[The Rare Canceled Game Art Thread]

IOnEI Falcon said:
With all the rumors of the next Xbox, does anyone think Rare is hard at work on creating some solid launch titles for it?
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RARE IS DEAD. IS RARE DEAD. DEAD IS RARE. RARE DEAD IS. IS DEAD RARE.
 
IOnEI Falcon said:
With all the rumors of the next Xbox, does anyone think Rare is hard at work on creating some solid launch titles for it?
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Rare, as sad as it is to say, are no longer relevant. They've become one of the least valuable first-party MS studios, partly because of their own ineptitude. I have both every single of their games this generation (and also the previous one) save for Jetpack Refuelled, and I love all of them (yes, even Ghoulies), but it pains me to say that they've totally lost their way with MS's atrocious mismanagement of the studio and their focus on all things Kinect.
 
taskbaarchitect Chris Allcock
The best part of writing any script is sneaking references in for the fans.

Seriously, I never know what to make of Chris's comments, haha!
 
I always wonder what would Rare be doing today if Microsoft never touched them. Would they still be at the top of their game? We'll never know but I really wish we had the old Rare this generation as I think they could have brought a lot to the table. I miss the unique charm their games had.
 
IOnEI Falcon said:
taskbaarchitect Chris Allcock
The best part of writing any script is sneaking references in for the fans.

Seriously, I never know what to make of Chris's comments, haha!
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Honestly, it's probably something like this:

allcockfnnl.jpg
 
Snuggler said:
Who needs artists when you have avatars.

I don't think I'll ever forgive Rare for creating those abominations.
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Because of the avatars they were not shut down and even got a new studio to replace the old one (sooner or later).
 
Shiggy said:
A blast from the past:
5833652256_9433061acd_z.jpg
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That's quite interesting. The button layout in the first screenshot is for an early Gamecube controller, but the date in the screenshot says 2004, which was several years after they were bought by Microsoft. What does that mean? I know PD0 had significant development issues, but was development so screwed up that the latest build at that point still had a significant amount of content referencing the Gamecube?
 
The Awkward Wizard said:
That's quite interesting. The button layout in the first screenshot is for an early Gamecube controller, but the date in the screenshot says 2004, which was several years after they were bought by Microsoft. What does that mean? I know PD0 had significant development issues, but was development so screwed up that the latest build at that point still had a significant amount of content referencing the Gamecube?
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Who knows. Could've been just an expected releasedate back then.

page2image4.jpg

Mai-hem, a Chinese super villain with a comedy name.
With her long pig tails weighted down at the end the idea was that she would use them as a fighting weapon even though she looked unarmed.
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It's hard to say just how much this whole thing sucks. DKC 2 and Banjo Kazooie will always be my favorite games. Always. Rare was my favorite game developer for as long as I can remember. No one should have to go out making Avatars and Kinect sports titles. No one deserves that.

The sad bit is I still have the tiniest flicker of hope that they could make some sort of COMEBACK. (Rare somehow buys itself back from microsoft and nintendo buys back their shares! They get back as many developers as possible and some new blood to help make the Wii u a success! A proper new Banjo game!)

I think the saddest part for me is knowing there's never going to be a new Banjo game. A real one.
 
When Rare was sold by Nintendo, I knew this would happen. It sucked bad, because even though Rare had been on a bit of a slide, they were still a quality developer and were probably destined to do great work on the Wii had they been given the chance.
 
Doubt it. Nuts and Bolts showed they had lost the guard rails to their creativity and spiraled out of control with lots of bad design decisions.
 
masterofcoin said:
It's hard to say just how much this whole thing sucks. DKC 2 and Banjo Kazooie will always be my favorite games. Always. Rare was my favorite game developer for as long as I can remember. No one should have to go out making Avatars and Kinect sports titles. No one deserves that.

The sad bit is I still have the tiniest flicker of hope that they could make some sort of COMEBACK. (Rare somehow buys itself back from microsoft and nintendo buys back their shares! They get back as many developers as possible and some new blood to help make the Wii u a success! A proper new Banjo game!)

I think the saddest part for me is knowing there's never going to be a new Banjo game. A real one.
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That would be a surefire way for Nintendo to overcome franchise fatigue. Sad sad news in this thread their IP would be a perfect fit for the Nintendo demo. MS probably wouldn't be willing to sell back their IP though. That said RARE games on Kinect with some sort of bluetooth analog nub for movement would be perfect. Hell just re-release Viva Pinata as a Kinect game and they would finally have a hit.
 
I've always wondered what would happen to Manor Park (Rare's HQ) if the studio went under. It's purpose built and in the middle of fucking nowhere, so it's not like an unrelated company could move in and get on with things.

I hope we never have to find out, but MS really needs to bash out a future path for Rare, or sell them and give someone else a go.
 
Deadbeat said:
Doubt it. Nuts and Bolts showed they had lost the guard rails to their creativity and spiraled out of control with lots of bad design decisions.
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nintendo_logo-400-400.jpg

You mean these rails?

People keep glossing over this. Rare was who they were because of Nintendo. Once Rare left Nintendo, their entire culture changed. They didn't just start making bad decisions, their decisions were being guided by a different hand, one that spent too much time looking at the end result instead of how to get there.

It's sad, but MS bought Rare, Mined them for the talent they thought they had, and discarded the empty husk. The Rare you loved has been dead for years.
 
DeaconKnowledge said:
People keep glossing over this. Rare was who they were because of Nintendo.
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Nintendo partnered with Rare in the first place because of their excellent output. Rare existed (and made great games) long before they ever became involved with Nintendo. There's no doubt in my mind that Nintendo helped push them to the next level, but I think it's unfair to say that Nintendo were the sole reason Rare was considered a top-tier developer.

My guess: The Stampers sold their shares to Microsoft in the first place because they wanted to get out of the industry. Once that sale took place, they stayed in charge during the transition, but it's hard to expect them to put in the same energy and time as they did when they were passionate about Rare. And once they left, any semblance of continuity and leadership went with them.

The Stamper Brothers were akin to any other creative leaders in this industry. They never built a proper support staff under them, so MS ended up buying some IPs but none of the real talent. I have no idea if this is true, but it makes sense to me. As good as some of their games were (Banjo, Viva), they lacked the focus of classic Rare games that comes from constant guidance.

If Nintendo (or any other strong company) had purchased Rare instead, there's a great chance they'd still be making great games. But MS didn't have the creative people in place to take charge.
 
Gigglepoo said:
Nintendo partnered with Rare in the first place because of their excellent output. Rare existed (and made great games) long before they ever became involved with Nintendo. There's no doubt in my mind that Nintendo helped push them to the next level, but I think it's unfair to say that Nintendo were the sole reason Rare was considered a top-tier developer.

My guess: The Stampers sold their shares to Microsoft in the first place because they wanted to get out of the industry. Once that sale took place, they stayed in charge during the transition, but it's hard to expect them to put in the same energy and time as they did when they were passionate about Rare. And once they left, any semblance of continuity and leadership went with them.

The Stamper Brothers were akin to any other creative leaders in this industry. They never built a proper support staff under them, so MS ended up buying some IPs but none of the real talent. I have no idea if this is true, but it makes sense to me. As good as some of their games were (Banjo, Viva), they lacked the focus of classic Rare games that comes from constant guidance.

If Nintendo (or any other strong company) had purchased Rare instead, there's a great chance they'd still be making great games. But MS didn't have the creative people in place to take charge.
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My two favorite Rare games of all time (Battletoads and R.C. Pro Am) was created before their relationship to Nintendo, so yes, I agree that they were making great games.

However, I think I can safely say that there was a tangible ascension Rare made when they partnered with Nintendo. Not to take away from Pre-N Rare, however their game was certainly elevated back then. There was a time people considered Rare the better of the partnership! The culture mix was the perfect blend of philosophy and execution for Rare.

As for your theory, i'm sure you're mostly correct; however i'm sure I read somewhere that the Stampers wanted out before Nintendo bailed but MS convinced them to steward the transition. I think their cracks were showing even from the Nintendo days, and rather than nurture a dying horse Nintendo chose to cut them loose. You and I have discussed this back and forth for years; but even back then I said that them moving to MS was a death sentence. Not because of anything MS could do, but it's nearly impossible to sell a company with such a wildly different internal culture and expect full steam ahead.

Unfortunately for MS, I think both Rare and Nintendo knew their best days were behind them.

I'm gonna throw Captain Skyhawk in there too, but no one ever remembers that game.
 
I don't think the Stampers wanted to leave their own company, not even in 2007. That's a story like that Betteridge just moved from his position voluntarily last year... Joel Hochberg did want to leave though, that's why we've never heard of him again.
 
slit said:
I always wonder what would Rare be doing today if Microsoft never touched them. Would they still be at the top of their game? We'll never know but I really wish we had the old Rare this generation as I think they could have brought a lot to the table. I miss the unique charm their games had.
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Well, Nintendo had to have reason to drop them.

RARE needs to reboot Battletoads on XBLA.
 
So after winning a Bafta with Beanland, David must be quite happy with how everything turned out in the end.

David Clynick
In persuading the wife to use iWork, I have now totally rid my house of MS shitware.
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oh
 
DeaconKnowledge said:
You mean these rails?

People keep glossing over this. Rare was who they were because of Nintendo. Once Rare left Nintendo, their entire culture changed. They didn't just start making bad decisions, their decisions were being guided by a different hand, one that spent too much time looking at the end result instead of how to get there.

It's sad, but MS bought Rare, Mined them for the talent they thought they had, and discarded the empty husk. The Rare you loved has been dead for years.
Click to expand...


Rare still made bad games during the N64 years. I find it disingenuous to attribute Rare's creative successes to the mythical Nintendo/Wonka Fun Factory, yet dismiss the stinkers as exceptions to the rule. If you mean that Nintendo elevated them by not cancelling their projects and reshuffling their hierarchy ever six months, then I agree with you. Nintendo left them the hell alone to do their thing, and sometimes they misstepped, but more often than not they shined. The Banjo team during the Microsoft era is further proof of that- considering what was happening to the other teams makes VP's and Banjo's releases minor miracles, but they were a final glimpse into the creative wonder that was still at the company.
 
watkinzez said:
Rare still made bad games during the N64 years. I find it disingenuous to attribute Rare's creative successes to the mythical Nintendo/Wonka Fun Factory, yet dismiss the stinkers as exceptions to the rule. If you mean that Nintendo elevated them by not cancelling their projects and reshuffling their hierarchy ever six months, then I agree with you. Nintendo left them the hell alone to do their thing, and sometimes they misstepped, but more often than not they shined. The Banjo team during the Microsoft era is further proof of that- considering what was happening to the other teams makes VP's and Banjo's releases minor miracles, but they were a final glimpse into the creative wonder that was still at the company.
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What bad games are you referring to? Even Mickey's Speedway USA was a good game.
 
IOnEI Falcon said:
What bad games are you referring to? Even Mickey's Speedway USA was a good game.
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Jet Force Gemini.

I wish ex-Rare guys could bide their tounges without getting all pissy, it makes them look immature.
 
IOnEI Falcon said:
What bad games are you referring to? Even Mickey's Speedway USA was a good game.
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Jet Force Gemini was pretty bad and Perfect Dark kinda buckled under the weight of its own ambition.

Donkey Kong 64 was pretty widely panned.

So many Rare games from that era suffered from the "Collect a bunch of garbage" gameplay that sadly became their trademark.
 
I question your definition of "bad" if you call Jet Force Gemini a bad game.

I don't even know what to say about even mentioning Perfect Dark in the same universe of being a bad game.
 
Jet Force Gemini wasn't as bad a some make it out to be, i had fun playing co-op with my brother at the time. The frame rate was poor though even for a 64 game.

Not sure how anyone can classify Perfect Dark as a bad game?? One of my favourite shooters along side Goldeneye.

Regarding Microsoft era Rare, while they certainly didn't reach the levels of the Nintendo days, they were still a great developer.

I enjoyed Kameo a lot and i still think it's underrated. Viva pinata, Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts are fantastic games as well.

The only disappointment is that Perfect Dark Zero turned out the way it did. For a launch title it was okay i suppose but for a sequel to Perfect Dark it was frustrating and the fact that it had a bad development cycle didn't help at all. I thought the art direction was a mistake also.

A Banjo-Kazooie platformer using the engine they used for Nuts and Bolts would be cream worthy, shame it will probably never happen.
 
The bad games are only bad in a relative sense though.
Even JFG and DK64 accomplished impressive things on the N64.
They just had spots where they were not fun.

EDIT: wrote this post one hour ago and forgot to submit...lol
 
Blast Corps = AWESOME.
Goldeneye = AWESOME.
Diddy Kong Racing = AWESOME.
Banjo One = AWESOME.
DK 64 = Meh.
Jet Force Gemini = Good.
Perfect Dark = AWESOME.

Didn't play B2 or Conker, but that's a pretty impressive list for one generation, probably one of the best for a developer.
 
DeaconKnowledge said:
I question your definition of "bad" if you call Jet Force Gemini a bad game.

I don't even know what to say about even mentioning Perfect Dark in the same universe of being a bad game.
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Hear hear. Labelling Perfect Dark a disappointment is unhinged insanity.

Jet Force Gemini was pretty bad
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Besides that Tribals game mechanic, it was incredible. You're a plonker.

Conker's BFD was brilliant too, and had one of the most addictive MP modes this side of Goldeneye. A very well crafted game that only suffered due to Nintendo washing their hands of it.

I wish ex-Rare guys could bide their tounges without getting all pissy, it makes them look immature.
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No it doesn't, it's refreshing to see good people speak up about bad management. Given what many of them had to endure, they're well within their right to have a shot back. Trust me, you don't know the half of it.
 
Did I just see JFG and Perfect Dark mentioned with the word "bad" in the same sentence? *shakes head* Their one and only N64 game I didn't really "get" was Blast Corps but I still see why people love it. N64 Rare = Flawless to me. :)
 
Kermit The Dog said:
Conker's BFD was brilliant too, and had one of the most addictive MP modes this side of Goldeneye. A very well crafted game that only suffered due to Nintendo washing their hands of it.
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Huh? Nintendo put a lot of muscle behind Conker.
 
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