Editing Young Link (SSBU)

|image = [[File:Young Link SSBU.png|250px]]

Young Link is not without his shortcomings however. Young Link has low range for a swordfighter, which forces him to get up close to deal effective damage, a flaw further worsened by him being a [[Weight|lightweight]]. His recovery is very punishable due to its predictable arcs. He also struggles to get KOs at high percents if he isn't able to get kill confirms, with his safest moves having very little KO power.

Overall, Young Link is often seen as the best of the three Links, and fares very well in the competitive environment thanks to strong results from players such as {{Sm|Toast}}, {{Sm|skittles|p=Iowa}}, and {{Sm|Supahsemmie}}.

Young Link is a [[weight|lightweight]] character (weighing the same as {{SSBU|Greninja}} and {{SSBU|Isabelle}}), and is the lightest of the three Links, being 3 units lighter than {{SSBU|Toon Link}}. Compared to his alternate timeline counterparts, he tends to be in the middle in regard to mobility, including his running speed, air speed and acceleration, and jump height. He has the highest fall speed and initial dash of the links, though his fast fall speed is slower than the original Link thanks to Link's unusual fast fall speed boost. In terms of the rest of the cast, Young Link has an average [[running]] speed, high [[initial dash]] speed, low [[air speed]] and [[air acceleration|acceleration]], high [[falling speed]], and slightly above average [[jump]] height. Finally, his gravity is average and tied with Link's. Overall, Young Link has middling mobility, with most of his quick movement potential coming from his high initial dash and fall speed.

Young Link uses the {{iw|zeldawiki|Kokiri Sword}}, the starting weapon from ''{{iw|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time}}'' and ''{{iw|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask}}'', granting Young Link disjointed range and giving him the ability to space out his opponents as well as making his sword attacks risky to trade with unless the opponent has disjointed range of their own. Unlike many sword users, however, this is coupled with outstanding frame data. Although the Link archetype has been synonymous with laggy frame data up until ''Ultimate'', Young Link has some of the best frame data in the game, with many of his moves being infamous for how quickly they come out and how little cooldown they have. As a result, many moves of his are extremely safe on shield, such as down tilt, neutral air, forward air, back air, and even his Boomerang. Additionally, the speed of his moveset makes it reliable for one of Young Link’s most notable aspects: his combo game.

While the Link archetype is one that has never been known for [[combos]], Young Link subverts this by providing one of the most complex and varied combo games out of the entire cast. His [[up tilt]] and especially [[down tilt]] are well designed to start combos, knocking the opponents up into the air with weak knockback to set up for his [[aerial]]s. while his [[jab]] can transition into a rapid jab for respectable damage, create mixups through his surprisingly fast jab cancels, or be used to jab lock opponents and set up combos with down tilt or finish stocks with an up special or forward smash. However, his aerials are truly what gives him the outstanding combo and boxing game he has. Most of Young Link's aerials are capable of both starting combos as well as continuing them, making their usage very flexible and wide, as well as dealing significant damage.

[[Forward aerial|Forward]] and [[back aerial]] are both designed similarly. Both attacks are combo attacks that consist of a first weak hit that stuns the enemy in place for a second launching hit. However, these are both meant to be used in different ways. Back aerial is much more geared towards combos as it comes out fast, has very little lag, and deals minimal knockback, making it easy to follow up with another back aerial or another move. Forward aerial is instead a combo finisher as it comes out slower and recovers slower than back air in exchange for having much more power and knockback, providing significant KO power. Notably, canceling either of these moves by landing after the first hit allows Young Link to combo in to almost any move in his kit depending on the situation.

[[Up aerial]] is a thrust above Young Link that comes out very fast for how strong it is and lingers awhile, making it useful for covering the space above him. It can be used to juggle opponents, as its large disjoint makes it hard to challenge. Additionally, up aerial is a powerful KO move and can be combo'd into quite flexibly. [[Down aerial]], while not being a combo tool except in relatively rare situations, serves as a reliable landing option or jump callout due to its lingering, disjointed hitbox and considerable power even on the late hit.

{{b|Bomb|Link}}, Young Link's third and final projectile, is perhaps his most complex and flexible. When used, Bomb functions as a held item, allowing Young Link to throw it forward, backward, up, and down, in addition to Z dropping it, which may be used to pressure people below you or drop it and have it lie on the ground until it explodes. Bomb grants Young Link a numerous amount of trapping opportunities, such as being able to use dropped Bombs to cover platforms or ledge getup options, as well as setting up for combos if the Bomb hits an opponent.

Young Link's [[grab]] game may be the best of the Links and provides him with additional options. Unlike Link, Young Link still retains use of the [[Hookshot]] for his grab, giving him a very long, disjointed grab range in exchange for his grab being laggier than unarmed grabs and thus requiring a more spacing-dependent grappling style, either grabbing at range or using turnaround grabs to create space. Additionally, the Hookshot itself can be used as a [[grab aerial]] attack. It has the longest range of any of his aerials, and can confirm in to a variety of followups, including nair or up smash for KOs at higher percents. This grab aerial attack also provides him with a tether recovery, which is often much safer than his Spin Attack. His forward throw is one of the strongest forward throws in the game, KOing middleweights at the ledge of Final Destination around 130% depending on their [[directional influence]]. Some Young Links will enjoy trying to fthrow their oppponents very quickly before they've had a chance to DI. Young Link's grabs also have solid combo potential as up and down throw both provide combos at low to mid percents. Back throw is the least useful of his throws but can set up for an edgeguard.

Additionally, Young Link's recovery, while much better than in ''Melee'', can be exploitable. His Spin Attack, while having good reach, travels on a predictable arc and only hits to his sides, allowing him to be edge guarded by characters who can hit his head, or be blocked by characters with counters such as Lucina. Young Link has a variety of options to deepen his recovery potential thanks to his tether recovery and many projectiles he can throw at the stage to cover himself, but in bad situations may be forced to use his up special in a way that's very vulnerable or predictable.

Young Link's KO potential can also be a mixed bag. His up smash gives him excellent kill potential out of shield, but is risky if it misses. While he has many safe moves that kill such as neutral air, forward air, and forward tilt, they may kill quite late, often requiring the opponent to be past 150%. Young Link is very dependent on his melee hits in order to kill, challenging him to contend with his sometimes-awkward approach game and short reach. As usual this can be mitigated with projectiles, which provide combos even at very high percents and give Young Link an opening with which to approach. Stale moves can also present challenges--moves like nair and fair may have been heavily involved in combos and neutral, meaning they may be missing their full power when used for a KO. These factors, when combined with a large number of combos and set ups to learn, causes Young Link to have a rather high learning curve, especially at top level play.

In summary, Young Link, despite featuring a very similar moveset to his alternate timeline counterparts, has a unique design and playstyle unlike anybody else in the game. He is regarded as having one of the best combo games and above average zoning tools, giving him the ability to play both hyper defensively and hyper aggressively and switch between the two playstyles on the fly to throw opponents off. Despite rather low representation at top level, most likely due to his high learning curve and inconsistencies, Young Link is considered a high tier character, especially with the buffs to his KO power in update 7.0.0, and the few top level players who have chosen to main him have proven his capability to perform well in tournaments.

{{SSBU|Link}} has received a major aesthetic and gameplay overhaul. He is now based on the Hero of the Wild and thus features a heavily reworked moveset to reference his appearance in ''Breath of the Wild''. As Young Link hails from ''Ocarina of Time'', he is closest to his older self's appearances in ''[[Link|SSB]]'' and ''[[Link|Melee]]'', effectively serving as the classic Link archetype for this game. He retains moves and characteristics from ''Melee'' that the Hero of the Wild lacks (most notably a [[flurry attack]] and [[Hookshot]]), yet has also received a few changes that reference his descendant, the Hero of Twilight, as he appeared in ''[[Link|Brawl]]'' and ''[[Link|Smash 4]]''. While these changes further de-[[clone]] Young Link from Link, he remains a full clone instead of a semi-clone due to his large number of shared attacks (compared to Toon Link, who has roughly as many unique attacks as not). Of note is that with the exception of neutral infinite, every move that Young Link does not share with Link is instead shared with Toon Link.

*{{buff|Young Link's base [[air acceleration]] is higher than Link's (0.01 → 0.02).}}

**{{change|The third hit uses Link's previous animation that thrusting a sword, instead of swiping vertically.}}

**{{nerf|It deals less damage (13% → 12% (base)/11% (tip)) and knockback (55 base/82 scaling → 30/85 (blade), 25/85 (body)), make it considerably weaker than Link's.}}

**{{nerf|It deals less damage (11% → 8%) with knockback not fully compensated (30 base/103/111/105/104 scaling → 20 base/130/128/126 scaling), make it weaker than Link's.}}

**{{buff|Although it does not reach as far as Link's, it uses 3 spherical hitboxes rather than 1 extended hitbox, and all 3 hitboxes are wider, improving the move's vertical range.}}

**{{nerf|It deals less damage (14% (tip)/13% (blade)/12% (body) → 11% (base)/10% (tip)) and knockback (70 base/85 scaling (tip), 85/85 (blade), 85/77 (body) → 70/70), make it considerably weaker than Link's.}}

**{{buff|The first hit has less startup (frame 17 → 15) and ending lag (FAF 51 → 48).}}

**{{change|The first hit always deals lower damage (7% (base)/14% (tip) → 6%) and knockback (45 base/12 scaling (base), 30/100 (tip) → 35/40 base/15 scaling).}}

**{{buff|Down smash has less startup (frame 12 → 9 (hit 1), frame 24 → 21 (hit 2)) and ending lag (FAF 55 → 50).}}

**{{buff|The late hit deals less damage (6% → 5%) and base knockback (15 → 10), further improving its combo potential.}}

**{{buff|It has much less ending lag (FAF 52 → 41).}}

**{{change|The second hit launches at a slightly lower angle (44° → 48°).}}  

**{{nerf|Back aerial's first hit's aerial hitboxes deal less set knockback (36 → 20). Combined with Young Link's higher gravity, and the greater delay between the hits, this makes the move connect less consistently.}}

**{{buff|Down aerial has less startup lag with a longer active duration (frames 15-64 → 13-64).}}

***{{nerf|However, the clean hit has a shorter active duration (frames 16-19 → 13-15).}}

*[[Grab|Grabs]]:

Young Link has been significantly buffed in the transition from ''Melee'' to ''Ultimate''. His attributes, moveset and general gameplan have all been significantly improved in the transition, and he has gained a better combo game, whereas the changes to the general pace of ''Ultimate'' have contributed to his benefits.

Young Link's speed has been improved from ''Melee'', both in terms of his mobility and frame data. Many of his attacks have decreased startup and ending lag (such as [[neutral attack]], [[forward tilt|forward]] and [[down tilt]]s, and [[dash attack]]), and his aerials have heavily decreased landing lag (even compared to their [[L-cancel]]ed counterparts in ''Melee''), improving his ability to land. Some of his moves have also been reworked to make them more reliable and effective, such as his [[up smash]] and his [[forward aerial|forward]] and [[back aerial]]s, and the weakening of [[SDI]] heavily benefits his multi-hit attacks. His grab game has also been improved thanks to the universal changes to tether grabs, as they now have less ending lag and a longer duration. His [[forward throw]] also has increased knockback, giving him a new KOing option.

His special moveset has also seen heavy improvements. [[Fire Arrow]] has less ending lag and increased knockback, [[Boomerang]] deals less knockback as a result of its lower damage, grounded [[Spin Attack]] has less ending lag after its final hit, and aerial Spin Attack's hits link into the other much more consistently. {{b|Bomb|Link}}s were also significantly buffed, as their multi-hits accumulate their damage faster, they travel farther when thrown, no longer deal damage to Young Link if they hit an enemy head-on, and can be "soft-tossed" or slowly Z-dropped without exploding. All of these changes combined together not only grant Young Link a deceptively improved zoning game, but have also further improved his combo ability from mid-distance.

The changes to ''Ultimate''{{'}}s engine have also generally benefitted Young Link. The universal increase in mobility, the ability to [[Run cancel|use any attack out of a run]] and the increased [[shieldstun]] have vastly improved Young Link's close quarters combat, as he can now close in on the distance with less issue and his attacks' above average damage output renders them harder to punish (most infamously his tilt attacks). The universal reduction to landing lag is an especially notable benefit, as not only this improves his ability to land, but has improved his aerials' safety on shield (despite the reduced shieldstun on aerial attacks), but has also dramatically improved his combo game up-close outside of his [[down throw]] and Bombs, with him now having set-up options by virtue of his [[neutral aerial]]'s late hit and the first hits of his forward and back aerials. The removal of [[edgehogging]], the introduction of [[Edgeguarding#Ledge trumping|ledge trumping]] and the changes to invincibility when grabbing an [[edge]] have also notably improved Young Link's recovery, making him much less vulnerable to getting edgeguarded or getting hit if he doesn't grab the stage's edge.

Overall, Young Link's gameplan has radically changed between both games, which has also resulted in a slight increase to his already high learning curve. Young Link now has reliable damage racking capabilities at all ranges, courtesy of an improved zoning game and a deceptively improved combo game that doesn't rely on his bombs, which now makes it easier for him to close in on the distance against other characters and harder for other characters to keep up with him, and he has less trouble at landing due to his aerials' lower landing lag. However, some of Young Link's weaknesses from ''Melee'' still remain, most notably his below average range for a swordfighter (despite it improving in the transition) and his still limited KOing ability despite the higher knockback on some of his moves and his new hit confirms, meaning Young Link still has to take risks in order to KO the opponent. Regardless, he is a much better character than he was in ''Melee''.

|neutraldesc=A downward slash, followed by an outward slash, followed by a thrust. If button mashed, Young Link instead performs a rapid flurry of slashes before concluding with an upward slash. The standard neutral attack is based on the final series of strikes that he inflicts to [[Ganon]] in ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time''.

|dashdesc=A lunging downward slash. It comes out quickly at frame 8 without a large amount of ending lag, and it has decent power, giving it some KO potential at the ledge. Just like other attacks, the tip of the Kokiri Sword deals less damage.

|dsmashdesc=A kneeling inward slash in front of himself, followed by a kneeling outward slash behind himself. Both hits are semi-spikes, making them good for edgeguarding, and is stronger from the front than from the back.

|nairdesc=A flying kick. It is a [[sex kick]] and one of the fastest aerials in the game at frame 4, making it a very good option to get opponents off of him. Additionally, it has extremely low landing lag, can autocancel in a short hop, and has just as strong of an offense use, as the late hit can function both as a combo starter or can be used in the middle of a combo to lead into a variety of moves. It also has decent power, as it can KO at high percents when edgeguarding. Overall, it is commonly regarded as one of the best aerials in the game, and is a vital part of Young Link's combo game.

|bairdesc=A hook kick followed by a mid-level roundhouse kick. It comes out on frame 6 and has the lowest ending lag of his aerials. Functions similarly to his forward aerial, including the ability to drag down foes with the first hit, but trades range and power for reduced start-up. Despite this, it possesses a somewhat disjointed hitbox, and its first hit can reliably KO into any of his smash attacks.

|pummeldesc=Quickly hits the opponent with the pommel of the Kokiri Sword.

|ssdesc=Throws his {{iw|zeldawiki|Boomerang}} forward. It flies forward and then returns to Young Link. On the way forward, it launches enemies vertically with low base knockback, and on the way back, it launches them towards Link with slightly weaker base knockback, allowing it to set up combos. It can be angled up or down, and inputting it like a smash attack increases its damage, as well as the distance it can travel.

|dsdesc=Pulls out a {{iw|zeldawiki|Bomb}}. Just like in ''Melee'', the explosion from the Bomb hits multiple times. The Bomb explodes after hitting a surface or enemy, or after enough time passes. The Bomb's weak knockback makes it a useful combo starter. It can be used to extend Young Link's recovery, as the damage from the explosion will take him out of helplessness.

*Descends onto the stage while surrounded by rays of blue light that shine down from the sky, referencing the Ocarina of Time's powers. Upon landing, he equips the Kokiri Sword and Deku Shield. This is akin to [[Link (SSB)|his older self]]'s on-screen appearance in ''Smash 64''.

*'''Side taunt''': Places the {{iw|zeldawiki|Deku Shield}} on his back and watches {{iw|zeldawiki|Navi}} fly around him. Similar to {{SSBB|Link}}'s side taunt from ''Brawl'' and ''Smash 4''.

*Looks around himself.

*Kicks the toes of his boots on the ground, as if knocking off the dirt.

*{{Sm|Jdizzle|Australia}} - The best Young Link player in Australia and the only Australian player ranked top 100 on a global ranking, with his highest placement being 57th on the [[OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse]]. He has also placed well at several majors, including 17th at {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves 2022}} and 25th at {{Trn|GENESIS 9}}.

*{{Sm|Kobe|USA}} - The best Young Link player in 2021, ranking 39th on the [[OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse]]. He has seen several strong superregional results, most notably winning {{Trn|CIRQUE du CFL}} over {{Sm|Kola}} and {{Sm|Zomba}} and placing 4th at {{Trn|InfinityCON Tally 2021}}; he has also placed highly at majors, including 13th at {{Trn|Riptide}} and 17th at {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves 2022}}.

*{{Sm|skittles|USA|p=Iowa}} - A top 10 player in the online metagame and is also considered one of the best Young Link players in United States in the post-online metagame, ranking 88th on the [[UltRank 2022]]. He has consistently placed top 64 at majors, including placing 9th at {{Trn|Rise 'N Grind}} and 13th at {{Trn|MAJOR UPSET}}.

*{{Sm|Suinoko|Japan}} - The best Young Link player in Japan. He is the second solo-Young Link player to place top 8 at a major, doing so at {{Trn|Seibugeki 13}}, and has consistently placed in or close to the top 64 at majors, including placing 17th at {{Trn|Kagaribi 9}} and 25th at {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}}.

*{{Sm|Supahsemmie|Netherlands}} - One of the best Young Link players in the world throughout competitive ''Ultimate'' and was the definitive best in 2023. His highest global ranking was 79th on the [[UltRank 2022]]. Although most of his results tend to be in-region, he has placed top 16 at several majors, including placing 9th at {{Trn|Albion 4}} and {{Trn|Temple: Hermès Edition}}, two of Europe's largest tournaments, as well as 7th at {{Trn|Sunrise 2023}} defeating {{Sm|MkLeo}}.

*{{Sm|Toast|USA}} - The highest-ranking solo-Young Link player on a global ranking, ranking 22nd on the [[OrionRank Pre-Quarantine]]. He has seen the highest peaks for a Young Link player, including placing 3rd at the major {{Trn|CEO 2022}} over {{Sm|Tweek}} and {{Sm|Sonix}} as well as 7th at the supermajor {{Trn|Frostbite 2020}} over {{Sm|Light|p=Connecticut}}.

Young Link was met with a considerable amount of hype when he returned to the series after 17 years, last appearing in ''Melee''. By the time ''Ultimate'' was released, there were high hopes for him due to his amazing combo game and damage racking potential from his projectiles. {{Sm|Tweek}} found success with the character in the early months of ''Ultimate'', using Young Link as one of his characters to win tournaments such as {{Trn|Glitch 6}} and {{Trn|Frostbite 2019}}. Players believed that because of these strengths and strong results, Young Link was seen as a viable high-tier or top-tier character, and the best of the three Links.  

However as time went on, players began discovering his weaknesses, which include inconsistent KO power and a linear, slow recovery, making him relatively easy to edgeguard. In addition, most players who used Young Link at a top-player level, including Tweek, used the character as a secondary, and these players eventually phased Young Link out of their character pool. Despite these shortcomings, Young Link's representation in the first year still remained strong at a regional level thanks to buffs received in update 7.0.0 that improved his KO power, as well as the efforts of players such as {{Sm|skittles|p=Iowa}}, {{Sm|Supahsemmie}}, and {{Sm|Toast}}, the latter of whom was beginning to pick up steam by the end of 2019, and ultimately saw a top 8 finish at the supermajor {{Trn|Frostbite 2020}}. These consistently strong results from Young Link players carried over to the post-online metagame, where many Young Link players continued to place well at majors. As a result, despite opinions on the character mellowing out, Young Link is still considered a high-tier character, which is reflected in his placement on the current tier list, where he is ranked 29th.

In the online scene, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Young Link is considered much stronger pick in Wi-Fi tournaments due to having safer aerials and stronger projectiles thanks to increased lag and reaction time. As a result, players such as skittles and {{Sm|colinies}} saw several high placements at notable online tournaments.

Young Link was one of the many imprisoned fighters that fell under [[Dharkon]]'s control upon Galeem's first defeat. He is a necessary unlock found in the [[Sacred Land]] sub-area on the bottom right corner of the land which makes up the Triforce of Courage. The player must rely on the owl statues which will guide the player to [[List of spirits (The Legend of Zelda series)|Saria's spirit battle]]. Unlocking her spirit clears out a tree stump that blocked access to his unlock battle. Once Young Link is unlocked, the Triforce of Courage appears in the center of the map. If {{SSBU|Zelda}} is unlocked, the path leading to {{SSBU|Cloud}}'s unlock battle and the Master Sword clears out.

Young Link's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing {{SSBU|Classic Mode}}. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Young Link has been unlocked. Unlocking Young Link in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in ''Ultimate''.

**Additionally, the cuffs of his boots is not fully modeled when looking at them from below.<ref>[https://i.imgur.com/a5c5PG6.jpg]</ref>

*When Young Link activates his side taunt where Navi flies around his head, if the game is slowed down to 1/4 speed, she can be seen flying into her initial position from offscreen. This suggests that Navi's model is kept somewhere offscreen and changes location on activation of the taunt, however, when the taunt ends, she returns back into his hat like normal and does not appear to fly back offscreen.

*Young Link, {{SSBU|Marth}}, Lucina, {{SSBU|Roy}}, {{SSBU|Chrom}}, and {{SSBU|Wolf}} are the only characters that use their crouching animation from their previous ''Smash Bros.'' game when holding a small item.

**Out of all of them, Young Link is the only one who's doesn't revert to his previous idle pose when holding a small throwable item.

*Young Link's [[Star KO]] voice clip, unusually, begins with a short pause. {{SSBU|Ivysaur}} also has this trait.

**This was also the case for his Star KO voice clip in ''Melee''.