LJN Ltd.

Credits

Captures by
RSX7-798

Background

LJN was a toy and video game company founded in 1970 by Jack Friedman. The name comes from the initials of its sales representative Lewis J. Norman, the reverse of Norman J. Lewis. In 1985, MCA bought LJN, and began publishing games for the NES in 1987, a majority of which were notoriously low quality, some of them being named the worst video games ever. In 1990, LJN was sold to Acclaim Entertainment, and was eventually dissolved by them in 1994, along with other Acclaim labels (Flying Edge and Arena Entertainment). They made a brief in-name only return in 2000 when Acclaim used the brand to publish the Dreamcast port of Spirit of Speed 1937.

1st Logo (January 1991-July 2000)

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Visuals: There are the words "Ljn LTD.", with a weird-looking 6-segment "rainbow" (with the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple) behind it.

Variants:

• On some games, "PRESENTS" is shown below.
• The Game Boy version has a much smaller "rainbow" of only 4 segments, "LTD" added near it, and is in black and white on a white background.
• On Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Spider-Man 3 for Game Boy, the logo is inside a black square on a white background.
• On Spider-Man & Venom - Maximum Carnage for the SNES, the logo is on a dark red background. The Genesis version has it on a white background.
• On the Game Boy game of WWF Superstars 2, only the text appears below the title screen.
• On the Amiga, DOS and Atari ST versions of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the Ocean Software logo appears above the logo.
• On the NES game of T&C II: Thrilla's Surfari, the logo is shown above the game's title screen.

Technique: A still digital graphic.

Audio: None, or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on many games made and/or published by LJN, starting with the NES and Game Boy games of The Punisher (the latter uses it despite being published under the normal Acclaim label). Also appears on Spirit of Speed 1937 and the PlayStation prototype for an unreleased port of Killing Time.

2nd Logo (March 1992-February 1995)

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Visuals: There is the LJN logo with just the text on a black background. Then, a rainbow of colors swirls around it once, forming the finished logo.

Variants:

• On some games, like the SNES game of The Incredible Crash Dummies, the logo is still.
• On the SNES game of NFL Quarterback Club, the rainbow appears first, and then the text appears.
• On NBA: All Star Challenge for the SNES, the animation is more fluid.
• On Spider-Man: The Animated Series for the SNES, the logo is on a blue spider web background. Plus, the "Ljn" text isn't centered right.

Technique: 2D sprite animation.

Audio: Silent or the opening theme of the game, but on the WWF games and NBA All-Star Challenge, a mystical chime sound, which was also used for the Acclaim logo, is heard.

Availability: Seen on games made and/or published by LJN, starting with the SNES game of WWF Super WrestleMania. A few titles with this include Warlock, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and True Lies for the SNES.

3rd Logo (September 1992)

Visuals: On a black background, the LJN Ltd text from the last two logo appears. The text slides, and a rainbow fades in over the logo.

Technique: 2D sprite animation.

Audio: A pinging sound.

Availability: Seen only on the NES game of WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge.