Don't Skip Games With Gold's Conker: Live & Reloaded, Especially On Xbox Series X

I wish they would let Rare go back to these days with B&K game, imagine it developed for series x.

Does the game have achievements by chance?

@FatalBubbles
No, due to it being an OG Xbox game.

This game is still brilliant today, its a shame about the censorship but overall still much more playable than the original these days and I love auto HDR on some of these older titles, Panzer Dragoon Orta is another that looks pretty spectacular with it. Plus Series X smooths out the few performance issues even the One X had at 4K

@blinx01 Thanks, didn’t know if they added them in with these upgraded titles or not.

Sea of Thieves is one of the most stunning games ever. I would love Rare to return to Banjo-Kazooie, Conker and Viva Piñata because the potential is huge and it's exactly the kind of games that Xbox lacks.

@BlueOcean every time I play Sea of Thieves I'm blown away by how good the water and the lighting looks

Blimey, that does look good. I'll have to check it out. The original Banjo is like a comfort blanket, I've completed it a bunch of times but am always be up for another go (imho it blows Mario out of the water) but I've never tried Conker, or even Banjo Tooie! I'll get installing...

@Residentsteve01 Honestly, I don't really mind that Rare isn't making these games anymore as long as Microsoft lets other studios make games with their IPs. We got a new Killer Instinct last generation, a new Battletoads came out last year (which was amazing) and a new Perfect Dark is being made now with one of Microsoft's most promising studios.

Granted I do think that Microsoft is focusing on the least demanded franchise revivals. I'd rather see a new Banjo-Kazooie and Conker, especially when Spencer keeps stating that he wants to see more family-friendly games on Game Pass. Although Conker isn't family-friendly, but at least Banjo is. Either way, now that we've gotten Battletoads and Perfect Dark, the next one should be either Banjo-Kazooie or Conker, and I'm willing to bet that Banjo is getting a revival next.

I've always preferred the Nintendo 64 version to the Xbox remake. But those screenshots do look quite lovely!

@Dezzy70 From what I can ascertain, it's not a case of Rare not being allowed to; it's a case of Rare not wanting to, and the worst thing Microsoft can do is force Rare to make a game they don't want to make. The consensus around the newest Banjo game Rare actually wanted to make was largely negative (not me, it's one of my favourite Xbox 360 games); can you imagine the backlash against a new Banjo game that turned out bad because the developer's hearts weren't in it?

@VenomousAlbino
Totally agree you have to have the studio want to do it. I was just wishful thinking.
Playtonic could make a good choice of studio having played their platform games.
But again like you said a good deal for both parties needs to be struck especially as they are an independent developer.
That’s one area where I think Microsoft could do with some better partnerships, like Sony have with blue point, Sumo Digital and housemarque, until they purchased them.
Some very good sort of 2nd party studio deals.

Everybody on here screaming about what rare used to be and what great games they made, and how ms isn't utilizing them. But can we honestly say that the rare we know today, is the exact same team from n64 days? Maybe that's why rare hasn't made anything worthwhile. The devs name stay the, the talent maybe moved on.

Only after it was announced with Games with Gold did I realise that this game isn't on game pass yet. Already added it to my games list now, but was surprised to see a first party game from MS not on game pass.

@BlueOcean Viva Piñata is the oddball game in the Microsoft rare library. A game every bit as good as Rare made for Nintendo. Whenever anyone says Rare don't make games for Microsoft like they used too, I'm always reminded how good Viva Piñata is and proves the point otherwise.

Maybe we will get another Conker game. I can dream, damn it, I can dream!

Gregg Mayles (Banjo-Kazooie designer) still works at Rare. There are Rare ex-workers at Playtonic and elsewhere but they can be hired because they are freelance or have very small studios and Playtonic should be acquired by Microsoft.

@pip_muzz Yep, Viva Piñata is a wonderful game once you have spent a little time with it.

A shame that most of the people who started rare and made some of the most iconic games in their library are now gone and working for other studios like playtonic. It would be nice to see rare make games like this again along with a new Banjo.

@Dezzy70 it has nothing to do with “letting” rare go back. Rare does not care to go back. It’s like expecting Naughty Dog to go back make a Jack and Dexter game. Sometimes studios just feel going back to that kind of game is a step backwards.

Edit: nvm I see the point was already covered.

@Boo_Breaker I don’t know, I tired to give Yooka Laylee a shot and it was alright but it didn’t do it for me. I feel they never evolved much in their design philosophies. You don’t see Mario Odyssey stuck repeating just bigger versions of Mario 64.

Sucks that it isn't widescreen.

@Tharsman But the entire pitch for Yooka-Laylee was that it was unashamedly Banjo-Kazooie/Donkey Kong 64 style platforming, but bigger. Going into it with greater expectations was where you went wrong there.

I booted up Live & Reloaded on Series X yesterday with the intention of just having a look at it and ended up playing around 2 hours. A lot of hasn't aged particularly well (dialogue, humour and voice acting mostly) but in 4K/HDR it looks pretty good, all things considered.

@VenomousAlbino I didn’t go with greater expectations. I just realized making Banjo bigger just ends up feeling tedious and repetitive.

Donkey Kong 64 was disliked my most fans precisely for that mistake, just a being collectaton.

I did play the first Banjo last week, also spend a good 2 hours on it over xCloud, and plan to play it more, but the beauty on it was precisely levels didnt overstay their welcome. Yooka did overstay it’s welcome.

What would a sequel to these games looks like? Honestly I'd be fine with one that looks like an N64 game, lol. Low budget, low risk, and doesn't need to reinvent itself to compete with other big AAA games.