It turns out there’s more to Microsoft’s 40th birthday celebrations for beloved UK studio Rare than just an ugly controller. Xbox has now outlined its full anniversary plans, which include an Evercade cartridge collection, a four-disc vinyl soundtrack, Sea of Thieves bits, and more.
These days, Rare is best known for Sea of Thieves, but before that it gave us the wonderful Viva Piñata among other delights. And fans of a certain age will fondly recall the studio’s legendary Nintendo output, which included the Donkey Kong Country series on SNES, and a stellar run of N64 titles, such as Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007, Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. But go back even further, to the days of rubber-keyed Spectrums and tangled tape cassettes, and the studio – then known as Ultimate Play the Game – was already pumping out bangers like Sabre Wulf, Jetpac, Atic Atac, and Knight Lore.
All of which is to say there’s a lot to celebrate as the studio turns 40, and current Rare owner Microsoft has now detailed its birthday plans. Long-time fans will, for instance, have the opportunity to purchase iam8bit’s Rare 40th Anniversary Box Set, which features 39 tracks across four-discs. It costs $100 USD (pre-orders go live on 7th August) and includes two and a half hours of music, spanning the likes of Sea of Thieves, Viva Piñata, Battletoads, Banjo-Kazooie, Kinect Sports, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Blast Corps, and Kameo: Elements of Power.
Microsoft has also teamed up with Evercade to release a new cartridge collection featuring twelve “vintage” Rare titles. Specifically, it includes Jetpac, Lunar Jetman, Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde, Knight Lore, Gunfright, RC Pro-Am, Cobra Triangle, Battletoads, Battletoads Arcade, and Conker’s Pocket Tales, with pre-orders going live on 30th September. Elsewhere, Fangamer has a wide-ranging (but disappointingly Viva Piñata-averse) merchandise collection, which runs from t-shirts and vinyl soundtracks to key rings and a King Conker plushie I’m struggling to resist. As for that previously leaked 8bitdo Rare 40th Anniversary Edition controller, it costs $89.99 USD and still seems to be a US exclusive.