Tantalus Media

Background
Tantalus Media was founded in 1994 in Melbourne by Trevor Nuridin and Andrew Bailey. First known as "Tantalus Entertainment", it was partly owned by Perfect Entertainment during the 1990's. Then in 1998, it was separate from Perfect Entertainment and became independent, thus renamed to "Tantalus Interactive". In 2007, it was renamed to it's current name following investment from the private company Netus. During 2009, when many Australian studios were forced to close, Tantalus cut off their subsidiary in Brisbane and heavily reduced the number of employees in main office (from 70 in 2008 to just 18). However, the company survived and is still active. Now it's a second party developer for THQ, who publishes all their games. In March 2021, Tantalus was acquired by Keywords Studios.

1st Logo (January 1996-1998)
Logo: There is a chess background with black shiny circle, and the golden ancient helmet in the center. The word "TANTALUS" zooms in letter-by-letter, then "ENTERTAINMENT" is wiped below.

Variants: On some games, the "ENTERTAINMENT" is absent.

FX/SFX: Letters zooming in.

Music/Sounds: Simple fading synth entry.

Availability: Was seen on three games: Krazy Ivan, Area 51 and the Sega Saturn version of Wipeout.

2nd Logo (1999-July 28, 2000)
Logo: There is a blue 3D helmet inside a circle, panned a bit. Below, we can see the website "www.tantalus.com.au".

Variants: On Mary King: Riding Star, the name design was taken from the next logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on South Park Rally for PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast. The variation was seen on Riding Star.

3rd Logo (March 5, 2001)
Logo: We see ghostly blue circle with helmet logo hanging in the center and words emitting light and orbiting around the helmet. The words contain company name with "active" first red, then green. The helmet becomes solid, and the name fades in the line. The website appears below.

FX/SFX: Letters moving and emitting light.

Music/Sounds: A synth entry.

Availability: Exclusively seen on Mary-Kate and Ashley: Winners Circle for PlayStation.

4th Logo (2002-2003)
Logo: On a white background, we see the same helmet design used in previous logos, with "TANTALUS" in the same color below. The website in black appears underneath.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on Top Gear Rally, Woody Woodpecker in Crazy Castle 5, Monster Truck Madness and ATV: Quad Power Racing, all for GBA.

Shares Custom Variant
Logo: There is an elongated blue-colored rounded shield, with a circle on the left, showing the helmet. The word "TANTALUS" is right on the shield. Sometimes the shield has 3D effect.

Variants:
 * On SpongeBob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger, The banner hangs underwater, and the moving jellyfish creates the helmet and last letter "S". Then a speeding jellyfish passes by and creates bubbles, which place on the benner and turn into letters.
 * On Cars Race-o-Rama, Just a light spot moves through the logo.
 * On MX vs. ATV: On the Edge, plain logo is seen and the biker is thrown behind, followed by his bike.
 * On The Polar Express for GBA, it's snowing.
 * Sometimes, The logo is shares the screen with alongside other logos on NDS.

FX/SFX: The logo shines.

Music/Sounds: Generally none.

Availability: Seen on named games, among others for PSP. Also appeared still on Pony Friends 2.