Link (SSBB)

This article is about Link's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Link.

Link
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Starter
Tier	G (34)

Link (リンク, Rinku) was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl at E3 2006. His graphics have been completely revamped from his Super Smash Bros. Melee form, since his new look is derived from the game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

His special moves have also been changed to fit the style of Twilight Princess.

In the first tier list he had ranked 36th due to his slow attack speed and poor jump height, air speed and recovery. However, he has managed to go up two positions to 34th in the second list. This puts him at the top of G (Bottom) tier.

Attributes

Link is a character that has courage. He may be character of average speed, (although canonically he is very quick and nimble), but he makes up for that with power. Link's tilts are fast and powerful, his down tilt is good for getting opponents into the air to combo them more. It can also spike at the tip of the sword. His up tilt is fast and good for juggling, and his forward tilt can easily kill at high percentages. Link's forward smash can become a two hit combo, it is also a great kill move. His down smash is an easy kill move at fairly high percentages, and is Link's quickest smash. Link's up smash doesn't kill easily, but it does decent damage. Link's aerials are also good, as both his nair and zair, combined with a short hop and fast falling, is a great option for approach. Links back aerial is good for spacing when needed. Links forward air is fairly fast and is powerful. Link's up and down aerials are some of his best kill moves, having high duration and high knockback, but have high ending lag. Specials for Link are also good for keeping distance, racking up damage, and great for survival. On the ground, Link can charge his Up special, it is a good edgeguarding tool, but is predictable. His Neutral Special is a fast bow that can also be charged up. Links down special pulls out a bomb and throws it, which can be used for mindgames. His Boomerang, Links side special move has fairly good range and can gimp some opponent's recovery. Smashing the side special will cause the boomerang to reach farther. Link's shield can act as a shield on its own, when Link doesn't move, many projectiles can't hit him, Crouching can also block most attacks as well, but leaves his upper hitbox open.

The most crippling problem for Link is his abysmal recovery. His poor jumping, high fall speed, slow air speed, and poor distance on Spin Attack make his recovery arguably the worst in the game. This flaw truly hinders Link: an opponent only needs to get Link off the stage once to improve their chance of victory.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack - Swipes his sword across his body, second swipe goes outwards and the third hit is a stab forward. First slash does 4%, second does 3%, and the stab does 5%.
• Dash attack - Swings sword from head to toe. Good combo starter. Does 12% normally, 10% if hit with the tip of the sword, and 11% if hit at very close range.
• Strong Side - An overhead swipe. Does 13% damage.
• Strong Up - Swings sword in an arc. Does 9% damage.
• Strong Down - Swipes sword across ground. Does 12% damage. Spikes aerial opponents in contact with Link's body. A useful tactic when performing The Lawn Mower Spike.

Smash

• Side Smash - Swings sword forward, if attack button is pressed again, he swings again but with more force. Both hits can be used to rack up damage quickly at very low percents. First hit, 15% (14% if hit at very close range) uncharged, 21% (19% if hit at very close range) fully charged. Second hit, 17% (20% if hit at very close range) uncharged, 23% (26%-28% if hit at very close range) fully charged. Can be used to perform Bomb Smashing.
• Up Smash - Swings sword in an arc three times. First hit, 4% uncharged, 5% fully charged. Second hit, 3% uncharged, 4% fully charged. Third hit, 10% (8%-9% at very close range, depending on distance) uncharged, 14% (11%-13% at very close range, depending on distance) fully charged.
• Down Smash - Swipes sword from front to back, very quick; like his down tilt but with more force and it aims behind him too, however it does not spike if sweetspotted. Forward hit, 14% uncharged (16%-17% at very close range, depending on distance), 19% (23% at very close range) fully charged. Backward hit, 16% (17% at just the right distance) uncharged, 22% (23% at just the right distance) fully charged. Opponents can be hit by both swipes if they are between Link and the Gale Boomerang during it's second phase as it pulls the opponent towards Link. However, good timing is required. 31%-35% uncharged, and 42%-48% charged if both hits connect.

Other

• Ledge attack - Pulls himself up into a front flip and slices downward. Does 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack - Slowly climbs up and stabs in front of him. Does 10% damage.
• Floor attack - Does two slashes front and back. Does 6% damage.

Aerial Attacks

• Nair - Does a flying jump-kick. 6% normally, 10% sweetspotted. Sex kick. Can be auto-canceled.
• Fair - Swings his sword twice while spining 360 degrees. First hit, 9%. Second hit, 12%.
• Bair - Does a two kick combo. First kick does 4%, second does 7%. Can be auto-canceled.
• Uair - Thrusts his sword upward. Can Star KO at higher percents. 15% in the first several frames, 13% in the rest.
• Dair - A very powerful finisher that can K.O as low as 75%. Holds his sword downward. Can bounce off when the attack lands, scoring an additional hit. Both hits can do anywhere from 8% to 22%. The pogo effect can be canceled by a fast fall.
• Zair - Fires his clawshot forward, scoring two hits. Can be used as a tether recovery. First hit, 4%. Second hit, 6%. This tether recovery can be used to save Link from a KO at extremely high percents ranging up to even higher than 300%. This can be done by simply air dodging and then immediately using Zair after getting hit by an attack that can semi-spike, such as Fox's, Jigglypuff's, or Zelda's Down Smashes. Link's Zair can also be used while a bomb is held to cancel an airdodge. Link has the 2nd shortest Zair in Brawl, though is only a bit shorter than Lucas'.

Grabs & Throws

• Grab - Holds opponent with his right hand after grabbing them with the Claw Shot.
• Pummel - Hits opponent with the hilt of the Master Sword. Does 2% damage.
• Forward Throw - Lets go of foe then kicks them, football punt style. Does 7% damage.
• Back Throw - Throws foe back then back kicks. Does 7% damage.
• Down Throw - Throws foe down then elbow drops them. Does 7% damage.
• Up Throw - Throws foe a very short distance above him, then slashes. Does 7% damage.

Taunts

Up: Twirls his sword twice and spins the sword while sheathing it.(Similar to his Twilight Princess "Victory Pose", which he performs after defeating a boss or certain enemies putting away the sword in the right moment).

Side: Takes out Navi, a fairy, whom will fly around him.

Down: Link's mysterious pose from SSB. Lucario's down taunt also unveil this pose.

Role In Subspace Emissary

Link's role begins with him walking through a forest with his fairy companion. Upon reaching the Master Sword's resting place, Link pulls the sword from its pedestal, wielding it once more. In a clearing of the forest is a napping Yoshi, who Link and Navi at first pay no mind to. However, the Halberd soon flies over the clearing, dropping Shadow Bugs which soon form into Primids. At this point, Link and Yoshi form a team and battle through the enemies while in pursuit of the Halberd, only to lose their aforementioned target as it flies far off into the distance, though they quickly continue their pursuit.

Link in the SSE

Link's next appearance plays out depending on which princess is saved earlier on in the story. If Peach was saved, Link and Yoshi do battle with a Shadowbug clone of Peach (who had recently been turned into a trophy by Bowser) after it attempted to turn an unsuspecting Mario and Pit into trophies until Link prevented the attack by slicing the Dark Cannon in half. Upon defeating the clone of Peach, Link is attacked by Mario, who witnessed the defeat of Peach's copy as it reverts into Shadowbugs and drifts away, apparently mistaking it for the real Peach. Then Link and Yoshi fight him and Pit. If Zelda is saved earlier on, then it is she who is cloned, and Mario and Pit fight the clone of her, and must then fend off an attack by Link and Yoshi, whom Link thinks Mario killed the real Zelda. After the defeat (and subsequent trophification) of Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi, King Dedede arrives in a cargo, and snatches the trophies of the fallen duo with an arm attached to it. Fortunately, Kirby (who had accompanied Peach/Zelda earlier) appears and frees the two trophies, and revives them as well. Upon revival, Pit/Link fires an arrow at the incoming cargo, slowing it down a little. The five characters then form an alliance and pursue Dedede.

During their pursuit, they find Dedede's cargo (now empty) parked outside of a cave, and decide to enter it. After getting out of the cave, they find Dedede's trashed hideout, and, upon finding a hole in the wall, they decide to enter it. After they get out of the hole, they find Bowser, who Mario tries to attack until Bowser raises Peach/Zelda's trophy as a shield, forcing him to miss. Pit then fires an arrow at Bowser, whom he barely dodges, before escaping in his Koopa Clown Car.

They then pursue the Ancient Minister in a desert, trying to stop him from detonating another Subspace Bomb. Mario and Link begin to approach the Minister while dodging the lasers he fires at them. Despite their best efforts, the Subspace Bomb still explodes while the heroes barely escape the blast.

Link later appears after the team makes its way to the desert, where they aid another group (consisting of Marth, Ike, the Ice Climbers, Lucas, and the Pokémon Trainer) in fighting off the Subspace Army. If Link and Zelda's trophy forms are retrieved after the initial attack by Tabuu, they will both be shown agreeing to revive Ganondorf (who was turned into a trophy earlier on when he tried to attack Tabuu on his own), at which point they show him where their common target is. Link helps the other heroes throughout the rest of the story.

Alternate Costumes

File:Alt-link3.jpg

Link's Changeable clothing.

Trivia

• Even though Link's design is from Twilight Princess, he has blond hair in SSBB, and dirty blonde/brown hair in Twilight Princess. His face is also somewhat more slender and sharper, with smaller eyes and a more fierce expression - possibly hinting that this is a slightly older version of the Link in Twilight Princess.
• Link and Toon Link are the only characters in Super Smash Bros Brawl who are literally left-handed, as they are in their own games, despiting the fact that he becomes right-handed in the Wii version of Twilight Princess.
• Although Link is left-handed, he still uses battering items such as the Beam Sword and Lip's Stick with his right hand so he is still wielding his sword with his left.
• Link's spin attack has been known to deflect projectiles (in the air).
• One of Link's taunts involves Navi the fairy appearing and flying around him. Navi was never in Twilight Princess, although a fairy was used as the pointer when you point the Wii Remote at the screen. This fairy also appears in the Subspace Emissary during the first sequence Link appears in, and is subsequently never seen again. It could be theorized that this is a merging of several Links, much like Snake could be either Solid Snake or Naked Snake.
• Link's shield protects him from small projectiles that hit his shield when he stands still. This works as a crude version of Pit's Mirror Shield when he crouches.
• Link does not have his taunt from SSBM, unlike other SSBM veterans.

External links

• Link's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!.
• E for All Expo Report.
• Linkaggedon: A Link combo video that shows Link's potential
• The Art of Link. A Link guide that demonstrates some of his advanced tactics.