Ganondorf

For fighter info, see Ganondorf (SSBM) and Ganondorf (SSBB).

"Ganon" redirects here. For Ganondorf's Final Smash, see Beast Ganon.

Ganondorf
Ganondorf File:ZeldaSymbol.png Official artwork of Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (as Ganondorf, 1998) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (first called Ganondorf, 1991) The Legend of Zelda (as Ganon, 1986)
Smash Bros. appearances	Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	NES Remix 2 (2014)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo 64 (as Ganondorf) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (first called Ganondorf) Nintendo Entertainment System (as Ganon)
Species	Gerudo
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Hyrule
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto
Voice actor	Takashi Nagasako (Melee) Hironori Miyata (Brawl)
Article on Zelda Wiki	Ganon

Ganondorf (ガノンドロフ, Ganondorofu) is the main antagonist in The Legend of Zelda video game series. His first appearance was as the beast known as Ganon (ガノン) in the original The Legend of Zelda game. The name "Ganondorf" was first mentioned in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with the villain making his first appearance as Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Since then, the name "Ganondorf" has been used to refer to his human form while "Ganon" is used for his monster form, the only exception being in The Wind Waker (though, at times, the names have been used interchangeably). In either case, he has been Link's arch-enemy since the first game.

Ganondorf appeared as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and appears once again in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Character description

Ganondorf as he appears in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Ganondorf was originally introduced in the original The Legend of Zelda game as Ganon. Here, he was established as a power hungry monster who had kidnapped Princess Zelda for her piece of the Triforce, but was destroyed by Link at the end of the game. Since then, collecting the Triforce and conquering Hyrule has usually been Ganon's main goal in the series. He has appeared or been mentioned in nearly every Zelda game, with four exceptions: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Note that in Phantom Hourglass, he was included in the opening cutscene, describing his appearance in Wind Waker.

Ganon's appearance has changed over the course of the series. In his first appearance, he appears as a monster whose facial features are like that of a pig's and with turquoise skin (though it will change to red at one point, which is the cue to hit him with the Silver Arrow), while in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, he has blue skin and turns silver when weak to the aforementioned Silver Arrows. In Ocarina of Time, Ganon's skin is dark green and he has yellow eyes (and so far, this and Twilight Princess are the only games to depict Ganon with a tail). The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, in a departure from previous games, features a quadrupedal Ganon for the first time, and appears as more of a boar than a pig. This may be to make Ganon similar to Link's "wolf" form.

In his first appearance as Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it is revealed that he is the only male in the Gerudo Tribe, who only bear a male once every century. All Gerudos are identified by their noticeably darker skin (which may be due to living in the desert) and red hair. He is seen wearing armor in both Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, while in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker he appears to be wearing sorcerer's robes.

Ganon is the primary villain in most of the Zelda games, with his schemes usually involving kidnapping Princess Zelda, conquering the land of Hyrule, or obtaining the Triforce (Sometimes all three). Therefore, he has never been a playable character in any Zelda game.

Unlike most of Nintendo's other famous villains, such as Bowser, Ganondorf is a cunning, intelligent, and an extremely powerful character. In Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf accomplishes something that Bowser (and many other villains) struggle with--he conquered the world. Thus, Link had to build up his strength so he could take Hyrule back from Ganondorf, who had ruled for 7 years by that point.

Whether he appears as Ganondorf or as Ganon (A Link to the Past's game manual gives him the name Ganondorf Dragmire which is a name which hasn't appeared before or since), Hyrule knows that it will be facing an incredible evil that only Link and Zelda can stop.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

As a playable character

Ganondorf, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Ganondorf makes his first appearance in the Smash Bros. series as a secret playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He can be unlocked after completing Triforce Gathering or by playing 600 VS. matches. According to the official Melee website, Ganondorf wasn't planned to be included as a playable character. However, the convenience of him having a body build very similar to Captain Falcon's allowed him to be easily cloned from Captain Falcon, leading to his inclusion as one of the last-minute clones to pad out the roster.

Ganondorf is often considered the most powerful character in the game, with slow moves but decent speed for his size. He has superb reach and a melee style of fighting. Though comparatively slow to most characters, particularly those in lower tiers of power, he is not so slow as to render his great strength unusable. Almost every attack in his arsenal (with the exception of his dash attack and throws) has high K.O. potential, ensuring that if a hit does connect, it will likely knock an opponent near or past one of the blast line when they're at high damage. His neutral special move is the Warlock Punch which is similar to the Falcon Punch, except that it takes more time to execute, but is considerably more powerful, undergoing a further increase in power when connected on the back. His Side special move is the Gerudo Dragon, which launches enemies up into the air. His up special move is the Dark Dive while his down special move is Wizard's Foot. His up tilt is extremely powerful, but takes a while to "charge". His forward smash is unique, sending foes vertically more than horizontally. His up smash is the second most damaging smash in the game (after Peach's down smash), dealing 53% when fully charged. What Ganondorf is most known for are his very powerful and surprisingly fast aerials (start-up lag wise), he was the only character in Melee to have all five of their aerials being capable of reliably KOing under 150%. His most known aerial is his down aerial, which is both the most powerful meteor smash and aerial attack in Melee. Despite being a meteor smash, it was capable of star KOing the majority of the characters under 100% when grounded. It also worked well at setting up combos at low percentages despite its power, especially against the fast fallers. Ganondorf was arguably the character who benefited from L-Cancelling the most, as all of his aerials had high landing lag, but L-Cancelling allows him to fully utilize his aerials without being so punishable.

As noted earlier, Ganondorf is a clone of Captain Falcon in Melee, with a lot of identical animations and very similar moves, though he does have a few notable differences. Ganondorf is slower, but more powerful than Captain Falcon. Ganondorf's neutral attack is a single jab instead of being an infinite jab combo like Captain Falcon's. The most notable difference is that they have different forward aerials, as while Captain Falcon has the knee smash, Ganondorf has a flying punch, also referred to as the "Skull Crusher." The primary statistical difference between the two is that Ganondorf's forward aerial is not as powerful as the knee, but it has no sourspot along with greater reach. Ganondorf is also heavier, making him more difficult to KO horizontally than Captain Falcon, along with a slower falling speed allowing him to recover farther when coupled with his Wizard's Foot, which gives him an extra midair jump (though Captain Falcon's faster falling speed gives him greater vertical endurance). Ganondorf's neutral aerial, down smash, and up smash are all two hit moves with effects that are the inverse of Falcon's. For example, both hits of his neutral aerial and up smash can KO, while only the second hit of Captain Falcon's same moves has real knockback. Conversely, Ganon's down smash's first hit has set knockback that sends opponents behind him to connect the second hit, which can KO, while both hits of Captain Falcon's down smash can reliably KO.

Trophies

Ganondorf, as with the other playable characters, is featured on three trophies. His normal trophy is acquired by beating the Classic Mode with Ganondorf on any difficulty, and his Smash Red and Smash Blue trophies are acquired through winning the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively.

Ganondorf

Said to be the sole man born to the Gerudo tribe in a hundred years, Ganondorf aspired to conquer the world. He plundered a piece of the sacred Triforce from the Temple of Time when Link pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal. With the Triforce of Power in Ganondorf's possession, Hyrule was plunged into darkness until Link and Zelda defeated the fiend.

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, 11/98 (N64)

• 

  Classic Mode trophy

• 

  Smash [Adventure Mode] trophy

• 

  Smash [All-Star Mode] trophy

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Ganondorf reappears in Brawl as a playable unlockable character, using his The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess character model. Some of his attacks have changed from his Melee set and have undergone large aesthetic changes, while his other attacks are similar to their Melee counterparts.

In Brawl, his attacks are noticeably more sluggish (especially the forward aerial) and have less reach. His jumping ability, his walking speed, and dashing speed have been hindered, which hinders his mobility rather severely. His rolling dodges, once on par with Captain Falcon's (from whom they were inherited), are now slower and gain less distance. His horizontal recovery is worse due to the Wizard's Foot no longer restoring his midair jump. Many of Ganondorf's attacks were weakened as well, most notably the Dark Dive (can no longer KO at high percentage), grounded Wizard's Foot (could KO under 125% in Melee but can't KO under 150% in Brawl), the up tilt (though it is still the strongest tilt in the game but it can no longer KO at low percentage unless used near the ledge), the down smash, and the back aerial. Some of his attacks were buffed in terms of power. His forward smash is stronger with horizontal knockback now (it has less reach however), his dash attack was strengthened significantly (it is now a reliable KO move instead of being his weakest attack that wasn't a throw), his back and forward throws are stronger (they can now KO on the edge at high percentages), and the Warlock Punch was buffed (higher damage, knockback, can be reversed, and slightly faster start-up) and can now get guaranteed KOs at damages as low as from 13%-20%. He has a new side special in Brawl that differs from its Melee incarnation, choking the opponent, then throwing them downward. With it, Ganondorf has an alternate recovery move and can now Ganoncide. Flame Choke is faster and less punishable than Gerudo Dragon was and is good for setting up as well, but it deals approximately half the damage and is completely incapable of KOing unlike the Gerudo Dragon. Besides Ganondorf being slower and having less overall power, he was especially hurt by the loss of L-Cancelling, which allowed Ganondorf to utilize his very powerful aerials to their fullest in Melee.

Beast Ganon also appears as Ganondorf's Final Smash. Once the Smash Ball is retrieved and activated by the player, Ganondorf immediately transforms into the Twilight Princess rendition of Beast Ganon. In beast form, he stomps his front legs on the ground, immobilizing any foes in his wake, pounding them down into the earth, making them unable to perform any actions. The beast then charges straightforward into the direction he was last facing when the Final Smash was activated.

Trophies

Ganondorf has a trophy that is awarded each time the Classic mode is completed with Ganondorf on any difficulty. See Beast Ganon for the trophy description of Ganondorf's Final Smash:

Ganondorf

A man who wants to use the power of the Triforce to conquer the world. In Twilight Princess, he gives strength to the Twilight King, Zant, and tries to change the land into a world of darkness. He possesses Zelda, transforms into a magical beast, and attacks Link. In the end, however, Link deals him a finishing blow and defeats him.

: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Ganondorf (Wind Waker)

The king of evil. Ganondorf aims to collect the Triforce pieces and rule the world. Already in possession of the Triforce of Power, he secures Zelda and her Triforce of Wisdom, thus luring Link to his castle. However, he is ultimately defeated by Zelda's Light Arrows and Link's Master Sword.

: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

• 

  Ganondorf Trophy

• 

  Ganondorf (Wind Waker) Trophy

Trivia

• In both games, Ganondorf has been shown with a sword of some type at least once, though he can never use it to attack. In Melee, it appears in one of his victory poses, on his Smash Blue trophy, and on the "Challenger Approaching!" screen. In Brawl, he unsheathes and sheathes the execution sword he stole in Twilight Princess as part of his down taunt. In both games, hacking can allow his model to hold onto the sword, though he cannot use it for attacks.
• Ganondorf, Mewtwo, and Wolf are the only unlockable antagonists in the Super Smash Bros. series, though Mewtwo is technically more of an anti-hero by the end of its appearance in its respective movie, and in the game it first appeared in, it can be controlled by the player once captured.
• Ganondorf is the only Legend of Zelda character to lack projectiles.
• Ganondorf was only playable in the Smash Bros. series, before his appearance in Hyrule Warriors (2014).