Rare "may do" new Killer Instinct News
Xbox 360 News by Johnny Minkley
Rare studio manager Mark Betteridge has told Eurogamer that the veteran Britsoft developer is thinking about making a new version of Killer Instinct - but that it would require a "revolution" to make it worthwhile.
Betteridge, who was lead engineer on the original instalment of the 2D fighter, admitted the franchise was a candidate for revival, following the rebirth of Banjo-Kazooie in Nuts & Bolts, which released earlier this month on Xbox 360.
"Killer Instinct is an IP that is fondly remembered and we may do something with it, but it's a tricky market to be like the old Killer Instinct," he revealed.
"At the time there was Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and we were thinking, 'how do we make our own area here?' and it came from the combo system. The market after that became more and more specialised. And all you do then is make your user-base smaller and smaller and it disappears [to the point where] it's not really feasible anymore."
However, Betteridge insisted there were still great opportunities in the one-on-one fighting genre to be seized with the right innovation.
"Once a market gets like that then it needs a revolution to bring something new to it and to kick-start a new growth," he said. "It will stagnate for a while and then it needs a real significant change of direction potentially.
"It is a law of diminishing returns to recycle the same game. That's why we didn't want to do that with Banjo just to build a Banjo game that was hi-def. We wanted to do a game that not only provided a different gameplay experience that we couldn't do before, but we wanted to build something that we can then build on to do other titles."
Rare is notorious for teasing fans about forthcoming projects, and recently sparked fresh rumours of Killer Instinct 3 with the release of themed cards for Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise.
Killer Instinct first hit arcades in the mid-'90s, followed by versions for SNES and GBA, with a sequel appearing as a coin-op and on N64. It was famed notably for its stunning visuals and massive combos.
Rare celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this year, but despite the strength of its back catalogue, creating IP is "primarily our goal", according to production manager Lee Schuneman.
He added: "We want to be forward-thinking as much as we can. Even though we've got a great heritage that gamers love and we love, we want our design team to be thinking for the next thing, what's the next great idea. We need to define our own space on this console and we're only going to do that by using new IP."
"The best way to have success is to build your own area," added Betteridge. "We don't want to chase a genre. We think the best genres are the ones that don't exist at the moment."
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Comments: 1-40 of 40 in total
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Kazzahdrane
28/11/08 @ 15:28
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It has to be said, despite what people may think of the quality of Rare's recent offerings - they are being fairly innovative. Taking the risk of making a radically different Banjo title, and going after the casual with Viva Pinata should be applauded, although of course we'd all like to see them make AAA titles first, innovation second.
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DoctorZoidberg
28/11/08 @ 15:32
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/Puts on rant hat
I really don't get all this Rare bashing! Viva Pinata games are brilliant. Totally different and engaging. The new Banjo, whilst not earth moving, is a very solid, fun, different and entertaining game. In a world where people only seem to get erections over bland brown and grey linear FPS worlds such as Halo and gears and resistance, and a market saturated with "party" and "Music games" which were fun the first time, but on there 4th and 5th installments where fuck all has changed, I thought people might fucking want to play something colourful, entertianing and different. People say Rare arn't as good as they used to be, I say they have been very consistent in producting great games. If you want to be some tard who spends hours shooting generic things for the 1,000,000th time, just because it has a new box or a different animal to shoot, fine, but don't start trashing hard working games companys who try and mix things up and make gaming more interesting for everyone else! Fuck! Me, I take my hat off to Rare. Great job chaps and I look forward to your new releases. /rant over. |
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DoctorZoidberg
28/11/08 @ 15:41
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but selling out to MS invariably has proven to be a disaster for both parties
Really? And what are you basing that on? The fact there last three games have been good? If you don't like certain games, fine, but don't be a tit. |
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farticusmaximus
28/11/08 @ 15:45
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Rare are amongst the few development teams that can make charming, humorus, quirky, fantastic looking games that dont feel false or sickly.
VP and Nuts'n'bolts are both absolutely stunning looking games, and Banjo should be praised for it's daring expansion of the platformer. Awesome work from these guys and I look forward to whatever they produce next. It's guaranteed to be quality and not the same old tired shite rehashed that so many other devs output. |
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kinky_mong
28/11/08 @ 15:49
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By all accounts the arcade versions were a massive success and the ports to underpowered consoles, which I did play, never really cut it.
Well I still count the SNES Killer Instinct as my favourite beat 'em up ever. It managed to have incredible depth for its time with the combo system and I still occasionally give it another blast. As much as I would love to see a modern update I really don't trust Rare to make it. Pretty much everything they've done from Starfox Adventures onwards has been disappointing, and I don't want to see another game I have fond memories of be ruined by what is essentially a new group of people.
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most recently on 28/11/08 @ 15:49
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Rare should be comended for creating new IP (VP) and taking risks with existing IP (Banjo).
But the simple fact is that they had a gold run during their N64 years both commercially and critically and this hasn't been replicated in the past 5 years or so. Despite producing some very solid titles (sometimes I feel like the only person who really really enjoyed Kameo). |
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they have not been consistent in making great games. They used to make some of the best games around, Golden Eye, Banjo, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct etc.
Now they make poor to average games with a few good ones like viva pinata thrown in for good measure which, yes, is quite fun but not amazing. They do not make excellent games anymore and have slipped massively off the radar of top game developers. And it has nothing to do with wanting to shoot the different monsters with different guns in dreary brown and grey levels. There are loads of developers who are making fun and original games to a much much higher standard than Rare. That said, Killer Instinct is awesome, particularly on snes, and I'd love to see a new one. But I think they'll cock it up if they do it. |
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cerebralbored
28/11/08 @ 16:33
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@ twh104
Correct, although I think the article was supposed to mention that it was released for the very first GB rather than the GBA. |
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andywilkie35
28/11/08 @ 16:38
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Dear Rare,
I would prefer a proper sequel to Perfect Dark and a sequel to Jet Force Gemini Many thanks, andywilkie35 |
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IronCladChicken
28/11/08 @ 17:24
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Now that the two founders have left Rare, it's never going to be the company it was - Just like when Peter Molyneux left Bullfrog & Richard Garriot left Origin
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Anthony_UK
28/11/08 @ 18:53
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KI was amazing, the feeling doing battle in the arcades with the top players having huge crowds round still hasn't been beaten for me!
YouTube it now, it still looks awesome dispite some dodgy animation! |
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Monkey_Puncher
28/11/08 @ 22:39
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I'd rather we got the old KI on XBLA and they concentrated on original games like Banjo and Viva Pinata. I just can't imagine a new KI being much use alongside the likes of Virtua Fighter 5 and SF4.
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beastmaster
29/11/08 @ 12:26
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Time to do a double compilation of Attic Attack and Sabre Wolf for 1200 points.
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Still play the AWSOME arcade versions on xbox1 with the xbox version of u64 i hope they make a new version but i dont think it will be a patch on the first 2.....saberwulf came out on gba a few yrs back but it was crappy and you are better off with the 48k version from all those yrs ago
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colinflower93
29/11/08 @ 18:38
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They havent made a decent game since goldeneye. Perfect dark was alright.
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Christ, I really loved Grabbed By The Ghoulies let alone Kameo. PDZ was cracking fun, even though the storyline was truly awful. The only Rare game I haven't enjoyed was Donky Kong 64.
I worry what MS have in store for them though, what with their relative lack of sales. They've done the Avatars, so that should keep them in the good books for the time being though. And now that Team Ninja are less likely to be 360 exclusive, perhaps KI3 will replace DOA as the 360s only exclusive beat em up? |
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Dogs-in-Hats
29/11/08 @ 23:27
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@"The market after that became more and more specialised. And all you do then is make your user-base smaller and smaller and it disappears [to the point where] it's not really feasible anymore."
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Sales: £150,000 errrr |
Comments: 1-40 of 40 in total
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