Sammy

Background

Sammy Corporation is a Japanese developer and retailer of pachinko and pachislot machines, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its South Korean office, Sammy Amusement Service, is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Sammy is a subsidiary of the entertainment conglomerate Sega Sammy Holdings.

1st Logo (1989-March 15, 1997)

Logo: On a black background, we see a pink and blue circle, which resembled an atom. Inside it was a grey circle with the text "Sammy" inside the oval. On the left and right side is colored dots.

Variants:

This often appeared on the game's title screen on NES and arcade games.
Sometimes, the background is white.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on various Sammy games from the period, which include Task Force Harrier, Twin Cobra for NES, among others.

2nd Logo (1996-March 28, 1997)

Logo: On a black background, we see red and blue dots bounce around, and then we see a grey dot that spins around to form the atom from the previous logo. The text "Sammy" forms inside the atom.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A whoosh, and a guitar theme, ending in a hit.

Availability: Seen on early PlayStation and Saturn games from the time period such as Angel Paradise Vol. 1.

3rd Logo (September 12, 1997-)

Logo: On a black or white background, we see a heavily stylised "S" with the text "Sammy" below it.

Variants:

A black-and-white version exists on WonderSwan games.
Sometimes, the text is shown on the right.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Current. It has appeared on Guilty Gear X: Advance Edition.

4th Logo (February 26, 1998-September 5, 2003)

Logo: On a dark background, the golden letters "Sammy" in the same font from before and the company's logo (from before) emerge one at a time while the camera rotates right. When they are fully formed, a light shines on it and the camera rotates to the middle. The text and logo become flat, the background becomes white, the text becomes black and the logo becomes two shades of green (light on top, dark on the bottom).

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A creepy piano tune that resembles the theme of The Exorcist, which is overlaid with 6 slap bass notes and a reverse synthesized woosh.

Availability: Seen on Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou! games on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 and the PAL release of Space Invaders: Invasion Day (titled Space Raiders in North America).

5th Logo (2003)

Logo: On a black background, we see lines of the "Sammy" text from the previous logo forms with a green outline over a green grid. We see close-up shots of the Sammy symbol that rotates and then the Sammy symbol moves, and then the background flashes white, and the Sammy letters from the previous logo zooms out, and then it slides over to reveal the Sammy logo from before.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: An electronic synth theme.

Availability: Very rare. It's seen on later Sammy games from the era, before the videogame unit was folded into Sega, including Guilty Gear XX.