Link (SSBU)

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Link in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter (Unlockable in World of Light)
Final Smash	Ancient Bow and Arrow

“	Link has been redesigned to match his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. He can now pick up arrows he's fired, and his bombs have been upgraded to remote bombs, so you can set them off when the timing is just right!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Link (リンク, Link) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was teased in a trailer released on March 8th, 2018 before being fully confirmed as playable on June 12th, 2018. Link is classified as fighter #03.

Link is now voiced by Kengo Takanashi, who reprises his role from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.^{[citation needed]}

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Overall, Link received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition between Super Smash Bros. 4 and Ultimate. Link now incorporates many elements from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild into his moveset, such as the Remote Bomb, the Ancient Bow & Ancient Arrow, and the Sword Beam. Compared to his previous iterations in Smash, his faster dash speed and longer sword improve his close combat capabilities, while the return of the Boomerang improves his ability to combo. Alternatively, Remote Bombs offer an array of advantages and disadvantages over the previous Bombs, while the loss of the Clawshot hinders his grab range and recovery.

Aesthetics

• Link's design is now based on his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. His default outfit is the blue Champion's Tunic with the more traditional green Tunic of the Wild as an alternate costume, each having their own respective set of palette swaps. The Master Sword's design has also been updated to match its appearance in Breath of the Wild.
• Link holds the Master Sword with his right hand and the Hylian Shield with his left hand like he does in Breath of the Wild and other recent Zelda games. He also has an altered idle pose with his legs positioned further apart and his sword and shield held up at all times.
• Link has a new side taunt where he holds the Master Sword in front of him with both hands while it glows, similar to one of Ike's taunts.
• Link's victory animation where he swings his sword then sheathes it now has him swing it back before sheathing it.
• Link's new on-screen appearance involves him gliding onto the stage using the Paraglider.
• Link's Boxing Ring alias has been changed to "Champion of Hyrule".

Attributes

• Like all characters, Link's jumpsquat animation now takes three frames to complete (down from 7).
• Link's initial dash speed is higher (1.3 → 1.98).
• Link dashes much faster (1.3944 → 1.534).
• Link walks faster (1.188 → 1.247).
• Link's air speed is higher (0.88 → 0.924).
• Link jumps higher.
• The Master Sword is longer, increasing the range of Link's sword-based attacks.

Ground Attacks

• Neutral attack's final hit now involves Link swiping vertically instead of thrusting his sword, much like Meta Knight
  • Neutral attack's damage has been redistributed, with the first two hits dealing more damage (2.5% → 3% each) and the third hit dealing less (5% → 4%).
• Forward tilt has more endlag.
  • Forward tilt causes the screen to shake when the sword hits the ground.
• Up tilt is an overhead arcing slash that starts from behind Link.
  • Up tilt no longer encircles Link's entire body, hindering its horizontal range. It also leaves Link more vulnerable to frontal attacks.
  • Up tilt damage: 9% → 11%
• Down tilt damage: 11% → 9%
• Dash attack's initial lunge provides less distance, decreasing the move's horizontal range but allowing Link to more reliably hit opponents closer to him.
• Forward smash's first hit shoots out a spinning Sword Beam when Link is at 0% damage. Charging forward smash increases the size and damage of the projectile. This is in reference to multiple Zelda games where Link's sword shoots out beams when he is at full health.
  • The sword itself also deals 7% more damage when Link has not taken any damage.
• Down smash has slightly more startup frames.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (Neutral: frame 10 → 6, Forward: 12 → 11, Back: 10 → 6, Up: 23 → 14, Down: 32 → 19), with neutral aerial and back aerial now being almost as fast as a hard landing.
• Forward aerial's first hit now has significantly weaker knockback, which allows it to reliably link into the second hit.
  • Forward aerial's animation has been sped up, with the second hit coming out more quickly.
  • Forward aerial's first hit can no longer KO at reasonable percents.
  • Both hits of forward aerial deal 2% less damage.
• Both hits of back aerial deal 2% more damage.
  • Back aerial has a slightly different animation.
• Down aerial has a different animation, with a more exaggerated downward thrust.

Throws/other attacks

• Link now grabs opponents with his hand instead of using the Clawshot.
  • All grabs have significantly less endlag.
  • All grabs have reduced range.
• Pummel damage: 2.1% → 1.3%
• Link no longer has a grab aerial or a tether recovery due to losing the Clawshot.
  • Link can now Z-drop his Remote Bombs without triggering the grab aerial's lengthy animation.
• Forward throw and Back throw hit 2 damage: 4% → 2.5%

Special Moves

• Bow and Arrows:
  • Link now uses the Traveler's Bow from Breath of the Wild instead of the Hero's Bow.
  • Arrows will become momentarily lodged in opponents' bodies.
  • The bow charges faster.
  • Arrows travel farther at minimum charge.
  • Arrows travel noticeably slower.
  • Arrows that fail to hit an opponent will linger on the ground for a longer period of time and can be picked up and thrown. Using the Bow and Arrows while holding an arrow causes Link to fire two arrows at once for double the damage.
  • Arrows can be picked up by opponents and thrown at Link.
• Boomerang:
  • The more traditional Boomerang has replaced the Gale Boomerang, behaving as it did in Smash 64 and Melee.
  • Rather than simply disappearing, Boomerang will drop to the ground and disappear in a puff of smoke if it is intercepted by another projectile.
  • Boomerang maximum damage: 7% → 9.6%
  • Boomerang has regained its damaging hitbox while returning, allowing Link to interrupt opponents' attacks and perform combos more reliably than he could with Gale Boomerang's windbox.
  • Boomerang's throwing range has been increased.
  • Boomerang travels more slowly upon returning. This increases the amount of time the hitbox is active but also increases the amount of time it takes before Link can throw it again.
  • Boomerang will damage Link if it is reflected back at him. Also, Link can no longer perform the Gale Guarding technique.
• Spin Attack:
  • Spin Attack has larger and more vibrant graphics. The grounded version is now an inward spin.
  • Link now charges the move like he does in Breath of the Wild, and moves his arm during the charging animation. As the move charges, the Master Sword glints with light up to three times, referencing the three charge levels of charged attacks in Breath of the Wild.
  • Grounded Spin Attack deals significantly more damage overall.
  • Aerial Spin Attack covers less overall distance, weakening its recovery capabilities.
• Remote Bomb:
  • The spherical Remote Bomb from Breath of the Wild replaces Bomb as Link's down special. Rather than exploding on contact, the Remote Bomb bounces off opponents and objects. It is detonated by inputting down special again, similar to Snake's C4. It will also detonate automatically after about 30 seconds. This changes up Link's item play and recovery tactics substantially.
  • Remote Bomb's 30 second fuse allows it to remain in play much longer than Bomb's 7 seconds.
  • Remote Bomb's explosion has a significantly larger blast radius.
  • Remote Bomb's explosion deals more damage.
  • Remote Bomb's explosion deals significantly higher knockback, improving its KO potential. It also launches opponents at a more horizontal angle, and the opponent's location relative to the bomb determines where they are sent. This generally improves its combo and edgeguarding potential.
  • Remote Bomb cannot be manually detonated if it is held by an opponent.
  • Unlike the previous iteration of Bomb, Remote Bomb Runes will damage Link even if the opponent is caught within its blast radius.
  • Only one Remote Bomb can be on the field at a time, as opposed to two Bombs.
  • The Remote Bomb itself deals less damage when hitting an opponent since it no longer explodes on contact.
  • Remote Bomb cannot be detonated while Link is helpless. Coupled with the bomb's horizontal knockback, this hinders Link's vertical recovery.
  • Link can now Z-drop and detonate a Remote Bomb on himself to supplement his horizontal recovery.
• Final Smash:
  • Link's new Final Smash is the Ancient Bow and Arrow, replacing Triforce Slash. It is functionally similar to Zelda's Light Arrow from previous games, although it only deals a single powerful blow to the first opponent in the arrow's path, along with any bystanders.
  • Ancient Bow and Arrow has significantly more horizontal range than Triforce Slash.

Classic Mode: A Quest to Seal the Darkness

Link's opponents are all affiliated with darkness.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Dark Pit	Reset Bomb Forest	Dark Pit's Theme
2	Giant Ridley	Norfair	Vs. Ridley
3	Bayonetta	Umbra Clock Tower	One Of A Kind
4	Dark Samus	Frigate Orpheon	Boss Battle 4 - Metroid: Samus Returns
5	Ganondorf	Gerudo Valley	Gerudo Valley	Zelda is a CPU ally.
6	Dark Link	Temple	Great Temple / Temple	If using the Dark Link costume, Link appears as an enemy.
Bonus Stage
Final	Ganon	?

Role in World of Light

Link was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to fight the army of Master Hands.

Link was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Link successfully deflected three beams of light with his Hylian Shield (staying true to the shield's unbreakable nature), but he lost his footing on the third blow, and was vaporized and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters (excluding Kirby).

Link is unlocked near a Sheikah Tower when taking the Villager route. The player must defeat either Don's or Fiora's spirit to access his unlock battle.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Link, Kirby, Mario, and Cloud artwork, as posted by Tetsuya Nomura's official Twitter account.

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  Artwork of all The Legend of Zelda characters, as posted on the official Legend of Zelda Twitter account.

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  Official render of Link's Tunic of the Wild outfit.

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  Link's fighter card.

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  Link taunting on the Great Plateau Tower.

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  Link about to perform his forward smash on Temple.

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  Link performing a Spin Attack on Pac-Man on Spirit Train.

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  Link holding a Heart Container on Great Bay.

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  Link performing his new Final Smash, Ancient Bow and Arrow.

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  About to strike Ganondorf with his dash attack on Skyworld.

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  Struck by Daisy's down smash on Spirit Train.

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  Link struck by Dr. Mario's forward smash on New Pork City.

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  Link, Mario and Samus struck by the Inkling's Splat Roller on Figure-8 Circuit.

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  Link getting hit by Isabelle's forward smash on Luigi's Mansion.

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  Link struck by Roy's neutral aerial on Skyloft.

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  Link, Marth and Shulk advancing towards Rathalos on Coliseum.

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  Link, Pikachu, Bowser and Inkling being attacked by Rathalos on Tortimer Island.

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  Link using Bow and Arrows on Prism Tower.

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  With Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus, Ice Climbers, Pit, Villager and Inkling on Battlefield.

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  With Kirby, Mario, Inkling, Marth, Pit, Ridley and Villager on Battlefield.

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  With all playable The Legend of Zelda veterans on the Great Plateau Tower.

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  With Zelda and Ganondorf on the Great Plateau Tower.

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

• Ultimate marks the first time in the Smash series where Link does not wear his trademark green tunic as his default outfit, as well as the first time Link no longer has his Goron and Zora tunics from Ocarina of Time as his respective red and blue alternate costumes; however, his traditional design still appears as an alternate costume, the Tunic of the Wild. His new red and blue costumes are based on armor sets from Breath of the Wild, the Hylian Tunic and the Royal Guard Uniform, respectively.
  • Ironically, Link's Champion's Tunic cannot be dyed in Breath of the Wild despite being the base for four of his costumes in Ultimate. His Tunic of the Wild can be dyed, but the colors used for the other four costumes based on this outfit are not possible in Breath of the Wild.
  • Link's Fierce Deity costume is the only recolor of the Tunic of the Wild to not expose his knees. This is in line with how Fierce Deity Link appeared in Majora's Mask.
  • Despite Link's default design now being the Champion's Tunic, which lacks a cap, Kirby still gains his familiar green cap when copying Link.
• Ultimate is the first Smash game where Link does not use a tether; however, his doppelgängers, Young Link and Toon Link, still use one.
• In the E3 demo of the game, Link's portrait used his in-game model instead of his official artwork. This was also the case for Mario, Pikachu and Villager.
• Link is one of three fighters from SSB4 to have their Boxing Ring alias changed in Ultimate, the others being Mega Man and Ryu.
• Coincidentally enough, Link is ranked as #3 according to Ultimate's roster, as his game series revolves around the Triforce, and there are three different versions of Link in this game.