Link (SSBB)

Link in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Triforce Slash
Tier	F (35)

Link (リンク, Link) 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, and his special moves have also been changed to fit the style of Twilight Princess.

Link is currently ranked 35th in Bottom Tier. Link is equipped with a useful DACUS that helps his mobility, as well as some camping ability, some of the best overall reach in his attacks, great momentum cancelling and the third best potential vertical endurance, and many KO moves. Like his Melee incarnation, he still has plenty of projectiles, all of which can be useful at different times. Despite his projectiles and large number of advanced techniques, however, Link in general has poor mobility due to poor dashing speed, air speed, and jumping ability, poor out of shield options, one of the worst aerial games, and sluggish moves in general (his fastest ground attack, jab, has a startup lag of 7 frames, and fastest aerial, back aerial, is 6 frames). The most crippling flaw of Link is his recovery, that has been heavily nerfed from Melee to one of the worst recoveries in Brawl, and often prevents him from fulfilling his amazing endurance potential; Spin Attack doesn't give him much horizontal distance (and barely any without prior momentum), his bombs are less effective for recovery, and his hookshot can no longer wall grapple. This has resulted in terrible match-ups against most characters, and terrible tournament results.

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In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Link professionals (SSBB)

•  Izaw
•  KirinBlaze
•  Legan
•  Mr. R
•  Scabe
•  Scizor

Tier placement and history

Despite the considerable power buffs he received in Brawl, his amazing momentum cancelling, and being given a useable DACUS, Link has perpetually hovered among Brawl's bottom four characters since the first tier list. Link's terrible and extremely gimpable recovery has always significantly limited Link's survivability even in the early inexperienced Brawl metagame, and his very sluggish attacks and terrible mobility significantly inhibited Link's ability to effectively compete since day one. Link has had some renowned players, such as KirinBlaze and Legan in the United States, Izaw in Europe, and Scabe in Australia, but none of these players have ever achieved much beyond the local level, and they have all since dropped Link for a better character (such as Izaw dropping Link for Sheik), or stopped playing Brawl competitively altogether. As such, Link's competitive prospects have never gotten any better over the years, and while he isn't usually thought of as a candidate for worst character, it's extremely unlikely Link will ever rise beyond the bottom tier, as he perpetually competes with Jigglypuff for the 35th spot on the tier list.

In event matches

• Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars: Link is one of the opponents that must be fought in this event. All opponents are starter characters in the original smash bros.
• Event 18: Dark Link Duel: Link must fight Dark Link in a 200 H.P. battle.
• Event 33: Advent of the Evil King: As Ganondorf, the player must defeat Link, Zelda, and Pit. The player has 2 stocks while the opponents have 1 each.
• Co-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides: A team of Link and Samus must defeat a team of Dark Link and Dark Samus in a 200 H.P. battle.
• Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: A team of Marth and Ike must defeat Link, Meta Knight and Ganondorf in a 1 stock battle.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Link's role begins with him walking through a forest with his fairy companion, Navi. 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 at first pays 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 she 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, which 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. Later, Link and Zelda are both present when meeting Tabuu, but they are defeated by Tabuu's Offwaves. 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.

Playable appearances

• The Forest
• The Lake Shore
• The Cave
• The Wilds (Part II)
• The Canyon
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))

Exclusive stickers

These stickers can only be used by Link, or a select few including him:

• Boomerang: [Weapon] Attack +4
• Colin: [Specials: Direct] Attack +4
• Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] Attack +31
• Darknut: [Slash] Attack +13
• Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] Attack +9
• Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] Attack +21
• Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] Attack +9
• Hylian Shield (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +10
• Lantern: [Flame] Resistance +7
• Legend of Outset: [Arm] Attack +26
• Linebeck: [Throwing] Attack +20
• Link (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past): [Electric] Resistance +31
• Link (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +27
• Link (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker): [Flame] Attack +31
• Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] Attack +17
• Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] Attack +2
• Lon Lon Milk: Launch Power +18
• Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] Attack +26
• Moblin: [Slash] Attack +15
• Octorok: [Leg] Attack +4
• Piece of Heart: Heart Container Effect +50
• Salvatore: [Electric] Attack +9
• Sheik: [Body, Spin] Attack +17
• Tingle (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker): [Flame] Resistance +24
• Young Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap): [Normal] Resistance +16
• Zant: [Weapon] Attack +7
• Zelda (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time): [Flame] Resistance +18

Alternate costumes

Link's alternate costumes in Brawl

Origin

Even though he is the Link from Twilight Princess, he has received a few tweaks to his design for Brawl. The first is that he has blond hair in Brawl, while it appears to be dirty blond or light brown in Twilight Princess. His face is also slightly more slender and sharper, with smaller eyes and a fiercer expression, possibly hinting that this is a slightly older version of the Link in Twilight Princess. This is also supported by the fact that the Master Sword is a lot smaller compared to him than it was in Twilight Princess, although it could also be simply be that the sword has been scaled down like his bombs. One curious addition is that a fairy appears alongside Link as he pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal when he is introduced in the Subspace Emissary. It also appears in his side taunt, in which Link takes it out of his pocket and lets it fly round him once before putting it back. This fairy could be Navi, the fairy from Ocarina of Time who aided the Link of that game by giving him hints while flying around him. Although Navi never appeared in Twilight Princess, a fairy is used as the pointer in the Wii version of the game when the Wii Remote is pointed at the screen. Theories regarding Link's design mention that it is either the result of a merging of several Links, or that he is a general Link that represents the Zelda universe in Brawl.

Trophy

Link's trophy is obtained by clearing Classic Mode with Link.

Link's trophy in Brawl

Description

A young man who emerged to rescue Hyrule from peril. He's the bearer of the Triforce of Courage who fights to keep Ganondorf from conquering the world. His green outfit is a constant throughout the series. He's a skilled swordsman, horseman, and archer. He's also proficient with bombs and boomerangs.

: The Legend of Zelda

: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Trivia

• Link, Pit, Ice Climbers, and Toon Link are the only characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl who are left-handed.
• Link uses battering items such as the Beam Sword and Lip's Stick with his right hand in order to wield his sword with his left. This prevents him from using his shield when holding items.

External links

• Link's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!.
• Link Character Guide at SWF
• Link's hitbox size of each of his moves
• Link's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice (part 1) (part 2)