Topic: Well...Rare's still got the graphical touch; graphical suave, if you will.

[TooShort]

  Those are very beautiful GBA graphics that Rare is doing with Sabre Wulf............. If the gameplay is as good as Rare was capable of producing in years past -> Nintendo might regret selling them. What do you think, Sabre Wulf - beautiful flop, or second coming of Rare?

[Bill Aurion]

Considering the quality of GbtG... :\

Even Grunty's Revenge fell below my Banjo-loving expectations...

[kennyb27]

Quote
Those are very beautiful GBA graphics that Rare is doing with Sabre Wulf

Really?  It looks like a rehash of Banjo's engine, which honestly didn't impress me a whole lot.

[Smadte]

What happened to Rare on Xbox, anyway?  

[Djunknown]

Microsoft is tucking them away it seems. I'll admit to not actively checking Xbox news, but there's no word on Kameo and Conker Live and Uncut recently. Perfect Dark Zero has been put off until 2k6, probably a launch title for their next system.

How many more Rare GBA games left?

[thegloaming]

Well, while Conker hasn't been given a release date yet, both Rare's and Xbox's official sites are announcing Kameo as a 2004 release...

As for the graphics on Sabre Wulf... I'm not that impressed either... I believe the guys can do better than just rehashing an already average engine...

[Flames_of_chaos]

It also reminds me of Banjo and Donkey Kong Country(some of the jungle levels) graphic engine

[WackerJr]

I thought the graphics in Sabrewulf (& Banjo-Kazooie) were good and above average. They managed to fit in a variety of special effects as well.

The remaining GBA games that Rare have announced are:
~ Banjo Pilot
~ It's Mr.Pants

Neither of which have been seen yet, although it seems that Banjo Pilot is what used to be Diddy Kong Pilot, while no-one really knows what "It's Mr. Pants" is going to be. Mr. Pants seems to have an almost cult following among Rare fans so it'll be fun to see what this turns out like!

[couchmonkey]

This thread is a little old, so perhaps I should ignore it, yet, I can't....

I've been following Rare on Xbox.  Kameo and Conker are supposed to be out this year, and MS has even released new artwork for each recently.  I think they'll make it on time, however, Rare seems to be having trouble on Xbox.  They aren't as fast as MS would like, and Rare's games don't really fit in the Xbox mould.  Ironically, that's why Microsoft acquired Rare in the first place, to expand it's territory, but it doesn't seem to be working.

As for Sabre Wulf, I think it looks really good.  I don't know, people seem to have gone against the DKC "pre-rendered" style of graphics in recent years, but I still think DKC looks beautiful, and this game looks beautiful too...to me.  Early reviews of the game from Europe are quite positive.  I think the biggest compliment from the reviews is that the game is NOT like all the other GBA platformers out there.  I'll probably buy it.

[Bartman3010]

Sabre Wulf is actually pretty good. Plus the price tag is $19.99

I should pick it up when I get the chance..

[couchmonkey]

I'm definitely going to buy it.  Maybe even tonight, although I'd kind of like to beat Mario vs. DK first...

[Lost101]

Meh, Rares graphics arent that amazing.  Donkey Kong Country for the GBA for example doesnt look nearly as nice as the SNES version, even on that small screen the characters and stuff look... like they were stretched out or something.  

Rare aint what it used to be....  

[couchmonkey]

Ha ha ha, look at me, thinking I'd buy the game two freakin' months ago.  I finally got a copy this week.  Tres awesome!

The graphics, since they're the subject of this thread, are very good but not amazing.  Some of the backgrounds are pretty dull, and a few character designs look really weird.  On the other hand, everything is very nicely animated and the game is full of the little touches that Rare does really well. For example, in tree filled areas, birds will fly around and alight on the branches above Sabre Man.

But graphics are not what matters anyway.  The gameplay is awesome!  I appreciate Rare's recent attempts to bring simplicity back to gaming...I'm playing Sabre Wulf and Tales of Symphonia at the same time, and it's a relief to go from the overwhelming  complexity of Tales to the old-school simplicity of Sabre Wulf.  You can jump, and you can place helpful monsters on the screen, that is just about all.  I think there's a way to take pictures too, but essentially, it's extremely simple, yet fun and deep.

If you enjoy some puzzling with your platformers, I really recommend it.

[Lost101]

Sabre Wulf sounds pretty good actually.  There arent enough puzzle elements to platformers if you ask me.


I always wanted to pick up the Banjo Kazooie game for the GBA but I always end up getting something else.  Anyone else played it?