Taito

Background
Taito Corporation is a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware wholly, owned by publisher Square Enix. It was established in 1953 as Taito Trading Company by a Russian Jewish businessman named Michael Kogan. Taito also imports and distributes American coin-operated video games in Japan, as well as their own games all around the world. Taito Corporation was acquired by Square Enix in 2005 and currently has divisions in Seoul, South Korea and Milan, Italy, and a subsidiary in Beijing, China. In the past, the company had operated divisions in North America and Brazil. Their first logo (used until 1987) was not used as a fullscreen ident in video games.

1st Logo (1979-1988)
Logo: A diamond-like shape is seen, with a triangle shape on top, and the text "TAITO" banded across the V-shaped section. The entire logo resembles a marquee sign.

Variant: On their earliest MSX titles and most later arcade titles, the logo would be instead in a sans-serif font. Either it would be in white, green, or red.

Technique: None mostly, though a few games might have some movement. Colony 7 has the "TAITO" letters glowing in different colors.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare.
 * The 1979 arcade video game Space Chaser has the logo displayed on the title screen in a green color, making it the first title to use the logo.
 * Most of their other games don't show the logo, even the later ones.

2nd Logo (1988-2000s)
Logo: There is a blue triangle with a streak, resembling a grass leaf, coming inside of it and projecting out of the triangle. While inside, the streak is black (background-colored) and its outer point is blue. The word "TAITO" is seen below.

Variants:
 * Some games have the triangle logomark taking place of the "A" of the Taito wordmark. This is typically seen on the title screen on most arcade games of the era. On rare occasions such as the arcade version of G-Darius, it may have "PRESENTS" below.
 * Many arcade games have unique variants of the logo (as described in the variants page).
 * A special variant was used when booting up the company's forgotten video game console/karaoke machine hybrid Taito X-55. Here, on a white background, the blue triangle spins until it settles in its usual position. The blue circle bounces and forms the streak, thus forming the usual trademark logo. Once the circle settles in its usual position, it flashes on through the completed logo on a black background.

Technique: None for the most part.

Music/Sounds:
 * None for the most part.
 * Some games have a Japanese girl's voice saying "Catch the Heart!", followed by a light chime theme, and then the same voice singing "Taito!" at the end. This appeared on Japanese games as well as international releases and Japanese commercials during the time:
 * On Bust-A-Move '99 for the Nintendo 64 (known as Bust-A-Move 3 DX in Europe and Puzzle Bobble 64 in Japan), the "Catch the Heart!" line is omitted.
 * The Taito X-55 start-up has a harp when the triangle spins, followed by a playful little theme for the rest.

Availability: Common. It can be found on almost all of their arcade games during this period as well as several console games, starting with Recordbreaker. The audio variant is found on some PS1 and SNES games as well as a few N64 titles like the Bust-A-Move 2 port. The X-55 variant can be seen when booting up the system.

3th Logo (1993)
Logo: Over a white background, the trademark triangle is seen at the top while a face consisting of 2 black crosses, a yellow circle, and a red smile is seen below, loosely based on a pierrot/clown's face with the triangle as a hat of sorts. The logo then starts to shift down while rocking from side-to-side, causing the dot to bounce around, as the face pieces become the "TAITO" text. After the logo finishes forming, the background then fades from white to black.

Trivia: This is actually a simplified version of the logo used at the end of Japanese commercials at the time.

Technique: 16-bit animation with fake 3D-style effects.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's likely only seen on Quiz Sekai wa SHOW by Shohai!, which was released on arcade.

4th Logo (Early 1990s-2000s)
Logo: We start off on a blue background, which then reveals to be the Taito triangle logomark, zooming out ala the 1980 WCI/Warner Home Video logo. Then, "TAITO", in its trademark font and colored grey, fades in below.

Variants:
 * Some games, like the 3DO port of Bust-A-Move, have a cut-short version of the logo lacking the blue background.
 * The logo was redone in later games with smoother animation; also the text is intact instead of later fading in.
 * On Arkanoid: Doh it Again! (1997), the blue background part is longer. After a few seconds, the copyright disclaimer for the game appears. Then it fades out and the logo animates normally.
 * On Football Champ (known as Hat Trick Hero in Japan), the outer point doesn't fade in until the logo stops, and the background is black. This only appears in the arcade version.

Technique: The logo zooming out.

Music/Sounds: Depends normally. It can have the game's opening theme or is silent.

Availability: Uncommon, as it appears on certain other games like the ones mentioned above. Used in tandem with the other logos.

5th Logo (1993-1995)
Logo: Over a black background, the logo drops down and is in shape of a 3D cone, with the streak being white. The TAITO wordmark then fades in below, and the cone logo changes into the traditional plain logo.

Technique: The 3DCG animation of the logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare; reported to appear in the Laserdisc port of Time Gal and the 3DO port of Pyramid Intruder.

6th Logo (1995-2001)
Note: The video shown in this page is the Ray Tracers variant. Again, this logo is pretty loud, so we advise you to turn down the volume.

Logo: The 3D Taito logo zooms out on a black background. The ball of the logo moves in from the right and places next to the triangle's streak. Then a flash happens, bringing up the flat version of the same logo on a white background.

Technique: The logo zooming out (like the previous one, but in 3D), and the flash.

Music/Sounds: A quick laser zapping sound, then followed by a held synth bass note with a descending sounder when the logo zooms out and a quick swoosh during the flash.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * At least one game used the Japanese voice music variant of the second logo.
 * Ray Tracers used a loud noise, followed by a jet take-off like sound (not as low-pitched as the Metal Black variant).

Availability: Common. This logo is seen on the company's games for the original PlayStation.

7th Logo (December 25, 2003-2006)
Logo: The blue triangle is seen from the top and pans to the side view. Four light streaks enter it and glow in the center. The triangle moves to the forming word "TAITO" and poses as the letter "A". Then it flashes and changes the background to white.

Technique: Good computer effects.

Music/Sounds: An atmospheric synth score.

Availability: Rare. This can be seen on PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox games from the company such as Bujingai: The Forsaken City.

8th Logo (February 8, 2007-)
Logo: Just the still modern Taito logo over a white background, with the triangle posing as the "A".

Variants:
 * This logo appears twice on the Taito Egret II Mini cabinet.
 * When starting up, the logo appears on the standard white background before cutting to the Egret II Mini logo.
 * When shutting down, the logo is on a black background with a white outline. After a few seconds, the logo is squished horizontally to mimic a TV switching off.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variant: When shutting down the Taito Egret II Mini, a techno-jingle loosely based on the "Catch the Heart!" variant plays.

Availability: Current. Appears on games since the late 2000's such as Cooking Mama: Cook Off and Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX+.