Who doesn’t like Mario? Well, my wife for one, who thinks it’s creepy that a middle aged man would dress up in a bee outfit, and Michel Ancel — the creator of Rayman and Beyond Good And Evil. Despite being called the ‘French Miyamoto’, apparently Ancel isn’t a fan!
“I think I’m very different from Miyamoto,” he said, speaking to Gamasutra. “And not only because I don’t speak Japanese! In my opinion, he focuses a lot on gameplay, whereas I really like to work with technical tools, too.
“I will tell you something terrible — I don’t really enjoy playing Mario games. I don’t like gliding, I don’t like its inertia, and I don’t like not being able to give some slaps! It’s a fabulous series, and I understand that people love it, but it’s not my cup of tea.
“I used to prefer Ghosts n’ Goblins, Heart of Darkness, Another World — games with a focus on the narrative side. Beyond that, I find Mario’s controls very interesting, but I don’t buy it. I can’t help but seeing the ropes of the game, even if it works. The game is thrilling, obviously.”
There is mutual respect, of course, but according to Ancel, Miyamoto wasn’t exactly the biggest fans of one of his titles either.
“[Miyamoto] even told me he wasn’t fond of BGE! He really liked the cooperation work with Pey’j, but wasn’t satisfied with cameras. He suggested we had a look at what Nintendo did with Super Mario Sunshine.”
The Evolutionary Process Of Building Rayman Origins [Gamasutra]
D.C.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:10 PMMiyamoto games are pure fun to pick up and just enjoy, but I also prefer a stronger story. It’d be a touch choice to make if you had to go to the one you loved most. ;)
D.C.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:16 PM*tough choice. TOUGH. CHOICE. ;)
Reiko
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:24 PMIf it was a touch choice that could be one sexy choice. xD
I don’t think I could choose between the two. Both are good in their own right, it’s like comparing Apples and Oranges imo.
D.C.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:28 PMThat response is exactly why I had to clarify. :D
Ryan W
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 4:15 PMAgreed, when you compare Mario games to BG&E, (I haven’t played any Rayman games so I can’t speak to their qualities) you’re basically comparing 2 positive traits in gaming that I don’t think have that much to do with each other.
With Mario you have a more pure “fun” experience, with super well polished character control mechanics and a world built to be explored with these mechanics, with the ultimate goal of getting to the end.
While with BG&E the control mechanics of the game are there pretty much for the narrative, and I think in those terms, BG&E is one of the best examples of interactivity driving drama, where it’s your actions driving the world’s events at large along with developing the characters.
Both are awesome at what they do, but for wholly different reasons.
bigkid
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:23 PMI also never fond Mario. It’s just a personal preference
Lone Wolf
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:44 PMIf you like a strong storyline in your game, then you probably wouldn’t enjoy mario games. If you’re more interested in mechanics and having a huge suite of tools for your character to use, you might not like BGE.
Hell, if you want strong character personality, you probably wouldn’t like Doom, but all are great games.
Eventually, it all comes down to priorities and preferences.
Reiko
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:53 PM+1 for Logic on the internet.
jason
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 4:03 PMthere’s a story line in Rayman??
thats the first ive heard of it.
personally im glad they dont agree with each other.
i love mario and i love rayman (especially the latest one)
different ideas are great.
i also love zelda and BG&E is probably my favorite non zelda adventure game.
if they both had the same ideas and opinions of how games should be played and presented than id be doing the same thing all the time and that would be disappointing
Hermes and Thoth
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 2:54 PMI like that Mario has a baseball bat.
masha2932
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 3:16 PMThat’s OK Ancel. However, it is hard to argue that the recent Rayman Origins has been influenced by new super marios wii.
Blackwater
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:34 PMI agree, it would be hard to argue that Rayman was influenced by Super Mario Wii.
Neil Williams
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:47 PMBecause of the co-op platforming aspect? There have been co-op platformers for decades.
Luke
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 3:16 PMTo be very honest, i’m not that big a Mario fan either.
Thom
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 3:26 PMYour wife sounds fucking hilarious. That made me lol.
Unicron
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 3:35 PMFrench wanker.
The Rayman series is crap a uni student would do compared to what Shigeru has done for the games industry.
Stupid cheese eating surrender monkey, haven’t you got another Rabbids mini game pile of shit to make.
End rant/
Rize
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 4:53 PM…haven’t you got a ditch to go fall in and die?
PrettyTones
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 4:57 PMNever understood how another person’s opinion can elicit reactions like this one, it’s just…I don’t get why and how people get so angry :/
Nyquist
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 1:22 AMTotally. I read the article and found it enjoyable, yet this guy seems genuinely pissed off. Poor bloke, probably still lives at home and has trouble talking to girls or something.
miniluv101
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 3:36 PMI think I like Mario… but there always comes a point where the challenge outweighs the fun and I remember that I hate Mario.
Jake
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 3:57 PMBeyond Good and Evil is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played, and I love it.
Mario is decent, I recently finished 3D land, but the series is getting really stagnant. They’re getting easier and easier, and 3D land was a cakewalk. Even the challenge levels were easy, and they ended up just putting cosmic mario in every level as the only arbitrary way to increase difficulty.
Rayman Origins looks awesome, but this dude helped create Rabbids. Quite possibly my most hated gaming mascot in the entire freaking world. So I say they’re even.
One thing I will say, is that Beyond Good and Evil had a great plot, and was a huge step up from previous Rayman games in terms of story and gameplay. Mario and Zelda still have really basic kiddy plots and mute main characters, they don’t get you interested. Sure, the gameplay is good, but a great game needs more than that, and NIntendo isn’t listening. Each new game is easier and easier and all the games are on a downward spiral of casual gameplay..
Azza
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 4:47 PMI like BG&E, but he is right about the camera.
[Razor]
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 5:38 PMHahaha, Miyamoto. “I like what you did with Pey’j, but you should look at OUR games for how to do cameras.”
Sam
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 11:00 PMIn that respect he was utterly correct though, if I had to think of reasons I ultimately thought Sunshine was a better game than BGE, camera angles would possibly be the defining difference. There was a lot to love about BGE but by god the camera was the hardest boss in the game.
CJ
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:16 PMWait… does he mean the Heart of Darkness PS1 game? (Other people know of that?)
Blackwater
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:34 PMWhy won’t ozgameshop hurry up and deliver my CE of Rayman Origins, I’m sick of seeing it in stores and not being able to play it.
N0NEoftheAB0VE
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:52 PMAh the onliner’s lament: Water Water everywhere – and not a drop to drink…
ALLoftheBELOW
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 8:18 PM…and some how most of it black.
N0NEoftheAB0VE
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:51 PMI just saw this…
but wasn’t satisfied with cameras. He suggested we had a look at what Nintendo did with Super Mario Sunshine.”
Is Miyamoto the ultimate troll or what?? Did he witness his own horrible camera in Super Mario Sunshine!!?
CJ
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 8:28 PMBGE was a game about the reporter. You had to take photos in it (hence cameras) not the games camera.
Snacuum
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 9:56 PMSo Miyamoto told him to check out a game that had not photo gameply to do it better in BG&E?
Nah I think he was talking about player camera.
Chazz
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 10:39 PMLove Mario. Love Rayman, hell I even love the Rabbids (they’re just so goshdarn hilarious). So I say;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONFVIfrPQxc#t=00m37s
Lobo
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 1:37 AMI think that might be the first time I’ve seen you LOVE something Chazz. Always so hostile.
Chazz
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:29 AMI love plenty of things.
tim rogers
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 12:55 AMserrels why are you assuming mario is middle-aged? there is nothing to indicate that he is middle-aged :(
non-middle-aged young-ish people can have mustaches and be a little chubby, you know!
also look how clear his skin is. he can’t possibly be over thirty.
every guy under thirty around here has a mustache, for example.
Boomzzilla
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 1:41 AMI really don’t see why beyond good and evil gets put up on a pedistal, I played about half on xbox1 and got bored.Average gameplay, graphics, everything.Now I realize it was the critics darling a bit like little big planet, but that at least had a original style.BGE was just part zelda,part pokemon snap etc…
jason hilton
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 11:12 AMhey folks i’m new to gaming and looking for a game similar in style to wii mario but not as hard- i’m a 31 yr old rookie. is rayman like that, what else.
thanx