Googling "Zelda" today offers a glimpse of how search worked in 1998

The year was 1998. Britney Spears topped the charts, Bill Clinton was impeached, and a couple of little websites called Google and Ars Technica came online. It was also the year Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64.

那是1998年。布兰妮·斯皮尔斯（Britney Spears）登上了排行榜榜首，比尔·克林顿（Bill Clinton）遭到弹劾，而两个名为谷歌（Google）和Ars Technica的小网站也上线了。那一年，任天堂还在Nintendo 64平台上发布了《塞尔达传说：时之笛》（The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time）。

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.”

谷歌如今已统治了互联网（Ars仍在努力实现这一目标），为了庆祝《时之笛》重制版的即将发布，它通过一个搜索彩蛋暂时将我们带回了那个传奇的年份。要进入谷歌的“时间机器”，你只需搜索“Zelda”或“Ocarina of Time”。

Google will load the standard 2026 results page, but you’ll see an animated Master Sword in the lower right corner. 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.

谷歌会加载标准的2026年搜索结果页面，但你会看到右下角有一把动画版的“大师之剑”（Master Sword）。它在移动端和桌面端都会出现——只需点击这把剑，即可欣赏表演。在一段简短的时间跳跃动画和林克（Link）的叫声（你懂的）之后，你会感觉仿佛回到了1998年。

The search page is transformed into a simple list of blue links with retro Google branding. This is particularly apt given the time-shifting mechanics in Ocarina of Time. Behold the simplicity of ’90s search.

搜索页面变成了一个带有复古谷歌标志的简单蓝色链接列表。考虑到《时之笛》中的时间转换机制，这显得格外贴切。见证一下90年代搜索的简洁吧。

Classic Google used to provide a list of 10 links on each page, but there are only seven included in the Easter egg. This is a curated list of links rather than a real search. You get the official Nintendo Zelda page, Zelda on Wikipedia, Zelda games on Amazon, and a couple more.

经典的谷歌过去每页提供10个链接，但这个彩蛋中只包含了7个。这是一个精选的链接列表，而非真正的搜索结果。你可以看到任天堂官方的塞尔达页面、维基百科上的塞尔达条目、亚马逊上的塞尔达游戏，以及其他几个链接。

You can go back to the modern version of Google’s search results at any time by clicking the sword again. Oh, you don’t want to do that? Sadly, this is a very limited experience. The Google of today is much different, and if you try to search for anything from the retro interface, you are immediately booted back to 2026 with all the AI, sponsored content, suggested searches, and social media links.

你可以随时再次点击那把剑，回到现代版的谷歌搜索结果页面。哦，你不想那样做？遗憾的是，这只是一个非常有限的体验。今天的谷歌已经大不相同，如果你尝试在复古界面中搜索任何内容，你会被立即踢回2026年，面对所有的AI、赞助内容、建议搜索和社交媒体链接。

The Ocarina of Time left its mark on a generation of gamers, and clearly, some of them went on to work at Google. The company’s intention is probably to leverage nostalgia to build hype for Nintendo’s big launch, but there’s also something a little sad about this. Google’s push into generative AI is transforming search in a way that many people don’t like. Seeing the simple, minimalist roots of Google search on display drives home how much the company’s core product has changed.

《时之笛》在整整一代玩家心中留下了印记，显然，其中一些人后来进入了谷歌工作。谷歌此举大概是想利用怀旧情绪为任天堂的大作发布造势，但这其中也带有一丝忧伤。谷歌在生成式AI领域的推进正在以许多人不喜欢的方式改变搜索。看到谷歌搜索最初那种简单、极简的样貌，让人深刻体会到该公司的核心产品已经发生了多大的变化。

The Ocarina of Time has changed a lot, too. The remastered game has been completely re-created, with slick Switch 2 graphics, modern controls for movement and camera, numerous quality-of-life improvements, and more. The game is available for preorder now at $60 for digital and $70 for physical. It launches on November 5 for Nintendo Switch 2.

《时之笛》本身也发生了巨大的变化。重制版游戏经过了彻底的重塑，拥有流畅的Switch 2画质、现代化的移动和视角控制、众多的体验优化等等。该游戏目前已开启预购，数字版售价60美元，实体版售价70美元。它将于11月5日在Nintendo Switch 2上发布。