Nintendo Dropping Relations with RARE Good Or Bad?

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:35 pm

I think what Nintendo did with RARE (selling/handing it over to Micro$oft) was a stupid thing to be done. Their characters (Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong etc) will now never come to life on present and future Nintendo consoles/titles. I think they should self develop a new DK game like they are with Star Fox 2. Anywho... Opinions/thoughts/comments on this?

Aya Reiko · Post by **Aya Reiko** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:43 pm

No argument there. Nintendo desperately needs 2nd and 3rd developers.

Unfortunately, 3rd party devs are fleeing from the GCN like rats from a sinking ship. LucasArts, despite saying they'll continue supporting the GCN, have no titles in the works for that console. The next MK title, MK: Deception, will not be available for the GCN. Why? Another Nintendo mistake, no online support.

Simply put, Nintendo is in considerable danger of becoming irrelevant in the next act of the console wars. If they're not careful, they'll share the same fate as Sega did a few years back.

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:53 pm

Aya Reiko wrote:Simply put, Nintendo is in considerable danger of becoming irrelevant in the next act of the console wars. If they're not careful, they'll share the same fate as Sega did a few years back.

Yeah.. If the Dreamcast had only made it to compete with the PS2 and GCN... I'd have wanted to see that.. And if the GCN dies... that would really suck... Really REALLY suck. They should really make more games online capable.

Anywho, back on topic.

There is a new DK game on the 'Cube out [in Japan only right now] called Donkey Konga which was developed my Namco... I bet if DKonga sells well they'll have Namco develop their DK games... unless that make them need them to pay royalties to Rare and Micro$oft... Comments on that?

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:02 am

As much as I would've loved to see Rare stay with Nintendo, the fact that the big N wasn't really using them around the time of MS's purchase of Rare wants me to see such talent be used to create games whereever they can, instead of being loyal to a company and doing little. I'd rather get Rare games under the Nintendo label, but between the option of little to no Rare games under Nintendo and a bunch under MS, I take the bunch under MS. Microsoft obviously knows what they're doing to hold their spot and advance in the console market, Nintendo seems to think they can rely on their stronghold in the past rather than look towards the future, which is something they were so good with 20 years back. They had a phone port in the Famicom for God's sake! They experimented with online stuff before there was even a hint of an online market, and today they've got nothing for online, or support from other companies. I hated to see Rare leave Nintendo, and as much as I love Nintendo, I believe it's better for the industry for Rare to make games for a powerful console that's looking towards the future.

Edit a few minutes later: Oh btw, Donkey is owned by Nintendo, they allowed rare to use him for their games, the rest of the characters in DK games from there out are Rare's. And (at least) Diddy Kong is owned by Nintendo somehow, so you can still see those two on Nintendo's systems only.

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:15 am

Does anyone know how this affects the rest of the Donkey Kong family? There are at least 4 other "Kong" characters, as well as the various villains that were fought...what is their status in terms of whomever can use them?

Post by **AnimeGuru0** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:45 am

Uhh, Nintendo retained all its liscenses to its characters, including Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Star Fox, etc. It also retained a lot of the liscenses for characters Rare developed under the Nintendo name.

Edit #1: (oh look, Dan just said that =P)

Edit #2: O_o;;; Man you guys are fast *points to Starscream*

Nintendo retained all the rights to any "Kong". Pretty much any character in a Donkey Kong Country game or Donkey Kong 64 is Nintendo's.

Miyamoto · Post by **Miyamoto** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 8:13 am

AnimeGuru0 wrote:Nintendo retained all the rights to any "Kong". Pretty much any character in a Donkey Kong Country game or Donkey Kong 64 is Nintendo's.

So do you think there's a chance of a DK Racing game to be released on the GCN if they can find a different developer other than the now MS-owned [and diseased] RAREWARE? That would rule so much. They could use what they already had and build on it.

Ni-ban Neko · Post by **Ni-ban Neko** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 9:46 am

I don't know who the Mario Kart team is, but they'd be more than capable of handling a DK racer.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:06 am

Nintendo themselves developed the entire Mario Kart line of games, minus Mario Kart Super Circuit for the GBA, which was developed by Intelligent Systems. So I think they can handle a Diddy Kong Racing type game for the cube if they wanted to, which I would love to see. I love the N64 one, even beat up my friend's younger brother over i. Tthe weekend after it came out, I went to rent it and just before I got there, he had called and reserved to rent it, and the workers there didn't take the box off the shelf with the reserved copy being the last one. It didn't bother me so much that I wasn't able to rent it since I didn't expect it to be there, but having the box in my hands and then being told I couldn't rent it is another thing. I went to Steve's house later that day and saw the game was there and he told me Brian called it in, so when Brian came down to the basement, I let him have it. ^_^;

But back on topic, a DKR game for the cube would completely rock.

And back on the real thread topic, one thing I forgot to mention is something that irks me right now regarding the Rare / Microsoft thing. I've made it clear that I don't care much about it happening, but seeing commerical for Rare / MS games that have the tagline "From Rare, the creators of Donkey Kong Country" is just wrong imo. If it was a Rare / Nintendo game with that tagline, ok because DKC was a game made for Nintendo, but that kind of talk has no place in an Xbox commerical, since neither of those two companies will be able to touch any of the Kongs. Just my two cents.

yoshmaster5 · Post by **yoshmaster5** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 2:28 pm

I think it's pretty bad for Nintendo. They need all the help to get past sony. Besides... this is not good.

Aya Reiko · Post by **Aya Reiko** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 8:30 pm

yoshmaster5 wrote:I think it's pretty bad for Nintendo. They need all the help to get past sony. Besides... this is not good.

Sony is waaay beyond their reach... now and in the next act.

What Nintendo should worry about is competing with Microsoft. XBox is ahead of the GCN in the US and Europe while GCN still leads in Japan. Though with the mass exodus of 3rd party devs and lack of features, I find it hard to believe Nintendo will be able to hold off MS even in Japan.

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:01 pm

X-Box in Japan? I wouldn't worry too much for Gamecube and Game Boy Advance of Japan to worry about the X-Box in Japan. X-Box is one of the most unpopular consoles to hit Japan in a while. The two Dead or Alive games sold better over there than any of the 40+ games Microsoft themselves published. And very few Japanese game developers, aside from Sega and Tecmo, seem to be doing anything with the system.

I give the X-Box one or two more years, tops.

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:14 pm

AnimeGuru0 wrote:Uhh, Nintendo retained all its liscenses to its characters, including Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Star Fox, etc. It also retained a lot of the liscenses for characters Rare developed under the Nintendo name.

Edit #1: (oh look, Dan just said that =P)

Edit #2: O_o;;; Man you guys are fast *points to Starscream*

Nintendo retained all the rights to any "Kong". Pretty much any character in a Donkey Kong Country game or Donkey Kong 64 is Nintendo's.

What about characters developed by RARE, but had their own game out on the N64. (i.e. Conker, Banjo and Kazooie)? Are they now Nintendo property, or do they still belong to RARE?

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 1:25 pm

Conker and Banjo are owned by RAREWARE once again. RARE even announced a port of the N64 Conker's Bad Fur Day onto X-Box a while ago.

Aya Reiko · Post by **Aya Reiko** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 2:38 pm

Neo Dead Moon wrote:X-Box in Japan? I wouldn't worry too much for Gamecube and Game Boy Advance of Japan to worry about the X-Box in Japan. X-Box is one of the most unpopular consoles to hit Japan in a while. The two Dead or Alive games sold better over there than any of the 40+ games Microsoft themselves published. And very few Japanese game developers, aside from Sega and Tecmo, seem to be doing anything with the system.

I give the X-Box one or two more years, tops.

You're underestimating one thing, the lengths MS would go to win. MS has already stated they are to budgetting $2 billion through 2006 just towards marketing. That's cash Nintendo just does not have. Plus MS (and Sony) are directly targeting 14-24 male demo, the group best known for being willing to spend cash on things like consoles and games. As I see it, Nintendo is the console on the ropes.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 3:59 pm

Neo Dead Moon wrote:Conker and Banjo are owned by RAREWARE once again. RARE even announced a port of the N64 Conker's Bad Fur Day onto X-Box a while ago.

Yep, and if I remember correctly, it's the uncut version, so I really can't wait for that.

yoshmaster5 · Post by **yoshmaster5** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 9:46 pm

Nintendo should pull through. Game Boys are really the only hand-held game consoles that have been remotely succesful. Nomad: died. N-gage: Sucked from the beginning.

Nintendo also was the first of the remaining industries producing consoles. Heck, they were the second to start, only following Atari. It's just that the average person now wants to play shooters, not Mario/Star Fox/Metroid/Pokemon/LOZ. I like shooters, but I know they aren't the only games. GCN also lags because no online play, and the controls when playing shooter games are plain horrid. I am really good on shooters, and I died in one of the James Bond games quickly because of the messed up controls. nintendo has the classic game series on it's consoles, but more people want the classic fighting games, complete with bouncing. or violent shooter games. That is one reason why I like Super Smash Brothers. It diviates from the "traditional" fighting game. Also, it dosen't need the girls to have giant boobs to sell.

okay... end rant.
I still think Nintendo will pull though. even if they lose with GCN, they still have a major lead with GB.

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Sat May 01, 2004 9:35 am

Yoshmaster, I deleted your second post. I don't know if it was a double post or what, but there was no need for it when compared with the post above.

I have to disagree with you, Yoshmaster. I don't think that popularity has shifted. I think that the age groups have shifted. As people grow up, their tastes change. Naturally, they're going to move away from Mario and toward games like Halo. I'm 18. I still enjoy playing Mario, Zelda, and and games like that. But I also want something more mature. But younger gamers are still going for Mario and whatnot.

And now, I must ask that we get back on topic. This is to discuss Nintendo and RARE, not whether Nintendo will fall at the hands of the X-box.

yoshmaster5 · Post by **yoshmaster5** » Sat May 01, 2004 10:38 am

off/t

Parakiss... the second post was because the internet connection shut out, and I thought that I didn't post.

on topic

good point. That is a major change...