Infogrames Sheffield House
Background
Gremlin Graphics was a Sheffield-based company created in 1984 by Ian Stewart. It was slightly renamed in 1994. In 1997, Gremlin acquired Imagitec Design and DMA Design (creators of Grand Theft Auto), and was itself purchased by Infogrames in 1999, ultimately selling DMA to Take-Two Interactive. After this, it became Infogrames' main UK branch. The studio closed in 2003 and most of its former employees went on to create Sumo Digital, while Ian Stewart started Zoo Digital.
Gremlin Graphics
(1984-1994)
Nickname: "3D Gremlin"
Logo: We see a rounded rectangular box with the word "GREMLIN" in a custom 3D font inside, turned a bit up. A rainbow crosses the logo. Sometimes, there may be a few shines on the letters.
FX/SFX: The shining.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on every Gremlin game from this time.
Gremlin Interactive
1st Logo (1994-1999)
Nickname: "Gremlin G"
Logo: We see a box with a white outline. Inside its upper half, there is another box with a yellow background, where a stylized lowercase "g" is seen. Below the box, the words "Gremlin" and "INTERACTIVE" are seen.
Variants:
- On Fatal Racing, the background is silver, with copyright information below.
- There's a variant with a shield placed on a black screen. It ripples before it becomes still.
- On Actua Soccer Club Edition, the word "Studios" appears below, as at that time, Gremlin was already in a partnership with Infogrames.
- On Actua Ice Hockey, the logo is standing on a hockey field.
- On Actua Soccer 3, the logo is in grayscale.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on Gremlin's Genesis games and a few games for PC. The normal black version can be seen on Pool Shark and Full Metal Country, where it shares the screen with the DMA logo. The ripple variant was spotted on Slipstream 5000, Premier Manager 3, Retribution and Jungle Strike.
2nd Logo (Desert Strike variant) (March 1994)
Logo: Several rectangles fly over a dark blue background, forming the Gremlin shield. Then the word "Gremlin" flies and rotates into the shield, followed by "INTERACTIVE".
FX/SFX: The parts of the logo flying in.
Music/Sounds: A short synth noise, then a loud orchestral piece.
Availability: Seen only on Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf.
3rd Logo (Loaded variant) (December 12, 1995)
Nickname: "Pop a Cap"
Logo: We see a dingy, metallic Gremlin Interactive logo on a black background. Three gunshots, accompanied by yellow sparks and holes in the logo, are seen.
FX/SFX: The yellow bullets piercing.
Music/Sounds: First a gunshot sound, then echo and a faint sting.
Availability: Seen only on Loaded for PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
4th Logo (Normality variant) (June 1996)
Logo: Two green spotlights reveal the waving words "COPYRIGHT 1996". Then we switch to an area lit by two white lights, where a man (Kent Knutson, the main character of the game) flees from the light. He rolls the Gremlin logo on wheels and presents it to us. Then the man clears out, and we only see the logo with "PRESENTS" below.
FX/SFX: The searchlights, the man moving.
Music/Sounds: Quiet Background music.
Availability: Seen only on Normality.
5th Logo (Re-Loaded variant) (December 1, 1996)
Logo: We see a metallic Gremlin shield standing on a white mist. Laser beams appear over the shield, as it's being hit three times with bullets. However, the bullets don't pierce the logo, they only shuffle it. After the last hit, the logo spins and falls out.
FX/SFX: The bullets, laser beam and logo moving.
Music/Sounds: Sounds of spinning metal and bullets hitting the logo.
Availability: Seen only on Re-Loaded.
6th Logo (Fragile Allegiance variant) (December 1996)
Logo: We see the surface of some planets. A comet blasts the Gremlin logo into stones. It has an acid green "g" and the words with nothing more. Then the picture evaporates.
FX/SFX: The comet blasting the logo.
Music/Sounds: A soundtrack with evaporation sounds.
Availability: Seen only on Fragile Allegiance.
7th Logo (Realms of the Haunting variant) (January 1997)
Nicknames: "The Eye", "The Monster", "RedEye", "Gremlin's Eye"
Logo: A monster's red eye, with a diamond-shaped pupil, blurs in from the right. The monster blinks and growls, the pupil shifts size and the eye moves. Then, the monster slowly shuts its eye and opens it, revealing the Gremlin Interactive logo superimposed on it, and the monster screeches. The monster narrows its eye and the logo blurs off to the left.
FX/SFX: The monster's eye shifting and the pupil moving, the eye blinking, opening, and closing, the blurs.
Music/Sounds: The monster growling, screeching and hissing.
Availability: Seen only in the intro of Realms of the Haunting.
8th Logo (Monopoly variant) (October 31, 1997)
Nickname: "The Shaft"
Logo: A shaft in the earth opens, surrounded by fireworks, and the Gremlin logo on the stage (which already has "Studios" written below it) emerges from it, surrounded by projectors. There is water around the stage.
FX/SFX: The logo rising and the projectors.
Music/Sounds: A dramatic orchestral soundtrack.
Availability: Seen on Monopoly for PlayStation.
9th Logo (Men in Black variant) (November 18, 1997)
Nickname: "Area 51"
Logo: We move close to a triple-section apparatus, which opens and begins to rotate. Sections open one-by-one. The first contains an arm, the second has an alien body inside, and the third one shows a gloomy orange Gremlin logo.
FX/SFX: The moving apparatus.
Music/Sounds: A heavy soundtrack with tumbler opening sounds.
Availability: Seen on Men in Black for PlayStation.
10th Logo (N2O/Motorhead variant) (April-September 1998)
Nickname: "Gremlin Above Earth"
Logo: Above a spinning CGI earth in space, we see a blue rotating rectangle fade in, emitting blue sparks and the Gremlin Interactive logo forming on it as it spins. The earth flashes, the logo finishes forming, and we see the full logo as usual. The whole logo then fades out.
Variant: On N2O: Nitrous Oxide, the animation is sped up, causing the music to finish over a black background. Also, the logo cuts in instead of fading in.
FX/SFX: The logo fading in, the rotating, the sparks, the flashing, the logo fading out.
Music/Sounds: A droning choir evocative of Gregorian monks.
Availability: Seen on N2O: Nitrous Oxide and Motorhead for PlayStation.
11th Logo (August 1999)
Nicknames: "Ferocious Gremlin", "GIS Eating Ball"
Logo: On a white background, there are the words "Gremlin Interactive Studios" below. The first letters of each word stretch above, enlarging into the "GIS" wordmark, and the remains begin to tremble. As the letters meet into "GIS", the remaining words explode. Then a football comes and hits "GIS", which grows jaws and eyes. The background then changes to infernal fire, as "GIS" leaps and bites through the ball. Then it returns back, the background reverts back to white, and the name appears below again. The ball still hangs on "GIS".
Trivia: This logo was used while Infogrames made its efforts to acquire Gremlin during 1999. It was not used on box covers though.
FX/SFX: All in rather simple CGI.
Music/Sounds: Sounds of rotating letters, explosion, the ball hitting "GIS" and the ferocious roar.
Availability: Seen on Premier Manager 99 for PlayStation. Also seen on Premier Manager for Nintendo 64, with the previous Gremlin logo in the corner.
Infogrames Sheffield House
1st Logo (1999-November 8, 2002)
Nickname: "The Armadillo"
Logo: Just the general logo Infogrames used for its subsidiaries. It features the semi-rectangular "INFOGRAMES" banner, the armadillo pictured above, and the "Sheffield House" byline below.
Variants:
- On Premier Manager 2000, the logo is seen on blue material and has "Developed by" above. The byline is referred to as "Studios Ltd. Leeds House" below. There is also no armadillo.
- On the Nintendo 64 version of PGA European Tour, the text "Developed by Infogrames Sheffield House" can be seen in the opening credits.
- On UEFA Challenge, The logo appears on a football/soccer field.
- On Micro Machines, The character Danger Ranger (from the game) is seen creating the armadillo logo in the skies, out of fuel trails. Then the background turns blue and the name with the Sheffield byline appears. This was the last game made by the pre-1999 Gremlin development team.
- On Slam Tennis, the logo is written on a tennis ball.
- On the Dreamcast version of Wacky Races, the Infogrames shield, "Sheffield House" and the armadillo are blue, while the background is white.
- On Superman: Shadow of Apokolips, the armadillo and "Sheffield House" are blue, the Infogrames banner is white and the background is black. Copyright info is below.
FX/SFX: None, except for Micro Machines.
Music/Sounds: None. On Micro Machines logo, we hear jet engine sounds.
Availability: Seen on games listed above.
2nd Logo (Hogs on War variant) (June 8, 2000)
Nicknames: "The Armadillo II", "The Lowering Armadillo", "The Hogs of War Logo", "Cut this!"
Logo: The semi-rectangular Infogrames shape with the text is already on the white background. The logo, in a nice shade of blue, is lowered down via some straps like a cargo crate would be lowered from a crane, and the shadow below it gets bigger and bigger as it appears. The logo is dropped, with the armadillo making an audible squeak of a pig as it lands. Throughout the logo, the stacked text "Studios Ltd Sheffield House" fades in, flipping in letter by letter. The whole logo then cuts to black.
FX/SFX: The flipping letters, the logo being lowered and dropped, and the shadow getting bigger.
Music/Sounds: A gentle sounding synth cord, some harp, Rik Mayall (who voices all the characters in Hogs of War) saying "Cut this!", and a pig squeal as the armadillo lands.
Availability: Seen only on Hogs of War.
3rd Logo (Wacky Races variant) (June 29, 2001)
Nicknames: "The Armadillo III", "Muttley the Armadillo"
Logo: A paintbrush paints the Infogrames Armadillo logo in blue. It then paints the eye and then paints over the 4 rings again. Then the shadow of the armadillo and the Infogrames banner with the byline appear below. The armadillo laughs with Muttley's voice.
FX/SFX: The paintbrush painting the armadillo, then the moving of it when it laughs.
Music/Sounds: All sorts of cartoony sound effects when the paintbrush paints the armadillo. Then a splat when it paints the eye, and more splat sounds when it paints the rings on it. Then we have Muttley's laugh for the armadillo laughing.
Availability: Extremely rare. It only appears on the Playstation 2 version of Wacky Races, which was only released in Europe. The Dreamcast version uses the last logo, and the PlayStation version uses the Appaloosa Interactive logo instead.
