Background: Sony Imagesoft (formerly "CSG Imagesoft") was founded in 1989 and purchased by Sony in 1992. The division published games for 16-bit consoles. Later, it was renamed to "Sony Electronic Publishing" and expanded to PC products. Soon after it was closed due to Sony's attention on the arrival of PlayStation.
1st Logo
(1992-1993)
Nicknames: "The Red Feather", "The Sony Feather"
Logo: A stylized red feather is seen standing on a surface and emitting light rays from its point. The background is black. This box is included intoanother white box, where "SONY" (In it's corporate font) is above, and "IMAGESOFT" is below.
FX/SFX: None.
Variants:
- On Last Action Hero, the logo was stretched to screen.
- On SNES games, the logo was darker.
- There is an animated version of this logo which carries out like the next logo with some differences- 1. The feather remains red throughout the logo. 2. The feather drops slower 3. Is talls all the way to the top right corner. 4. The box appears. 5. It coasts to the center. This was seen on Bram Stoker's Dracula (the Sega CD port at least).
Music/Sounds: None. The animated version featured a disorted low pitched version of the later logos music.
Availability: Seen on Cliffhanger, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Last Action Hero.
Scare Factor: None.
2nd Logo
(1992-1994)
Nicknames: "The Red Feather II", "The Sony Feather II"
Logo: Against a black background, the feather falls from the top, swirling and making the place with its point down. Colored light rays are emitted from the point, like on the previous logo. The still version is more graphic and has shadows.
Variants:
- Animated version has improved look and quality.
- There is a print version of this logo made in blue (or green) colors and similar to the latest logo used.
- There's a simple version used on Gear Works where the blue rectangular part is gone leaving only the feather and the rays.
- The feather animation is superimposed against the studios of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune on PC versions of those shows' video game adaptations.
- On ESPN S'peed World, the logo is inside the white rectangular box. Plus, the logo is crushed by the game's title logo.
FX/SFX: Flying feather and light rays. None for the still version.
Music/Sounds: A soft tune with piano. None or the game's opening theme on still version.
Availability: The still version is common and seen on various games like Frankenstein, Mickey Mania, No Escape, Hook, Wheel of Fortune, and ESPN series. The animated version was used on several Sega CD games and Johnny Mnemonic for PC. The blue version can be found on Skyblazer.
Scare Factor: Minimal.
3rd Logo
(1994)
Nicknames: "The Red Feather III", "The Sony Feather III"
Logo: Similar to the regular logo from the era. The background is blue with relief feather over it, and the light rays are shown as the black cuts. The company name is in 3D.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Used on ESPN National Hockey Night for Sega CD.
Scare Factor: None.
4th Logo
(1995)
Nicknames: "The Print Feather", "The Sony Feather IV"
Logo: This is the enhanced print version of Sony Imagesoft logo, only with "IMAGESOFT" replaced with "ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING" with "PUBLISHING" in spaced-out letters underneath "ELECTRONIC".
FX/SFX: Probably same animation as before, but generally it's still.
Music/Sounds: None for still version.
Availability: Very rare due to the short life span. Seen on Ghosts for PC and Mega Turrican (UK version) and Morph for Sega Genesis.
Scare Factor: None.