Rare Replay: A Bear, a Piñata and a Secret Agent walk into a disc

PaperLuigi44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYbU1uKPaGU

Rare is a company that has been deeply influential for me - Banjo-Kazooie was the first console gave I ever owned, Tooie remains my favourite N64 game, and Nuts & Bolts was the reason I got a 360.

To celebrate their 30th anniversary, they've released this excellent collection of 30 games from Jetpac all the way to Nuts & Bolts

Those games are:

Jetpac
Lunar Jetman
Atic Atac
Sabre Wulf
Underwurlde
Knight Lore
Gunfright
Slalom
R.C. Pro-Am
Cobra Triangle
Snake Rattle 'n' Roll
Solar Jetman
Digger T. Rock
Battletoads
R.C. Pro-Am II
Battletoads Arcade
Killer Instinct Gold
Blast Corps
Banjo-Kazooie
Jet Force Gemini
Perfect Dark
Banjo-Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
Kameo
Perfect Dark Zero
Viva Piñata
Jetpac Refuelled
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Inevitably the Donkey Kong games and Goldeneye weren't going to make it onto this collection, but it's still a pretty great list. Rare may also release other games via DLC.

This is also a pretty polished collection, that catchy intro is only the beginning. Interviews with Rare staff unlock as you complete in-game milestones and pre N64 games have stuff like save states and a rewind function. This collection also acts as a preview of backwards compatibility, as that's how the 360 games (including Banjo) are incorporated into this pack.

So yeah this collection is pretty cool.

bloodyroarxx

I really want to buy an Xbone for this but no Wizards and Warriors maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

Raijin Quickfoot

I need to download this on my XBONE. $30 is a steal.

PaperLuigi44

I'm bouncing between Jet Force Gemini and Viva Pinata - both games I've never played before. I appreciate the option for modern controls for the former, jumping with the right stick wasn't super-enjoyable.

Maximum

I've been going through the GB Quick Look on this, and so far I dunno. I guess I don't have the nostalgia for much of their back catalog.

GreasyKidsStuff

I got really excited when I heard about this because I love Blast Corps

Don't have an Xbone, though. Oh well!

Wyborn

I hear that Conker is the superior N64 version

Is that true

Ringo

The only games I'd really want from that list are Perfect Dark and Conker.

Hmmm....

Casually Hardcore

Jet Force Gemini is....

ummm.....

well....

it's rather hideous and controls badly.

Please tell me it gets much better once you get past these barriers.

Raijin Quickfoot

I wish I liked the Viva Pinata games but I could never get into them.

PaperLuigi44

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

Jet Force Gemini is....

ummm.....

well....

it's rather hideous and controls badly.

Please tell me it gets much better once you get past these barriers.

Have you toggled modern controls? That at least helps a bit.

spono

All I remember about Jet Force Gemini is that my brother and I played it a lot and that I'm pretty sure we both thought it was garbage.

ASimPerson

My brother and I had JFG for the N64 and I don't think we ever got very far, but I recall that there at its core it was fun.

Perfect Dark... well, I already own the XBLA version. I loved that game, especially after a guy indefinitely "borrowed" my copy of Goldeneye, but man I can only play it now because of nostalgia.

TubularLuggage

I'm definitely looking forward to trying out their Xbox/360 era stuff. Besides PDZ, I haven't played any of it yet, but a lot of it always looked interesting, and this seems like a great way to finally get around to them. I'll probably give PDZ another shot too. I remember being really disappointed with it after how much I loved Perfect Dark, but maybe I'll be able to enjoy it for what it is this time, with already knowing it's a different kind of game.

The N64 era stuff is definitely the biggest draw for me. It'll be great having a way to play Blast Corps and JFG without trying to hook an N64 up to an HDTV. I already have the XBLA version of Perfect Dark (and still really enjoy it). I'll certainly take this as an excuse to play through it again though.

Mr. G

I just picked this up and the first thing it started doing was downloading a patch for Perfect Dark Zero

The best use of my bandwidth

Mr. G

The early Rare games were completely unknown territory for me going into this, everything up to Battletoads

Jetpac, Atic Atac, Slalom, RC Pro-Am, and Cobra Triangle are all really cool

It's crazy how much Digger T. Rock is like a Spelunky precursor

Kilroy

Ultimate
Play The Game

Raijin Quickfoot

The name of the game is Nuts and Bolts

Sterica

Remember When Rare Was Good? the Video Game

Sterica

Also fuck Jeff, Banjo-Kazooie still holds up.

Poorochondriac

I remember playing Banjo Kazooie in like 7th grade and thinking it had too much shit to collect

It is worth noting here that I have 100%'ed every single Assassin's Creed game

Mr. G

All the stuff you collect in Banjo is rad though

The Betgirl

i need to get this game so i can play more viva pinata

a lot more viva pinata

PaperLuigi44

I wonder if the patch fixed the 100% glitch from the XBLA version of Banjo-Kazooie. I missed out on the last achievement because I did the Click Clock puzzle and that lead to the last four notes I needed vanishing from the world.

When 4J patched it on 360 it didn't retroactively fix my problem.

BlankZoe

Bobkins Flymo wrote: »

Remember When Rare Was Good? the Video Game

Rare is still pretty good though

Iron Galaxy has shown them up a bit but Killer Instinct was rad and now that they are free from the clutches of the Kinect they will probably be consistently rad again

PaperLuigi44

I'm hoping Sea of Thieves is great.

Mr. G

Rare didn't work on KI

BlankZoe

Oh huh I thought they did but apparently it was Double Helix

So that makes their last non Kinect game Nuts and Bolts which is still pretty fuckin good

Sterica

Banjo-Kazooie didn't have that much shit to collect, and I don't get where that argument comes from. DK64 is the game where collect-a-thons reached their ludicrous conclusion.

You had Jiggies, Notes, Mumbo Tokens, and Jinjos.

Then there's ammo for abilities: eggs, red feathers, and yellow feathers.

Also optional stuff like 1-Ups, and honeycombs to increase max health, but if this is "too much stuff" then whoooooa don't ever touch a Zelda game.

Lasbrook

I bought this last night and promptly fell asleep while downloading everything, now I am finally playing Viva Piñata (I played the demo for like 4 hours back in the day but never actually picked up the game).

TubularLuggage

Blankzilla wrote: »

Oh huh I thought they did but apparently it was Double Helix

So that makes their last non Kinect game Nuts and Bolts which is still pretty fuckin good

It was also seven years ago.

That said, I would absolutely love for them to get back to being rad, and I think it's certainly possible for them to do so. Here's hoping Sea of Thieves turns out well.

BlankZoe

TubularLuggage wrote: »

Blankzilla wrote: »

Oh huh I thought they did but apparently it was Double Helix

So that makes their last non Kinect game Nuts and Bolts which is still pretty fuckin good

It was also seven years ago.

That said, I would absolutely love for them to get back to being rad, and I think it's certainly possible for them to do so. Here's hoping Sea of Thieves turns out well.

This is true

But I don't really remembering hearing about a bunch of turnover or layoffs in the company so I would imagine most of the people who did Viva Pinata and Nuts and Bolts and the like are still there, they've just been shackled to the Kinect for the last half decade or so

PaperLuigi44

My early impressions of Viva Pinata are that it has a lot of front-loaded tutorials, but it's really charming so far.

Mr. G

I dunno if the Pinata/N&B people are still at Rare

I know the classic N64 team is pretty much all gone

That's who's making Yooka-Laylee

Undead Scottsman

Yeah, BK had just the right amount of stuff to collect (I'd say the mumbo tokens may have been pushing it a little, but I always end the game with a ton in my inventory, so they're not that hard to find)

Banjo-Tooie went off a the rails a little bit, but DK64 is always the poster child. Honestly, BT might have been alright if it didn't also have a ton of other shit going on. I think they tried doing a little too much and the game suffered for it.

Blake T

I'd say with banjo kazooie they were pushing how much to collect, but with DK they blew it out of the water.

Casually Hardcore

I always preferred Mario 64 level design because fuck climbing every single tree to collect some doodad. But Banjo Kazooie is the funner game IMO.

Mr. G

I've never really put Mario 64 and Banjo in competition

I just love them both a whole lot

Undead Scottsman

I wonder if Rare will ever get around to doing something with Stop n Swap II.

Lou29

Nuts and Bolts is an enormous pain in the ass. I've been playing all three off and on since it came out, and I'm not loving all the driving stuff. To be fair, they did have a loading screen that said "not liking the vehicle action? Maybe you should go buy Banjo Kazooie on Xbox Arcade." That made me laugh enough to stop being pissed for awhile. Finished Jet Force Gemini a few days ago, tried Perfect Dark Zero (it's as bad as I heard when it came out), and took a break from Conker before I broke something. This collection is worth so much more than $30, I'm counting it as a present from Rare.

King Riptor

Nuts and Bolts was a fun creaotr tool with horrible repetitive missions and poorly designed levels.

Like the banjo Museum level could have been this really neat level if it was designed like a museum instead its this ugly cut and paste of level chunks from better games

The lack of non vehicle sections hurt too. Like there was clearly a way to mix tradtional B-K stuff with vehicles and that went unexplored