Best of ND 2013: Top Ten: Nintendo Blunders

Nintendo is king here at the Dojo, but it’s not all chuckola cola and mushroom pops at the house of N.

By Kyle England. Posted 12/24/2013 09:00 3 Comments     ShareThis

4. Letting Rareware Get Away

Rareware was a darling of video gaming in the 1990s. The innovative British company pumped out hit after hit, giving us masterpieces like Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie. So what happened? Look at them now, making games like Kinect Sports while most of the original staff have long since left for greener pastures. When Rareware was bought out by Microsoft in 2002, the company we once knew was sadly never seen again. Sure, it made a couple of good games like Viva Piñata and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, but Rare was never the same.

While there’s no way of knowing for sure what would have happened to Rareware either way, Nintendo had the chance to save them. When Rareware was looking for a buyer back in the early 2000s, Nintendo was one of the top contenders. In fact, Rare even gave Nintendo first pick and a reduced price! So why on earth did Nintendo pass up on such a proven developer? Nintendo already essentially owned the company as a majority stockholder, so why not take the plunge?

Imagine getting a real Banjo-Threeie for Nintendo GameCube or Wii. Imagine a true Goldeneye follow-up. Imagine all of the quality games Rare could have made. Rareware might have gone bad either way, but Nintendo did not even give them a chance, and that’s a damn shame.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

3 Responses to “Best of ND 2013: Top Ten: Nintendo Blunders”

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Log In 0 points Log in or register to grow your Ninja Score while interacting with our site.
Nintendojo's RSS Feeds

All Updates Podcast
News Comments
Like and follow usFacebookTwitter Friend Code Exchange + Game with Us Join the Team!