Retro Gaming Australia

Killer Instinct was one of the most stunning looking arcade games upon release in 1994, and the fact Rare managed to get it running on the SNES is a testament to the skill of the company at that stage. It’s a shame the underlying game just isn’t that good – though it’s way better than its sequel.

Donkey Kong Land 2 is the Game Boy adaptation of Donkey Kong Country 2. Whereas the original Donkey Kong Land was an original game inspired by DKC, the second game is more or less a cut down port. It’s still pretty good, but you’re really just better off playing the SNES original.

Just when you thought you knew every little secret hidden inside GoldenEye 007.

ROM Hackers recently discovered that the game houses a ZX Spectrum emulator and several of Rare’s classics for the system – Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf, Jetpac and Knight Lore.

One can assume that the emulator was a test for what would become the Jetpac segment of Donkey Kong 64, and that it simply wasn’t scrubbed from the code before the game was finished. Still, it’s a pretty cool homage to the company’s origins.

The Nintendo Entertainment System is a difficult system when it comes to picking the best games. It’s one instance where the phrase “rose tinted specs” really comes into action. Many great video game series were started on the NES, but many of them do not hold up today. We have selected the absolute best games on the system to showcase in this article. If you want to start collecting games for the NES, these are ones that you absolutely must get.

The Essentials are games selected by the RGA team (along with a few highly knowledgable friends) and are the games we consider to be the best on the system – without question.

Our criteria for this list was simply that the game must be available in English, not just PAL. That does rule out a couple of quality Famicom only releases, but we will cover them in our upcoming NES Imports feature. Read on to find out our selections! (continue reading…)

One of Rare’s best.

Jet Force Gemini is the perfect mix of action/adventure games and third person shooters. The game is known for its rather nasty endgame, where players have to go back through the entire game to rescue each and every one of the teddy bear-like Tribals before they can fight the bastard-hard end boss Mizar. This ad was from the Spanish campaign.

Rare’s final SNES release.

Donkey Kong Country: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble was the third and final game in the series to appear on the SNES. This time around, both Donkey and Diddy are kidnapped, and it’s up to Dixie and newcomer Kiddy to do the rescuing. The game actually came out after the Nintendo 64, which hurt its sales performance.

Originally developed as RC Pro Am 64, would you believe?

Diddy Kong Racing is a multi-vehicle kart racing game for the Nintendo 64. Basically rushed out for Christmas in 1997 when Banjo-Kazooie and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time were delayed, DKR‘s adventure mode and multi-pathed tracks proved popular with content-starved N64 gamers everywhere.

Clear the way!

Blast Corps is an oft-overlooked gem from Rare’s peak era. Players control various demolition equipment and must clear the way for a truck which is carrying enough nuclear armament to destroy the world. It’s one of those games that’s relatively easy at the basic level, but has some downright dastardly challenges if you’re going for full completion. This ad is from the UK release of the game.

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There’s something I don’t like about Nintendo of America’s mid 90s advertising, but I can’t pinpoint it.

Killer Instinct was a fighting game developed by Rare for the arcade and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The arcade cabinet famously claimed that it was running the same hardware as the upcoming Ultra 64 console, which was proved to be false. The SNES version of the game is a pretty huge technical achievement, but in reality, the underlying game is not particularly memorable when the graphics are stripped away. This ad is for the SNES release.

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