Naughty Dog

Credits

Descriptions by
20thCenturyFoxLover, SubparMario63 and CuriousGeorge60

Captures by
SubparMario63, 20thCenturyFoxLover and CuriousGeorge60

Editions by
CuriousGeorge60 and Shadeed A. Kelly

Video captures courtesy of
kingarthurpendragon and others

Background

Naughty Dog (known as JAM Software until 1989) is an American developer based in Santa Monica, California and was founded in 1984 by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin as an independent developer. In 2001, it was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment and is also the home to the ICE Team, one of PlayStation Studios' central technology groups. In 2004, Jason Rubin, one of the company founders, announced he would leave the studio to work on a new project called Iron and the Maiden. Naughty Dog was known for the Crash Bandicoot series for PlayStation starting with Crash Bandicoot and ending with Crash Team Racing (before the series would end up in the hands of then-license owner Universal Interactive) in addition to the Jak and Daxter series, the Uncharted series, and The Last of Us series.

1st Logo (October 1989)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a gold frame with brown lines behind it in an upside-down triangle. We see "NAUGHTY" in a scrawly font, and "DOG" in a font that seems to be made out of bitten gold discs. A big-nosed grinning brown dog, wearing gold goggles, holds a wooden sign with "SOFTWARE" on it. On the bottom right of the sign, a small "INC." is seen. Below all that are the owners' names: "ANDY GAVIN" and "JASON RUBIN".

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: Probably the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Only appears on Keef the Thief: A Boy and His Lockpick.

2nd Logo (January 1992)

Visuals: Against a letterboxed background of a sunset, palm trees and a sea, there is a blonde-haired woman wearing a white top shirt and blue trousers with a gold ring on her right arm. The background moves and she slides away. A few seconds later, the grinning dog from the 1st logo (now wearing sunglasses that reflect the palm trees, along with a white shirt with a blue smiling face wearing glasses on it and a collar on his neck) slides in with "TM" under him. Shortly after, the dog reaches all the way to the right, and the words "NAUGHTY DOG SOFTWARE" appear. "NAUGHTY" is in a similar style as before, but in rainbow colors this time, "DOG" is in an odd font under "NAUGHTY" with the left and right parts of it stretching though, and "SOFTWARE" is very small and in a computerized font on the right of "DOG". The background animation slows down and then eventually turns white at the end.

Trivia: The woman's name is supposedly Cookie, as a woman with a very similar appearance appears within Keef the Thief: A Boy and His Lockpick at the "Naughty Dog Shop".

Variant: A variant exists where the dog and the woman switch places, but she would be nude (albeit from the waist up). This can be accessed via a cheat code: pressing A, B, C, START and both down and right on the directional pad on a controller connected to the console's second port, then turning on the Genesis. This sparked some controversy, including some retailers pulling Rings Of Power from sale due to the nudity not being advertised anywhere else.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: The sounds of dog barking when the text appears.

Availability: Only appears on Rings of Power for Sega Genesis.

3rd Logo (August 30, 1994)

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Visuals: On a background with palm trees is the grinning dog from before, but now he's wearing a red shirt and wears different sunglasses (his eyes can be seen at the angle). Next to him is a waving white flag with the Naughty Dog logo on it (with "DOG" under "NAUGHTY", both in a graffiti-type font with an angel halo on the "N" and a devil tail on the "Y"). A few seconds later, the camera slowly zooms into the flag and after a few seconds, the flag stops waving and only the shadow of the palm trees is seen over the logo.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: Only appears on Way of the Warrior for 3DO.

4th Logo (September 9, 1996-)

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  Crash Bandicoot

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  Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

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  Crash Bandicoot: Warped/Crash Team Racing

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  Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

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  Jak II

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  Jak 3

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  Jak X: Combat Racing

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  Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

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  Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

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  Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Visuals: There is a long half-white and half-black rectangle with "NAUGHTY DOG" surrounded by a black outline. The word "NAUGHTY" is black on the white half and the word "DOG" is white on the black half of the rectangle. Between the words is a shape of a red dog paw.

Variants: There are different variations of the logo.

• Crash Bandicoot variants:
  • Crash Bandicoot: On a letterboxed dark blue-gold-green gradient background with clouds, a doghouse slides in from the left and "brakes" in a manner like a car, wobbling like gelatin as it comes to a halt. Then, the white and black parts of the rectangle shape wipe in as "NAUGHTY DOG" flips in letter-by-letter. Then, the red paw flies in from the right flapping like a butterfly and makes a stop in between "NAUGHTY" and "DOG". Shortly afterwards, the face of the grinning dog from before (this time, his hair is black) in a red circle with a black outline around it, zooms out and places on the bottom-right of the logo. Then, the sound of a dog barking is heard.
  • Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back: On a space background of the opening intro, the words "NAUGHTY DOG" and the rectangle wipe in with a light ray effect. Each letter in the name shines. After that, copies of the red paw appear as if forming a trail left behind by a dog, one of which appears in its usual place. When the dog barking sound is heard, all the paws except the one in the logo disappear. Shortly after that, Crash Bandicoot (in his jetpack outfit) flies in and tries to break through the logo. After a few tries, he succeeds, causing the logo to break and the game's title to appear.
  • Crash Bandicoot: Warped/Crash Team Racing: On a space background, there is an open crate with a portal light through it spinning around. The logo zooms onto it and as we get closer, the crate closes and reveals the Naughty Dog logo on the crate with the wooden sign reading the website URL, "www.naughtydog.com" under the logo. Then, something inside the box gets beaten up, causing it to bounce around for a few seconds and then it opens up, causing the characters of the game (Crash, Coco and Aku Aku) to drop down through the box, leading up to the game's title. The latter variant has the characters riding their race karts.
  • Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (Demo Version): The logo is still and "DEVELOPED BY" is shown above.
• Jak and Daxter variants:
  • Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy: We see Daxter with his back facing the camera. Then, he turns around and dances around a bit. Suddenly, Jak pushes in the Naughty Dog logo from the right, accidentally knocking Daxter with it. After that, Daxter gets up and jumps next to Jak while Jak leans against the logo and Daxter does his pose. Then, a red-black square with a dog paw and some kanji zooms through spinning and makes a stop on the bottom right of the logo.
  • Jak II: The logo is on a beige sign attached to a building, with "A GAME BY" on the upper right corner and "www.naughtydog.com" below it, as well as some Precursor symbols. The camera then pans away from the sign and to the game's logo.
  • Jak 3/Jak X: Combat Racing: The logo is superimposed over the opening cutscene, and has the words "CREATED AND DEVELOPED BY" on the upper left corner of it. On the latter game, the words are in sentence case.
• Uncharted variants:
  • Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: The logo appears dimming in through a flashlight effect, appearing for a few seconds. Then it disappears.
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: On a snowy background, three dog paw prints are seen in the snow. Suddenly, the snow gets blown away, revealing the Naughty Dog logo frozen on the ground with the red paw intact. Plus, the black and white colors of the rectangle and the text have switched places. The inverted rectangle began appearing on newer games starting with this variant.
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: There is the paw as an outline being formed by a flipbook, as green binary numbers (1s and 0s) build up within it. The binary shifts across the color spectrum to red as it flies across the screen and the background becomes black via a TV scan effect. The screen glitches momentarily as the paw becomes a voxel version of itself, which backs up with a red lens flare. The Naughty Dog rectangle, now metallic, spins in on both sides of the paw and the logo takes its usual form as the paw shines.
• Other variants:
  • On other games, such as The Last Of Us, The Last Of Us Part II, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, the logo is still.
  • On the TV adaptation of The Last of Us, the logo shares the screen with the PlayStation Productions logo.

Technique: Depending on the variant.

Audio: Usually, the game's title music plays over the logo, mainly on Crash Bandicoot games.

Audio Variants:

• On Crash Bandicoot, in addition to the opening theme, the sounds of the doghouse braking and wobbling are heard. As the logo forms, dog panting is heard, a splat and scream is heard when the paw lands, and the panting and dog barking is heard when the grinning dog appears.
• On Crash Bandicoot: Warped, in addition to the opening theme, as the logo zooms in, there is Uka Uka (voiced by Clancy Brown) saying "The game, created and developed, by Naughty Dog!". The Japanese version has the characters say the company name instead.
• On Crash Team Racing, in addition to the opening theme, there is an announcer saying "Fasten your seat belts, for another Naughty Dog Creation!". Like with the Japanese release of Crash Bandicoot: Warped, the game's Japanese release has the characters say the company name instead.
• On Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, bongo-like music is heard, as well as a cartoony sound when Daxter notices the camera, a rumbling sound when Jak pushes the logo, a thump when Daxter gets knocked, and a short, two note jingle when the symbol appears.
• On Jak II, a suspenseful composition with drums is heard, as well as faint whoosh when the camera zooms to the sign and away from it.
• On Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, sounds of wind and ice cracking are heard.
• On Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, there is the sound of a pencil sketching, in addition to futuristic-sounding effects as the binary appears and the shimmering of the paw, all against a drawn-out synth note.
• On the still variants, the logo is silent or has the opening/closing theme of the game/show play over it.

Availability: It was first seen on Crash Bandicoot for PlayStation. The variants can be seen on many other titles such as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped and Crash Team Racing for PlayStation, the Jak and Daxter series for PlayStation 2 including Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Jak II, and the Uncharted series for PlayStation 3.