In a lengthy interview published today on Gamasutra, Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil creator Michel Ancel confesses that although he likes The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, he doesn't care for playing Miyamoto's Super Mario games. From the interview:
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.
You hear that Miyamoto? Time to put in some more slapping! Actually, though Miyamoto had very little to do with Super Mario 3D Land, I did appreciate how that game let me stop the crap out of stupid annoying Toad every time I visited his house.
It's a neat interview, and Ancel is his usual opinionated, irrepressible self. He talks about the process of making the (totally géneal) Rayman: Origins, the influence of Ubisoft's creative director Serge Hascoët, the aesthetic and musical design aspects he admires in games, and of course, he teases a few small details about Beyond Good & Evil 2. So cheeky.
The Evolutionary Process Of Building Rayman Origins [Gamasutra]