RIP TO A LEGEND: RIEKO KODAMA (PHANTASY STAR, SKIES OF ARCADIA, 7TH DRAGON)

Aaa, I want to contribute to this but rough year, rough month. I'll just say the first time I heard about Rieko Kodama was back in the 2000s when I returned Ape Escape on the PSP for Sega Genesis Collection for the PSP. Back in the 2000s, when audiences started learning about the developers who created these games, people knew about Miyamoto, Kojima, Gabe Newell, Cliff Bleszinski and Mark Cerny. But as you go further back, some peeps might know. Ray Muzyka and Trip Hawkins. But in 2000, I could only name female game developers on one hand: Roberta Williams, Amy Hennig, Jade Raymond and Rieko Kodama.

I was blown away to find out on the Sega Genesis Collection series of interviews, how deeply involved Rieko Kodama was in the Phantasy Star series. I played Phantasy Star IV only maybe two times. Once, I had to borrow it from a friend for 20 bucks cause it was a 100 dollar cart at the time (similar to Earthbound). The other time would be at blockbuster for a sleep over, because the game would always be out. We held it in high regard to Chrono Trigger at the time because of it's Dual/Combo Chain Attacks, which looked really cool. But what made Phantasy Star IV stand above the rest was how well written the characters were, like Alys Brangwin and the comic book cutscenes that told this incredible journey that spanned across 4 planets. It was very unusual to see something this well written for a 16-bit game in the mid-90s. Like there were moments Phantasy Star IV that couldn't be told from sprites from an overhead perspective, that couldn't be told without these cutscenes, these cutscenes were absolutely incredible and still stand the test of time, I think.

Victor Ireland of Working Designs was sharing war stories somewhere, I can't confirm this, but if I can find the link again, I'll dig it up and post it here, but supposedly the reason why Phantasy Star was a 100 dollar cart is because, Victor Ireland wanted to translated. He kept asking Sega to the point where Sega finally agreed to it, but Sega didn't want Victor Ireland at Working Designs to do it. Sega, or at least the higher ups, wanted to do it themselves to prove that JRPGs at the time, weren't worth the effort to translate for international audiences - they really wanted Phantasy Star IV to bomb in the states. I'm pretty sure this is a rumour, but if this is true, the fact that Phantasy Star IV turned out as great as it did shows, how much of a once in a life time opportunity that game truly was.

There's a great write up on hg101 about PSIV and it sounds a lot like a really cool band coming together for one last tour. That's what Phantasy Star IV feels like. I've played Skies of Arcadia but haven't had a chance to become acquainted with it yet, but I've heard good things.

I just feel like Rieko Kodama never really got her due. Like when G4 back in the day did game developers interviews for their show "Icons", they talked about the creator of Sega Arcade Games Yu Suzuki and the co-developer of Sonic Yuji Naka, but not as much people know about Rieko Kodama, it's kind of upsetting cause I feel like if more people knew about her and her story we'd see more people like her in the industry.

Really cool stuff.

EDIT: Found the link
http://www.gaijinworks.com/interact/showthread.php?56-WD-Trivia-Storytime-Thread&p=97178&viewfull=1#post97178

"Yeah, I wanted to do Shining Force III (I still do, actually - all of them), but it wasn't going to happen. But this reminded me,(again) of one SEGA title that pissed me off - Phantasy Star IV. We stepped in to do that when SoA passed because they said was no market for it (total bull) and it wouldn't sell. But when they learned we got involved and were going to license it from SoJ, SoA magically became interested again, but only so they could sell it for a ridiculous price to PROVE there was no market, rather than have us succeed with it and prove them wrong to SoJ. That $100 price had nothing to do with reality and everything to do with them trying to kill the title at launch with a price like 60% over the norm to prove a point. They failed. Even at $100, it sold out."