Nintendo (Japan)

Background
Nintendo is a consumer electronics company centered around the development of video games, and hardware to run them. The company was founded in 1889 by entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi, originally as a seller of card games, at the time banned by the Japanese government due to its ties to gambling; Yamauchi's playing cards were one of few that were permitted for sale to the Japanese public. Around the 1960s, Nintendo started to experiment with numerous ventures, including a taxi service (their most successful venture at the time), love hotels, a TV network, and the sale of instant rice. After securing the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey game console in Japan in 1974, Nintendo started to solely focus on the development of video games and gaming hardware for both arcades and home use. Today, Nintendo is best known for its participation in the video game console market, with consoles such as the DS, Game Boy, Wii, NES, and most recently, Switch. They are also the owners of numerous iconic gaming franchises, including Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Pokémon, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda.

Nintendo started using stylized logos in their games in 1990.

1st Logo (November 21, 1990-October 21, 2003)
Nickname: "Nintendo Presents...."

Logo: On a black background, we see "- Nintendo -" in its corporate font without the oblong shape. Below it is "Presents".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A random sound effect from the game.
 * On Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island for SNES, the coin collect sound effect from the game is heard.
 * On Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Yoshi says the word "Nintendo".
 * On Yoshi's Story, a chorus of Yoshis say "Nintendo".
 * On The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, the Rupee collect sound effect from the game plays.
 * There is no sound on Super Scope 6.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Super Scope 6, and the Super Mario Advance games except for the first one.

Editor's Note: A favorite among Nintendo fans who grew up with the games that feature the logo.

2nd Logo (1990)


Logo: Same as the Nexoft logo used in Penguin Wars, but with the corporate Nintendo logo, sans the oblong shape.

FX/SFX: See Nexoft.

Music/Sounds: See Nexoft.

Availability: Ultra rare. Seen only on King of the Zoo, a European localization of Penguin Wars for the Game Boy.

Editor's Note: See Nexoft.

3rd Logo (September 1, 1992-December 1994, December 12, 2010) (USA)
Nicknames: "The Gold Mario Coin", "Nintendo Coin"

Logo: On a black background, we see the normal Nintendo logo, but the oblong shape is stretched out a bit. On top of the text is a Mario coin that shines once.

Variant: On Super Mario Kart, Yoshi's Safari, Super Punch-Out!! (this game has the logo in ), and Stunt Race FX (this game has the logo in ), there is no gold Mario coin.

FX/SFX: The coin shining.

Music/Sounds: The coin sound effect from the 1st logo.
 * On Stunt Race FX, a honking sound effect is heard.
 * On Super Punch-Out!!, a bling sound akin to the Game Boy startup the is heard.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on Super Mario Kart, Super Mario All-Stars (+ Super Mario World), Stunt Race FX, Super Punch-Out!!, Yoshi's Safari, and Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition.

Editor's Note: Same as the 1st logo.

4th Logo (1993-)
Nickname: "The Nintendo Logo"

Logo: We see the Nintendo logo on either a black or white background.

Variant: On PAL/NTSC-J releases of some Nintendo games, the logo is colored in instead of.

FX/SFX: None.

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

Availability: Very common. Can be seen on most Nintendo games such as Mario Kart 64. It hasn't appeared as often in-game since around the Wii U era, but it still shows up occasionally, such as on Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Editor's Note: Same as the 1st logo.

5th Logo (Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem custom variant) (June 24, 2002)
Nicknames: "Eternal Darkness", "Nintendo's Dark Side", "Creepy Nintendo", "Sintendo"

Logo: On a black background, we see some reddish- smoke rising, forming a skeleton with its eyes lit, which then looks to the camera with its mouth opening. Its eyes brighten up before a flash of light appears, causing the skeleton to melt to the right, off the screen. The flash becomes a beam of light, circling around before it reaches the bottom-center of an outline of the Nintendo logo. It flashes even brighter and the full Nintendo logo appears in light blue. Throughout its screen time, the color of the Nintendo logo changes to.

Variant: On the PAL/European versions of the game, the Nintendo logo would turn instead of.

FX/SFX: All CGI.

Music/Sounds: Ominous orchestral music, accompanied by the skeleton growling. After a phasing sound when the Nintendo logo gets formed, a deep "thud" is heard and a deep male announcer says the company name.

Availability: Only appeared on Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for the Nintendo GameCube.

Editor's Note: The smoke, the frightening and jarring appearance of the creature growling, the orchestral sting and the creepy announcer will be very unsettling to most. But this is undeniably intentional given the subject matter of the game that follows it.