Rare

Rareware, a.k.a. Rare, is a developer currently owned by Microsoft. However, they were once one of Nintendo's best resources, creating popular games such as the Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, and Conker's Bad Fur Day on the Nintendo 64 and various hits for the NES and SNES. Today Microsoft allows the company to create games for Nintendo's handheld systems, including the Nintendo DS.

The last game they made for a Nintendo console was Star Fox Adventures, a game for the Nintendo Gamecube which was originally called Dinosaur Planet and was planned to be released on the Nintendo 64. The game was moved to the Nintendo Gamecube because the game wasn't finished early enough for it to be released on the Nintendo 64. Rare removed some of the original characters and changed some of the environments. The only character that survived the change was Krystal, who's appearance was changed somewhat from the original.

Other games in development for the Nintendo Gamecube by Rare before the time of their Microsoft acquisition included Donkey Kong Racing, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo: Elements of Power, a sequel to Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Banjo Threeie.

Despite Rare working for Micrsoft Games Studios, they have managed to sneak in quite a few developments for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. These games include the entire Donkey Kong Country series, Sabre Wolf, It's Mr Pants, and two Banjo games, Banjo & Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, and Banjo Pilot.

Rumor has it that Rare was originally contracted by Nintendo to produce a new Mario game, however after the success of Super Mario World, they decided to keep first party deveolopement for Mario platformers, and allow Rareware to use another of their franchises. Rare had a choice between Donkey Kong, and Kid Icarus, however due to the popularity of Donkey Kong in the 1980s, they decided to use this franchise.

Virtual Console
Microsoft's ownership of Rare has prevented multiple popular titles from being released onto the Virtual Console download service. These include Banjo-Kazooie and Diddy Kong Racing. In fact, when Diddy Kong Racing was remade for the Nintendo DS, Banjo and Conker had to be removed because Rare owns exclusive rights to those characters. Banjo-Kazooie, however, is available for 1200 Xbox Live Arcade points.

Despite this, a few Rare games have made it onto the VC. The entire Donkey Kong Country series has been released, primarily due to Nintendo's ownership of the Donkey Kong franchise.