A RARE Chance

One of the major announcements from Microsoft at the recent Xbox Reveal was the little bit of information about 15 titles in the first year from Microsoft Game Studios and 8 of those being brand new franchises.

So far two of these titles have been officially confirmed with Forza Motorsport 5 from Turn 10 Studios and Quantum Break from Remedy. But one division that I am particularly excited to hear more from is RARE. Remember back in the old days classic games like Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007 and many more. Microsoft together with RARE have some amazing franchises in their palm. As such here are my predictions, hopes and dreams for a few RARE Xbox One game titles.

KILLER INSTINCT – For those of you that have never heard of this amazing title before and may be thinking of the UK TV series of the same name. Let me simply tell you that this is the best fighting game franchise ever made! Now don’t get me wrong, I love my Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Injustice and more. BUT Killer Instinct had some very unique characters, fantastic music, a logical story (for a fighting game), and most importantly in-depth fighting mechanics that were similar to the famous Rock-Paper-Scissors. Hopefully this game will see an HD Remake or brand new entry to the series so that everyone can fall in love with Orchid, Cinder, Riptor, Saburwulf and Fulgore and start doing some Killer Combos.

KillerInstinct

BANJO-KAZOOIE – it is kind of amazing that since Microsoft purchased RARE we have only seen the original two Nintendo 64 games appear as XBLA titles and only one new adventure in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Possibly due to mediocre sales of this hybrid adventure/build vehicle game. It is unfortunate that we have not seen anything new even if it was a Kinect game with mini-puzzles to solves. These two great characters have so much potential and hopefully we will see them make a comeback in the near future.

Banjo-Kazooie

CONKER – what can you say about this other classic Nintendo 64 game featuring a cute little squirrel in a world with Sex, Drugs, Alcohol and giant singing Poo. Amazingly the last time we saw this little guy was on the Original Xbox in Conkers Bad Fur Day: Live and Reloaded. It has a few graphical enhancements, some updated levels and new Xbox Live features. Unfortunately that was it and we have never heard from him again. Now that Australia finally has an R18+ Rating maybe the time is right for Conker to make a come back.

conker

PERFECT DARK – The original Nintendo 64 game was an instant classic in that it was a semi-sequel to the brilliant GoldenEye 007. Rare created a new character, world, story, weapons and gameplay features that was an instant hit thanks to some very clever features and improvements. Microsoft had big plans for Joanna Dark and the Xbox 360. She had a prequel game in Perfect Dark: Zero that was a launch title for the console and by all accounts should have been the next big thing. Even with some amazing multiplayer features and co-op modes the game went for a very cartoony look and feel, the story was slow and had average voice acting. It is possible that the Xbox One could be another chance that Joanna needs in hopefully a more realistic and darker sequel to the franchise.

JoannaDark

KAMEO – I am a big fan of Kameo: Elements of Power. This was one of those classic launch titles for the Xbox 360 that we never heard from again except in an UNO expansion. I remember that this was supposed to be an original Xbox title and its possible that RARE were even working on this for the GameCube or even as far back as the N64. The game featured some very unique gameplay focusing mainly on the triggers as action buttons. There was this Yeti, Plant, Dragon and many other elemental characters that you would transform into/appear inside of. I believe that this would make a great animated TV series and work really well with some Kinect mini-games and multiplayer modes. Even though I am a 30 year old male I am looking forward to playing as a magical flying fairy once again. Okay that sounds really wrong!

kameo-cast

 

So fingers crossed that at least one of these RARE games will be announced at the E3 2013 Microsoft Press Conference. What other RARE games did I leave out that you would like to see get an Xbox One release?

Author: Mark Libman View all posts by
is a Microsoft Xbox MVP and the Executive Producer of www.OzBoxLive.com. Check out the podcast "OzBoxLive Radio" to hear what he has to say about all things Xbox Down Under. Favorite games include anything with Batman, Lego and Portals.

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