Rare, the creators of such games as Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Piñata and Battletoads, is a gaming developer with a story that reaches back to as early as the Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as the NES. Games such as Battletoads and R.C. Pro-Am rocketed onto the scene to wild success and to this day stand out as popular retro titles when discussing the NES library. Rare also created gems on the Nintendo 64 with Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini and the critically acclaimed Goldeneye 007.
Rare had it all. They were at the top of their game, no pun intended, producing top-quality and highly scored hits. As the years went by, key members of the team left for new projects and studios, leaving Rare to produce slightly more generic titles for Microsoft, such as Kinect Sports Rivals. While Microsoft still owns Rare, at Electronic Entertainment Expo “E3” 2015, Microsoft intended to change the public eye on the once prolific company by announcing Rare Replay, a massive retrospective of Rare’s finer works.
Rare Replay contains such classics as Slalom, the Banjo-Kazooie series, Killer Instinct Gold and some lesser-known games such as the original Xbox launch title, Grabbed by the Ghoulies. These games will be upscaled to modern television resolutions and contain slightly improved textures, while still keeping the integrity of those games players loved so long ago. While there are a ton of games to go through in the collection, some key games will be missing, due to licensing complications. Sadly, gamers won’t be seeing Goldeneye 007 or Donkey Kong 64 running on the Xbox One.Some of these games will also offer online multiplayer over Xbox Live, so players can compete in Perfect Dark death matches with friends. A huge selling point for Rare Replay was the inclusion of achievement points for all games, totaling to a whopping 10,000 Gamerscore. Completionists, eat your heart out. Rare Replay will be using the Xbox One’s internal Xbox 360 emulation to play certain games, such as the Xbox 360 ports of Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. Emulation of Xbox 360 titles was a key feature of Microsoft’s E3 conference this year, but was previously only available for Xbox Preview Program Members, making Rare Replay a chance for those who weren’t invited to the Preview Program a chance to try the feature.
Rare Replay will be available on Xbox One digitally and through retailers on Aug. 4, for $29.99.