Published on 2026-11-02
Type "Zelda" into Google and the Master Sword sends you back to 1998
Google has hidden an easter egg for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in its search engine. Search for "Zelda", "The Legend of Zelda" or "Ocarina of Time", click the Master Sword in the bottom-right corner, and the results page turns into Google as it looked in 1998, the year the Nintendo 64 classic came out. People spotted it on November 2, 2026, three days before the Switch 2 remake's November 5 release, and IGN, VGC and Nintendo Life were among the outlets that reported it.
How to trigger it
Search "Zelda" on Google, on desktop or mobile. The Master Sword appears in the bottom-right corner, floating above its pedestal in the Temple of Time. Click or tap it and the sword slides into the pedestal. You hear Link's shout, a Triforce appears, and the screen warps as if you were travelling through time.
The reference fits the game. In Ocarina of Time, adult Link puts the Master Sword back in its pedestal to return seven years into the past as a child. Here, the search engine is the one that travels.
What 1998 Google looks like
When the animation ends, the results look like they did in the late 90s. You get the old Google logo with its exclamation mark, plain blue links with short snippets, and the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. There's no AI overview, no ads and no shopping links. VGC, Kotaku and Engadget all point this out, and several outlets used the moment to joke, half seriously, about missing pre-AI Google.
There's a catch: the effect only covers that one results page. Run another search and you're back to the current interface, as VGC, Engadget and Vooks note. As for smaller details, Nintendo Life mentions a result counter showing "1,998" results in ".64" seconds, an obvious Nintendo 64 nod, but no other source reports it. Gamekyo says the page ends with an ad for the remake, and no other outlet we checked confirms that either.
A 40th anniversary tribute? Yes and no
The timing matters. The Legend of Zelda turns 40 in 2026 (the first game came out in Japan in 1986), and Nintendo made the Ocarina of Time remake the centrepiece of the anniversary. Nintendo announced it in a Nintendo Direct on June 9, 2026, and gave its release date at the Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct on September 8. A Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition Switch 2 also launched on October 29.
Even so, nothing shows that Google built this easter egg for the series' 40th birthday. Outlets tie it to the remake's launch and to 1998. That year saw both the release of Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 (November in Japan and North America, December 11 in Europe) and the founding of Google. Neither Google nor Nintendo has made any official statement about it so far. Users found it and shared it before the press picked it up, and Google hasn't said how long it will stay live.
This isn't Google's first gaming tribute. There's "do a barrel roll" from Star Fox 64, the Super Mario Bros. "?" block, Splatoon 3 ink, a Katamari ball and The Last of Us fungus. This one may be the most nostalgic of them all.
What about the game?
The Ocarina of Time remake isn't out yet as of writing, so anything about its content is still preview territory. It launches November 5, 2026, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. As usual on Nintendo hardware, there's no trophy or achievement system like on PlayStation, Xbox or Steam.
Key takeaways
Searching "Zelda" or "Ocarina of Time" on Google brings up the Master Sword. One click turns the results page into 1998 Google, the year Ocarina of Time came out. Many outlets have confirmed the effect, and it works on desktop and mobile, but only on that one page. Its timing matches the November 5, 2026 Switch 2 remake, which is itself part of Zelda's 40th anniversary. However, neither Google nor Nintendo has said anything about it, and nothing suggests it was made specifically for the anniversary. It's a fun bit of nostalgia worth trying while it lasts, since nobody knows how long that will be.
Sources
- https://x.com/IGN/status/2117244339885629880
- https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/googles-zelda-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg-transports-users-back-to-1998/
- https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/11/googles-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg-will-transport-you-back-to-the-internet-of-old
- https://www.engadget.com/2303943/googles-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg-is-a-link-to-a-past-when-search-wasnt-horrible/
- https://kotaku.com/googles-the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg-makes-the-search-engine-what-it-always-shouldve-been-2000752340
- https://www.gamesradar.com/games/the-legend-of-zelda/googles-new-zelda-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg-takes-us-back-to-1998-just-in-time-for-nintendos-remake-and-its-perfectly-nostalgic/
- https://www.shacknews.com/article/151232/google-zelda-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg
- https://nintendoeverything.com/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-google-easter-egg/
- https://www.theshortcut.com/p/new-google-easter-egg-pays-tribute-to-zelda-ocarina-of-time-ahead-of-switch-2-release-date
- https://www.vooks.net/google-turns-back-the-clock-with-1998-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg/
- https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2026/11/02/google-zelda-ocarina-of-time-easter-egg/
- https://www.spaziogames.it/notizie/zelda-google-nasconde-un-easter-egg-che-vi-riporta-al-1998
- https://www.generation-nt.com/actualites/google-secret-zelda-ocarina-1998-2083803
- https://www.gamekyo.com/blog_article488757.html
- https://m.nintendojo.fr/@nintendojofr/117545770312901958
- https://www.nintendo.com/au/zelda/
- https://www.nintendo.com/us/nintendo-direct/9-8-2026/
- https://zeldacentral.com/zelda-40th-anniversary/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time_(2026_video_game)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time
