Rare, Ltd.
Overview
Rare was formed in England in 1982 by
Chris and
Tim Stamper, under the original name of
Ultimate Play the Game. They made many classic games for the home computers of that era (primarily the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64) and were instrumental in the commercialisation of the computer games industry via their pricing, packaging and advertising policies.
In 1985 the Stampers sold the
Ultimate name to
US Gold (who produced all
Ultimate games post-
Gunfright) and began to develop for the NES under the name of
Rare Ltd. The name was however still used until 1986 and
Dragon Skulle was the last game to use it.
Rare Coin-it, a sister company, was formed in Miami under separate directorship, but
Rare only produced four coin-ops (only one of which it published itself).
They produced an astounding number of NES games including the classic
RC Pro-Am and the
Battletoads franchise (possibly based on the then-topical success of the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). During the NES days
Rare became allied with
Zippo Games, later buying that company from
Steve and
John Pickford and renaming it
Rare Manchester. During this period
Rare developed many licenses, and also programmed conversions. This attitude seemed at odds with the quality and originality of the
Ultimate days.
This was to change, however. Wishing to avoid becoming 'just another' games development company, in 1993/4
Rare risked the expense of a great deal of silicon graphics technology. This resulted in the creation of the
Donkey Kong Country series for the SNES, games which stretched the industry's perceptions of the graphical capabilities of the SNES and put
Rare on the triple-A map.
Killer Instinct for the arcades (published by
Midway, with subsequent console conversions published by
Nintendo) used the same technology with similarly successful results.
Killer Instinct went on to become the 'third choice' 2D fighting game of the era after
Street Fighter II and
Mortal Kombat.
The creation of
Donkey Kong Country, apart from making
Rare rich (it was released after the release of the Sega Saturn, toward the end of the SNES' lifetime, resulting in it being the only obvious product for SNES owners to buy that Christmas), sealed
Rare's relationship with
Nintendo.
Nintendo had bought 25% of
Rare shares in 1995, meaning that
Rare became a
Nintendo second party developer. This relationship flourished after the release of the N64, which
Rare supported with a string of high quality, high selling games.
GoldenEye 007 sold around 5 million copies worldwide, a statistic that suggests that
Rare was now one of the world's premier developers, and need never feel financial pain again.
In September 2002
Rare was bought by
Microsoft for an alleged $375 million, in an apparent attempt on the part of
Microsoft to gain some credibility in first party development.
Their first few games for Microsoft were not as well received as their previous games. However, when the Xbox 360 was released, Rare's success was starting up again, but it is still not as successful as in previous years. Microsoft still claims that Rare is their cornerstone development studio.
In January 2007, it was announced that co-founders Chris and Tim Stamper were leaving the company that they once founded to pursue other opportunities.
Also Known As
- Rareware (from 1994 to 2003)
- Rare Ltd. (from 1987 to 1994)
- Ultimate - Play the Game (from 1983 to 1986)
- Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. (from 1983 to 1994)
Trivia
Even though the company worked on many titles,
Kameo: Elements of Power was Rare's first launch game for a console. It appeared on the Xbox 360 in 2005.
Related Web-Sites
- Rare, Ltd. -- The Official homepage
- Mundo Rare -- A Spanish Rare fansite with comprehensive information that is also English-friendly.
- RareNet -- A collaborative index of all things Rare
- The Rare Witch Project -- A Rare fansite specializing in unlocking game secrets.
- Ultimate Wurlde -- A largely static site with lots of information on the company, the mystique, and the games.
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