Infogrames (France)

Logo descriptions by DarkJester25

Logo captures by DarkJester25 and EnormousRat
Video captures courtesy of Napostriouf, seablue, EnormousRat, dimouseandzubik, Denskiewar, and pwilliardffxstar1
Editions by KirbyGuy2001, iheartparamount and others

Background: Infogrames was a large French gaming company, famous for many titles, including Alone in the Dark, Shadow of the Comet, and Hogs of War. The company began in 1983. They made several major acquisitions in late 90's, which included Ocean Software, Philips Media, Gremlin Interactive, Accolade, Beam Software, GT Interactive Software, Humongous Entertainment,Shiny Entertainment, Eden Games and Hasbro Interactive (with the MicroProse and Atari brands). The brand name of Atari, taken from Hasbro, was relaunched in October 2001 and replaced Infogrames' name in all games since 2003. In October 2008 the company fully assimilated the Atari name and eventually became the new Atari, Inc. in the following year, after many financial struggles.

1st Logo
(1984-1995)

Nickname: "The Armadillo", "The Rainbow Armadillo", "Infogrames Armadillo", "Ugly Armadillo"

Logo: On a white background, we see a black armadillo with rainbow stripes. Below it is the word "INFOGRAMES". The logo usually fades in, stays a

while, and fades out. The quality of the logo may vary on different platforms.

FX/SFX: None.

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

Availability: Rare, but can still be found on copies of old games from the 80s.

Editor's Note: TBA.

2nd Logo
(1992)

Nicknames: "Armadillo In The Dark", "The Rotating Armadillo", "CGI Armadillo", "InfogrAAAUUGH!", "Infogrames Armadillo II", "Rainbow Armadillo II", "CGI Infogrames Armadillo"

Logo: We fade in to see a grey version of the 80's Infogrames logo on a black background, but with the armadillo higher up and the text cleaned up. There's also a large grey bar below the text, and the stripes are lighter in color (the dark red is now orange). After a brief flash of lightning and sudden clap of thunder, the armadillo and words become very early CGI renditions of themselves, and the armadillo rotates in the same manner as an object from the game Alone in the Dark. The logo fades out after it makes one rotation.

Trivia: The armadillo can be seen on the top of the title screen, behind the front page.

Variant: On some American versions of Alone in the Dark, the Infogrames text is replaced with "I*MOTION", which was Infogrames' trading name in the United States at the time. Some versions, though, have the regular logo.

FX/SFX: The thunder, the lightning flash, the armadillo and text turning into CGI, the armadillo rotating, the fade in, the fade out, produced by Olive Jar Animation.

Music/Sounds: Just the thunder.

Availability: Extremely rare. This logo is only found on the game Alone in the Dark. This logo is not a variant of the third logo; it is a direct precursor to the third logo, and was therefore only used once.

Editor's Note: The CGI used in this logo looks quite awful, even for it's time.

3rd Logo
(1991-1998)

Nicknames: "The Grey Armadillo", "Rainbow Armadillo III", "Infogrames Armadillo III"

Logo: Same as the 2nd logo, but the armadillo is placed back inside of the top bar. The red stripe is also purple.

Variant: Like with the last variant, on some North American released games, "I*MOTION" replaces "INFOGRAMES".

FX/SFX: None.

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

Availability: Rare, found only on games of that period.

Editor's Note: TBA.

4th Logo
(1995-2000, 2001)

Nicknames: "Spiral Armadillo", "Fancy Rainbow Armadillo", "Infogrames Armadillo IV"

Logo: On a white background, a straight stroke draws in, along with a black spiral. The spiral then rotates to the right, finishing up with an stylized design of a armadillo head. The armadillo's eye, feet, and the colored stripes (blue, green, yellow, red, and purple, from left to right) then fade in, as well as "INFOGRAMES" below.

Variants:

Sometimes only the fade-in was used, and the background can be black. This can be seen on Starshot: Space Circus Fever (with the Nintendo logo) and V-Rally Edition '99, both for Nintendo 64, and the PlayStation version of Mission: Impossible.
A still version exists, which was spotted onpre-2000 Game Boy Color games and on such DOS versions of The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun, Tintin in Tibet, The Smurfs, Asterix and Obelix and Spirou.
On Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, the still logo is flat. Then it cuts to the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment logo.
On Slave Zero, the words "PRESS START BUTTON" are seen under the still logo.
On Test Drive Off-Road 3, after the logo finishes copyright info appears below the logo. This logo is plastered by the next logo on the European version of the game, which was renamed 4X4 World Trophy.
Sometimes, the logo could be in one color, like yellow or red.

FX/SFX: The drawing.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized note with the faint arpeggio and a whoosh in the background, then a 6-note trumpet melody with the last note being the orchestral hit and a synthesized TB-303-esque buzz when the feet, eye, and colors fade in. None for the still version.

Availability: Uncommon. Appears on Infogrames games from this period such as V-Rally and Test Drive Off-Road 3. The logo is surprisingly seen on the PS1 version and later copies of the PC version of Nicktoons Racing, even though the entire packaging and title screen have the next logo

Editor's Note: TBA.

5th Logo
(2000-2009, 2015)

WARNING: Do not watch the video if you are prone to epilepsy.

Nicknames: "Seizure Armadillo", "Crazy Armadillo", "Springy Spiral Armadillo", "Infogrames Armadillo V", "Cool Armadillo", "Color Hysteria" "The Armadillo With No Feet"

Logo: We cut from black to see a shiny black 3D line de-thickening itself on a flashing rainbow background. The line starts to wiggle and stretch (like a radio-wave), and then snap-compresses itself together like a spring. The line loosens itself to reveal a heavily spiral-stylized armadillo. The armadillo then becomes a 3D flat drawing, and the word "INFOGRAMES", in a black rectangle-like shape, fades in and zooms out in front of the logo. It lands on the logo as the background turns white. A shadow fades in below the logo, and then the entire thing cuts to black.

Variants:

A still version exists. The latter appeared on Duck Dodgers. Sometimes, the logo is in the print style seen on game cases by this company, though this variant on some GBA games like Backyard Baseball 2003 could have this variant's colors inverted, with a copyright notice below.
Another variant has the armadillo standing on the left side of the name banner. The background can be black or white. The version with white background appeared on Nicktoons Racing for GBA. This variant was used on European game cases and later American cases as its print logo.
On the PlayStation 2 version of Splashdown and Stuntman, only the banner appeared on the blue background. Then the Atari logo follows. The 2002 version of Le Mans 24 Hours uses a red background rather than a blue background.
On RollerCoaster Tycoon for Xbox, the logo is inverted, still and pans from bottom to top, plastering the Hasbro Interactive logo. RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 has the logo on a white square over a black background, and pans from top to bottom.
For the Lyons House division, it uses the same animation, but when it ends, the armadillo fades out and "Lyons House" writes itself below the banner. It uses a droning synth after the usual music. It is followed by the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment logo and is seen on Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf (or Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider in North America)

FX/SFX: The zooming, the flashing colors, the springy line, the 3D effects, the fading.

Music/Sounds: Several weird whooshing and stretching sounds and synthesized hit (most of them from Hanna-Barbera's sound effects library), ending in a heavy synth bass note reminiscent of the 1st, 3rd and 4th Cyan Worlds logos.

Music/Sounds variants:

The still version is silent, or it may have the opening theme of the game play over it.
On the 2015 iOS version of Pajama Sam: No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside, the music is high pitched.
Ghost Vibration has the music running faster and is also higher pitched.
On Blue's Clues: Blue's Reading Time Activities, the still version has the tail end of the Humongous Entertainment drum roll playing over it.

Availability: Very common. Used on Infogrames games from this period (and there were lots).

Infogrames games branded under the Atari name (Such as Enter the Matrix) do not have this logo (Except for Ghost Vibration, which had the regular Infogrames logo and no Atari logo outside the packaging).
The still version (white on black) made a surprise appearance on the 2015 iOS versions of Spy Fox 3: Operation Ozone and Freddi Fish and the Case of the Creature of Coral Cove, alongside the 1996-2002 Humongous logo, due to an editing mistake. The normal version also appeared on the 2015 iOS version of Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When it's Dark Outside, due to (yet) another editing mistake.

Editor's Note: TBA.

6th Logo
(May 18, 2001)

Nicknames: "Armadillo In The Dark II", "Infogrames Armadillo VI"

Logo: We fade in to see a flat version of the 2000s Infogrames logo, colored in white. The armadillo and words are lit up by a flashlight, and then the logo fades out.

FX/SFX: The flashlight, the fade in, the fade out.

Music/Sounds: Just the wind blowing.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's only seen on Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.

Editor's Note: TBA.

Infogrames (France)

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