Maybe Rare hasn't fallen. They just didn't keep up with the times. There are better FPS's than anything Rare could have dreamed of. There are better fighting games available than anything that Rare ever produced (and I was a HUGE Killer Instinct fan). Even their best platformers were basically Super Mario 64 with better graphics and more collecting. Star Fox Adventures was (a GREAT) Zelda clone.
Maybe time has just passed them by. Once they were a studio that could make a great game in any genre and provide the absolute best graphics on the market. Now, there are studios that specialize in one single genre so it's damn near impossible to compete with them in their specialty. It's becoming harder and harder to be impressed by graphics these days so it's damn near impossible to make people stand up and take notice just because your graphics are great. Platformers are now a niche genre. Fighting games are almost niche (despite claims of a fighting game rebirth, only a handful are actually popular/successful).
Maybe Rare is what Rare is and our opinion is just clouded by memories of a time long gone. Plus, I suspect Nintendo had a huge hand in making Rare what it was during their heyday........
