Who Owns Killer Instinct?

[pocketmego]

I know there have been a LOT of threads about RARE and its former relationship with Nintendo and the VC, etc.

So, please forgive me is this has been asked before. But, of all the RARE/Nintendo games both KI and KI2 are major favorites of mine. I want both of these on the VC in the SNES and N64 sections respectively. But, I don't know who currently owns the series Nintendo or Rare?

-Ray

[JordanR]

WOW that is amazing

I was just about to make a topic on the snes forum asking a similar question.

Killer Instinct was the game packed with my snes and I really enjoyed it, but it still isnt on the coming soon list.

Anybody know if theres any issues with this game, or is nintendo just saving it?

[SKTTR]

I have Killer Instinct on Super Game Boy and Killer Instinct Gold on N64.

I also had Killer Instinct on SNES but it got away... Anyway I have the Killer Cuts CD that came with it.

I suppose it's coming some day, as it was one of Nintendo's best fighting games at the time.

[kelvingreen]

I never thought much of KI to be honest, and there are other Rare games I'd much prefer to see first.

[Paulymate]

To answer the question, Rare own the K.I franchise in its entirety.
Nintendo don't own any of the rights to it.

[dk_xcalibur]

Originally Posted by Paulymate

To answer the question, Rare own the K.I franchise in its entirety.
Nintendo don't own any of the rights to it.

Rare is the developer but Nintendo was the Publisher, so I think that means they own the rights to those games. People at Rare just said recently in an interview that the release of their games (developed for Nintendo systems) on the VC is up to Nintendo and that Nintendo controls the rights.

[Paulymate]

>Rare is the developer but Nintendo was the Publisher, so I think that means they own the rights to those games.

Hmmm, not neccesarily. I think it really depends on what deal was brokered...

Publishing rights often have an expiry date and some other restrictions including system. So it's certainly possible that Nintendo may well very have VC distribution rights, but I don't think you can necessarily conclude that simply on the basis that they published on N64....as a counter example, Banjo Kazooie was also published by Nintendo, but it's coming to 360 because it's Rare who hold the IP for that franchise

What would be really interesting to know is "If you have the publishing rights for a title on N64, do you still have them for VC, where its run under emulation?" I for one have no idea and would love to know, as that will massively impact which titles get published...

Rares statement ("As for VC, it’s ultimately Nintendo’s decision what gets released") was kind of ambiguous: it didn't completely specify whether it referred to games that Nintendo now had some IP ownership in (which I think is only anything 'Kong' related) or *all* Nintendo published games.

So as a straight answer to the question 'Who owns Killer Instinct?" I still believe the answer is 'Rare', regardless of publishing rights...it's their IP.

[dk_xcalibur]

I never said Nintendo owned the "Killer Instinct" series. I believe them to be the owners of the SNES and N64 games that were released by Nintendo on Nintendo systems. For example, Retro developed the Metroid Prime series but is published/released by Nintendo. I understand that most Rare developed games will not see sequals on Nintendo owned systems in the near future but I do believe that games developed by Rare for Nintendo will eventually make their way to the VC. The exception to this might be Golden Eye......but I even think we'll get that game, but at a higher price (like TMNT for NES).

[SegaFan]

From what I've read Microsoft bought the rights to Killer Instinct and other Rare franchises when they bought Rare, that was part of the deal. I seem to recall that they bought all of the rights to their past games as well (except the Donkey Kong series), so whoever published the games in the past they're all Microsoft's now. But I could be wrong.

Rares statement ("As for VC, it’s ultimately Nintendo’s decision what gets released") was kind of ambiguous: it didn't completely specify whether it referred to games that Nintendo now had some IP ownership in (which I think is only anything 'Kong' related) or *all* Nintendo published games.

That's a good point, I said it at the time. Although from the question you would think they were talking about all Rare games, I will only believe anything when the games are actually released.

[pocketmego]

Originally Posted by Paulymate

.

So as a straight answer to the question 'Who owns Killer Instinct?" I still believe the answer is 'Rare', regardless of publishing rights...it's their IP.

Thanks, Pauly, for answering my question. Twice no less.

I just went ahead and broke down and bought an old N64, because the Rare thing was really getting on my nerves. I'm glad I did.

Castlevania is awesome and I just wanted to play some of the games that have ambiguous RARE releasing issues. So, I got KI2 as well as a few others games we just aren't going to know for sure if we may ever see on the N64. I already had a *ahem* means of playing KI on the SNES.


-Ray