Fair enough. Your posts, however, did make you come off as more of a Rare graphical engine fan than a Rare fan.
You make a good point about Nintendo's games and I've felt the same way about them for years. On the other hand, is it safe to say that you're a fan of Halo 3, GTA 4, COD 4, Forza 2, PGR 4, etc...? At their cores, those games are basically the same thing as the original game that spawned them. However, each managed to innovate without changing the core direction of the game. Whether that be by implementing online party systems, recorded films, dual wielding, online free-roam, a prestige system, photo mode, or whatever other unique new features that were added from sequel to sequel.
The point is that Rare could have satisfied both the crowd that wanted "Banjo in HD" and the crowd that didn't
only want "Banjo in HD." Much like Halo 3 isn't just Halo 2 in HD. And again, the people praising the new direction in this thread never called for it before it was announced. Nor do they denounce the sequels that play it safe on their favorite console.