Xbox Dashboard Easter Egg discovered nearly 20 years after console’s release
Sneaking Easter Eggs into video games is nothing new in the gaming industry. Developers do it all the time. Most of the time these hidden secrets are eventually discovered but there’s one Easter Egg hidden in the original Xbox that has gone undetected for almost 20 years — until now.
Kotaku recently received a tip from a developer who explained how to uncover the secret on the original Xbox console, which first released back in November 2001. Kotaku tested out the trick and lo and behold, it worked!
Unfortunately, it’s not the most exciting Easter Egg. It simply reveals a hidden credit screen that lists the four members who were part of the “Xbox Dashboard Team.”
To uncover the hidden credits requires a series of steps that involves inserting an audio CD, copying the soundtrack, and renaming one of the soundtrack titles to “Timmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” (with exactly 26 Ys). It’s a very weird and obscure way to hide the credits, which probably explains why no one discovered it for 20 years. If it were not for the mysterious developer who leaked the steps, I’m not sure anyone would have.
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In case you were wondering and don’t have an original Xbox to test this on, the four members listed on the Xbox Dashboard Team are Victor Blanco, Sakphong Chanbai, Bradford Christian and Jim Helm. I wonder if it was one of them who leaked it. After waiting 20 years, I wouldn’t blame one of them if they finally wanted some credit.
If you do happen to own an original Xbox and want to try this trick for yourself, here are the step-by-step directions.
Apparently, there’s another secret that has yet to be discovered. Original Xbox creator Seamus Blackley tweeted back in 2017 about another undiscovered Easter Egg for the console that involves the boot animation. As of 2019, it appears the secret was still not discovered, even though Blackley claims “it’s obvious.” Keeping hunting!