Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda (, Princess Zelda) is the titular character of series. Unlike the majority of Nintendo characters, there are several, distinct incarnations of Princess Zelda seen throughout The Legend of Zelda series. Regardless, most share the same status as the ss of, the setting for the vast majority of the series.

Other hallmarks shared by the various iterations of Zelda are their possession of both inherent magical abilities and the Triforce of Wisdom, although these are not depicted universally. While earlier games depicted Princess Zelda as a damsel-in-distress, a number of modern games have depicted her as an ally, companion, and love interest to the series' protagonist, Link.

Zelda made her  debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Like Link, however, Zelda is playable in name only, owing to different incarnations (Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and A Link to the Past/A Link Between Worlds) appearing throughout the Super Smash Bros. series.

Origin
Princess Zelda's first appearance was in The Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo Entertainment System, where she served as the damsel-in-distress for Link to rescue from the evil monster known as Ganon. Within the series' chronology, however, Zelda makes her first appearance in ; this game is notably the only one where Zelda is not a princess, due to Hyrule's royalty having yet to be established during the game's events. Instead, she is the goddess reborn as a mortal, who chooses her childhood friend Link as her hero like Hylia did with her own chosen hero.

Zelda has appeared in some capacity in every installment of The Legend of Zelda series, with the exception of Link's Awakening, where she is only mentioned briefly, and Tri Force Heroes, where she is referenced via an outfit. While she has typically assumed a passive role in the series, modern depictions of Zelda have seen her assume an active role in Link's final battles. Notable examples include The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom

It is worth noting that while there have been multiple games within The Legend of Zelda series, only rarely has the same Princess Zelda appeared in more than one installment, with this same notion being shared with Link. This is evident by the fact that there are multiple timelines within the series, wherein many games typically feature a new Zelda. By extension, Zelda's age has varied across the series: she appears as a young girl in some games, and as a teenager or young adult in others. Ocarina of Time notably featured Zelda being portrayed as both a child and an adult in the same game.

According to the manual for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, all women in the Hyrulian royal family are named Zelda in honor of Zelda the First, who was put into an eternal slumber. Hyrule Historia later established that the name comes from the original Zelda seen in Skyward Sword. All Zeldas are related in the fact that they possess the blood of the goddess, and must defeat the reincarnation of alongside the spirit of the hero.

Zelda's design often varies between games, but she is most consistently depicted as a classically beautiful princess with long, blonde hair and pointed ears, the latter of which is typical of Hylians. Even these traits are not universal, however, as she sometimes appears as a brunette, or with a shorter hairstyle. She most often wears a floor length royal dress with an elaborate design, which is predominantly colored pink or purple, alongside white and occasionally gold.

However, Zelda also wears a simple blue dress in A Link to the Past; white, robe-like dresses in Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom; and a blue tunic with black pants, as well as a dark blue dress with gold trim, in the latter two. Her footwear varies between heels (Ocarina of Time), boots (Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild), and sandals (A Link to the Past/A Link Between Worlds, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild). Zelda is also occasionally seen wearing a cape, as shown in A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, and Tears of the Kingdom.

Her personality also changes between incarnations, more so than Link. While all are shown to be wise and compassionate, other traits vary from being calm and reposed (Twilight Princess) to wild and feisty (The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks).

Zelda's first playable appearances occurred in two of the three non-canonical Zelda games, which are infamous for their poor quality and were made with minimal involvement from Nintendo beyond licensing. Her first playable appearance in a Nintendo-developed game was Super Smash Bros. Melee, while The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks marked her first playable appearance within her home series.

In Super Smash Bros.
While Zelda herself makes no appearances in Super Smash Bros., she is nevertheless referenced, due to The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time being mentioned.

As a playable character
The adult version of Zelda's incarnation from Ocarina of Time appears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, due to the GameCube's improved graphics, Zelda's design in this game is far more detailed than in Ocarina of Time, although somewhat inaccurate, as she is portrayed here as wearing heels instead of boots like in the game her design is based on. This also applies on her trophies as well. She is also the only starter character in the game who was not revealed at E3 2001, instead being revealed when her page was added to the Melee Smabura-Ken on November 6.

Like her fellow series fighters and, Zelda is a slow, but powerful character. However, she deviates from them by being a lightweight whose moveset almost entirely consists of magical attacks, three of which are based on spells used by Link in Ocarina of Time. Her neutral special move is Nayru's Love, which emits a crystalline barrier that deals damage and offers protection. Her side special move is Din's Fire, which launches a magical fireball at her opponents. Lastly, her up special move is Farore's Wind, which teleports her in a desired direction.

Zelda also has the distinction of being the only character who can become an entirely different character. In this case, she can use her down special move, Transform, to assume her alterego from Ocarina of Time, Sheik, who boasts a drastically different playstyle in comparison. Despite the power of her magical attacks, Zelda is hindered by her poor mobility and extremely inconsistent playstyle, resulting in her being outpaced regularly in the neutral game and being susceptible to early KOs due to her floatiness and light weight. As such, she is ranked 24th out of 26 on the tier list, which places her in the D tier and renders her a low-tier character.

Trophies
Zelda is a playable character, so she is featured on three trophies that can be acquired by beating each major 1-player mode with her on any difficulty. Her first trophy is earned by defeating as her on any difficulty, her second is from, and her third is from All-Star Mode.

As a playable character
Unlike Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl does not feature the Zelda from Ocarina of Time. Instead, she has been succeeded by her descendant, the Zelda from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. While this Zelda's playstyle is essentially the same as her ancestor's, she nonetheless sports a few differences. The most noticeable of these are her appearance as "Zelda/Sheik" on the character selection screen, which allows her starting form to be chosen, and her possession of a Final Smash called Light Arrow, which can pierce multiple opponents and boasts enough power to one-hit KO the first opponent it hits.

Even though this Zelda's attacks are much stronger, she shares the same significant weaknesses as her ancestor, which are further compounded by Brawl's changes to gameplay physics. Due to her weaknesses largely outweighing her strengths, Zelda is ranked 37th out of 38 on the Brawl tier list. This places her in the F tier, and renders her as a bottom-tier character.

Trophies
Zelda has a trophy that is awarded each time is completed with her on any difficulty, and several randomly available ones.

As a playable character
The Twilight Princess incarnation of Zelda reappears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. However, her overall color scheme is noticeably more vibrant because of SSB4's aesthetics, such as the tapestry in front of her dress being recolored indigo with a gold border instead of being gray with a green border.

Despite being a bottom-tier character in Brawl, Zelda received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to SSB4. The most noticeable nerf is her separation from, who is now an entirely separate character. This nerf is further compounded both by the drastic buffs Sheik received in her own transition to SSB4, and Zelda's key flaws not being properly addressed. However, the buffs Zelda received are quite noticeable: her damage racking potential has improved, Farore's Wind is now a very potent KOing option, and she received a new down special called Phantom Slash that has utility as both an offensive and defensive attack.

In addition to these inherent buffs, Zelda received numerous buffs via game updates. These include increased damage outputs, improved multiple hit connectivity, decreased ending lag, and the removal of Phantom Slash's blind spot. The changes to shield mechanics also indirectly buffed her multiple hit moves and Lightning Kicks by making them safer on shield, and making her better at avoiding punishment.

Although Zelda's strengths are largely outweighed by her weaknesses, she has nevertheless become slightly better than she was in Brawl. As such, Zelda is currently ranked 53rd out of 55 on the SSB4 tier list, placing her in the G tier (being tied with ). In addition to being marginally better than her ranking in Brawl, SSB4's removal of the bottom-tier as of its third tier list also results in Zelda being assessed as a low-tier character like her ancestor is in Melee, rather than as a bottom-tier character like she was in Brawl.

A Zelda wig is also available as a headgear for all Mii Fighter types.

As a playable character
For the first time since Brawl, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate features a new incarnation of Zelda as a playable character. Unlike her predecessors, this Zelda is an unlockable character and, more notably, not based on a single incarnation. Instead, this Zelda features a combination of design elements from her incarnation in ', and that incarnation's descendant in '.

In comparison to her predecessors, many of Zelda's moves possess less start-up and/or ending lag, while each of her aerials have noticeably less landing lag. On a related note, a few of Zelda's moves noticeably differ in comparison to her predecessors': her neutral attack is a neutral infinite, she has better aerial mobility while using Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind, Din's Fire does not render her helpless, Phantom Slash consists of varying charges, and her Final Smash is Triforce of Wisdom, which traps nearby opponents and instantly KOs them beginning at 100%. Despite being burdened with unimpressive overall mobility like her predecessors, Zelda's attributes are nevertheless better in comparison, especially in regard to her jumpsquat and initial dashing speed.

The Zelda wig also returns as a headgear for all Mii Fighter types. Its color was changed to blonde, but its model remains identical to its appearance in Smash 4.

Trivia

 * When Zelda's Ultimate design was demonstrated during the game's E3 2018 trailer, the Japanese version said that she is the incarnation from A Link to the Past. Conversely, the English version, as well as the official website's English blog post focusing on Zelda, said she is the incarnation from A Link Between Worlds. To further complicate matters, Zelda's Classic Mode Spirit uses official artwork from A Link Between Worlds, yet the English version of Palutena's Guidance regarding her in Ultimate contradicts both the English E3 trailer and blog post by stating that she is the incarnation from A Link to the Past. This discrepancy was finally settled by Masahiro Sakurai during an interview with the Nintendo DREAM magazine, in which he stated that Zelda's design in Ultimate is indeed a combination from both games.
 * The confusion likely arises from the fact that A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds are named "Triforce of the Gods" and "Triforce of the Gods 2" in Japanese, so both games can be collectively referred to as the "Triforce of the Gods series" (which Sakurai refers to during said interview).
 * Due to A Link to the Past portraying her in-game sprite with brunette hair and a blue dress, in contrast to her appearance in the game's artwork, it is possible that this was the main reason as to why she is mostly stated to resemble her A Link Between Worlds incarnation.
 * Prior to Ultimate, Kirby's Zelda hat depicts him wearing the wimple her Ocarina of Time incarnation wears during her childhood, despite being based on her adult design in Melee. This was changed in Ultimate, as his Zelda hat is now based on Zelda's hair in A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds.
 * Zelda and R.O.B. are the only playable characters in the Super Smash Bros. series to sport an alternate costume that would inspire a default design in a subsequent game. In this case, SSB4 reuses her Twilight Princess incarnation from Brawl, yet gives her an alternate costume based on her incarnations in A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds, which would become her default design in Ultimate. Conversely, her Twilight Princess incarnation becomes the basis for an alternate costume in Ultimate.
 * Zelda has more enhanceable spirits associated with her than any other character, with a total of 3.
 * Despite wielding a sword in Twilight Princess, Zelda is the only playable The Legend of Zelda character who does not directly wield a bladed weapon as part of her moveset. However, she technically does have access to a bladed weapon; in her case, it is the sword wielded by the she summons via Phantom Slash.
 * In both Melee and Smash 4, Zelda is near the bottom of the tier list, while her alter-ego Sheik is near the top.
 * In fact, the first tier list for SSB4 listed Zelda as the absolute worst character in the game, while Sheik was the absolute best.
 * Nayru's Love, Din's Fire, and Farore's Wind were all used by Link in Ocarina of Time, never by Zelda herself. However, later spinoffs in the series such as Hyrule Warriors and Cadence of Hyrule depict her using these moves, likely influenced by their depiction in Smash.
 * Conceptually, Link and Zelda "swapped" their Final Smashes in the transition from Smash 4 to Ultimate. In Brawl and Smash 4, Link uses the Triforce of Courage to attack with Triforce Slash, while Zelda fires an arrow with Light Arrow; in Ultimate, Link fires an arrow with the Ancient Bow and Arrow, and Zelda uses the Triforce of Wisdom to attack.