Radical Entertainment

Background

Radical Entertainment is a video game developer situated in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in September 1991 by Rory Armes, Dave Davis, and Ian Wilkinson. The studio was acquired by Vivendi in 2005, subsequently falling into the hands of Activision. Radical experienced massive layoffs between 2010-2012, and was reduced to a support team for Activision products. As of 2023, all that was left of Radical Entertainment was a team of 6 employees, whose subsequent work would be credited under Activision Vancouver; despite that, it was among the studios named in Microsoft's 2022 acquisition of Activision's parent company Activision Blizzard.

Contents

1st Logo (December 1992)	2nd Logo (September 1993-September 29, 1997)	3rd Logo (January 1, 1996-July 1997)	4th Logo (July 1996-December 15, 2000)


5th Logo (November 12, 2001-November 21, 2003)	6th Logo (August 23-November 11, 2005)	7th Logo (October 10, 2006-October 31, 2008)	8th Logo (Prototype variants) (June 9, 2009-August 20, 2015)

1st Logo (December 1992)

Visuals: Against a black background is the text "created by", the hand-written "Radical" with a gray shadow below and a white frame with, a white "ENTERTAINMENT" inside and all below "Radical". At the right, we can see 14 white square sparks with light gray shadows. In the bottom part of the screen, we can see the credits.

Variant: On The Terminator, the shadow of the logo, a frame and the square sparks is navy blue.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Aviability: Seen on The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends and The Terminator for NES.

2nd Logo (September 1993-September 29, 1997)

Visuals: The hand-written "Radical" word lies on a box where "ENTERTAINMENT" can be seen. Some games have the logo in 3D. It has "designed and developed by" hanging above.

Variants:

Some games have the R-Team logo below.
On Power Piggs of the Dark Age, a pig from the game walks over the logo.
On Speed Racer for SNES and the end credits for Beavis and Butt-Head for Genesis when you complete the game, the logo is rainbow-colored.

Technique: None, or 2D animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Pele Tournament Soccer, Brett Hull Hockey 95 for all platforms, and the games mentioned above.

3rd Logo (January 1, 1996-July 1997)

Visuals: There is a metal field burnt out from four corners to reveal the Radical logo similar to the first two logos. The background then clears.

Technique: 3D animation.

Audio: Burning sounds.

Availability: Seen on Grid Runner and The Divide: Enemies Within. It also appears on Independence Day as well.

4th Logo (July 1996-December 15, 2000)

Visuals: The surface of a red ball passes in a blurred form, then there is the same red ball in a distance against the black-red-blue smoky background, with a handwritten "r" on it, as the ball rotates. Three blue fuzzy lines (representing the letter E) wipe in with sparkles next to it. The name "radicalentertainment" flips itself vertically below. After about a second, the logo itself quickly blurs out, leaving only the background.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Metallic ambient, sometimes followed by a funky male voice pronouncing the company's name.

Availability: Seen mainly on the studio's later PlayStation games.

5th Logo (November 12, 2001-November 21, 2003)

Visuals: There is a red circle drawing itself with a red dot jumping inside. Then, a pin forms as the dot freezes near the top, creating a joystick-like "i" inside the circle. The rest of the text "RADICAL" in white blurs in around it, so that the circle is the "i". "ENTERTAINMENT" appears below.

Variants:

On The Hulk, the circle in green zooms out while emitting gamma radiation. Then, the titular hero's roar is heard and the circle shakes around the screen violently. The finished logo, also in green, zooms back rapidly, and a green flash turns the logo to its print colors (the letters are in blue).
For the normal logo variants, they are generally pre-rendered in 4:3 format, but due to the largely black background, they can be scaled using widescreen hacks, such as the "Lucas' Mod Launcher" tool for The Simpsons: Hit & Run on PC.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: Four synthesised jumping sounds, followed by a quick sucking noise.

Audio Variants:

On The Simpsons: Hit & Run, there is Snake Jailbird (voiced by Hank Azaria) saying "Whoa! Radical!", accompanied by a synthesized noise with a clang at the end.
On The Hulk, Ethereal ambience as the circle zooms out, followed by the Hulk (voiced by Eric Bana) roaring when the circle shakes, followed by another roar and a quiet sheathing noise as the logo turns to normal.

Availability: Seen on the company's games from the early 2000s, including The Simpsons: Hit & Run, The Simpsons: Road Rage, Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena, Tetris Worlds, Dark Summit and James Cameron's Dark Angel.

6th Logo (August 23-November 11, 2005)

Visuals: A bright orange flash occurs, lighting the entire screen, then zooms out and we see an orange circle rotating around. The circle then becomes part of the logo, where the "i" letter poses, as the other letters join the circle, leaving sparks and shadows around. The logo slowly zooms in and "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in light underneath.

Variant: On The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, the logo is tinted green.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A phaser sound when the flash occurs, followed with a whoosh that gradually increases in volume and an explosion (which is the same one heard whenever a car explodes in The Simpsons: Hit & Run). On Ultimate Destruction, there is the Hulk (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) roaring after the explosion.

Availability: Seen on The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Crash Tag Team Racing.

7th Logo (October 10, 2006-October 31, 2008)

Visuals: The three games from this era had two different logos, albeit with a similar concept:

Scarface: The World is Yours: On a white background, an arcade machine faces towards the camera and zooms. The screen fades to a closeup shot of it panning downwards facing on the right side, where we can see it has an angel printed on the right side. After this, the screen fades to a shot where the machine turns to the left and reveals that the Radical Entertainment print logo is on the left. When it is in center, the machine fades out leaving only the logo. The web address appears one word at a time (starting with "radical", then "www." and ".ca") and the screen fades out.
Crash of the Titans: In a white space, a similar arcade machine is seen. The screen rotates 360° around it (revealing the titular Crash Bandicoot on the right side this time) before once again getting to the Radical logo on the left. The machine fades out, leaving only the company logo again. The web address again appears in the same order.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant: Almost the exact same as the Crash of the Titans variant, except the machine is in a dark area resembling the bottom of a cliff at night and is somewhat slowed down.

Technique: CGI for both variants.

Audio:

Scarface: The World is Yours: A synth drone, which fades into a chill electronica piece ending when the logo is revealed.
Crash of the Titans: A phaser sound, followed by a quiet crescendo with faint whooshes and three quiet synthesized notes.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant: A gloomy background tune with whoosh sounds and Crash (voiced by Jess Harnell) whooping as the logo fades out.

Availability: Seen on the games stated above.

8th Logo (Prototype variants) (June 9, 2009-August 20, 2015)

Visuals:

Prototype: After the Activision logo appears, it cuts away and is followed by the Radical logo. The background is covered with red colors and interlacing lines. The logo trembles a bit, then becomes old and cracked. It "strings" away to be replaced with the game logo.
Prototype 2: On what appears to be a CCTV monitor with a small gray square blinking in the bottom-left corner, the Radical logo lights up via white neon lights and slowly zooms in. The lights tremble throughout, then the logo flashes into the Activision logo.

Trivia: The Radical logo appears as an easter egg in both games.

In Prototype, the front of any bus would feature the "i" part.
In Prototype 2, one of the taller buildings seems to be that of Radical Entertainment's, as is evident from the logo found on it. Here, only the letters "RAD" are present, and the joystick "i" is placed below them.

Technique: CGI by Blur Studio.

Audio: A droning noise.

Availability: Seen on Prototype and its sequel for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Both variants are retained on the PS4 and Xbox One re-releases of the games.