Xbox may be reviving a beloved N64 series. The Nintendo 64 was a great generation for Nintendo. Naturally, many of the great games and series on the console, and birthed on the console, are owned by Nintendo so it’s up to them to revive these IPs on Nintendo Switch. However, when Xbox acquired Rare from Nintendo back in the day, it acquired some IP alongside the studio. The most notable of this IP is Banjo-Kazooie, which has also been subject to revival rumors lately. This story isn’t about the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters though, it’s about Blast Corps.
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We haven’t seen the Rare-developed IP since 1997, when it was released via the N64 and the N64 only. Upon release, the game garnered a 90 on Metacritic, but sold under expectations, which perhaps explains why we never saw anything else from the series. A sequel was in the talks at one point,ย and it was going to be an action combat game, but nothing ever came from these talks.ย
All of that said, why is there scuttlebutt the series may be returning? Well, because Microsoft recently renewed a trademark for it. Now, trademark renewals and the speculation they create should be taken with a grain of salt. Why? Because it’s hard to put much stock in them. In order to renew a trademark, all you need to do is prove you’re still using it or have intent on using it in the near future. What Microsoft doesn’t need to do in order to renew the trademark is show it’s making a new game.ย
To be skeptical, it’s hard to imagine Xbox bringing back Blast Corps back as a standalone product, but it did bring it back in 2015 via Rare Replay. Could this collection be getting an Xbox Series X|S release? This seems like the most likely possibility, but that’s assuming the trademark is indicative of anything exciting.ย
At the moment of publishing, Microsoft has not commented on the trademark renewals nor the speculation they have created. For a variety of reasons, we don’t expect this to change at this point, but if it does, we will be sure to update the accordingly. In the meantime, for more Xbox coverage, click here.
