Top 5 Rare Replayability “Rewards”

by Lerako on Aug 17th, 2011

Throughout their 25 year history, Rare has nestled itself in a cozy niche between the hardcore and the casual. If you’re a casual player, you’ll take solace in the fact that after a thrilling adventure and typical showdown of sorts with a giant hulking monstrosity at the end, you’ll be treated to the games credits with a nice little congratulation message and then you move onto the next game. On the opposite side of the spectrum however is a gamer that refuses to be satiated by a little congrats screen; they’ve just beaten the boss with their eyes closed, collected all 1000 glowing Jinjibobs and did it all with one health. For most the response to this is simply, “What? Why would you-“, but Rares‘ response is “What? Why didn’t you go back and collect all 5,000 Marshmallow Nuggets too? Slacker.” For those that are obsessive compulsive when it comes to gaming, the lofty expectations of a 100% completion game file can be expected to be dragged through the most difficult spots of the game, teetering on the edge of snapping their controller in half and sobbing uncontrollably in front of the television, only to be rewarded with an even harder game when they’ve finished. You’re welcome. Rare might have been training us physically with Kinect Sports for their regime of Super Soldiers, but for years they’ve been training our morale, our character and our calloused gaming thumbs. They want to hand us a plate of nails and have us finish asking for more; without as many soft ones next time. They want to reward our patience and determination demonstrated through the most difficult bits of the game, with more difficult bits of the game. These are the Top 5 Rare Replayabilty “Rewards”!

#5. CHALLENGE 21 – GRABBED BY THE GHOULIES

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So, you’ve battled your way through Ghoulhaven Hall, had your reckoning with Baron Von Ghoul himself and now you and your girlfriend walk into the sunrise together. Nice going, but did you remember to find all 100 Bonus Books that haven been devilishly hidden in every room? Manage to get this mountainous task out of the way and you’ll unlock 20 Bonus Challenges for every 5 Bonus Books you manage to find. You’re free to complete them with Bronze or Silver, but complete all of the increasingly difficult Bonus Challenges with Gold rankings and you’ll unlock the illusive Challenge 21. This brand new Challenge will have you completing the entire game over again as Cooper’s girlfriend Amber, but you’ll only be alloted 10 Health per room, and restricted against using any Super Soups you might fight through the Hall. In some cases this will mean that any hit taken during the final battle will reduce your health to 0, but for the most part it means that you’ll be left a sobbing quivering mess before you even reach the Baron.

#4. ADVENTURE 2 – DIDDY KONG RACING

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Diddy Kong Racing is a growling beast hidden under fur and smiles, testing your mettle in Silver Coin Challenges in Greenwood Village and setting you up to win every race by just your whiskers. Beat Wizpig on Timber Island and you’ll be treated to the melancholy finale where any other gamer would think a sequel was to follow and leave it at that. But not the hardened completionists who chase Wizpig up to the clouds after beating every single race twice over in their respective Trophy Challenge. Now in Future Funland, they’re expected to collect 32 new Silver Coins in the Space world and finally give Wizpig his just desserts in an impossibly challenging rocket race. Do that and you’ll be treated to a new ending and a feature dubbed “Adventure 2” wherein you’ll be tasked with beating the game over again, but on mirrored tracks with even more difficult spots for the Silver Coins. If you weren’t so addicting Diddy Kong Racing, you’d still be kicking sand on Timber Island.

#3. 00 AGENT AGGRAVATION – GOLDENEYE 007

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There’s a funny thing about the flow of time, as you get older and pick up Goldeneye thinking that the modern shooters on next gen consoles will have prepared yourself in any way to deal with the intense difficulty found later on in the game. Once you’ve beaten the campaign you’ll be given an additional option to unlock a new setting called 00 Agent to complete the game once more. Luckily no time is wasted getting James changed into proper funeral wear when they pop him into the casket as he’s already decked out in a full tuxedo when the enemies come lumbering out and blow him to pieces. If you can manage to beat the entire game over again on this difficulty setting you’ll find your “reward” in the form of 007 Mode, a customizable option that allows you to give the guards 1000% health each, perfect marksmanship and rounded off nicely with a rate of 1000% damage, meaning every shot kills instantly. Rumor has it this entire mode was programmed by General Ourumov.

#2. MADDENING MEDALS – BLAST CORPS.

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Right, so you’ve followed the bouldering Missile Carrier around all of the levels in Blast Corps. and after blasting near every inanimate object to clear a path you’ve been successful in warding off an apocalyptic type ending. For anyone that would be good news, but for the obsessive compulsive, they just know there was a quicker way they could have had that carrier passing through that last level. Beating the game completely and even endearing the bonus challenges in Space just isn’t quite enough now is it? Once you’ve completed the game you’ll have the added bonus of playing all of the levels a second time through in hopes of earning varying medals from Bronze to Gold. If you can manage to complete the challenge in record time however, surpassing even the expectations of a Gold, via skill, luck or a combination of both, you’ll earn the Platinum Medal, just a feigning accessory to what amounts to lost years of your life.

# 1. RETURN OF THE KING – DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2

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So, you’ve managed to progress through all of Crocodile Isle going from kutlass krew to Kaptain K.Rool, ending with a triumphant finisher during an intensely difficult boss battle that sent the Kaptain plummeting to his supposed death into the maws of patrolling sharks, well done! Rather than basking in your new-found glory however, you take the advice of Cranky and head back to Crocodile Isle and collect as many Kremcoins as you can find by locating each diabolically hidden Bonus Barrel in its respective level. Once you’ve managed to collect 75 of these Kremcoins you’ll be permitted access to all 5 ridiculously challenging levels found in the Lost World. If you can somehow manage to beat all 5 of these levels you’ll be permitted to enter Krocodile Kore and face Kaptain K, Rool a second time for an even more challenging boss fight. Sure, you may have warranted a spot on Cranky’s Video Game Hall of Fame, but can you ever watch blowing leaves in the Autumn and not think about a parrot squawking as it runs headlong into bramble?

Categories: Top 5 Lists