Before Retro Studios became Nintendo’s new Rare, Rareware was the talk of the town during the old days of Nintendo. They developed hits like the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the SNES and a plethora of games on the N64, including Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye 007, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, and others. Microsoft bought Rare near the start of the new millennium, with Nintendo selling off the rest of their shares to Microsoft. Today Rare makes Kinect games and are the developers of the Xbox Live Avatars.

According to an anonymous tipster on ZeldaInformer, Nintendo is in talks with Microsoft to buy back the Banjo-Kazooie IP. The article does state that there could be the possibility that Nintendo might want all of Rare back with them to keep Banjo-Kazooie, but also obtain all of Rare’s other properties. There’s of course lots of hopeful words, some that sound way too good to be true. If Nintendo wanted Rare back, who’s to say Microsoft might keep some of Rare’s properties (like Nintendo did with their own)?. And who’s to say Nintendo could obtain many assets from Rare, but Microsoft keeps the Rare name? Lots of questions, barely any answers. But do take this news as it is: a rumor. One Big. Ass. Rumor.

Rumor: Nintendo Attempting to Negotiate its Way Into Ownership of Banjo and Kazooie [ZeldaInformer, via NUReviews]