Alfa System

Credits

Compiled by
ILEnthusiast

Background

Alfa System is a video game company founded in 1988, located in Kumamoto City, Japan. They begun with porting games over to the PC Engine, before switching over to general game development starting in 1995 aside from their first title, Noble Mind, in 1991. The company was bought out by Meteorise Co. Ltd in 2021.

Logo (November 11, 1991-)

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Visuals: Just the text "Alfa System" in a blue Bauhaus font on a black background.

Variants:

• Starting in 2001 with Shinigami no Shiro, a light blue box with the cartoony Hiragana character "あ。" cut out of it is added to the left of the text. A underline, the byline "Game development company since 1988" underneath it, and, starting in 2006 with Gunparade Orchestra: Midori no Shou, a outline around the logo, all in light blue, are also added.
• On Noble Mind, a copyright year is seen to the left of the logo.
• On the English version of Elemental Gearbolt, the logo has a white gradient shade to it. Above it is the text "In association with Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. and" in a stacked format. The Japanese version uses the standard logo.
• On Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, the logo is paired with the Wolf Team logo above it, and the logo shines.
  • On Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3, the logo is instead paired with the MARS Corporation logo above it on a white background.
• On Sisters Royale, a 30th anniversary logo is used. The text is now smaller and the "あ。" is lacks the box around it, which also has the characters "りがとう" next to it, reading "あ。りがとう" above the text. To the right is a large angular "30", filled with a red-yellow gradient with pixelated towers inside of it and 2 slimes on top of the number, one of them expressing love. "th" in light blue is also to the right. Everything is outlined either in white, light blue, or both.
• Several animated variants exists on certain games.
  • On Wan Wan Aijō Monogatari, a white horizontal line expands from the center below the logo, followed by the white Hiragana text "あるふぁ しすてむ" below.
  • On Linda³ Again (as well as its Saturn port, Linda³ Kanzenban), a strange coiled-up blue object slides across the screen, zooming in and out as it does and, upon reaching the right side, quickly springs out into the "Alfa System" text.
  • On Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke, the letters in "Alfa System" in white fade in one-by-one and slide into their usual places, of which then fade to a blue color with a slight white shade at the bottom of them and a slight bevel effect. A detailed, Japanese-inspired background also fades in, being made of parchment with blue floral patterns bordering the top and bottom of it, and a large moon with stylized clouds over it, as well as a blurred stamp in the upper right corner of it. "あるふぁしすてむ" wipes in vertically over the moon and the logo gains a drop shadow over the background, as well as below in a serif font. A stamp then appears in the lower right corner.
  • On Gunparade March, the logo starts off on blurred footage of a blue swirling tunnel heading to the top left, which fades to red near the end, and the Alfa System logo scrolls across the screen in a transparent look as the letters (in white with a grungy texture) flash one-by-one twice to the left. As this occurs, the text "Alpha wave", "and", and "Fantasy" appear in a typewriter font across the screen, binary code scrolls down on the right side, and a list of words starting with the letters A and F scroll up briefly before fading out. The background then fades to the Alfa System logo on a black background.
  • On Castle of Shikigami, light blue lines come in from all sides of the screen, forming a rectangular box formed of 4 sections. The Alfa System logo fades in the largest section, followed by "presents" in the 2nd largest, and the vertical text "A-LOGO" (possibly referring to the new symbol) in grey in the 3rd largest.

Technique: A still digital graphic. 2D digital animation and CGI for the animated variants.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Audio Variants:

• On Dream Change: Kokin-chan no Fashion Party and Wan Wan Aijō Monogatari, a 5-note descending synth brass tune is heard.
• On Linda³ Again, a shimmering noise is heard followed by a single humming note.
• On Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke, a traditional Japanese woodwind tune, with a hyōshigi cracking in the background in the beginning and a mysterious-sounding twinkling tune plays afterwards,.
• On Gunparade March, a strange beat consisting of a 3-note reverse piano tune, taps, and electronic clicks is heard throughout, before being abruptly cut off by a Male Whisper voice (the same one used on MacOS) saying the company name.

Availability: Seen on a majority of their games. From 1988-1995, the logo rarely appeared as the company was usually a

• Seen on Noble Mind, Psycho Storm, Godzilla: Battle Legends, Godzilla: Kaijū Daikessen, Dream Change: Kokin-chan no Fashion Party, Project Horned Owl, Elemental Gearbolt, Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, Castle of Shikigami 2, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 (as well as its PSP port), the Gunbuster Orchestra series, Vampire Panic, Castle of Shikigami 3, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, Tales of Innocence (DS version only), Phantasy Star Portable, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke R, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3, Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, and Sister Royale.
• The animated variants appear on the aforementioned games.