Xbox/Startup Screens

Credits

Captures by
SubparMario63

Editions by
IAmJefferson, mr3urious and McDonald's1

Video captures courtesy of
testdrive426, Digital media resources, TRGO, SNKTarma04, JustAnyone, The Archiving b0B, Daniel, Kevin Vincos, darvolt, and Xbox

1st Logo (April 2001)

Visuals: On a black background, we see a large green, pointy X facing towards the screen, Below it is "XBOX", also in green, which then shines and two lines make it black and turns green again. After the animation ends, "XBOX" cuts out and the green X fades out.

Technique: Simple CGI.

Audio: None

Availability: Only be seen on early prototype Xbox dashboards. This startup is known as "ani.bin", with no leftovers of it in the Xbox code. The next startup is known as "ani2.bin" in the code.

2nd Logo (November 15, 2001-August 2005)

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Visuals: We see a green blob forming in a green and black laboratory. It keeps moving and moving, but everything zooms out in green light and we see the same green, X as before. Below it is "XBOX" in the same color and font as the previous logo, In a few seconds, the 1987-2012 Microsoft logo appears on the bottom.

Variants:

• Apparently, in late development, the logo was originally going to respond to button inputs of A, B, X, Y, Black, White, and the left stick. These inputs would control animation speed, fog, shadows, camera position, intensity of the blob, and shields. In the final build of the kernel, the library for handling controller input is not loaded on boot, so this code (and therefore the interactivity) is unused.
• In later prototype Xbox dashboards, a section of shields spin around the blob, the animation is slightly slower and the 1987-2012 Microsoft logo appears late and is in green
• A still version with a white background is seen when you play an Xbox game on an Xbox 360.
• When playing an Xbox game on an Xbox One or an Xbox Series X or S, the Microsoft logo is removed, presumably because they changed their logo since then.

Technique: 3D animation, which is rendered in real-time. None for the still version. In the original, it's 30fps. But when the logo is being revealed, it switches to 60fps. When running on Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S, the entire logo is 60fps.

Audio: Some deep synth bass notes with thunderclaps, followed by a high-pitched synthesized tune. It was composed by Brian Schmidt, who is known for composing music for pinball and video games.

Audio Variants: The still version is silent.

Availability: It appears as the start-up on all models of the original Xbox console, which can be found for cheap on many auction sites or thrift stores (such as Goodwill or The Salvation Army). Also appears when playing an Xbox game on an Xbox One or Xbox Series console. The "shields" variants only appears in later prototype Xbox dashboards.

Legacy: This is a very nostalgic logo among gamers.

3rd Logo (Error variant) (November 15, 2001-August 12, 2008)

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Visuals: We see an exploding green flash with green dots and they all form a green bubble circle. It zooms in when we see bacteria-like things, and then green flash zooms in the Xbox logo without the "X". It shines exactly like the previous logo, and in a few seconds, it explodes. After that, it displays "This is an Xbox game disc. Please put it in your Xbox to start playing." and says it in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An edited version of the ending of "Sunshower" by Secret Hate, with an explosion sound.

Availability: Can be seen if an original Xbox game is inserted into a DVD/Blu-ray player (or any PC or gaming system that plays DVDs or Blu-rays, like the PS2/PS3 for example).

4th Logo (Xbox LIVE variant) (August 16, 2002-May 11, 2010)

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Visuals: It begins with a black background, and then an orange light shines brightly with several streaks. After this, a green neon hexagonal grid appears as the camera zooms out. Eventually, it zooms out enough to reveal the "X" logo along with the "XBOX" text. The camera pans and rotates until the XBOX logo is seen from the top, and center. During the camera motion, the light is revealed to be coming from the letter "I" in "LIVE", and the letters "L", "V", and "E" slide in from the sides and light up orange. The "I" continues to shine from the top.

Variant: On the prototype of Crash vs. Spyro Racing, a different version was seen. The orange light and the streaks are seen moving from left to right as the camera rotates. The green grid pulsates in time with the sounds. Then, many orange triangular prisms come together and form the "XBOX LIVE" logo, while the camera zooms out. The "LIVE" text glows, and then the light on top of the "I" also glows brighter.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Various whooshes with a short synth theme. The variant uses the sounds from the 2nd logo with additional sound effects.

Availability: Can be seen if "Xbox LIVE" is selected on the dashboard version "4920". Also seen on various Xbox LIVE promos, and whenever an Xbox Live Arcade disc is launched.

Xbox

Xbox 360 ►