Rareware...if only (unedited)

I have not had a games console for over two years now, well since my Playstation 3 suddenly and rather conveniently broke down just before I was due to arrive at University. Perhaps it was just fate, a sign that I had to work hard on my studies, and put gaming to one side, until the day that I graduated. I did have a 3DS for a couple of months until I needed some money, so I sold it for half the price I had originally bought it for.

But in all the time that I was a hardcore gamer, beginning with the Sega Mega Drive, the best console I have ever had is the Nintendo 64. And this includes a list which has PS2, Dreamcast, PS3, Game Cube, none of them have come close to the experience that I had with the N64. It was with the N64 that gaming was taken to a whole new level, thanks to the Nintendo the first rumble feature was introduced, the first analogue stick, four controller ports, the first time games looked good in 3D, without the polygons looking like square blocks.

But there was something else that really made N64 special, and that was the numerous classics created by Rareware, a once renown studio based in England, Leicester. Without going into their early beginnings, they really put themselves on the map with the reinvention of Donkey Kong, alas Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. The game was such a success it spawned many sequels and even an animated childrens show. I only ever played one of the Game Boy versions, I think it might have been Donkey Kong Country 3.

But for my generation, those who owned an N64, Rare were the Pixar of video games. From 1996-2002, when they were eventually bought out by Microsoft, they epitomized what games were all about. Fun, engaging and innovative. It was a time when their gold logo truly shined with greatness.

GoldenEye is still the greatest movie tie in ever made, it was the first multiplayer game that was just as good as the single player campaign. What made the game so special was the fact that each level was objective based, it wasn't like Doom and the other first person shooter games at the time, where you just walked from corridor to corridor shooting endless enemies until you reached the end of the level. It was both challenging and fun, and you were also rewarded the further you played the game.

Banjo Kazooie took everything Mario 64 had done and made it better, a bright colourful game that was enduring to people of all ages. Although Diddy Kong racing wasn't quite as good as Mario Kart 64, it was still a great game nevertheless. 

But without doubt one of the most underrated games of all time, on any system, was Jet Force Gemini. It was like playing Space invaders in a 3D environment. The guns, the graphics (for the time), the vast levels, it really was a standout game that deserved more success than it got, I still pray for the day that a sequel will magically be announced (I'm not holding my breath).

Towards the end of the N64s lifespan there was Perfect Dark, another ambitious first person shooter in the vein of GoldenEye, this time with a female lead called Joanna Dark. With the Bond universe gone Rare were able to experiment and go their own way. Superb graphics, imaginative arsenal and level design made it an instant classic. Although its sales were not as strong it was just as good, well the single player was at least.

Other great games were released. Who can ever forget the masterful Conkers Bad Fur Day, with its mature take on platform games and very enjoyable multiplayer campaign it certainly stood out amongst other games on the console, but ultimately came too late to really make much of an impact in terms of commercial success. Although a decent remake was released for the Xbox a few years later.

But in the last decade since Nintendo has sold their half of the company to Microsoft, the story of Rare is one of bitterness and if only. They only released one game for the Game Cube which was Star Fox Adventures, although a decent and pretty looking game it was very forgettable. With the inclusion of Rare games I believe that the Game Cube would have been more successful than it eventually was.

Grabbed by the ghoulies, their first game for Microsoft was one of the biggest video game failures in history, commercially as well as critically. Perfect Dark Zero was a wasted opportunity and one of the worst follow up games of all time, it was clearly rushed out to be released on the Xbox 360 launch date. Such was the mediocrity both critically and commercially we will most probably never see another one again. It is also the last game that I have ever played which was made by Rare. So I've missed out on Kameo and Viva Pinata (which both got decent reviews but nothing more), and hardly took the world by storm in terms of sales.

The same was said for Banjo Kazooie: Nuts n Bolt, I never played it but the reviews as well as sales were mediocre at best. By turning it into a build and collect car game they took away what made the originals so unique. At a time when platform games are few and far between, it ended up being a wasted oppurtunity.

Now days Rare has limited itself to making the Kinect sports games, again I've never played them but they are successful.

With its respected identity within the industry gone, I can only look back and think 'if only...'. With the success of the Wii consoles it does make me wonder about the classic games that were never made, and the ones that I would have played. Of course I'm thinking with hindsight, but we can all imagine can't we.