Games Catalogue

Selected key titles from Ultimate Play the Game / Rare Ltd, 1982–2002.

ZX Spectrum Era

Knight Lore - ZX Spectrum isometric gameplay
Knight Lore — the Filmation engine at work
Box Art Title Year Platform Publisher Notes
Atic Atac - ZX Spectrum Atic Atac 1983 ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro Ultimate Play the Game Top-down dungeon exploration; early Ultimate showcase
Knight Lore - ZX Spectrum Knight Lore 1984 ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, MSX, NES Ultimate Play the Game Introduced the isometric “Filmation” engine; landmark of British game design

NES Era

Battletoads - gameplay
Battletoads — pushing NES hardware to its limits
Box Art Title Year Platform Publisher Notes
R.C. Pro-Am screenshot R.C. Pro-Am 1988 NES, Game Boy Nintendo Top-down RC car racer; one of Rare’s earliest NES successes. Music: David Wise
Snake Rattle 'n' Roll cover Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll 1990 NES, Mega Drive Nintendo Isometric platformer with snakes eating Nibbley Pibbleys; no internal credits
Solar Jetman 1990 NES Tradewest Gravity-based shoot-’em-up / exploration; no internal credits
Solstice: Quest for the Staff of Demnos 1990 NES CSG Imagesoft Isometric action-adventure; Tim Follin’s NES score is technically exceptional
Battletoads cover/title Battletoads 1991 NES, Game Boy, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, Mega Drive, SNES, Arcade Tradewest Beat-’em-up / action platformer. Music: David Wise. Infamous Turbo Tunnel difficulty
Battletoads & Double Dragon 1993 NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy Tradewest Crossover with Technōs Japan’s Double Dragon franchise

SNES & Arcade Era

Killer Instinct - SNES gameplay
Killer Instinct — ACM pre-rendering on SNES
Box Art Title Year Platform Publisher Notes
Killer Instinct - SNES box front Killer Instinct 1994 (Arcade) / 1995 (SNES) Arcade, SNES, Game Boy Nintendo Fighting game using ACM pre-rendering. Music: Robin Beanland, Eveline Novakovic-Fischer. Iconic combo announcer.
Donkey Kong Country - SNES box Donkey Kong Country 1994 SNES, Game Boy, GBA, Virtual Console Nintendo Pre-rendered ACM graphics; Silicon Graphics ONYX workstations; 8 million copies sold. Music: David Wise, Eveline Novakovic-Fischer, Robin Beanland
Donkey Kong Country 2 - SNES Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest — Flagship 1995 SNES, GBA, Virtual Console Nintendo Pirate world setting; sole composer David Wise; Stickerbush Symphony. Often rated above DKC1. Read editorial →
Donkey Kong Country 3 - SNES Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! 1996 SNES, GBA, Virtual Console Nintendo Third and final SNES entry; Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong playable. Music: Eveline Novakovic-Fischer (SNES)

N64 Era

Banjo-Kazooie - Japanese N64 box art
Banjo-Kazooie (1998) — N64 collect-a-thon classic
Box Art Title Year Platform Publisher Notes
Banjo-Kazooie box art Banjo-Kazooie 1998 N64, Xbox 360 (XBLA) Nintendo 3D platformer / collect-a-thon. Music: Grant Kirkhope. Critical and commercial success.