If you grew up playing Nintendo systems, then you will know who they are – RARE. RARE was a company that, during their prime, made masterpiece after masterpiece; they didn’t just make masterpieces in one genre, but they exceeded in every genre that they chose to explore. Now a new title has appeared and is expected to bring platforming back to its former glory, Yooka-Laylee.

Uka-What?

When RARE was bought by Microsoft, I, like many others, hoped to see more fantastic games from RARE like Banjo-Kazooie. When the first Xbox console was out, they made Grabbed by The Ghoulies and they remade Conker’s Bad Fur Day which was titles Conker’s Bad Fur Day: Live and Reloaded. The games on the first Xbox left people wanting more, and that was until the launch day of the Xbox 360; soon after it’s launch, we were graced with Kameo: Elements of power, and Perfect Dark Zero. Now, Kameo: Elements of Power, to me, is a masterpiece. I have spent many hours playing it and even got all the achievements for it because I loved it so much – even my sisters and brother would play it! Then came out Viva Pinata, which was another fantastic game.

The RARE success was short-lived, though. Sometimes I want to blame it on lack of marketing and support on behalf of Microsoft, but they slowly got moved into doing Kinect games. Around this time, many of the talent behind RARE began to leave, if they had not already left.

Many of the members had gone to do separate projects, but now they have come together to bring us – what seems to be – the spiritual successor of Banjo-Kazooie! Many of the talent behind many of RARE’s most memorable games are working on. The name of the game is Yooka-Laylee.

Yooka-Laylee is a game that stars a cute Chamaleon named Yooka, and an adorable Bat named Laylee. Their kickstarter is amongst one of the most successful kickstarters, ever, with nearly 3 Million USD (the goal was around 200,000 USD) being raised to bring back the wonderful worlds that Playtonic Game‘s team has done in the past.

Are you as excited I am to see Yooka-Laylee come alive? The trailer I posted in the first paragraph shows just how much they have expanded on Yooka-Laylee when comparing the first images being compared to the trailer. The only downside is that it is being pushed back to 2017. As for me, I welcome the wait because that means more time for the team to bring us a quality game that we can all be proud of.

If you haven’t played any RARE titles, that’s ok. The RARE Replay is out on Xbox ONE, and they are backwards compatible if you own any RARE titles for xbox 360.

I believe Yooka-Laylee is something many people have been waiting for, including the team at Playtonic Games. I look forward to the day this is released.