelves for the N64 and proved to be a game-changer.
While PC developers had been making big strides with FPS games and were driving the genre to greater heights on the platform, Rare was the first to introduce many console-only gamers to the world of shooting things in a 3D space. It also made the N64 THE console to own for many, with it proving to be a big hit in local multiplayer sessions thanks to its 4-player split-screen action.
GoldenEye 007 would pave the way for the likes of the TimeSplitters series and Rare's own Perfect Dark, contributing to the rise of a genre that would go on to consume the gaming industry. Depending upon your own personal opinion, this was either a good or a bad thing.
GoldenEye 007 is now considered one of the very best games on the N64, and though it hasn't exactly aged tremendously due to the myriad of advancements within the genre it inhabits, it's certainly a key piece of gaming history.
November 1997 - Diddy Kong Racing (N64)

By 1997 many had come to the reasonable conclusion that Rare could try their hand at any genre and excel in it. Apparently the developer also thought the same thing, as they decided to firmly tread on Nintendo's toes with a contender to Mario Kart 64's throne with Diddy Kong Racing.
Released in November '97, the game shifted 800,000 copies prior to the Christmas period, making it the fastest-selling game ever at the time, and another big addition to the N64's steadily expanding line-up of excellent multiplayer games.
As tended to be the case with Rare, though, consumer demand for a sequel went unfulfilled. Rare was working on a sequel to the game titled Donkey Kong Racing, with the company going so far as to release a CGI teaser for the ill-fated game at E3 2001. Unfortunately the project was scrapped, with little-known developer Paon eventually being given the go-ahead to take the reins and produce Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. Suffice to say it was terrible.
June 1998 - Banjo-Kazooie (N64)

Rare had done a lot for the Donkey Kong brand, leading one of Nintendo's premier pre-NES series into two different console generations with overwhelming success. With Banjo-Kazooie, though, the developer created a mascot of their very own.
Banjo-Kazooie was a huge release for Rare, giving them an intellectual property that they could hold onto. While they had taken unique approaches to brand names held by external companies, producing one of the greatest movie-licensed games ever in GoldenEye 007 and leading the aforementioned DK series into the top-tier of popular gaming series, Banjo-Kazooie was something they could hold onto.
Taking the foundations laid by Super Mario 64 and building upon them to create a similar yet thoroughly more impressive game, Rare made the jump to 3D platforming in a big way. A sequel to the game, imaginatively titled Banjo-Tooie, would release in 2000, and despite releasing towards the tail-end of the N64's life-cycle and just one year prior to the release of the GameCube, it still sold a whopping amount, with 3 million copies being shifted worldwide.
Unfortunately, Rare would completely drop the ball with Banjo following the dissolution of their relationship with Nintendo... but we'll get to that later.
May 2000 - Perfect Dark (N64)

Rare forged a gold mine with GoldenEye 007, but passed on the opportunity to work on a game to tie in with its sequel, Tomorrow Never Dies, as they had spent "too much time immersed in the James Bond universe." So along came Perfect Dark, a game which was built upon the GoldenEye engine, retained more-or-less the same gameplay but added a sci-fi twist, along with numerous multiplayer improvements.
Following so closely in the footsteps of GoldenEye inevitably meant that Perfect Dark was a hit, but it was a big deal for another reason - its protagonist.
Joanna Dark was a concerted effort on behalf of Rare to increase the representation of females in video games, and while its storyline and dialogue weren't exactly award-winning, it was still a bold move to go from placing players in the shoes of womanizing man's man James Bond to a female protagonist. Though Joanna Dark didn't attain the same pop culture status as the likes of Lara Croft, nor did the game achieve the same high amount of sales as GoldenEye (though that can hardly be attributed to its heroine), it was yet more proof that Rare played by their own rules, something which continued to garner them a great deal of respect and admiration from gamers.
March 2001 - Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)

Rare had been criticized over the years for producing too many "kid-friendly" games, i.e. games that didn't feature gore or improbably breasted women, as was increasingly becoming the trend. They responded with Conker's Bad Fur Day, a game which is largely considered to be their magnum opus... albeit one with an awfully foul mouth.
Conker's Bad Fur Day had a sense of humor that hadn't really been seen in video games up until that point, its mature-rated themes, toilet humor and wicked potty-mouth setting it apart from the crowd so much so that it struggled to gain much traction in terms of sales when it was released.
Its poor sales were attributed to its release at the end of the N64's life cycle, along with Nintendo's failure to market it correctly, with the company even refusing to acknowledge it in their popular Nintendo Power magazine.
Though the game was the subject of critical admiration and would go on to become a hit, its sales fell way below Rare's predictions. It was never stated that Nintendo's throwing of them under the bus when it came to advertising the game eventually led to their decision to part ways with the company in the home console market, though their deal with Microsoft (which, again, we'll get to later) came very soon afterwards.
September 2002 - Star Fox Adventures (GameCube)

This is the game that marks Rare's descent from Nintendo's most favored second-party developer to the eventual shells of their former shelves that they would become. Star Fox Adventures was initially developed under the title Dinosaur Planet, with it set to feature a brand new cast of characters. However, upon seeing the designs of the game's anthropomorphic characters, famed Nintendo video game producer/director Shigeru Miyamoto insisted that it be turned into a Star Fox game to be released in time for the GameCube's launch.
Star Fox Adventures marked a huge transition from the game's on-rails space combat to a 3D platforming world, and though it was received relatively well at the time of its release, in hindsight it's looked now upon as a big misfire for the series and for Rare. Far too different to be truly appreciated by Star Fox fans, the game would be the last Rare would develop for a Nintendo home console, as they were purchased by Microsoft in 2002 in order to developer titles exclusively for the company's Xbox systems.
While Rare would continue to develop games for Nintendo's handheld consoles (as Microsoft hadn't entered into the portable market), their illustrious history with Nintendo's home consoles was brought to an end, and not on a particularly high note.
October 2003 - Grabbed By The Ghoulies (Xbox)

If Star Fox Adventures was a sign that all was not right in the world of Rare, then Grabbed By The Ghoulies was something of a death knell. Aside from a few misfires, the majority of which weren't exactly the fault of the company, Rare games had typically generated big sales with their games. Not Grabbed By The Ghoulies, though.
All signs pointed to this game being a flop. Its dull protagonist and awful, puke-green box art, and especially that terrible title all suggested that Rare's first foray onto the Xbox would be a disappointing one. Considering the game only sold around 350,000 copies worldwide, those signs were proven right.
But this was just a blip on the radar, right? Rare would make a comeback, right? RIGHT?!
June 2005 - Conker: Live & Reloaded (Xbox)

Conker: Live & Reloaded wasn't the Conker's Bad Fur Day sequel we wanted, but instead proved to be a stop-gap between the next IP Rare was working on. It was also the last game Rare would develop for the original Xbox, and no matter which way you cut it, two releases (especially one as poor as Grabbed By The Ghoulies) during the entire life cycle of a console isn't exactly impressive. It's almost certain that Microsoft wasn't best pleased with their acquisition's first venture onto their home console, so to compensate Rare came up with an updated, online-ready remake of the N64 classic.
Conker: Live & Reloaded featured two distinct components. The first was its single-player mode, which was exactly the same as its N64 predecessor only with glossier visuals. The second was its multiplayer mode. Bad Fur Day's multiplayer was an underrated gem that placed players in a variety of wacky scenarios from assuming the role of dinosaurs to controlling tanks. Live & Reloaded took one of those scenarios, pinched from Bad Fur Day's 'Beach' game type which sees tasks players with storming/defending a Normandy-esque shore.
It was certainly less zany than Bad Fur Day's multiplayer offering, but it was also a lot more refined and proved to be a staple of Xbox Live's top 10 most played games until 2007, two years after its release.
It wasn't the game that Conker fans really wanted, but it was enough to keep them going until Rare found their form once again... unfortunately, that day never really came.
November 2005 - Kameo: Elements of Power (Xbox 360)

Rare were entrusted with providing two major releases for the launch of the Xbox 360, and one would see them return to their old stomping ground, the platform genre. Kameo: Elements of Power was seen by many as Microsoft's flagship game for the release of their new console, as it displayed vivid, gorgeous visuals for its time that indicated what the system was capable of. It was also the first announced game for the console, showing that despite their troubles with producing games for the original Xbox, the relationship between Microsoft and Rare was still a close one.
While it wasn't a bad game, it wasn't a great one, either, and was mainly purchased due to the Xbox 360's lackluster launch line-up rather than games actually being interested in the title. As is tradition with Rare, the company stated that they were working on a sequel, but it was canceled before we even got to see a glimpse of it.
November 2005 - Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)

Kameo was forgettable but inoffensive. Perfect Dark Zero, on the other hand, was an abomination. The second launch game released on the Xbox 360, Perfect Dark Zero tried to bring the series into a new console generation, with it intended to highlight the power of the 360's upgraded Xbox Live functionality. Unfortunately, it fell flat on mostly all counts.
Perfect Dark Zero could have been the revival of an old-school FPS with the potential to spawn a popular series, but instead it sullied the memory of the original game and left no one wanting another taste of it.
A messy multiplayer mode with imprecise shooting mechanics, combined with a weak story mode filled with dumb AI meant that perhaps the most highly anticipated game of the Xbox 360's launch was a disappointing mess. Rare hung up the Perfect Dark series to dry, and by this point no one really cared.
November 2006 - Viva Pinata (Xbox 360)

Viva Pinata stands as the only true great game released by Rare during the Xbox 360's life cycle, with many using the game to confound their belief that the developer had still got it. Giving players the chance to create and manage a garden of colorful, candy-filled animals, Viva Pinata remains one of the most charming simulation games ever released. It was so charming, in fact, that I still have my copy of the game, the only early Xbox 360 release that I am still in possession of. There's simply nothing else like it on the console, and that was eventually the series' downfall.
Released in 2006, the 360's second year on the market, it made its way onto store shelves before the console began hitting its stride with mature-rated, online-focused games. It didn't garner amazing sales upon its release (it did release within the same week as Gears of War), but achieved steady financial success as time went by and the Xbox 360 still didn't have a hugely impressive line-up.
But following the release of GoW, and then the release of Halo 3 the year after, the console was no longer a home for unique oddities such as Viva Pinata. Its sequels failed to gain as much commercial traction, and what could have Rare's next ticket back to its success in the charming days of the N64 eventually faded away with a whimper.
Viva Pinata also marks a huge part of Rare's history as a developer, as it was the last game which was worked upon by the developer's founders, Tim and Chris Stamper. At least they went out on a high-note, and wouldn't stay around to see the motion-controlled monster the company would later become.
November 2008 - Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Xbox 360)

Perhaps no other developer is so adamant on not giving the fans what they want than Rare. While going in new directions and taking risks is certainly admirable, at this point the company was still unable to justify its exclusivity deal with Microsoft, and could've really done with another big hit under its belt. To do so, they brought out Banjo-Kazooie... but had him star in a vehicle construction game.
The concept of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is unappealing even when it doesn't star one of the greatest mascots of the '90s, but adding in Banjo just made the whole debacle much more baffling. Did anybody at Rare think this was going to work? Taking a gaming icon who starred in a series of games that everyone desperately wanted to see a sequel to, then completely scrapping the facets of those games that people enjoyed, wasn't exactly a smart business move.
The Banjo name carried the game to reasonable sales, though was yet again proof of the diminishing quality (and poor decision-making) exhibited by Rare. If you're going to go in a different direction with an established franchise then more power to you, but going in a far less interesting direction is a little counter-intuitive.
Banjo-Kazooie 3 is still a game we're waiting to see, sitting alongside Conker 2 in the list of Rare games we can't believe haven't had sequels yet.
2010 to 2014 - Kinect Sports (Xbox 360 & Xbox One)

Since Microsoft's acquisition of the company there were numerous underwhelming releases from Rare, but Kinect Sports was truly the straw that broke the camel's back and made us all but give up on the company we once knew and loved.
With Tim and Chris Stamper gone from their managerial positions, Rare decided to get into bed with Microsoft's Kinect, their entry into the motion-control market that no one wanted but they decided to force down our throats anyway.
Rare took control of Kinect Sports, a thinly veiled contender to Nintendo's hugely successful Wii Sports that was nowhere near as fun. Still, Microsoft decided to keep Rare pushing with the Kinect-centric games, as they followed up with Kinect Sports: Season Two.
The Kinect Sports series appears to have now come to a head, though, as Microsoft seems to have finally given up with the Kinect following the resounding "meh" the tech received following its mandatory bundling in with the Xbox One, as Kinect Sports Rivals pulled in disastrous sales that saw Rare suffer a significant financial loss.
Now news has circulated that Rare will release a game in 2015 that will be "huge news" for the Xbox One, but former fans of the developer's output remain sceptical: are they really up to the task in 2014?