2K Sports

Background

Sega created the Sega Sports brand in 1993 to publish numerous sports and racing games, mainly for its own platforms Genesis, Game Gear and Saturn, and later the Dreamcast. When Sega decided to partner with ESPN in 2002, the brand was renamed to ESPN Videogames in 2003. Later in 2005, Sega sold Visual Concepts (the primary developer of the brand), Kush Games, the 2K IP and several sport licenses to Take-Two Interactive and decided to rename the label to 2K Sports.

Sega Sports

1st Logo (1993-1997)

Logo: On a black background, the original Sega Sports logo appears. It consists of the word "SEGA" in a blocky font above a blue rectangle. Inside the rectangle is the word "SPORTS" written in white and in spaced-out letters. The whole symbol is outlined in red.

Variants:

Sometimes, the word "PRESENTS" is shown below the logo.
A 3D version of the logo exists.
On the Saturn version of NHL All-Star Hockey, the logo is on a hockey field.
On NBA Action for Saturn, the 3D logo lies on a basketball field. A basketball then slams and the ball takes up the entire screen, segueing into the Gray Matter logo.
On NFL 97 and NBA Action 98 for Saturn, an animated version exists where the outlines form the logo pieces, with sports players, which morph into the "SPORTS" letters and the white outline fades in. On the latter, it has a trademark symbol, where the latter doesn't.
On Prize Fighter, the logo is on a wallpaper of the Sega logos on a blue background.
On NHL All-Star Hockey for Genesis, the logo starts off teal, and then a hockey puck hits the logo, turning it into the normal colors.
On NFL's Greatest: San Francisco vs. Dallas: 1978-1993 for SEGA CD, the logo is on a white background, after a football clip plays.
On Daytona USA Championship Edition for Windows, the logo shines.
On Striker for Game Gear and Genesis, the logo is in a different font, and it was in 3D.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None. Sometimes, the game's opening theme is heard.

Availability: Common. It's seen on games under the Sega Sports label from 1993-1997, such as Virtua Racing Deluxe, Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition, Sega Rally Championship and Manx TT Superbike.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1999-2003)

Logo: Against a black background with a blue light through it, several giant letters (ostensibly "Sega Sports") rapidly fly, massively close up to the camera to the point of obscurity, then fly in the same way downward. After this, "SEGA" in a giant metal font looking nothing whatsoever like the signature logo spins out from the center of the camera. An oblong blue bar (ironically resembling Nintendo's logo in shape) swings below it as "sports", in the same font in white, appears on the bar. The background dilutes blue light as more particles fly past it, including more copies of "Sega Sports" and a pair of black parentheses extends from the main logo. The light dies off and the background is black again, and the bar shines once.

Variants:

A still version exists on a white or black background.
Starting in 2002, the "SPORTS" words appear larger.

FX/SFX: The letters flying, the logo zooming out, the bar swinging, the background, and the shining.

Music/Sounds: Several metallic screeches. There is a variant with the sounds arranged differently.

Availability: Appeared on NBA, NHL, World Series Baseball and NFL games under the label.

Editor's Note: None.

ESPN Videogames

(2003-2004)

Logo: On a black background, a red light appears, bringing into squares that contain video walls of ESPN footage. The camera slides over, and then the clips disappear, turning it into white as the red ESPN logo forms, and the black word "VIDEOGAMES" wipes in as the box turns white. The logo shines and the light then dies down.

FX/SFX: The clips moving, the ESPN logo forming.

Music/Sounds: A crowd cheering with whoosh sounds.

Availability: Seen on ESPN video games from the era, such as the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB series, up to 2K5.

Editor's Note: None.

2K Sports

1st Logo (February 28, 2005-)

Logo: Very common to the 2K Games animated logo, but the tunnel we fly in is filled with circles rather than rectangles. The resulting logo has an assembled "2K" carving, which instantly goes solid. It has the word "SPORTS" below.

Variants:

On Nintendo DS games, the logo is still and has no relief effect.
On most games by 2KS, the still logo is inverted.

FX/SFX: The tunnel effect and the rotating shield.

Music/Sounds: A loud majestic trumpet tune.

Availability: Common. The glowing still version on black appears on newer NBA titles, for example NBA 2K11.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 6, 2005-)

Logo: The 2K Sports shield blasts the screen, collecting letters around, and then explodes, unleashing the forms of several sportsmen. They run in every direction, leaving the sole 2KS logo slowly zooming at us. Then it fades.

FX/SFX: The tunnel effect and the rotating shield.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of bang and blast, then crowd cheering.

Availability: Seems to be quite rare, it's known to appear at least on MLB 2K6 and on all versions of The BIGS.

Editor's Note: None.