They say time flies when you’re having fun. Well, we’ve been so focused on building upon the success of Sea of Thieves, not to mention unveiling our next project Everwild, it’s hard to believe that we’re already reached another significant Rare milestone: this August marks our 35th anniversary! Believe it or not, Rare has been making games and memories since the distant days of 1985.
As part of the celebrations, we’ve added a brand new batch of T-shirts featuring favorite games from the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s to our official online store (with 35% off across the board until August 9), designed a Rare anniversary Xbox One controller that’s available from Xbox Design Lab, and been amazed by the array of fantastic new items being launched by some of our partners – from classic vinyl soundtracks to collector’s edition sculptures.
Meanwhile, Sea of Thieves is running a special 35th anniversary event to earn in-game rewards, while stunning Rare heritage ship liveries enjoy deep discounts in the Pirate Emporium. There’s a lot going on for our anniversary month – visit Rare’s website for the full rundown!
As another way to mark the occasion, we’ve brought together a celebratory selection of Rare music tracks spanning the decades (and some newly arranged treats) that you can stream right now for free. The millions of fans who’ve been introduced to Rare through Sea of Thieves may not be familiar with our history, which consists of more than 100 games including Battletoads, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Viva Piñata. So whether you’re a long-term aficionado or just catching up, we hope you enjoy finding some favorites in this hand-picked collection, ordered from past to present! You can enjoy it right now on Spotify, Apple Music and many other streaming services – just search for the 35th Anniversary Collection by Rare All-Stars and let your ears do the rest. It’s a bobby-dazzler!
Alongside Rare’s heritage hits, Toadally Rad – an EP of tracks taken from the soundtrack to the new Battletoads game – is also available for your listening pleasure ahead of the game’s release on August 20. These awesome arrangements come courtesy of the team at Dlala Studios, who are helming the Toads’ latest outing. To meet the Dlala crew, learn more about how the partnership with Rare came to be and sneak a peek at some more Battletoads gameplay and animated cutscenes, check out the first in a series of behind-the-scenes featurettes on our YouTube channel now.
The art of Battletoads is styled after cartoons of the 1990s, and if that thought fills you with Saturday morning nostalgia, now’s your chance to own a piece of the animation process for yourself as we launch a competition to win an authentic cel of the hand-drawn artwork used in the game. All you have to do to enter is create a piece of Battletoads fan art and submit it to us here at Rare on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, tagged with #BattletoadsContest. See our social channels for full details!
If you’re not yet familiar with Zitz, Rash and Pimple, you can dive into two of their earlier adventures as part of Rare Replay, which is available as part of Xbox Game Pass and features 30 full games plucked from Rare’s vast history. If you’re already hyped for their return, Game Pass subscribers can pre-install Battletoads right now, or you can wishlist the game on Steam ahead of its August 20 launch.
Soundtracks, collectibles, giveaways, the imminent return of Battletoads… however you choose to celebrate the 35th anniversary with us, we want to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s joined us on the Rare journey, making games for players old and new. Cheers!