Editing Rare Ltd.

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|logo          = [[File:Rare logo.png|225px|Rare]]

|website      = [http://www.rare.co.uk/ Rare]

'''Rare Ltd.''' is a British video game development studio based in Twycross, Leicestershire, England. The origins can be traced back to 1982 when Tim and Chris Stamper founded ''{{iw|wikipedia|Ultimate Play the Game}}''. The studio saw early success on personal computers like the {{iw|wikipedia|ZX Spectrum}} with titles like ''Jetpac'', ''Atic Atac'', ''Sabre Wulf'', and ''Knight Lore''. However, the team realized that the Spectrum was only popular in the U.K. and decided to branch out into other markets. The team decided to focus on the new Famicom and created a subsidiary called ''Rare'' in 1985 to reverse engineer the hardware to learn its inner workings, something [[Nintendo]] claimed to be impossible. After impressing Nintendo with its tech demos, Rare was granted unlimited budget for developing Famicom games, now called the Nintendo Entertainment System in the PAL region. At this time, the team decided to sell the Ultimate Play the Game brand to {{iw|wikipedia|U.S. Gold}} and officially renamed the whole company to Rare. A string of successful NES releases followed, including ''R.C. Pro-Am'', ''Snake Rattle 'n' Roll'', and ''Battletoads'', as well as several licensed games and being outsourced for console ports of PC games.

In 1994, Rare acquired several SGI computers and used them to create a boxing game tech demo, which eventually became ''Killer Instinct''. Nintendo was so impressed with this demo that they would purchase a 49% stake in the company, making Rare a second-party developer. Nintendo would entrust Rare with the {{uv|Donkey Kong}} license, which resulted in the ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' series, as well as the ''Donkey Kong Land'' series on Game Boy. Rare would go into what many consider their "golden age" during the lifespan of the Nintendo 64, with titles likep ''Blast Corps'', {{uv|GoldenEye}} ''007'', ''Diddy Kong Racing'', {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}}, {{uv|Perfect Dark}}, and ''Conker's Bad Fur Day''. Another game in development for Nintendo 64 was ''Dinosaur Planet'' alongside many projects for GameCube, but all of those titles were canceled and Nintendo asked Rare to turn Dinosaur Planet into a {{uv|Star Fox}} game. This was done because Rare was in talks with several other companies to be bought out in full. On September 23rd, 2002, ''{{s|lylatwiki|Star Fox Adventures}}'', Rare's last Nintendo game, was released on the GameCube. One day later, Rare was fully acquired by [[Microsoft]].

Now a part of Microsoft, Rare would make games exclusively for {{iw|wikipedia|Xbox}} and PC. These titles include ''Grabbed by the Ghoulies'', ''Conker: Live & Reloaded'', ''Kameo: Elements of Power'', ''Viva Piñata'', and ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts''. Rare would also collaborate with Nintendo and {{iw|wikipedia|THQ}} to publish several games for Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS based on their existing franchises. Rare would then almost exclusively make sports games for {{iw|wikipedia|Kinect}} with the only original titles being ''Sea of Thieves'' and the upcoming ''Everwild'', along with involvement in the reboots of ''Killer Instinct'' and ''Battletoads'' as well as the ''Rare Replay'' collection. While none of the titles under Microsoft were financial failures, none have reached the critical and financial success of their creations under Nintendo.

Rare is credited for the modern version of  of [[Donkey Kong]] for virtually all of his future video game appearances and were the original creators of four characters that appeared as fighters in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series: [[Diddy Kong]], [[King K. Rool]], [[Banjo]] and [[Kazooie]]. They lost the rights to the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise on September 24th, 2002 due to being entirely acquired by Microsoft. All music sourced or rearranged in ''Smash'' that Rare originally composed credit them for their compositions, even after the Microsoft buyout.

{{SSBU|Donkey Kong}} and {{SSBU|Diddy Kong}} both return as veterans with {{SSBU|King K. Rool}} appearing as a newcomer. [[Klaptrap]] appears as the ''Donkey Kong'' universe's first Assist Trophy. [[Kongo Jungle (SSBM)|Kongo Jungle]] (now known as Kongo Falls), [[Jungle Japes]] and [[Kongo Jungle (SSB)|Kongo Jungle 64]] all return as famliar stages. Additionally, [[Krystal]] - appearing as she does in the Rare-developed ''Star Fox Adventures'' - debuts as an Assist Trophy. Multiple Rare-created ''Donkey Kong'' and ''Star Fox'' characters also appear as [[Spirits]]. {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} also make their debut as a [[Downloadable content (SSBU)|DLC playable fighter]] in Fighters Pass Vol. 1, along with an accompanying [[Spiral Mountain]] stage and multiple ''Banjo-Kazooie''-themed Spirits. Notably, they are the first fighter created for an original series by Rare to appear in ''Smash'' (as opposed to created for an existing Nintendo series), as well as the first form of original Rare content altogether to appear in ''Smash'' since the Microsoft buyout. Rare's logo makes an appearance on Banjo's backpack when it is opened.

*Rare is the first company located outside of Japan to receive representation in ''Smash'' via a playable character, with [[Diddy Kong]]'s inclusion in ''Brawl''. In addition to getting [[King K. Rool]] and [[Banjo]] & [[Kazooie]] in future installments, they would later be joined by [[Retro Studios]], who created [[Dark Samus]], and [[Mojang Studios]], who created [[Steve]].

**Rare is also technically the only third-party to be represented in ''64'' at all. However, the company was not third-party at the time.