Psygnosis

Logo descriptions by EnormousRat and CuriousGeorge60 Logo captures and editions by CuriousGeorge60 Video captures courtesy of BwrwEiraShowreel, Nismete, EnormousRat, and others

Background: Psygnosis Limited was a prolific UK-based game company, most notable for its Lemmingsand Wipeout series and other quality games.Psygnosis became a legendary company, and its "owl-ball" logo is still fairly well-known around in the gaming world.It was acquired by Sony in 1993, but stayed autonomic until 1998, when its activity was divided to Eidos and 989 Studios. The Psygnosis brand and logo were used until 2000 (for Sony internal studios as well), when Sony incorporated all European studios into its internal structure. In 2000, Sony discontinued the Psygnosis brand, closed all their US studios and renamed their UK studios, with the main company later renamed to SCE Studio Liverpool, which was unfortunately closed on August 22, 2012. Former employees of the company then formed 2 independent studios, Firesprite and Playrise Digital.

1st Logo (1984-1996) Psygnosis (1984-1996)Psygnosis (1995)Psygnosis (1994)Psygnosis (1994)

Nicknames: "The Owl-Ball", "Psygnosis Owl", "Psygnosis Owl-Ball"

Logo: On a black background, the text "PSYGNOSIS" is seen at the top of the screen, all of it in a custom futuristic font colored with chrome-blue tones and sometimes features motionless pings. Below it is a silver ring, and a geometric owl is seen in mid-flight on the left side of it. On the bottom right is the "Owl-Ball", a white ball with an abstract looking owl head, with most of the details in turquoise and lines coming out of the owl's eyes, which are black and yellow.

Trivia: The logo was designed by Roger Dean.

Variants:

On earlier titles, the logo was either missing the Owl-Ball or just had the text on the title screen. Sometimes, "PRESENTS", in the same font as "PSYGNOSIS", is under the logo. There's another variant where we see only the "PSYGNOSIS" text with "PRESENTS" underneath. There's another variant where it only shows the "Owl-Ball" and under it is the "PSYGNOSIS" text.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Common on older games presented by Psygnosis. The variant without the owl appeared in Puggsy, Deep Space,and Dropzone for SNES. The variant with Owl-Ball and the name below was seen on Mickey Mania for Playstation, Lemmings 3D, Destruction Derby for Saturn and Discworld.

Editor's Note: While its pretty well-designed and cool-looking, the text is very hard to read, especially the "G", which makes it looks like "PSYCNOSIS".

2nd Logo (1994-1996) Psygnosis (1994)

Nicknames: "The Tunnel", "The Dark Tunnel", "Psygnosis Owl II", "Psygnosis Owl-Ball II"

Logo: We are in a very dark tunnel, when then brights out a second later. While we zoom through it, the "Owl-Ball" quickly zooms out from the viewer and backs away with it's smoke effect behind it. As the tunnel's texture changes, the spotlight appears quickly from behind and onto the viewer causing the screen to flash, revealing the Psygnosis logo from before in the green tone, but without the Owl-Ball on it. The tunnel background quickly swirls away. After the tunnel disappears, the logo's tint changes into purple and the Owl-Ball appears again.

Variants:

There is a slow variant of the logo that appeared on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein for Sega CD. On Wipeout for Saturn, the logo is ghostly green and lacks the small picture of the owl-ball.

FX/SFX: The zooming of the tunnel, the Owl-Ball zooming out, the flash.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Appears on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein for Sega CD, and Wipeout and Adidas Power Soccer for PlayStation. The logo also appears on Saturn and PC versions of Wipeout as well.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1995-2000) Psygnosis (1996) (Presents Variant)Psygnosis (1996) (Formula 1 Variant)Bizarre Creations/Psygnosis (1996)

Nickname: "Psygnosis Owl-Ball III"

Logo: Against the the textured background with the black circle hole in it and the lens on it, the Owl-Ball appears spinning in along with the black circle outline. After it finishes, the Owl-Ball changes into it's normal style (But it's light blue this time) and the purple rectangular shape with "PSYGNOSIS" on the bottom black half of the shape, appears with the white outline as the background fades out. Then the spotlight-textured background appears behind the logo.

Variants:

On some games like Wipeout XL (Known as Wipeout 2097 in UK), "PRESENTS" appears spaced under the logo. Sometimes, the logo is still on the black background or the white background. This happened on The City of Lost Children, where the picture possessed some grains, as it was scanned. On Formula 1, the still logo fades in at the beginning of the opening intro movie. On the end of the Formula 1 demo (Found on Interactive CD Sampler Vol. 3 for PlayStation), the still logo is seen on the right along with the 1996 Bizarre Creations logo (see here) on the left. Above and below the logos are "A Bizarre Creations Production" and "Published by Psygnosis" in a Franklin Gothic Bold Italic font respectively. This also appears on the PC demo version of said title as well. Since 1997, there's another variant where the words, "PSYGNOSIS PRESENTS" with the dots between the name in the circle text wrap effect appears zooming in one-by-one three times during the logo's animation. Also, two the same words are in the front side of the logo spinning in different speed and the logo is superimposed on the game's opening intro.

FX/SFX: The Owl-Ball spinning, the logo forming. Sometimes, None.

Music/Sounds: The game's opening theme is heard, or none.

Availability: Still common, particularly on Psygnosis games through the era like Lemmings series, Formula 1, Rascal, Wipeout XL (Known as Wipeout 2097 in UK), Professional Underground: League of Pain, Eliminator and Discworld II: Mortality Bytes!. The later variant appears on titles like Formula 1: Championship Edition (Known as Formula 1 '97 in the UK), Colony Wars, and Shadow Mater. Still variant on black background appeared on The City of Lost Children, Wipeout 64 and Rush Hour.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1996-2000) Psygnosis (1998)Psygnosis (1998) (Formula 1 '98 Variant)Psygnosis (1999) (Formula One '99)

Nicknames: "The Tunnel II", "Psygnosis Owl-Ball IV"

Logo: We zoom through a long dimensional tunnel with different stylish textures decorated around. Then the green glowing circle zooms out from the viewer and the Owl-Ball eventually appears spinning in it's same animation from before. As the tunnel slowly fades away, the rest of the logo's animation from the last logo plays.

Variants:

Like before since 1997, there's another variant where the words, "PSYGNOSIS PRESENTS" with the dots between the name in the circle text wrap effect appears zooming in one-by-one three times during the logo's animation. Also, two the same words are in the front side of the logo spinning in different speed. On Formula 1 '98, when the logo forms, the background fades out and then the background with the black-white checkered finishing flag fades in waving slowly. Then the logo fades out leaving the background intact, causing the Formula 1 Administration (FIA) logo to appear with "Under official license" under it, which was misspelled as "licence", then the ViSOS logo, and of course, the Visual Sciences logo. Like before, there is a still version of the logo. On Formula One '99, the still logo appears on the opening intro movie with "PRESENTS" below the logo. On Sentinel Returns, there is a still version of the logo with it's spotlight background intact.

FX/SFX: Same as before, but with the tunnel animation added.

Music/Sounds: An ominous sequence with chimes, synths and drums, ending in a triumphant horn note. Sometimes it's the opening theme of the game. None for the still version.

Availability: Rare. Appears on games through the era like WipeOut 3, Formula 1 '98, Rollcage, Colony Wars: Vengeance, Sentinel Returns and Adidas Power Soccer '98.

Editor's Note: None.