Vic Tokai

Background
Vic Tokai was the former business and video game brand from Tokai Communications, a Japanese company providing DSL services around the country. They were only known to surface in North America and Europe through their developed games. The company has started business from 1984 until 1998, distributing their games around consoles and PC. So far their logo was known to change with each of their games.

1st Logo (July 30, 1987-March 26, 1988)
Visuals:
 * Chester Field: On a black background is the text "VIC" followed by two Japanese characters ("to" and "kai"). The text changes colors throughout the lapse.
 * Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode: There is a blue background. Suddenly a blast occurs at the center and leaves a broken circular mark, like a wall. The white logo (but thicker) from before fades in on the mark, with "PRESENTS" below.

Technique:
 * The logo changing colors on Chester Field.
 * The blue wall being bursted and the fade-in on the Golgo 13 version.

Audio: None. A blast sound on the Golgo 13 version.

Availability: The respective versions are seen on the two NES games mentioned above.

2nd Logo (December 1, 1989-August 9, 1996)
Visuals: There is the text "VIC TOKAI", which varies with each game (see the Variants below).

Variants:
 * Contact (NES): The small text "VIC TOKAI" is seen with a green shadow. When the logo fades, the shadow seems to go purple.
 * Battle Mania (Genesis): In between the Japanese letters, there is a 16-bit character with the green Vic Tokai logo next to him/her. The slogan is seen above the logo.
 * Trouble Shooter (Genesis): Unknown.
 * Imperium (SNES): The purple/red gradient logo is seen on a very dark green-ish background.
 * Shien's Revenge (SNES): The wordmark is gold.
 * Shinseiki Odysselya II (SNES): The logo is seen on a metallic medieval font.
 * Playboy Karaoke Collection (Saturn): The green wordmark is seen on a white background.

Technique: Sprite-based graphics.

Audio: Mostly none.

Audio Variants:
 * Imperium had a twinkling bell theme.
 * Shinseiki Odysselya II had a dark brass fanfare.

Availability: Seen on all the games mentioned above, from the NES game Contact, to the adult "video game" Playboy Karaoke Collection.

3rd Logo (June 18, 1993)


Visuals: On a shooting star background, the yellow outlines of the letters "VIC TOKAI" zoom/flip in one-by-one, then fill in gold, shine, and turn 3D.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: The bell theme from the Imperium logo.

Availability: Only seen on Shinseiki Odysselya.

4th Logo (August 17, 1993-March 25, 1994; March 17, 1995)
Visuals:
 * Socket: The wooden-textured Vic Tokai wordmark slides in, goes back to the center, and jiggles.
 * Oraga Land Shusai: The purple Vic Tokai wordmark stretches in from the right.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: None. On the Oraga Land Shusai variant, a short white noise fizz with an ominous pinging sound.

Availability: Seen on Socket for the Genesis (Time Dominator in some areas), and the Japanese-exclusive Oraga Land Shusai for the SNES.

5th Logo (November 1993-March 27, 1998)
Visuals: The design of the logo has a green, cyan or blue striped "T" engraved on a circle. Next to it, or below, there's the text "VIC TOKAI", or, on a few variants "VIC TOKAI INC.".

Variants:
 * Time Slip (SNES): The circle is blue, and the text is seen below the logo with the same color.
 * Scratch Gold (Game Gear): The background is white, the circle is green, and the text is seen next to the logo. The text "Valuable Information & Communication" is seen above the wordmark.
 * Tokoro's Mahjong (SNES): The background is white, the circle is green, and the text is seen next to the logo. The text "PRESENTS" is seen below.
 * Kick Off 3: European Challenge (Genesis): The circle is blue, with the striped T white. The text is seen below in white. "PRESENTS" is seen below in a greenish blue shade.
 * Kick Off 3: European Challenge (SNES): Unknown.
 * Princess Minerva (SNES): Two copies of the logo slide from both slides and form the result on the center. The logo has a similar fashion to the Scratch Gold and Tokoro's Mahjong variants.
 * Criticom (PS1/Saturn): The logo is seen in blue, with the text next to the logo.
 * Silverload (PS1): The logo is seen on a light shade of blue, on a white background, with the text seen next to the logo.
 * The Gene Machine (PC): The text is seen in cyan, with the dark blue circle replacing the "O" of the wordmark. "more gameplay" in red fades in below the logo. The logo then fades out.
 * Space Meteorites (N64): A bold version of the circle logo is seen with blue. The red copyright text is shown below.

Technique: Sprite-based graphics/animation.

Audio: None.

Audio Variants:
 * After the logo forms in on the Princess Minerva variant, a synth bell arpeggio is heard.
 * The Gene Machine features a slow MIDI theme that cuts off abruptly.

Availability: Seen on all the games mentioned in the Variants section.

6th Logo (December 15, 1995)


Visuals: There is the green text "VIC TOKAI" fade in. A shine then comes in from the sides, then goes at the center. A flash then appears behind the logo.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: A piano theme.

Availability: Was only seen on The Hyper Golf: Devil's Course for the Sega Saturn.

7th Logo (1995)


Visuals: On a black background, sparks form the complete Vic Tokai logo in blue. "Present" in cyan then appears below.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: Shooting sounds, with a buzzsaw sound, followed by a synth note, with a BANG when "Present" appears.

Availability: Was only seen on the PC game Mortal Coil.

Logo history featuring almost all the logos can be seen here: