Rare teases sequels to their catalog of lost games

By Joe Fourhman | November 18, 2008

Jordan sent us a tip to a Cranky Gamers UK post containing a tantalizing screenshot from Banjo Kazooie on 360 (I assume the Nuts & Bolts version, right?) Although the Cranky article doesn’t say where they found this bit of dialogue, the screenshot says:

They’re all in the pipeline, you know. New Killer Instinct, Battletoads and Jet Force Gemini games. Even Ghoulies 2! Oh, you’ll never believe that. I’ve ruined my own humorous jape.

With just one screen, I have no context for this info, but I have to wonder if it isn’t just Rare screwing around with the fanboys. We haven’t seen a new Killer Instinct game since Killer Instinct Gold (N64, 1996), and plenty of other fighting franchises have since stolen that thunder. Jet Force Gemini was a mostly well-reviewed 1999 N64 game, but you don’t see huge levels of buzz about it today. And Battletoads… well, I know there’s a lot of fan support for the series, but I never saw it as anything more than a Ninja Turtles ripoff. Yes, yes, it was mad hard and one of the best-looking SNES games… but still. Turtles rip.

It’s the Ghoulies ref that seems to kill the rumor before it even has time to get started. Grabbed by the Ghoulies is the biggest flop in the Rare line and made many people wonder just what happened to the company.

Do any of these contain enough fan cred to warrant a sequel? Rare has a spotty history as of late… do we really want them focusing on a new Killer Instinct? Is Rare’s clout anywhere near what it once was? You guys tell me.