After 25 years of support, the iconic Sega Dreamcast has been cut from the World Wide Web as Google pulls support for the console’s ageing web browser.
PlanetWeb 3.0, a browser made for the Sega Dreamcast and released in September 2001, has been the only way for gamers on the last ever Sega console to access the wider internet. However, as Google continues to push forward with modern technology, the console has been left behind.
Dreamcast Live has confirmed that “after over 27 years of support, Google has finally discontinued support for Dreamcast web browsers”. However, all is not lost for fans who wish to search the web on the pre-millenium machine.
As it turns out, there are a number of alternative search engines that still work on the Sega Dreamcast at the time of writing. One of the main options is frogfind, a search engine designed specifically for older computers and dial-up connections.
Created by retro tech YouTuber Action Retro, the web browser was designed for older Macs from the 80s and 90s, but has since become a haven for all retro enthusiasts that still wish to surf the web like in the good old days. (Slow and a bit crunchy!)
“The modern internet is not kind to old machines, which generally cannot handle the complicated javascript, CSS, and encryption that modern sites have,” Action Retro explains. “However, they can browse basic websites just fine. So I decided to see how much of the internet I could turn into basic websites, so that old machines can browse the modern internet once again!”
Sure, you may ask, ‘why do people even want to use the internet on the Sega Dreamcast? It released in 1998!’ Well, why shouldn’t they be able to? With websites now bloated with adds, images, and embedded YouTube videos—largely to actually pop up in Google Search in the first place nowadays, sometimes we all just want a blast from a much simpler past. (Yes, I understand the hypocrisy here, I will be embedding a tweet in this article. I need to.)
