Argonaut Software

Background

Argonaut Software is a British game developer founded by Jez San in February 23, 1982 at Edgware, United Kingdom, best known for co-developing the Star Fox games with Nintendo. In October 1, 2004, the company was closed and liquidated. It was relaunched in 2024.

1st Logo (1991-1992)

Visuals: On a white background, there is an elliptical banner with a picture of a warrior holding his lance and a shield. The name to the right reads "AN ARGONAUT Software Ltd. PRODUCTION".

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen only on Birds of Prey.

2nd Logo (June 1994-August 11, 2005)

Visuals: There is a warrior's head composed of four colored lines and the underlined name which reads ARGONAUT. Below the "SOFTWARE LTD" line can be seen, or "GAMES PLC".

Variants: There are a lot of variants:

On the PS1 and PC versions of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, three Gobbos inflate the logo-bearing balloon until it blows. The Sega Saturn version and the GBC version (latter version under the name Croc) just have the still logo.
On the PS1 and PC versions of Croc 2, the logo is pictured on a floating bottle. The GBC version has the still logo.
On I-Ninja, the rubber-made logo is severed by a sword.
On SWAT, it appears on a metal door blasted by police squad.
On Malice, the letters rotate and zoom in.
On Power Drome, it is white. And a red marker with "SHEFFIELD" blasts in.

Technique: Depending on the variant, usually decent CGI.

Audio: Depending on the variant.

Availability: Seen on most releases of their games. This was not seen on Catwoman, Bionicle, the Harry Potter series, and Stunt Race FX.

3rd Logo (1995)

Visuals: On a black background, The screen pans up to see extreme close-ups of the stone surface. Once the stone surface pans up, we reveal to see a CGI version of the Spartan logo from the previous logo placed one by one, and the company name emerges below the logo.

Technique: 3D CGI.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen only on FX Fighter for PC.

4th Logo (1995-1997)

Visuals: On a black background, the screen pans down to reveal the B&W version of the Spartan logo, complete with the company name panning over, with the 5 lights, blue, green, yellow, red and white, from the previous logo moving, placing and wiping the Spartan logo in a standard color, leaving sparkles.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A wind blowing and a sound of waves crashing.

Audio Variant: On Creature Shock, the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on Alien Odyssey for PC and 3DO, Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and the Philips CD-I port of Creature Shock.