DMA Design

Background

DMA Design was a Scottish video game firm that was established in 1988 by David Jones, Russell Kay, Steve Hammond, and Mike Dailly. The company's first game was Menace, but its breakthrough hits were Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto. In the late 1990s, it was sold to Gremlin Interactive and later Infogrames, which was later divested to Rockstar Games. The company would later be renamed to Rockstar North in 2002.

1st Logo (1989)

Visuals: On a blue grid background, there are the words "DMA DESIGN" in a futuristic sans-serif font. The words "A" and "GAME" are seen below.

Technique: None.

Audio: An announcer saying "a DMA Design game" in a dark voice.

Availability: Seen on Blood Money for the Atari ST and Amiga.

2nd Logo (Lemmings custom variant) (14 February 1991)

Visuals: Over a red surface, two warriors are facing each other; one of them wears a helmet. The words "DMA Design" in a custom font are below, with two purple stripes to surround the warriors. There is a red strip to the right of "Design".

Technique: None.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on the original Lemmings for Amiga. Also seen on the TurboGrafx-CD port of Shadow of the Beast.

3rd Logo (Hired Guns/Lemmings 2 custom variant) (April 1993-1994)

Visuals: There is a gradient background, turning from coral pink to mauve. There is a stony plate, and a red stained column over it. The words "DMA DESIGN" in a chippy font are seen above the plates.

Technique: None.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen occasionally on some Lemmings 2 and Hired Guns ports, sometimes with the Psygnosis logo. Clearly appears in fullscreen on Lemmings 2 for 3DO.

4th Logo (1994-15 May 1999)

Visuals: Just the DMA Man from the 5th logo, sometimes with "DMA Design" below.

Technique: None.

Audio: None.

Availability: First seen on Lemmings Chronicles, then on Body Harvest and Tanktics. Also appears on Wild Metal Country after the animated logo, sharing the screen with the Gremlin Interactive logo and copyright info.

5th Logo (Grand Theft Auto custom variant) (28 November 1997)

Visuals: On a white background, there is the DMA Man (a red "D", a green "M", and a blue "A", stacked on top of each other to look like a head, a body, and legs, respectively) walking along. All of a sudden, the DMA Man gets hit by a car, goes flying through the air, and lands flat on its back. The DMA Man then gets run over by the car, and twitches.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The DMA Man humming when it's walking along, the sound of a car revving up, the DMA Man screaming, two hit sounds when the DMA Man gets hit and lands, the sound of the same car zooming by when it runs over the DMA Man, and a cartoon-like sound when the DMA Man twitches.

Availability: Can be seen on Grand Theft Auto for PC and PlayStation.

6th Logo (Body Harvest custom variant) (30 September 1998)

Visuals: On a black background, there is the DMA Man zooming in. Then a slime appears and causes the DMA Man to drop dead.

Technique: Real-time CGI.

Audio: An electronic warbling, and then a whistle, and then slime sounds.

Availability: Seen on the N64 game of Body Harvest.

7th Logo (Space Station Silicon Valley custom variant) (21 October 1998)

Visuals: On a white background, there is the DMA Man stumbling and looking around. Suddenly, three robotic dogs swarm him, knock him over while colorful sparks fly, and then run away. Then, EVO (as a chip) eventually revives the DMA Man, causing him to move again.

Trivia: On earlier copies, the game would completely freeze at the end of the logo when the DMA Man is on the ground. This is due to an error involving incompatibility with the Nintendo 64's Expansion Pak; Silicon Valley was the only game in the console's library to be incompatible with it. While the opening can be skipped, the game would still freeze in several areas, including the opening cutscene. The game would only work properly if the standard Jumper Pak that the Nintendo 64 was initially launched with is inserted. This error was fixed on later versions of the game.

Variant: If the A or B button is held during the logo, a variant will play instead:

A button: The logo plays as usual, then a robotic bear juggling on a unicycle rides by and bounces over the DMA Man.
B button: The logo plays as usual, then two robotic dogs and a robotic sheep run up to the DMA Man and look around. They then run off.

Technique: Real-time CGI.

Audio: Just some dogs barking and a bouncing sound when EVO revives the DMA Man.

Availability: Can be seen only on Space Station Silicon Valley for the Nintendo 64. The later PlayStation port of this game, EVO's Space Adventures, does not have this logo as DMA had no involvement with it.

8th Logo (Wild Metal Country custom variant) (15 May 1999)

Visuals: Over a white background, there is the DMA Man standing on the surface. He looks around, as a rocket comes and blows up the DMA Man. The letters then fall back and the "A" disconnects.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The sound of a flying ball, then clapping and creaking sounds.

Availability: Can be seen on Wild Metal Country for PC and Dreamcast.

9th Logo (Tanktics custom variant) (30 September 1999)

Visuals: On a grassy path is construction tools that build pieces of the DMA Man. Then sheep appear, and then the background turns black.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Birds chirping, and then cartoon sound effects.

Availability: Seen on the PC game of Tanktics.

10th Logo (Grand Theft Auto 2 custom variant) (22 October 1999)

Visuals: On a black background, there is the DMA Man looking around. Suddenly, red, white, and blue police lights zoom across the screen, and the DMA Man jumps forward. More police lights zoom across the screen, and the DMA Man's letters spin around several times. After the DMA Man stops spinning, he falls over. The camera then tilts over so that the DMA Man is facing the screen.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The sounds of cars zooming by and police sirens when the police lights zoom across the screen, cartoon-like sounds when the DMA Man is jumping forward and spinning around, and a "thump" when it falls over.

Availability: Can be seen on Grand Theft Auto 2 for PC, PlayStation, and Dreamcast.

11th Logo (Grand Theft Auto III custom variant) (22 October 2001)

Visuals: On a black background, there is a different DMA logo; here, the "D", "M", and "A" are arranged side-by-side and are surrounded by a box that says "DMA DESIGN LIMITED" at the bottom. After less than a second, the DMA logo flickers and appears closer towards the screen, with the DMA logo's original position still present. The DMA logo flickers a few more times, and then disappears.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A weird, unintelligible computerized voice.

Availability: Can be seen only on the PlayStation 2 version of Grand Theft Auto III.

DMA Design

Rockstar North

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