On Rare, Microsoft and Nintendo

[Angrist]

Looking back on what might have been the first of big market changes, what do you think about Nintendo selling Rare to Microsoft?

Back then Nintendo fans were so angry and disappointed. How dared Nintendo sell their best 2nd party developer? And to Microsoft, their most serious competitor that generation.
Microsoft laughed in the face of all the N-fanboys.

Now, 6 and a half years later, opinions have changed. Your thoughts?

[Professor S]

At the very least, Microsoft made Nintendo's most relevant game developer irrelevant, so on that level it could be viewed as a minor victory on their part.

But in the big picture Microsoft could have done so much more with Rare and looking at how they've evolved in their relationships with other developing partners, I'd say they learned a very important lesson from the entire Rare debacle

[Dyne]

I really loved Star Fox Adventures so I was pretty heartbroken. But it's so many years later and nothing has lived up to it - except for Banjo Kazooie - Nuts and Bolts. Now that's a fantastic game. I can't wait to see more Rare like that.

Kameo was pretty good too I guess. But it has nothing on Nuts and Bolts. Same goes for Viva Pinata.

Perfect Dark Zero is just completely irrelevant.

On the original Xbox, Grabbed by the Ghoulies was alright, but nothing special. Same with the Conker Remake.

So the executive summary is that they took a whole generation to get back on their feet, unfortunately.

However, Microsoft's purchase was totally worthless. Rare games are NOT finding their footing on either Microsoft console so far. Nuts and Bolts was even budget priced and it didn't sell!

They've fallen flat no matter how good their games are. Rare would have continued to thrive with Nintendo based on fanbase alone.

[Fyacin]

Looks like Microsoft just deprived Nintendo, and gamers, of some possibly execellent rare games. Nintendo has got along perfectly fine, and rare hasn't done anything for M$oft.

[Jason1]

Im assuming Rare had a lot of help and input on their games from Nintendo. That might be part of why their games sucked after they left. Or, it might have been because a lot of the Rare talent left Rare when that happened. Who knows.

[KillerGremlin]

Blast Corps
Goldeneye 007
Diddy Kong Racing
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Jet Force Gemini
Donkey Kong 64
Perfect Dark

Those are the memories of the RARE that I loved. Nintendo does stupid stuff every now and then......but hey that's what makes them Nintendo!

[Angrist]

Originally Posted by Jason1

Im assuming Rare had a lot of help and input on their games from Nintendo. That might be part of why their games sucked after they left.

This is what I've been thinking for a few years now. I think Nintendo used to help their 1st and 2nd parties with their games and that's why they're so good. The Nintendo dream team. Once Rare left, they had to stand on their own feet.

That, or they lost too much talent and didn't feel at home with Microsoft.

After all these years, I'm pretty happy with Nintendo's decision. Rare started to slack too much, cancelling games, postponing release dates, etc. Nintendo got offered a great deal of money. They saw Rare lost a lot of their potential, so they chose the money.
I just wish they would invest that money in other good studios... The Wii's software isn't half as good as that of the GameCube.

[thatmariolover]

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was nothing short of inspired. I'm hardly a completionist when it comes to games, but I'm sitting at ~97% if I was to hazard a guess. And very rarely did anything feel tedious. Whenever it did, I'd just build a new vehicle and the game was new again.

I don't pretend to know the reasons behind the sale, but Nintendo obviously felt the money up front outweighed what they would get from Rare in the long run.

[KillerGremlin]

I'm sure part of what slowed Rare down to make new games was licensing. Nintendo owns licenses to all the franchises Rare worked on. And didn't Nintendo sell Rare right at the beginning of the gen, so Rare was behind with getting the development info to work with the Xbox. It seems like Rare has been a little bit more productive with the 360.

I don't think Nintendo helped too much with Rare's games except for maybe with Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

I'm sure part of what slowed Rare down to make new games was licensing. Nintendo owns licenses to all the franchises Rare worked on. And didn't Nintendo sell Rare right at the beginning of the gen, so Rare was behind with getting the development info to work with the Xbox. It seems like Rare has been a little bit more productive with the 360.

I don't think Nintendo helped too much with Rare's games except for maybe with Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing.

Well it was mid generation I think as they had already released Star Fox Adventures and Kameo and DK Racing was demoed on the 'Cube.

I think Nintendo helped out Rare more than most people would think, but Rare isn't completely useless, but I haven't been a fan of theirs this generation aside from Kameo.

Nuts and Bolts was not what I expected at all, and I know it was a launch title but Perfect Dark Zero was just so weak.