Absolute Entertainment

Background

Absolute Entertainment was founded in 1986 by former Activision programmers, who chose the name to be shown alphabetically before Activision (which itself did the same thing in 1979, when it wanted to leave Atari behind). The company was closed in 1995.

1st Logo (1987-1993)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a sandy-colored pyramid with the name "ABSOLUTE ENTERTAINMENT" below in a rainbow font that changes colors, and "presents..." underneath. The picture is captured in a double white frame.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on early games for Genesis and SNES.

2nd Logo (1993-1996)

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Visuals: On a black background, a blue sphere settles in place and a gold spaced pyramid hangs over it. The name "ABSOLUTE" is in a white font below, without any other words.

Variant: The animated version of the logo features the parts of the pyramid sliding on the black background, then the sphere fades in, along with the company's name below.

Technique: None. Sprite-based animation on the animated version.

Audio: None. An ascending 16-bit brass fanfare on the animated version.

Availability: Seen on Redline F-1 Racer, Casper and Turn and Burn, all for SNES, among other games. The animated version can be found on Home Improvement for the SNES, and ESPN Sunday Night NFL for the Genesis.

3rd Logo (1994)

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Visuals: The camera travels through space. Later, there is a blue sphere with gold lines (which is part of the company's logo), and the camera turns around until the Absolute logo from before is revealed (with text).

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A synthesized fantasy-like fanfare.

Availability: So far, it was seen on the Sega CD version of Wheel of Fortune.

4th Logo (1995)

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Visuals: The camera pans from the blue-gold sphere from before in space, which is now textured to resemble the planet Earth. The Absolute wordmark zooms out from above and settles on the bottom, while the pyramid rotates in from the right piece by piece. As a light shines through the text, the space background changes to a brown-toned marble texture, the sphere becomes solid blue and casts a shadow on the marble.

Variants:

• A higher-quality, still version of the logo is seen on the 3DO port of Rise of the Robots.
• On a trailer for the unreleased Sega CD game Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors, the animation is very smooth and in high quality. There are white moving clouds on the globe and the text spins while zooming.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as before.

Availability: The original animated version is seen on RDF - Global Conflict for the Sega CD. It also appears on the aforementioned console's unreleased game Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors and its accompanying trailer.