IGN.com reports that a discussion with Rare, former Nintendo second-party developer, found the company's retro titles will not be offered on Nintendo's Virtual Console service. The question was posed to Rare and its new parent company Microsoft at the Game Developers Conference last week. Rare has a long list of games to its name released on the NES, SNES and N64 including R.C. Pro Am, Battletoads, Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. IGN speculates that Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 will also be on the "no" list since it would require approval by both Microsoft and Rare as well as Electronic Arts, the current holder of the James Bond license.
This is not to say that all Rare titles are off limits. Games that have a good chance of appearing on the Virtual Console are those that were developed using Nintendo's franchise characters. This includes such titles as Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. Of course, at this point in time, this remains conjecture since no games and few details have been announced for the service.