http://plebegaming.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/rayman-legends-is-what-sonic-should-have-been-and-you-should-buy-it/

Excerpt

"RAYMAN LOOKS BEAUTIFUL AND HAS ALMOST NO STORY

This is actually a good thing. The character designs aren’t even to my taste, but they look great, and the stages are gorgeous and have an insane amount of variety and creativity about them. It certainly looks better than Sonic Boom does, and Rayman came out a while ago.

On top of that, the story to Rayman Legends is as bare bones as it gets, and the game is better because of it. This is something it shares with Mario instead of Sonic. Rayman and Mario have simple goal oriented plots: Run and jump across stages or worlds to save ____. That’s it. That’s all it takes. Even the good Sonic games stuck to this simple formula. The level of fun in a platformer is inversely proportionate to how convoluted the plot is.

Don’t believe me?

Super Mario Bros., arguably the greatest platforming game of all time. The story? Mario tries to save Princess Toadstool from King Koopa by running and jumping. Super Mario 64, arguably the greatest 3D platformer ever made. The story? Mario tries to save Princess Peach from Bowser by running, jumping, and hitting.

Sonic 2, arguably one of the greatest platforming games of all time. The story? Save woodland creatures and the world from Dr. Robotnik by running and jumping. Sonic ’06, arguably the worst platformer ever created. The story? F***K IF I KNOW. It’s a trainwreck and, as if Sonic lore weren’t convoluted enough already, they added time travel.

What’s the Rayman Legends story? Save some squishy little punching bags by running, jumping, and hitting. Sounds like gold to me. The less time wasted on convoluted story, the more time developers spend on mechanics, the lifeblood of platforming. The less story there is to get in the player’s way, the more concentrated the platforming action they get. If players wanted a long-winded, complex story, they’d be playing an RPG."

My brother sent me this. I think it brings up an interesting point though. I've never played a Mario game for the story, that's for damn sure. Is the effort put into making a grand story for a platformer wasted on that audience? Does it detract from the resources that could be used to better the game in other ways?

Yeah, definitely agree. Rayman Legends and Origins are by far my two favourite platform games. The lack of story doesn't bother me at all.

With Mario it's a bit different. I don't care that it doesn't have a strong story, just that it's the same one one again and again. Also, the whole stereotype of women needing saving from men. I'm sure that worked fine in the 80's but times have changed. I wish they would come up with a new simple story.

This guy's argument is that story is inherently evil (in platformers)...which is stupid. Sure, not all games need a story, but if a story is done well, than it can be great, regardless of genre.

The fact that Sonic Boom has a story (do we even know what the game is about yet?) doesn't have any impact on the quality of the game, and making the comparison between Rayman, a slow 2D platformer, and Sonic Boom, 3D platformer with an emphasis on speed (although Boom does look too slow) seems really silly.

I don't think Sega spends much time on the story loll... And if they did.. They have their priorities wrong cause no one cares about Sonic's story

$20? He must've missed out on the steam Community's choice a couple days ago. I got it for $10. *smirk*

It's great, so far. So much more creative and varied than NSMB. Better music, too. :D And yes, I'm loving the (lack of) story. 2D platformers don't need any, anyway.

I thought it was talking about Sonic 06 story instead of Sonic Boom? I wouldn't call Rayman slow either.

Origins and Legends would be the two greatest 2D platformers of all time if their controls were better.
They're still very good, but the loose and floaty controls hold them back from true greatness.

All I see in this post is "Im mad that Nintendo wont release games on playstation"

a. Well it references Sonic Boom in the first paragraph, but the specific story stuff they mentioned was Sonic 06
b. Rayman's jumps are floaty and he has a strange weight to him when he starts moving. For a 2D platformer next to Mario, Donkey Kong and Sonic, it feels pretty slow. Not as slow as Kirby, but still slow. As Curl said, he just feels loose and floaty, which is everything Sonic is not...that is why this is a weird comparison.

Basically, my point is that he is saying that platformers shouldn't have stories because some great platformers have been made without stories and some crappy ones have been made with stories...which is a pretty stupid point.

@toot: Choose your battles more wisely...

Lol..give me a break, guy.