29th November 2005, 4:32 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rareware
Okay, I've been reading the history on Rare. I know now why Nintendo HAD to sell Rare. According to Wikipedia, Rare was already lost by the time Nintendo sold their shares. The majority (51%) of the company was sold by the original owners, and Nintendo, having the minority share of 49%, realized exactly what MS would be demanding of them. Rare already produced too little games as is, and since half the workload was going to MS's games, possibly more, Nintendo realized they just weren't going to get anything out of the company. They pretty much had to sell the rest. It wasn't so much a boneheaded mistake on Nintendo's part so much as the fault of the folks who owned the company. Shame that. Puts a different twist on things though.
Seems this person was under the same impression as I was. Also, checking the wikipedia Donkey Kong entry I have found they copied the DKC look exactly in the game Mario vs Donkey Kong on the GBA, which didn't have Rare involvement at all. DK smiles a lot more now, but he's still got that odd ice cream hairdo that Rare seems to have invented. I think the smile is just because Nintendo likes their playful characters to smile more than Rare did, not for copyright reasons.
Again, nothing to indicate that Rare owns anything about DK. After all, think of the sheer number of Rare creations in SSBM, like the klap trap in the level with Cranky Kong's shack, or the DK rap. They always mention in the credits who made the model, but I think that's mainly out of respect rather than a note they had to get permission from Rare.
The evidence I've seen so far points to Nintendo owning every DK related thing Rare came up with (excepting Banjo in Diddy Kong Racing, oh and Conker, who was apparently also in that game). It follows that every aspect of Star Fox Adventures is also owned by Nintendo, rather than Rare. I believe, from what I've read, the agreement between the two companies gave Nintendo those rights, and everything else Rare made is Rare's own property now. Oh yeah, in Mario Kart DS, Donkey Kong's new stage uses some music from one of the DKC games.
As a side note, the wikipedia entry makes the only logical conclusion from all the conflicting info about who the current DK is (DK Jr? The original? Son or grandson of Cranky? Is Cranky the original, some other ape? Is DK some other son of Cranky, or the son of Jr?). It seems all of those were offered from official sources over the years. However, I personally will go with what the games themselves state. From what I've heard, at least originally Rare's new DK is the grown up Jr, son of Cranky who was the first DK. Cranky being anyone else doesn't make sense to me because he's always talking about the "good old days" and describing the original Donkey Kong and other games of that era. DK is called "son" by Cranky, for example in DK64. Lastly, ever since DKC, Jr has completely vanished. While in Super Mario Kart, one of the racers was Jr, after DKC, in all the Mario Kart games it's been Rare's imagining of DK. Despite all the confusion outside the games, in the games there seems to be only one logical conclusion. That said, who cares? Apparently, I do.
Oh yeah, the Blast Corps site, in Japanesy! http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/softwa...index.html
I wonder what they thought of the game? Pfft, they can't think, you need to know ENGLISH to think! What was I THINKing?
Back to PDZ, I have this feeling PD0 will completley and utterly contradict the GBC game. That's probably for the best, because that game really wasn't all that good. A Rare miss...
Interesting information, and I somehow managed to miss the release of both Sabrewulf AND It's Mr Pants! Sad but true... What's sadder is most stores aren't going to, nor are physically CAPABLE of, selling the ENTIRE GBA library. It makes it frustratingly hard to find copies of games you just KNOW are still being sold brand new somewhere.
Okay, I've been reading the history on Rare. I know now why Nintendo HAD to sell Rare. According to Wikipedia, Rare was already lost by the time Nintendo sold their shares. The majority (51%) of the company was sold by the original owners, and Nintendo, having the minority share of 49%, realized exactly what MS would be demanding of them. Rare already produced too little games as is, and since half the workload was going to MS's games, possibly more, Nintendo realized they just weren't going to get anything out of the company. They pretty much had to sell the rest. It wasn't so much a boneheaded mistake on Nintendo's part so much as the fault of the folks who owned the company. Shame that. Puts a different twist on things though.
Quote:The most popular GBA games from Rare are ports of their classic-era Donkey Kong titles, which Rare can no longer produce, as Nintendo holds the rights to the characters.
Seems this person was under the same impression as I was. Also, checking the wikipedia Donkey Kong entry I have found they copied the DKC look exactly in the game Mario vs Donkey Kong on the GBA, which didn't have Rare involvement at all. DK smiles a lot more now, but he's still got that odd ice cream hairdo that Rare seems to have invented. I think the smile is just because Nintendo likes their playful characters to smile more than Rare did, not for copyright reasons.
Again, nothing to indicate that Rare owns anything about DK. After all, think of the sheer number of Rare creations in SSBM, like the klap trap in the level with Cranky Kong's shack, or the DK rap. They always mention in the credits who made the model, but I think that's mainly out of respect rather than a note they had to get permission from Rare.
The evidence I've seen so far points to Nintendo owning every DK related thing Rare came up with (excepting Banjo in Diddy Kong Racing, oh and Conker, who was apparently also in that game). It follows that every aspect of Star Fox Adventures is also owned by Nintendo, rather than Rare. I believe, from what I've read, the agreement between the two companies gave Nintendo those rights, and everything else Rare made is Rare's own property now. Oh yeah, in Mario Kart DS, Donkey Kong's new stage uses some music from one of the DKC games.
As a side note, the wikipedia entry makes the only logical conclusion from all the conflicting info about who the current DK is (DK Jr? The original? Son or grandson of Cranky? Is Cranky the original, some other ape? Is DK some other son of Cranky, or the son of Jr?). It seems all of those were offered from official sources over the years. However, I personally will go with what the games themselves state. From what I've heard, at least originally Rare's new DK is the grown up Jr, son of Cranky who was the first DK. Cranky being anyone else doesn't make sense to me because he's always talking about the "good old days" and describing the original Donkey Kong and other games of that era. DK is called "son" by Cranky, for example in DK64. Lastly, ever since DKC, Jr has completely vanished. While in Super Mario Kart, one of the racers was Jr, after DKC, in all the Mario Kart games it's been Rare's imagining of DK. Despite all the confusion outside the games, in the games there seems to be only one logical conclusion. That said, who cares? Apparently, I do.
Oh yeah, the Blast Corps site, in Japanesy! http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/softwa...index.html
I wonder what they thought of the game? Pfft, they can't think, you need to know ENGLISH to think! What was I THINKing?
Back to PDZ, I have this feeling PD0 will completley and utterly contradict the GBC game. That's probably for the best, because that game really wasn't all that good. A Rare miss...
Interesting information, and I somehow managed to miss the release of both Sabrewulf AND It's Mr Pants! Sad but true... What's sadder is most stores aren't going to, nor are physically CAPABLE of, selling the ENTIRE GBA library. It makes it frustratingly hard to find copies of games you just KNOW are still being sold brand new somewhere.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)