Monolith Software

Background
Monolith Software, Inc. (better known as MonolithSoft) is a Japanese game developer founded in 1999 by Hirohide Sugiura and Tetsuya Takahashi, who had left Square and acquired investing from Namco. On April 28, 2007, Nintendo acquired an 80% majority of Monolith, with Bandai Namco holding 16%. Monolith would become well known for the Xenosaga JRPG series on PlayStation 2, a successor to Xenogears, which Takahashi had produced at Square, in addition to the Baten Kaitos series on Nintendo GameCube. Currently, Monolith is best known for the Xenoblade series on Nintendo platforms, in addition to be an external development team for several Nintendo projects like the Animal Crossing series since Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Splatoon and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.

1st Logo (February 28, 2002-)
Nicknames: The Monolith

Logo: On a black background, we see a long, gray cubic monolith from an above and side view, its side ridged like a hair comb. Below we see  MONOLITHSOFT  in a modified Apollon Regular, the 'I' replaced by the monolith.

Variants:


 * Until 2006, the text simply read 'M.L.S.I.'.
 * On games from the company on Nintendo DS, the logo is more zoomed out.
 * An animated variant appears on Xenosaga: Episode I - Der Wille zur Macht, its first appearance: We see a view of a dark, cloudy sky which flashes, revealing several aurora-like ripples which move over it, until a streak of light moves down and draws in the monolith, with 'M.S.I.' appearing below.
 * On Baten Kaitos Origins, we see only the 'MONOLITHSOFT' text in black on a white background.

FX/SFX: None, aside from the animated variant which uses CGI.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Common. Seen on Monolith's games since Xenosaga: Episode I - Der Wille zur Macht. Many of the studio's games after Disaster: Day Of Crisis have forgone using it as an opening logo, having an in-credit notice instead.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (May 29, 2020-)
Nicknames: The Monolith II Space Monolith

Logo: We zoom out from a black screen to reveal the monolith from the previous logo on a background consisting of a purple-and-blue starfield with a large planet on the right and a bright sun-like star in the middle, standing on a watery surface reflecting everything. The ridges of the monolith swing to their normal position, as we see the letters of  MONOLITHSOFT , turned aways. The perspective straightens and the monolith floats up, the letters below turning to face us as the star illuminates the text. The background then becomes completely black, the logo becoming silver, then gaining a scanline-like texture. The finished logo is shifted higher than usual.

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Current. First seen after the credits of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition on Nintendo Switch.

Editor's Note: None.