Acclaim Entertainment

Logo descriptions by RetroWeezer95, EnormousRat, and Logophile

Editions by CuriousGeorge60 and others

Video captures by Pepsi9072 and SnowflakesOmega

Background: Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., was founded in 1987 as a Delaware corporation. Over the next 17 years, the company became a leading worldwide developer, publisher, and mass marketer. The company's headquarters were located in Glen Cove, New York, and their common stock publicly traded on the US Stock Exchange (NASDAQ symbol AKLM). In later years, Acclaim started to make bad games, but it made some pretty cool games like the NBA Jam series (which was originally an arcade game developed by Midway before Acclaim bought the series), the NFL Quarterback Club series, and the Turok series. In 2004, Acclaim has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings which caused it to be closed. All of its divisions and studios were closed and assets liquidated by the end of 2004.

The special variants of the logos can be found here.

1st Logo

(March 12, 1987-1997)

Nickname: "The Acclaim Arrow" Logo: On a black background, we see the word "Acclaim" in the gray-gradient color, on top of an rainbow gradient arrow-like line facing the left with the "C's" made of "less than" signs [<]. Under the logo is "entertainment, Inc." spaced to fit the width of the logo. Sometimes, "entertainment, inc." is spaced to fit the width of "Acclaim". Trivia: In Frank Thomas' Big Hurt Baseball, NBA Jam, and NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, the Acclaim logo can be seen on some posters and walls. Also, in The Simpsons: Bartman Meets the Radioactive Manthe intro, you find in this game has the comic book with the Acclaim logo on it. Variants:

Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the game. Music/Sound Variant: On the SNES versions of Super Smash T.V. and Geoge Foreman's K-O Boxing, a mystical chime sound is heard. Availability: Seen on Acclaim games from the time, including Mortal Kombat 1 and 2. This can be also seen on the company's early PlayStation and Sega Saturn games such as Bust-A-Move 2 Arcade Edition. It even also appeared on UK releases of Mortal Kombat 3 for Game Boy and Game Gear and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for SNES and Genesis since Acclaim distributed the titles outside the USA. Scare Factor: None to low. Some might get caught off guard by the sounds. 2nd Logo
 * The animated version is when the arrow-line is gray or sometimes black. Then the rainbow gradient arrow-line slides into the logo.
 * Sometimes, the "Acclaim" text is white.
 * On Warlockon Sega Genesis, the logo falls into view themed on an avalanche.
 * On Revolution X, the logo is in 3D style.
 * On Jupiter Strike, the logo is smaller than the original version and the rainbow-colored line shines.
 * On Super Smash T.V., and George Foreman's KO Boxing for SNES, the blue-gradient lines appear above and below the screen respectively.
 * On some games like the Game Boy version of Cutthroat Island, "entertainment, inc." is gone.FX/SFX: The arrow sliding into the logo. In other cases, none or depending on variant.

(1995-2000)

Nicknames: "Shooting Letters", "The Acclaim Arrow II", "CGI Acclaim Arrow" Logo: On a black background, each letter in the word, "Acclaim", flies in and hit the screen, leaving blue fire traces. Everytime a letter hits the screen, the arrow line flashes in blue. When all the other letters come along including "entertainment, inc.", the blue arrow line becomes rainbow colored as usual, and the logo shines with rainbow colors, becoming 3D and grey. After the logo forms, the logo shines while the light starts to shine from beyond the logo. Variants:


 * On the PS1 port of Alien Trilogy, the logo runs at 30fps.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of letters flying, ending with the descending tune. Music/Sounds Variant: On the PAL version of Bust-A-Move 3 (not Bust-A-Move 3 DX/Bust-A-Move 99), the logo is silent. Availability: The standard version appears on many Acclaim games for PlayStation, Saturn and PC like NFL Quarterback Club '96 and  '97 (the former title was never released for PlayStation), College Slam, NBA Jam Extreme, Space Jam, WWF In Your House and The Crow: City of Angels among others. By 1998, this logo was rarely used (instead using the 3th logo) and the last game to feature this was RC De Go! on the PlayStation.
 * On Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball, NFL Quarterback Club '97, and All-Star Baseball '97 featuring Frank Thomas for Sega Saturn, the logo is shot in widescreen.
 * On Bubble Bobble: Featuring Rainbow Islands and Fantastic Four for PlayStation, the standard logo is sped up a little, except for the PAL versions which is in standard speed.FX/SFX: Letters flying, the rainbow effects.

Scare Factor: Minimal. The sound effects may disturb a few, but its harmless.

3rd Logo

(1994-2004)

Nickname: "The Acclaim Arrow III" Logo: We see the similar Acclaim logo from the 1st logo, but the word  Acclaim  is bold and is in plain white. Also, "entertainment, inc.", or "entertainment" is under the logo like before. Variants:


 * On some titles since 1998, "entertainment, inc." is absent. Sometimes, the website URL, www.acclaim.net, later changed into www.acclaim.com in 1999, is under the logo.
 * Sometimes the word "Acclaim" is black and the background is white.
 * On Realtime Associates' developed games likeWWF Rawfor Game Gear, the background and letters are white. The background is black on Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball while Iron Man/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal has the text in gray.
 * On some games for PlayStation, Saturn, and PC, which was from 1995 to 1998 like Rise [of the Robots] 2, College Slam, NFL Quarterback Club '96 and Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball for SNES and Genesis, the logo is in 3D style and the words, "Acclaim" and "entertainment, inc", are dark blue. Also, it has a light blink on it. On Genesis versions, there is no light blink on it. On Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball for Genesis, the arrow colored line slides in from the right like in the first logo.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the game. Availability: Once again, seen on Acclaim games from the time. Scare Factor: None. 4th Logo
 * On some games like Machines, Trickstyle, Burnout 2: Point of Impact and Shadow Man, the logo is high-quality 3D, and the word "Acclaim" is a bit green and has metallic shine. But on Shadow Man, it's on a background.FX/SFX: Depending on variant.

(2000-2001)

Nicknames: "The Acclaim Arrow IV", "CGI Acclaim Arrow II", "The Light Traveling Arrow" Logo: The Acclaim logo turns and zooms in with the spotlight rays traveling through the word, "Acclaim". Then as the lights reach the "cc" part of the logo, the colors on the arrow-like appear via the glow-light color, forming the logo. Then the logo zooms back while the lights slowly dim out a few seconds later. FX/SFX: The light traveling through the logo. Music/Sounds: A synth sounder with a ding at the end. Availability: It only appears on RC Revenge Pro and Paris Dakar Rally for the PlayStation 2. Scare Factor: None. 5th Logo

(2002-2004)

Nicknames: "Pinball-Shot Acclaim Logo", "The Acclaim Arrow V", "CGI Acclaim Arrow III" Logo: The word "Acclaim" is being shot letter-by-letter by lightning sparks. Every letter shines a second after being formed. Two "c"'s are created by the shots from downside, then follow the dot and arrow-line. The word "entertainment" appears, and strike comes down the arrow-line. FX/SFX: Letters being shot. Music/Sounds: Loud shot sounds. Availability: Can be seen on ZooCube for GameCube, Speed Kings, Freestyle Street Soccer, SX Superstar and the American version of Worms 3D for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and PC (the Xbox and European versions were published by Sega). Scare Factor: Medium to high, because of the rapid motion and extremely startling sound effects. 6th Logo

(2003?-2004)

Nicknames: "Laser Writing", "The Acclaim Arrow VI", "The Laser Writing Acclaim Arrow" Logo: The Acclaim logo from before is being written in a blue laser lines. After completion, it shines and glows blue. FX/SFX: Laser writing the letters. Music/Sounds: Laser carving sounds ending with an orchestral hit mixed with the synth bass note. Availability: This logo only appeared on AFL Live Premiership Edition and WCR: World Championship Rugby. It was also seen on the un-released Xbox version of Red Star (when it was released in 2007, it was published by XS Games and was instead released to the PlayStation 2) and early demos of Juiced (the final game was published by THQ after Acclaim went bankrupt). Scare Factor: None to low.

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Television Production

Background: Acclaim Entertainment went into television production during 1990-1991.

(1990-1991) Logo: On a black background is the Acclaim Entertainment logo. Below that, "Masters of the Game" (the company slogan of the time) is below and trails up and eases back slightly. FX/SFX: The trailing of the slogan. Music/Sounds: The closing theme to the program. Availability: Extinct. Seen on the first seasons of two series: the game show Video Power and the animated series Power Team, both produced alongside Bohbot Entertainment and Saban Entertainment. Although the logo is seen only on a few episodes; others fade out after the credits, although that might have been due to practice of TV station. Check those old tapes! Scare Factor: None.