Any Old Rare Fans on these Forums?

  • Liberance
    Master

    Hey there,

    Since I already posted here a couple of times, I figured why not type a proper introduction, but also looking at my own background I was wondering if there’s anyone else like me roaming these forums. Specifically, people who have been following Rare’s work since the olden days.

    I’ve been playing Rare games since the first Donkey Kong Country. I followed the studio through the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and then into Xbox and Xbox 360. I was even part the team behind a fairly popular Rare fansite years ago, and I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of the people who worked on games like Viva Piñata or Kameo... but our paths diverged around the time of Kinect Sports. I never owned an Xbox One, and after a pretty good number of years with the 360 I lost interest in Microsoft’s vision for their first party game line and I turned PlayStation into my main platform. Then one day, a friend mentioned Sea of Thieves. “You should really try this, you will enjoy it,” he said.

    But I wouldn’t try it until much later. Until earlier this year, in fact. I got myself an Xbox Series X and I gave the game a go with GamePass. Despite never having been into multiplayer games, I loved it. It felt like classic Rare, immediately. It reminded me of their N64 days, when they would regularly jump into a complete new genre and suddenly make of the best games available for it with seemingly no effort. Here I was, having a blast with an online multiplayer when I never really cared for them, just like it happened all those years ago with stuff like Goldeneye, Blast Corps or Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

    I also enjoyed finding the studio’s trademark British sense of humor still intact, and seeing all those subtle references to their legacy in the game’s world. But at the same time, it made me wonder “how many people playing this will know what some of this stuff is? Could many of the original Nintendo-era fans still be around after all these years, to pick up on these things?” For a while, I had a Joanna Dark figurehead on my ship hoping that someone, somewhere, might see it and go “hey, Perfect Dark!” I’m planning on making this even more obvious by buying one of the full legacy sets from the old games. I know if I ever bumped into one of those ships I’d definitely want to talk to the crew.

    Anyways.

    Is anyone around here a Rare veteran—perhaps even an Ultimate fan?

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  • WolfManbush
    Lord

    When I was very young I started with rc pro am

    then came a nightmare on elm street I was always huge into horror stuff so this was a big one for me. then battletoads and the epic team up between battletoads and double dragons

    by the mid to late 90s is of course when all the rare awesomeness really hit with donkey kong and the nintendo 64 masterpieces

    Goldeneye obviously was a huge part of my teen years but that's mostly right time right age right place right friends right type of game

    Nintendo 64 will always be my favorite system and when it comes to a Rare game that was their best design wise I'd have to say Blast Corps. Ridiculously fun to play, unique design for the time. Kind of a hidden gem at the time not many had it and you couldn't always find it but when you did you were like oh dang this is fun

  • BETRAYME84
    Master
    Insider

    @liberance Hello, and welcome! Yes, I am an avid fan of Rare's work. I played Battletoads on the NES, but my favorite titles were on the N64. I remember playing through Blast Corps on my N64 and it blew my mind that you could have so much fun destroying things. I believe we need a modern re-make. I've also played Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct and the like. Rare was my favorite developer back then. Things have come a long way for them and I look forward to Everwild. Sea of thieves is by far my favorite modern game and really the only thing I play these days. You should try the Rare Re-Play collection now that you own an Xbox. Nice chatting with and reminiscing about the older games.

  • theOrneryBear
    Seafarer
    Insider

    I've forgotten how many rare games I played back in the N64 days, yes definitely a fan. I totally forgot about blast corps as well. Loved that game.

  • Foxdodge
    Champion
    Insider
    Boatswain
    Founder

    @liberance You've been missing out with the multiplayer I think, playing GoldenEye, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark & Killer Instinct with my friends were some of the best times I had as a kid.

  • Liberance
    Master

    Oh wow, so there are a few of us after all.

    @betrayme84 I did! And actually Blast Corps is the game from the collection I ended up playing the most. It’s so darned unique that it has somehow aged better than many other, far more popular games from that time.

    @foxdodge I did play all those with friends as well. Loved the original Conker multiplayer on the N64, and I beat all Perfect Dark challenges with up to three, sometimes even four players—Dark Sims + ridiculous framerate and all.

    When I mentioned not being into multiplayer games I meant modern, online Overwatch and Fortnite type of things. The last one I enjoyed was Left 4 Dead, since it was more about having a distinct experience than competition and numbers. I gravitate more toward stories, and Sea of Thieves offers just that, be it through fights with other players or doing your own quests.

  • BETRAYME84
    Master
    Insider

    @wolfmanbush Well I'll be! I had no clue Rare developed Nightmare on Elm Street lol. I too loved that game so I guess I can add that to my list of NES favorites. I played the heck out of it and had no idea. At least at my age I may have just forgotten hahahaha.

  • WolfManbush
    Lord

    @betrayme84 said in Any Old Rare Fans on these Forums?:

    @wolfmanbush Well I'll be! I had no clue Rare developed Nightmare on Elm Street lol. I too loved that game so I guess I can add that to my list of NES favorites. I played the heck out of it and had no idea. At least at my age I may have just forgotten hahahaha.

    had really good music and like goldeneye was probably the best movie to game adaptation at the time

    I've read in the past that originally the gamers were going to be Freddy slashing up teens but abandoned that to prevent controversy. Texas chainsaw massacre on the atari flopped because they couldn't get people to sell it because of the violence which shows how much times have changed lol.

    I always found atari to actually be creepier than NES for horror games. Nes was always corny looking outside of intro screens and music.

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