Terminal Reality

Background
Terminal Reality is an American video game development and production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in October 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, Terminal Reality developed a variety of games including racing games (such as 4x4 EVO 2), 3D action games (such as BloodRayne), and more.

1st Logo (May 31, 1995)


Visuals: We see the blue text "TERMINAL REALITY INC." fly in one-by-one. Then the letters "TRI" in silver zoom out, emerge and settle.

Technique: Early 3D animation.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on Terminal Velocity.

2nd Logo (August 31, 1996-May 13, 1998)


Visuals: In the darkness, we move along the water with the starry sky above. We get close to the shady constructions standing on the water, and pan over them while the light spot appears and reveals the three copper letters "TRI" standing on a cogwheels and rolling to face the single side. The name "Terminal Reality Inc." is in copper. Some brass-colored ripple still can be seen below, but then vanishes.

Technique: Water rippling, letters rotating. Choppy animation and poor sound quality. For a video game logo this age, however, this is expected.

Audio: A ghastly screeching sound and the rotating cogs. All ends with the 4-note fanfare.

Availability: Appeared on Hellbender and Monster Truck Madness, and its sequel.

3rd Logo (October 29, 2000-November 15, 2005)


Visuals: The logo shows a white, skull-form face over a red rectangular box. The name appears below in white font, reading "TERMINAL REALITY" in two lines.

Variants:
 * 4x4 Evo 2: We see sandy surface with several stones, while the car passes by humming and the sand moves away to reveal the stony logo.
 * Games published by Majesco have a special version of the logo, described on that company's page.
 * On RoadKill, we see a Man with a Blue Coat & a hat walk towards us. Then, he gets run over by a train & he's sent flying in the air. The Terminal Reality logo appears as usual as the man is falling & landing.

Technique: Most of the time, 3D animation.

Audio: The opening theme of the game, or none.

Availability: The normal still logo appeared on 4x4 Evolution, while the sandy variant appeared on its sequel, 4x4 Evo 2. The Majesco-published games with the custom variant are BloodRayne series, Aeon Flux and BlowOut. The last variant can be found on RoadKill on the GameCube & on the Xbox.

Legacy: The image of the skull, the tone of red and the overall darkness of the logo will definitely disturb more than a few.

4th Logo (September 5, 2006-December 12, 2013)
Visuals: On a black background, we see a modified version of the last skull in a glowing bluish color. The name, "TERMINAL REALITY" appears below in one line.

Variants:


 * On Ghostbusters, the name disappears and the ghost trap is thrown under the logo and the face is reluctantly sucked inside.
 * On Kinect Star Wars, the holographic blue logo appears in perspective view and pans back to the normal position, flickering and shining in process, then becomes full white.

Technique: Originally still, but there are animated variants.

Audio: None, or the Opening Theme of The Game.

Music/Sound Variants:


 * For Ghostbusters, we hear sounds of the ghost trap and a roar when the face is sucked inside.
 * On Kinect Star Wars, we hear crackling and booms.

Availability: Can be seen on games at the time, starting with SpyHunter: Nowhere To Run.

Legacy: While the skull will disturb some, it's less scary than the previous logo.