Rare Collection 1 Review (Evercade)

Arguably one of the most important video game companies to come out of the United Kindgom, Rare is responsible for hits such as Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Diddy Kong Racing, Battletoads, Sea of Thieves and many, many more – and the company's legacy is now being celebrated via the Evercade family of retro gaming systems.

Rare Collection 1 contains 12 games – Atic Atac, Gunfright, Jetpac, Knight Lore, Lunar Jetman, Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde, Battletoads, Cobra Triangle, R.C. Pro-Am, Conker's Pocket Tales and Battletoads Arcade / Super Battletoads – covering the early part of Rare's history as well as its pre-history, when the firm was operating under the Ultimate Play The Game banner.

In fact, it may have been more accurate to call this 'Ultimate Play The Game Collection 1', as seven of the included games are from that period, when founders Tim and Chris Stamper made the humble ZX Spectrum do things that seemed absolutely unimaginable back in the '80s.

From the tightly-constrained gameplay of Atic Atac to the groundbreaking isometric visuals of Knight Lore and the fast-paced blasting action of Lunar Jetman, the Spectrum games included here are a shining showcase of just how talented the Stamper siblings were when it came to extracting the maximum performance from Sir Clive Sinclair's home computer.

Sure, they don't look like much in 2025, but despite the passage of time and advance of technology, none of these games have really aged in terms of good, old-fashioned playability – but if you're looking for something a little more advanced, then the 'Rare' portion of this collection just about fits the bill.

Battletoads on the NES is punishing at times, but still a lot of fun. Meanwhile, Cobra Triangle and R.C. Pro-Am are isometric racing games, each with a distinct approach.

Conker's Pocket Tales is the sole Game Boy Color entry, and while it feels a little like a watered-down alternative to Zelda: Link's Awakening, it's still good for a few days of entertainment – even if the version of Conker shown here is far more 'polite' than the one who would ultimately star in Bad Fur Day.

Finally, we have what is arguably the crowning glory of this collection, Rare's Battletoads arcade game from 1994. A side-scrolling fighter with utterly stunning 2D visuals and some fantastically smooth sprite scaling, it was never released back in the day after performing poorly during the testing phase, and was only made available to the public in 2015 when it was included in the excellent Rare Replay collection on Xbox One.

It's timely that I mention Rare Replay, because its existence will no doubt factor into your purchasing decision when it comes to Rare Collection 1. All of the games included here are on that collection, with the exception of Conker's Pocket Tales – and it's worth noting that Rare Replay can be picked up for very little money these days (and is backwards compatible with Xbox Series X/S).

The Evercade pack is also missing much of the content that made Rare Replay so appealing; there are no developer interviews or 'snapshot' mini-challenges, and you can't rewind gameplay (although save states are present, as is the case with most Evercade releases).

Of course, Rare Collection 1 has the added benefit of being playable on the move thanks to its release on Evercade, and that may well convince you to pull the trigger – but hardcore fans of the company may well wonder if this is enough to make a purchase worthwhile.