Jester Interactive

Background
Jester Interactive is a video game developer based in North Wales in the United Kingdom and was founded in 1997 as a trading arm of Morgan Computing Limited. It would later trade under the name Jester Interactive Limited, and after going into administration in 2003 would re-emerge trading as Jester Interactive Publishing Limited. The company is well known for its music sequencing software on home consoles in the form of the MUSIC and MTV Music Generator branded software.

1st Logo (November 20, 1998-December 17, 1999)
Logo: We see the glowing-multicolored text "JESTER" standing on the floor in a medieval-style font, as the camera moves by the logo. The background also changes colors from to, and the word "- INTERACTIVE -" stands in front of the text. We then pan to a grinning jester head on a stick that lies next to the logo. The camera then zooms out as we see the logo completely.

Technique: Nice colorful CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic orchestral theme.

Availability: Can be seen on the PlayStation games MUSIC: Music Creation for the PlayStation, Music 2000 and its American counterpart MTV Music Generator.

2nd Logo (May 25, 2001-August 4, 2005)
Logo: On the floor of a dark room, we see an open treasure chest. Suddenly, a glowing ball of light comes out and hovers over to a creepy-looking court jester dressed in and  clothing (hat-bell and all) who is asleep. Talking in squeaky gibberish, it wakes the jester up on the start as the camera follows the ball around it (who looks like we are in some kind of filming studio with a projector running in the background), who simply watches in wonder. Then, the jester grumbles darkly at the ball while it hovers around still talking gibberish. The camera then zooms to the jester as the ball stops moving in front of him. Then the jester jerks his head back giving out a loud, evil-sounding laugh. Suddenly, the ball goes into his mouth, and he gains an "Oh no" expression on his face as he starts shaking while lights beam out his face, exploding into a load of bubbles with only his white eyes hitting the screen and sliding down, leaving a trail of white slime, while his hat slowly floats down as we see the now empty projector studio fading out to a black background to reveal the logo (a pair of glaring white eyes under a half- and hat with "JESTER" below) inside a white rectangle. The website address "www.jesterinteractive.com" is positioned below.

Variants:


 * On Suzuki TT Superbikes and Super Trucks Racing, the logo is still. Also, the URL is replaced with "PRESENTS".
 * On the GBA version of Manic Miner, the logo is still like the Suzuki TT Superbikes and Super Trucks Racing variant, but it has the URL underneath, and a "Licensed by Nintendo" disclaimer is seen underneath that.

Technique: Quite impressive computer-game style CGI animations with good graphic character design. The fading screen to the logo is very clean.

Music/Sounds: An ominous piano theme with chords and synths, but mainly, it's high-pitched gibberish and low-pitched grunting that takes up much of the logo's sounds. At the end, a large sinister laugh is heard. On the still version, it is silent.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the Manic Miner variant, we hear a choir of children saying "JESTER!" in a similar manner to the 3rd Sega logo.

Availability: Only appeared on the PS2 game MTV Music Generator 2. The still variant appears on the games mentioned above.

Legacy: A very strange, somewhat creepy logo with a bizarre concept and even weirder execution.

3rd Logo (May 30, 2003-July 28, 2004)
Logo: On the floor in a dark room, we see a and  treasure box with a Jester hat on it. Suddenly, the box moves from the inside four times as it then falls onto its side and we see a brand plastered to its bottom. As we zoom and bump into it, the text can be seen "GWNAED A LLAW YNG NGHYMRU GAN / HAND MADE IN NORTH WALES BY" with a black Jester logo below.

Technique: Good CGI.

Music/Sounds: Bumping and squeaking sounds, the last squeak occurs when the text zooms in.

Availability: Rare. Was seen on Music 3000 and its American counterpart, Digital Hitz Factory.