Googling "Zelda" today offers a glimpse of how search worked in 1998
Britney Spears topped the charts, Bill Clinton was impeached, and a couple of little websites called Google and Ars Technica came online.
Britney Spears topped the charts, Bill Clinton was impeached, and a couple of little websites called Google and Ars Technica came online.
The short version
- It was also the year Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64.
- Google, which has come to dominate the Internet (Ars is still working on that), is celebrating the imminent release of the Ocarina of Time remaster by temporarily transporting us back to that storied year with a search Easter egg.
- To access the Google time machine, you just have to search for either “Zelda” or “Ocarina of Time.” Google will load the standard 2026 results page, but you’ll see an animated Master Sword in the lower right corner.
What happened
It appears on both mobile and desktop—just click the sword and enjoy the show. After a little time-skipping animation and a Link shout (you know the one), you’ll swear it’s 1998 again.
Why it matters
The search page is transformed into a simple list of blue links with retro Google branding.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.