Topic: Will Rareware Games Ever Appear on Virtual Console?

[Kytim89]

What really bugs me about the virtual console service is its lack of Rareware games. I know that Microsoft snatched up Rareware, butJet Force Gemini  I would really like to see their games appear on virtual console. Why should gaming politics prevent consumers from enjoying Rare's gaming library on the wii.
 
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Perfect Dark
Golden Eye 007
Jet Force Gemini
Battle Toads
Banjo-kazooie 1 and 2
Donkey Kong 64
 

[King of Twitch]

In the words of Steven Tyler Smith, dream awn

auuuu au ah ah ah augh

[Kytim89]

In the words of Steven Tyler Smith, dream awn

auuuu au ah ah ah augh

Hey, that hurts.

[King of Twitch]

I too have had the dream squashed

Getting the Goldeneye license for the VC would be the coup de' grace. No matter how much it costs, or how many lawyers they have to deal with, they should get it.

The past is gone, it went by like dust to dawn
Isnt that the way? Everybody's got their dues in life to pay

[BlackNMild2k1]

Conker's Bad Fur Day (already re-released on Xbox)
Perfect Dark (coming soon to XBLA)
Golden Eye 007 (need permission from current 007 license holder)
Jet Force Gemini (Wiimake would be better for pointer controls)
Battle Toads (never gonna happen)
Banjo-kazooie 1 and 2 (never gonna happen)
Donkey Kong 64 (could happen, but do you really feel like collecting 1000 bananas all over again?)

[Kytim89]

I would never buy a xbox so I guess I am left out in the cold. However, if Nintendo and Microsoft could work out a deal in which Microsoft could gain access to wii owners by realeasing these games on virtual console, I would be very happy. Nintend, being as greedy and conservative as they are, would want to eake in all the profits. They are like two wolves fighting over a piece of meat.

[Mop it up]

With the exception of Donkey Kong 64, all of those games are owned by Rare and by association Microsoft, which gives them no chance of being released on Wii due to it being a competitor system. Goldeneye seems caught in a battle of rights, with both the current holder of the James Bond licence, and Nintendo as they apparently still have some publishing rights over the game, or something. I wouldn't count on that one ever appearing anywhere.

As for Donkey Kong 64, that one belongs to Nintendo since it is their franchise. I'd say that, since the Expansion Pak emulation issue was solved with Majora's Mask, it will come eventually.

[Kytim89]

Even though those games were developed by Rareware, doesn't Nintendo own some rights to the games, since they were released on a nintendo console, in which they could use to circumnavigate Microsoft. I am sure if Nintendo pressed the issue they could get something done about it.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Nah, Nintendo sold them along with Rare.

No more.

[Kytim89]

Let's all boycott Nintendo until they do something about the problem.

[Mop it up]

I hope you're not seriously suggesting that. It would lead nowhere.

[Dirk Temporo]

Let's all boycott Nintendo until they do something about the problem.

What, the problem of you arbitrarily refusing to ever buy an Xbox?

[Kytim89]

I do not want to have to buy a N64 and track down the games to play them when I have a wii at home. Nor do I want to buy an xbox. Also, I was just kidding about the boycott thing. I WANT  THESE GAMES ON VIRTUAL CONSOLE!

[Dasmos]

JFG, Conker and Blast Corps are the only Rare games worth writing home about. Jet Force Gemini should get a sequel, but I don't trust current Rare to do it justice.

[Jonnyboy117]

I can see it happening, if Rare continues its downward spiral until Microsoft is ready to sell the company (or at least its back-catalogue) to Nintendo for a couple percent of the original selling price.

[Chozo Ghost]

Nah, Nintendo sold them along with Rare.

No more.

Nintendo didn't sell Donkey Kong. So that is one game that I can guarantee will never be on the 360, but hopefully it will make it to the VC at some point. I don't have a clue about any of those other games, but it is possible Nintendo retains the rights to some of those as well.

But in any case, we MIGHT see these games get ported over to the DS(i) because Microsoft has released DS games in the past, and they have also allowed Rare to release games on the DS. Microsoft isn't in the handheld market and doesn't see the DS as a competitor per se, and seems to rather see Nintendo succeed than Sony, so I don't think that is something thats out of the question. We already know for a fact the DS is capable of handling N64 games becuase it has already seen some (Super Mario 64, etc). The only potential issue is the controls would be radically different, but they might be able to work something out.

[Peachylala]

Let's all boycott Nintendo until they do something about the problem.

What, the problem of you arbitrarily refusing to ever buy an Xbox?

He doesn't want to pop the stress ball?

[Dirk Temporo]

JFG, Conker and Blast Corps are the only Rare games worth writing home about.

Distinct lack of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark on that list.

He doesn't want to pop the stress ball?

Oh man turning on a console and playing fun games is so stressful.

[TJ Spyke]

Depends on what you mean by Rareware games. If you mean games that owned (which means Microsoft owns now), not a chance. If you mean games they developed for others, maybe. Rare developed over 100 games just for the NES, for many different companies including Acclaim and Midway.

Of the games the OP listed, only 2 are not owned by Microsoft (the others will never appear) and both of those have problems:

GoldenEye 007 - Everyone knows the licensing problems here. Nintendo owns the copyright code to the game, but Activision Blizzard has the current license. So Nintendo would have to work out a deal with both Acitivision and Eon (the owners of the Bond franchise). Mop, Rare/Microsoft doesn't own any rights to the game. Nintendo had the Bond license at the time and they just assigned it to Rare. It would be like saying Neversoft owns any part of the Tony Hawk games just because they developed the early ones.

Donkey Kong 64 - The only problem here is that part of the game requires you to play and beat Jetpac (which is a Microsoft IP now), Nintendo would have to reprogram the game to remove that and probably replace it with something else. I doubt they consider it worth all the time and money to do that.

Kytim, the system a game appears on makes no difference in regards to ownership of a game.

[Morari]

Not having Battletoads does hurt.

[Chozo Ghost]

iS

Donkey Kong 64 - The only problem here is that part of the game requires you to play and beat Jetpac (which is a Microsoft IP now), Nintendo would have to reprogram the game to remove that and probably replace it with something else. I doubt they consider it worth all the time and money to do that.

Nintendo did do something kinda like that with the original Punch-out! game for the NES. The game used to be called "Mike Tyson's Punch-out!" but then Mike Tyson was convicted of rape, so Nintendo decided to retool the game and so Mike Tyson was dropped from the game, and the boss you fight at the end was renamed Mr. Dream, but I believe still looks exactly the same as Tyson.

So Nintendo could do something like that with DK64, and it would actually be really easy to do because all they need to is change the name of that character and do a little cosmetic changing if necessary, but that should be really simple.

[Mop it up]

All they need to do is just remove the Jetpac game and just have you receive whatever item you get for clearing it when you reach that part, or remove the item altogether. Seems like an easy fix really, but it still requires more effort from Nintendo than other releases, so they probably wouldn't do it until after they've put up everything else.

[TJ Spyke]

I am not saying they couldn't do it, I just think Nintendo doesn't consider it worth the effort that it would take to do it unless they plan on charging like 1200 points instead of 1000 for it.

[Kytim89]

I can see it happening, if Rare continues its downward spiral until Microsoft is ready to sell the company (or at least its back-catalogue) to Nintendo for a couple percent of the original selling price.

They could be doing it on purpose. Perhaps Rare wants to get back to Nintendo.

[TJ Spyke]

I think what's more likely to happen is Microsoft would just shut down Rare (like they did with Ensemble Studios) and have one of their other studios take over developing Rare's IPs. IP's are usually the last thing a company will sell.