SEGA have confirmed that long time artist, director and producer Rieko Kodama has passed away. Kodama passed much earlier in the year, back in May 2022.
News of Kodama’s passing came to light when Retro Gamer writer Nick Thorpe spotted a tribute to her in the credits for the Mega Drive Mini 2. This was then confirmed by SEGA producer Yosuke Okunari.
Rieko Kodama had been working at SEGA since 1984 and has produced art for many classic games that include Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Quartet, Phantasy Star, Altered Beast, Shadow Dancer and the first 2 Sonic the Hedgehog games. Kodama personally directed Phantasy Star IV and Magic Knight Rayearth for the SEGA Saturn, while producing a number of titles including Skies of Arcadia and the largely Japan exclusive 7th Dragon games.
SEGADriven would like to extend our condolences to Rieko Kodama’s family, friends and colleagues. She was 58 years old.
Revealed back in July 2020, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is a massive expansion for PSO2 that acts as a new title in the MMORPG franchise that takes place in the same universe as PSO2. While the game was previously given a rough Spring 2021 release date upon reveal, we now have a firm release date of June 2021 worldwide. The game is set to release on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in the West, while ports are also being released for PS4 and Nintendo Switch in Japan.
The release date announcement came in the latest “Prologue” stream on the official PSO2 YouTube. You can re-watch the hour-long stream via the embed below:
IDOLA Phantasy Star Saga, the latest mobile entry in the beloved Phantasy Star series, is now available to download in 140 territories, including North America, for both iOS and Android. The release comes via Boltrend Games.
Via Boltrend’s PR:
IDOLA Phantasy Star Saga was produced by Shuntaro Tanaka, recognized writer and producer, Tomomasa Chin, the supervising director, and Sho Mutsuura, the art director together with the original team in SEGA, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Phantasy Star series in Japan. Soundtrack was done by Kenichi Tokoi, also composer of the music in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
While the game is not available in Europe at the moment, Boltrend’s PR has now confirmed that a European release is planned for the future, which is great to hear. We’ve also received clarification on the game’s connectivity to Phantasy Star Online 2, or lack thereof; while the EN version of the game cannot connect to PSO2, SEGA has released a code for the Visiphone that will reward players with 200 SG. So that’s nice!
As soon as information becomes available on a European release, we’ll let you know.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
It’s a pretty good time to be a Phantasy Star fan, as the mobile title IDOLA: Phantasy Star Saga is getting an official English release!
The game, originally released to promote the 30th Anniversary of the Phantasy Star series, will be receiving an Open Beta Test, launching August 5th and lasting until August 10th. It’ll contain the first six chapters of the game’s story and the Arena Battle mode. Currently, there’s no solid word on what regions this English release is intended for, though our friend CorBond was unable to access the game from the Netherlands. We were able to join the Testing Program from the UK, but we lack an Android device to confirm whether we could actually access the game.
It’s certainly a surprising announcement; we do wonder if they’ll somehow incorporate the bonuses the Japanese version has for connecting the game to Phantasy Star Online 2. Only time will tell!
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
A brand new Mega Drive & Mark III edition of Picross S for the Nintendo Switch has been revealed by the game’s developer Jupiter in a recent BitSummit video. This new version of the game features puzzles based on characters from various retro SEGA properties, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd, Phantasy Star and more.
The game will contain 4 modes: Picross, Mega Picross, Colour Picross and Clip Picross. The game is due to release worldwide this Autumn 2020 as a digital eShop title. You can watch the reveal trailer below:
UPDATE: The Western titles have now been confirmed.
The next batch of games available on the Mega Drive Mini have been announced, and are as follows:
JAPAN:
Ghouls n Ghosts
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Golden Axe
Revenge of Shinobi
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis)
Puzzle & Action: Tant-R
Party Quiz Mega Q
Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen
AMERICA/EUROPE:
Mega Man®: The Wily Wars
Street Fighter II’®: Special Champion Edition
Sonic Spinball
Phantasy Star IV
Beyond Oasis
Ghouls ‘N Ghosts®
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Golden Axe
Vectorman
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Something cool to note: the last 4 games on this list supported 4 players via a Multitap on the original Mega Drive. They actually retain this functionality on the Mini – you can use a USB Hub to connect more controllers!
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
The US branch of SEGA have unveiled a new survey which asks fans to determine the next steps for the Sonic The Hedgehog, Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles and Phantasy Star franchises.
The survey takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete and every entry enters you into a prize draw to win up to $500 in gift certificates. You can complete the survey and enter the prize draw by clicking here.
If you’re a SEGA fan based in the US with a passion for any of the franchises listed, this is an important opportunity to share your love for them and get SEGA to act on that passion. SEGA have been making big steps in terms of quality in recent years and that’s been down to a renewed focus on their legacy franchises. If you want to see the company do more with Super Monkey Ball, Gunstar Heroes, Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Phantasy Star, Sakura Wars, Altered Beast, Virtua Fighter, Streets of Rage, Puyo Puyo, Shenmue, Golden Axe, House of the Dead, Virtua Tennis and Crazy Taxi then this is the way to let them know.
A port of the original Phantasy Star is now available to play on Nintendo Switch. Ported by M2, this new port of the Master System classic includes a new map display and an Ages Mode which tasks you with surviving some really challenging dungeons. Check out the launch trailer below:
SEGA Ages Phantasy Star is available to buy on the Nintendo Switch eShop for £5.99. Is is the first title in the legendary RPG franchise and originally launched in 1987.
The Western release date for the SEGA Ages port of Phantasy Star has finally been set. Western Switch owners will get to play the game on December 13th 2018. US pricing has been set at $7.99.
The SEGA Ages port of Phantasy Star includes some new features like a dungeon map display, a bestiary, an equipment list and support for both original audio and the FM Sound Unit audio. Development, as always, has been lead by M2.
The Nintendo Switch port of the SEGA Master System’s Phantasy Star, part of the SEGA AGES line, will be dropping in September. In addition, the extra features available in the port have now been detailed.
For Japanese users, the game includes a hiragana script option, as was present in the SEGA Saturn’s version of the game. There will also be a low-difficulty mode included for new players – it’s unclear right now if this will factor in the previous collection’s reward toggles, but it’s a safe bet based on previous interviews. Also included is a picture book of the various monsters in the game, which seems to be filled out similarly to a Pokedex, and a list of items and armour is also available for easy reference as to what they actually do.
One of the biggest extra features however, is the addition of a new map function. Previously, dungeons weren’t mapped out meaning you’d have to actually draw a physical map to keep track of where you were. Now the game can keep track for you, should you so desire – another helpful feature to ease in new players.
Finally, the game features both the FM and PSG soundtracks, and a music player so you can listen to the tracks at your discretion.
Overall this is shaping up to be a very nice package, which is to be expected from M2. Unfortunately it’s not yet clear when exactly the first two games in the line, Sonic the Hedgehog and Thunder Force IV, are set to launch; both games are due some time this month. We’ll keep an eye out for concrete release information.
This information comes from the official SEGA AGES site, which has received a bit of an overhaul. Several screenshots are also available on the site, but we’ve popped them below for convenience.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Tags: m2, nintendo switch, phantasy star, sega ages Posted in News | Comments Off on SEGA AGES: Phantasy Star Launches in September for Nintendo Switch, New Features Detailed
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