Argonaut Software

Background

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

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: Rather common on their games. This was strangely not seen on Catwoman, Bionicle, the Harry Potter series, and Stunt Race FX for some reason.

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.