Posts Tagged ‘rare’
E3 2019: Xbox Impressions
Click on image to be taken to the briefing stream.
Fred is joined by Andy (42 Level One), Chip (The B-Team), Chase (Scarcasm Live), and special guest Normii to discuss Microsoft’s massive plans for the next year.
Want to just read all the announcements as bullet points? Click here.
Podcast: Mario Kart 64 vs. Diddy Kong Racing Game Club
Two notable racers on the Nintendo 64 are always compared: Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. While more than 6 months separated the games in the US (and even more in Japan), they basically came out together in Europe and have always been compared. Jam and Fred discuss the development and gameplay of each before jumping into the dangerous waters of comparing the two.
Click here to read Drew’s original post comparing the two.
Donkey Kong 64 Review
If Nintendo and Rare had an agenda through subliminal messaging then I present to you the game that is the king of repetition: Donkey Kong 64.
As always I like to delve into my personal history with this game. I got the N64 for my birthday as a surprise present from my two older brothers and I was a happy camper. It came with Banjo Kazooie and I was quite smitten with this game. The 3D levels and exploration where just fascinating and I had a fondness for the weird repetitive noises the characters made when their dialogue boxes appeared. Banjo Kazooie turned out to be a very evil game maybe even worse than smoking because it was probably my first venture into a collecting style game. Where in order to progress in the game you have to collect multiple items to get further and further until you finish the game and then you are left to go cold turkey, cold and shivering in the corner. Where do I go from here with my life? Why am I here? Sorry, I got distracted. So these collecting games were huge especially on N64. Mario 64 did this (even though I didn’t play this till a lot later). Over on the Playstation the Spyro series did this (very well in my opinion go listen to that podcast and read the review, please). Rare worked on Banjo Kazooie and I think they must have thought, “how can we take collecting to the next level?” and “what can we do with that Donkey Kong fellow?” Well along came Donkey Kong 64 which is a game that took the collecting concept and turned it up to the max and beyond. I brought this game (with the required expansion pack) and was expecting a nice casual collecting experience. Instead I ended up getting a monkey rap song in my head, which still leaves an imprint on my consciousness to this day and venturing on a collecting journey which took me well over a year to finish in its entirety. I left the cave that was my room with my first fully grown beard ready to return to reality and life again having never looked back since, until this game club. Now jokes aside I actually really liked this game a lot back in the day and it wasn’t the only one I played throughout the year. This was actually a common pattern for me oddly with N64 titles. Even Orcarina of Time took me over a year of on and off playing, I was just that type of gamer then. Donkey Kong 64 felt like a title I really got my moneys worth, not only because it was long but because I got the expansion pack which enhanced some of my other games like Turok 2 (any excuse to mention this game). Sadly I lost my N64 collection to one of my brothers who probably went on to sell the collection so I lost my original copy and my 101% save file. So to prepare for this Game Club I decided to go for the WiiU virtual console version and bravely start from scratch and try to finish this game in a month instead of a year. But that’s enough excessive babbling about my history its time to review this game today.
Podcast: Donkey Kong 64 Game Club
Donkey Kong 64 has got to be one of the most divisive titles to be released both by Rare and on the Nintendo 64. Depending on how you came to play it, you either love it or hate it. While Jam had tackled this title back when it released, even getting the coveted 101% completion, Fred had never touched it. Thanks to listener Blake (jedislurpee) we played through the game in its entirety and go back to dissect the development, gameplay, and key factors of a title that probably gets more hate than it deserves.
Retro Game Night: Battletoads (NES and Arcade)
This week for Retro Game Night Fred booted up the Rare Replay collection to revisit Battletoads on the NES and finally play the arcade game. It goes about as you would expect.
Note: Adult Language, viewer discretion advised.
Finding the Diamond in the Rough: Sega Master System
Now for a game console that’s relatively rare and worth some money itself in this country. In fact, most of the games on this list are worth less than a complete copy of the console itself. If you don’t have a heavy collection, have a power base converter, or even own a Game Gear, you may want to consider moving this product to collectors for some extra cash. That said, if you live in Europe, there is a massive library of available titles for this great system.
Donkey Kong Country SNES Review
Platform: Super NES, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance – Note: Portable versions have compromised graphics and performance
Released: 1994
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Digital Release? Yes, 800 points on the Virtual Console for Wii and Wii U (optimized for Wii U)
Value: $18.52 (SNES)/$6.51 (GBC)/$10.00 (GBA) – cart only, $38.97 (SNES)/$16.24 (GBC)/$20.00 (GBA) – complete, $80.00 (SNES)/$53.07 (GBC)/$51.00 (GBA) – sealed – According to Price Charting
Donkey Kong Country (DKC) on the SNES is a game held in high regard by a lot of Nintendo fans. Developed by Rare, who at the time was a second party developer to Nintendo and consistently releasing new and unique IPs, which only got better when it came to the follow up console the N64. Nintendo was quite happy for Rare to develop a game starring Donkey Kong, who up to this point was just sitting on Nintendo’s shelf not really doing a lot (development on this title began before the Gameboy re-hash of Donkey Kong ’94). Rare came up with an idea for a platformer that proved to be very successful and led to two additional sequels being developed on the SNES and then a 3D iteration on the N64. It is now time to peel back a banana and see if this SNES game still holds up today.
Podcast: It’s On Like Donkey Kong
This week, after talking about the controversial Genesis/Mega Drive Top 10 and getting the community list, Fred and Jam run and jump into the world of Donkey Kong. An unfortunately misnamed ape, Donkey Kong marked another strong arcade property for Nintendo that with the help of Rare evolved into the popular platforming series that still lives on today.
Goldeneye 007 Review
Platform: Nintendo 64
Released: 1997 (worldwide)
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Digital Release? No, licensing assures we’ll never see this outside it’s original release
Price: $15.75 (cart only), $29.99 (complete), and $149.99 (new/sealed) per Price Charting
Good old Rare back when you were Nintendo’s second party developer you really did come up with some truly stunning IPs like Jet Force Gemini and Banjo Kazooie. I still defend my Banjo Kazooie review to this day but for those that hated that review be prepared to love me all over again as this entry we’re going to re-visit the title European fanboys (or fangirls) go crazy for: it’s the N64 iteration of Goldeneye.
Retro Game Challenge: Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Over the Thanksgiving holiday Fred and his brother-in-law Brian sat down and played/streamed 14 glorious hours of the N64 classic Conker’s Bad Fur Day. It was a grueling battle and the boys vowed to use no faqs/walkthroughs/guides, which accounts for the long play time. Well now that all is said and done, this is the outcome: a 3 hour video filled with snarky remarks, alcohol use (in game and by the duo players), and some of the most outrageous moments in gaming. Enjoy!
Gaming History 101 