That one Rare title you hate?

[NPChilla]

Reviving this thread because there's a game I tried for the first time only recently and I must say, I didn't take to it at all:

Perfect Dark Zero.

It felt like a mess - often the levels were very busy; they even had checkpoints on the radar so you wouldn't get lost.

[Yoshi]

Disregarding games, that disqualify for their choice of genre, i.e. Perfect Dark + Zero, GoldenEye, Viva Pinata series (though they are SO good, that I still enjoyed them), Kinect Sports series, I'd say it's Nuts & Bolts. Not because I think it's bad, but because it made me so sad.

[GeneralWalnut]

Well I mean "hate" is a strong word, but... Despite very much being interested in Yooka-Laylee, loving the Banjo games, and growing up with an N64, I'm not huge on the nostalgia angle. It certainly exists for me and the Banjo games, but I think it happens to line up where it is a game I have fond memories of that I also happen to think is good.

I played a ton of Goldeneye and Diddy Kong Racing growing up, and I think both of them are games that have been totally upended by advancements in their respective genres. I also played a *lot* of DK64, and just kind of straight up think that's a bad game now. As revered as the Donkey Kong Country games are, I don't think they've even aged too terribly well, and the games made by Retro are definitely what I'd go to if I ever had the urge to play that style of game again. O course, thinking this about them doesn't ruin the fond memories I have of the games.

And there are some, like Star Fox Adventures , that I have always thought were bad. Sort of in that camp is Conker's Bad Fur Day, which is firmly in "if I was currently 12 maybe this would be funny" (also don't think it is a game that feels great to play).

There were so many teams at Rare producing so many games for the N64, a console that has not necessarily aged well, in an era where people didn't really know what it meant to build 3D games. To try and put a positive spin on all that, I think a lot of the stuff that's aged poorly is a result of the tech behind it and advancements in game design, not because of a lack of skill on the part of the devs.

A lot of those games I don't love I do still have a respect for, in a time where everybody was stumbling in the dark trying to figure out 3D games they acted as building blocks and a lot of games today still apply stuff learned from those games.

But games have changed, and not necessarily for the worse. That's a big part of why I'm so excited for Yooka-Laylee, because a game like Banjo being built with the tech and developer know-how of today is an exciting prospect. I still think the core design of the Banjo games is some of the strongest to come out of the N64 and definitely some of the strongest to come out of Rare.

[NPChilla]

[GeneralWalnut]

[BanjoThreeie]

[Scrubber]

PDZ was the only game on Rare Replay that I couldn't complete cause it was that bad.

[BlackKoromon]

Does the abomination known as Diddy Kong Racing DS count? If not, Starfox Adventures. I remember the latter being on in its day but it's completely unplayable now and I can't see how I could ever not use hated it.

[Ciro]

IMO Kinect Sports and Banjo Nuts and Bolts are just fine because they did a good job on what they tried to be.

Star Fox Adventures, on the other hand, tried to be Star Fox mixed with Ocarina of Time mixed with Dinossaur Planet but failed at being any of these.

I never played that game, and I really wanted too. But after watching some videos of boring gameplay and bad animations, I saw how unpolished the game was. It's a shame, especially for a Rare game.

[ericcole_hn]

Conker.