Odin Sphere

Odin Sphere
North American box art for Odin Sphere, showing the main cast and key supporting characters.
Developer(s)	Vanillaware
Publisher(s)	JP: Atlus NA: Atlus USA PAL: Square Enix NIS America (Leifthrasir)
Director(s)	George Kamitani
Producer(s)	Kentaro Ohnishi
Designer(s)	Yasuhiro Fujiwara Entsugu Inatani Kouichi Maenou Yoshio Nishimura Takehiro Shiga Yasuo Shirai Daichi Yamashita
Programmer(s)	Kentaro Ohnishi
Artist(s)	George Kamitani
Writer(s)	George Kamitani
Composer(s)	Masaharu Iwata Hitoshi Sakimoto Mitsuhiro Kaneda Kimihiro Abe Manabu Namiki
Platform(s)	Odin Sphere PlayStation 2 Leifthrasir PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)	May 17, 2007 Odin Sphere JP: May 17, 2007 NA: May 22, 2007 AU: March 13, 2008 EU: March 14, 2008 Leifthrasir JP: January 14, 2016 NA: June 7, 2016 EU: June 24, 2016
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Leifthrasir

Odin Sphere is an action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 2 home console. It was published by Atlus (Japan and North America) in 2007, and by Square Enix (Europe) in 2008. A remake titled Odin Sphere Leifthrasir was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2016: Atlus handled publishing duties in Japan and North America, while NIS America published the title in Europe. Using a 2D side-scrolling perspective, the gameplay revolves around a beat em up fighting system, while incorporating RPG elements such as leveling and alchemy — Leifthrasir expands upon and refines these elements. The story, shared between both version, follows five characters on the fantasy continent of Erion during a war between the nations of Ragnanival and Ringford over a weapon called the Crystalization Cauldron, and their roles in the Armageddon, a catastrophe which will destroy Erion.

The game was originally conceived by George Kamitani as first a sequel and then a successor to the 1997 Sega Saturn title Princess Crown. Development began in 2004 after the official formation of Vanillaware. The story, written by Kamitani, was based around the concept of a Valkyrie princess. The scenario and world design incorporated Norse mythology, the works of William Shakespeare, fairy tales and early video games. 2D graphics were chosen over 3D graphics as Kamitani felt the style was stagnating, which necessitated presenting cutscenes as if on a stage rather than in a traditional camera-oriented style. Leifthrasir began development in 2013 as a means of addressing the issues both players and staff had with the original game while keeping the story intact. The music for both versions was composed by a team from Basiscape, led by company founder Hitoshi Sakimoto.