Although most gamers these days harp on about the likes of Bungie, Naughty Dog, Epic and Infinity Ward, Rare can also claim ownership of some of the most popular and important titles in gaming history.
But unlike most 'triple-A' developers, the Leicestershire studio boasts a library that spans a wide range of genres, and whether it's platform, FPS or the relatively young world of motion control, Rare seems to have had a significant impact in all areas of gaming.
It may not be the go to name for chart topping core titles at the moment, but Rare certainly commands a history and level of affection from gamers that few can truly compete with. Names like Banjo-Kazooie, Killer Instinct and Perfect Dark are all iconic among fans of our pastime, and that's why the house the Stampers built deserves to be among CVG's 30 great developers in 30 years.
OVERVIEW
Founded: 1982 (formerly Ultimate Play the Game)
Location: Twycross, England
Killer quote: "You can't help but look forward to what this Great British studio is going to come up with next."
KEY PEOPLE
The Stamper brothers originally founded Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd in 1982 after Chris Stamper dropped out of university and started experimenting with programming on the Sinclair ZX80.
In 1983, they released their first game, Jetpac, for the ZX Spectrum, trading under the name Ultimate Play the Game.
When Chris and Tim Stamper realised they had pushed the Spectrum to its limits, they began getting interested in developing on Nintendo platforms and went on to form a subdivision inside Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. named Rare Ltd. They would later convince Nintendo to allow them to develop games for their 8-bit console.
Gregg Mayles
Mayles' work on DKC inspired the designer to come up with Project Dream, an early Nintendo 64 concept which eventually became the much-loved platformer Banjo-Kazooie, a series which he's headed up ever since.
Gregg has since worked in key roles on Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Piñata and Kinect Sports, and in 2007 the Stamper Brothers' departure led to Mayles being promoted to Creative Director at Rare.
3 RARE GAMES WE LOVE
Donkey Kong Country
Fast, colourful and incredibly challenging, Donkey Kong Country is a seminal platformer praised for its then-stunning visuals. In fact they were something of a revolution at the time. Donkey Kong Country was one of the first home console games to use pre-rendered 3D graphics.
Designer Gregg Mayles recalled: "Nintendo were really impressed by what they'd seen. Aladdin was out on the Mega Drive and it had really good graphics. Nintendo said: 'We want a game that looks better than that using your new technology and using Donkey Kong.'
"Apart from Donkey Kong himself, we created everything else. Originally we were going to use Donkey Kong Jr as Donkey Kong's sidekick, but we'd reimagined him as what became Diddy. They weren't happy with that; they wanted him to look more like Donkey Kong in a nappy. But we wanted something a bit more dynamic, something that could jump around - so we went with our new character, but decided to call him something else."
GoldenEye 007
With a compelling single-player campaign that followed the plot of the 1995 film and solid shooting mechanics, GoldenEye 007 was a great single-player experience but outdid itself when it came to multiplayer. It's the definitive split-screen experience. So much so that it's been remade not once but (soon) twice and is still used as a point of comparison more than 15 years later.
Mayles revealed it wasn't just Rare's customers who became addicted to splitscreen face-shooting: "Usually, when our games come out, we never play them again. You've worked on them for so long that you just don't want to see them. But GoldenEye - a bunch of us used to play it every lunchtime without fail. We'd eat our sandwiches as quickly as possible. I think we stopped playing it after seven years."
Comments
26 comments so far...
dannyhulse on 1 Nov '11 said:
R.I.P Rareware
Andy88 on 1 Nov '11 said:
>3 games we Love:
- Donkey Kong Country
- Goldeneye
- Kinect Sports
what the actual f**k? Credibility of entire article immediately reduced to zero.
KillerKing on 1 Nov '11 said:
Rare died the day they signed up with Microsoft. They could've turned the Gamecube and the Wii into THE gamers choice consoles. Now they're messing around with avatar stuff.
Make another Banjo-Kazooie game. Please?
Laughlyn on 1 Nov '11 said:
I'd really love for Nintendo and Microsoft to come to some agreement for a Killer Instinct 3.
oh well. MAME does help ease the pain a little and i just got the SNES verision (with CD) otehr day for £2 all boxed up 
I loved the original and it looked great in the arcades back in teh day and on current machines it'd look fantastic, sure it' dbe compared to Tekken a bit but the Ultra combos n Orchids ass could surely help it along enough. I was gutted when i had to sell my KI arcade cabinet when the young un come along
Budly Moore on 1 Nov '11 said:
Banjo Kazooie Nuts n Bolts was quite good I thought, certainly the best thing they done this gen.
c3dpo on 1 Nov '11 said:
^^^ Ohhhh yes, I would love to pull out the old ultra's again
Picnic12 on 1 Nov '11 said:
What I don't get is how come Kinect Adventures looks even more like a Rare game than the game that they actually contributed to the Kinect, Kinect Sports. I'd love to see them make an easy to get in to wacky adventure again- make it relatively linear like Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot was but with a variety of themes to it like Banjo Kazooie had. Or could they make their own equivalent of Uncharted? Maybe as Perfect Dark 2.
ensabahnur on 1 Nov '11 said:
Rare games have always been about having fun and Kinect Sports (and its sequel, loving the darts and golf) is just that, fun!! As they said there were plenty of other games they could have chosen, in fact they listed them in the same paragraph, but the best current Rare game is Kinect Sports. Stick it on and have fun, after all isn't that what gaming's all supposed to be about?
Vampyre on 1 Nov '11 said:
How on earth can you have an article about Rare/Ultimate Play The Game and not have a single mention of Knight Lore
This article was a 30 year history so I think a passing mention of the most jaw-dropping (visually) game of the early 80's at least warrants a paragraph, never mind that it's up there with Goldeneye as Rare's magnum opus. I'll never forget the day I first saw it, they loaded it up in the local computer shop and within about 15 seconds it was 10 deep around the Speccy.
metallicorphan on 1 Nov '11 said:
i thought so as well,in fact it looked absolutely amazing,however, i thought they could of skipped the whole vehicle construction thing,didn't like that at all
I do like RARE,but of course they are not as good as yesteryear
Banjo 1 and 2
Conker
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
even Starfox are all great games
i have to mention Viva Pinata,i think i loved that game more than most people,it was very addictive and very fun
didn't like Kameo or Perfect Dark Zero though
I do wish they got back to making proper games again
Desert Fox on 1 Nov '11 said:
I really wish Rare would return to what made so many of us love them in the first place. I know I'm not the only one who doesn't care about Kinect, which I think we can all see is going nowhere interesting at the moment. I'd love another Banjo Kazooie game that was more in line with the original two, or perhaps another stab at Perfect Dark.
toaplan on 1 Nov '11 said:
Goldeneye on the N64 and Donkey Kong Country on the SNES have been the (very high) peaks of Rare. In the mid 90's they must have been among the top 5 developers in the world.
The current state of Rare under Microsoft is regrettable. Still, if I ever buy a Kinect, Kinect sports looks like one of the more interesting games for it.
Nintendo should have bought Rare. Right from the days of the NES, Rare were a valuable ally for Nintendo. I think it was the troubled "Star Fox adventures" on the GC that unravelled the long-lasting and successful relationship.
jeffery6803 on 1 Nov '11 said:
i know it shouldn`t matter but joanna dark just looks slutty now one of the few female characters that wasn`t made for pervs gets re imagined for pervs teenage,big boobs ,makeup face not even the same accent rare didn`t change companies they sold out period
AegisK on 1 Nov '11 said:
I still think Conker was one of the best video game characters ever created. Perfect Dark was a pretty killer game too.
mogel94 on 1 Nov '11 said:
Some of the first games I played were Rare games, such a shame to see them as what they are now.
DoomGuy84 on 1 Nov '11 said:
I read a story that Nintendo were trying to get rid of Rare before Microsoft bought them, something about them not being happy that Donkey Kong 64 was too similar to Banjo Kazooie or something along those lines. Also heard that Activision tried to buy them and make them a multi-format developer!
Rare are my all time favourite developer, there was just something magical about their N64 heyday, games like Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie brought a lot of happiness to me and my mates. I still get the N64 out every few years to replay their classics!
liveswired on 1 Nov '11 said:
Microsoft destroyed Rare.
liveswired on 1 Nov '11 said:
There are lots of ridiculous rumours and that story you read is completely false as well.
There was no conspiracy - the simple fact was that Microsoft made an offer that was too good to refuse.
tmulford on 1 Nov '11 said:
True, none of the Sabreman games are mentioned. Would love to see them finally release MireMare.
Welsh Jester on 1 Nov '11 said:
Rare needs to make more great games like they did on the 64, for adventure games PS3 wouldn't stand a chance against them.
danbish on 2 Nov '11 said:
Shuch a shame that a once near legendary developer like Rare has been crushed by Microsoft and confined to making avatars and rip off's of Wii Sports. The talent they had was truely amazing and I'd love to see them developing games again properly, but I know that they'll never reach the same heights if they did.
Rare was my favourite developer back in the day and I owned nearly every title they made knowing that everything they done was done properly and was fun. It saddens me to think that their talent will never be back.
Flurished under Nintendo, destroyed my Microsoft.
R.I.P. Rare. You are missed.
Vampyre on 2 Nov '11 said:
Sadly, I'm afraid you'll be waiting until the end of time as no matter the rumours on the internet, (false) ex-devs stating they've seen it, I'm afraid it never existed beyond a concept stage. I recently caught up with an old mate who worked at Rare until late last year and he got it straight from the horses (Tim Stampers) mouth a few years ago. I'd believe him any day over the bulls**tters who frequent the speccy forums. There's still some on WOS who cling to the faint hope, but hope's all it'll ever be.
KMakawa on 2 Nov '11 said:
Rare chose to join Microsoft, Rare chose to go into the industry with 360 Avatars and Kinect games - every studio has to change in time, not all are gonna sit still with the classics.
Rare are actually doing better then before, they've manage to turn a not-so-good situation, into a really good one. Rare still have the power to bring out a Banjo if they wanted to do so, but ultimately why should they, given what they are doing right now?
Believe it or not, they've made those 360 avatars into a worldwide recognized brand for Microsoft, and that type of stuff isnt exactly easy.
STEVONYMO on 3 Nov '11 said:
Ultimate...Play the game. Now that's showing my age lol. A great studio from day 1 and I remember classics like Atic Atac and Lunar jetman on the Specky. Sigh...Happy days. That's a huge T shirt in the picture as well may just fit me that rascal!
liveswired on 6 Nov '11 said:
That is true - I would put this to the loyal fans - Rares 'traditional' gaming peaked in the late 90s - do you really want another Nuts and Bolts debacle? Their past should be celebrated but they simply don't have the resources to make big games. Anyways they've followed in Nintendo's footpath with regards Kinect Sports and Avatars so they haven't really changed in that respect.
I think Rare have a fear of returning to their gaming roots - especially after their epic destruction of Banjo Kazooie 360. The one game that would've sold me on 360 was Nuts and Bolts - but Rare thankfully prevented me from that mistake.
This scene from the Lion King sums up the problem:
Mufasa's ghost: Simba, you have forgotten me.
Adult Simba: No. How could I?
Mufasa's ghost: You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the Circle of Life.
Adult Simba: How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be.
Mufasa's ghost: Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king. Remember...
WHERESMYMONKEY on 10 Nov '11 said:
Typical modern gamers responce; WA WA WA Rare don't make good games anymore I've never played anything they've made but the games they made for nintendo are soo much better.
My responce. Actually take the time to play kinect sports, Viva Pinata, Kameo, Nuts and Bolts and grabbed by the ghoulies. The old Rare magic is still there and they're all brilliantly fun and charming games in their own right. All this talk of Rare RIP is utter b*****ks, spouted by people that quite frnakly don't have a clue.