I can't help but wonder what we could have gotten had we lived in the timeline of Nintendo buying Rare. Donkey Kong Racing would have just been the beginning. At the same time...I'm glad we got things like Viva Pinata.
We would have got the games they cancelled. Donkey Kong Racing and Banjo Threeie. We also would have got Kameo Elements of Power. And a sequel to Conkers Bad Fur Day.
I feel the only Rare franchise that wouldn’t get much in a Nintendo buyout timeline would be Conker, considering it’s very poor sales and only Nintendo of America being interested in the game. On the other hand it would’ve lead to Banjo Kazooie nuts and bolts retaining the platformer roots it would’ve had.
I’m definitely of the mindset that if we got a Nintendo bought rare timeline, Leafos would’ve probably joined Smash alongside Banjo and Johanna, maybe Fulgore as well.
Reminder that the OG Rare devs are at Playtonic, who are currently working on a Yooka Laylee Remakemaster. Here's hoping this ends up being a sort of resurrected Banjo X!
Some of them are at Playtonic (there should be 15 devs), but Rare was way bigger back than. There are also still more Rare devs from the "Nintendo era" at Rare than at Playtonic, including Gregg Mayles (creative mind behind DKC and Banjo) and Robin Beanland (music for KI and Conker). Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to Playtonic's next projects. Their team also growed quite a bit.
Let's see, they cancelled a bunch of games, drove the co founders to leave, and laid off near everyone who was there from the beginning... Yes, they murdered Rare...
No they didn’t though…I just gave the whole history of their involvement with games. A lot got cancelled before the buyout or in the transition. Microsoft pretty much let Rare do there thing with the exception of the Conker sequel. The Stamper brothers seemed like they were already planning their way out. It wasn’t long after the merger they left.
For those people who think that Mario 2 shouldn't exist because it was originally "Doki Doki Panic", please remember it was Miyamoto who wanted to change Dinosaur Planet up and make it a Star Fox property instead. And both of those results became legendary games.
It honestly felt that after 2008's Nuts and Bolts Microsoft stopped caring about Rare and that's how they ended doing Kinect Sports on top of most of their IP If they had stayed with Nintendo, Rare would've ruled over the GameCube, GBA and DS and who knows what games we would have in the Wii, 3DS, Wii U and Switch. Banjo-Threeie (potentially), Donkey Kong Racing, Diddy Kong Pilot, we would've still had Grunty's Revenge since that was a thing pre-2002, Diddy Kong Racing DS would've had Banjo and Conker and could've been a sequel completing the Wizpig cliffhanger as opposed to a remake, maybe a new Donkey Kong 3D game like DK64 but even bigger, a better DK Barrel Blast, all the games that got moved to the XBOX.
Incorrect. Rare came out and said they didn't want to focus on their old franchises and wanted to give gamers new experiences. It's crazy how people blame Microsoft for everything they don't like in gaming.
@therealjaystone2344 You know why? Those franchises were making Nintendo no money. Don't try to clap back and cut out important information in the process. At the end of the day, it worked out for Nintendo and Rare and Microsoft. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Real gamers want new experiences. Yall stuck in the past.
@@jiggylookback Chris Seavor also corrected it saying, it was one very old executive and media outlets blew it out of proportion. It wasn't the whole team.
I agree in the middle. I do believe Nintendo suspected that the Stamper brothers were on their way out, and didn’t want to liquidate the company into first party. They seem content with them being second party and made investments to ensured that they didn’t take any loss once the Stamper brothers were gone. That’s just my guess. But Microsoft shutting down the Conker sequel definitely played a key factor in Rare team just giving up what made them unique. The creativity lost its magic after Conker 2 was canceled and you can see it with Kameo. But that’s just my view on Rare. Nintendo definitely smelled something fishy with how quickly Microsoft took over and they clearly didn’t want part of it.
To this day, I still think what killed RAREWARE wasn't the Microsoft buyout itself. It was what happened a few years afterwards, when Microsoft Executives were not happy with the modest 3 million to 4 million copies sold for Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero that were launch games for the XBox 360. The way how RARE was gutted out and massive projects canceled and even ruined... (Banjo Kazooie 3 being forced to change into Nuts and Bolts to incorporate a completely different game's gameplay mechanics involving custom designed vehicles into a platformer that never was supposed to have that kind of gameplay.) That was what killed Rareware, not the buyout itself, but more to do with Microsoft's interference into Rare's creativity and we see this now with how Game Publishers are pushing in people who have no idea about Game Development, only focusing on sales numbers at the sacrifice of creativity, and we can see that Rare was just a canary in the coal mine about what happens when Corporates get involved and take over a Game Developer and their decisions.
See but that’s just it…they didn’t interfere with the games..that was my whole point. I even stated exactly how Microsoft was involved in a lot of those games development. The idea for Nuts and Bolts came from one of the stamper brothers themselves and the team not wanting to make another platformer. Even the Kinect games were all Rare’s decision.
I think there's still hope for Rareware's beloved IPs from the Raretendo days, just have Rare sell Banjo Kazooie, Conker, Jet Force Gemini, & a lot of their ZX spectrum IPs to Retro Studios. But a guy can have hope, right?
It's my understanding that Rare wanted to be purchased to ensure better financial support with the increasing cost of game development, as games were becoming more complex in the sixth console generation.
It's long been my understanding that the Story for Conker's Other Bad Day had most if not all of it's story written before it was scrapped. The articles say that they knew what movies they were going to parody and Birdy was going to die and like the original it was going to "end on a bittersweet note". You have some lore stuff from Conker's Other Bad Day in the video that I didn't know before. The video zooms right past it and I had to pause the video a lot to read it. You *HAVE* to make a video on the Conker's Other Bad Day Lore you found.
I grew up in the Microsoft era of Rare and had games like Ghoulies, Viva Piñata, and Kameo, and I loved them a lot. That was Rare for me growing up. I have been able to play the Banjo series since Rare Replay came out and it's one of my favorite platforming series now, and Perfect Dark is amazing, but I will always maintain that Kameo, Ghoulies, and Viva Piñata are underrated classics.
This is a great topic. It's an acquisition full of missed opportunities and a drought of games. All their franchises were wasted. It was a massive disappointment. Rare lost all their magic and basically gave up on themselves and so many of their games looked so promising.
I would be interested in Rare or another company doing a direct sequel to Conker's Bad Fur Day. I always imagined hiring scriptwriters of The IT Crowd and The Boondocks to work on the game's cutscenes.
The thing is that a lot of Rare's success was in part because Nintendo's guidance. Rare by themselves where good, but I think there were areas of the game design that Nintendo complemented a lot. On the other hand, I don't think Microsoft could have complemented Rare, since game making has never been Mocrosoft's strong point. Restricting Nintendo's guidance on Rare was what ultimately killed it.
Gaming history’s biggest loss was when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast and stopped making consoles. Gamings second biggest loss was when Microsoft bought Rare.
The only thing i dont like about the new Rare, is the low frequency of new releases. Oh yeah, and the silence about Everwild. At least we got a Christmascard with Everwild, but it´s strange to be that silent about a new game. I´m still looking forward to that game.
I commend you on doing research for this, though I just wanna clear up a couple things. 1:35 Microsoft never thought they were getting DK - according to Chris Seavor it was the thought of a singular old exec out on a trip to the UK, not the company as a whole. Articles made it very clear DK was staying with Nintendo after the split. For Conker, Chris Marlow did an interview with the channel Sola and Cola that explained a few things. Live and Reloaded started out as Live and Uncut, which was just multiplayer, before the Stampers said to add a single-player option, fearing people wouldn't buy a multiplayer-only game. Since the team didn't want to make a whole new single-player on top of that, they remade BFD to give it a new audience/fix things from the original. Censorship came about because the Xbox was new, and they wanted to push it as a family system and had rules in place of what could/couldn't be said or shown. If the remake was made now, Marlow's said they'd have no issues with the content. Really good interview I'd recommend watching. I feel like you skipped over Refuelled. That got a lot of good reviews and personally, it was a pleasant surprise playing through it - a great update to an old title. 12:46 I'm gonna say because it wouldn't sell. Nuts and Bolts went Platinum, but that's generous - probably wouldn't want to make a game on a Diddy Kong Racing character only five people know about, lest you want to actually tank the studio. The Kinect Sports games were Rare's best-selling titles up to that point after the buyout. Viva Pinata, etc. did alright, but nothing noteworthy - a joke in Nuts and Bolts calls it "the best game no one played - sequel now available". If anything "killed" classic Rare, it's the industry itself. Other folks like Naughty Dog were getting bought by Sony because games were getting more expensive and they needed that cushion in case a game bombed, which Nintendo clearly didn't care about in the case of Rare. And truthfully, I don't care who makes Rare-based IP games as long as it's good - the new KI and Battletoads are my favourite entries in their respective franchises, and there's many Nintendo games not made by Nintendo themselves that I adore. All that said, it's clear you put in much more effort than the average "Rare' is Dead" videos I've seen out there, though there's a lot of stories out there to get info from as well. Keep it up!
@ Yeah, there’s a lot out there. General rule of thumb, I’d just stick to official articles and interviews for that kinda stuff - anything that’s not that, just ignore it.
If Microsoft is only going to use Rare for just one IP, Sea of Thieves, what was even the whole point of buying them in the first place? Even Viva Piñata is rarely used nowadays. Rare could go independent if MS would just let them…
This is a complicated topic. I wouldn’t say the buyout killed Rare, but Microsoft gutted the studio after their early 360 games didn’t sell amazingly. Plus many studios struggled when moving into the HD consoles. It’s hard to know how things would have played out in an alternate timeline. But I think we can all agree that even if they’ve found some level of success, they were at their peak working with Nintendo. And that we need Banjo 3 dammit.
Good video! Development teams come and go in the game industry, so even if Nintendo did buy Rare, there is no guarantee the same developers would stick around at the company anyways. I do still cherish all of the great games they made and, heck, Playtonic pretty much seems like the resurrection of classic Rare. It always surprises me that Nintendo didn't buy Rare when they had the chance. I mean, Rare's games absolutely rivaled the best Nintendo put out and they basically breathed additional life into the SNES to keep it going a little longer. I honestly wish that Toys For Bob could get handed the rights to the Banjo license, since it seems Microsoft has no interest in the Banjo license. After seeing what Toys For Bob did for the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro remasters, I would love to see what they could do with developing Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie remasters!
In Rare’s defense, Microsoft didn’t actually kill Rare, but has better relationship with Microsoft. If Rare isn’t even going to develop any new games from great franchises anytime soon or is never developing any of those games , excluding those like Perfect Dark reboot if they release it in time, then they should be selling those franchises to Nintendo. While not all of their modern Rare games are terrible, none of them are better than their classic Rare games in comparison
Excellent video bro! I did not know about the Banjo Kazooie Remake (or 1.5), which is interesting I personally think RARE will ALWAYS develop good, regardless on who owns the company, but they definitely could use some guidance from Miyamoto (I mean, general aspects, not specifics - and no, I'm not saying they're not creative, its more like a "this idea works better" kinda direction)
I'd say it was more Rare that killed itself rather than Microsoft. Yes Microsoft made some very bad choices with Rare (seriously forever sad we never got that Conker sequel) but at the end of the day Rare decided to make Nuts and Bolts, Rare decided to make Kinect Sports, Rare decided to make this and that not Microsoft. As much as I'd love to say it was simply Microsoft's fault the simple truth of reality is they weren't the sole reason Rare became what they are now.
What actually happend to Everwild. Would be dope if thats the game that shows up at Developers direct. But than again they said its a unannounced game unfortunately
Rare trying out Kinect somewhat makes sense looking back. They were always interested in experimenting with hardware to see how far they could push it. We associate them with specific franchises but they have always been about trying to make new things with a few occasional sequels. It is a shame those IPs are not as used or in some cases stuck in one console but that is the case with all three console companies. And with Microsoft’s latest acquisitions I can only hope not all of them will be stuck in a similar situation to Rare.
@ can only hope the long requested Banjo Kazooie remake, X or not, will come to be. Could it be Playtonic? That’d be cool, but just hoping it sees the light of day.
You could point the finger a lot of places, really. Microsoft for buying them, Nintendo for not, Halo and the Wii for driving gaming trends against what they wanted to do so that microsoft didn't want their original work anymore, or even Rare themselves for wanting even more money in the first place, or even for being so experimental that they lost sight of what people wanted. Slain by their own greatest strength, perhaps. I'm not sure whodunnit.
Loved the video. I really am thankful to have played some of their games and just hope they continue working on projects they can be proud of. Looking forward to Everwild. Cheers!
What "killed" it for me was not being able to get my 64 games back. NSO is better than nothing but i want rare replay on switch or something. Ive been anti xbox since these games never came to the wii vc.
Microsoft killed the spirit of Rare. This is obvious, it's what Microsoft does with all the developers it buys. Rare under the direction of Nintendo we had great games, under the direction of Microsoft we had mediocrity
I thought Live and reloaded was a good game. The difficulty was definitely toned down which was nice. I was supposed at the fact it was more censored. Still if we got.Conkers other bad day that would’ve been epic. Then, if live and reloaded was included with it for a little extra money, I would’ve bought that.
While it's was a huge question as to why Nintendo never buyed Rare, over the years it shows that Nintendo really doesn't buy any of their second-party, they either thrive or die on their own, like Cinq & Alpha Dream.
@@Geomaster97 As far as I know Next Level Games was indipendant and never a second-party. Same as Monolith Soft and last year's Shiver Entertainment which both were bought off other companies.
Of course Microsoft killed Rareware! Because they cancelled Rareware's next games who are in productions, in 2008 they killed Banjo and Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts ruined the Banjo-Kazooie games franchise) and in 2016 they killed Conker (Young Conker ruined the Conker games franchise)! Many years i would like they released Banjo-Threeie and the sequel of Conker's Bad Fur Day when Conker gonna do his quest to revived Berri!
No. God of Nintendo Miyamoto went to Rare over 5000 miles from his house, refused to differentiate a Canine main character from “Fox McCloud”, and further damaged the long-term growth of that franchise after what he did to Star Fox 2. After the “God who is always right” ruined their N64 Swan Song, no wonder Rare was no longer interested in Nintendo.
Lol I mean…he sort of did. You’re not wrong. I don’t dislike the starfox connection, but he definitely was wanting to make a starfox game in the Zelda style and he saw an opportunity.
Only just now that I subscribe to your channel because it looks like you have a few videos that would be interesting and I like how this video is going, but as I scroll through your backlog I realized I found your rocket robot on Wheels video from way back when and if I'm not mistaken I think I commented on that video expecting to hear something about Sly cooper. Really neat to see how you kept popping up in my recommended videos despite not being subscribed for so long, great work on your videos and keep going😊
Very well done video and eye opening. I have to wonder if now though if around SNES - N64 (which I would call Rare’s golden years) were so good as Nintendo had a bit more control over them, and they didn’t have to deal with crunch time
Rare doesn’t seem to get things done timely. They need multiple console cycles to get the games done the way they want lol. I think having a deadline is very helpful. Viva Pinata is a good example of it.
I wouldnt say microsoft killed rare its just that it didnt have that good chemistry like nintendo and rare did. Nintendo knew what rare did best and rare knew what nintendo liked
As i grow up i tell myself nothing killed rare, they needed to put food on the table and took microsofts offer, even if microsoft canned some ideas, rare made the choice to go into a different direction with they're company, if they're done with revisiting their old ips and would rather let new people tackle it, i don't mind but i at least want to see them push out new ideas and not just be the " seas of thieves people "
Funny you mention Viva Pinata for the DS as there were two canceled Rare games that were planned for that console, the first was Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s other revenge, basically taking the 3D models over 2D backgrounds idea from Pinata and making a new Banjo platformer. However the other was probably a dream that almost came to be.. Donkey Kong Country 4, yes you heard that right. Rare worked on remaking the original trilogy for the GBA and used DKC3 GBA’s exclusive world Pacifica as a proof of concept for Nintendo to show that they could make a proper DKC4 and while Nintendo was impressed, they were a little too impressed, as the DKC remakes sold incredibly well to the point that DKC1 gba beat out every console DK game before Returns, and they decided that the best option for the big apes return would be on consoles.
Good analysis. I'm a bit surprised you didn't go into more depth on the "ship of theseus", the idea that if you replace all the parts of something, is it still the original thing, seeing as how much of the team of Rare has since split. I've also wondered if some of the more controversial titles would have done better if they weren't exclusives. Sure, the heyday of bangers was pretty much all on the N64, and took full advantage of the system. But would grabbed by the ghoulies have done better if it also released on the ps2 and gamecube? Would Nuts and Bolts have performed better as a wacky Wii Title instead of solely on the multiplayer shooter focused 360? Heck, Viva Piñata feels a lot more like a Wii game to me than a 360 console exclusive. If Microsoft could have offered more direction to focus on Rare's strengths, as well as what fans were asking for, I think we could've gotten better new IPs, and better sequels and continuations. However, it is still absolutely unforgivable the Conker's was more censored in the remake.
Everwild to me... really just looks kind of boring, I mean it looks nice but in a kind of "Cel-shaded modern game" kinda way, you get me? I think it's going to be a very pretty big game that's going to be a hit for the mainstream but beyond that is going to have little staying power.
Saying Microsoft killed Rare is such Nintendo fanboy cope. I'd argue Microsoft saved Rare. If they hadn't bought out Rare, I don't think they would even be in business anymore.
This video was excellent! i think it was a really insightful take on the whole Rare bought by Microsoft. It still me makes me wonder to this day what would happen if Nintendo DID bought Rare. Because their games are awesome!
I find it funny how out of all of rares franchises viva Piñata was one they obviously had major hopes for it got 4 games and a tv series (the first of Microsoft's to get one not Halo or cuphead like many claim) plus it became the first New franchise Rare made to get a game on a Nintendo platform since Conker
Judging by Yooka-Laylee, I think Rare's vision was far inferior to what hardware limitations forced them to settle for. If there was a game in development hell across 3 different generations, it sounds like all the new options gave them a sort of decision paralysis. If BK and BT looked as plasticky as Yooka-Laylee, I don't think they'd have the same charm or be beloved. I feel like the SNES and N64 was a sort of perfect storm where they were at their prime and the hardware limitations kept them from be able to implement their very worst ideas. Nuts N Bolts should have 100% been a Bumper spinoff. Heck even keep many of the BK cameos; why not?
I honestly think that Rare purposely attempted to reduce their game's quality to fool their audience into thinking it was Microsoft's doing, classic Rare...
Well I would say yes and no. Yes cos Microsoft did the same like today buying companies and let them die and no, cos the main team wasn't there after the N64 era.
Sea of Thieves is one of Microsoft's best selling games at the moment, and Nintendo doesn't need Rare since every niche Rare filled was filled by Nintendo-owned companies like Retro Studios.
@@facts_about_bk True. They don't need Banjo-Kazooie, they already have Super Mario. They don't need Perfect Dark, they have Metroid Prime. They don't need Conker, as Sausage Party proved that vulgar cartoon-like characters are no longer acceptable in today's society. And they don't need Rare for Donkey Kong as Retro Studios are still the go-to guys for the IP, even if they are continually moving away from Rare's vision of the series (I.E. no Kremlings).
Killed?: No, not really. Got an impact on them?: Absolutely yes. Despite that the buyout was kind benefical to the company for either pay internal debts or expand the studio, still they didn't know the whole plans that Microsoft had for them for the future, besides the old employers and the creative minds left the studio each year, so Rare was slowly dying in any case, even if they stayed with Nintendo probably it would have happened the same thing (but with less games or new IPs). Also at 10:30 Despite that everyone bash negatively that game, actually had a great thing that was either a big impact and is actually a fun fact. It was the first videogame in get a Latin American Spanish dub, something that was never seen before here but unfortunately since the game was a failure and pretty much ignored, no one remember it and people always claim that Gears of War was the first one in get a LATAM dub which is not true since Perfect Dark Zero was released on 2005 and Gears of War on 2006.
This isn't even a debate, Microsoft absolutely mascaurred rare. Known for the best N64 games of all time. They have reduced two of the greatest N64 games ever, banjo & conker to toys practically. Worst company ever.
Seems like Jigglylookbacker defending this, despite not many quality games from his favorite Developer in modern era Also great video for Rare's history
I am defending it a bit. I don’t think Microsoft is the issue. I think Rare’s creative direction is the main issue. Viva Pinata is a banger. Sea of Thieves is fun we just need a new game after so many years…
We haven’t had a real video game besides Sea of Thieves from them since 2008. The only thing since then was a compilation of games and Kinect Sports :/
Yeah if you think about it…that’s true. Sea of thieves came out and it’s just been that. Used to be multiple teams making multiple games. We need that!
I also agree Microsoft didn't kill Rare. I think Rare thought about making money from some games that aren't that great and not thinking of the fans who have been buying Rare games probably from the beginning and wanted some popular old school Rare game series back in the spotlight. This is the same thing where in 2024, Microsoft buy the rights to the Crash Bandicoot series & the Spyro the Dragon series which is probably going to be another controversial thing as well and some Crash & Spyro aren't happy and probably saying the same about Microsoft like Rare fans did in the early 2000's. Anyway another amazing video and I have learnt some much more as well.
@@jiggylookback Publisher, actually. And they seem to agree on the cancelation of Crash 5 and decided not to continue support for Crash Team Rumble. What seemed like hope was crushed quickly, and Call of Duty isn't getting any better even with Bobby Kotick kicked from his position. So, who's really pulling the strings at Activision?
Honestly Microsoft should have assigned Rare to be their MOSTLY family friendly devs with stuff like Banjo, Viva Pinata, as well as Perfect Dark and Conker, to compliment the dude bro stuff XBOX had like Halo and Forza (which are also great) overall in my opinion XBOX post 360 was a poorly managed brand and even towards the latter half of the 360's lifespan the brand was mismanaged...especially with how Microsoft cracked down on Japanese exclusives that were actually very popular with Japan, something that hasn't happened since with XBOX.
Microsoft buying Rare will always be one of the most infamous things in gaming history, Rare really peaked in the N64 era imagine what they could have done with Wii, Wii U, and Switch.
Idk it’s pretty fun. The combat is the only thing that gets slow. Im playing through the og dinosaur planet build on stream and lots of people are coming in talking about how they like starfox adventures.
They absolutely murdered rare. Even going off of what you said they rushed basically all of their games and I wouldn’t be surprised if the lay offs and cancelations happened cuz of the crunch they underwent I doubt rare simply gave up on an idea of a banjo remake or a new conkor game Even if you wanted to say “no rare was the one to kill itself not Microsoft” that’s sadly not how it works. Microsoft IS responsible for anything happening at rare. Game being rushed? Extend the date like Nintendo. The developers are making a game you’re unsure of? Interject and suggest they make it something else (like Nintendo) developers leaving (most likely cuz they’re being rushed)? Hire new devs that match their energy Just look at what Nintendo did to Retro. They had a jack ass CEO, they were crunched to high heaven and weren’t doing so good financially and guess what? Nintendo stepped in, bought stocks, killed the crunch culture, even went over to retro and suggested ideas and ways for them to develop Metroid prime, etc. it IS Microsoft responsibility to oversee rare and interject whenever needed similar to how they interjected trying to make stuff like viva and conkor more kid friendly Even tho Microsoft is well aware people want a new banjo game, they act as if they have no say in the matter, like they can’t go to rare and tell em. Even in the video it’s like the amount of good rare games can be counted on one. Almost 25 YEARS of being under Microsoft and what? They had a total of like… 5 games they developed themselves? That’s less than the DK country/land trilogies that they made in 3 YEARS like WOW… It’s very much clear rare DID crumble under Microsoft’s leadership and no “they ruined themselves” isn’t an argument cuz it’s Microsoft’s responsibility to oversee them and yet they refuse to. Letting rare rest on their laurels and they lack the care and feedback someone like Nintendo often gives to their studios
They didn’t really rush all their games though…in fact a game like Kameo got more time than it needed. I truly think the issue is more the stamper brothers leaving and them not having creative original IP ideas. Microsoft is just fronting everything. While Nintendo does have quality control and interest…there are plenty of examples of them ruining projects because of it. Body Harvest comes to mind. And even starfox adventures (though I like that game).
@ I didn’t say all of their games but a lot if not most of the games you mentioned were indeed rushed And I don’t think it was just the original founders leaving rare a company is much more than the 2 people who found it or run it. Also lack of original IPs? Sure they lost donkey Kong… but that’s it they still owned stuff like banjo and conkor and perfect dark and could still make new ones if Microsoft chose to egg them on And similar to Nintendo’s experimental nature while yes SOMETIMES it can lead to something bad MOST time it doesn’t. While I can count the number of exceptionally good games rare made under Microsoft on one hand. I can count the amount of failed project due to Nintendo’s input on one hand Basically their caring nature to the quality of their games is what makes them thrive while Microsoft as a whole is at the bottom of the barrel. And that’s what Microsoft lacks they bought rare but they lacked the responsibility to properly back it up and keep an eye on it and maintain any creative environment that could result in good games like with Nintendo and their partners
They could have said no but they let themselves get bought by Microsoft. I understand people have history with the games Rare made all those years ago I do too especially with Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, 3, Goldeneye, and Conker to name a few. The fans have kind of ruined the games for me with all the same old forced humor, the developer worshiping, and about practically everything else but focusing on the gameplay itself especially when watching a playthrough.
My theory regarding Conker L&R is that it actually IS a sequel to the N64 game. We know the game originally ended with Conker committing suicide and instead we see him go in the opposite direction after leaving the pub. BUT, that's not to say Conker still didn't commit suicide. It's possible he still could have and because of his life of sin and vice he spends eternity in hell forced to relive the events of BFD as his eternal punishment
People definitely need to stop shitting on Conker L&R. Sure I would loved to have seen the planned but cancelled sequel but I still love L&R. It's a great game. Btw I have an interesting theory regarding it. It's silly but interesting
In my opinion, not right away. Maybe. But I honestly feel that Rare would've declined in popularity even if they stayed with Nintendo. Plus some of the games Rare made under Microsoft were pretty good. Grabbed By the Ghoulies, Kameo: Elements of Power and Conker: Live & Reloaded are great. People need to stop shitting on those games. Perfect Dark Zero and Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts on the other hand weren't so great but the other 3 games were fine. And like I said even if Rare stayed with Nintendo I just don't know if any future games Rare made for further Nintendo consoles would've been the same as their SNES and N64 games
@@jiggylookbackPerfect Dark Zero is rather clunky. Compared to Call of Duty at the time, it doesn't feel polished. I suppose that's what happens when you make an FPS without the guys that know how to make one (and went to form a new development studio).
Problem is, nobody was interested in Grabbed by the Ghoulies even when it was teased in Spaceworld 2000 and on the back of the Nintendo GameCube box at launch (Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Kameo: Elements of Power were quickly replaced by Mario Kart Double Dash and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle after the initial batch were sold out).
I can't help but wonder what we could have gotten had we lived in the timeline of Nintendo buying Rare. Donkey Kong Racing would have just been the beginning. At the same time...I'm glad we got things like Viva Pinata.
Viva Pinata probably still happens
We would have got the games they cancelled. Donkey Kong Racing and Banjo Threeie. We also would have got Kameo Elements of Power. And a sequel to Conkers Bad Fur Day.
I feel the only Rare franchise that wouldn’t get much in a Nintendo buyout timeline would be Conker, considering it’s very poor sales and only Nintendo of America being interested in the game. On the other hand it would’ve lead to Banjo Kazooie nuts and bolts retaining the platformer roots it would’ve had.
I’m definitely of the mindset that if we got a Nintendo bought rare timeline, Leafos would’ve probably joined Smash alongside Banjo and Johanna, maybe Fulgore as well.
Reminder that the OG Rare devs are at Playtonic, who are currently working on a Yooka Laylee Remakemaster. Here's hoping this ends up being a sort of resurrected Banjo X!
Some of them are at Playtonic (there should be 15 devs), but Rare was way bigger back than. There are also still more Rare devs from the "Nintendo era" at Rare than at Playtonic, including Gregg Mayles (creative mind behind DKC and Banjo) and Robin Beanland (music for KI and Conker).
Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to Playtonic's next projects. Their team also growed quite a bit.
Let's see, they cancelled a bunch of games, drove the co founders to leave, and laid off near everyone who was there from the beginning... Yes, they murdered Rare...
Simple no?
No they didn’t though…I just gave the whole history of their involvement with games. A lot got cancelled before the buyout or in the transition. Microsoft pretty much let Rare do there thing with the exception of the Conker sequel.
The Stamper brothers seemed like they were already planning their way out. It wasn’t long after the merger they left.
For those people who think that Mario 2 shouldn't exist because it was originally "Doki Doki Panic", please remember it was Miyamoto who wanted to change Dinosaur Planet up and make it a Star Fox property instead. And both of those results became legendary games.
True haha but dinosaur planet is really cool
It honestly felt that after 2008's Nuts and Bolts Microsoft stopped caring about Rare and that's how they ended doing Kinect Sports on top of most of their IP
If they had stayed with Nintendo, Rare would've ruled over the GameCube, GBA and DS and who knows what games we would have in the Wii, 3DS, Wii U and Switch.
Banjo-Threeie (potentially), Donkey Kong Racing, Diddy Kong Pilot, we would've still had Grunty's Revenge since that was a thing pre-2002, Diddy Kong Racing DS would've had Banjo and Conker and could've been a sequel completing the Wizpig cliffhanger as opposed to a remake, maybe a new Donkey Kong 3D game like DK64 but even bigger, a better DK Barrel Blast, all the games that got moved to the XBOX.
I wouldn't say Microsoft killed Rare. Instead, they killed all their popular franchises that got their starts on Nintendo.
Incorrect. Rare came out and said they didn't want to focus on their old franchises and wanted to give gamers new experiences. It's crazy how people blame Microsoft for everything they don't like in gaming.
@@AdamWilliam329 microsoft canceled the sequal to Conker bad fur day
And then Microsoft stated why there were no titles from rare because nobody cares about them
@therealjaystone2344 You know why? Those franchises were making Nintendo no money. Don't try to clap back and cut out important information in the process. At the end of the day, it worked out for Nintendo and Rare and Microsoft. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Real gamers want new experiences. Yall stuck in the past.
@ and look where modern gaming is at. More reasons why older games were just simply better.
they didn't actually think they were getting Donkey Kong. that's just a headline that people ran with.
Lol I believe Chris Seavor said they did have that thought
@@jiggylookback Chris Seavor also corrected it saying, it was one very old executive and media outlets blew it out of proportion. It wasn't the whole team.
I agree in the middle. I do believe Nintendo suspected that the Stamper brothers were on their way out, and didn’t want to liquidate the company into first party. They seem content with them being second party and made investments to ensured that they didn’t take any loss once the Stamper brothers were gone. That’s just my guess. But Microsoft shutting down the Conker sequel definitely played a key factor in Rare team just giving up what made them unique. The creativity lost its magic after Conker 2 was canceled and you can see it with Kameo.
But that’s just my view on Rare. Nintendo definitely smelled something fishy with how quickly Microsoft took over and they clearly didn’t want part of it.
To this day, I still think what killed RAREWARE wasn't the Microsoft buyout itself.
It was what happened a few years afterwards, when Microsoft Executives were not happy with the modest 3 million to 4 million copies sold for Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero that were launch games for the XBox 360.
The way how RARE was gutted out and massive projects canceled and even ruined...
(Banjo Kazooie 3 being forced to change into Nuts and Bolts to incorporate a completely different game's gameplay mechanics involving custom designed vehicles into a platformer that never was supposed to have that kind of gameplay.)
That was what killed Rareware, not the buyout itself, but more to do with Microsoft's interference into Rare's creativity and we see this now with how Game Publishers are pushing in people who have no idea about Game Development, only focusing on sales numbers at the sacrifice of creativity, and we can see that Rare was just a canary in the coal mine about what happens when Corporates get involved and take over a Game Developer and their decisions.
See but that’s just it…they didn’t interfere with the games..that was my whole point. I even stated exactly how Microsoft was involved in a lot of those games development.
The idea for Nuts and Bolts came from one of the stamper brothers themselves and the team not wanting to make another platformer.
Even the Kinect games were all Rare’s decision.
@jiggylookback no they did interfere. Microsoft canceled Conker other bad day
I think there's still hope for Rareware's beloved IPs from the Raretendo days, just have Rare sell Banjo Kazooie, Conker, Jet Force Gemini, & a lot of their ZX spectrum IPs to Retro Studios. But a guy can have hope, right?
Jet Force Gemini was a game I'd love to see remade with latest graphics and improved gameplay.
It's my understanding that Rare wanted to be purchased to ensure better financial support with the increasing cost of game development, as games were becoming more complex in the sixth console generation.
That’s definitely an aspect of it. I’ve also heard tho Nintendo wanted them to expand. Seems like Nintendo didn’t want to front it though.
It's long been my understanding that the Story for Conker's Other Bad Day had most if not all of it's story written before it was scrapped. The articles say that they knew what movies they were going to parody and Birdy was going to die and like the original it was going to "end on a bittersweet note". You have some lore stuff from Conker's Other Bad Day in the video that I didn't know before. The video zooms right past it and I had to pause the video a lot to read it. You *HAVE* to make a video on the Conker's Other Bad Day Lore you found.
Yep. I just touched on it to summarize!
I plan on doing a full canceled video games series digging into things like this.
I grew up in the Microsoft era of Rare and had games like Ghoulies, Viva Piñata, and Kameo, and I loved them a lot. That was Rare for me growing up. I have been able to play the Banjo series since Rare Replay came out and it's one of my favorite platforming series now, and Perfect Dark is amazing, but I will always maintain that Kameo, Ghoulies, and Viva Piñata are underrated classics.
I agree with you! They are still fun!
This is a great topic. It's an acquisition full of missed opportunities and a drought of games. All their franchises were wasted. It was a massive disappointment. Rare lost all their magic and basically gave up on themselves and so many of their games looked so promising.
I would say the Kinect era killed Rare as well.
I would be interested in Rare or another company doing a direct sequel to Conker's Bad Fur Day. I always imagined hiring scriptwriters of The IT Crowd and The Boondocks to work on the game's cutscenes.
The thing is that a lot of Rare's success was in part because Nintendo's guidance. Rare by themselves where good, but I think there were areas of the game design that Nintendo complemented a lot. On the other hand, I don't think Microsoft could have complemented Rare, since game making has never been Mocrosoft's strong point. Restricting Nintendo's guidance on Rare was what ultimately killed it.
Yeah Nintendo gave them less creative control, Microsoft let them do whatever they wanted which meant less polish, less quality control.
Gaming history’s biggest lose
Gaming history’s biggest loss was when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast and stopped making consoles.
Gamings second biggest loss was when Microsoft bought Rare.
The only thing i dont like about the new Rare, is the low frequency of new releases. Oh yeah, and the silence about Everwild. At least we got a Christmascard with Everwild, but it´s strange to be that silent about a new game. I´m still looking forward to that game.
I commend you on doing research for this, though I just wanna clear up a couple things.
1:35 Microsoft never thought they were getting DK - according to Chris Seavor it was the thought of a singular old exec out on a trip to the UK, not the company as a whole. Articles made it very clear DK was staying with Nintendo after the split.
For Conker, Chris Marlow did an interview with the channel Sola and Cola that explained a few things. Live and Reloaded started out as Live and Uncut, which was just multiplayer, before the Stampers said to add a single-player option, fearing people wouldn't buy a multiplayer-only game. Since the team didn't want to make a whole new single-player on top of that, they remade BFD to give it a new audience/fix things from the original. Censorship came about because the Xbox was new, and they wanted to push it as a family system and had rules in place of what could/couldn't be said or shown. If the remake was made now, Marlow's said they'd have no issues with the content. Really good interview I'd recommend watching.
I feel like you skipped over Refuelled. That got a lot of good reviews and personally, it was a pleasant surprise playing through it - a great update to an old title.
12:46 I'm gonna say because it wouldn't sell. Nuts and Bolts went Platinum, but that's generous - probably wouldn't want to make a game on a Diddy Kong Racing character only five people know about, lest you want to actually tank the studio. The Kinect Sports games were Rare's best-selling titles up to that point after the buyout. Viva Pinata, etc. did alright, but nothing noteworthy - a joke in Nuts and Bolts calls it "the best game no one played - sequel now available".
If anything "killed" classic Rare, it's the industry itself. Other folks like Naughty Dog were getting bought by Sony because games were getting more expensive and they needed that cushion in case a game bombed, which Nintendo clearly didn't care about in the case of Rare. And truthfully, I don't care who makes Rare-based IP games as long as it's good - the new KI and Battletoads are my favourite entries in their respective franchises, and there's many Nintendo games not made by Nintendo themselves that I adore.
All that said, it's clear you put in much more effort than the average "Rare' is Dead" videos I've seen out there, though there's a lot of stories out there to get info from as well. Keep it up!
Thank you! I try. There is a ton of info out there. Almost to a point it is hard to get what’s true and what’s false.
@ Yeah, there’s a lot out there. General rule of thumb, I’d just stick to official articles and interviews for that kinda stuff - anything that’s not that, just ignore it.
Yep. Microsoft was too busy with FPS's and sensor technology that they said eh forget about it to their newly acquired properties.
Perfect Dark Zero is an FPS, but Microsoft considered it redundant as they already have Halo.
I don’t think it’s necessarily Microsoft’s direct doing that killed them but Microsoft is partly to blame for underutilizing them
If Microsoft is only going to use Rare for just one IP, Sea of Thieves, what was even the whole point of buying them in the first place? Even Viva Piñata is rarely used nowadays.
Rare could go independent if MS would just let them…
This is a complicated topic. I wouldn’t say the buyout killed Rare, but Microsoft gutted the studio after their early 360 games didn’t sell amazingly. Plus many studios struggled when moving into the HD consoles. It’s hard to know how things would have played out in an alternate timeline. But I think we can all agree that even if they’ve found some level of success, they were at their peak working with Nintendo.
And that we need Banjo 3 dammit.
N64 was peak for sure.
Good video! Development teams come and go in the game industry, so even if Nintendo did buy Rare, there is no guarantee the same developers would stick around at the company anyways. I do still cherish all of the great games they made and, heck, Playtonic pretty much seems like the resurrection of classic Rare.
It always surprises me that Nintendo didn't buy Rare when they had the chance. I mean, Rare's games absolutely rivaled the best Nintendo put out and they basically breathed additional life into the SNES to keep it going a little longer.
I honestly wish that Toys For Bob could get handed the rights to the Banjo license, since it seems Microsoft has no interest in the Banjo license. After seeing what Toys For Bob did for the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro remasters, I would love to see what they could do with developing Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie remasters!
Banjo X and Conker gettin medieval I didn’t know about them. That would be awesome to get those games
It really would!
With Banjo Kazooie nuts n bolts. That was a good game. It definitely shouldn’t have been banjo though. Tiptup or Timber would’ve been cool
In Rare’s defense, Microsoft didn’t actually kill Rare, but has better relationship with Microsoft.
If Rare isn’t even going to develop any new games from great franchises anytime soon or is never developing any of those games , excluding those like Perfect Dark reboot if they release it in time, then they should be selling those franchises to Nintendo. While not all of their modern Rare games are terrible, none of them are better than their classic Rare games in comparison
Excellent video bro!
I did not know about the Banjo Kazooie Remake (or 1.5), which is interesting
I personally think RARE will ALWAYS develop good, regardless on who owns the company, but they definitely could use some guidance from Miyamoto (I mean, general aspects, not specifics - and no, I'm not saying they're not creative, its more like a "this idea works better" kinda direction)
It would be cool to have a level of Nintendo partnership for sure.
I'd say it was more Rare that killed itself rather than Microsoft. Yes Microsoft made some very bad choices with Rare (seriously forever sad we never got that Conker sequel) but at the end of the day Rare decided to make Nuts and Bolts, Rare decided to make Kinect Sports, Rare decided to make this and that not Microsoft. As much as I'd love to say it was simply Microsoft's fault the simple truth of reality is they weren't the sole reason Rare became what they are now.
What actually happend to Everwild. Would be dope if thats the game that shows up at Developers direct. But than again they said its a unannounced game unfortunately
Well we got a little tease at Christmas...I hope we see it soon
Rare trying out Kinect somewhat makes sense looking back. They were always interested in experimenting with hardware to see how far they could push it. We associate them with specific franchises but they have always been about trying to make new things with a few occasional sequels.
It is a shame those IPs are not as used or in some cases stuck in one console but that is the case with all three console companies. And with Microsoft’s latest acquisitions I can only hope not all of them will be stuck in a similar situation to Rare.
I didn’t show it but they definitely had a banjo Kinect game in development as well. There is some prototype footage out there. Looked interesting.
@ can only hope the long requested Banjo Kazooie remake, X or not, will come to be. Could it be Playtonic? That’d be cool, but just hoping it sees the light of day.
I definitely think Rare on Wii would've been amazing
Broken my heart Conker/Banjo/Dk and many other games were soo close to continuing the greatest
Yeah it is sad :(
You could point the finger a lot of places, really. Microsoft for buying them, Nintendo for not, Halo and the Wii for driving gaming trends against what they wanted to do so that microsoft didn't want their original work anymore, or even Rare themselves for wanting even more money in the first place, or even for being so experimental that they lost sight of what people wanted. Slain by their own greatest strength, perhaps. I'm not sure whodunnit.
And now they’re in limbo just milking sea of thieves. Hopefully Everwild comes soon
Loved the video. I really am thankful to have played some of their games and just hope they continue working on projects they can be proud of. Looking forward to Everwild. Cheers!
Let’s hope we see some Everwild news soon!
I think Rare is pretty well right now. It is hard to know the what ifs
What "killed" it for me was not being able to get my 64 games back. NSO is better than nothing but i want rare replay on switch or something. Ive been anti xbox since these games never came to the wii vc.
Yeah it really sucks it's not on Nintendo. :/ It could have added DK64 and DKR.
Microsoft killed the spirit of Rare. This is obvious, it's what Microsoft does with all the developers it buys.
Rare under the direction of Nintendo we had great games, under the direction of Microsoft we had mediocrity
I thought Live and reloaded was a good game. The difficulty was definitely toned down which was nice. I was supposed at the fact it was more censored. Still if we got.Conkers other bad day that would’ve been epic. Then, if live and reloaded was included with it for a little extra money, I would’ve bought that.
While it's was a huge question as to why Nintendo never buyed Rare, over the years it shows that Nintendo really doesn't buy any of their second-party, they either thrive or die on their own, like Cinq & Alpha Dream.
They finally learned when they bought Next level
@Geomaster97 and their first game after that was Mario Strikers Battle League. Not a good sign of the future.
@@Geomaster97 As far as I know Next Level Games was indipendant and never a second-party.
Same as Monolith Soft and last year's Shiver Entertainment which both were bought off other companies.
Last several years Nintendo has been less strict about censoring games whereas Sony is getting even more strict.
Nintendo killed Rare. Xbox just put together bits and pieces they "found".
Of course Microsoft killed Rareware! Because they cancelled Rareware's next games who are in productions, in 2008 they killed Banjo and Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts ruined the Banjo-Kazooie games franchise) and in 2016 they killed Conker (Young Conker ruined the Conker games franchise)! Many years i would like they released Banjo-Threeie and the sequel of Conker's Bad Fur Day when Conker gonna do his quest to revived Berri!
Rare would have been like Insomiac.
No. God of Nintendo Miyamoto went to Rare over 5000 miles from his house, refused to differentiate a Canine main character from “Fox McCloud”, and further damaged the long-term growth of that franchise after what he did to Star Fox 2.
After the “God who is always right” ruined their N64 Swan Song, no wonder Rare was no longer interested in Nintendo.
Lol I mean…he sort of did. You’re not wrong. I don’t dislike the starfox connection, but he definitely was wanting to make a starfox game in the Zelda style and he saw an opportunity.
so can nintendo have conker the squirrel and bumper badger back?
No Microsoft didn’t “kill” Rare. Rare Killed Rare. Everything they did up until the Kinect Era was their own doing.
So were the kinect games lol
Rare had so much going for it. I hope we actually get a fully complete version of Dinosaur Planet on NSO.
That’s definitely not gonna happen but you can download the game and play it on real n64 hardware and emulators! It’s come a long way
@jiggylookback so they have been updating the software the whole time? I still remember hopping on the raft with only Krystal's head being visible.
@ you can look at my latest live stream and see how much it’s changed.
Only just now that I subscribe to your channel because it looks like you have a few videos that would be interesting and I like how this video is going, but as I scroll through your backlog I realized I found your rocket robot on Wheels video from way back when and if I'm not mistaken I think I commented on that video expecting to hear something about Sly cooper. Really neat to see how you kept popping up in my recommended videos despite not being subscribed for so long, great work on your videos and keep going😊
That is cool! And Rocket was a bit more obscure! Thanks for watching!
I did not know about "Donkey Kong Racing"
Doesn’t it look awesome? Would have been fun!
Very well done video and eye opening. I have to wonder if now though if around SNES - N64 (which I would call Rare’s golden years) were so good as Nintendo had a bit more control over them, and they didn’t have to deal with crunch time
Rare doesn’t seem to get things done timely. They need multiple console cycles to get the games done the way they want lol.
I think having a deadline is very helpful. Viva Pinata is a good example of it.
I wouldnt say microsoft killed rare its just that it didnt have that good chemistry like nintendo and rare did. Nintendo knew what rare did best and rare knew what nintendo liked
I still believe this is fully Nintendos fault
As i grow up i tell myself nothing killed rare, they needed to put food on the table and took microsofts offer, even if microsoft canned some ideas, rare made the choice to go into a different direction with they're company, if they're done with revisiting their old ips and would rather let new people tackle it, i don't mind but i at least want to see them push out new ideas and not just be the " seas of thieves people "
Agreed!!
Funny you mention Viva Pinata for the DS as there were two canceled Rare games that were planned for that console, the first was Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s other revenge, basically taking the 3D models over 2D backgrounds idea from Pinata and making a new Banjo platformer. However the other was probably a dream that almost came to be.. Donkey Kong Country 4, yes you heard that right. Rare worked on remaking the original trilogy for the GBA and used DKC3 GBA’s exclusive world Pacifica as a proof of concept for Nintendo to show that they could make a proper DKC4 and while Nintendo was impressed, they were a little too impressed, as the DKC remakes sold incredibly well to the point that DKC1 gba beat out every console DK game before Returns, and they decided that the best option for the big apes return would be on consoles.
Did they kill rare or create platonic 😂
Haha good question
Good analysis. I'm a bit surprised you didn't go into more depth on the "ship of theseus", the idea that if you replace all the parts of something, is it still the original thing, seeing as how much of the team of Rare has since split. I've also wondered if some of the more controversial titles would have done better if they weren't exclusives. Sure, the heyday of bangers was pretty much all on the N64, and took full advantage of the system. But would grabbed by the ghoulies have done better if it also released on the ps2 and gamecube? Would Nuts and Bolts have performed better as a wacky Wii Title instead of solely on the multiplayer shooter focused 360? Heck, Viva Piñata feels a lot more like a Wii game to me than a 360 console exclusive. If Microsoft could have offered more direction to focus on Rare's strengths, as well as what fans were asking for, I think we could've gotten better new IPs, and better sequels and continuations. However, it is still absolutely unforgivable the Conker's was more censored in the remake.
Great video Jiggy!!
Thanks glad you liked it!
Great video Mr. Jiggylookback 👀
Thanks so much!! :)
Everwild to me... really just looks kind of boring, I mean it looks nice but in a kind of "Cel-shaded modern game" kinda way, you get me? I think it's going to be a very pretty big game that's going to be a hit for the mainstream but beyond that is going to have little staying power.
We haven’t seen that much. I hope it’s cool!!
Saying Microsoft killed Rare is such Nintendo fanboy cope. I'd argue Microsoft saved Rare. If they hadn't bought out Rare, I don't think they would even be in business anymore.
I don’t think they would either!
This video was excellent! i think it was a really insightful take on the whole Rare bought by Microsoft. It still me makes me wonder to this day what would happen if Nintendo DID bought Rare. Because their games are awesome!
I’m glad you liked it!
Short unfortunate answer yes...
Banjo X would've been awesome! Especially if it was like Conker Live and Reloaded.
It sure would have!!
@jiggylookback especially with all the meta 4th wall jokes
I find it funny how out of all of rares franchises viva Piñata was one they obviously had major hopes for it got 4 games and a tv series (the first of Microsoft's to get one not Halo or cuphead like many claim) plus it became the first New franchise Rare made to get a game on a Nintendo platform since Conker
Banjo-Kazooie was also supposed to get a cartoon as well, but it didn't get far beyond concept art.
That’s true! I forget about the planned Banjo cartoon!
Judging by Yooka-Laylee, I think Rare's vision was far inferior to what hardware limitations forced them to settle for. If there was a game in development hell across 3 different generations, it sounds like all the new options gave them a sort of decision paralysis. If BK and BT looked as plasticky as Yooka-Laylee, I don't think they'd have the same charm or be beloved.
I feel like the SNES and N64 was a sort of perfect storm where they were at their prime and the hardware limitations kept them from be able to implement their very worst ideas.
Nuts N Bolts should have 100% been a Bumper spinoff. Heck even keep many of the BK cameos; why not?
They probably wouldn't have looked as good I agree.
I honestly think that Rare purposely attempted to reduce their game's quality to fool their audience into thinking it was Microsoft's doing, classic Rare...
They got us good
Well I would say yes and no. Yes cos Microsoft did the same like today buying companies and let them die and no, cos the main team wasn't there after the N64 era.
That’s true it is happening today. Pretty wild.
@@jiggylookback It's srsly the typical big corp situation and I'm really sick of these kind of persons.
We could have had Sabre Man Stampede 😭
I miss rare, I hope Nintendo buys them from Microsoft one day
That would be interesting.
Who knows maybe rare could make a comeback or maybe Nintendo, Microsoft and rare join up to a game
Sea of Thieves is one of Microsoft's best selling games at the moment, and Nintendo doesn't need Rare since every niche Rare filled was filled by Nintendo-owned companies like Retro Studios.
@@facts_about_bk True. They don't need Banjo-Kazooie, they already have Super Mario.
They don't need Perfect Dark, they have Metroid Prime.
They don't need Conker, as Sausage Party proved that vulgar cartoon-like characters are no longer acceptable in today's society.
And they don't need Rare for Donkey Kong as Retro Studios are still the go-to guys for the IP, even if they are continually moving away from Rare's vision of the series (I.E. no Kremlings).
poor rareware 😢😢😢
Killed?: No, not really.
Got an impact on them?: Absolutely yes.
Despite that the buyout was kind benefical to the company for either pay internal debts or expand the studio, still they didn't know the whole plans that Microsoft had for them for the future, besides the old employers and the creative minds left the studio each year, so Rare was slowly dying in any case, even if they stayed with Nintendo probably it would have happened the same thing (but with less games or new IPs).
Also at 10:30
Despite that everyone bash negatively that game, actually had a great thing that was either a big impact and is actually a fun fact.
It was the first videogame in get a Latin American Spanish dub, something that was never seen before here but unfortunately since the game was a failure and pretty much ignored, no one remember it and people always claim that Gears of War was the first one in get a LATAM dub which is not true since Perfect Dark Zero was released on 2005 and Gears of War on 2006.
That’s really cool! I didn’t know that about Perfect Dark Zero.
This isn't even a debate, Microsoft absolutely mascaurred rare. Known for the best N64 games of all time. They have reduced two of the greatest N64 games ever, banjo & conker to toys practically. Worst company ever.
Great little retrospective
Thank you :)
Seems like Jigglylookbacker defending this, despite not many quality games from his favorite Developer in modern era
Also great video for Rare's history
I am defending it a bit. I don’t think Microsoft is the issue. I think Rare’s creative direction is the main issue. Viva Pinata is a banger.
Sea of Thieves is fun we just need a new game after so many years…
@@jiggylookback That's true since many of the people left Rare, but hope we can get a fun and creative game by Rare, who knows, we can only wish
Good ole MicroGreed seen Rare doing good with Nintendo So The greed of Micro thought "Why not" lol -_-
We haven’t had a real video game besides Sea of Thieves from them since 2008. The only thing since then was a compilation of games and Kinect Sports :/
Yeah if you think about it…that’s true. Sea of thieves came out and it’s just been that. Used to be multiple teams making multiple games. We need that!
Great Vid!
Thank you for watching!
I also agree Microsoft didn't kill Rare. I think Rare thought about making money from some games that aren't that great and not thinking of the fans who have been buying Rare games probably from the beginning and wanted some popular old school Rare game series back in the spotlight. This is the same thing where in 2024, Microsoft buy the rights to the Crash Bandicoot series & the Spyro the Dragon series which is probably going to be another controversial thing as well and some Crash & Spyro aren't happy and probably saying the same about Microsoft like Rare fans did in the early 2000's. Anyway another amazing video and I have learnt some much more as well.
So true!! I forgot they bought that developer.
@@jiggylookback Of course
@@jiggylookback Publisher, actually. And they seem to agree on the cancelation of Crash 5 and decided not to continue support for Crash Team Rumble. What seemed like hope was crushed quickly, and Call of Duty isn't getting any better even with Bobby Kotick kicked from his position.
So, who's really pulling the strings at Activision?
Honestly Microsoft should have assigned Rare to be their MOSTLY family friendly devs with stuff like Banjo, Viva Pinata, as well as Perfect Dark and Conker, to compliment the dude bro stuff XBOX had like Halo and Forza (which are also great) overall in my opinion XBOX post 360 was a poorly managed brand and even towards the latter half of the 360's lifespan the brand was mismanaged...especially with how Microsoft cracked down on Japanese exclusives that were actually very popular with Japan, something that hasn't happened since with XBOX.
Give me a sassy comment as I hear your sassy now 👀
No. I don’t think I will.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes times 100000000000000 times yes they destroyed rare
Microsoft buying Rare will always be one of the most infamous things in gaming history, Rare really peaked in the N64 era imagine what they could have done with Wii, Wii U, and Switch.
"loving" star fox adventures is a wild take. its such a bad game and it is NOT a starfox game. only by name is it one.
Idk it’s pretty fun. The combat is the only thing that gets slow.
Im playing through the og dinosaur planet build on stream and lots of people are coming in talking about how they like starfox adventures.
nice job :)
Thank you!! :)
Yes
Yes they did
They absolutely murdered rare. Even going off of what you said they rushed basically all of their games and I wouldn’t be surprised if the lay offs and cancelations happened cuz of the crunch they underwent I doubt rare simply gave up on an idea of a banjo remake or a new conkor game
Even if you wanted to say “no rare was the one to kill itself not Microsoft” that’s sadly not how it works. Microsoft IS responsible for anything happening at rare. Game being rushed? Extend the date like Nintendo. The developers are making a game you’re unsure of? Interject and suggest they make it something else (like Nintendo) developers leaving (most likely cuz they’re being rushed)? Hire new devs that match their energy
Just look at what Nintendo did to Retro. They had a jack ass CEO, they were crunched to high heaven and weren’t doing so good financially and guess what? Nintendo stepped in, bought stocks, killed the crunch culture, even went over to retro and suggested ideas and ways for them to develop Metroid prime, etc. it IS Microsoft responsibility to oversee rare and interject whenever needed similar to how they interjected trying to make stuff like viva and conkor more kid friendly
Even tho Microsoft is well aware people want a new banjo game, they act as if they have no say in the matter, like they can’t go to rare and tell em. Even in the video it’s like the amount of good rare games can be counted on one. Almost 25 YEARS of being under Microsoft and what? They had a total of like… 5 games they developed themselves? That’s less than the DK country/land trilogies that they made in 3 YEARS like WOW…
It’s very much clear rare DID crumble under Microsoft’s leadership and no “they ruined themselves” isn’t an argument cuz it’s Microsoft’s responsibility to oversee them and yet they refuse to. Letting rare rest on their laurels and they lack the care and feedback someone like Nintendo often gives to their studios
They didn’t really rush all their games though…in fact a game like Kameo got more time than it needed.
I truly think the issue is more the stamper brothers leaving and them not having creative original IP ideas. Microsoft is just fronting everything.
While Nintendo does have quality control and interest…there are plenty of examples of them ruining projects because of it.
Body Harvest comes to mind. And even starfox adventures (though I like that game).
@
I didn’t say all of their games but a lot if not most of the games you mentioned were indeed rushed
And I don’t think it was just the original founders leaving rare a company is much more than the 2 people who found it or run it. Also lack of original IPs? Sure they lost donkey Kong… but that’s it they still owned stuff like banjo and conkor and perfect dark and could still make new ones if Microsoft chose to egg them on
And similar to Nintendo’s experimental nature while yes SOMETIMES it can lead to something bad MOST time it doesn’t. While I can count the number of exceptionally good games rare made under Microsoft on one hand. I can count the amount of failed project due to Nintendo’s input on one hand
Basically their caring nature to the quality of their games is what makes them thrive while Microsoft as a whole is at the bottom of the barrel.
And that’s what Microsoft lacks they bought rare but they lacked the responsibility to properly back it up and keep an eye on it and maintain any creative environment that could result in good games like with Nintendo and their partners
I don't like nuts and bolts I tried didn't listen to everybody brought the game I tried multiple times to try to like it just wasn't for me
They could have said no but they let themselves get bought by Microsoft. I understand people have history with the games Rare made all those years ago I do too especially with Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, 3, Goldeneye, and Conker to name a few. The fans have kind of ruined the games for me with all the same old forced humor, the developer worshiping, and about practically everything else but focusing on the gameplay itself especially when watching a playthrough.
Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is fr one of the best games to come out of that console generation, probably top 5 or 4 for me.
My theory regarding Conker L&R is that it actually IS a sequel to the N64 game. We know the game originally ended with Conker committing suicide and instead we see him go in the opposite direction after leaving the pub. BUT, that's not to say Conker still didn't commit suicide. It's possible he still could have and because of his life of sin and vice he spends eternity in hell forced to relive the events of BFD as his eternal punishment
Interesting! Could explain why this time he gets outfits and stuff and there are different enemies around too
People definitely need to stop shitting on Conker L&R. Sure I would loved to have seen the planned but cancelled sequel but I still love L&R. It's a great game. Btw I have an interesting theory regarding it. It's silly but interesting
In my opinion, not right away. Maybe. But I honestly feel that Rare would've declined in popularity even if they stayed with Nintendo. Plus some of the games Rare made under Microsoft were pretty good. Grabbed By the Ghoulies, Kameo: Elements of Power and Conker: Live & Reloaded are great. People need to stop shitting on those games. Perfect Dark Zero and Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts on the other hand weren't so great but the other 3 games were fine. And like I said even if Rare stayed with Nintendo I just don't know if any future games Rare made for further Nintendo consoles would've been the same as their SNES and N64 games
I need to play through perfect dark zero but I don’t think nuts and bolts is bad
@@jiggylookbackPerfect Dark Zero is rather clunky. Compared to Call of Duty at the time, it doesn't feel polished. I suppose that's what happens when you make an FPS without the guys that know how to make one (and went to form a new development studio).
Problem is, nobody was interested in Grabbed by the Ghoulies even when it was teased in Spaceworld 2000 and on the back of the Nintendo GameCube box at launch (Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Kameo: Elements of Power were quickly replaced by Mario Kart Double Dash and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle after the initial batch were sold out).