Rare may not be under Nintendo’s wing anymore but the UK studio is responsible for some amazing 8, 16 and 64-bit titles such as Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie, to name just three.

Now, the company is teaming up with iam8bit to produce vinyl soundtracks for three of its classic games: Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Viva Piñata.

Here’s the full PR: 

With the holiday season barrelling inexorably towards us and home-made mince pies making regular appearances around the company, we’ve begun indulging in furtive daydreams of brightly wrapped packages with our names on them. And blow us down with a festive feather if our chums over at iam8bit haven’t provided the perfect gift idea: a whopping three new vinyl editions of classic Rare soundtracks. 

As with our previous iam8bit collaboration (on the sold out Battletoads, Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark vinyls) it’s Rash, Zitz and Pimple leading the charge – this time with Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, a 16-bit brawl through the nefarious Gamescape featuring a soundtrack originally composed by David Wise, seeing its first ever official release 25 years later. (We think most of you should have finished level three by now.)

Not to be outdone in the catchy-tunes-accompanying-gratuitous-violence department, Conker and the Bad Fur Day crew make some noise in a double-LP outing that chronicles the hedonistic hero’s misadventures. There’s previously unreleased music here from maestro Robin Beanland, alongside fan favourites like Rock Solid and Sloprano – well, we were hardly going to leave them out, were we? You’d be livid.

If that all sounds a bit hectic, fret not! Soothing tunes from a papery paradise await within the double-disc Viva Piñata collection, the music of which is guaranteed to chill and charm you in equal measure courtesy of Grant Kirkhope and a chuffing great orchestra. Naturally, we’ve snuck some never-before-released tracks in here too, both from the original game and its sequel Trouble in Paradise.

As if that wasn’t enough, each of the albums offers you access to a digital version so you can listen on the go without having to lug your gramophone around. Tempted? Then we highly recommend a visit to iam8bit’s site to learn more – and see the accompanying range of stylish Rare character pin badges. Preorders coming soon!

Will you be placing a preorder for these? Let us know with a comment.