Disney Interactive Studios

Background
Disney entered the video games market in 1988 with the establishment of Walt Disney Computer Software, called Disney Interactive since 1995. During the first years, they were involved mainly in game development, but later gradually changed to mostly publishing business. In 2003, Disney Interactive was renamed to Buena Vista Games, with the Disney Interactive name being used as a publishing label. In 2007, Buena Vista Games was renamed to Disney Interactive Studios. In May 2016, it ceased development on console games and shut down their last studio active, Avalanche Software. However, the company still develops mobile games and Avalanche was later re-opened by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. For console games, DIsney licenses their properties to other publishers, including WBIE, Gameloft and Square Enix.

1st Logo (September 7, 1988-1990)
Nickname: "Disney Castle"

Logo: On a black background, we see the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, with fireworks appearing one-by-one. The word "Di SNEY ", in its corporate font, appears overlapping the castle.

Variant: Depending on the game (and maybe the platform), this logo will have different colors.

FX/SFX: The fireworks and "Disney" appearing.

Music/Sounds: An 8-bit rendition of the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Song of the South.

Availability: Rare. It was only seen on Matterhorn Screamer! and The Chase on Tom Sawyer's Island.

2nd Logo (1990-1995)
Logo: On a black background, we see the CGI words

_Di SNEY _ S O F T W A R E

with "Di SNEY" in its corporate script font. There is a Pinocchio star in the line. The words "sparkle". On some games, this logo has no animation.

Variants:
 * On Game Boy games, this logo is in black and white.
 * On Beauty and the Beast, the background is white.
 * On Aladdin for Game Boy and Genesis and The Lion King for SNES and Genesis, the Virgin Interactive logo is seen below the Disney Software logo, with "A" and "CO-PRODUCTION" above and below respectively, and "AND" sandwiched in the middle between the Disney Software logo and the Virgin Interactive logo, forming the message "A Disney SOFTWARE and Virgin INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT Co-Production". (For example, the custom variant that was seen on Aladdin for Game Boy and Genesis features the Genie flying from left to right past the Disney Software and Virgin Interactive logos; sometimes it has copyright info below.)
 * On The Jungle Book for the SNES and Sega Genesis, Tinker Bell from the 1953 movie Peter Pan flies from the left and waves her hand to form the Disney Software logo. She exits out of the screen, leaving a trail of pixie dust to dissolve. We also hear an elephant trumpeting when the Disney Software logo appears. The Sega Genesis version has different graphics with the Disney Software logo already formed.
 * On The Jungle Book for Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System, the logo reads just "W ALT Di SNEY". The logo shines, then freezes.
 * On The Lion King for DOS, the logo is enhanced in quality.

FX/SFX: The "sparkling".

Music/Sounds: The opening of the game's theme or silent.

Availability: Uncommon.
 * The first animated version can be seen on Aladdin for DOS and Amiga.
 * The second animated version is pretty quite rare, being only seen on The Jungle Book for the SNES and Sega Genesis. It also appears on Disney's Animated Storybook: The Lion King.
 * The still version can be found on The Lion King for DOS, SNES and Sega Genesis with the Virgin logo, and Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse for SNES, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD.
 * The black and white version is rare, and it can be seen on The Lion King for Game Boy.

1st Logo (December 8, 1995-November 9, 2005, March 4, 2016)
Nickname: "Di"

Logo: Just a still image of the Disney Interactive logo with the Disney logo with "INTER" and "ACTIVE" stacked below it with a square with the Disney "D", with the "i" dot on top cut out of it. This logo is also usually superimposed onto the intro of the game.

Variants: FX/SFX: None. In the animated version, the fade-in.
 * For Game Boy games, this logo is in black and white.
 * This logo may either appear on a black or white background.
 * On The Jungle Book: Rhythm 'n' Groove Party and Donald Duck Advance, copyright info is shown below.
 * For Nintendo 64 games and the GBA version of Monsters, Inc., the logo is in 3-D.
 * There is an animated version in which the entire logo fades in one-by-one on a white background. This can be seen on My Disney Kitchen, Winnie the Pooh: Preschool and Winnie the Pooh: Kindergarten.
 * On Kingdom Hearts, everything is in one straight line instead of the normal up and down version, the "Di" logo is on the left and the words "Disney Interactive" are on the right.
 * On Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the logo is carved onto a stone background and is underwater.
 * On Disney Princess: Fashion Boutique, the logo is seen in a mirror.
 * On Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical Ballroom, the logo is a mosaic.
 * There's a "Coming Soon" Version that exists. It's translated in different languages.

Music/Sounds: Only the opening theme of the game. Sometimes, it's seen silent.

Availability: Common. First seen on Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow for Sega Genesis and the SNES.
 * It can be found on Toy Story for Sega Genesis, SNES and PC, some CD-ROM games like Disney's Magic Artist, Disney's The Lion King Activity Center, and many others. It also appears on Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games as well.
 * It was also seen on PlayStation games like Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix and The Jungle Book: Rhythm 'n' Groove Party. Some of the last games to use this were The Incredibles and the US version of The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer both for all platforms and Chicken Little for Game Boy Advance.
 * Also seen on Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical Ballroom, Disney's Animated Storybook: Pocahontas, Mulan's Story Studio, and Disney Princess: Fashion Boutique.
 * Despite the game's box showing the Buena Vista Games logo, the Disney Interactive logo shows up on the US version of Kim Possible: Kimmunicator (a Nintendo DS game). This marks the final regular appearance of the logo, and is replaced by the Buena Vista Games logo in the European release.
 * This logo strangely made a surprise appearance in the movie credits of Zootopia. Disney Princess: Royal Horse Show does not feature this logo.

2nd Logo (1996-February 8, 2005)
Nicknames: "Di II", "CGI DI"

Logo: On a black background, a glowing white ball of light appears and flashes, revealing a rectangle shone by two stars. The light moves around as the rectangle rotates upwards, revealing the text "Di SNEY INTERACTIVE" above it (with "Di SNEY " in its corporate font, and "INTERACTIVE" being split into two parts, with "INTER" on top of "ACTIVE"). The light sketches the "D" from "Di SNEY " into the rectangle at a slanted angle, which is revealed to be a box, and then shoots up, covering the background in sparkles, and adding the dot from the "i" in "Di SNEY " above, making it a stylized "Di". The box with the "Di" glows for a second.

Variants:
 * Beginning in 1998 or 1999, the logo now opens with a swirl of sparkles on a background. The rest of the animation continues as normal on the background at about double-speed, and the company name is now in a shade of  instead of bluish-.
 * On Disney's Villains' Revenge and the Toy Story 2 CD-ROM Sampler, a longer version of the background variant appears to exist. Just before the usual animation starts on the  background, we see clouds and sparkles flying and moving and showing clips of Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Beauty and the Beast.
 * There is an earlier version where the logo is already formed on a black background, and the spark appears to draw the "Di" in the box, before the background flashes to a /white shade color.
 * On Hercules, the logo is shortened.
 * On Disney's Animated Storybook: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the logo is slowed down.
 * On Toy Story Activity Center, the logo plays normally at the end of a dark blue tunnel, which has the clouds from Andy's room walls imprinted on them. Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story has a similar variant, though the tunnel is, and instead of the clouds, there are five dots outlining each angle of the logo.
 * On Toy Story 2 Activity Center, the logo plays on a TV.
 * On Ariel's Story Studio, the logo is in one of the bubbles and has the opening theme of the game playing.
 * On the first edition PC game of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the logo simply flashes in on a black background.
 * On Tarzan for the PS1, the logo zooms in after it's finished.
 * On Tarzan Activity Center, the logo is made out of wood.

FX/SFX: Cool CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A lab-like ambient drone is heard throughout, while a rocketship sound is heard as the rectangle appears, some whooshes and wind as the spark flies, and some haunting bells near the end after it's completed.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * The purple background variant still has the ambient drone, but now has different sound effects, mainly whistles and chimes as the swirls appear, and less haunting chimes after the logo is completed.
 * Sampler CDs that use the early variant just have two loud zaps.
 * Some games use the opening theme, like Tarzan and Hercules.
 * On The Haunted Mansion (2003) video game, the purple background variant of the music is double-pitched and is warp-speed.
 * The WWTBAM? variation uses a 3-note synth tune, then a long fade-out that transitions into the Celador logo.
 * On the GameCube version of PK: Out of the Shadows, the 2001 logo's music is used.
 * A whimsical synthesized theme is heard on Disney's Arcade Frenzy and some titles in the Disney Hotshots series.
 * On Toy Story Activity Center, a shortened and reorchestrated version of the fanfare from the Pixar-exclusive version of the Walt Disney Pictures logo with additional sound effects is used.

Availability: Quite common overall.
 * The early variant is pretty rare on games, and usually appears on sampler CDs like Disney's 1996-97 Software Sampler. However, it can be easily found on trailers for games on Disney tapes from the '90s, such as the 1996 VHS of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
 * The original black variant appears on some Disney PC games released during this time period, normally as part of the games' opening.
 * The version with music appears on the PS1 versions of A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Disney's Dinosaur, and Toy Story Racer, the last of which is the final appearance of the original music variant (other versions of these games use the still logo (for A Bug's Life on N64) or the purple version of this logo).
 * The purple background version is very common, and appears on many Disney video games released during this time period, used in tandem with the previous and 4th logos. It was even seen on Finding Nemo.
 * The last game to use this logo was Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure.

Editor's Note: A very nicely-animated logo that's a favorite of many, no doubt in part due to its omnipresence on many nostalgic games. There is sadly one major fault with the logo, however; it's often presented at a very low framerate (approximately 15 frames a second), probably because it initially appeared on computer games. As a result, when it appeared on later titles for consoles like the PlayStation (or even later PC games!), it often stuck out like a sore thumb between more smoothly-animated logo sequences. It's still a very memorable logo, though.

3rd Logo (May 1-September 19, 2001)


Nicknames: "Di III", "Disney Rock"

Logo: In a green-toned water cave, an earthquake starts and some stones fall down. A light appears. Then a rock emerges from the water, with the Disney Interactive logo carved on it (in yellow instead of red).

FX/SFX: All the animation: falling stones, water ripple, rock emerging and the light in the cave.

Music/Sounds: Earthquake humming, splashes of water, followed by a soft musical tune.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Atlantis: Search for the Journal, and Atlantis: Trial by Fire.

4th Logo (2001-2003)


Nicknames: "The Paper", 'Di IV"

Logo: On a black background, we see a white paper fly with the Disney Interactive logo in it, drawing. Then, a fairy resembling Tinker Bell flies in to colorize the logo. The logo "shines".

Variant: On Monsters, Inc. for PlayStation 2, the logo is slightly stretched-center.

FX/SFX: The paper flying.

Music/Sounds: A long whoosh, and a loud synth note, which sounds similar to the THX Deep Note.

Availability: It's much rarer than the 1st and 2nd logos. Games that have this logo include Lilo & Stitch: Trouble In Paradise, Peter Pan: Return to Never Land, Piglet's Big Game (the European versions use the 2nd logo instead), Stitch: Experiment 626, Monsters, Inc., Pooh's Party Games (Party Time with Winnie the Pooh in Europe), the Nintendo GameCube version of Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers, Disney Trivia Challenge and Disney Princess: Magical Dress-Up.

(Late 2005-2007)
Nickname: "BVG"

Logo: On a black background, we see a box fading in with the letters "bvg" inside it. The words "BUENA VISTA GAMES" is shown below. Then the logo turns dark and zooms out, leaving its shadow for a second. For the later years, the logo is slightly re-colored.

Variants:
 * A still version exists.
 * Another still version exists for when the background is white and the logo fades in for a couple seconds, then it fades out.
 * On The Chronicles of Narnia for GBA, the logo is arranged with a snowy background.
 * On the NDS version of Cars, the logo is in a movie theater.
 * Certain versions of Kingdom Hearts II (it is unknown which ones), despite the release date, use an in credit Disney Interactive Studios logo.

FX/SFX: The logo fades in and turns dark for the animated version, none for the still version.

Music/Sounds: None. Sometimes, the game's opening theme or a whoosh noise.

Availability: Uncommon.
 * The animated version can be found on Disney video games of the era such as the console, PC, and PSP versions of Cars.
 * The still version can be seen on Cars, The Proud Family, and the European version of The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer, among others, all for the GBA.
 * The white background version can be seen on Kingdom Hearts II.

Editor's Note: None.

(February 9, 2007-May 2016)
Nickname: "The Disney Shield"

Logo: On a black background, we see a glowing 3D shield, with "Di SNEY " in a   corporate font in it, and below it is "INTERACTIVE STUDIOS" in the same tint. The logo shines. Copyright info is shown below, or sometimes not at all.

Variants:
 * For the majority of Game Boy Advance games, early games and Pixar games (except for Toy Story Mania!, Toy Story 3: The Video Game, and the PS2 and Xbox versions of Ratatouille, which had the regular logo instead), "INTERACTIVE STUDIOS" is absent. Two other Pixar games, WALL-E and Up, don't even have the shield.
 * For Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS games, the logo is still, but sometimes superimposed over the intro of the game. The previous variant can be used here as well, for example on Herbie: Rescue Rally.
 * There is a still version of the logo with "INTERACTIVE STUDIOS" on it in a white background with no shining. The shield is also silver.
 * There is a version with a white background. This can be seen on trailers, but also on a few games.
 * On mobile and iPhone releases, the logo is designed as just "Disney Games" on a background.
 * On later games with this logo, the shield appears darker than usual, with the waving ripple, but without the shine.
 * There are other custom variants used in games.
 * A longer variant of this logo exists, in which sparks are seen forming the oval on a mechanical-looking background before flashing to reveal the final product. This version was animated by Hammer Creative.

FX/SFX: The logo shining. None for the still version.

Music/Sounds: Sparkling and whooshing, sounded by 5 Alarm. None or the opening theme of the game for still and custom variants.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, a majestic rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio is heard, usually only using the first six notes.

Availability: Common. The still version can be found on a majority of GBA, NDS, and 3DS games, and all Kingdom Hearts games from Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories onwards up until Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. PC games that have this logo include Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey, The Princess and the Frog, Meet The Robinsons, Bolt, and Ratatouille.

Final Note: Since May 2016, many Disney games use either the 2011-present theatrical logo (making Disney the last film studio to begin using their film logo on games) or the 2D print Disney wordmark.