Acclaim Entertainment

Background
Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was founded in 1987 as a Delaware corporation. Over the next 17 years, the company became a leading worldwide developer, publisher, and mass marketer. The company's headquarters were located in Glen Cove, New York, and their common stock publicly traded on the US Stock Exchange (NASDAQ symbol AKLM). In later years, Acclaim had a reputation for bad-quality games, save for some exceptions such as the NBA Jam series (which was originally an arcade game developed by Midway before Acclaim bought the series), the NFL Quarterback Club series, and the Turok series. In September 2004, Acclaim has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, which caused it to be closed. All of its divisions and studios were closed and its assets were liquidated by the end of 2004. These assets were then auctioned off to several companies in the coming years; most of the game library was acquired by Canadian developer Throwback Entertainment in 2006, while the Acclaim brand itself was purchased by independent publisher Collectorvision in May 2016.

1st Logo (March 12, 1987-1997)
Nickname: "The Acclaim Arrow"

Logo: On a black background, we see the word "Acclaim" in a -gradient color, on top of a rainbow gradient arrow-like line facing the left with the C's made of "less than" signs or left arrows [<]. Under the logo is "entertainment, Inc.", which is sometimes spaced to fit the width of the logo.

Trivia:
 * In Frank Thomas' Big Hurt Baseball, NBA Jam, and NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, the Acclaim logo can be seen on some posters and walls.
 * In the intro for The Simpsons: Bartman Meets the Radioactive Man, you can find a comic book in the game with the Acclaim logo on it.

Variants:
 * The animated version is when the arrow-line is or sometimes black. Then the rainbow gradient arrow-line slides into the logo.
 * Sometimes, the "Acclaim" text is white.
 * On Warlock for Sega Genesis, the logo falls into view themed on an avalanche.
 * On the SNES and Sega Genesis versions of Revolution X, the logo is in a 3D style.
 * On Jupiter Strike, the logo is smaller than the original version and the rainbow-colored line shines.
 * On Super Smash T.V., and George Foreman's KO Boxing for SNES, the -gradient lines appear above and below the screen respectively. Later versions of the latter game have the -gradient lines removed.
 * On some games like the Game Boy version of Cutthroat Island, "entertainment, inc." is absent.

FX/SFX: The arrow sliding into the logo. In other cases, none or depending on the variant.

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

Music/Sounds Variant: On the SNES versions of Super Smash T.V. and George Foreman's K-O Boxing, the mystical chime sound from the LJN logo is heard.

Availability: Seen on Acclaim games from the time, including Mortal Kombat 1 and 2.
 * This is also seen on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn games Street Fighter: The Movie, WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, Bust-A-Move 2 Arcade Edition and Psychic Force.
 * It even appeared on UK releases of Mortal Kombat 3 for Game Boy and Game Gear and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for SNES and Genesis, since Acclaim distributed the titles outside the USA.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1995-1998)
Nickname: "The Acclaim Arrow II"

Logo: We see the same Acclaim logo, but the "Acclaim" typeface is in a 3D style and "entertainment, inc", is in dark blue. A light blink appears behind, shining on the logo.

Variants:
 * On Genesis games, there is no light blink and the logo is more.
 * On Batman and Robin, the logo is set behind the game's opening.
 * OnFrank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball for Genesis, the colored arrow-line slides in from the right like in the animated variant of the first logo.

FX/SFX: Just the fade in and out.

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

Availability: Seen on Acclaim titles from this time period, in tandem with the previous and next logos.
 * Games that have this variant include NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Sega 32X, PlayStation, Saturn, PC and Atari Jaguar versions), NFL Quarterback Club (Sega 32X Version), Rise 2: Resurrection, D, Revolution X (PlayStation, Saturn and PC versions), Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, the SNES and Sega Genesis versions of Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball, NFL Quarterback Club 96 and College Slam, X-Men: Children of the ATOM (PlayStation and Saturn versions), and Batman and Robin for PlayStation.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (February 29, 1996-2000)


Nicknames: "Shooting Letters", "The Acclaim Arrow III", "CGI Acclaim Arrow"

Logo: On a black background, each letter in the word "Acclaim", flies in and hits the screen, leaving fire traces. Every time a letter hits the screen, the arrow-line flashes in. When all the other letters come along including "entertainment, inc.", the arrow-line becomes rainbow colored as usual, and the logo shines with rainbow colors, becoming 3D and. After the logo forms, the logo shines while the light starts to shine from beyond the logo.

Variants:
 * On the PS1 port of Alien Trilogy, the logo runs at 30 fps.
 * On Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball, NFL Quarterback Club '97, and All-Star Baseball '97 Featuring Frank Thomas for Sega Saturn, the logo is shot in widescreen.
 * On Bubble Bobble: Featuring Rainbow Islands and Fantastic Four for PlayStation, the standard logo is sped up a little, except for the PAL versions which are in standard speed.
 * On Constructor, the logo is still.

FX/SFX: The letters flying, the rainbow effects.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of letters flying, ending with the descending tune.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Constructor and the PAL version of Bust-A-Move 3 (not Bust-A-Move 3 DX/Bust-A-Move 99), the logo is silent.

Availability: It was first used on Alien Trilogy, and has appeared on many PlayStation, Saturn and PC games released by the company.
 * Such examples include V-Tennis, Jeremy McGrath Supercross 98, Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball, NFL Quarterback Club '96 and '97 (the former title was never released for PlayStation), College Slam, NBA Jam Extreme, Space Jam, WWF In Your House and The Crow: City of Angels among others.
 * By 1998, this logo was rarely used (instead of using the 4th logo), being reduced to be used on trailers, and the last game to feature this was RC De Go! on the PlayStation.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1997-2003)
Nickname: "The Acclaim Arrow IV"

Logo: We see the similar Acclaim logo from the 1st logo, but the word "Acclaim" is bolder, is in plain white, and the "C" arrows are straighter. Also, "entertainment, inc.", or "entertainment" is under the logo like before.

Variants:
 * On some titles since 1998, "entertainment, inc." is absent. Sometimes, the website URL "www.acclaim.com" in 1999, is under the logo.
 * Sometimes, the word "Acclaim" is black and the background is white.
 * On Realtime Associates-developed games like WWF Raw for Game Gear, the background and letters are white. The background is black on Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball, while Iron Man/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal has the text in.
 * On some games like Machines, Trickstyle, Burnout 2: Point of Impact and Shadow Man, the logo is in high-quality 3D, and the word "Acclaim" is a bit and has a metallic shine, but on Shadow Man, it's on a background.
 * On Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance, the "entertainment inc." text is bold, and in italics.

FX/SFX: Depending on the variant.

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

Availability: Seen on various Acclaim games at the time.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (2000-2001)


Nicknames: "The Acclaim Arrow V", "CGI Acclaim Arrow II", "The Light Traveling Arrow"

Logo: The Acclaim logo turns and zooms in with the spotlight rays traveling through the word "Acclaim". Then as the lights reach the "cc" part of the logo, the colors on the arrow-like appear via the glow-light color, forming the logo. Then the logo zooms back, while the lights slowly dim out a few seconds later.

FX/SFX: The light traveling through the logo.

Music/Sounds: A synth sounder with a ding at the end.

Availability: It only appears on RC Revenge Pro and Paris Dakar Rally for the PlayStation 2.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (2002-2004)


Nicknames: "Pinball-Shot Acclaim Logo", "The Acclaim Arrow VI", "CGI Acclaim Arrow III"

Logo: The word "Acclaim" is being shot letter-by-letter by lightning sparks. Every letter shines a second after being formed. Two c's are created by the shots from downside, then follow the dot and arrow-line. The word "entertainment" appears, and strike comes down the arrow-line.

FX/SFX: The letters being shot.

Music/Sounds: Loud shot sounds.

Availability: Fairly rare. It only appears on four games: ZooCube for GameCube, Speed Kings, Freestyle Street Soccer and the North American version of Worms 3D for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and PC (the Xbox and European versions were published by Sega).

Editor's Note: The shots can catch you off guard.

7th Logo (2003)
Nicknames: "The Acclaim Arrow VII", "The Circles, Lines and Cubes"

Logo: We see circles and lines moving to the left with a 3D Acclaim logo. Then cubes appear through it as the logo turns into color and becomes 2D.

FX/SFX: All the animation in the logo.

Music/Sounds: Robotic sounds, ending with swooshes.

Availability: Only seen on NBA Jam for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo (2003-2004)


Nicknames: "Laser Writing", "The Acclaim Arrow VIII", "The Laser Writing Acclaim Arrow"

Logo: The Acclaim logo from before is being written with laser lines. After it's completed, it shines and glows.

FX/SFX: The laser writing the letters.

Music/Sounds: Laser carving sounds ending with an orchestral hit mixed with the synth bass note.

Availability: Very rare.
 * On publicly released games, this logo only appeared on three games: AFL Live Premiership Edition, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling and WCR: World Championship Rugby.
 * On un-released games, it was seen on the Xbox version of The Red Star (when it was released in 2007, it was published by XS Games and only the PlayStation 2 version was publicly released) and the Acclaim version of Juiced (the final game was published by THQ after Acclaim went bankrupt).

Editor's Note: None.