Tengen

Credits

Compiled by
RSX-798

Background

Tengen, Inc. was a home subsidiary of Atari Games Corporation that was originally formed in 1987 to release home console games. Most of the NES games were unlicensed games and were not licensed by Nintendo, due to a court ruling that was filed in 1988 over a dispute of the Tetris rights, although the first three of Tengen's NES titles, Gauntlet, Pac-Man, and R.B.I. Baseball were licensed by Nintendo in early printings before becoming an unlicensed publisher. It later went on to produce hit titles for Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear, like the best-selling titles Hard Drivin', Ms. Pac-Man and Klax. In 1994, the lawsuit was settled, with Atari Games again becoming a Nintendo license, and two months later, it became the console division of Time Warner Interactive.

1st Logo (1988-1994)

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Visuals: On a black background is the text "TENGEN" in a Serpentine font, and below it is "PRESENTS" in a blocky font.

Variants:

• On some early games, Gauntlet, Vindicators, Klax, and the Tengen version of Tetris for NES, the logo was placed on top of the title screen.
• On Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin' for Sega Genesis, the logo was shown above the Sterling Silver Software/Polygames logos.
• On the unfinished Xybots for NES, the text is sky blue.
• On Dragon's Fury for Sega Genesis, the text shines in a green gradient.
• On Davis Cup Tennis for Sega Genesis, the logo shares the screen with the Loricel logo.
• On Super Sprint and Toobin' for NES, the text is in a blue gradient. On the latter game, the logo slides up and then shines.
• On Grind Stormer/V-Five for Sega Genesis, the text is in a red gradient.

Technique: A still, sprite-based graphic.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on many unlicensed NES, TurboGrafx-16, Sega Master System, and Genesis games from the company, such as Klax, the RBI Baseball series (except the first one), Davis Cup Tennis, and the Japanese Mega Drive version of Marble Madness, among others.

2nd Logo (1989-1991)

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Visuals: On a orange background, there is a black rectangle with a red dot, with two lines on the left side and on the right side. On the bottom right is "TENGEN" in the same font as the first logo. On the top right is some copyright information.

Variants:

• The unfinished and unlicensed NES port of Hard Drivin' had the logo on a black background, with the text in white and credits appear instead on the top right.
• On Gauntlet III, the logo is in a box, and it is placed within the title screen.

Technique: A still, sprite-based graphic.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on the unlicensed Road Runner and the unfinished version of Hard Drivin' for NES and Gauntlet III: The Final Quest for Amiga and Atari ST.

3rd Logo (March 1993)

Visuals: On a white background, the Tengen logo from before fades in onto a black background. The text "PRESENTS" is shown below. Then the background fades to grey and the Tengen logo fades to black, before fading out completely.

Technique: 2D sprite animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Only seen on Gauntlet IV for Sega Genesis.

4th Logo (1993-1994)

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Visuals: On a black background is the same shape from before, except it is colored red. The Tengen logo appears in 3D zooming up, in blue gradient, with a spark on the top. The word "Presents" in script fades in on the top right.

Variants:

• A still version exists on Dragon's Revenge, where a copyright is shown below the logo.
• On Prince of Persia, the logo is still and it was shown without the red shape.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Awesome Possum Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt, Dragon's Revenge, and Prince of Persia for Sega Genesis.

5th Logo (1994)

Visuals: On a black background, an outline of the Tengen logo from the previous logos is shown. The text shines and fills in with red before back to outlines. The text "PRESENTS" and Sega licensing info is shown below the logo.

Technique: 2D sprite animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Grind Stormer/V-Five for Sega Genesis.

Tengen

Time Warner Interactive ►