Monolith Software

Not to be confused with Monolith Productions.

Background

Monolith Software, Inc. (better known as MonolithSoft) is a Japanese game developer founded in 1999 by Hirohide Sugiura and Tetsuya Takahashi, who had left Square and acquired investing from Namco. On April 28, 2007, Nintendo acquired an 80% majority of Monolith, with Bandai Namco holding 16%. Monolith would become well known for the Xenosaga JRPG series on PlayStation 2, a successor to Xenogears, which Takahashi had produced at Square, in addition to the Baten Kaitos series on Nintendo GameCube. Currently, Monolith is best known for the Xenoblade series on Nintendo platforms, in addition to being an external development team for several Nintendo projects like the Animal Crossing series since Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Splatoon and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.

1st Logo (February 28, 2002-)

Visuals: On a black background, there is a long, gray cubic monolith from an above and side view, its side ridged like a hair comb. Below we see "MONOLITHSOFT" in a modified Apollon Regular font, with the "I" replaced by a miniature of the monolith.

Variants:

Until 2006, the text simply read "M.L.S.I."
On games from the company on Nintendo DS, the logo is more zoomed out.
An animated variant appears on Xenosaga: Episode I - Der Wille zur Macht, its first appearance overall. There is a view of a dark, cloudy sky which flashes, revealing several aurora-like ripples which move over it, until a streak of light moves down and draws in the monolith, with "M.S.I." appearing below.
On trailers for Xenoblade Chronicles, the logo is more zoomed in, and the monolith simply ripples in from left to right. The text is absent.
On Baten Kaitos Origins is only the "MONOLITHSOFT" text in black on a white background.

Technique: None, aside from the animated variant which uses CGI.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Monolith's games since Xenosaga: Episode I - Der Wille zur Macht. Many of the studio's games after Disaster: Day Of Crisis have forgone using it as an opening logo, having an in-credit notice instead.

2nd Logo (December 1, 2017-)

Visuals: The screen zooms out from a black screen to reveal the monolith from the previous logo on a background consisting of a purple-blue starfield with a large planet on the right and a bright sun-like star in the middle, standing on a watery surface reflecting everything. The ridges of the monolith swing to their normal position, as we see the letters of "MONOLITHSOFT" turned sideways. The perspective straightens and the monolith floats up, and the letters below turn to face the camera as the star illuminates the text. The background then becomes completely black, the logo becomes silver, then gains a scanline-like texture. The finished logo is shifted higher than usual.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: None.

Availability: First seen after the credits of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on Nintendo Switch. Has since appeared after the credits of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition as well.