• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Rayman's Ancel: 'I Don't Really Enjoy Playing Mario Games'

There's a reason why Mario sells, and Rayman doesn't.
And it's not because the oh-so idiotic masses have no taste.

Im pretty sure the Rayman and Rabbid games are among Ubisoft's top selling franchises, if not the top selling.
I mean its not doing gangbusters Mario level sales, but the franchise does well for the company.

Well, after playing Rayman: Origins, it's no surprise the guy who designed it has no idea what makes a good platformer.
Jesus fucking christ

Ancel: Mario is fantastic but its not my cup of tea
Negative Gaf: Rayman is the most horseshit shithouse that a horse has ever shat and built a house out of
One of these is reasonable, and as usual its not Gaf.
 
Couldn't agree more.

There's a reason why Mario sells, and Rayman doesn't.
And it's not because the oh-so idiotic masses have no taste.

Bad marketing is the reason.

Rayman Origins is one of the best platformer of the year, saying that it sucks is fucking stupid.
You may not like it (just like Ancel doesn't like playing Mario, but he still recognizes it's a good series), but it's a great fucking game.
 
Couldn't agree more.

There's a reason why Mario sells, and Rayman doesn't.
And it's not because the oh-so idiotic masses have no taste.

Who cares if it sells or doesn't? Rayman Origins is still a fantastic game, regardless.

Well, after playing Rayman: Origins, it's no surprise the guy who designed it has no idea what makes a good platformer.

Really? Because I'm enjoying rayman origins more than any platformer I've played in probably 5 years.
 
Couldn't agree more.

There's a reason why Mario sells, and Rayman doesn't.
And it's not because the oh-so idiotic masses have no taste.

lol. rayman 1 was the best selling game on ps1 in the uk, more than gran turismo, more than final fantasy more than tomb raider. people clearly hated the game so much that they told all their friends about it, as shown by it being in the uk top 40 selling games for 261 weeks.
 
say what?

Awful is a harsh one, but its not as good as GAF is hyping it up to be. Just because its a niche game and it never sold gangbusters, it doesn't mean it have to be worshipped.

The hit collision is the main thing that killed it for me, the art is good and I liked the story, but the gameplay is simply not good. The camera is awful and whoever thought that stealth part was god idea need to be fired.
Who cares if it sells or doesn't?

Yeah, no one cares about sales. The game might as well bleed money and Ubi should make more of them.
 
Im pretty sure the Rayman and Rabbid games are among Ubisoft's top selling franchises, if not the top selling.
I mean its not doing gangbusters, but the franchise does well for the company.

The Rabbids games were initially, but have had steep declines with each new release. Games with Rayman being the star have not done well in a long time. If ******** is to be believed at all Rayman Origins currently sits at about 50k in sales globally.
 
I think he might just be a bit angry that his platformers - albeit good - have never enjoyed even half of the popularity/success of the Mario games. Or maybe he really doesn't enjoy Mario games due to their design or some other reason.

I think he explains pretty well in the linked interview.
He likes games with narrative hooks, and he doesnt like the feel for whatever reason, but still realizes the series is a fantastic one that he's just not into. The slap line strikes me as a jokey reference to his own game.

How the fuck you got that out of the interview is beyond me.
 
If we're talking Mario fatigue here, I really hope they go for a different structure than the old 120 stars bit for the next major Mario game. It was probably tough at one point to imagine something different from the world maps from the 2-D games, and it's time to come up with something as radically different as what was introduced in Mario 64.

INB4 Ancel is a French douche. He's not. He's the man.

Ehh...Changing the way you progresses be it collecting 120 stars or going through a world map would not be much of a change, none that really matters what matters is the levels you go into.
 
Ancel can like whatever he wants, people. He have his opinion and taste like all of us here. I personally don't like the structure of Zelda, but its populer so...

As long he makes games, I am happy. BG&E2 Ancel, just finish that.
 
but explain to me how sales=quality

Its not a question about the quality. Its about a universal apeal what the first guy that was quoted talking about. There is a reason why Mario sells and Rayman don't. Its the gameplay that is liked by hardcore and casual gamers alike which Rayman never grasped at and relied strongely on Niche appeal (later in the years anyway, since the PS1 games sold gangbusters)
 
Well, Mario 3 is a play after all...

1617020-mcqb1_super.jpg

You just ruined my childhood.
 
It's not that it's not true. It's not fair.

What's the worst main-line Mario game? Sunshine?

Unfortunately, Sunshine is still better than the vast majority of games, including any Rayman game.
That's a strong opinion and one I disagree with. I much prefer Rayman 1, 2, and Origins to Sunshine as well as NSMB and NSMB Wii.
 
exactly, it an other form of media people can dislike critically acclaimed works but in gaming saying anything against Mario (Nintendo products in general) is deemed sacrilegious. Just look what happened with people giving the new Zelda less then a 9, they were labeled as idiots, shock writers....
That goes for pretty much any big franchise.
 
Maybe the thread wouldn't have attracted the worst idiots from GAF if the OP hadn't reused the linkbait title from an interview summary of the actual interview (I do love how gamasutra has a special, shorter article just for the purpose of dropping that 'nugget').

In the full interview, Ancel clearly has a lot of respect for Miyamoto. But no, it had to be 'Ancel says Mario sucks! Rayman is shit! Mario sucks! BGE is the worst shit i have ever played!'.


Is it just me or have I read that interview before ? It sounds all very familiar. Did parts of that circulate around earlier ?

Yes, I clearly remember him talking about Hascoet being closer to Miyamoto in spirit before.
 
That's nice.

I can't say I can really identify with the Rayman series, from either a straight gameplay or narrative perspective, so on that front I find Ancel's comments weird.
 
I like Ancel's games, but Beyoncd Good and Evil is still shit in comparison to Zelda and Rayman is still shit in comparison to Mario. I appreciate the humor of his games but that's about it.

How can you hate on Mario games when your entire career is based on ripping off Nintendo.
 
Ehh...Changing the way you progresses be it collecting 120 stars or going through a world map would not be much of a change, none that really matters what matters is the levels you go into.

It's important to understand what the differing approaches of 120 stars vs. World Map actually imply mechanically. I feel that a lot of people reference "120 stars" as a stand-in for complaints that are difficult for them to define or describe.

The biggest difference between the two, the trade-off, is that the 120-star model is used to enable a far less directly linear progression through the levels. The player gets far more choice about the order in which levels are attempted. The disadvantage is simply the flip-side of this coin: the game designer has that much less control over the progression of the game "experience".
 
Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Hey gamasutra, it's Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des Lettres.

EDIT : also, wtf, the questions in this interview are pretty much a rip off from Gamekult's
 
For clarity's sake, a follow up interview where Ancel specifically talks about Miyamoto and their approaches to making games.
________________________________
You've been called "the French Miyamoto." How do you feel about it? Does it bother you?

MA: No, it could have been a lot worse. [smiles] Of course it's an honor. I think I'm very different from Miyamoto. 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 really loved the idea of introducing artistic features in games -- that is to say the storytelling, the artwork, music -- and to get everything together in the best possible alchemy. We have two different approaches, two different tracks.

And he's such a star! When I'm compared to him, I find it very exaggerated. I still have a lot to learn! Actually, Miyamoto has always been one of my models, because when I started as a game designer, there were no video games schools, no well-defined jobs, and anyhow, everyone had to find someone to get inspired from. Miyamoto is the top guy.

Would you like to work with him?

MA: It never happened, but of course I wish I could. We've already met. He even told me he wasn't fond of BGE! [laughs, embarrassed] He really liked the cooperation work with [sidekick character] Pey'j, but wasn't satisfied with cameras. He suggested we had a look at what Nintendo did withSuper Mario Sunshine.
 
Pretty funny considering he just released a mario clone and started his game career with another. One of the most ridiculous things he said lately was that Rayman Origins was in no way influenced by NSMBwii, in fact I think he said that he never played it. I guess it being a 4-player platformer and with a bubble mechanic literally stolen from Mario was just a coincidence.
 
Maybe the thread wouldn't have attracted the worst idiots from GAF if the OP hadn't reused the linkbait title from an interview summary of the actual interview (I do love how gamasutra has a special, shorter article just for the purpose of dropping that 'nugget').

In the full interview, Ancel clearly has a lot of respect for Miyamoto. But no, it had to be 'Ancel says Mario sucks! Rayman is shit! Mario sucks! BGE is the worst shit i have ever played!'.
Yep. Nothing personal, but usually what happens when a quote is taken out of context.
Like last week, were "Wal-Mart lost money on each $99 Wii", people ran around with that bit of the quote, ignoring the full the context that was that Reggie was asked if Nintendo lost money on those $99 Wii, on which he replied with that; since it was Wal-Mart's decision to put it at that price; not them.

Even worse in this case, since is a translated quote. Like for example, Computer (on GAF) originally translated it with "I don't play Mario games" and proceeded to explain/talk about some of the mechanics, while in the case of this thread it was "I don't really enjoy playing Mario games" (taken from Gamasutra's link)..but forgets to add the rest of the line of thought; which expands the reasoning, with actual complaints instead of OP's stance for no longer enjoying to play Mario games because of been "tired of the same ol same ol".


Same link that was posted earlier, which the main post's article seems to be based on:

Have you had a chance to meet him?

Yes, but I've never worked with him. Of course I would like to. We have already met, however. Moreover, he said he was not so convinced by BGE ! (Laughter) In fact, he thought the collaboration with Pey'j was very interesting, but was not satisfied with the cameras. He suggested we look at what they did with Super Mario Sunshine .
 
People should focus on the longer interview that gamasutra has, instead of the page-views-provoking title

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featu...asutra+Feature+Articles)&utm_content=Netvibes

In your French biography, you said that if anyone in France should be compared to Miyamoto, it should be Serge Hascoët [Ubisoft's chief creative director].

yes (...)

MA: King Kong's development. We learnt a lot from him, again. We forced ourselves not to use cinematics, as to tell the story while the player is playing. It was a neat exercise. We owe it to Serge, who told us one day, "We're done putting cinematics in video games. We don't do that anymore. It's up to the game to make a story alive. If you have anything to tell, you'd better have the player living it."

And Assassin's Creed is based upon this idea. The project germinated around the same time, around 2004. The game is very cinematic in itself, but it tells the player's story, not the developer's. It really was a decision that was at the forefront. And two years later, Serge came out with another decision: he wanted every game to be 60 frames per second. But not everyone managed to do it..
 
All types of idiots in here. Guess I'll just get back to enjoying Mario, Zelda, Rayman, and BG&E because they are all incredibly games for totally different reasons from two very gifted minds.
 
Not seeing why this is a big deal. I find Mario games great but I don't expect every other gamer to do the same.
 
Pretty funny considering he just released a mario clone and started his game career with another. One of the most ridiculous things he said lately was that Rayman Origins was in no way influenced by NSMBwii, in fact I think he said that he never played it. I guess it being a 4-player platformer and with a bubble mechanic literally stolen from Mario was just a coincidence.

Rayman Origins has nothing to do with NSMBWII, what are you talking about? "Both games have bubbles, oh noes!" Give me a fucking break.
 
Pretty funny considering he just released a mario clone and started his game career with another. One of the most ridiculous things he said lately was that Rayman Origins was in no way influenced by NSMBwii, in fact I think he said that he never played it. I guess it being a 4-player platformer and with a bubble mechanic literally stolen from Mario was just a coincidence.

Too bad miyamoto steals all his ideas from prototypes sent to Nintendo :/

/trolling, since this is all what this thread will be good at.
 
All types of idiots in here. Guess I'll just get back to enjoying Mario, Zelda, Rayman, and BG&E because they are all incredibly games for totally different reasons from two very gifted minds.

I am pretty sure you have to choose a side. Since I have never played an Ancel game, I think i'll just go ahead and say that everything he did was garbage.
 
For clarity's sake, a follow up interview where Ancel specifically talks about Miyamoto and their approaches to making games.
________________________________
You've been called "the French Miyamoto." How do you feel about it? Does it bother you?

MA: No, it could have been a lot worse. [smiles] Of course it's an honor. I think I'm very different from Miyamoto. 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 really loved the idea of introducing artistic features in games -- that is to say the storytelling, the artwork, music -- and to get everything together in the best possible alchemy. We have two different approaches, two different tracks.

And he's such a star! When I'm compared to him, I find it very exaggerated. I still have a lot to learn! Actually, Miyamoto has always been one of my models, because when I started as a game designer, there were no video games schools, no well-defined jobs, and anyhow, everyone had to find someone to get inspired from. Miyamoto is the top guy.

Would you like to work with him?

MA: It never happened, but of course I wish I could. We've already met. He even told me he wasn't fond of BGE! [laughs, embarrassed] He really liked the cooperation work with [sidekick character] Pey'j, but wasn't satisfied with cameras. He suggested we had a look at what Nintendo did withSuper Mario Sunshine.
OP should have this, but it won't get as many replies that way.
 
Really? Because I'm enjoying rayman origins more than any platformer I've played in probably 5 years.

I replayed DKCR just before Rayman Origins so perhaps that influenced my opinion a bit. I will say that I would rather play Rayman Origins than Mario 3D Land, though, which was a gigantic disappointment for me. But as far as 2D platformers go, I'd still take NSMBW and DKCR a thousand times over RO. I just don't care very much for the way 2D Rayman games feel.
 
No, it's not both games have bubbles. It's both games have the exact same multiplayer mechanic to revive each other.

There's nothing wrong with copying that, but there's something wrong with not owning up to it.

Is it really the first game with the mechanic? I haven't played either game, but I could swear I have played something with the same idea (or maybe it's a testament to the genius of the idea that something new would seem so natural to me).

It's not quite the same kind of game, but could you revive the other player that way in bubble bobble?
 
I replayed DKCR just before Rayman Origins so perhaps that influenced my opinion a bit. I will say that I would rather play Rayman Origins than Mario 3D Land, though, which was a gigantic disappointment for me. But as far as 2D platformers go, I'd still take NSMBW and DKCR a thousand times over RO. I just don't care very much for the way 2D Rayman games feel.

Me as well. The controls just feel a bit janky and loose, I'd qualify the feedback you get from your actions as poor. Maybe Ancel could learn a thing or two by playing Mario games.
 
I'm sure most people didn't like playing King Kong a whole lot more than he doesn't like playing Mario.
 
Top Bottom