Rare
| |
| Rare | |
| Type | Subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 (Ashby Computers and Graphics) 1983 (Ultimate Play the Game) 1985 (Rare Limited) 1987 (Zippo Games) 1990 (Rare Manchester) |
| Headquarters | Twycross, England, U.K. |
| Key people | Tim Stamper, founder (Rare) Chris Stamper, founder (Rare) Ste Pickford, founder (Rare Manchester) John Pickford, founder (Rare Manchester) |
| Industry | Video games |
| Products | Arcade games |
| Number of people | undisclosed |
| Website | http://www.rare.co.uk/ |
Rare Limited is a video game developer that is based in Twycross, England, U.K.
Chris and Tim Stamper's early arcade work
In 1979, Chris Stamper was hired by Associated Leisure to work on their arcade games, and he invited his brother Tim Stamper to join him.
In 1980, Norman Parker, the associate director of Associated Leisure, left to form his own company, Zilec Games. He brought the Stamper brothers with him to work at the new company.
Ashby Computers and Graphics
After working for Zilec for two years, the Stamper brothers founded Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited in 1982. They continued making arcade games for Zilec, which were then licensed to large arcade companies.
Ultimate Play the Game
When they released their first computer game in 1983, Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited had begun trading under the name Ultimate Play the Game.
In 1985, the Stamper brothers began to believe that developing for the ZX Spectrum would not be beneficial for the company's growth, as it was only popular in the United Kingdom. Around this time, they imported a Family Computer (Famicom) from Japan, and felt that it would be better to develop for this system as it was more capable than the ZX Spectrum, had a worldwide market, and its games had no load times.
Nintendo had claimed that it was impossible to reverse-engineer the Famicom. However, the Ultimate Play the Game team was able to do so, and after investigating reverse-engineered code for Famicom games, they were able to learn how to program for it.
Rare
In 1985, the Stamper brothers established Rare and sold the rights to Ultimate Play the Game to U.S. Gold.
The Stamper brothers traveled to Japan to show their technical demos to the Nintendo executive, Minoru Arakawa, in Kyoto. Impressed with the tech demos, Nintendo gave Rare an unlimited budget to make games for the Famicom console, which was known in most territories outside of Asia as the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Zippo Games
In 1987, Ste Pickford and John Pickford founded Zippo Games. After developing games for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum, they responded to an open call from Rare which was seeking programmers to help them develop Nintendo Entertainment System games. Zippo Games then began to solely produce games for Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Rare acquires the rights to Ultimate Play the Game
In 1988, Rare purchased the rights to the Ultimate Play the Game trademark and intellectual properties back from U.S. Gold.
Rare Manchester
In 1990, Rare purchased Zippo Games and renamed it Rare Manchester.
In 1992, shortly before the release of Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros - Visions of Power, Rare's Manchester office was closed
Acquisition of Rare by Microsoft
On September 24, 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare for $375 million USD.
In January 2007, the Stamper brothers left Rare to pursue other opportunities.
Games by Chris and Tim Stamper at Zilec (1980-1982)
| Title | System | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vortex | Arcade | 1980 | Developed for Zilec Games. |
| Phantoms II | Arcade | 1981 | Developed for Zilec Electronics. |
| The Pit | Arcade | 1982 | Converted to Galaxian hardware for Zilec Electronics, developed by AW Electronics. |
Games by Ashby Computers and Graphics (1982-1983)
| Title | System | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Print | Arcade | 1982 | Licensed to Bally/Midway. |
| Dingo | Arcade | 1983 | Licensed to Jaleco. |
| Grasspin | Arcade | 1983 | Licensed to Jaleco. |
| Saturn | Arcade | 1983 | Licensed to Jaleco. |
Games by Ultimate Play the Game (1983-1987) owned by WEC Museum
| Title | System | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetpac | ZX Spectrum | 1983 | |
| Lunar Jetman | ZX Spectrum | 1983 | |
| Atic Atac | ZX Spectrum | 1983 | |
| Sabre Wulf | ZX Spectrum | 1984 | |
| Underwurlde | ZX Spectrum | 1984 | |
| Knight Lore | ZX Spectrum | 1984 | |
| Gunfright | ZX Spectrum | 1985 |
Games by Zippo Games (1987-1990)
| Title | System | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmic Pirate | AmigaOS, Atari ST, C64, ZX Spectrum | 1988 | |
| Voodoo Nightmare | AmigaOS, Atari ST | 1988 | |
| Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II | NES | 1989 | Developed for Rare. |
| Sesame Street A B C | NES | 1989 | Developed for Rare. Re-released in 1990 with Sesame Street 1 2 3 on the same cartridge. |
| Sesame Street 1 2 3 | NES | 1989 | Developed for Rare. Re-released in 1990 with Sesame Street A B C on the same cartridge. |
Games by Rare Manchester (1990-1992)
| Title | System | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabal | NES | 1990 | Conversion of the 1988 arcade game by Taito. |
| Solar Jetman | NES | 1990 | |
| Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros - Visions of Power | NES | 1992 |
