At a time of the year when video games news is thinner on the ground than snow in Ireland (i.e very thin) it is understandably difficult to cobble together a news round-up of the weeks events. So, rather than bore you with some of the weeks 'biggest' 'news' (Gasp! Digimon is coming to the GameCube next year) I'll treat you lovely people to a personal account of my love for� Rare. Yes, Rare. That little games company who apparently were bought out by some American conglomerate recently. You may have heard about it.

My own personal experience of Rare began back in 1994, during the grand old days of the SNES. I was only 7 at the time, but I remember vividly the first Rare game I bought was Donkey Kong Country. I didn't know much about it before I bought it, but I remember knowing it was going to be something special. I wasn't wrong. DKC revolutionised platform games. Everything about it was absolutely magical- the graphics, which I'm not going to go into here, were sensational for the time. People seeing it for the first time thought the game was running on next-gen 32-bit hardware (i.e the original Playstation) but no, it was a 16-bit game running on the humble SNES. The sound was stunning- the game music ranks up there with anything being produced nowadays- but the key was the gameplay. Yes, it was a 'simple' left-to-right platformer, but this one had character. Levels bustled with activity. The enemies were all unique, and there were many different types, for example the Klap-Traps, who jumped just when you jumped, and the Bazooka-carrying Kremlings, whose exact name I forget. This game changed my whole perception of gaming, and changed just what I should expect from a game. Here was a game that raised the bar immeasurably for platform games, and must have been the curse of lazy developers- they'd have to work harder. Now, gamers expected a few smart plot twists, secret paths through levels, mini-games, different playable characters. All these ideas have been copies by virtually every new platformer since DKC. I could go on about the original game, in fact some day I think I will, but now I must move on. The sequels to DKC were unique for their time, and for the most part, still are. They actually improved upon the original in every conceivable way. Graphics were improved massively, sound got even better, and new gameplay additions were included. Even the thought of the Banana Birds and Swanky Kong make me laugh. Comedy is hard to produce in a game, but Rare managed it beautifully. Each of the three games had the best part of 100 hugely varying levels contained within, and with the addition of a 'Lost World' containing alternate endings and a second final boss tops it all off. Simply put, the DKC games rank right up their with Mario and Zelda, surpassing both in many ways. Even in 2002, the games remain wonderfully refreshing and original. A GBA conversion of the series would no doubt have been one of Rare's next projects had they not been bought out by Microsoft�

Rare, of course, had a notorious reputation for many reasons. Chief among these was their secrecy- nothing got outside Rare HQ unless it was supposed to. This added a real air of intrigue around Rare, and made people sit up and notice them. Of course, other times it would be exasperating- 'No comment' was the official line on.. well, most subjects actually. Not fond of answering questions, were the Twycross outfit. Even with the buyout rumours rocking the industry all through this year, no comments were made until the buyout was signed, sealed and delivered. Rare were famous, and still are, for taking their time. The likes of the magnificent Perfect Dark and Conker's Bad Fur Day had 3 years + gestation periods. But part of being a games fan is the waiting. And people had patience with Rare, because everyone knew that when they were done, they were done. And no-one had more patience with Rare than Nintendo. 99% of companies simply would not accept delay upon delay, but Nintendo appreciated that perfection takes time. And perfection was what we got with the likes of GoldenEye 007, the genre-defining first person shooter and definitive Bond game, and Banjo Kazooie, a beautiful platformer building on the Mario formula. Flowing through each and every one of their games has been that inimitable Rare humour- arguably one of their finest assets. In-jokes and flashes of brilliant comedy, as well as the downright strange are to be seen even in their most 'serious' games- from the cheese in Perfect Dark, to the 'Mr.Pants' (Rare's mascot) joke in Jet Force Gemini, to the brilliantly named characters in their games (King K. Rool, anyone?). The best of these shenanigans, though, was also the riskiest- in Rare's wonderful SNES classic of 1996, Donkey Kong Country 3, the save game room with Wrinkly Kong (R.I.P 2000) featured dear old Wrinkly playing on.. gasp! An Nintendo 64! When you take into account that the N64's design had not been revealed when that game was on sale, it made it all the more interesting. A gem.

THE N64 DAYS

With Rare secured as a Nintendo second-party, and the N64 released worldwide by 1997, Rare continued to develop groundbreaking games. GoldenEye 007, one of the most-talked about games of the last 5 years, was a landmark title for the company, and was a massive critical and commercial success. GoldenEye is still the game by which all other FPS games are measured. Some achievement for an N64 game. Other titles followed over the next 4 years, like Diddy Kong Racing, soon after the N64's launch, the magnificent Banjo-Kazooie, its slightly less magnificent sequel Banjo-Tooie, and one of their lesser-appreciated classics, Jet Force Gemini. Special mention must go to JFG- The music, the graphics, the gameplay was stunning. There simply is no other way to describe it. Why JFG wasn't more of a success is beyond me- the extraordinarily atmospheric and cinematic beauty prevalent throughout the game knocks spots off Rare's slightly rushed out StarFox Adventures- it had the innovation and excitement that SFA so sorely lacks. And there were little bears you could shoot. Not that I'm condoning blowing up those cute little Tribals with Tri-Rocket launchers, of course.

Rare's mastery of any system they turned their talented hands to was apparent since the days of the Spectrum- only Nintendo could keep up with them, particularly on the technical side of things.

In the case of the N64, while many developers struggled to make the N64 talk, Rare made it sing. Graphical and aural mastery were the hallmarks of any Rare game. Rare were the first to use Nintendo's Expansion Pak, enhancing the memory of the N64. Rare put it to stunning use on Donkey Kong 64, one of the best 3D platformers ever devised. Now far from me to say Rare games are perfect, but they came closer than anyone else (apart from, perhaps, Nintendo). A case in point would Diddy Kong Racing, which despite being a massive commercial success, never really got my interest. Likewise Perfect Dark on the GBC, which despite containing more speech than most N64 games, had a shocking difficulty level. I didn't come close to finishing it.

The adult-themed Conker's Bad Fur Day was another tour-de-force for the company, and it went down very well. It was a breath of fresh air, and a very 'different' game to what we're used to getting. Rare's trademark humour was in full effect, as always.

Buying Rare games has always been something of a ritual for me. Knowing that the cartridge would contain a genre-defining gem even before I'd played it was a 'rare' pleasure (pardon the pun). Rare have been good to Nintendo, and Nintendo equally good in return- Rare, after all, almost single-handedly kept the good ship Nintendo 64 afloat in its last years, while Nintendo afforded Rare all the benefits of being a second-party with no time restrictions.

Seeing Rare 'defect' to Microsoft- I'm not sure if that's the right word to use- gives me a sense of loss and huge dissapointment. I don't agree with Microsoft's philosophy on games, and I agree wholeheartedly with old Nintendo boss and legend Hiroshi Yamauchi, who famously said 'he does not know games' referring to Mr. William Gates III (what a ridiculous name- Bill Gates to us.). That said, I hope Rare continue developing new, original, ground-breaking games for their chosen system- its just unfortunate for Nintendo fans that the console will not be the Gamecube.

Rare and Nintendo were synonymous with great games- refusing to release cash-ins, spending as much development time as was required to make the best games. The industry owes a lot to Rare- they advanced gaming when others only wanted to make money out of it. I don't want myself or anybody else jumping on the anti-Rare bandwagon, now that they've left- I think we owe them that much.

Rare will always be Rare, and nothing will change that, but I'll always think a little bit of Rare died when they moved to Microsoft.

So long Rare, and thanks for the memories.

-Mark Cullinane