Google Celebrates Ocarina of Time With Interactive Search Easter Egg That Takes Players Back to 1998

Google debuts an interactive search Easter egg honoring Zelda: Ocarina of Time, letting users click the Master Sword to revert search back to its 1998 homepage.

Nintendo's legendary adventure The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has inspired a new interactive surprise from Google, which introduced a search-engine Easter egg on November 2 to celebrate the forthcoming remake of the Nintendo 64 classic. The feature appears when users search for Zelda, revealing the Master Sword resting in its familiar pedestal. Clicking the sword triggers an animation that transports the search interface back to the visual appearance of Google's original 1998 homepage. The effect deliberately references one of Ocarina of Time's most important gameplay mechanics. In Nintendo's 1998 adventure, Link travels between childhood and adulthood by interacting with the Master Sword inside the Temple of Time. Google's interpretation applies that concept to the history of its own search engine, effectively transforming a familiar internet service into a small piece of videogame nostalgia. The timing is particularly appropriate because the new Ocarina of Time remake is scheduled for November 5, bringing renewed attention to one of the Nintendo 64's most influential releases. Originally launched in Japan in November 1998, Ocarina of Time helped establish conventions for three-dimensional action adventures, including context-sensitive interactions, lock-on targeting and cinematic environmental storytelling. Its influence can still be found in countless modern games. The new Easter egg is not a playable game or a downloadable Nintendo release, but it is a genuine interactive celebration of classic gaming history. Google has previously created similar surprises for major entertainment franchises, although this particular implementation makes unusually effective use of the source material's time-travel mechanics. Link has spent twenty-eight years travelling between different periods of Hyrule. Apparently his latest destination is a search engine that still remembers what the internet looked like before everybody needed seventeen browser tabs.