What are your top 5 favorite Rareware games?

[PinkPanzer]

1) Conkers Bad Fur Day: this one is probably influenced by the crude and toilet humour the game is known for, but I absolutely loved it and especially how it doesn't require the collecting and repetitiveness of other rare platformers

2) Donkey Kong Country 2: took what was great in the first one and made it so much better, a true classic

3) Banjo Kazooie: I would probably put Tooie in here instead but I've actually never played it! Amazing platformer

4) Donkey Kong Country 3: I just remember having a lot of fun with this game. I have to play it through once again!

5) Battletoads vs Double Dragon: nostalgia and I used to play this game with my brother a lot

[KayJay]

This is like whenever anybody wants to spend time praising Blizzard, so I bring up Justice League Task Force.

Yeah, Rareware had a lot of bad games, just like Exhuminator said.

I actually do like a lot of their newer games, and think that they are put down way to much. They've made some great new IP's under MS (Kameo: Elements of Power, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, & Viva Pinata) and yes, while they're not as good as the older games, they are still solid titles. They also have taken care of they're fans quite a lot (Sabreman lives, It's Mr. Pants, Perfect Dark Zero, Conker: Live & Reloaded, and maybe Nuts & Bolts, if you enjoyed it.) A lot of people seem to forget that they also made 2 GBA Banjo games after they left the big N.


Now, I'm not saying that they're better, but i don't think they really declined until Kinect Sports came out. The games they make nowadays are just as good as the ones they made in the NES-SNES days, but not quite as good as the N64 Era, IMO.

[Tanooki]

You left out Ken Griffey Jr's Winning Run. :/

I forgot about that one and it's partner too. Been meaning to grab one of them, but I always get confused on the differences between the two on which would be better for a single player casual approach. I don't care about season play, but I understand one of them has an open home run derby, and I think one has the expansion teams and the other doesn't or something like that. I do recall them rating well, being quality, yet being sports games not worth much.

[KayJay]

You left out Ken Griffey Jr's Winning Run. :/

I forgot about that one and it's partner too. Been meaning to grab one of them, but I always get confused on the differences between the two on which would be better for a single player casual approach. I don't care about season play, but I understand one of them has an open home run derby, and I think one has the expansion teams and the other doesn't or something like that. I do recall them rating well, being quality, yet being sports games not worth much.

There's a second game? wow, i thought there was only one.

[Cronozilla]

A Nightmare on Elm Street? As one of your favorite games from Rare? I recall the Angry Video Game Nerd covering it, so I never paid too much attention. Is it as 'good' as Battletoads?

It's a really interesting game. It's not unfair like most of Rare's work on the NES, and it does a lot of different things that I think work well enough to make the game worth a look. I can't say anything about the ridiculous prices on it, though.

AVGN is also not exactly accurate. It's a sarcastic show, you really shouldn't take anything he's saying seriously, his comments can at best skim the surface of a game. This is clearly reflected if you've ever seen James actually talk about the games he's covered. (Everything has to be "shit", because the nerd is "angry")

Also, Rare's catalog is not illustrious enough for me to choose enough games ... so there's that too. I would imagine even if I played and adored Banjo-Kazooie or DK64 or whatever, it wouldn't be making that much of a difference. I have played Conkers and it's not on my list.

[Exhuminator]

I have played Conkers and it's not on my list.

Yeah I gave the Xbox version of it a serious go a few years ago. I was amazed at the graphics but appalled at the game design.

[Gunstar Green]

A Nightmare on Elm Street? As one of your favorite games from Rare? I recall the Angry Video Game Nerd covering it, so I never paid too much attention. Is it as 'good' as Battletoads?

It's a really interesting game. It's not unfair like most of Rare's work on the NES, and it does a lot of different things that I think work well enough to make the game worth a look. I can't say anything about the ridiculous prices on it, though.

AVGN is also not exactly accurate. It's a sarcastic show, you really shouldn't take anything he's saying seriously, his comments can at best skim the surface of a game. This is clearly reflected if you've ever seen James actually talk about the games he's covered. (Everything has to be "shit", because the nerd is "angry")

It's one of those games I wish I bought when I first started collecting because I like it and have a lot of nostalgic feelings for it but I don't like it as much as it costs today.

[DonSilvestre]

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (SNES, not developed by Rare) might be my favorite SNES sports game (tied with NBA Jam, NHL 95/96, and NBA Live 95/96). It's a super fun 2 player game that controls and plays really well and has enough personality to make it not just a boring baseball slog.

Ken Griffey Junior's Winning Run (SNES, developed by Rare) is basically exactly the same game with DKC-like prerendered graphics, actual MLBPA rosters, and about a quarter of the charm since they tried to make it a lot more "realistic." Still plays very well, but I think it's missing something personally.

That said, I haven't played a baseball game I've ever enjoyed more than either of these two games, despite them being cheap sports games. My personal list:

1. Donkey Kong Country
2. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
3. GoldenEye 007
4. Diddy Kong Racing (very underrated in my opinion)
5. Uhhhhhh...I guess I'll go with DK64. I love me some Battletoads, but for someone who used to dominate difficult games like Punch Out and Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads was just too much for me, even after I learned to easily get through the Turbo Tunnel.

[Gamerforlife]

1. Viva Pinata - It's one of the most genuinely relaxing games I've ever played and has a special kind of charm for anyone who is a real life animal lover. I have never play anything quite like the VP games

2. Donkey Kong Country - The graphics and sound blew my mind when I first played this years ago, and it was a game I played for Xmas too, which made it special. You always remember games you got to play during Christmas when you were young.

3. Donkey Kong Country 2 - Unlike the first, I actually got ALL the collectibles and stuff in this one, and had a lot of fun doing it

I actually HATE the modern DKC games, the spirit of the originals are completely lost in them. It's like those movies where someone gets body snatched, you know something's off.

4. Battletoads in Battlemaniacs - Probably the only Battletoads game that I could beat, well unless you count the arcade game which you can credit feed through. Much more accessible than the super hard NES original, that's not to say it's an easy game though. I have some extra love for this game too because I actually have a CIB copy of it. Getting harder and harder to get complete, SNES games these days.

5. Conkey's Bad Fur Day - It was so amazing to play such an ADULT mascot platformer back then. There were some hilarious moments in this game and some really awesome movie parodies. It wasn't perfect though, some parts were frustrating to play and some of the humor was BAD (a giant, singing pile of shit? Really?). But to this day, it's hard to find a mascot platformer as filthy, offensive, adult, and full of attitude as this game. What? Sonic games had attitude. Bitch please.

Runner Ups:

RC Pro Am - I used to love this game...until I played Rock n Roll racing which completely made RC Pro Am irrelevant

Super Battletoads - An an arcade game, it's everything you know about Battletoads ramped up to 11. Unfortunately, like many arcade brawlers it's unreasonably cheap...and that's coming from a series already very hard on consoles mind you. It's still worth playing though, as you'll find no other Battletoads game with better graphics and sound or as over the top (you can LITERALLY bust someone's balls LOL). And apparently, there are some insane players who can 1cc it:

[CFFJR]

Super Battletoads - An an arcade game, it's everything you know about Battletoads ramped up to 11. Unfortunately, like many arcade brawlers it's unreasonably cheap...and that's coming from a series already very hard on consoles mind you. It's still worth playing though, as you'll find no other Battletoads game with better graphics and sound or as over the top (you can LITERALLY bust someone's balls LOL). And apparently, there are some insane players who can 1cc it:

That was amusingly violent.