Rare News Articles
Monday1st Dec 2025
Random "Splendid Game" - Shigeru Miyamoto Was A Fan Of Banjo-Tooie
Update: Well, he signed off on it, didn't he!?...
Banjo-Tooie isn't the most beloved adventure in the bear and bird's series, but it has its fair share of fans. One of which happens to be Nintendo's very own Shigeru Miyamoto, which former Rare designer and director Gregg Mayles revealed on social media. Sharing a fax from the legendary game creator...
Wednesday15th Oct 2025
News Banjo-Kazooie Director Marks Departure From Rare With A Poem
End of an era
If you enjoy Rare's games, then chances are you ought to be thanking Gregg Mayles, a UK-based game designer who not only directed Banjo-Kazooie and its Xbox-only follow-up Nuts & Bolts, but also worked on Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong Country, Battletoads, and more. He was a big deal at the studio, and now after 36 years, he's left for...
Saturday5th Jul 2025
News Perfect Dark Voice Actor Calls On Fans To Help Series "Survive"
Microsoft axed the studio behind the new project this week
Although the Perfect Dark series has been under Microsoft's control for more than two decades now, the news this week about the latest entry by The Initiative being axed has led to a lot of reactions within the Nintendo community. With this in mind, Joanna's voice actor Alix Wilton Regan...
Thursday22nd May 2025
Anniversary Perfect Dark, Another N64 Rare Classic, Turns 25
And Agent Dark is still going
Rare had a heck of a run on the Nintendo 64, and today we're celebrating the anniversary of yet another of the studio's classics — Perfect Dark. Joanna Dark made her debut on Nintendo's 64-bit console on 22nd May 2000 in North America, with a European release following in June. Today, it ranks as the studio's...
Wednesday21st May 2025
News Shigeru Miyamoto Explains Why Donkey Kong Has Been Redesigned
You want expressive? You got it
Donkey Kong's recent redesign has been a huge point of discussion in recent weeks, and it seems that most fans are becoming quite fond of the character's new look. Nintendo has been pretty quiet on why Donkey Kong went through a complete redesign, but in a new interview with IGN, the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto shed a...
Friday16th May 2025
News Nintendo Expands Switch Online's N64 Library With Another Game
Ultra combo!
Fighting game and Rare fans are in for a treat today with Nintendo adding the 1996 N64 release Killer Instinct Gold to the Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. As long as you have an active subscription to the Expansion Pack tier, you'll be able to update your Switch app and play it right now. Here's a bit more about it, courtesy of...
Friday9th May 2025
News Rare's N64 Shooter 'GoldenEye 007' Officially Inducted Into The Video Game Hall Of Fame
Alongside a handful of other titles
[Fri 7th Mar, 2025 00:55 GMT]: Every year, The Strong Museum announces its 'World Video Game Hall of Fame' finalists and for 2025 and after missing out in 2023, Rare's iconic Nintendo 64 first-person shooter GoldenEye 007 is back. It's up against some tough competition including the following list of games: Age...
Friday2nd May 2025
News Banjo-Kazooie Composer Explains Why He Thinks Another Game Is Unlikely
The "overriding factor" is money
There have been ongoing requests over the years for the revival of Rare's famous bear and bird duo Banjo-Kazooie, but will fans ever see this series return? The game's composer Grant Kirkhope already spoke about this earlier in the year - mentioning how he had "zero hope" for a new entry, and now in an interview...
Sunday16th Mar 2025
News First 4 Figures Teases New Banjo-Kazooie Statue, Pre-Orders Open Next Week
Update: Here's a look at the Definitive Edition
There hasn't been a new Banjo-Kazooie game for many years now, but there are still plenty of fans out there eager for more. Although it's not a game, First 4 Figures has shared a sneak peek of its new statue - Banjo's sister Tooty, who is captured by Gruntilda in Rare's original Nintendo 64 adventure...
Thursday23rd Jan 2025
News Banjo-Kazooie Composer Has "Zero Hope" For A New Entry
We're inclined to agree
Just days after Moon Studios' lead Thomas Mahler expressed his desire to see the Banjo-Kazooie franchise in the hands of a "really talented developer", original composer Grant Kirkhope has taken to social media to say that he has "zero hope" in a potential new entry (thanks, Eurogamer). He then went on to say that a new...
Monday20th Jan 2025
News Banjo-Kazooie Has The Potential To "Rival 3D Mario", Says Ori Dev
If a "really talented developer" has a crack at it
There was once a time when Banjo-Kazooie was rightly considered to be a close rival to the Super Mario franchise when Rare launched two outstanding entries on N64 in the form of the self-titled debut and its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. That was a long time ago, though. While Microsoft flirted with idea of...
Tuesday7th Jan 2025
News 'Nintendo Music' Adds Another Donkey Kong Soundtrack, Here's Every Song Included
It's double trouble with Dixie and Kiddy
Nintendo has kicked off the new year with a brand new update for its 'Nintendo Music' app. It's celebrating Rare's Donkey Kong Country series once again with the released of the third game's tracklist. All up, this soundtrack includes 40 tracks and has a runtime of 1 hour and 14 minutes. You'll be able to...
Friday13th Dec 2024
Random Upcoming Banjo-Kazooie Mod Is A Nostalgic Trip Through A Bunch Of N64 Classics
Get jiggies with it
Back in 2021, modder Mark Kurko revealed a first look at his monster project, 'BK Nostalgia 64'. This love letter to the N64 and Banjo-Kazooie (whodathunkit with a title like that?) was originally slated for a Christmas 2024 release, though through a variety of complications, the modder has decided to push things back to 2025...
Tuesday10th Dec 2024
News Donkey Kong Country OG Dev Says He Would Like To Work On Another Entry
The original game is now 30 years old
Ahead of the grand opening of Super Nintendo World: Donkey Kong Country this week, some of the original Donkey Kong Country development team spoke to VGC about the IP being adapted to an entire theme park. During the same chat, artist Steve Mayles - who helped co-found Playtonic Games (Yooka-Laylee) and create...
Wednesday4th Dec 2024
News Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Library With Another Classic
Dixie and Kiddy return in Donkey Kong Land 3
Following the recent return of Donkey Kong Land and its sequel, Nintendo has now expanded the Switch Online Game Boy library with the third entry. Yes, Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong return in Rare's 1997 Game Boy release Donkey Kong Land 3, and it's available to play right now as long as you have an active...
Friday29th Nov 2024
News Nintendo Highlights Every 'Donkey Kong Country' On Switch With A New Trailer
Prepare to return... again
Nintendo has released a new trailer taking a look at every Donkey Kong Country game on Switch in preparation for the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD on 16th January 2024. If you've got a subscription to the standard Nintendo Switch Online service, you can play every SNES game from the series right now. That...
Tuesday26th Nov 2024
News Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Library With Another Classic
The sequel to Donkey Kong Land is now available
Following the arrival of Donkey Kong Land for the Switch Online Game Boy service last week, Nintendo has now added Donkey Kong Land 2! Yes, Rare's 1995 sequel starring Diddy and Dixie Kong is playable right now (as long as you're a subscriber). It's packed with "over 40 levels" and an assortment of...
Saturday23rd Nov 2024
News Banjo-Kazooie "Washer Banjo" Revealed, Here's A Sneak Peek
Pre-orders open soon
First 4 Figures has released all sorts of high-quality statues and with this in mind, it's now teasing a "sneak peek" of its latest Banjo-Kazooie figure. This one is based on the transformation "Washer Banjo" and pre-orders will be opening in 10 days on 3rd December 2024. If you sign up to the First 4 Figures email, you can...
Tuesday19th Nov 2024
Random Iconic 'DK Rap' Song Has Been Remade 25 Years Later
With help from rapper 'Substantial'
If you've been a part of the Nintendo gaming community for a while, then chances are you're well acquainted with 'DK Rap', the charming introductory theme tune seen in 1999's Donkey Kong 64. It's gained significant notoriety and love over the years, though many fans do concede that the song isn't actually that...
Monday18th Nov 2024
Anniversary Donkey Kong Country Is Now 30 Years Old (SNES)
King K-O-N-G
Believe it or not, Donkey Kong Country for the SNES has turned 30 years old after originally launching in the UK on 18th November 1994. Often regarded as one of the greatest platformers of all time, Donkey Kong Country was the first in an SNES trilogy from developer Rare, and was really the game that properly kickstarted a fruitful...
Tuesday5th Nov 2024
News 'Nintendo Music' Update Adds Classic SNES Soundtrack, Here's Every Song Included
Another Donkey Kong Country banger
Nintendo's new music app is the gift that keeps on giving with a new update today adding 36 tracks from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Yes, you can now listen to everything from the iconic "fanfare" opening, Funky's theme, Stickerbush Symphony (Bramble Blast), Forest Interlude (Web Woods) to the Disco...
Friday1st Nov 2024
Random Rapper Doja Cat Debuts 'Bouncy' Conker-Inspired Halloween Costume
"Ooh, that big tail of yours is far too tickly"
Halloween has come and gone, which means celebrities around the globe are naturally taking to social media to try and one-up each another with their chosen costumes. Video game outfits have become more and more popular over the years, but while many folks like to dress up as Mario, Princess Zelda, or...
Friday25th Oct 2024
Random Oops! It Looks Like Banjo-Tooie's Idle Demo Is Sped Up On NSO
Banjo-Kazoomy
Rare's wonderful platformer sequel Banjo-Tooie landed on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack's N64 library today, and we are enjoying the chance to take our best bear and bird buds on the road with us once more. On the whole, this NSO version feels great, but as we left the game idly sitting on the start screen while we nipped...
News Nintendo Expands Switch Online's N64 Library With Banjo-Tooie
"The bear & bird are back!"
Update [Fri 25th Oct, 2024 02:05 BST]: Rare's famous bear and bird duo Banjo-Kazooie returns to the Switch Online library today in their sequel outing Banjo-Tooie. You can play it right now provided you have an active subscription to the Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. Enjoy! Original article [Fri 18th Oct,
Saturday19th Oct 2024
News Xbox Studio Rare Excited About The Return Of Banjo-Tooie Next Week
"Another modern way" to revisit the sequel
Nintendo delivered quite a surprise for N64 fans this week, announcing Rare's 3D platformer Banjo-Tooie would be joining the Expansion Pack service next week on 25th October 2024. As part of this announcement, Rare (known nowadays for titles like Sea of Thieves) has taken to social media to voice its own...
Friday30th Aug 2024
News Banjo-Kazooie Is The Latest N64 Game To Be Fully Decompiled
Tick tock PC
Fans and coders have been working on decompiling multiple classic Nintendo 64 games over the years, with Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Perfect Dark, and Majora's Mask just being a handful of titles they've managed to revert to source code. Now, a Nintendo Life favourite is joining the roster of decompiled N64 games (thanks to CM30...
Thursday15th Aug 2024
Random Donkey Kong Country 3 Fan Creates Incredible Epoxy Resin Statue
Yes, we want one
There have been some truly gorgeous video game statues in our time, from the likes of the First 4 Figures Samus Gravity Suit statue from Metroid to the ludicrous Ghosts 'n Goblins statue from Dream Figures. We love one-off designs though; statues that likely won't be made available to the general public,
Thursday18th Jul 2024
News GoldenEye 007 And Perfect Dark Artist Brett Jones Has Died
An absolute legend
Former Rare artist Brett Jones, who worked on the classic N64 games GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, has died. Jones' work on the classic first-person shooter was wide-ranging and included concept art and character creation, model rigging, animation, and texturing. He would go on to do much of the same work on Perfect Dark,...
Thursday20th Jun 2024
News Switch Online's Latest N64 Release 'Perfect Dark' Appears To Have Some Emulation Issues
"It's like playing on a 2007 emulator"
Switch Online's N64 library didn't get off to the best start, with select games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time filled with a bunch of emulation issues. Nintendo rolled out updates for the app in response to this and since then the situation has somewhat improved. Unfortunately, it seems one of the...
Friday24th May 2024
Random Another Banjo-Kazooie Funko Pop Is On The Horizon, But It's Still Pretty Horrifying
Pre-order, if you dare
If you cast your mind back to earlier in the year, you might remember the horrors of the GameStop-exclusive Banjo-Kazooie Funko Pop. With its big head and soulless, staring eyes, the figure was... well, a Funko Pop, but it was also an acknowledgement that the Rare pair still exist, so we'll take what we can get. Now, Funko...
