Sega was originally founded in 1940 as "Standard Games" in Honolulu, Hawaii. The company was then moved to Tokyo, Japan by Raymond Lemaire and Richard Stewart with a means of distributing coin-operated games and was renamed "Service Games".
SG-1000[]
(July 15, 1983-September 23, 1988)[]
Logo: There are many different versions, they involve a character from the game doing many different things.
Variants:
2D:
- Window: Wonder Boy wipes his hand on a window, forming the SG-1000 logo.
- Hats: Link puts many hats on a white object, starting up with a beret and ending up with the "SEGA" text in silver. Link spray-paints the hat in blue to match the ball, and tilts the hat the right way to form the then-current logo.
- Stamp: Incineroar opens some ink, puts a stamp on it, and stamps the screen with the SG-1000 logo on it.
- Maze: Mega Man adds toy soldiers in a maze, one of them gets stuck, and the maze was partially shown to be the Sega logo.
- Shadow: Pac makes various shadows on a circle-shaped light, he then makes a Pac-shaped shadow, and Pac stretches the light, revealing the Sega logo.
Stop-Motion:
- Paper: Kid Icarus folds some paper and then cuts a bit of it, forming the Sega logo.
- Pancake: We see Samus' hand spreading pancake butter. He flips the butter twice, and then it flies onto a plate, forming the Sega logo. He then puts syrup on it.
- Record Player: Roy the Fire Emblem tests out some records on a record player (one of which plays "Old MacDonald in a Farm" and the other plays "Tosca"). Eventually one was shaped like the Sega logo. The fire emblem then turns off the record player.
- Grocery Store: Link was at a grocery store. He grabs a TV dinner set. He blows off the frost to reveal the circle-shaped contents, resembling the SG-1000 logo.
- Photo Booth: Mega Man goes to a photo booth and tries to hold items with the camera going off when he holds them, the end result being set on a striped white cloth with the SG-1000 logo.
- Paint: Pac mixes up some paint, which turns into the Sega logo.
- Blocks: Wonder Boy has trouble adding wooden blocks to the Sega logo, while he turns them into circles, which fit into the logo.
- TV: Wonder Boy makes a TV out of cardboard, which really works and shows the Disney logo on its screen.
- Teleportation Machine: Link tests his teleportation machine by transporting berets. The first few tries have the berets transported, however, they have gotten messed up. During the last try, a bee flies into the teleportation device, forming a combination of a bee and a beret, showing the Sega logo.
- Train Set: Pac builds a train set that forms the logo. Pac then makes the train whistle.
- Jigsaw: Pac completes a jigsaw puzzle. While it was completed, Pac cuts most of the holes in it, forming the logo.
FX/SFX: Either 2D or stop-motion animation done with an Ampex Digital Optics "ADO". The 2D ones were done by AKOM from South Korea while the stop-motion ones were done by Broadcast Arts.
Music/Sounds: Which vary depending on the variant.
Availability: Extinct.
Master System[]
(September 6, 1986-December 5, 1992)[]
Logo: On a black background, the letters in the Sega logo slide in. When they freeze-frame, "MASTER SYSTEM" appears on the bottom.
FX/SFX: The letters sliding, "Master System" appearing.
Music/Sounds: A rising synth note, followed by a synth-disco jingle.
Availability: Seen when you turn on a Sega Master System, which was a modest hit in Japan (known as the SG-1000 Mark III during the first two years) and North America, however, it was a big hit in Europe, Latin America (particularly Brazil), and Australia, where it was more successful than its competitor, the NES. In these regions the logo was uncommon, in that retro game stalls and markets are likely to have Master Systems going cheap. However, you do not see this logo when starting up an SMS game.
Sega Genesis[]
(September 10, 1988-May 8, 1993)[]
Logo: Over a psychedelic purple background with a sunburst-like shape, we see an object, with a border in it (along with "SEGA", in the familiar trademark font, on top and the word "GENESIS" on the bottom), zooms up while it shifts colors and patterns.
FX/SFX: The logo zooming-in and changing colors.
Music/Sounds: A two note web swinging-like coin "bling" that reminded of the Conga theme, followed by this video game-styled theme music. It was composed by Mutsuhiko Izumi (for the score), Miki Higashino (for the melody) and Kozo Nakamura (for the lyrics).
Availability: Seen when you turn on a Sega Genesis, which was one of their most popular consoles that they used during that time.
Game Gear[]
(October 11, 1990-May 19, 2002)[]
Logo: On a white or black background, we have three circles vibrating, only this time with the words "GAME GEAR", with the byline in small lettering above.
Byline: Later from 1995 onwards, now they have the byline (in small lettering above) "A SEGA COMPANY" at the time.
Variants: Let's see their oldest variants on their Game Gear console:
- In the 1994 variant, the letters "ZE" are both attached to the tail of the last five letters "RO".
- In the 1997 variant, the byline "A SEGA COMPANY" was in the same font as the new-style Coca-Cola logo.
FX/SFX: The vibrating.
Music/Sounds: A seven note video game-styled theme music composed by Yasuhiko Manno.
Availability: Rare. Seen when you turn on a Game Gear, which was one of their oldest consoles of all freakin' time. However, I'm not gonna go to full detail about any of that, because to waste valuable time watching this.
Sega Saturn[]
1st Logo (March 19, 1995-May 22, 2002)[]
Logo: On a black background, we see pieces of glass flying all over the screen. Suddenly, the camera takes a sharp turn to the left, and the pieces of glass form an abstract "SEGA SATURN", with the second "S" being larger than the rest of the letters and the top half is red, and both "A"s not containing a horizontal line between the legs. When it was completed, a bright light flashes, turning the black background into a steel gray background, and in the bottom left corner, a small blue ball with a black S-shaped ring surrounding it.
Variants:
- When you press a button (mainly Start) while the startup is playing, the animation would skip to the flash and the music fades out. This also happens with the rest of the other startups.
- On JVC-made systems (called Victor Saturn), the pieces of glass move differently and the logo rather reads "V-SATURN" (with an entirely black "S").
FX/SFX: The glass, camera movements, flash and the metallic background, which are all in real-time.
Music/Sounds: Three rising synthesized notes, with the sound of glass breaking at the beginning, and a synth warble.
Availability: It appears when you turn on an NTSC-J (Japanese) Sega Saturn console. Rare for the V-Saturn variant.
Editor's Note: It was a favorite among Sega fans.
2nd Logo (April 28, 1995-March 8, 1997)[]
Logo: On a space background, we see two mirrored images of an odd shape zooming in towards us, rotating into place. They pass us, but a few seconds later, return, and it was revealed to be the text "HI-SATURN", colored gold. When the logo was in place, a bright flash can be seen, turning the 3D "HI-SATURN" into a 2D version, and the space background becomes a blue starburst-sky background.
FX/SFX: All the animation in the logo, which again was all in real time.
Music/Sounds: An ascending synthesized sounder, then a harmonic synth choir.
Availability: Appears on Hitachi's Hi-Saturn console from Sega. But unfortunately, this is only sold in Japan. You can look on eBay for Hi-Saturn consoles, however, the prices are quite high.
Editor's Note: It was another favorite of many.
3rd Logo (July 28, 1995-November 14, 1999)[]
Logo: It has the same background and the same pieces of glass as the first logo, however, the pieces of glass move differently and form the Saturn logo (blue ball with a "S"-shaped ring), but this time bigger and on top of the SEGA SATURN text, and with the ring being silver. "SEGA SATURN", stacked, can be seen below the logo after the flash.
Variants:
- A piece of text would fly by the screen halfway through the logo animation.
- This text was usually a hint or cheat for the game advertised (E.G. adverts for Sonic R told the player how to unlock Super Sonic).
FX/SFX: The pieces of glass flying around and forming the logo.
Music/Sounds: A synthesized "twinkling" chime-organ tune, followed by a whoosh, then what sounds like a jail cell door closing.
Availability: This appears when you turn on an NTSC-US (North American) or PAL (European or Australian) Saturn console.
Editor's Note: A good take on the Japanese startup, along with its animation and calming theme makes this logo another favorite.
Dreamcast[]
(November 27, 1998-March 31, 2001 [end of production], March 8, 2007 [last game])[]
Nickname: "The Dreamcast Swirl II"
Logo: On a white background, we see a red dot coming from the left of the screen. Then it "bounces" forming the word "Dreamcast" letter by letter. The trademark "TM" symbol forms with the "t" in Dreamcast. After the word was completely formed, the red dot forms a red swirl above "Dreamcast", inward to outward.
Variants:
- A blue swirl appears on PAL consoles in a similar fashion to the previous logo.
- When you turn on a Dreamcast while the disc cover was open, a still version of the completed logo appears.
FX/SFX: The words "Dreamcast" and the red swirl being formed.
Music/Sounds: A dreamy synth chord with a dreamy synth note played in reverse as the dot drops down. When it bounces, a series of water drop-like sounds are played to the formation of the letters, along with a synthesized cymbal crescendo. When the orange swirl forms, two drumbeat-like synth sounds are heard.
Availability: Appears when you turn on a Sega Dreamcast system.
Editor's Note: It was a favorite of many for its futuristic and soothing nature.