Young Link (SSBM): Difference between revisions

|utiltname=Half-Moon Swipe ({{ja|半月スワイプ|Hangetsu-Giri}}, ''Half-Moon Slash'')

|dashname=Running Hack ({{ja|たたき割り|Tataki-Wari}}, ''Splitting Strike'')

|grabdesc=Uses his hookshot to grab at foes from afar. It's the third longest grab in the game, behind {{SSBM|Link}}.

|desc-1=Kicks the toes of his boots on the ground, as if knocking off dirt.

|desc-2=Looks around himself.

{{Crowd

|char=Young Link

|game=Melee

|desc-us=Young-Link!

|desc-jp=Young-Link!

|pitch-us=Male

|pitch-jp=Male}}

Link's perceived superiority continued well into and after the MLG era; however, it was around this time that players began to notice Young Link's potential against [[floaty]] characters. His playerbase recognized that he was one of the best {{SSBM|Peach}} answers in the game, due to his ability to defeat defensive Peaches with his speed and projectiles. Even so, high-level players greatly underestimated how significant this advantage was, particularly because they also thought that adult Link was not too far behind in the Peach matchup. This is reflected in the 2010 matchup chart, where both Young Link and Link share a -1 matchup against Peach. They surmised that this seemingly small advantage that Young Link had over Link was not enough to justify placing him higher than Link on the tier list. This still allowed him to rise to just one spot short of Link on the tenth tier list, among other considerations such as Young Link faring slightly better against {{SSBM|Sheik}}.

It would not be until the next year where all preconceived notions of Young Link would be called into serious question, as {{Sm|Armada}} shocked the world by unveiling his Young Link at several supermajors such as {{Trn|Pound V}}, {{Trn|GENESIS 2}}, and most infamously {{Trn|Apex 2012}}. At these events, he defeated {{Sm|Hungrybox}}'s {{SSBM|Jigglypuff}} decisively in three out of their four encounters, with his only loss being a narrow 2-3. He demonstrated that Young Link was one of the best answers to not only Peach, but other floaties such as Jigglypuff as well, due to his superior movement that allowed for a devastating hit-and-run strategy that adult Link would not be able to replicate. The two would meet again at {{Trn|Apex 2013}}, where Hungrybox attempted to avoid the matchup entirely by playing {{SSBM|Ness}} for two games, before being forced to switch back after losing those games. The fact that Young Link had the potential to be so oppressive to floaties, that world-class players like Hungrybox would go to such lengths to avoid playing the matchup, finally convinced ''Melee'' Back Room panelists that Young Link was a superior meta-call to Link. Reflecting this, he moved above Link for the first time in the eleventh tier list.

Over time, Hungrybox adapted back to Armada's Young Link play, with the latter not enjoying the character enough to push the matchup any further. Nonetheless, Armada and many other top players still acknowledge that Young Link has real, top-level potential against Jigglypuff and other floaties, a sentiment that has since been widely accepted. Modern opinions of Link have plateaued as well, with many players arguing that his sluggish ground movement has finally caught up to him in a more optimized metagame, and that many of his advantages in the past came from abusing player error with his more immediate power. The majority of players consider Young Link's movement and incredible prowess against floaties to overwhelm Link's harder hitting disjoints in those matchups.

However, in more recent times, players such as {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Armada}} now consider Link to be slightly better overall due to Young Link's greater struggle against non-floaty characters. Players such as {{Sm|Sixx}} and {{Sm|Aklo}} have also showcased tournament results as solo Link in more recent years that remain to be matched by his younger counterpart. He is thus viewed as a fringe yet viable secondary, with {{Sm|Axe}} being considered the best among them. While Young Link is expected to remain in the mid-low tiers due to his arguable lack of solo viability, he holds a very respected niche in top-level ''Melee'' that is still recognized in modern competitive play.

===Ending images===

In addition to the normal trophy about Young Link as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter that are unlocked by completing the [[Adventure Mode|Adventure]] and [[All-Star]] modes on any difficulty with Young Link.