Mackenzie’s Musings: A Rare Tribute

30 Jan, 2011

As the title suggests this is a small tribute article to probably my favourite video game developer Rare. For those of you unfamiliar with Rare then here is a quick history. Rare was founded in 1982 by two brothers, Tim and Chris Stamper. They originally developed games for the Commodore 64 and other 8-bit consoles, before moving onto the SNES and the Nintendo 64. It was their exclusivity to Nintendo and wonderful imagination that bought Rare into the gaming limelight. In 2002 Microsoft bought Rare and have worked as a subsidiary of Microsoft game studios ever since. Unfortunately Tim and Chris Stamper left Rare in 2007 to pursue ‘other opportunities’, but that hasn’t stopped Rare from producing their fantastic games.

Rare holds a special place in my heart because of their spectacularly individual style of games. Many years ago, when I acquired a Nintendo 64, I would spend many hours playing through Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and let us not forget Goldeneye. Later on I would come to discover the far more mature Conker’s Bad Fur Day and fall in love with Rare games all over again. These games were all celebrated for their bright colour, fantastic level design and classically British humour. In fact, Rare may even be the reason I bought an Xbox 360. I remember watching the trailer for Kameo: Elements of Power, staring the incredible graphics and thinking ‘I gotta get me this game!’. The same happened with Viva Piñata, which turned out to be one of the most relaxing and laid-back games I have ever played. In late 2008 Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was released and bought the Nintendo 64 classic franchise into the modern day. Although sales figures weren’t particularly amazing, Rare still managed to capture the charm of the original whilst implementing innovative new Ideas, such as the ‘create-a-vehicle’ concept.

I wouldn’t be able to talk about Rare without mentioning, what may be, my all-time favourite game. I am referring to Banjo-Tooie. Sequels have always been said to be worse than the original, but for me Banjo-Tooie may even be better than the original. The amazing level design made this game one of the most enjoyable and interesting video games on Nintendo 64. This game was no walk in the path either. I remember it taking me so long to collect enough Jiggies to reach just the 4th or 5th stage that I shamefully gave up and used cheat codes. A terrible thing I know. But even with unlimited eggs and invincibility the game required puzzle-solving skills and general gameplay skill to conquer. It is an example of a game you can look back at and think ‘Why are games not like that anymore?’.

Rare’s focus now is mainly on Kinect titles, such as the recently released ‘Kinect Sports’. As a fan it is hard for me to let go of the old franchises, such as Banjo-Kazooie, and sit back and let Rare explore pastures new. There will always be the part of me that wants another Banjo-Kazooie or Kameo: Elements of Power to be released. Sadly this seems slightly unrealistic.

I firmly believe it is companies such as Rare that make the British gaming industry the powerhouse it is today. Rare produced classic after classic, each with very different and individual themes but all with the same charm and brilliant craftsmanship. Their ability to inspire and amaze with such games is their excellence and is why I believe they should be paid tribute to.

So here’s to you, Rare.