Google’s Zelda Easter Egg Recreates a Glimpse of 1998 Search
Search Google for “Zelda” and a Master Sword appears beside the results, offering a shortcut to a recreation of the search engine’s 1998 look. The
Search Google for “Zelda” and a Master Sword appears beside the results, offering a shortcut to a recreation of the search engine’s 1998 look. The playful feature taps into nostalgia for early web design while giving curious users a way to experience it for themselves.
The sword appears at the lower right of the results page. Click it and an animation shows it being placed into a pedestal, followed by a Triforce loading screen and a retro-style search page.
A curated trip to early Google
The recreated page swaps today’s interface for a sparse layout with blue links and the familiar “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. It evokes the appearance of Google around the time Nintendo’s original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arrived on the Nintendo 64 in November 1998.
There is a difference between the throwback and the original, though. The Easter egg presents a curated set of seven links, rather than a live search. Classic Google showed 10 links per page, so the feature recreates the era’s look without reproducing its search system.
A small detour.
How to trigger the feature
Searching for “Zelda” or “Ocarina of Time” brings up the sword. The effect is limited to game-related queries; other searches return Google’s standard modern results. The experience therefore works as a themed interaction, not a general option to switch the whole search engine into an older mode.
The feature arrives amid renewed interest in Ocarina of Time, with a remake scheduled to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5. Its timing links the search-page nostalgia to the game’s return, while the sword animation turns a routine query into a brief, interactive callback.
For users who want to see the old-style page, the trigger is simple: search “Zelda” and click the Master Sword. The recreated results page contains seven links.
