Rare Ltd.
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| Rare Ltd. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Founded | 1985 | ||
| First Mario-related release | Donkey Kong Country (1994) | ||
| Latest Mario-related release | Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008) | ||
| Current president | Craig Duncan | ||
Rare Ltd. (trade-named Rareware during Nintendo tenure) is a British video game developer based in Twycross, Leicestershire. It was founded in 1985 by Chris and Tim Stamper, as the successor company to Ultimate Play the Game. Rare formerly worked exclusively for Nintendo before being bought out by Microsoft. As a prominent second-party developer for Nintendo, Rare created the successful Nintendo Entertainment System games Wizards & Warriors, Battletoads, and R.C. Pro-Am; revived the Donkey Kong property with its critically acclaimed Donkey Kong Country series; and created many other well-known titles such as GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and Conker's Bad Fur Day.
In 2002, following the release of Star Fox Adventures on the Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft paid $375 million for a 100% acquisition of Rare. The company then began to produce games for Microsoft's Xbox console. This change of focus resulted in the cancelation of several Donkey Kong-related games: Diddy Kong Pilot, Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, and Donkey Kong Racing. Under the terms of the merger, Nintendo retained the rights to the Donkey Kong and Star Fox franchise while Rare maintained the rights to its own intellectual properties such as Banjo-Kazooie and Conker.
Rare, however, has continued to develop games for Nintendo's handheld systems, since Microsoft has not entered the handheld console market. Such games included enhanced remakes of the three SNES Donkey Kong Country games for the Game Boy Advance and Diddy Kong Racing DS, as well as redeveloping their canceled Diddy Kong Pilot and Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers games into Banjo-Pilot and It's Mr. Pants, respectively.
Donkey Kong franchise
- Dixie Kong and Timber's hats once had Rareware logos on them.
- In Donkey Kong 64, Rareware, along with Nintendo, sponsored the boxing match between the Kongs and King K. Rool as mentioned by the ring announcer. Also, it is possible to collect a Rareware Coin by beating Cranky's score in Jetpac, and a Golden Banana with Rare's logo on it by collecting all of the Banana Fairies.
- In Diddy Kong Racing DS, the coins have the logo of Rare on it.
- In Donkey Kong Country Returns, the options menu has a coral reef shaped like the Rare logo.
Super Smash Bros. series
- In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Rare logo appears on Banjo's backpack, just as it did in promotional renders for Banjo-Tooie.
Donkey Kong
| Title | Year released | Console |
|---|---|---|
| Donkey Kong Country | 1994 | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Donkey Kong Land | 1995 | Game Boy |
| Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | 1995 | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Donkey Kong Land 2 | 1996 | Game Boy |
| Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! | 1996 | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Donkey Kong Land III | 1997 | Game Boy |
| Diddy Kong Racing | 1997 | Nintendo 64 |
| Donkey Kong 64 | 1999 | Nintendo 64 |
| Donkey Kong Country | 2000 | Game Boy Color |
| Donkey Kong Country | 2003 | Game Boy Advance |
| Donkey Kong Country 2 | 2004 | Game Boy Advance |
| Donkey Kong Country 3 | 2005 | Game Boy Advance |
| Diddy Kong Racing DS | 2007 | Nintendo DS |
Notable employees
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Gallery
Logos
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Rare's first logo, used from 1987–1990.
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Logo used from 1990-1994.
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Logo used from 1994-2003 for the "Rareware" trademark.
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Donkey Kong and Diddy with the Rareware logo
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Logo used from 2003-2010.
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Logo used from 2010-2015.
Screenshots
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Splash screen from Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong
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Splash screen from Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color)
Trivia
- Even though Rare has cut ties with Nintendo, their company name, written as "Rare Limited", appears in the Sound Test of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the original composers of several Donkey Kong songs, although the information clarifies that Nintendo fully owns the copyright to the compositions.
- In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, they are also credited as the composers for various Banjo-Kazooie music tracks, all of which they currently own as part of Microsoft.
- In the Wii U port of Donkey Kong 64, the game Jetpac is left intact despite still being owned by Rare.
