In an industry that does basically nothing to preserve the past, Sega has been an outlier. On basically any platform imaginable, you can obtain a decent chunk of Sega’s first-party output from the Genesis and a few select games from other platforms. It seems like every time a new console generation rolls around, a new Sega compilation is in the works.

Nintendo’s popular Switch is no exception. The Switch is receiving not just the Sega Genesis Classics collection, but downloadable eShop releases of select Genesis games in the form of the Sega AGES series. Differing from the all-in-one package, these releases add features to Sega’s classic games while also providing regional variants and some light online functionality. Some might balk at the hefty price tag, but AGES could be considered the definitive releases of each title.

Around the time when Sonic the Hedgehog and Lightening Force were hitting the Switch, I was given a chance to ask Sega’s Rieko Kodama about her work on Sega AGES and her history with Sega. For those unaware, Kodama-san is recognized as one of the first successful woman game designers in the industry. She is known for her work as a graphic designer on Alex Kidd and Sonic the Hedgehog and as the main artist for Phantasy Star on the Master System. She now is the lead producer on the Sega AGES releases for Switch.

A chat with Sega's first lady of RPGs, Rieko Kodama screenshot

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Source: Destructoid A chat with Sega’s first lady of RPGs, Rieko Kodama