April2016
Video Check Out This Banging Banjo-Kazooie Final Battle Theme Drum Cover
Not a banjo in sight thankfully
Banjo-Kazooie is a beloved N64 platformer from the legendary developers at Rare, aside from being a great game, it had an equally great soundtrack by the ever talented Grant Kirkhope. We recently featured a video of Mat Ombler drummer from the metal band Demoraliser doing a drum cover of the Mario underground theme,...
March2016
News Were It Not For Rare's Tim Stamper, Wave Race Would Have Featured Boats
Water difference that would have made
Back when Rare and Nintendo were partners, it seemed as if the two companies shared an almost unspoken rivalry, competing for recognition as the premier developer of the day - especially during the N64 era. In the latest issue of Retro Gamer magazine, several former Rare staffers have spoken about this glorious...
Video Learn Some Fun Facts About Conker, His Descent to Badness and Nintendo's Naughty Side
Not cute and cuddly
Conker's Bad Fur Day is undoubtedly a cult classic on Nintendo 64, as Rare evidently decided all bets were off and turned a previously 'cute' project into a rather mature outing on the system. That history and transformation into one of the few mature Nintendo-published games - though there have been a handful over the years -...
February2016
Weirdness This Is Conker As You've Never Seen Him Before, And Won't Ever Want To Again
Say hello to "Young Conker"
Conker is one of Rare's most iconic characters, largely because he's a complete subversion of everything a cute, platforming mascot should be. Originally conceived as your typical fluffy hero, Conker only really found fame when Chris Seavor - he of Rusty Pup fame - took the character and turned him on his head, creating...
Oh, and David Wise is doing the soundtrack. Excited yet?
Rhys Lewis might have "indie game developer" on his business card these days, but his career has been anything but small-scale. Lewis has held roles at Rare, Confounding Factor, 3D Realms and Retro Studios, and can list titles like Banjo-Kazooie, Duke Nukem Forever, Metroid Prime 3, Donkey...
Video Try Not To Go Bananas At This Unreal Engine 4 Recreation Of Donkey Kong 64's Opening Stage
Unfinished monkey business
The power of Epic's Unreal Engine is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allows talented fledgling artists to create amazing sequences which are arguably on par with the efforts of professional developers, but on the other it teases viewers with tantalising glimpses of projects which are unlikely to actually...
January2016
Video Behind the Scenes of Battletoads with David Wise
Blast from the past
Rare is a studio that's known for putting out multiple classics on Nintendo's older hardware. Though the studio is arguably best known for its Nintendo 64 games and its work on the Donkey Kong series, it also put out Battletoads way back on the NES. Known for being a great example of 'Nintendo Hard' gameplay – especially with...
Feature Why We're Still Playing... GoldenEye 007
Steven Smith revives the laser watch on N64
In the latest entry in this series we have Nintendo Life newcomer Steven Smith (@N64Memories) talking about GoldenEye 007; no, not that one on Wii, but the N64 original. GoldenEye 007 was my first true experience of a first-person shooter (FPS). Yes, I had played Doom – a classic, o
News Unreal Engine GoldenEye 007 Tech Demo Gains The Approval Of Game's Designer
He loves only gold!
Rare's prolific N64 output is the stuff of legend, but one title tends to stand out from the rest, primarily because it was such a curve-ball at the time that it took the entire gaming world by surprise. Prior to the release of GoldenEye 007, two things were true: licenced James Bond games had been pretty forgettable and...
News Rare Wanted To Do amiibo-Style Toys During The N64 Era
Ahead of the curve
UK studio Rare has always had a habit of being ahead of the curve. The company - founded by Tim and Chris Stamper in the '80s - was one of the first western developers to work on the NES hardware, and in the '90s the firm would pioneer the use of CGI graphics in 2D games with the likes of Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct...
December2015
Video Rare Shows Off Footage of Dream, The Banjo-Kazooie Predecessor That Never Saw Release
No, you're not dreaming
Though it's now owned by Microsoft and far removed from its days of dominance developing exclusives for SNES and Nintendo 64, Rare has a special place in the hearts of many Nintendo fans. It's an iconic studio and, as a result, its story has various facets and mysteries that remain the talk of retro gamers. One game that's...
News Microsoft Gets Cute About Possible Rare Replay Release On Wii U
"Suggest it to the great folks at @RareLtd"
As we all know, Minecraft on Wii U is no longer a fantasy - it's real. And, as many have pointed out, that means that Microsoft is releasing a game on a Nintendo system. Wonders never cease, right? This event has predictably triggered a frenzied response online, with some incredibly optimistic individuals...
News Microsoft's Phil Spencer "Would Be Happy" To See Nintendo Games On Xbox One
Looked at working with Nintendo on GoldenEye "many times"
Is Hell feeling a bit chilly? Are pigs taking to the skies? It might be prudent to check, because Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has voiced the opinion that he would love to see Nintendo games on the Xbox One. It's an outlandish statement, but one which has a logical root. It has just been...
November2015
Video Teens Discover That Finding A Weapon In GoldenEye 007 Is Harder Than You Think
"Bro, where's my gun at?"
GoldenEye 007 has been in the news lately thanks to comments from designer Martin Hollis regarding changes proposed by Shigeru Miyamoto, so this latest Teens React video is quite timely. You know the drill by now - the guys at the React YouTube channel take an old game, locate some willing teens and make them play it,...
October2015
News Nintendo Wanted A GoldenEye Sequel On N64 But Rare Turned It Down
And Nintendo gracefully accepted the decision
1997's GoldenEye 007 was a massive commercial and critical success for Nintendo, selling 8 million copies worldwide and generating an enormous amount of revenue. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo wanted a sequel and even asked developer Rare to make one - but the UK company, which was at the time a second-party...
Weirdness Miyamoto Wanted A Murder-Free GoldenEye Where You Made Friends With Enemies At The End
"Close-up killing - he found it a bit too horrible"
In your average James Bond flick the suave British secret agent dispatches countless goons and bad guys without batting an eyelid, but if Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto had had his way, the best Bond video game of all time wouldn't have contained a single death. Speaking at the ongoing GameCity event...
News Lost Game Boy Color Banjo-Kazooie Game Unearthed In Design Documents
An early look at the game which would become Grunty's Revenge
When Rare was purchased by Microsoft many assumed that there would be no more titles from the famed UK developer on Nintendo formats, but such fears proved unfounded - Rare continued to release titles on both the Game Boy Advance and its successor, the Nintendo DS, although in recent...
September2015
News Donkey Kong Country Almost Had A Zelda-Like Key System
"Is this too Zelda(ish)?"
Retro fans will be pleased to know that Rare's Gregg Mayles has continued uploading behind-the-scenes info relating to Donkey Kong Country. After revealing that Shigeru Miyamoto was the one behind DK's tie, Mayles has offered up some more concept material, including a hand-written document which shows that at one point, the...
News Rare's Gregg Mayles Reveals It Was Miyamoto Who Suggested Donkey Kong Should Sport Neckwear
Rare staffer reveals the pre-history of Donkey Kong Country
Gregg Mayles is one of Rare's longest-serving employees and can list some of the firm's most famous titles on his impressive CV. He's currently hard at work on the studio's next offering, Sea of Thieves, but has taken the time to post some interesting info relating to the SNES classic...
August2015
Video Here's What Rare's Final GameCube Title Should Have Looked Like
Very early prototype for Kameo unearthed
As we all know, Rare was once a second-party Nintendo studio but was purchased by Microsoft over a decade ago. When the acquisition took place, the UK company was working on several GameCube projects, including Donkey Kong Racing and Kameo, the latter of which would eventually appear as a launch title for the...
Witness the Mario Kart killer that never was
Given the amount of love and attention we've bestowed Xbox One title Rare Replay recently, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you'd logged onto our sister site Pure Xbox by mistake. Still, Rare will forever be a major part of Nintendo history, and there's a lot of bonus content in this collection which...
News Rare Co-Founder Has No Idea Why Nintendo Didn't Buy The Studio Outright
"I thought we were a good fit"
Rare co-founder Tim Stamper recently won the accolade of Development Legend at this year's Develop awards - along with his brother, Chris - and has now given his first interview since 2007. Stamper - who has recently returned to the games industry with mobile studio FortuneFish - talks about the origins of Rare, its...
Soapbox It's A Tragedy That Rare Replay Isn't On A Nintendo Console
Rare's latest has filled Damien McFerran with delight, but there's a catch
Rare is one of the UK's most respected and adored software houses, with a lineage that goes back more than 30 years. While the company is now wholly owned by Microsoft, for a large part of its lifespan it was closely affiliated with Nintendo - initially as a third party...
July2015
News Rare's Gregg Mayles Shows Off The Scribbled Origins Of Banjo-Kazooie
Work in progress
Banjo-Kazooie is one of Rare's most beloved properties, and while the series is now firmly entrenched on Microsoft hardware following the company's purchase of the famous British developer, Nintendo fans will always have a soft spot for the bear-and-bird duo thanks to the fact that they made their official début on the N64. Over...
News Rare Founders To Be Honoured At The Develop Industry Excellence Awards
Tim and Chris Stamper are this year's Development Legends
Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper will be honoured as Development Legends at this year's Develop Industry Excellence Awards, which take place in Brighton, UK on July 15th. The Stampers established Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd in 1982, the company that would eventually become Rare. One...
