Rare, 1994-2001: The Best Run Ever?

[Frogger]

The great thing about this Rare was that they released so many amazing games within such a small time frame. I like Retro Studios and all, but they are nothing compared to Rare 1994-2001. Not by a long shot. Neither is Monolith Soft. They make great games, but not frequently enough, not as much, and not as with as much diversity as Rare. And that's not their fault. It's Nintendo's.

Rare made three amazing Donkey Kong Country games in three years.
Retro will have made essentially two amazing Donkey Kong Country games in four years.

Rare during the same time period made two amazing Killer Instinct games.
Retro effectively wasted it's time helping out with Mario Kart 7 and DKCR: 3D (a game I own and love) while seeming doing nothing else original in that time.

Rare release three completely separate and original IPs the following year. One year. Blast Corps, an FPS in GoldenEye, and a kart racer in Diddy Kong Racing.
Retro spent seven prior years creating five Metroid Prime games of similar mechanics.

Rare release Banjo-Kazooey the next year.
Retro... Maybe they'll make a 3D Donkey Kong Eventually? Then release a 3DS version three years later and two sequels for the next seven years?

Rare released a new IP in Jet Force Gemini and a 3D Donkey Kong game the Next year.
Retro...

Rare: Perfect Dark + Banjo Tooey.
Retro: Nothing.

Rare: Conker's Bad Fur Day
Retro: Nothing.

Imagine what Retro could have done with the same schedule:

2010: Donkey Kong Country Returns
2011: Donkey Kong Country: Tropocal Freeze for 3DS, New Unique Fighting IP
2012: Donkey Kong Country: Jungle Fury Wii U, New Unique Fighting IP Sequel
2013: Car Combat/Thunder Rally (Look it up), Raven's Blade (Look it up), Mario Football/NFL Retro Football (Look it up)
2014: New Metroid FPS/TPS Adventure Game. (Spiritual successor to the Prime Trilogy)
2015: New IP, Donkey Kong 3D Platformer
2016: New IP, Raven's Blade 2
2017: New IP/Metroid TPS/FPS Adventure Game 2

Haven't even mentioned Monolith Soft yet. Oh, what could have been, but isn't.