Are you ready to feel old? Rare turns 40 years old this year, for better or worse. To celebrate the occasion (and increasingly noisier joints), iam8bit has rolled out the red carpet for a limited-edition vinyl collection that acts as a time capsule for nearly everything in Rare’s storied catalog.
Rare established an initial foothold in the video game industry by launching its debut title, Vs. Slalom in 1986, on the arcade cabinet adjacent Nintendo Vs. System. After developing a strong rapport with Nintendo (and remaining a part of the company for years), Rare developed some household names in the gaming industry with Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark and, in the modern age, Sea of Thieves.
Thanks to these titles, Rare has become as synonymous with gaming as its iconic wireframe logo is to nostalgia, so iam8bit recaptured that nostalgic sound and has spread it out over four vinyl records in the Rare 40th Anniversary Box Set 4xLP.
While Rare is responsible for some of the easiest to identify characters in gaming like Banjo and Joanna Dark, they were also instrumental in getting the Donkey Kong Country franchise off the ground for Nintendo in the 1990s. Unfortunately, due to Nintendo’s vice grip on anything to do with Donkey Kong, the iconic tracks that were devised from the brains of the legendary composing duo, David Wise and Eveline Fischer, will not be featured in the collection, which is a major bummer.
Rare’s Storied Soundtrack History Is Up For Pre-order On August 7
What isn’t a bummer is the staggering amount of content that is included on the four vinyls in the collection. iam8bit has revealed the Rare 40th Anniversary Box Set 4xLP contents and it includes many of the offerings featured on Xbox’s 2015 Rare Replay game collection, which was ironically launched in celebration of Rare’s 30th anniversary.
The four-pack of records comes in alternating Rareware Gold and Blue vinyl, in honor of the studio’s recognizable branding. As part of the 40th anniversary, other companies have also joined the celebration with a known peripheral developer, 8BitDo, revealing their own limited edition controller in honor of 40 years of Rare. The games featured on the 40th anniversary vinyls are as follows:
- Sea of Thieves
- Viva Piñata
- Battletoads
- Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Banjo-Tooie
- Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts
- Kinect Sports
- Kinect Sports Season Two
- Perfect Dark
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Killer Instinct
- Killer Instinct Gold
- Conker’s Bad Fur Day
- Conker Live & Reloaded
- Jet Force Gemini
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- Blast Corps
- Kameo: Elements of Power
The package comes wrapped in a premium full-cover slipcase, complete with album artwork by Lewy Jones. The limited-edition vinyl set will run buyers 100 USD, and it will become available for pre-order on August 7 at 9:00 a.m. PST straight from the iam8bit website. These vinyls are known to sell out quickly, so fans who want to own this part of history should grab a pre-order if they want this historical music soundtrack in their library.
