Editing Rare Ltd.

'''Rare''' (formerly known as Rareware) is a former [[Nintendo]] second party developer that went on to be owned by Microsoft. While working with Nintendo, they worked primarily on the ''[[Portal: Donkey Kong|Donkey Kong]]''  series, known for reinventing the series with the development of ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' and its sequels, and they also created several series of their own with a number of titles launching in the Nintendo 64 era. They are based in Twycross, Leicestershire, England.

During the early days of the [[Super NES]], Rare initially did not produce many games beyond several ''Battletoads'' games. They were determined to create something groundbreaking, which eventually came in the form of ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'', which used advanced graphics and reinvented the ''Donkey Kong'' series. After ''Donkey Kong Country'', Rare came up with the arcade game ''Killer Instinct''. Nintendo was so impressed with the upcoming home version of the game that they bought 25% of the company's shares and made them a second party developer.

The company had trouble keeping up with the rising costs of game development, and they felt that Nintendo was helpful in not providing more funds or buying out the rest of the company, and so they started looking for potential buyers. In 2002, the Stamper brothers left Rare and sold their 51% of the company's shares to Microsoft. Nintendo, realizing that Microsoft now controlled the company, sold their shares to Microsoft as well. Rareware's Nintendo games that were in development were cancelled (such as ''Donkey Kong Racing'') or retooled with their own characters.

 

 

Though they now work for Microsoft, Rare was still allowed to develop games for Nintendo's handheld system, as their contract only forbade them from developing games for systems that directly competed with their Xbox line, and Microsoft did not have any handheld systems. Rare made remakes of the ''Donkey Kong Country'' series on the [[Game Boy Advance]] and ''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]'' on the [[Nintendo DS]], which were their last ''Donkey Kong''-related projects. They also retooled some of the ''Donkey Kong'' games that had been in development prior to the buy-out into games featuring their own characters: ''Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers'' became ''It's Mr. Pants!'', while ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' was reworked into ''Banjo Pilot''. They also attempted to retool ''Donkey Kong Racing'' into an Xbox game that would be called ''Sabreman Stampede'', but that project was ultimately cancelled.

In later years, Rare became known for the pirate-themed multiplayer adventure game ''Sea of Thieves'' and worked with other studios on revivals of some of their older properties, collaborating with Dlala Studios on a new ''Battletoads'' and overseeing Double Helix Games and Iron Galaxy in the making of a new ''Killer Instinct''. As Microsoft became friendlier with Nintendo, some of Rare's past games became available in the [[Nintendo Switch]]'s Nintendo 64 app, and Banjo-Kazooie was allowed into ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' as a DLC character.  

Several prominent Rare employees have also split off into different companies, such as Free Radical Design (known for the ''Timesplitters'' series) and Playtonic Games (which developed ''Yooka-Laylee'', an attempted spiritual successor to ''Banjo-Kazooie'').

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