Knowledge Adventure

Background

JumpStart Games, formerly known as Knowledge Adventure, is a well-known edutainment game company formed in 1989, most known for making JumpStart. In the late 1990s, it was later merged with another large education software firm, Davidson & Associates, which was best known for the Math Blaster series and other related games in the popular Blaster Learning System line-up. Since then, the company was owned by various firms, including CUC Interactive in 1997, Cendant Corporation in 1998, and Vivendi in the same year (later known as "Vivendi Universal" in 2000). During the Vivendi ownership, Knowledge Adventure was part of Vivendi Universal Games under the Vivendi Games division. In late 2004, Vivendi Universal sold Knowledge Adventure to a group of investors interested in taking a more active management strategy, and in developing new educational software. The company has since released new products under both the JumpStart and Math Blaster brands. In 2012, Knowledge Adventure was renamed to JumpStart Games. In 2017, JumpStart Games was acquired by NetDragon Websoft.

1st Logo (1992-October 15, 1997; 1998)

Logo: On a starry black background, a large slab suddenly appears in a darkened state featuring a green and purple section cut by a large curve. In the bottom right corner of it, the golden letters "KA" appear via a light yellow shine and it splits into 2 smaller lights: one that traces across the curve on the slab, and another that reveals the rest of the text reading "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE". The curve light then illuminates the slab brightly as a large flash appears in the middle of it, forming a 5-pointed flash that transforms into a human figure lifting its arms up, which also has a moon-like face, and the slab to glow brightly along the edges. A green/white planet is also seen above the man with a revolving purple moon around it, and a 8-pointed white star rises from beyond the white curve like a sunrise, spinning as it emerges from beyond the box and becomes yellow and keeps spinning for a bit longer before it and the moon stop revolving. All while this is happening, the entire logo is pointed at a downwards angle at the beginning before tilting into a upright position.

Variants:

Prior to 1994, the logo was still and in 2D, as well as the border of the logo being wavy.
On their earliest games with the animated logo, the logo is slightly faster. At the end, the logo zooms out into the background and a starburst appears, leading to the title screen of the logo.

Technique: Choppy early CGI.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic-sounding orchestral, piano, and choir fanfare that mellows out at the end. A "explosion" plays when the star flashes.

Music/Sounds Variant: The early variant has the fanfare composed in a MIDI format and a loud whoosh is added when the logo zooms out.

Availability: Rare. Early games released by Knowledge Adventure are hard to find. This logo makes an appearance on some JumpStart titles, the last of them being JumpStart 5th Grade. This logo made a surprise appearance on JumpStart Baby (1998).

2nd Logo (Early 1998-March 25, 2011)

Logo: On a white background, a blue square fades in to the left of the screen. Then, the words "DISCOVER.", "LEARN." and "EXCEL." slide in, one-by-one, at the bottom right corner of the square, each forming a set of stairs each time. An orange star then appears at the top right corner of the square, and a blue person then comes near the square, walks up the steps (becoming white in the process), and touches the star, causing it to flash and freeze the logo. "Knowledge Adventure" fades in at the top of the orange text.

Variants:

There is a rare version with the company name in two rows and no slogan.
Another rare version has a black background and the name below the picture. It can mainly be found in the installer for some KA games.
An in-credit version was used on Play with the Teletubbies.
There is a version where the slogan is in French.

Technique: Simple 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A mellow synth-piano/orchestral theme.

Availability: Common. Seen on post-1997 JumpStart games like JumpStart 1st Grade as well as post-1999 Math Blaster/Reading Blaster games. It also can be seen on other games like Play with the Teletubbies and Little People: Discovery Airport for example. The French version can be found on Franklin Après l'école, A Franklin video game from France.