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{{company infobox
|logo=Rare logo 2015.svg
|width=200px
|founded=1985<ref>{{Cite|date=March 1, 2001|title=GameCube Developer Profile: Rare|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/03/01/gamecube-developer-profile-rare|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322053614/http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/03/01/gamecube-developer-profile-rare|archive-date=March 22, 2016|accessdate=December 25, 2024|website=IGN}}</ref>
|first_release=''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' ([[List of games by date#1994|1994]])
|latest_release=''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]'' ([[List of games by date#2007|2007]])
|president=Craig Duncan
}}
'''{{wp|Rare (company)|Rare Limited}}''' (also shortened to just '''Rare''' and trade-named '''Rareware''' up until ''{{wp|Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge}}'') is a British video game developer based in Twycross, Leicestershire. It was founded in 1985 by [[Stamper brothers|Chris and Tim Stamper]], as the successor company to {{wp|Ultimate Play the Game}}. As a prominent second-party developer for [[Nintendo]], Rare created the successful [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] games ''{{wp|Wizards & Warriors}}'', ''{{wp|Battletoads (video game)|Battletoads}}'', and ''{{wp|R.C. Pro-Am}}''. Rare's only involvement with the [[Super Mario (franchise)|''Super Mario'' franchise]] was creating several ''[[Donkey Kong (franchise)|Donkey Kong]]'' games, beginning with ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]''. Since then, Rare has produced other well-known titles such as ''{{wp|Banjo-Kazooie}}'', ''{{wp|Perfect Dark}}'', and ''{{wp|Sea of Thieves}}''.

In 2002, following the original North American release of ''[[lylatwiki:Star Fox Adventures|Star Fox Adventures]]'' on the [[Nintendo GameCube]], Microsoft completed its acquisition of Rare, affecting the status of several games of the ''Super Mario'' franchise, including ''[[Donkey Kong Racing]]'', ''[[Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers]]'', and ''[[Diddy Kong Pilot (2001)|Diddy Kong Pilot]]''. Under the terms of the merger, Nintendo retained the rights to all the ''Donkey Kong'' characters along with [[Krunch]], while Rare maintained the rights to its own intellectual properties such as [[Banjo]] and [[Conker]], both of whom appeared in ''[[Diddy Kong Racing]]''. Consequently, [[Dixie Kong]]'s hat no longer bore the Rare logo. For a while, Rare developed games for Nintendo's handheld systems, since Microsoft has not entered the dedicated handheld console market. Two of the games, ''{{wp|Banjo-Pilot}}'' and ''{{wp|It's Mr. Pants}}'', were redeveloped from ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' and ''Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers'', respectively. After the merger, there was a hard stop to using Nintendo and Rare characters in the same works of media, with even ''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]'' being unable to use Banjo or Conker in the character roster. ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' would include one of Rare's properties, Banjo and Kazooie, as playable characters.

Nintendo itself would later publish [[reissue|remake]]s of a few ''Donkey Kong'' titles made by Rare, including the original [[Donkey Kong Country (series)|''Donkey Kong Country'' trilogy]] for the [[Game Boy Advance]], as well as ''Diddy Kong Racing DS''. While the first ''Donkey Kong Country'' was made available on the [[Virtual Console]] within a few weeks of the [[Wii]] being released, and ''[[Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest]]'' and ''[[Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!]]'' being rolled out there in 2007, all three games were delisted on November 25, 2012,{{ref needed}} and were gradually re-listed from 2014 to 2015,{{ref needed}} this time on both the Wii and [[Wii U]], and all releases of the game have remained listed since then to the extent the consoles' online game stores have remained online. The Rare-developed game ''[[Jetpac]]'' remained intact in the ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'' port for the Wii U Virtual Console.

==History involving the ''Super Mario'' franchise==
===Overall===
Rare generally developed games without significant involvement from Nintendo,<ref>"Nintendo's 'Super Stamper Bros.'" Next Generation No. 38 (February 1998) p. 14–18.</ref> and one common trait of their games is that the voices in them were almost always done by employees.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9WObpDVULc ''Rare Replay'' (Faces Behind the Voices intro)]: "Voice acting in our games has always been a Rare family affair. Designers, artists, programmers, producers, and musicians have all stepped up to the mic."</ref> This included their ''Super Mario''–related games, and this led to them having voices for certain characters that differed from what other games went with despite sharing a publisher.

===''Mario Kart'' series===
Rare is listed in the credits of ''[[Mario Kart 64]]'' and ''[[Mario Kart: Super Circuit]]'' as "Donkey Kong 3-D model provided courtesy of Rare U.K."

===''Donkey Kong 64''===
Rare appears in ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'' in a few ways, and the company is named "Rareware" in the game. Rareware and Nintendo are the sponsors for the boxing match between the [[Kong]]s and [[King K. Rool]] as mentioned by the [[Microphone]]. Two items bear the logo of Rare: the [[Rareware Coin]] and a specific [[Golden Banana]] that is obtained from the [[Banana Fairy Princess]].

===''Diddy Kong Racing DS''===
Rare appears in ''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]'' with its logo appearing on the [[coin]]s.

===''Super Smash Bros.'' series===
In ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', highlighting Rare's name in the credits will make "Donkey Kong Country Original Sound Composing", "Rendered 3-D Donkey Kong", and "Character used with permission of Rare" appear in the top-right box. In ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', Rare's name is followed below by "CERTAIN CHARACTERS AND ITEMS FROM PERFECT DARK AND DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2" and "DONKEY KONG 64 RAP MUSIC BASED ON ORIGINAL DONKEY KONG 64". Rare also appears in the Sound Test of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Wii U]]'', and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' as the original composers of several ''Donkey Kong'' songs, although the information clarifies that Nintendo fully owns the copyright to the compositions.

==Appearances in ''Super Mario'' games==
*[[Dixie Kong]]'s hat is occasionally pinned with Rareware's logo. This can be seen clearly in some ''[[Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest]]'' and ''[[Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!]]'' promotional artwork.
*{{file link|Wrinkly Save Cave DKC3 group art.jpg|One artwork}} of [[Wrinkly's Save Cave]] for ''Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!'' has Rareware's logo framed.
*[[Timber]] has a cap with Rareware's logo on it. This was changed to the [[Nintendo DS]] logo for ''Diddy Kong Racing DS'', and the [[Nintendo]] logo for ''[[Timber's Balloon Pop]]''.
*The Rareware logo appears on [[Banjo]]'s backpack in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''.

==List of ''Super Mario'' games==
{|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 2]]''
|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
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color)|Donkey Kong Country]]''
|2000
|[[Game Boy Color]]
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Advance)|Donkey Kong Country]]''
|2003
|[[Game Boy Advance]]
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country 2 (Game Boy Advance)|Donkey Kong Country 2]]''
|2004
|Game Boy Advance
|-
|''[[Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance)|Donkey Kong Country 3]]''
|2005
|Game Boy Advance
|-
|''[[Diddy Kong Racing DS]]''
|2007
|[[Nintendo DS]]
|}

==Notable employees==
{{columns|count=2|
*[[Kevin Bayliss]] (former)
*[[Grant Kirkhope]] (former)
*[[Leigh Loveday]]
*[[Eveline Novakovic]] (former)
*[[Gregg Mayles]]
*[[Steve Mayles]] (former)
*[[Stamper brothers|Chris Stamper]] (former)
*[[Stamper brothers|Tim Stamper]] (former)
*[[Mark Stevenson]] (former)
*[[Chris Sutherland]] (former)
*[[David Wise]] (former)
}}

==Gallery==
===Logos===
<gallery widths=150px>
Rare logo 1980s.jpg|Rare's first logo, used from 1987–1990
Rare logo 1990.png|Logo used from 1990–1994
Rareware logo.jpg|Logo used from 1994–2003 for the "Rareware" trademark
DK Diddy Rareware Logo.png|Donkey Kong and Diddy with the Rareware logo
Rare logo 2003.png|Logo used from 2003–2010
Rare logo 2010.svg|Logo used from 2010–2015
</gallery>

===Screenshots===
<gallery>
Rareware screen DKL3C.png|Splash screen from ''[[Donkey Kong Land III|Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong]]''
Rareware screen DKCGBC.png|Splash screen from ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' ([[Game Boy Color]])
Rare Logo DKCGBA.jpg|Splash screen from ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Advance)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' ([[Game Boy Advance]])
Rareware screen DKP.png|Unused splash screen from ''[[Diddy Kong Pilot (2001)|Diddy Kong Pilot]]'' (2001)
</gallery>

===Logos of canceled games===
<gallery>
Donkey Kong Art and Logo - Donkey Kong Racing.png|''[[Donkey Kong Racing]]''
DKCC-Donkey Kong Art.jpg|''[[Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers]]''
Diddypilot.jpg|''[[Diddy Kong Pilot]]''
</gallery>

==References==
<References/>

==External links==
{{NIWA|LylatWiki=Rare|NWiki=Rare|SmashWiki=1|StrategyWiki=Category:Rare}}
*[https://rarewiki.com/wiki/Rare_Ltd. Rare] on the Rare Wiki
{{Companies}}
[[Category:Developers]]
[[Category:Companies]]
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[[it:Rare Ltd.]]