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.
SEGA Europe are collaborating with Deep Silver to finally bring 7th Dragon III Code: VFD to Europe. The previously Japan exclusive RPG has featured legendary SEGA talent at its helm with Rieko Kodama (Alex Kidd, Phantasy Star) producing and Yuzo Koshiro (Sonic 8 bit, Streets of Rage) composing the soundtracks. This will be the first time the franchise as made its way to Europe. Check out the E3 trailer for the 3DS game below as well as confirmation of its release date:
Now here’s a game I never expected to see on Western shores!
SEGA America have committed to bringing 7th Dragon III Code: VFD to America. SEGA have never brought any 7th Dragon games to the West previously so this is quite a shock.
Developed by imageepoch, the games are produced by Rieko Kodama of Phantasy Star fame. The soundtracks are also produced by legendary SEGA composer Yuzo Koshiro. Take a look at the announcement trailer below:
7th Dragon III Code: VFD will lauch for 3DS in America this summer. There is currently no word on a European release.
The first trailer for 7th Dragon III: code:VFD has gone live. You can check it out below:
As we previously learned, the opening theme is called Annabel and it’s by Vocaloid artist sasakure.UK. What we failed to pick up on is the fact Yuzo Koshiro has signed on for the game’s soundtrack which is pretty exciting news for fans of his work.
7th Dragon III: code:VFD launches in Japan on the 15th of October exclusively for 3DS. There is no word on a Western release and it’ll be unlikely that we get one seeing as the previous games have all been Japan exclusive.
The 7th Dragon series returns to Japan for its third installment, 7th Dragon III: code:VFD for the 3DS.
The RPG series has stayed Japan exclusive for its entirety but it’s notable for being produced by Rieko Kodama, creator of the Phantasy Star franchise.
Not much is known about 7th Dragon III outside what is currently displayed on the official website. The main theme will be produced by famed vocaloid artist sasakure.UK.
SEGA of Japan’s exclusive 7th Dragon RPG series will continue with a 3rd installment entitled 7th Dragon 2020 3rd Encout.
The first game 7th Dragon was released on Nintendo DS while the second game 7th Dragon 2020 was released for the Sony PSP. There are no details as to what console 3rd Encount will be released for as the only information regarding the game’s existence lies with a trademark that was filed for the name as well as a logo.
The first game was infamous for being produced by Phantasy Star designer Rieko Kodama and being soundtracked by Yuzo Koshiro of Streets of Rage fame.
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