Edge of Reality

Background

Edge of Reality was an Austin, Texas-based game development studio founded in 1998. Founded by Rob Cohen, a former employee of Iguana Entertainment, the company found initial success in porting the first three Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games and Monster Truck Madness to the Nintendo 64, before developing games such as Pitfall: The Lost Expedition, the video game adaptations of Shark Tale, Over the Hedge and The Incredible Hulk, Loadout, and Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark.

1st Logo (March 15-November 21, 2000)

Visuals: On a black background is an orange sphere surrounded by two black arcs. Above this, there is the word "EDGE", and below is the word "REALITY", while the word "OF" is written on the sphere. The logo is tilted and has a white fuzzy shadow.

Variant: On Spider-Man (the 2000 game), the logo is shown along with the other logos above it. To the left we see a picture of the game's cover art. Then Spider-Man (voiced by Rino Romano) climbs through the screen from the bottom left through the top right and says "What do we have here?".

Technique: A still sprite-based graphic.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on the Nintendo 64 versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Spider-Man.

2nd Logo (July 30, 1999-August 20, 2002)

Visuals: An orange sphere hangs between three arcs, which together resemble the letters "eR". Below, there's a black bar with "eDGE" in stretched font and in spaced-out letters, and "oF rEALITY" is seen below (with the registry messed up). There's a white glow over the logo.

Variant: On Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the logo is shown on the right along with the Activision O2 logo on the left and the Neversoft logo on the center. Under them is the game's title depending on game.

Technique: A still, sprite-based graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen full screen on the Nintendo 64 version of Monster Truck Madness, and as in-credit on other games. The variant with the other logos can also be seen on the Nintendo 64 versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. It was used in tandem with the previous logo.

3rd Logo (March 25, 2003-May 5, 2006)

Visuals: In a white space is a pull cord and small red text reading "PULL!" and a right arrow pointing to it. Then, an orange ball with arms and legs walks in and notices the cord. He pulls it, and soon the parts of the logo begin to fall down. The ball then ducks as the rest of the logo falls down. The ball stands back up and looks up. The camera cuts to an overhead view and zooms back, showing the logo while the ball's limbs disappear. It looks similar to the previous one, but the words are larger and bold. The text "tAKING gAMES tO tHE eDGE" then appears on the bottom right.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A slow, funky-sounding disco-like theme with bubbling sounds when the ball walks, metallic sounds when the parts of the logo fall, a high-pitched shriek from the ball and a faint whoosh when the logo zooms back.

Availability: Seen on the PS2, Xbox and GameCube versions of The Sims, as well as the console versions of the Shark Tale and Over the Hedge video games.

4th Logo (Pitfall: The Lost Expedition variant) (February 18, 2004)

Visuals: The orange ball from before walks in a white space. A hole opens up in the ground, where the ball nearly loses his footing. He notices a vine over the hole, and jumps using this vine. Then he walks again proudly and misses another pitfall, falling inside. There is the ball lying on the bottom where he twitches, and the camera zooms back while his limbs disappear and the logo fades in surrounding the ball.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Ambient background noises including birds chirping and footsteps as the ball walks, a roaring sound when the hole opens, then a victorious composition that takes a dramatic turn when the ball falls, as well as monkeys chattering when the logo forms.

Availability: Seen on Pitfall: The Lost Expedition.

5th Logo (June 5, 2008-2017)

Visuals: On a black screen, several orange light beams appear in various places, revealing some letters and finally revealing the new Edge of Reality logo, which consists of a rough white rectangle with the black text "EDGE". Below, we can see "OF REALITY" in a grungy white font, with the "O" in orange.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: Powerful beaming sounds and a short synth note.

Availability: Seen on The Incredible Hulk (the 2008 game) and Pitfall: The Big Adventure (the Wii version of Pitfall: The Lost Expedition).

6th Logo (Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark variant) (June 24, 2014)

Visuals: There is the AllSpark (the vital cube-like artifact in the Transformers universe) floating in space. Suddenly, small square chunks of the Spark begin to disappear, until only one small part of it remains. It then rotates to reveal the new Edge of Reality logo engraved on it, which now consists of "EDGE" in the same font as the previous logo (now cleaner), encased in a rectangular border with the bottom of it thicker and having "OF REALITY" inscribed on it. The screen flashes in an orange hue, and the logo turns white while the background turns black. It then fades out.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: Transforming sounds when the cube shrinks and a phasing sound when the screen flashes.

Availability: Seen on Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark.