Talk:Rare Replay/Archive 1

Rash for Killer Instinct 2013

Info here: [1]. You seem to have to own Rare Replay and fire up battletoads once to unlock him. Is it worth mentioning in the article proper? Zero Serenity ^{(talk - contributions)} 18:51, 4 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

killer instinct gold requires a patch to install

it is not the only one that requires that. please find out what the rest is and update the article.84.213.45.196 (talk) 15:56, 9 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Rare Replay/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: AdrianGamer (talk · contribs) 14:25, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

And I thought this would be the grand finale of your good topic. AdrianGamer (talk) 14:25, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Me too! JAGUAR 18:15, 2 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

We all knew the grand finale would be Battletoads. But really, I ended up working through so many of the RR reviews for the child articles that it was just becoming duplicated work to read through them again later. It's fine by me if you want to sit on this for a bit so it can be the grand finale. Alternatively, we could take it to FA as the cherry on top... – czar 14:32, 5 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'm working on Battletoads at the moment, but if you want I could save it to last. Really I thought Nuts & Bolts would be the cherry on top, seeing as it's a Titanic article and it's the final instalment to both the game and topic. But I still need a real computer to work on something like that! FA would be something to consider for this. JAGUAR 20:28, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That was tongue-in-cheek—order doesn't particularly matter to me, but if you have a preference let me know (on our main thread). – czar 14:15, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Review

Gameplay

I personally do not like how the lead is structured. I personally think that the first paragraph of the lead should compose of the most basic information. The game's name, developer, publisher, genre and release dates. Then a new paragraph for gameplay, development and reception.
The first sentence is a bit too long. Remove from the ZX Spectrum to the Xbox 360. from it may sound a bit better.
How could Rare be inspired by "efforts to connect Rare's past and future"?
Normal readers may not know what 'rewind' means.
high-water mark for compilation releases - why a hyphen is needed here?
The 30 games span multiple genres, including fighting, first-person shooter, gardening, mining, 3D platforming, racing, skiing, and Western - Western is not really a genre. It is a theme.
Why we need to highlight the Kinect Sports series? The lead already said that they have to choose 30 games from their 120 games, missing some is normal. Unless they claim that they intentionally avoided that series or else I do not see the need of highlighting it.
Players can toggle the visual appearance of scanlines by clicking the right analog stick and pulling the controller's trigger - Don't think how players toggle the visual appearance is important enough to be mentioned.
such as collecting a set amount of points in a set amount of time in a set scenario, - Not sure whether this is intentionally written or not, but there is too much "Set" in this sentence
Rare also added an infinite lives cheat setting for some games - Which types of game they added the unlimited lives cheat? Older games, newer games, or just random?
Players and the player, choose one
releases (and re-releases) - All of them are re-released anyway.
I personally think that the second paragraph of the gameplay section is talking about the game's development instead of gameplay.
with ModNation Racers-style vehicle customization and Split/Second-style track alterations. - I do not really see the need of mentioning ModNation Racers and Split/Second. They are not even popular, and I do not think normal readers can see the differences between standard racing game and these two games.
Rare had also begun new intellectual properties such as survival, defense prototype Sundown and the airplane-based Tailwind. - Changed it to Rare had also worked on several new intellectual properties, such as survival, defense prototype Sundown and the airplane-based Tailwind. What is a "defense game" actually?

Development

Rare began work on Rare Replay in 2014 as a 30th anniversary celebration. - Rephrase it to "Rare began the development of Rare Replay in 2014."
the compilation was one of several celebration ideas, but once it was chose - would be great if the article mentions what these "ideas" are
While Rare Replay‍‍'‍s designers made the final call, other team members and Rare veterans gave input and recollected old game development stories. - I personally think that "when" would be more appropriate. What 'other team members' means? Members that are not 'designers', or members that are not working on Rare Replay?
as their servers had gone offline - add "prior to the development of Rare Replay" after it
Rare tested the compilation internally. - Is this really necessary?
present the a musical history of the company's oeuvre - the a don't go together.
Should link to Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 instead of simply Electronic Entertainment Expo
There are no plans for a Windows 10 release. - If there is no plan for a Window 10 release, why mention it?
While Rare's founders, the Stamper brothers, were not interviewed in the bonus features, Tim Stamper appeared in a Develop interview set to coincide with the compilation's release. - Not about the development of this game.

Reception

It reached the top of the United Kingdom all-format games charts, the first Xbox One exclusive to do so and Rare's first in 17 years (since Banjo-Kazooie in 1998) - Don't really like the use of bracket here. The Banjo Kazooie part is important.
Chris Plante (The Verge) praised Rare Replay, with its slight hardware improvements and added touches, as a viable response to retrogame piracy. - praised for, not praised with
but an inevitable absence due to licensing issues - Do not really think that it is necessary to be mentioned again.
Totilo's comments should go before the sentence Other reviewers were not as disappointed, and felt the package was fine without the - Flow may be better this way
Rare later announced plans to continue its Rare Revealed series with releases on YouTube. - It should go to the release part of the development section.
While some reviewers liked how the Spectrum emulated the graphical glitches of the original console - since you use "some", it should have at least two sources to support.

References

Source 10 is a bare url. It is a twitter source as well. Can it be replaced?

Outside the scope

I understand that the game's name is Rare Replay, and the developer is Rare, but the word 'rare' seems to have appeared too often in this article.
I sort of think that the article is a bit unbalanced, given that the reception section is way longer than other sections.
A screenshots would be great. (show some graphical difference or something like that, even though there is barely any significant improvement)
I do not really like the use of brackets. Personal taste I guess
Not sure whether IXCM.net, Rare Gamer, RareFanDaBase, Rectify Gaming are reliable sources or not. I know they are interviews, but would be great if they can be replaced with sources that are more reliable.

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

Is it reasonably well written?
A. Prose is "clear and concise", without copyvios, or spelling and grammar errors:

B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list corporation:
Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
A. Has an appropriate reference section:

B. Citation to reliable sources where necessary:

C. No original research:
Is it broad in its coverage?
A. Major aspects:

B. Focused:
Is it neutral?
Fair representation without bias:
Is it stable?
No edit wars, etc:
Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

B. Images are provided if possible and are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:
Overall:
Pass or Fail:

It is a well-written and highly verifiable article. There are only some minor problems that need some small attention. Once these are fixed, the article should be good to go. AdrianGamer (talk) 13:02, 7 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notifying @Czar: AdrianGamer (talk) 06:54, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the ping. I'll have more time for this over the weekend. – czar 14:15, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@AdrianGamer, all right! I think I got everything, if you'll take a look. I think the lede opening has everything necessary, ordered by importance. (It isn't important to standardize opening sentences across articles as long as they convey the basics.) "High-water mark" is how it's written in NOAD. Kinect Sports is mentioned to emphasize where the span ended (why 2008 to 2015 wasn't included). "(and re-releases)" is to signify that the Xbox 360 versions of Nintendo 64 games were included in that figure. The repetition of "set" was deliberate to emphasize the bounds of the segment. I think those interested in the other celebration ideas can follow the link—it would be trivia to include them. Windows ports are a common enough question that it's worth mentioning in the Development. The Stampers are related to the game's development, as they didn't participate while other Rare vets did, and many reviewers pointed out this difference. Reception had far more coverage than Development and Gameplay, so the weight should be appropriate. I didn't make several of the Reception changes, which were phrased/ordered as such to match the sources. The parentheses are my compromise from repeating "Tom Smith in Game Magazine" when fusing more than five reviewers' comments. (I'd prefer to just use the name of the publication, but other editors do not like to assume that the editor speaks for the publication... even though they typically write the publication's only opinion on the game and the publications do not disclaim association.) The interviews are not coming from reliable sources but they are acceptable as self-published sources for ordinary claims. Yes, I'd prefer a big name interview too but alas, none exist. Also I don't think a screenshot is necessary to depict the compilation's visual style, which is explained adequately through text alone (and there is no other gameplay apart from menus). Thanks for the review! – czar 19:55, 13 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The article looks great now. Rare Replay promoted to

, Congratulations. AdrianGamer (talk) 10:09, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Reception paragraph comments

Per the current FAC discussion, here are some thoughts on one of the reception paragraphs. Here's every sentence in one of the paragraphs (the "exclusion" one) broken out, with comments below.

Critics were disappointed at the exclusion of Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, and Diddy Kong Racing, which they considered among the company's best games, but an inevitable absence due to licensing issues.
Other reviewers were not as disappointed, and felt that the package was fine without them.
The Kotaku reviewer found that the package's omission of Nintendo franchises and Kinect Sports hurt its overall continuity, such as understanding how Conker was a response to the "cutesy" Nintendo characters of its predecessors.
The reviewer discerned that Rare Replay was, in part, "image rehabilitation for a studio that had stopped making classic games many years ago", and hoped that the package was a sign of commitment to more "deep and daring games" in Rare's future.
Ars Technica's critic lamented that GoldenEye was yet to receive any remaster or rerelease while Donkey Kong Country was rereleased on Nintendo's Virtual Console.
He was impressed by Microsoft's ability to license from publishers including Tradewest, Nintendo, Milton Bradley, and Electronic Arts, but noted that Rare's Super Nintendo-era games were unrepresented and was upset to see Rare's "Mario Kart clones" and It's Mr. Pants! left out.
Eurogamer's reviewer considered the compilation a feat in an era where consoles were receiving endless re-releases.
He was surprised to see Rare's style remain consistent over time, and compared the company's legacy to that of Cosgrove Hall.
Philip Kollar (Polygon) said that the selections represented Rare's full gamut.

A couple of points first.

The first sentence lists some games for which there were licensing difficulties, but I can't tell if there were licensing issues with the other omitted games -- mentioned in 3 & 6.
Do we really need 5 at all? It's really a parenthetical comment on the part of the reviewer, isn't it, with no direct relevance to Rare Replay?
Why are 7 and 8 in this paragraph? They seem to be more about the overall release; unless I'm missing something, they don't say anything about what was included or excluded. I initially thought 4 shouldn't be here, but on reading the source I see why it's included, so perhaps the same is true for these two.

If those sentences were to be moved elsewhere, and assuming that the later mentions of omissions were not to do with licensing, here's a draft rewrite. I think it's likely that my ignorance of gaming means some of the rephrasing I've done may be just wrong, so please forgive that. I'm not going to claim this is an improvement -- I'm posting it for discussion, since I tried to construct it with a bit more flow than I see in the current paragraph.

The decision to include only 30 games inevitably meant that many favourites were excluded, though Philip Kollar (Polygon) felt that the selection nevertheless represented "a full spectrum of genres and creative capabilities". Many critics lamented the omission for licensing reasons of Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, and Diddy Kong Racing, which they considered among the company's best games, though some reviewers felt the compilation was strong even without these titles. Also omitted were games featuring Nintendo franchise characters, and all of Rare's Kinect Sports games. The Kotaku reviewer argued that these omissions, which meant no games from after 2008 were included, obscured some of the "key rhythms in the studio's three-decade sympony", such as understanding how Conker was a response to the "cutesy" Nintendo characters of its predecessors. He suggested that since the games Rare had released in the last few years were "forgettable", the omissions were intended as "image rehabilitation for a studio that had stopped making classic games many years ago", and were a sign that Microsoft was committed to going back to "the kind of deep and daring games this collection contains". The Ars Technica critic instead listed It's Mr. Pants! and Rare's "Mario Kart clones" as games he would have liked to see included. He was impressed by Microsoft's ability to license from publishers including Tradewest, Nintendo, Milton Bradley, and Electronic Arts, but noted that Rare's Super Nintendo-era games were unrepresented.

Comments? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 19:58, 13 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Mike Christie, good points. I recast the two paragraphs as one on the merits of your reorg. (In answer to your questions, I struck 5, 7, 9—they were more interesting as I was composing than relevant to the final section. Likely wouldn't have realized that without your rewrite.) I think the one danger here is generalizing too much from individual sources so as to avoid your "A said B" conundrum, but I think this recast solves any disjointedness. czar 20:44, 14 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's a definite improvement. I've read through and fixed a couple of tiny things; I don't see anything else to improve. Good luck with the FAC. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 21:25, 14 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

GoldenEye's inclusion

Just discovered this, which might be worth noting: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/11/leaked-goldeneye-007-documentary-suggests-it-nearly-launched-on-xbox-after-all/. GoldenEye was intended for inclusion and the Rare Revealed interviews were even completed. JOE BRO 64 19:43, 12 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Nice find! I don't recall seeing this. My first reaction is that I'm not sure what would belong in the article—that a credible leak later showed that Goldeneye 007 documentary videos were produced to include in the compilation? Feels too close to reporting on a rumor unless there is something substantive/analytic to say about its production and exclusion, no? czar 02:49, 13 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It's an interesting find, but I don't think this means Goldeneye was ever intended for in-game inclusion. As the article says, Rare also filmed a Revealed piece for It's Mr. Pants, which was never indicated to have been on the list. If I had to guess, it's more likely that this was meant to be a similar "bonus" documentary. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 13:22, 13 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]