And someone who really just appreciates a narrative construction and the collaboration of so many different fields and disciplines, not just artistic, but like technical and, you know, design elements that are very mechanical oriented, but all are part of the form and function of what makes a successful game. And, you know, Python was, Python was like, he loved, he had like his favorite themes and stuff that in his life, but he always believed that a great game, no matter what the theme would sell the product, like, the reason, like he had this like thing that he got from his father is like, if you make the best soup in town, people will always buy your soup because it's the best soup. Not because you have a better marketing team or anything. The soup sells itself. So in the same way, he felt that pinball should sell itself, it should be the It's not just the main thing. The reason why you buy it's not because of it's any kind of other tangential thing which helped for sure in marketing but yeah, ultimately, if a game is good, and it will stand the test of time it doesn't doesn't need that. Absolutely. And I think you know, maybe we should talk about some of his games. First, for people that are coming in being like, What? What did this guy actually do? But the one that jumped to mind right away? For me, a game that I own is fish tails, a game that sold really, really well. Yeah, you talk about a theme that is like, you know, it's a fishing game, like it, you Well, come on, I know there were some great fishing video games early in the 90s and stuff like that as well, but this game is awesome because of all the little things in the game that are so much fun. And there's a reason why that game has been such a success and people still love it. And that's just one of his games. I mean, Pinbot was a huge game, like one of the biggest pinball games ever. So, yeah, talk about a few of his other themes too, his book that he did artwork and game design with. Sure, absolutely. I mean, like, again, you said Fishtails, it would be impossible for me to consider any, like, even the small boutique companies out there to even consider just doing a generic fishing game. It's called fishing? Right. Like, that's the concept. It's just fishing. That's it. Like, that's it. Like, saltwater, freshwater, tropical fishing. That's the three different kinds of fishing you get, and that's it. And it's an amazing game, and it's got the humor of the game. I think that really a lot of it comes from a lot of the history of Fishtails officially is that it comes from people who are passionate about fishing. Like Mark Ritchie, the whole idea came from like a fishing trip, you know, and like it came from a real experience. And I think people identified that because people, a lot of people fish and you know, they understand the humor and the concept, you know, the water skiers, video mode is hilarious, you know, it's great. It's the best, best video mode ever. Absolutely, which is kind of a rip off of a game called, I think it's called Beachhead, but whatever, we won't, it's like, it's a great classic arcade game, but they took that and they adapted it in a really funny way with humor, you know, destroying these water skiers and stuff. Python, Python, Python was really good on selling people on it just through his art, like that's a really great point, it's like, it's leaning, the art gives that game its personality, like when you talk about like, if you said generic fishing theme, like it kind of almost Tim Kitzrow, Director of Photography, The You're right, it is that, but when you see it through Python's eyes where it's really, the fish are sort of anthropomorphized, there's a lot of humor and just like, he injected himself into all his games. Let me just run down a bunch and we'll talk more in depth about different ones. Sure. So just to say, Pat McMahon did the main art for Fish Tales, but it was the inspiration This is the story of Python. It was his story that really kind of imbued into that started the ball rolling. That's what I'm talking about. It seems like the thing about Python and like, you know, obviously so much of this happened so long ago, a lot of it has been passed down through stories, right? And, you know, someone's credit on a game, it's like, well, what did they really do? Right? Sure. And I'm sure you, being an expert, Joe, you know all those little stories and you've done the homework. All of these are very interesting games, but it's really interesting to me just that it seemed like Python did so much more than just like, hey, here's an art package. It seemed like, you know, when you talk about high speed, which is another incredible game and a very high selling game, one that he worked with Steve Ritchie on, another, like you said with Mark Ritchie in the fishing story, this is a story about Steve Ritchie getting pulled over by the police. And then for them to just conceptually work these games out, being like, this is what the game's gonna do, this is what the art's gonna do, and tie it all together, it's just so much cooler than when you just hear like, okay, yeah, this is the concept, here's the art, and what IPs we have to deal with. It's just, I love that so much about that era of pinball. Python Angelo was like a spiritual pinball wizard. He was like, he basically, he was what you, I guess, like a project manager, I guess, kind of thing. In a weird, messed up way. Like he was making, he was there to make sure that the vision really got, like a director, you know, which he truly identified with, I think, for a lot of things, like with Steven Spielberg, with George Lucas. Like he totally identified with those creative people who really got the big picture. Now, something like George Lucas, did he design Jabba the Hutt? No. But he looked at like a whole bunch of different designs of Jabba the Hutt and picked that's the one. That is Jabba. That's the one, the idea I had. So in the same way, Python Angelo kind of was like the, had the great vision of the pinball machine. And yes, he did a lot of the art for sure, but he was also responsible for making sure that the project as a whole was cohesive and it told a story and it really And so, you know, it's a great, it's a great show. And it had a great impact for his audience, you know? Which is funny because of the dichotomy of that with his personality and how stressed out he made everyone, you know, with basically everyone that he worked with that sort of was a responsible adult that we have all these stories in the, in the article, right. About, you know, talk about his relationship, like, let's say with Steve Kordak, like, who is Steve Kordak? And kind of, can you describe the relationship that that Python had with him? Yeah. So as far, I mean, again, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never, I never I mean, again, I never met either of them. They passed away before I could meet either Steve Kordak or Python Angelo. But from all accounts, you know, there was a highly antagonistic kind of relationship between Steve Kordak and Python because Steve Kordak was from the old school, literally had designed the orientation of flippers at the bottom. He had just, you know, he had made his bones like 50 years before he had even met like Python Angelo. Isn't that wild to think about? Like that in within these generations, like that person. Right, yeah, sorry, go ahead. And so like, you know, he had gotten his cred and he had like sort of a bit, as much as Steve Kornack was a wonderful person, he had a bit fossilized ideas of what's going to work in pinball and what doesn't work. Because he had been through so many years of seeing what works and what doesn't, right? And that's understandable. But Python was like an insane maverick and he just would not let people tell him no. And it was like, you know, a solid object versus a movable force kind of thing where they both had very, very strong opinions about pinball. And, you know, it was like the old school versus the new school and really coming into conflict. And it was a generational thing for sure. And some of it was kind of personal I think And Python did make his enemies He did make enemies for sure like I said and and some of the most of them I would say in most cases probably it on python for being a little too zealous and starting those antagonisms but he an he an artist I mean that kind of the the the and and and the thing is like I see someone like Steve Kordek as a character in this story and it like they sort of the buttoned up like sort of a 1960s madman kind of guy you know what I mean where it like you you a little more So the more, like, Hey, keep it together, do what you wanna do on your free time, but like, whatever. Right. And Python kind of being like, I live this, I die by this, like, this is a... I put everything of me into this thing, and so it is just that clash of styles. Created, like, awesome games too, like the yin and yang of that, it kind of feels like maybe... Sure. When Python gained enough of his own sort of, like, power within pinball, to kind All of these things are kind of dictate terms like after he left Williams, which we can get into. But seems like some of that might have hampered some of his output because he almost didn't have that strong pushback of someone like Steve Kordak to kind of like do those things. Yeah, you've got thesis and antithesis, right? And you create a thesis, like, you know, like you have a yin and yang, you have like two opposing forces, the very much, you know, this is going to work, this has worked before, we know that this works versus like, let's try something different. Let's break the mold, let's, let's reassemble the pieces and like make something crazy. And, and I think that that's, that really works great in terms of like, you know, forming a really cohesive, you know, final product that is marketable, but also innovative, unique, artistic, I think all parties are happy. When Python kind of went off on his own and went to Capcom, all those restraints, all those people who were the steadier hands, there was no guardrails for Python. I think his radical ideas, while noble, and I think he still, again, he didn't care about making money, really. He just wanted to make great games. And I think, you know, when you talk about art and commerce, they're always going to be intertwined, no matter what art form you're talking about. Photography, film, even, you know, the Renaissance painters, which who Python 100% emulated, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, all Raphael, all the great Renaissance painters. You can see the work and the really kind of fundamentals of anatomy and the design of composition and how people are posed and foreshortening of figures and hands and depth of the human figure and animal especially. You see that 100% from like the Renaissance. And then it's mixed in with this weird surrealistic Salvador Dali, you know, bizarre, you know, fun little, you know, plays on images and forms that Python was always so great at doing in his private life too. Yeah. But part of why he's, I like his art so much too is because it's not always the same. Oh yeah. Like there, you could look at two games and you would never know, you know, that, that, I don't know, just take, really take any two examples. Like, police force is totally different from like, I don't know, taxi or high speed, you know, totally different world, totally different look, approach, even Bugs Bunny's birthday ball like that. Right. He had so much respect for the original, you know, Warner Brothers animation, you know, the Chuck Joneses of the world that he was not going to like reimagine it in a Python way. He was going to try to keep like, they didn't even have to tell him to stay like true to like the character designs. He was just self-disciplined enough to really, really pay as close attention to detail the line weight and just all this other stuff that the characters, to make them look as true to the original cartoon as possible. So he really respected a lot of these kinds of IPs that were, to him, evergreen. Yeah. Well, there's nothing more evergreen than Bugs Bunny. I hope so. I mean, that's, but you know, I guess like, also what's so interesting too about this guy, right, is how all you hear about is these like drug fueled alcohol binging, like bring in cough syrup to lunch at work stories. And really the only reason this guy didn't get shit canned like anyone else would is because this talent was just on another level. And everybody at Williams just was like, we have to put up with this guy. This textコМЕНА schautavett Vocês는데 в описании ! and it was like not only is this guy making incredible art at every step of the way but also he's a visionary of the games and it's like they had no choice but to keep him around. Go ahead Ian. Well he was a rock star coming in. That's I was just going to shit on your whole supposition there because it was like he was from Disney. Just say that. Can you just say that? Can you just start over and just say he was a rock star coming in and I'll cut it in perfect? He was a rock star coming into this hobby. Like he was from Disney and was like, you know what I mean? Like he had that pull. It was someone with pull coming in. So it wasn't just like someone coming in from a rando spot. Like I think he kind of, like he got to dictate a little bit more, I think even right off the bat. Which was cool because he really used that juice, it feels like to me, to advocate for You have to have it. ZACH BENYCHILDS, M.I.C. GENERAL, R.O. K. GENERAL LOWER BASKETBALL AND HIGHLIGHTS Joe, you talked about getting people's names on machines, getting credit for things was very important to him. He was such an... He used his weight not just to get away with shit, but I think to push towards a more artist-friendly or at least artists-having some equity. Even not just artists, but designers and engineers and people like that to get a little bit more об goodies ок 피�ingly의 괜찮은데요. So I don't know who the parents of the children of the writer of Satan depthin' no man can be, but the thing seems to be idee that they give themselves to is so very is true, that in public speaking segreg, although that doesn't necessarily apply to, why children would feel wrong is Unfortunately we're still in�� envisioned also not being allowed to write an audio or show some of our was really considered ist qualify thing in this dig, basically because ofuty. I think it's absurd to say off about it. have to. and we want to have credit in the same way and I 100% Python Angelo advocated for that and and he was he wasn't like a child prodigy like he was a very talented extremely curious extremely disciplined artist like he was very much about learning the fundamentals like again learning from the old masters I was gonna say can we should even just talk about where he's from because we even have skipped over Another infamous country. Where is he from, Joe? Transylvania, Romania. In communist Romania at the time. Very austere, very, very brutal, impoverished life. And yet he just had an incredible imagination to create devices and art. And even he started working very early in a young age in like theater craft, like creating props and costume elements. Like he was world building from a very young age. He just had this incredible passion and desire to create.