Background: The Sega Saturn was a console created by Sega to rival Sony's PlayStation. It lasted from 1994-2000 (1995-1998 in North America and PAL territory).



1st Logo
(1995-1999)

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 a giant blue ball with an S-shaped ring (colored silver) surrounding it (obviously, the "Saturn" part). When it's finished, a bright light flashes, turning the black background into a steel gray background, and "Sega Saturn", stacked, can be seen below the logo. Below the text, we see the copyright "TM & (c) 1995 SEGA. All rights reserved."

FX: The pieces of glass flying around and forming the logo.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized "twinkling" chime-organ tune, followed by a whoosh, then a sound of a jail cell door closing.

Trivia: This logo was used at the end of various adverts for Sega Saturn games in the UK in the later 1990's. The animation and music played as normal, with a couple of changes:

*A voiceover saying 'Sega' at the end of it. The VA varied advert by advert, but adverts for any of the Sonic games weilded the classic "SEGA!" tune.
*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)

Availability: This appears when you turn on an NTSC-US (North American) or PAL (European) Saturn console.

Scare Factor: Minimal.


2nd Logo
Logo: It's the same background, same animation as the first logo, but the pieces of glass form an abstract "Sega Saturn", with the second "S" being larger than the rest of the letters, and both "A"s not containing a horizontal line between the legs. The Saturn logo here is very small, the S-shaped ring is black, not silver, and it is in the bottom left corner, next to another copyright-- "(c) SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. 1994 Ver. 1.00".

Variant: On some games, the logo will read "V-Saturn" instead. This logo can be found on games tailor-made for the JVC-made V-Saturn console, introduced in 1995. It has the same music mentioned below. Also, the copyright reads "(c) SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. 1994, 1995 Ver. 1.01". But, this logo can only be seen on NTSC-J consoles.

FX: See above.

Music/Sounds: Three rising synthesized notes, with the sound of glass breaking at the beginning, and a synth warble at the end.

Availability: This appears when you turn on an NTSC-J (Japanese) Saturn console.

Scare Factor: Medium to high, due to the music. But this is a fan favorite amongst many users (I myself wish my Saturn had this logo!).


3rd Logo
(1994?-2000?)
Note: This is an alternate logo that appeared on Hitachi's Hi-Saturn console.

Logo: On a space background, we see two mirrored images of an odd shape zooming in towards us, rotating into
place as they do so. They pass us, but a few seconds later, return, and it's revealed to be the text "Hi-Saturn", colored gold. When the logo's 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. As in the previous logo, the small Saturn logo appears on the bottom left, but now, there are TWO copyrights next to the small Saturn logo-- "(c) SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. 1994, 1995 Ver. 1.02" and "(c) Hitachi, Ltd. 1995" below that.

FX: All the animation in the logo.

Music/Sounds: A rising Moog synth note, then a harmonic synth choir is heard. At the end, the same synth warble on the Sega Saturn/V-Saturn startup is heard.

Availability: Appears on Hitachi's Hi-Saturn console from Sega. But unfortunately, this is only sold in Japan.

Scare Factor: None; this is another favorite of many.