Type 'Zelda' Into Google and the Master Sword Comes Out to Play

Google has added a hidden extra to its search page to mark the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Typing "zelda" into the search box makes the Master Sword appear in the corner of the screen, hovering above its pedestal in the Temple of Time, a chamber in the game.

Click or tap the sword and it drops into the pedestal. Link shouts, and the screen shifts through a time-travel effect. According to Video Games Chronicle, the page that follows shows how Google looked in 1998, the year the original Nintendo 64 version of the game came out.

That older page is plain. Results appear as simple text, with no AI assistant. The "I'm feeling lucky" button, which sends a search straight to its top result, is still there. The throwback covers a single page of Zelda results. It does not carry on as a 1998-style search for further browsing.

The remake's release date is Thursday, 5 November. The Easter egg, a hidden feature that rewards people who go looking for it, is a short detour before that date for anyone curious enough to type the word into the search bar.

For players who first met Link on the Nintendo 64, the page is a quick trip back to a search box with no extras. For everyone else, it is a small, free look at how the web used to appear, followed by a game that is now a few days from its modern release.