The development of Grabbed by the Ghoulies began in 2000, after the completion of Banjo-Tooie. The idea for the game began with the name, which is a pun on "goolies", a British slang term for "testicles". Before any details of the game were publicised, it was rumoured that Grabbed by the Ghoulies would be the subtitle to the next Conker the Squirrel game. After Microsoft purchased Rare for £375 million in 2002, development of the game for the GameCube was delayed until Rare converted it to the Xbox console.
Development of the game took under three years. It was originally conceived as a larger, non-linear open platform game for the GameCube. However, a simpler design and simpler concept were adopted due to the Microsoft buyout and increasing time constraints. After Microsoft's purchase of Rare, the studio re-affirmed their "simple design" of the game so that players would be able to easily adapt and devote less commitment to it. Grabbed by the Ghoulies was released in North America on 21 October 2003, in Europe on 21 November and in Japan on 29 April 2004, becoming Rare's first game to be released under Microsoft. It was later re-released as an Xbox Originals game for the Xbox 360 on 16 February 2009, later being removed from the store on 16 June 2015, before the Rare Replay compilation game which included it was released on 4 August 2015. The game was remastered to run natively on the Xbox One, increasing its resolution and framerate relative to the original Xbox release. Grabbed by the Ghoulies was one of the first original Xbox games to be compatible with Xbox One via backwards compatibility.
Reception
The game was met with mixed reviews from critics upon release. It holds an average score of 66/100 at Metacritic, based on an aggregate of 42 reviews. Similarly, Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer felt that the game represented Rare's "slump period", calling it a "particularly awkward gear change" for the developer. Despite its problems however, Whitehead also felt that the game "has a charm and character that is almost entirely absent from the AAA console space in 2015".
Grabbed by the Ghoulies was nominated for "Console Family Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" at the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; the first award was ultimately given to EyeToy: Play and The Sims: Bustin' Out (in a tie), while the latter was given to Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.