🎉 Google has added a Zelda: Ocarina of Time Easter egg to Search
⚔️ A Master Sword icon appears on the results page, and clicking it triggers a time-travel effect
⌛ It’s a nod to Link being sent back through time when he pulls the sword
📅 The tribute lands just days before Ocarina of Time’s November 5 launch
Google has added a timely new Easter egg that pays tribute to Zelda: Ocarina of Time ahead of the hotly-anticipated Switch 2 release date.
As per X user Stealth40k, a Master Sword appears in the corner of the results page hovering above its pedestal in the Temple of Time, a nod to the game’s most famous moment.
Clicking the sword takes you back to how Google looked in 1998, the year the original game launched on the Nintendo 64.
The effect is a neat bit of fan service. In the game, adult Link pushes the Master Sword back into its pedestal and is sent back through time as young Link. On Google, clicking or tapping the sword drops it into the pedestal, plays Link’s shout and sends your screen into a time-travel effect.
It’s very cool and is a small callback to one of the original Google Easter eggs that still remains today – typing in ‘Google in 1998’ into the search bar will take you straight back to before the turn of the Millenium. Likewise, other legacy Easter eggs such as ‘do a barrel roll’ and ‘askew’ are still functioning.
The timing of this fun Easter egg is no accident. The Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launches on November 5, and Nintendo fans are already in the middle of a scramble for the console to play it on.
We’ve been keeping track of the availability of the Ocarina of Time special edition Switch 2 console, and it looks like we can expect some restocks from Walmart and Target this week.
You may also have luck at Nintendo’s own online store, but restocks are quite erratic. Likewise, brick and mortar Best Buy and GameStop stores may be good to check towards the end of this week.
To keep informed and to get an instant restock alert, you’ll want to follow Matt Swider on X, turn on post notifications, and become a free or even paid subscriber – it helps you to stay informed on when the products you want become available, and helps us out in the process.
The game is set to take advantage of one of the Switch 2’s new display features, being one of only two titles released to support TV variable refresh rate.
Up next: I played Zelda Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 – the remake looks as good as the trailer
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.