Knowledge Adventure

Background

JumpStart Games, formerly known as Knowledge Adventure, is a well-known edutainment game company formed in 1989, most known for making JumpStart. In the late 1990s, it was later merged with another large education software firm, Davidson & Associates, which was best known for the Math Blaster series and other related games in the popular Blaster Learning System line-up.

Since then, the company was owned by various firms, including CUC Interactive in 1997, Cendant Corporation in 1998, and Vivendi in the same year (later known as "Vivendi Universal" in 2000). During the Vivendi ownership, Knowledge Adventure was part of the Vivendi Universal Games division. In late 2004, Vivendi Universal sold Knowledge Adventure to a group of investors interested in taking a more active management strategy, and in developing new educational software. The company has since released new products under both the JumpStart and Math Blaster brands.

In 2012, Knowledge Adventure was renamed to JumpStart Games. In 2017, JumpStart Games was acquired by NetDragon Websoft. On June 13, 2023, JumpStart Games announced the closure of the company and the end of support of all games, and on July 1, 2023, the company was officially closed, with the servers and website also shutting down, likely as a result of the lawsuit that arose as a result of the Neopets data breach in 2022 (a property JumpStart acquired from Nickelodeon in 2014).

Contents

1st Logo (1993)	2nd Logo (December 13, 1993-August 26, 1998)	3rd Logo (October 19, 1998-March 25, 2011)

1st Logo (1993)

Visuals: On a purple cloud background, there's a gold emblem consisting of three wings on each side, a violet-tinted cardinal direction signal inside a blue circle with a black outline in the center, and a fleur-de-lis on top of "KNOWLEDGE" within an arced gold bar. "Adventure" is seen in a cursive font and beveled effect and placed over the logo.

Technique: A still image.

Audio: After a dramatic synth sting, a whimsical fanfare plays while an announcer says "Knowledge Adventure, have fun, get smart!".

Audio Variant: On the demo catalog, there is no music and extra lines of dialogue are added to the narration: "...more knowledge per square kilobyte than any other multimedia product and no CD-ROM required".

Availability: It was only seen on the demo catalog of the company's games from 1993 with a Packard Bell Windows 3.1/MS-DOS 6.22. The actual games would use the next logo.

2nd Logo (December 13, 1993-August 26, 1998)

Visuals: On a starry black background, a large slab suddenly appears in a darkened state featuring a green and purple section cut by a large curve. In the bottom right corner of it, the golden letters "KA" appear via a light yellow shine and it splits into two smaller lights: one that traces across the curve on the slab, and another that reveals the rest of the text reading "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE". The curve light then illuminates the slab brightly as a large flash appears in the middle of it, forming a five-pointed flash that transforms into a human figure lifting its arms up, which also has a moon-like face, and the slab to glow brightly along the edges. A green/white planet is also seen above the man with a revolving purple moon around it, and a 8-pointed white star rises from beyond the white curve like a sunrise, spinning as it emerges from beyond the box and becomes yellow and keeps spinning for a bit longer before it and the moon stop revolving. All while this is happening, the entire logo is pointed at a downwards angle at the beginning before tilting into an upright position.

Variants:

Prior to 1994, the logo is still and in 2D, as well as the border of the logo being wavy.
On their earliest games with the animated logo (such as Aviation Adventure and My First Encyclopedia), the animation is slightly faster. At the end, the logo zooms out into the background and a starburst appears, leading to the title screen, as the title logo zooms in, as the bright glow is animated until it stops, with the print version of the rectangle logo being shown on the bottom. The bright glow is also used as well as the four buttons that are shown on the title screen, as well as the buttons that show the logo of the other games available in the Preview screen. All of which are in still.
In the title screen on the earliest Jumpstart games (like the original Jumpstart 1st Grade and both the original and the 1997 remake version of Jumpstart Kindergarden), the rectangle logo (as shown above) with the text in black in a white box is shown, while the starry black background is used.
- Some Jumpstart games (like Jumpstart Pre-K) use the print logo on a black background with a white box (like Jumostart 2nd Grade for example) instead.
- The starry black background is also used in the installer of pre-Jumpstart titles, with "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE" in a different font on the logo shown in the top left in the retail version.
In the original version of JumpStart Baby, the animation is slightly faster.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dramatic-sounding orchestral, piano, and choir fanfare that mellows out at the end. An "explosion" plays when the star flashes.

Audio Variant: The early variant has the fanfare composed in a MIDI format and a loud whoosh is added when the logo zooms out.

Availability: It appeared on the company's early games. This logo makes an appearance on some JumpStart titles, the last of them being JumpStart Baby (1998).

3rd Logo (October 19, 1998-March 25, 2011)

Visuals: On a white background, a blue square fades in on the left of the screen. Then, the words "DISCOVER.", "LEARN." and "EXCEL." slide in, one-by-one, at the bottom right corner of the square, each forming a set of stairs each time. An orange star then appears at the top right corner of the square, and a blue person then comes near the square, walks up the steps (becoming white in the process), and touches the star, causing it to flash and freeze the logo. "Knowledge Adventure" fades in at the top of the orange text.

Variants:

There is a version with the company name in two rows and no slogan.
Another rare version has a black background and the name below the picture. It can mainly be found in the installer for some KA games.
An in-credit version is used on the US release of Play with the Teletubbies.
Some international versions of Jumpstart games (like the UK version of the 1997 remake version of Jumpstart Kindergarden (as Jump Ahead Starting School), the white background and the print logo is used on the title screen. Other times, the black background is used instead, but the logo is sometimes in a white box with the slogan.
There is a version where the slogan is in different languages. Some languages use the English version before changing it to its localized language.
- French (main): "DECOUVRIR. APPRENDRE. EXCELLER."
- French (alt): "DECOUVRIR. APPERENDRE. RESSUIR."
- Finnish: "LÖDYÄ. OPI. TAIDA."
- Norwegian: "UTFORSK. LÆR. BRILJER."
A 30fps version can be found in some games.
On Blaster's Universe, the website URL "www.blasternaut.com" appears. It is also sped up near the end of the logo.

Technique: 2D digital animation.

Audio: A mellow synth-piano/orchestral theme.

Audio Variants:

On Blaster's Universe, the show's closing theme is used.
On JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose?, Frankie says "...helping children everywhere! Discover, Learn and Excel!" during the logo.
On JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop?, Frankie only says the company's tagline.
On the Jumpstart VHS promo video, Frankie only says "...everywhere!" before saying the company's tagline (the audio is from the former VHS video).

Availability: Seen on post-1998 JumpStart games like JumpStart 1st Grade as well as post-1999 Math Blaster/Reading Blaster games. It also can be seen on other games like Play with the Teletubbies and Little People: Discovery Airport. Localized versions of the slogan can be found in international Jumpstart games, like for example, the alternate French version can be found on Franklin Après l'école, a Franklin video game from FranceIt is also found at the end of Blaster's Universe, as well as JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose? and JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop? on VHS.