Grabbed by the Ghoulies Excerpts (2009)
The following excerpts detailing the development of Grabbed by the Ghoulies was originally published on Rare’s Scribes letter page in 2009. We’ve scoured each edition for that year in order to provide you with every mention of the title to be found in Rare’s posted answers in chronological order below.
We’ve also included a link above each heading which will re-direct to the original letters page that the question was featured in should you wish to view it in the original context – otherwise you’ll find that the entries below only focus on answers related to Grabbed by the Ghoulies for a comprehensive listing for any fan wanting further information on pre-release content, hidden easter eggs, abandoned features and development secrets:
Dear Scribes,
Two things:
1. Grabbed by the Ghoulies: the official game guide mentions 3 unlockable prizes for beating the 21st Bonus challenge. The first one is said to be easily spotted (I guess it’s the nice video from early on in development) and the other 2 are said to be well hidden but worth finding. Now, I can’t find those two at all. Are they even there? Or is the game guide spreading misinformation?
Top ace game, btw. Don’t give up on Cooper!! An XBL Arcade game would be nice. A top-down co-op brawler or something.
2. Jetpac Refuelled: this is the most addictive game I’ve played in the last couple of years. I play it on a weekly basis since its release and I don’t see me quitting that habit.
…unless you might release a follow-up game. Which leads me to the question: now that you’ve outsourced the XBL Arcade ports of the two Banjo games to 4J Studios, does it mean that Rare is not developing XBL Arcade games by themselves anymore or can we expect more goodness à la Jetpac Refuelled someday if the fancy strikes you?
And another thing about Jetpac: having heard that there is a secret bonus level that you can access after surviving all the 128 levels in one sitting – is this bonus level a reality or some wild internet rumour?
3. Killer Instinct 3: oops, forget it. My fingers slipped.
Cheers from a damp and cold Germany,
Shimrod
Yay, not Banjo. Unexpected last-minute Gregg response (usefulness not guaranteed) to question 1: “Can’t anyone use Google these days? I can’t remember, but I found something (using Google) that mentioned ‘a deleted scene’ in addition to the original promo video. God knows what the third one was…”
We actually bothered to follow this up and ask some other members of the Ghoulies team, with results as far-ranging as: “Ah yes, it was a deleted scene that appeared in the ‘replay movies’ section though I don’t think it was called ‘replay movies’, maybe ‘replay cutscenes’ or something like that?”
And: “You got ‘Crivens gives chair’ too… according to the interweb.”
And: “I’ve had a hunt around the code and it looks like you get a golden bat instead of the normal bat in the dialogs/menus (it was the ‘selection indicator’ IIRC), and a golden heart instead of the pink one for the on-screen health UI.”
Are any of those accurate? Who knows. Should we really be able to provide the answer without thinking twice, let alone contradicting ourselves and coming across as a bit scatterbrained and senile? Er, probably.
Refuelled programmer Nick on question 2: “Secret levels in Jetpac? Pure madness I’d say, though never trust what you read on the internet – including this response. Will we be making our own XBLA games/ports in the future? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? Oh that’s right, we do, and we’re not telling! Seriously though, really glad you like Jetpac. Now rather than trying to just complete it in one sitting, how about trying to beat the highest scores on the Leaderboards?”
Dear Scribes,
I said six years ago you’d probably do it, and it looks like you may have at that — you lot are right on the edge of convincing me to buy an Xbox.
Granted, it’s a 360 these days, but you get it. I’m finding the lure of Banjo hard to resist, to say nothing of Jetpac Refuelled (loved the original when it popped up in Donkey Kong 64 years ago). But I’m curious; I’m told the 360’s Xbox compatibility isn’t 100% — will it run Grabbed by the Ghoulies? I always wanted to play that one. I don’t care what the hacks at GameSpot say about it, I think it looks like a blast. But, hey, I love haunted house games (I liked Luigi’s Mansion a lot more than general consensus would allow, for example), I love that Rare sense of humour, my wife’s called Amber, etc.
While I’m on the subject of old games (I haven’t written in seven years, you understand), I quite enjoyed It’s Mr. Pants, though it did take me years to find a retailer who even knew what it was. Shame about the distribution being so wonky.
Well, I’ve rabbited on long enough. Thanks for keeping on with the Scribes — still brightens up my day even after all these years when I check the updates page and find a new Scribes. Now if only we could locate our crazy Uncle…
Darien K.
Sequential Ghoulies/Jetpac letter madness! Luke marches in to take command of this one and enthuses: “Jetpac rocks! I tested that game in my previous role and loved it. In fact I only played it the other day!
“Grabbed by the Ghoulies can be played on the 360 as I have played it on mine at home as I wanted to show my wife the game. Another classic that people somehow missed!” Yes, something really ought to be done about that…
I don’t think It’s Mr. Pants had enough distribution for it to have a chance to go wonky. However, I did stumble across another UK game shop with a battered old second-hand copy that they seem hopelessly unable to shift – so anyone in the Neath area of South Wales, nip into the local branch of Game and you might still be ‘lucky’.
Dear Scribes,
First off I am a huge fan of your games. Especially the Banjo Series. And yes you guessed correctly I have a couple questions for you:
1. Will Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts see more promotions in the near future?
2. Will Banjo-Fourie have vehicles in it?
3. Will there be a Banjo-Kazooie show? Seriously, you need to make the show!! If your plan is to introduce Banjo to new gamers that would be a smart idea.
4. Were you guys planning to make Banjo-Threeie for the Gamecube? And if so, what was the game going to be about?
Thanks! And please, PLEASE print this letter in the very next edition of Scribes or I will unleash an angry mob of Anti-Goulie fans on you!!
Banjo Dude
Do you mean ‘Anti-Ghoulies fans’? Surely no such people exist.
1) What kind of promotions? Like the Kraft thing? No idea, but doubtful. Seems to me that sort of thing is only really useful within the launch window. Or do you mean Klungo being promoted to Grunty’s boss at the game factory? Could happen.
2) Let’s not even start on that name until there’s something to back it up. People are still upset that we didn’t go ahead with the Banjo-Threeie name, even though it was, well… awful. What I want to know is why the fourth The Fast and the Furious film wasn’t called The 4st and the 4rious.
3) We kind of thought that making a new game with Banjo in it (and re-releasing the first two) would be a good way to introduce him to new gamers. Never say never to a TV show – VP transferred pretty well – but you must realise that if people thought chucking some cars and planes into the mix was akin to us taking a lead pipe to the Banjo franchise then stamping and urinating on the broken pieces, there would probably be some kind of localised internet apocalypse if Banjo and his fellow freaks started enunciating proper words in human voices.
4) Short of the brief movie reel at Spaceworld 2000, I don’t think there were ever any plans for a full-blooded third Banjo game until Nuts & Bolts. Bear in mind that Tooie came out in 2000 and Ghoulies from the same team in 2003, which (given the transition from GC to Xbox) didn’t leave a lot of time for farting about with anything else.
Hello,
You probably don’t hear this very often (and if you do I’m sorry) but I would like for the team behind Grabbed By The Ghoulies to seriously reconsider either a remake or a sequel. I greatly enjoyed the game and am a big fan of it. I really have no means of obtaining the game and having enjoyed it soo much as opposed to people who loved it soo little I would really like to see something happen to the franchise to change people’s minds.
Please consider my idea I would really like to see Mr. Ribs back in action.
Nuclearapplepie
But of course we hear this all the time! People are highly passionate about Ghoulies! Why, it wasn’t so very long ago that I got verbally abused on Twitter for joking about canning an imaginary Ghoulies II project.
Realistically: it’s unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future. It’s all about broadening the market nowadays, and the first Ghoulies didn’t do too much of that. But we will keep your plea in mind, along with the 90-page sequel pitch from that French fella the other week (or at least the enthusiasm behind it). Yes, 90 pages.