Zelda (SSBU)

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Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Triforce of Wisdom

“	You might recognize Zelda's look from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds game. In battle she uses magical moves to reflect and teleport, and for her Final Smash, she seals her opponents away in the Triforce of Wisdom. If an opponent has 100% damage or more, they will be instantly KO'd!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Zelda (ゼルダ, Zelda) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was confirmed as a playable character on June 12, 2018. Zelda is classified as fighter #17.

Zelda is voiced by Ayumi Fujimura,^{[citation needed]} who previously voiced the character in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Zelda speaks English in the Adventure Mode: World of Light trailer, but it is currently unclear who is portraying her.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Aesthetics

• Zelda's appearance is based on her design from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds.
• Zelda always faces the screen regardless of which direction she turns, causing all of her animations to be mirrored.
• Zelda hangs onto the ledge with one hand.
• Zelda is more positively expressive, boasting a cheery smile during several animations.
• Many of Zelda's attacks produce brighter trails of magic.
• Zelda's standing pose, idle poses, walking animation, up taunt, and down taunt have been changed.
• All of Zelda's victory poses have been changed:
  • For the first, she conjures a small flame out of her finger and swirls it around playfully.
  • For the second, she summons the Phantom armor and proudly poses in front of it.
  • For the third, she emits magic out of two fingers and points at the screen.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Zelda's jumpsquat animation now takes 3 frames to complete (down from 6).
• Zelda jumps higher.
• Zelda dashes faster.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack is now a rapid jab with a finishing hit.
  • Neutral attack has fewer startup frames. Previously the slowest jab in the game, its speed is now on par with many other characters’ neutral attacks.
  • Neutral attack's final hit deals much more knockback and is capable of KOing at high percents.
  • Neutral attack has more endlag, is less safe on shield, and no longer reliably combos into dash attack or dash grab at low percents.
• Dash attack deals more knockback.
  • Dash attack has less endlag.
• Forward tilt has slightly more endlag.
• Down tilt has slightly less endlag.
  • Down tilt now launches opponents a bit further away.
• Up smash has more horizontal range.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag.
• Lightning Kicks and down aerial have unique sound effects, even if the sweetspot misses.

Throws/other attacks

• Standing grab and pummel have altered animations.
  • Pummel is faster.
• Dash grab has slightly more startup frames and endlag.
• Forward throw and up throw have altered animations with her hands emanating bright trails of magic.
• Forward throw has more knockback growth.
  • Forward throw deals less damage.
• Up throw has more knockback growth and is now potentially one of the strongest up throws in the game.
• Down throw deals more damage.

Special moves

• Nayru's Love:
  • Nayru's Love no longer halts vertical momentum, allowing Zelda to move in the air while using the move.
• Din's Fire:
  • Din's Fire no longer leaves Zelda helpless in the air.
  • Din's Fire can travel slightly farther and is slightly more maneuverable.
  • The changes to airdodge mechanics indirectly improve Din's Fire's edgeguarding utility. Since airdodges are much riskier to use offstage, this also makes it riskier to dodge through Din's Fire.
  • Din's Fire's flame is more stylized in appearance.
• Farore's Wind:
  • Farore's Wind has fewer startup frames and less endlag.
  • Farore's Wind travels faster after disappearing and preserves more momentum when used right after a jump.
  • Zelda can drift in the air much sooner after reappearing.
  • Farore's Wind travels a shorter distance.
  • Farore's Wind produces a more intense green/yellow vortex at the start and end of the move.
• Phantom Slash:
  • Phantom Slash has been heavily reworked. The Phantom armor now assembles itself behind Zelda rather than appearing fully formed out of a portal in front of her. It is now a single-press chargeable move; Pressing B again will cause the incomplete armor to attack at its current charge level. The move has six charge levels, each resulting in a different attack:
    • 1. Kick
    • 2. Punch
    • 3. Outward slash
    • 4. Downward slash
    • 5. Upward slash
    • 6. Delayed upward slash
  • Phantom Slash's fully charged attack is now momentarily delayed, allowing Zelda to move around before the Phantom rushes forward. Zelda can set it as a trap and attack the opponent in tandem with the Phantom, or she can retreat behind it for protection. This also discourages the opponent from reflecting the Phantom since she now has enough time to respond with Nayru's Love.
  • Zelda can summon a new Phantom much more quickly after the previous one is destroyed
  • Phantom Slash's fully charged attack deals less damage since it no longer hits twice.
• Triforce of Wisdom:
  • Zelda has a new Final Smash called Triforce of Wisdom. She magically opens a glowing, triangular portal that sucks in the opponent and immobilizes them while dealing damage. If the opponent is at or above 100% damage before the portal closes, they are instantly KO'd; otherwise, they receive mediocre knockback.

Classic Mode: Wisdom Prevails

All of Zelda's battles are on The Legend of Zelda themed stages against villains that can be perceived as lacking in wisdom or intelligence.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Notes
1	Wario	Great Plateau Tower
2	Bowser	Skyloft
3	Team Mii Swordfighter x5	Temple	Mii Swordfighters are dressed in Yiga Clan costumes.
4	King K. Rool	Bridge of Eldin
5	Dark Samus	Gerudo Valley
6	4 Dark Links	Hyrule Castle
Bonus Stage
Final	Ganondorf/Ganon	?	Ganondorf transforms into Ganon upon defeat.

Role in World of Light

Zelda was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Zelda tried to rally the other fighters to fight the army of Master Hands by saying, "Stow your fear; it's now or never!". Zelda was present when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Zelda and Mewtwo attempted to reflect the beams using Nayru's Love and Confusion, respectively, but this attempt failed, and both of them were vaporized and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters (excluding Kirby).

Zelda is unlocked in the Sacred Realm of the World of Dark on the bottom left corner of the land which makes up the Triforce of Wisdom. The player must defeat the Spirit of Impa (which is revealed by solving a clock-based puzzle) to clear a boulder that's blocking the path to her unlock battle. Unlocking her reveals the Triforce of Wisdom in the center of the map and clears one of the boulders leading to the Master Sword.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

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

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  Zelda's fighter card.

• 

  Zelda on Temple.

• 

  Using her neutral aerial in her red costume on Tortimer Island.

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  Zelda using her forward tilt on King Dedede on Coliseum.

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  Kneeling next to a sleeping Pichu on Tortimer Island.

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  Using Farore's Wind on Luigi's Mansion.

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  Posing in her dark costume on Spirit Train.

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  Zelda taunting next to Ganondorf on Hyrule Castle.

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  Zelda giving Rosalina a high-five on Prism Tower.

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  Firing a Super Scope at Yoshi on Mario Galaxy.

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  Taunting near Donkey Kong on Kapp'n's bus on Temple.

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  Zelda, Ridley, Jigglypuff, and the Ice Climbers on Summit.

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  Using Phantom Slash on Mario Galaxy.

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

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  With Link and Ganondorf on the Great Plateau Tower.

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

• Masahiro Sakurai chose to base Zelda's design in Ultimate off of her A Link to the Past incarnation instead of her more recent Breath of the Wild incarnation because that version of Zelda, according to him, "is more into research than fighting."
• Zelda's current default design was previously an alternate costume, while her previous default design based on Twilight Princess has now become an alternate costume.
  • Coincidentally, Zelda was revealed in SSB4 at the same time A Link Between Worlds was released, which inspired her current design.
• In the "World of Light" trailer, Zelda is heard speaking English; however, unlike her Breath of the Wild incarnation, who spoke with a Received Pronunciation accent, she speaks with an American accent.
  • Zelda speaks English in all Western language versions of Ultimate, unlike her Breath of the Wild incarnation who was dubbed into multiple languages.
  • This also marks the first time Zelda speaks with dialogue in the Super Smash Bros. series.