Acclaim Sports

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Acclaim Sports was the sports brand of Acclaim Entertainment that was launched in June 1997. It was known for sports titles starting with the '98 versions like the All-Star Baseball series, the NFL Quarterback Club series, the NBA Jam series (which was originally an arcade game made by Midway before Acclaim got the rights to it), and the NHL Breakaway series. In 2003, Acclaim discontinued the brand, along with an extreme sports sub-brand labeled AKA Acclaim.



1st Logo (September 30, 1997-May 1, 1999)

Visuals: The arrow line seen on the Acclaim logo is shown, colored completely white. On it is "SPORTS" in an Impact font in place of "Acclaim" with an outline around it and the word "ACCLAIM" in a Helvetica font is on the top-right of "SPORTS".

Trivia:

  • The logo sometimes appears on the game's copyright screens, as well as on the game's title screen. This happens on Nintendo 64 games.
  • For Game Boy Color games and Jeremy McGrath Supercross 98, the logo is on the cover, but the games themselves use the regular Acclaim logo.

Variants: Depending on the game:

  • On the PS1 version of NHL Breakaway '98, the logo zooms in against the black background during the game's opening intro with "PRESENTS" underneath. Plus, the logo's outline along with the "ACCLAIM" text are in a blue color. On the Nintendo 64 version, the logo is orange and on the title screen.
  • On WWF War Zone during the game's intro, the word "SPORTS" along with the arrow line are black with its outline color being white and is on a steel plate. Plus, the logo appears from a gold glow effect. On the N64 version, the logo is in a gold color and doesn't have a glow effect when it appears.
  • On NFL Quarterback Club 99, the arrow line slides in from the white and the word "SPORTS" slides in letter-by-letter. When it forms, the word "ACCLAIM" appears on the top-left of it flashing in forming the logo. After a few seconds, the screen zooms in through the "O" in "SPORTS", bringing in the Iguana Entertainment logo.
  • On All-Star Baseball 2000, the logo is superimposed on the game's opening intro. Plus, "ACCLAIM" is very big and fits the width of "SPORTS".

Technique: Depending on the variant. CGI for the NFL QBC 99 variant.

Audio: Usually the game's opening theme. On NFL Quarterback Club 99, it's the sound of the whooshes.

Availability:

  • Appears on all Acclaim Sports branded titles from the era, beginning with NHL Breakaway 98, and later showed up on All-Star Baseball, NBA Jam and NFL Quarterback Club titles from the period, alongside WWF War Zone.
  • Games that don't feature this logo are Jeremy McGrath Supercross 98 (which has the 1995 Acclaim Entertainment logo), NHL Breakaway 99 (which has no logo at all), and Game Boy/Game Boy Color versions of some games (which also just use the regular Acclaim logo).

2nd Logo (August 5, 1999-May 23, 2001)


Visuals: On a black background beaming with blue light, 2 interlocking red words are seen rotating around in the center of the screen: the "Acclaim" corporate logo, and "SPORTS" in a Eurostile font. After they revolve around twice fully, the entire thing zooms out as 2 full red copies of the "Acclaim" swing in to fill the outline, as well as an oversized version of the arrow line with "SPORTS" in it and a line located next to the right of it, and the entire thing slams into the background, filling "SPORTS" with white and the slogan "Feel it." appearing to the bottom right of it. The logo continues to flash off blue lights.

Variants:

  • There is a still version of the logo with the slogan either intact or missing.
  • On WWF Attitude (excluding the Dreamcast version, which has the standard logo), the logo is still without the slogan and has a white-blur effect behind it.
  • On NBA Jam 2001, the still logo is on a blue background.
  • On All-Star Baseball 2001 for Game Boy Color, the logo is in a bronze-white gradient color and "SPORTS" is black.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A crowd cheering is heard throughout, with 2 scrambled voices screaming "Acclaim Sports!" when the outlines rotate, and the announcer saying "Acclaim Sports. Feel It." when the logo forms. None on the still versions.

Audio Variant: On All-Star Baseball 2001, it's the sound of a crack and the glass shattering with the announcer intact.

Availability:

  • The standard animated version appears on Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 for PlayStation and Dreamcast, HBO Boxing for PlayStation and WWF Attitude for Dreamcast.
  • The still version with "Feel it." intact can be seen on All-Star Baseball 2001, Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000, NBA Jam 2000 for Nintendo 64, and NFL Quarterback Club 2000 and 2001 for Dreamcast.
  • The still version can be seen on other sports games like WWF Attitude for Nintendo 64 and PlayStation.

3rd Logo (March 17, 2001-July 4, 2003)


Visuals: A wall of 12 studio lights illuminate the screen briefly, brightening up the screen for a brief second. While they die down, a translucent panning shot, showing a white star shape made of the arrow "c"'s from the Acclaim logo being illuminated with a blue background wipe, all also made of studio lights, briefly appears. Then, the full new Acclaim Sports logo zooms out while glowing brightly and then settling onto a background made of dim studio lights and blue fog, rumbling for a split second as it settles. The logo consists of "Acclaim" logo and "SPORTS" in Eurostile below it, along with the new star logo on the left, inside of a box 3/4ths red and 1/3th blue that's cut diagonally down the middle of the "A" in "Acclaim". After a second, the slogan "WHERE THE STARS PLAY" appears with a glowing light effect and the star flashes, creating a rotating translucent copy that travels to the right while growing in size briefly, and the background fades to black.

Trivia: NBA Jam has the logo seen on posters and walls during the game, although the game is released under the normal Acclaim label.

Variant: There is a still version without the slogan.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The sound of lights turning on, whooshing, and proud horn music. None or the opening theme of the game for the still version.

Availability:

  • First appeared on All-Star Baseball 2002 (PlayStation 2/GameCube), and later appeared on Blast Lacroose (PlayStation), NFL QB Club 2002 (PlayStation 2/GameCube), Kevin Sheedy AFL Coach 2002 (Windows), All-Star Baseball 2003 (PlayStation 2/Xbox/GameCube) and AFL Live 2003 (PlayStation 2/Xbox/Windows).
  • Still version appears on Game Boy Advance titles - NBA Jam 2002 and All-Star Baseball 2003, all versions of All-Star Baseball 2004, and AFL Live 2004 (PlayStation 2/Xbox/Windows).