Rare talent: inside the studio building Banjo-Kazooie's spiritual successor

Playtonic is a new studio, but its staff helped create some of the greatest games of the 90s. Now they want to bring the glory days back with Project Ukulele

Between 1994 and 2002, there wasn't another game studio in the world like Rare. Founded by brothers Tim and Chris Stamper and co-owned by Nintendo, the developer found a way to combine idiosyncratic British wit with the rich design sensibilities of the Super Mario creators. The result was some of the decade's most beautiful and engrossing games. The Super Nintendo classic Donkey Kong Country, the seminal console shooter Golden Eye, the expansive 3D platformer Banjo Kazooie, the raucous Conker's Bad Fur Day... these games combined extraordinarily detailed worlds, lush soundtracks and memorable characters. They sold in their millions. Rare was loved unconditionally.

Then things changed.