The Creator Of Fantasy Zone's Opa Opa Has Posthumously Been Revealed 1
Image: Sega

Thanks to a new interview, we now know who was responsible for creating the amazing characters in Sega's Fantasy Zone series of scrolling shmups.

As spotted by VGDensetsu, Beep21 (paywalled) has just spoken to Yoji Ishii, Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Masaki Kondoh to celebrate forty years of Fantasy Zone.

The piece reveals that Yoko Kobayashi (AKA: Matilda Yoko), who was the character designer of Alex Kidd and Teddy Boy, was responsible for designing the characters in Fantasy Zone, including the legendary Opa Opa.

VGDensetsu also notes that Kobayashi is presumably the 'KBY' name on the game's high score table.

Despite designing such iconic characters, Kobayashi's impact on Sega's history has remained relatively unknown.

Even the date of her passing is uncertain; Ramón Nafria, who worked on Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, says he was told she passed away some time ago, but wasn't given an exact date.

[source bsky.app]