Rare
Rare, also called Rareware, is a United Kingdom-based video game development company that was a key developer for the Nintendo gaming platforms for several years, but has since been acquired by Microsoft. It was founded in 1985 by Tim and Chris Stamper.
Rare was originally started as Ashby Computer Graphics (A.C.G) though they would sometimes release their games under the name Ultimate Play The Game.
Company overview
Rare is the company behind many of the most famous games for Nintendo: Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, and Star Fox Adventures.
It has been a cutting-edge company because its games have always employed some of the latest graphics technology. Its most renowned success was Donkey Kong Country, due to its use of pre-rendered 3D graphics on a 2D console. Later, Killer Instinct added several features to the fighting game genre such as autodoubles, linkers and ultras.
In September 2002, Rare was acquired by Microsoft for $375 million in order to develop exclusive games for the Xbox console. The trademarks of the characters from the games that Rare made for Nintendo consoles were retained by Rare (apart from IP originally developed by Nintendo, i.e. Donkey Kong, Starfox). Despite the acquisition, Rare still develops games for Gameboy Advance. Rare has never developed games for Sony consoles.
List of games
This partial list of games developed by Rare uses the following construct:
- gamename (system(s)) - brand
Where gamename is the name of the game it developed, system(s) are the computer systems the game was developed for and brand is the brand the game was released under.
- Jetpac (ZX Spectrum, BBC, Vic 20) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Atic Atac (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
- PSSST (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Tranz Am (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
1984
- Alien 8 (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Entombed (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Cookie (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Knight Lore (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Lunar Jetman (ZX Spectrum, BBC) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Sabre Wulf (ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, BBC) - Ultimate Play The Game
- The Staff of Karnath (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Underwurlde (ZX Spectrum, C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
1985
- Blackwyche (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Nightshade (ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, BBC, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Pentagram (ZX Spectrum, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
1986
- Outlaws (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Cosmic Battlezones (BBC) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Cyberun (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Dragonskulle (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Gunfright (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Imhotep (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
1987
- Martianoids(ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Bubbler (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad) - Ultimate Play The Game
- Slalom (NES) - Nintendo
1988
- Marble Madness (NES) - Milton Bradley
- World Games (NES) - Milton Bradley
- WWF Wrestlemania (NES) - Acclaim
- Sesame Street 123 (NES) - Hi Tech
- John Elway?s Quarterback (NES) - Tradewest
- California Games (NES) - Milton Bradley
- Taboo (NES) - Tradewest
- Wizards & Warriors (NES) - Acclaim
- Sesame Street ABC (NES) - Hi Tech
- Hollywood Squares (NES) - Gametek
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (NES) - LJN
- Cobra Triangle (NES) - Nintendo
- Wheel of Fortune Junior Edition (NES) - Gametek
- Jeopardy! Junior Edition (NES) - Gametek
- Silent Service (NES) - Ultra Games
- Double Dare (NES) - GameTek
- Wheel of Fortune Family Edition (NES) - GameTek
- Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary Edition (NES) - GameTek
- The Amazong Spider-Man (Game Boy) - LJN
- Captain Skyhawk (NES) - Milton Bradley
- Pin Bot (NES) - Nintendo
- Snake Rattle 'n' Roll (NES) - Nintendo
- Super Off Road (NES) - TradeWest
- Narc (NES) - Acclaim
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES) - LJN
- Super Glove Ball (NES) - Mattel
- Cabal (NES) - Milton Bradley
- Time Lord (NES) - Milton Bradley
- Arch Rivals (NES) - Acclaim
- WWF Wrestlemania Challenge (NES) - LJN
- Solar Jetman (NES) - TradeWest
- Digger T. Rock (NES) - Milton Bradley
- WWF Superstars (Game Boy) - LJN
- Battletoads (NES, Game Boy) - TradeWest
- Beetlejuice (NES) - LJN
- Super R.C. Pro-Am (Game Boy) - Nintendo
- High Speed (NES) - TradeWest
- Sneaky Snakes(Game Boy) - TradeWest
- Sesame Street ABC & 123 (NES) - Hi Tech
- Pirates! (NES) - Ultra Games
- Wizards & Warriors III (NES) - Acclaim
- Beetlejuice (Game Boy) - LJN
- Indy Heat (NES) - Tradewest
- R.C. Pro-Am II (NES) - Tradewest
- Championship Pro-Am (Mega Drive) - Tradewest
- Battletoads (Mega Drive, Game Gear) - TradeWest
- Battletoads Double Dragon (NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy) - TradeWest
- Battletoads in Ragnarok?s World (Game Boy) - TradeWest
- Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES) - TradeWest
- X The Ball (Arcade) - Capcom/Brent Walker/tecmo
- Snake Rattle 'N' Roll (Mega Drive) - Sega/TradeWest
- Monster Max (Game Boy) - Titus
- Super Battletoads (Arcade) - Electronic Arts
- Donkey Kong Country (SNES) - Nintendo
- Killer Instinct (Arcade) - Williams
2000s
2002
2003
2004
To Be Released
