The NTSC-J Dreamcast Alarm Clock

The humble alarm clock. Quite an innocuous piece of technology, but one that strikes fear into the very soul of those lucky/unlucky enough to have been born into a capitalist dystopia in which earning a paltry wage is a necessity. Every morning, the incessant and skull-splitting cacophony of either a traditional alarm clock or a mobile phone's electronic wail drags us from our slumber, heralding the start of a new day chained to a desk or doing some other mundane task for hours at a time. It needn't be like this though, oh no. The first remedy to this revolting scenario is to find a job we actually enjoy. The second (and easier option) is to employ the use of an alarm clock so overtly fabulous that waking up to it is never, ever a chore. Ladies and germs, I present to you the NTSC-J Dreamcast alarm clock:

I actually acquired this specimen with the help of my DCJY co-writer Ross. You see, he lives in Japan and after I spotted this clock on a Japanese auction site I asked him to bid on it for me and then send it to the UK after the auction ended. He obliged, and a mere three weeks later the clock is sat on my bedside table in rainy Britain.

I've been aware of this clock for a while but the ones that pop up on eBay UK are usually over priced, and the PAL-flavoured clocks are quite rare these days (photo below). However, the clock is now here in my possession and it cost about £7 if I remember rightly (my Stirling to Yen conversion knowledge isn't the best, and my memory is addled with cheap ale and genetically modified trans fats), so I thought it only right to share the thing in pictorial form with you, oh loyal reader.

The little box it comes in says 'not for sale' on the back and I believe the clock was given away during the early days of the NTSC-J launch...but there's not much other information online as to the exact origins of the item. The clock itself is actually quite a basic and generic thing and I suspect it could quite easily have been a model used by many other firms as a cheap merchandise option. The whole clock movement 'block' slides out of the translucent case and the orange Dreamcast-branded face is simply a piece of paper that could easily be emblazoned with any other company's logo.

The little box it comes in is Dreamcast branded though, so it adds a little extra to the overall 'Sega-ness' of the clock. It runs off a single AA 1.5v battery and has a rudimentary alarm function, whereby you just move the alarm arm to the hour you want to be woken up in. Once the hour is reached by the inevitable march of time, the alarm bellows and you wake up, your dreams gone forever. Still, at least it looks nice on the bedside table. Sigh.

Thanks again to Ross for sending the clock halfway around the world so that I may get up for work on time. Much appreciated Ross. Now, every time I have to get up I will imagine your face and think about throwing a dart at it. Cough. If you have more information on the Dreamcast alarm clock, let us know in the comments!