Quoted from delt31:Pat is god status for pinball design. I like Eric and I think he’s talented but Kaneda sounds like an idiot when he says he’s the best designer in pinball and the guy has one game. It’s actually embarrassing.
Eric might very well be the best but with only one game, it’s WAY too early to say that just like it was WAY to early to hype the SHIT out of Wonka. And we all know how much crow he ate after that. K means well - just gets ahead of himself.
I listened to that today, and chuckled to myself. I appreciate his enthusiasm, and enjoy feeling the hype from his podcast, but it is indeed just that, hype. I like Chris/Kaneda, but he has to wittingly say things for the hype, especially when he contradicts himself from week to week, or year to year.
That said, I'd say maybe only if Elwin worked at JJP, could anyone else match what Eric did with Pirates. There's no game that is as ambitious as what he did with that game, in the modern era. It's the only game that echoes back to wacko things like Creature From the Black Lagoon, which could NEVER be made today. Playing that recently...digitally...and that game is mind blowing in how much shit is going into it design wise.
I don't have much of a doubt, that if JJP allows Eric to do what he is capable of, that he'll be cemented top tier modern designer. Him and Elwin seem to be on a different level presently. Even though I don't own or revel completely in Maiden and JP2, I can still see and appreciate that he's looking at design elements that others just aren't capable of baking into their work.