Young Link (SSBU)
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| Young Link in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | |
|---|---|
 
| |
| Universe | The Legend of Zelda |
| Other playable appearance | in Melee |
| Availability | Unlockable |
| Final Smash | Triforce Slash |
| “ | He’s back after 17 years! Young Link is faster than Link but he’s also lighter, making him easier to launch. | ” |
| —Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site | ||
Young Link (こどもリンク, Young Link) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially confirmed as playable on June 12th, 2018. Young Link is classified as fighter #22.
As in Melee, Fujiko Takimoto's portrayals of Young Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and its sequel Majora's Mask were repurposed for Ultimate.
How to unlock
Complete one of the following:
- Play VS. matches, with Young Link being the 8th character to be unlocked.
- Clear Classic Mode with Link or any character in his unlock tree, being the sixth character unlocked after Snake.
- Have Young Link join the player's party in World of Light.
With the exception of the third method, Young Link must then be defeated on Great Bay.
Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Although Young Link is still faster and lighter than Link, he still shares most of his moveset with Link in spite of the latter's own Breath of the Wild-based alterations. Despite this, he is not classified as an Echo Fighter, the reason why is unknown. Young Link now even shares some traits from Link's previous incarnation in Smash 4 in some aspects as well.
Aesthetics
Due to the game's graphical improvements, Young Link's design gains additional detail, particularly in his hair. His colors are more subdued than they were in Melee.- Young Link is relatively bigger; he is almost as tall as regular Link.
- Young Link is much more expressive. Like Diddy Kong, his hat is also "looser" on his head and pops off during certain animations, such as his down aerial.
- Young Link now has an entrance animation, similar to Link's animation from the original Super Smash Bros.
- Young Link's taunt from Melee executes significantly faster. In addition, he has two new taunts: one where he triumphantly lifts his sword into the air while grinning, and another where Navi flies around him, akin to Link's side taunt in Brawl and Smash 4.
- Young Link has new voice clips for taking medium and heavy knockback, a second KO voice clip, and a different Star KO scream.
- The Kokiri Sword now has a bronze hilt. It leaves behind a white trail with blue accents, as opposed to a pure white trail in Melee.
- Additionally, Link's yellow and blue Spin Attack sword trail from Smash 4 is recycled for Young Link, as Link now has a unique sword trail.
- All sword attacks now make a standard slash sound effect instead of a punch/kick sound effect like in Melee.
- Young Link now has three additional alternate costumes, bringing his total up to the standard eight. His black alternate costume has also been altered to better resemble Dark Link.
- Young Link now has a Boxing Ring alias, being “Master of the Ocarina.”
- Young Link's victory animation where he adjusts his belt is slightly different. He now holds the Kokiri Sword and after adjusting, flicks his nose with his thumb.
Attributes
Like all characters, Young Link's jumpsquat animation now takes three frames to complete (down from 4).- Young Link dashes much faster.
Young Link's air speed is slightly slower, one of the few exceptions to returning veterans.- Young Link's fall speed has been slightly reduced (2.13 -> 1.8), but is now much faster relative to the roster.
- Young Link's midair jump is significantly higher. This improves Young Link's ability to recover back to the stage.
- Young Link now has a fast fall speed more in line with the rest of the roster (2.2 -> 2.88), in comparison to his almost unnoticeable fast fall in Melee. This greatly increases the versatility of his air game, and allows him to use various mix-ups that other characters possess.
- Young Link's Deku Shield now protects him from projectiles while walking, similar to the shields of all other Link incarnations.
- Young Link is slightly heavier, improving his survivability.
Ground attacks
- Neutral attack:
- Neutral attack's third jab has slightly more horizontal range.
- Neutral attack infinite is now a flurry of slashes that transition much faster, and has a finisher in the form of an ascending slash.
- Forward tilt covers more vertical range. It also has a faster startup.
- Down tilt has much quicker startup and ending lag. In addition, it deals more damage at the tip.
- Up smash:
- Up smash has more ending lag.
- Up smash's hits chain together much more reliably.
Aerial attacks
- All aerials have significantly less landing lag, having even less than when L-canceled in Melee.
- Neutral aerial deals less damage.
- Forward aerial is no longer a single degrading hit, and instead hits twice like Link's.
- Down aerial no longer has a spike hitbox on Young Link's head, removing the move's ability to spike opponents from below.
- Grab aerial has drastically decreased landing lag, allowing for combo opportunities.
Throws/other attacks
- Young Link's grab has significantly less ending lag, making it safer to use.
- Young Link jumps a bit higher when performing his up throw.
- Up throw has more ending lag.
- Hookshot is no longer a wall grapple, and is instead a tether recovery.
- This removes the ability to grapple to any wall, reducing its versatility.
- Hookshot's range and safety has improved to compensate.
Special Moves
- Fire Bow:
- Fire Bow's arrow now lights up when nocked, and ignites when completely charged, compared to in Melee where the arrow does not light up at all. This is purely aesthetic, as the arrows are always on fire regardless of charge length.
- Fire Bow's arrows have been redesigned to more closely resemble the artwork found in the manual for Ocarina of Time.
- Fire Arrows now disappear after a brief amount of time in the air.
- Fire Bow has significantly decreased ending lag, and the arrows fly much further than before, even when not fully charged.
- Boomerang:
- Young Link has a new throwing animation for the Boomerang.
- Young Link's Boomerang is much bigger and thrown vertically instead of horizontally when released, increasing its coverage immensely.
- Spin Attack:
- Grounded Spin Attack deals one less hit (12 → 11) during its multi-hit portion of the attack. In addition, all of its hits now deal slightly less damage overall.
- Grounded Spin Attack's endlag has been vastly reduced. Combined with lower vertical knockback on the finisher, this allows the move to combo into his aerials.
- Grounded Spin Attack can now be charged, as with the other incarnations of Link.
- Aerial Spin Attack preserves much more momentum after being used, and Young Link can move more during its animation. In addition, the move's vertical recovery has increased.
- Bomb:
- Like with Link's Bombs in Super Smash Bros. 4, the explosions from Young Link's Bombs do not damage him if they hit an opponent.
- Young Link's Bombs travel further when thrown.
- Compared to previous incarnations of Bombs, Young Link's Bombs deal noticeably less self-damage if they detonate just after being thrown.
- Triforce Slash:
- Young Link now has a Final Smash, that being Triforce Slash. Visually, this variant resembles Link's version from Smash 4, but the final flourish and slash have altered animations: Young Link rears his hand back and does an outward slash, instead of a stab.
Classic Mode: Hyrule Smash
Young Link's opponents are all from the Zelda series. Additionally, to go with the theme of the route, all items and assist trophies are from the The Legend of Zelda universe.
| Round | Opponent | Stage | Music |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zelda | Hyrule Castle | Hyrule Main Theme |
| 2 | Young Link | Temple | Song of Storms |
| 3 | Sheik | Gerudo Valley (Ω form) | Gerudo Valley |
| 4 | 4 Toon Links | Pirate Ship | The Great Sea / Menu Select |
| 5 | Ganondorf | Bridge of Eldin | Main Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess |
| 6 | Link | Great Plateau Tower | Main Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |
| Bonus Stage | |||
| Final | Ganon | ? | Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form |
Role in World of Light
Although Young Link does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.
Young Link is unlocked in the Sacred Realm 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 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 Zelda is unlocked, the path leading to Cloud's unlock battle and the Master Sword clears out.
Alternate costumes
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Gallery
Artwork of all The Legend of Zelda characters, as posted on the official Legend of Zelda Twitter account.
Young Link's amiibo.
Young Link's fighter card.
Young Link on Great Bay.
Tossing his Bomb at Wario on Castle Siege.
Drinking Lon Lon Milk with Inkling on Temple.
Performing his down aerial in his Dark Link-based costume on the Umbra Clock Tower.
Young Link drinking his Lon Lon Milk with Simon on Figure-8 Circuit.
Carrying his Bomb with Bomberman on Temple.
Idling with Mario on Tomodachi Life.
With all playable The Legend of Zelda veterans on the Great Plateau Tower.
Character Showcase Video
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Trivia
- Young Link's official artwork is based off of the pose he strikes after using his grounded Spin Attack.
- Young Link and Pichu share the longest gap between playable appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series, with seventeen years between Melee and Ultimate.
- This has been noted by both of their Super Smash Bros. blog's "Today's Fighter" descriptions.
- The belt around Young Link's sheath appears to have back-face culling, as it's shown to not be visible when seen from the other side. This is mostly noticeable whenever he's shown drinking Lon-Lon milk at the end of his character showcase video. This was fixed in the initial release of the game.
- Additionally, his legs would clip through his tunic in his showcase video, which was also fixed in the initial release of the game.
