Sonic Artist Kodama to Receive GDC Pioneer Award

An unsung hero of both Sonic and Sega history will be honored in March at the Game Developers Conference.

Rieko Kodama, a 35 year veteran of the video game industry with much of that time spent at Sega, will be given the Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award at the 19th annual awards ceremony.

Kodama joined Sega in 1984, a strong talent in a time when women’s contributions were not easily recognized or appreciated in the industry. She contributed artwork to titles like the original Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as Phantasy Star and Alex Kidd.  She stayed with Sega through the Dreamcast era and ended up directing Phantasy Star IV,  and receiving producer credits on Deep Fear and Skies of Arcadia. Kodama currently produces the SEGA AGES line of re-releases on the Nintendo Switch.

Kodama has worked along several Sega titans, including Yuji Naka and Yu Suzuki.