The producers of some of Sega’s best games have suffered from poor health in recent years.
One of Sega’s most prolific developers has passed away.
Rieko Kodama, who has played a producing and directing role on Sega’s games from Alex Kidd to 7th Dragon and is best known for creating the pre-online Phantasy Star game and Skies of Arcadia, passed away in May due to an undisclosed illness. died in It wasn’t officially known until the tribute was spotted on the recently released Mega Drive Mini II, but was confirmed in a Twitter post by former Treasure Staff member Yosuke Okunari. IGN). Out of respect for the bereaved family, Sega declined to release a statement.
Kodama was born in 1963 and joined Sega in 1984. His debut work was character design for the SG-1000 title “Champion Boxing” (Yu Suzuki’s debut work). After working on Alex Kidd’s art for Miracle World, he created art for 1987’s Phantasy Star. Her work continued through the rest of the Genesis/Mega Drive series, followed by her RPG based on the 1995/1998 Saturn’s Magic Knight Rayearth her anime her series. Her subsequent work includes the Dreamcast/GameCube RPG Skies of Arcadia, her 7th Dragon series including her 3DS title 7th Dragon III Code: VFD in 2016, and her Sega Ages title on Switch.
Kodama was one of the first major female game developers, especially in Japan. She was once called the “First Lady of RPGs” by Nintendo Power. She received a Pioneer Award from the Game Developers Association, but she was unable to attend the 2019 ceremony due to illness.
