View source for Rare

__NOTOC__
{{company-infobox
|logo=Rare logo 2015.png
|width=200px
|founded=1985
|firstgame=''[[Donkey Kong Country]]
|lastgame=''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]
|president=Craig Duncan
}}
'''[[Wikipedia:Rare_(company)|Rare Ltd.]]''' (also known as '''Rare''' and formerly '''Rareware''') is a British video game company based in Twycross, Leicestershire, formerly working exclusively for [[Nintendo]] before being bought out by [[wikipedia:Microsoft|Microsoft]], and the owners of characters such as [[Banjo]] and [[Conker]]. Before Microsoft bought rights to Rare, they had the rights to Nintendo's [[Donkey Kong (franchise)|''Donkey Kong'' franchise]].

In 2002, Microsoft paid $375 million for a 100% acquisition of Rare. The company then began to produce games for the competing Xbox systems, resulting in the cancellation of ''[[Diddy Kong Pilot]]'', ''[[Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers]]'', and unofficially, ''[[Donkey Kong Racing]]''. Under the terms of the merger, Nintendo retained the rights to all ''Donkey Kong'' characters, while Rare maintained the rights to their intellectual properties.

However, they continued to develop games for Nintendo's handheld systems, since Microsoft has not entered the handheld console market. Such games included enhanced remakes of the three [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]] ''Donkey Kong Country'' games for the [[Game Boy Advance]] and ''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]'', as well as redeveloping their cancelled ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' and ''Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers'' games into ''[[wikipedia:Banjo-Pilot|Banjo-Pilot]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:It's Mr. Pants|It's Mr. Pants]]'', respectively.

==Appearances in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise==
*[[Dixie Kong]] and [[Timber]]'s hats once had Rareware logos on them.
*In ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'', Rareware, along with [[Nintendo]], sponsor the boxing match between the [[Kong]]s and [[King K. Rool]] as mentioned by the [[Microbuffer]]. Also, it is possible to collect a [[Rareware Coin]] by beating [[Cranky Kong|Cranky's]] score in [[Jetpac]], and a [[Golden Banana]] with Rare's logo on it by collecting all of the [[Banana Fairy|Banana Fairies]].
*In ''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]'', the [[Coin (Diddy Kong Racing DS)|coins]] have the logo of Rare on it.

==''Mario''-related games developed==
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 50%;text-align:center"
!Title
!Year Released
!Console
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country]]''
|1994
|[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]]
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Land]]''
|1995
|[[Game Boy]]
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest]]''
|1995
|SNES
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Land II]]''
|1996
|Game Boy
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!]]''
|1996
|SNES
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Land III]]''
|1997
|Game Boy
|-
|''[[Diddy Kong Racing]]''
|1997
|[[Nintendo 64]]
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong 64]]''
|1999
|Nintendo 64
|-
|''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]''
|2007
|[[Nintendo DS]]
|}

==Previous Logos==
<gallery widths=150px><center>
Rare first logo.png|Rare's first logo.
Rareware logo.png|Former Rare logo, used from 1994-2003 for the "Rareware" trademark during Nintendo tenure.
Rare logo 2003.png|Logo used from 2003-2010.
Rare logo 2010.png|Logo used from 2010-2015.
</center></gallery>

==Notable employees==
*[[Kevin Bayliss]]
*[[Grant Kirkhope]]
*[[Eveline Novakovic]]
*[[Gregg Mayles]]
*[[Steve Mayles]]
*[[Tim Stamper]]
*[[Mark Stevenson]]
*[[Chris Sutherland]]
*[[David Wise]]

==Trivia==
*Even though Rare has cut ties with Nintendo, their company name, written as "Rare Limited", appears in the Sound Test of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U]]'' as the original composers of several ''Donkey Kong'' songs, although the information clarifies that Nintendo fully owns the copyright to the compositions.

==References==
<references/>
{{NIWA|DKWiki-p=Rare, Ltd.}}
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[[Category:Video game developers]]
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