Gregg Mayles

Lore & Background

Mayles began his career as a designer of the Battletoads series and the Donkey Kong Country series, and contributed to the creation of Diddy Kong and King K. Rool (Diddy Kong was created by multiple Rare staff, and King K. Rool was designed by Steve Mayles). After his work on DKC, he conceived an action-adventure game influenced by that series. Codenamed Project Dream, it was about a boy on a magical adventure to a pirate island. The concept was scrapped, and the hero was changed to a bear from Diddy Kong Racing with a backpack, inspired by Mayles' trip to Japan. This became Banjo-Kazooie. After its success, Mayles did additional design on Donkey Kong 64, then directed Banjo-Tooie. He later did design on Conker's Bad Fur Day and Star Fox Adventures. Mayles directed Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003), whose protagonist Cooper resembles Mayles himself. He played a key role in creating Viva Piñata, which originated as an idea from Tim Stamper and was influenced by Animal Crossing and Story of Seasons. Mayles contributed to its sequel, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (lead designed by Justin Cook). In 2006, he started a new Banjo-Kazooie project with car building, announced at X06 as Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008). After that, he worked on Kinect Sports. Mayles served as creative director for Sea of Thieves (2018); an in-game song is named in his honour. In 2007, after Tim and Chris Stamper left Rare, Mark Betteridge and Mayles replaced them as studio director and creative director, respectively. Mayles donates money for poor children and started a 'Very Purple Marathon' in April 2009, supported by Rare with a donation of 2,110 euros. His younger brother Steve Mayles also worked at Rare from 1992 to 2014. In October 2024, after the reported cancellation of Everwild, Mayles resigned from Rare.

In Their Own Story

The office lights flickered at 3 AM. Gregg stared at the CRT monitor, a half-empty mug of cold tea beside him. On screen, Conker stood in a puddle of his own urine, a giant piece of cheese rolling toward him. 'This is either genius or career suicide,' Gregg muttered, then added another swear word to the script. He knew the Nintendo executives would balk, but he also knew players were ready for something real—something that didn't treat them like children. He saved the file, leaned back, and smiled. Tomorrow, he'd have to defend every line of dialogue. Tonight, he'd let the squirrel be a bastard.

Reader's Guide

Mayles designed Battletoads (1991), Donkey Kong Country (1994), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995), Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003), Viva Piñata (2006), and directed Sea of Thieves (2018). He created the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. He directed Banjo-Tooie and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. He did design on Donkey Kong 64, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Star Fox Adventures, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, and Kinect Sports. He was director and designer on the canceled game Everwild.

Did You Know?

• Mayles contributed to the creation of the characters Diddy Kong and King K. Rool.
• The protagonist of Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Cooper, resembles Mayles himself.
• An in-game song in Sea of Thieves is named in Mayles' honour.
• Mayles started a 'Very Purple Marathon' in April 2009 to raise money for poor children.