This probably won't mean much to you if you're not familiar with the European internet browsers for Dreamcast, but allow me to explain. Dreamkey was the PAL equivalent to SegaNet and Dream Passport and represented the default method of connection to online portal Dreamarena back in the day. Now we've established that, I'll continue. I was randomly browsing YouTube t'other day when I happened across a rather strange video. Upon closer inspection, the video appeared to have been uploaded by regular Junkyard commenter and
MSR aficionado RJAY63 and was actually posted in 2011...but until now I'd never seen anything about this.
Apparently, by inserting the Dreamkey 1.0 internet browser disc into your Dreamcast, going to the address box and simply typing 'about:' you can view a secret video crediting the creators of Dreamkey. The video isn't really all that special - it's basically the European 'Shave' advert with credits laid over the top and the Robbie Williams song removed, but it's an interesting discovery nonetheless. I watched intently hoping it might credit the actors in the video, thus solving the riddle of who Player One / The Barber actually is (
you can read out that little quest here); but alas it does not. Enough preamble though - here's the hidden video (click 'continue reading' if on the main page):
I also tried this with some other internet browser discs but Dreamkey 1.0 appears to be the only one with a hidden video accessed in this manner. That said, who knows what other little Easter eggs may be hidden in plain sight on these browser discs? While messing around with Dreamkey 3.0 I did notice a familiar name in the special thanks section of the on-disc manual, and also some rather familiar icons make up the screensaver so who knows what else is lurking? (Edit - bottom of article)
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| Sonic is well known for his UX work. |
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| Single analogue hell! |
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| Remind you of anything? Cough *Windows 95* Cough! |
Obviously, RJAY63 discovered this video in 2011 (or possibly before), but it just goes to show how much stuff there is still yet to be brought to the fore. If you find any other little-documented bonuses please comment here or join the
FaceBook group and share your discoveries!
Update: Thanks to Rich Lloyd, a member of the original Dreamcast team at Sega Europe (he's also credited in the Dreamkey video above!) I'm now aware of even more cool stuff buried on the Dreamkey 3.0 disc. By typing a certain string into the url address box (file:/dsample/index.html), you can access all kinds of weird things. Dancing babies, Flash files, 3D models of ghosts...all sorts:
I'd heard of this hidden content in the vague past, but could never remember where it was meant to be located and how it was accessed. Mystery solved! Be sure to visit this
Imgur post for more details.
