Rare Replay

• Top Tier
• Banjo-Kazooie
• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
• Banjo-Tooie
• Battletoads
• Battletoads Arcade
• Blast Corps
• Jet Force Gemini (with updated controls)
• Kameo: Elements of Power
• Perfect Dark
• RC Pro-Am
• RC Pro-Am II
• Snake, Rattle and Roll
• Viva Pinata
• Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
• Mid Tier
• Atic Atac
• Cobra Triangle
• Conker's Bad Fur Day (It still baffles me that they included this instead of the Xbox remake, Live & Reloaded)
• Digger T. Rock
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies
• Jetpac Refuelled
• Knight Lore
• Lunar Jetman
• Slalom
• Solar Jetman
• Bottom Tier
• Gunfright
• Jetpac
• Killer Instinct Gold
• Perfect Dark Zero
• Sabre Wolf
• Underwurlde

Top 5:
5. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Apparently, this game has gotten quite a bit of flack from long-time fans of the series. And it's pretty obvious to see why: it almost completely throws away its platform game origins in favor of a vehicle-based creation game. All I have to say is- screw you, ya big babies, Nuts and Bolts isn't a platformer like the originals but it's a perfectly well-made (and addictive) game in its own right.

And, to be fair, the game's fully aware of how it's getting away from its roots. The game opens with Banjo and Kazooie getting back into the swing of things after spending years sitting on their ass. Almost as soon as they get back up, they come to realize how dated their gamaeplay mechanics are, in a great bit of self-aware fourth-wall humor. To remedy this, the Lord of Games, or L.O.G., whisks them away to his game central village, where the new, cooler vehicle-based gameplay is introduced (I certainly understand fans' disappointment, but if the somewhat mediocre critical reception for the recently released Yooka-Laylee are any indication, they may have a point about the dated mechanics). 

And there lies the crux of the gameplay: You collect parts, build vehicles via an incredibly deep and flexible garage tool, and test your creations in the different worlds. And when I say flexible, I mean really flexible. You can build pretty much any type of vehicle imaginable: planes, cars, choppers, boats. Those pesky enemies wearing you down? Equip a turret to your car. Need to cross the water? There's a boat with your name on it. The controls for these vehicles are a bit clunky, but once you get used to them, traversing the varied environments becomes a delight. My one real gripe is that the way items are collected is far more annoying than it needs to be, requiring you to go to a machine in town in order to actually collect the jiggies you earn in a level. Other than that, this has got the nuts and bolts of a vehicle based game down pat. 

And no, it's not platform-based. Deal with it.

4. Viva Pinata
Ahh, Viva Pinata. A relaxing pet sim where you can attract and raise your very own sentient Mexican party accessories. Pet sims aren't usually my thing, but few have as much depth as Viva Pinata. Like, there are so many different pinatas you can attract and breed. And the garden which houses them is your own personal abode for you to decorate however you please. Honestly, I've barely scratched the surface on all this game has to offer. All I have to say right now is Hola Pinatas!

3. Perfect Dark
Due to licensing issues, Rare wasn't able to include arguably their best game, GoldenEye 007. Bummer. Well, at least they managed to get the next best thing. Perfect Dark is one of the best shooters on the Nintendo 64 console, and one of the best of the decade. OK, so the story, involving aliens, government conspiracies, and Area 51, is a bit of a mess. Shooters live or die on the strengths of their gameplay, and thankfully, it holds up wonderfully. In fact, I'd say it contains the best trends of shooters of the time. Like, why are modern shooters so goddamn linear? Back in the day, we were encouraged to explore every nook and cranny until we found that secret level or hidden weapon that was always just out of our reach. And like GoldenEye, there's a plethora of gadgets to play around with, my favorite being the CamSpy, essentially a drone with a camera you can use to spy on the baddies. What more is there to say? This is a great relic from the golden age of shooters. 

2. Battletoads Arcade
The Battletoads games make no effort to hide their inspiration. Anyone with half a brain could see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their DNA. Like them, they're a group of kickass animal fighters with a tongue in cheek attitude towards their every fight. The first one was released for SNES, and while I certainly enjoyed my time with that game, I cannot deny how insanely difficult it was, even for the time (most likely, it's what prompted Rare to include the rewind function on their older games in the first place. Without it, making it through their incredibly cheap and difficult levels without being booted back to the start is a fruitless exercise). So, for the sequel, which made it to arcades, they obviously knew players didn't have the time to take on all the different challenges presented by the original. Instead, they focused on arguably the original's best element - the brawling - and cranked it up to 11. As in, take Streets of Rage, and pepper it with crazy animations and about as much gore as an arcade game will allow. That's the other thing - apparently, moving it to arcades gave them much more leeway for mature content. As such, the combat features numerous instances of heads being torn off, blood gushing, and the Dark Queen somehow being even more hypersexualized, if such a thing is even possible. And it helps that it looks every bit as awesome as it did back when it was first released. For a 90's side-scroller, the graphics are absolutely incredible, with its detailed characters and suitably insane combat animations. And for those concerned that the sequel would lack variety just because of the genre switch, don't worry. There's plenty of weapons to pick up, and a rappelling stage that's every bit as as awesome as the original, if not even more so. I don't think I've ever played a beat-em-up game with as much raw energy as Battletoads Arcade, and I loved every second of it. Who needs turtles, anyway? 

1. Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie
Let's not mince words here: Banjo-Kazooie is my favorite 3D platformer to be released before the new millennium. Yes, that includes Super Mario 64. The reason for this is...difficult to explain. Maybe it's because the hub world is one of the best I've come across in video games. Rather than simply act as a series of rooms with doors or portals, like Crash Bandicoot and Mario 64, it's a level in and of itself, filled with enemies, platform challenges, and secrets to uncover. Honestly, I think this game, even more than Crash, served as the main source of inspiration for Jak and Daxter, which took the seamless free-roaming of 3D platformers to an unprecedented new level. 

Of course, there's the other major boon this has over other 3D games of the time: the controls. Whereas Mario had fairly simple moves to work out - he could jump, spin, stomp, and that's about it - Banjo-Kazooie is packed with even more nuance than many platformers released years after. For one, it pretty much introduced the two-in-one character mechanic used in future games like Ratchet and Clank. More than just for gliding, your wisecracking sidekick Kazooie can be used to climb up steep slopes, fly in certain hotspots, and even be used to shoot eggs, FPS style. What's more, Rare has spared no expense making each and every level feel distinct. One level has you going to a beach, filled with pirate ships, sinister crabs, and treasure found in high places. Another level has you going deep into the sewers, filled with tons of pipes hiding things of all shapes and sizes. Rare makes sure you're never doing the same thing for too long. It's this variety that keeps you playing through its troublesome camera. 

And as for the sequel -  I actually haven't played it that much, since I wanted to finish my time with the original before taking on the second. But from what little I have played, I can say it might just be even better than the original, offering a larger, more cohesive world to roam around in (Jak and Daxter is really showing through here), and even more mechanics to play around with, like a few sequences where you take control of Kazooie for some first-person labyrinth shooting action. Without a doubt, these two games are the pinnacle of vintage platforming, possibly even 3D game design in general. Even if you don't want to spend the money on the full replay collection, do yourself a favor and get these two games off of Xbox Live right away. 

Bottom 5: 
5. Gunfright
Here's how the game works: you have a gun, you wander around town, find bandit, and shoot. You're given no direction, you just wander aimlessly until you find him. And when you do, it switches to a first-person arcade shooter where you fire a single shot. Then you repeat, again and again. It doesn't sound much fun on paper, and it's not much fun in practice. 

4. Perfect Dark Zero
The mid-2000s, from roughly 2003-2007, were kind of a dead zone for shooters. This is the time when the Medal of Honor series started to lose its edge, Quake and Doom sequels were released to lukewarm reception from fans, and even once classic shooters like Halo don't withstand the test of time the way 90s shooters like Quake and the original Perfect Dark did. So, could Perfect Dark Zero, the sequel to the original N64 classic, buck the trend? Um...no, not at all. In fact, it's aged even worse, if anything. 

Back when it was first released as an X360 launch title, fans and critics were split as to whether it was a worthy successor or a disappointment that wasn't worth the wait. And in this day and age, the flaws which were already well-documented even at the time only hurt more. The biggest sticking point is the controls, which feel sluggish and clunky when compared to the finesse of modern shooters, or even some others at the time. And other aspects feel like a downgrade from the original. The level design, for one, feels far too linear and confining, mostly having you progress down a set path to your next objective. The original game encouraged exploration to find every hidden objective and weapon lying around. And there's not even much context to push you forward. The story is needlessly confusing and more or less incidental to the action, not helped by the c-grade voice acting for most of the characters. Apparently, the game is supposed to have a really great, innovative multiplayer, but I wouldn't know, since no one is playing online. Shame, since Rare's other belated sequel turned out pretty good. 

3. Sabre Wulf
This game is the debut of the character Sabre Wulf, who was apparently a recurring character in Rare games from the 80s, appearing in a handful of other games in here like Underwurlde and Knight Lore. Well, I must say...not a great first impression. In this game, you run around a maze while enemies surround you, armed with nothing but a short reaching sword. Basically, it's nothing more than wandering aimlessly, hoping that an enemy doesn't spawn on top of you while you mindlessly slash away at what's directly in front of you. Good luck trying to survive for more than two minutes at a time. 

2. Underwurlde
You like Pong? Well, imagine if Pong was an adventure game, where you wander an underground cavern and bounce off anything in the environment. Okay, this game isn't actually Pong, but it does have you bounce around like a ping pong ball. Like, touch anything and you'll bounce around like crazy. When you try to rise via one of the game's floating bubbles, be sure not to avoid the enemies that SWARM the screen, or you'll lose control and flop to the bottom. This game may have some good secrets to find, some competent adventure platforming, but I'll never know since I CAN'T GET HIM TO STOP BOUNCING!!

1. Killer Instinct Gold
Let's not waste any time here: Killer Instinct Gold is downright unplayable. It's a 90s polygonal fighter, which as you probably know age horribly. Like others of the time, the fighting system suffers from stiff controls, choppy animation, and a fighting system that feels not only simplistic, but lobotomized. Seriously, two-button combos are the most you'll get out of this nigh-unplayable product of a bygone era. I wish there was more to say, but that's about it, it's just a tragically dated fighter from a dead-zone time period for fighters. Interested in the series? Download the recent Killer Instinct off of the Xbox live store (you can get it for free at just one unlocked fighter), which is far more robust and satisfying than this relic.