Rare turns 30 this year, and to mark the occasion it’s looking back, collecting together 30 of its most iconic games into Rare Replay. When I first heard about it, it sounded like one of those compilations where a bunch of games are thrown onto a single disc, but it’s a very different type of collection from the others I’ve played. Tellingly, the project hasn’t been outsource, with a third-party porting over titles. Rare is in total control, not only selecting the games but combining them into an experience full of the character and charm associated with its original output. And there’s more than just the games themselves, with additional challenges, cheats, and behind-the-scenes extras, creating a premium box-set experience.

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It’s a diverse collection, with multiple platforms, genres, and styles co-existing. Spectrum classics, like Jetpac and Lunar Jetman, sit alongside N64 favourites Banjo-Kazooie and Conker. There’s still plenty of room for more recent 360 titles, too, including Viva Piñata and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. (There’s no Donkey Kong Country or GoldenEye, unfortunately, due to Rare not owning the rights to those games. You can browse the full list of what is included here.) Which games made the cut was determined in an X-Factor style process, where a long-list was whittled down using criteria such popularity and how representative a specific game was of Rare’s values.Over the last 30 years, Rare has accumulated a diverse body of work. There’s different styles, genres, and tones, which in theory could make for an awkward collection. But this problem is elegantly overcome through some witty presentation. Rare Replay is framed as an elaborate theatre production put on by Banjo, Joanna Dark, and Conker, who are eager to relive their past adventures in front of a new audience. Each game is represented by a charming title screen which resembles a piece of set design. Once you press start, the world of the theatre is left behind and you’re transported into the game. Rare hasn’t simply crammed a bunch of old assets from the attic onto a disc; it’s fashioned a Muppet Show style reality for its characters and games to exist side-by-side, and it’s quite lovely.Rare Replay not only wants to salvage the past but make it accessible. The advance technology makes it hard for most players to enjoy old games in a way they’re meant to be experienced. Imagine you wanted to watch, say, Star Wars, but to do so involved tracking down an original 35mm print. Not only would you have to source the negative but also buy a bunch of equipment to project it. It sounds ludicrous, but that’s the situation with most older games. Rare Replay is very conscious that video game culture doesn’t do enough to preserve the past. That sounds like a rather dry and lofty approach, but in reality it’s not at all; it’s about putting the games from the past into the hands of new audiences in an enjoyable way.The older spectrum and NES titles, like Lunar Jetman or RC Pro Am, can be picked up immediately and are still fun to play. But this is more than just a port. Rare has created visual filters which recreates what it was like to play them in the '80s. Click R3 and a filter simulates the blur of an old CRT television. The sharp, unforgiving pixels of a modern TV mellow into a nostalgic fuzz."]The inclusion of Jetman and Battletoads also serves as a reminder to just how hard games used to be. Both are demanding and unforgiving, and that’s worth remembering. Wherever possible Rare has tampered little with the original code of these games – this is a work of preservation, not adaptation. That said, it realises a lot of the older titles won’t be played from beginning to end. So it’s included Snapshot mode, which fashions standalone mini-game challenges out of its core gameplay.Few developers have been around for as long as Rare. Over the last three decades it has created everything from platformers to shooters, fighting games and farming simulators. As a studio, it’s constantly looking forward, exploring different genres, creating new characters, so it’s nice to see Rare take a moment to appraise and celebrate its past. It’s full of charm, fun, and creativity. This is how Rare makes a remastered collection.

Daniel is IGN's Games Editor over in London. He writes about movies, too. You can be part of the world's most embarrassing cult by following him on IGN and Twitter