Click on the pictures, they’ll lead you to some videos of the games on YouTube so you can roughly have some idea about what I’m talking!
16. Yoshi’s Story
Before going into detail about this game, I’d like to point out first that Yoshi is my favorite game character. It’s not something in particular on him (we agree that he’s a male, it’ll make this easier for all of us) that makes him so loveable for me, it’s maybe his absence of anything of the like that draws my fondness to him. He’s not particularly cool, doesn’t have much of a backstory, he’s Mario’s ride and sidekick in Super Mario World but Green Yoshi and his 7 friends save the day in Yoshi’s Island. He just has this inexplicable charm! I’ve loved him since I was little. While I do like complex games with rich storytelling, in my opinion a perfect simple game is better and sometimes even more enjoyable than a perfect complex game and that’s because simple games are based on an intuitive idea that works really well rather on an elaborate plot. Yoshi is just as good a flagship character for simple games as Mario but let’s face it, Yoshi>Mario.
Anyway, having played and loved every second of Yoshi’s Island back on the SNES, I really looked forward to Yoshi’s Story. It looked like a spiritual sequel to YI, but that it wasn’t. For starters, it was way, WAY cuter. Also, it was much slower-paced, easier and simpler than Yoshi’s Island (not in a good way). At first, I was disappointed. I liked the game somewhat, but it couldn’t possibly hold a candle next to the epitome of 2-D platforming a.k.a Yoshi’s Island. The graphics were pretty (like cut out of a storybook), the music was of superb quality, surpassing many current gen games in obvious production values, and was also very well inspired and catchy (I remember getting the OST from Nintendo World magazine… I didn’t really listen to any music back then and friends made fun of me because I used to listen to that) and the game itself was mostly enjoyable and fun. But I couldn’t shake away the disappointment.
It took me some years to fully appreciate Yoshi’s Story for what it really was: not a sequel of Yoshi’s Island in any shape or form but a new, distinct and all-around very well put together game. After making that clear to myself somehow, I started liking Yoshi’s Story a lot more and also enjoyed it more. It’s puffy, care-free atmosphere is just irresistible at times, the Yoshi’s singing less cringe-inducing… You just have to let yourself flow, Dimitris… Yes, that’s better… Be the Yoshis… Eat fruit, lick giant clouds made of candy, smell the air, lay firework eggs, love, peace and happiness… … …
But I’ll never forgive this game for one thing: it debuted Yoshi’s voice.
15. Blast Corps
I got Blast Corps in May 1999, although it was released much earlier. I didn’t really know anything about it before it came to my possession but by then I had come to know that “Rare=Gold”. And I wasn’t wrong! The main idea behind the game is this: A big truck-like vehicle carrying 2 nuclear missiles has gone haywire, is uncontrollable and is literally just heading straight ahead. It can’t be destroyed for obvious reasons and nobody can do anything about it. If it crashes into anything, the missiles will go off… After this briefing’s probably when a genius butted in this idea: “I KNOW! We’ll destroy anything that’s blocking its path”. Apparently they thought it was a decent one. And this is exactly what this game is about: destruction.
Using a variety of vehicles, from jetpack-donning mechs to huge bulldozers (and much much variety inbetween), the player is called to destroy any building that blocks the missiles’ path. This isn’t always as easy as it sounds, for the cities and areas in this world you have to save aren’t exactly built to make your job easier. But this only makes the game more challenging and rewarding. And SECRETS! This one really has a lot of them. I like these games you can complete by only playing decently, you can unlock some goodies if you’re pretty good, but have to be absolutely masterful in to get to places you never thought or imagined were in the game and are so glad you unearthed. Blast Corps has so many secret levels or secrets within a level it’s not only enjoayble to replay but also rewarding in many many ways. What I also liked in this game was the sound department which as usual gets extra special treatment by mama Rare. The sound effects and music is brilliant as well as the little parts and pieces of supportive voice. All in all I remember Blast Corps as a very addictive and fun game!
14. Donkey Kong 64
Another game by Rare here and a special one at that; it’s the sequel to the game that made the company’s name. Donkey Kong! After DKC3 which was my lucky introduction to not only Rare but also Donkey Kong platformers (I worked my way down the series afterwards) comes this piece of excellent gaming, Donkey Kong 64. I first saw it in Austria on the same stands that taught me about Super Mario 64 only it was Christmas, and it was 1999. The game provided players with a free (required by the game) Expansion Pak, a certain hardware component for the console’s deck that expanded the system’s memory by 8MB, a significant booster back then.
Rare learned from Banjo-Kazooie’s magic recipe and built upon it for this one. Set on the original Donkey Kong Island, K. K.’s after DK’s banana stash once more. This time, Donkey Kong has not only Diddy Kong but also Lanky, Tiny and Chunky by his side, new characters that haven’t made their appearance in any game since then(I’d rather have Kiddy and Dixie in there instead of these new guys but eh!) Levels are very intuitive in that they have different parts for each Kong, since every Kong has distinct abilities, and they are built based on intertwining paths. Sometimes I thought they were too complex for their own good, and that is possibly one of the games downsides. Otherwise, DK64 really is very epic and well-made. I’m tired of saying this already but it’s the reason Rareware received so much praise back in the time, every single game of theirs truly was fantastic. Donkey Kong 64 lacked a bit of soul their other games… no no don’t get me wrong, it DID have soul, just not as much as say Banjo-Kazooie or Blast Corps, it’s like going to Switzerland when coming from Iceland and complaining about the lack of snow. It IS there, you’re just used to more of the stuff. Not that Icelanders would actually complain about lack of snow but that’s another story…
DK64 was just a huge game. There were 200(!!) bananas to collect, with most having to do with collecting more stuff. I have no problem with collectathons, especially when done right (which usually Rare succeeds in doing) but there were just too many different small bananas, coins and younameits to gather. It got a bit boring… BUT EVEN LIKE THAT! Impressive worlds, solid gameplay, classic enemies, auditory pleasure, Rare humour, unlockables, primates with musical instruments, cameos of the likes of Candy, Funky and Cranky (old Wrinkly died… :'( ) and… what else does a person that enjoys his persisant gorillas really need?