Google's Ocarina of Time Easter egg turns search results back into 1998

Google has a new Easter egg for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and it sends the search engine back to 1998, the year the game first came out on the Nintendo 64.

Getting there is easy. Search for "Zelda" or "Ocarina of Time" and you'll get a normal 2026 results page, plus an animated Master Sword sitting in the lower right corner. It shows up on both desktop and mobile.

Click the sword and it slides back into its pedestal, per Nintendo Life. After a short time-skipping animation and a shout from Link, the page turns into a simple list of blue links with retro Google branding.

Ars Technica points out that the timing is a neat fit, since 1998 is also the year Google itself came online. Pulling the Master Sword to jump between eras is pretty much the core trick of Ocarina of Time, so using it as the button for a trip back to old-school search is a cute touch.

According to Ars Technica, Google is doing this to celebrate the imminent release of the Ocarina of Time remaster.

Google has done gaming Easter eggs before. Nintendo Life lists an inkable search screen for Splatoon 3, several Pokémon collaborations and a Katamari crossover, and calls this one "the most nostalgic one of them all."

Ars Technica describes the Easter egg as temporary, but nobody has said how long it'll stick around. If you want to see it, go sooner rather than later.