Rare, also called Rareware, is a company that was a key developer for the Nintendo gaming platforms, but since has been acquired by Microsoft. It was founded in 1985 by Tim and Chris Stamper. Rare was originally started as Ashby Computer Graphics (A.C.G) even if they released their games under the name Ultimate Play The Game.

Table of contents
1 Company Overview
2 List of games
3 External links

Company Overview

Rare is the company behind many of the most famous games for Nintendo: Battletoads, Donkey Kong, Killer Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, and Star Fox Adventures.

It has been a cutting-edge company because its games have always employed some of the latest technology in graphics. Its most renowned success was Donkey Kong Country, due to its use of pre-rendered 3D graphics on a 2D console. Later, Killer Instinct added several features to the fighting game genre such as autodoubles, linkers and ultras.

In September 2002, Rare was acquired by Microsoft in order to develop exclusive games for the Xbox console. The trademarks of the characters from the games that Rare made for Nintendo consoles have been acquired by Nintendo. In early 2004, it was reported that Microsoft is attempting to acquire Rare's characters and trademarks that were made for Nintendo consoles from Nintendo and offered Nintendo $12.2 billion for the characters and trademarks.

List of games

This partial list of games developed by Rare uses the following construct:

gamename (system(s)) - brand

Where gamename is the name of the game it developed, system(s) are the computer systems the game was developed for and brand is the brand the game was released under.

1980s

1983

  • JetPac (ZX Spectrum), BBC, Vic 20) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Atic Atac (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Psst (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Tranz Am (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game

1984

  • Alien 8 (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Entombed (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Cookie (ZX Spectrum) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Knight Lore (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC, MSX) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Lunar Ketman (ZX Spectrum, BBC) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Sabre Wulf (ZX Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, BBC) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • The Staff of Karnath (C64) - Ultimate Play The Game
  • Underwurlde (ZX Spectrum, C64) - Ultimate Play The Game

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

  • Marble Madness (NES) - Milton Bradley
  • World Games (NES) - Milton Bradley
  • WWF Wrestlemania (NES) - Acclaim
  • Sesame Street 123 (NES) - Hi Tech
  • John Elway’s Quarterback (NES) - Tradewest
  • California Games (NES) - Milton Bradley
  • Taboo (NES) - Tradewest
  • Wizards & Warriors (NES) - Acclaim
  • Sesame Street ABC (NES) - Hi Tech
  • Hollywood Squares (NES) - Gametek
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (NES) - LJN
  • Jordan vs. Bird: One on One (NES) - Milton Bradley
  • Cobra Triangle (NES) - Nintendo
  • Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II (NES) - Acclaim
  • Wheel of Fortune Junior Edition (NES) - Gametek
  • Jeopardy! Junior Edition (NES) - Gametek
  • Silent Service (NES) - Ultra Games

1990s

1990

1991

1992

1993

  • Battletoads (Mega Drive, Game Gear) - TradeWest
  • Battletoads Double Dragon (NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy) - TradeWest
  • Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World (Game Boy) - TradeWest
  • Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES) - TradeWest
  • X The Ball (Arcade) - Capcom/Brent Walker/tecmo
  • Snake Rattle 'N' Roll (Mega Drive) - Sega/TradeWest

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

  • Banjo-kazooie (N64) - Nintendo

1999

2000s

2000

2001

  • Mickey's Speedway USA (GBC) - Nintendo
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64) - Rare

2002

  • Star Fox Adventures (GameCube) - Nintendo

External links