The Great MSR Missing Persons Poster Hunt

Once again, I start this post with an apology. Mere days ago I wrote about the hidden delights in Bizarre Creations' fantastic Dreamcast-exclusive racing game Metropolis Street Racer; but I thought that this new discovery needed its own post. That's because it's never previously been discussed online, and also because I need the help of the community in solving this particular mystery. So, at the risk of this turning into an MSR overload, let's go.
A while back, I was contacted by a member of the Dreamcast Junkyard Facebook group who claimed to have been photographed (along with his brother and a friend) and had his image hidden inside MSR's game world. I have to admit I was skeptical, until this gentleman - known as Grant - offered photographic evidence and an explanation of why he and his sibling were secreted away inside one of the Dreamcast's greatest games. Grant...over to you.

Hi Tom,

The back story is that one of my best mates 'back in the day,' was a guy called Mark Sharratt. He was working for Bizarre Creations and was one of the lead artists for Metropolis Street Racer and even got to travel to San Francisco and Tokyo as part of research for the game. He took photos of my friend, brother and myself and then secretly scanned them into the game, uploading them into the game as 'missing persons' posters, of which two were hidden in San Francisco and one in Tokyo (if I remember correctly). 

As it is with most people, friends move and lose contact over time, so unfortunately I cannot get the exact locations of the posters. I think you would be the first person to point out the missing posters if you did include them in your story, as they have been a secret between friends ever since the game came out all those years ago.
- Grant

Pretty amazing right? This is the first time these missing persons posters have ever been covered online, representing yet another surprise in the storied history of the Dreamcast. They were literally sneaked into the game without Bizarre Creations knowing about them, which is inconceivable in this day and age. These posters have literally remained a secret for 17 years, and they still kind of are...

That's because we've found one of them. It's hidden in the Pacific Heights district of San Francisco, on the Gough North track, just before the fourth corner on the right hand side (see below, and please go check the location yourself for proof). The other two posters, we are yet to find. As described by Grant, one of the posters added by Mark Sharratt is located somewhere in Tokyo, while the remaining poster is also located in San Francisco.
Unfortunately, the only way to get a good look at the one poster we know the whereabouts of is either by taking a screen grab or taking a photo of the TV screen. I did try to explore the MSR disc using VMU Tool's explore function in an attempt to find the actual texture files, but that didn't work.

So, the challenge is simple. Let's start playing Metropolis street Racer and find those missing persons posters! If you find either of the posters, please let us know in the comments, on Twitter or in our Facebook group. After 17 years, the Dreamcast is still throwing up awesome surprises!

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4 comments:

blondejon said...

Oh my bearded ancestors that's awesome. I just won a copy of msr on eBay. Cant wait to hunt

Hiro said...

Wow!!!

MSR, in looking of the lost posters.

hoogafanter said...

Good hunting, fellas...

RJAY63 said...

Hi there, a little bit late but I just found all 3 posters this evening. All are located in the Pacific Heights/San Francisco area (there are none in Tokyo, London or the other two San-Fran areas). I used the Free Roam option to find them. Here's a picture of all 3 together; feel free to use the image below.

http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=22_all3posters809.png