Zelda (SSBB)

Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Alternate form	Sheik
Other playable appearance	in Melee
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Light Arrow
Tier	H (37)

Zelda (ゼルダ, Zeruda) is a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The titular character of the Legend of Zelda universe, Brawl reuses her main character model from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Having previously appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Zelda reappears in Brawl as a character utilizing strong magical attacks, but despite many of her attributes being strongly buffed, her tier position is far worse than in Melee at 37 out of 38 compared to 18 out of 26 in the earlier game. While Zelda possesses fast, powerful attacks, some of the most powerful aerials in Brawl, and a fast and powerful multihit up smash that's nearly impossible to SDI out of and covers the area around her, Zelda suffers from a combination of severe character build flaws. These flaws include a very inconvenient combination attributes similar to Mewtwo (slow, light, tall, and floaty), her almost non-existent approach options, possessing a moveset that consists nearly entirely of unreliable finishers (which makes it difficult for her to KO despite her abundance of powerful attacks, and leaves her with one of the worst comboing abilities, with her down tilt being her only move that can set up well), a very poor projectile that can't force approaches, and her predictable and unreliable recovery (like Wolf, suffers from major angular issues). This has left her with terrible tournament results and having terrible match ups against many higher tiered characters, ultimately clocking her in H Tier right above the worst spot - although the combination of her and her transformation, Sheik is higher at 21/38, placed in the E tier.

Attributes

Zelda is a floaty, lightweight character with poor momentum canceling (making her very easy to KO but difficult to chain throw) with strong, graceful attacks, usually augmented with magic. Many of her moves hit multiple times before causing knockback. This allows her to easily deal large damage to multiple targets, but it also means that these attacks can be DI'd out of fairly easily. She has very good defensive options, with her up and side smashes having fast start-up and multiple hitboxes, her down smash having almost no start-up lag, and locking opponents with her down tilt. She is can juggle at lower percentages thanks to her up smash's fast, multiple hitboxes. Her directional aerials are single, powerful blows that cause a lot of damage and knockback if landed properly, but her attacks are extremely weak and have low stun when sourspotted. Many of her moves make powerful finishers, including her smash attacks, her up tilt, and aerials. Her strong defense is counterbalanced by her generally poor mobility (very slow dash speed, mediocre aerial speed). Her grab is long ranged, but very slow (especially for a non-tether grab) making it hard to land without set ups, and it cannot be used out of shield in most cases like a normal grab. Zelda can be described as a glass cannon: she can pump out a lot of damage if the opponent approaches her, but she won't survive long once she starts getting hit.

Her special attacks are also assets to Zelda, granting her a projectile, reflector, a teleport with large range and many invincibility frames, and the ability to transform into her alter ego, Sheik. Din's Fire is slow, is long ranged, has a large hitbox when and deals much damage when fully charges, KOs at high percents, cannot properly be reflected, can be controlled, and be used for edgeguarding. However, it is still one of the worst projectiles in the game and is extremely predictable and avoidable against skilled players (easy to spot dodge or air dodge), being impossible to camp with against most characters (except very few exceptions, like Ice Climbers). Nayru's Love is a decent duration reflector attack and spacing tool but suffers from high ending lag. Despite her defensive game, it's easy to force her to play offensively and she has abysmal approach options, because of her poor approach aerials and very slow dash speed and grab. As mentioned before, she can't camp with her Din's Fire either. This means despite her defensive game, she gets very few chances to use it and instead is forced to play with her horrible offensive game due to her very limited approach. Farore's Wind is a long distance recovery/attack, but her linear recovery is below average (falls almost straight down after it, and she has a small ledge sweetspot range) among cast members because of its low reliability as it's also easy to hit her before she disappears due to its slow start-up.

In the end, Zelda relies on her strong defensive game and potential power to overcome her weaknesses, which is usually hard to do. Zelda is a character that has hard time to approach her opponents, but once she does, she can be a devastating character. Transform can also shore up some of Zelda's weaknesses by turning into Sheik, and vice-versa.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Zelda has been buffed from Super Smash Bros. Melee to Brawl, with most of her moves generally improved in speed and/or power, including increased damage & knockback from her standard attack and improvements to most of her special moves:

• Her neutral special move, Nayru's Love, has slightly increased reflect duration and faster reflection of projectiles with Nayru's Love.
• The hitbox of Din's Fire now increases as it travels further, detonates quicker, deals more damage, has less lag, deals more knockback, and is faster to use, but in high level play it is still a situational move due to its predictability and ease of dodging. Unlike in Melee, where a fireball would ultimately disappear harmlessly if Zelda was hit while casting Din's Fire, in Brawl the fireball travels its full distance and explodes.
• Farore's Wind has an explosive hitbox when it reappears, but it gives slightly less recovery distance. If Zelda is tagged before Farore's Wind is used, the tag vanishes until Zelda reappears, thus not giving away her location to where she is warping.

Transform is Zelda's only special move that didn't improve - the transformation time is now longer, as the new character model is read from the disk rather than held in memory (pausing the game reduces the in-play time taken as a result). Zelda's sourspotted aerials are weaker, but on the flipside the sweetspots have become more powerful. Her up aerial is now a much better KOing move, but its explosion has a smaller hitbox. Her down aerial has Lightning Kick style damage and knockback on its sweetspot. Both Zelda's dash speed & grab speed have been slightly increased (though both are still very slow).

As noted earlier though, Zelda has ironically dropped in effectiveness in competitive play despite these buffs. This can mostly be attributed to Brawl's physic changes and more defensive based gameplay augmenting her flaws from Melee (poor endurance/survivability, poor approach, moveset mostly consisting of unreliable finishers that don't string well), areas which Zelda saw little to no improvement in from the transition to Brawl.

Zelda also had a few cosmetic changes. Her fighter design is now based on the Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, whereas Melee's was based on the earlier design from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which inspires her blonde-haired/pink dress palette swap for Zelda in Brawl. Her dashing animation and "toppling" animation are both new.

Moveset

Ground attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack - Zelda extends one arm. A circular magical spark appears at the end of it, hitting up to three times. Disjointed with decent range. Does 2% per hit.
• Forward tilt - Zelda steps forward and slashes one arm in front of her, with a trail of sparkles. The attack has moderate knockback. Depending on how the opponent is hit, they may end up slightly behind Zelda. This can be directed slightly up or down. Does 11%-13%.
• Down tilt - Zelda crouches and stabs one foot forward. This attack can meteor smash an airborne opponent. It also usually trips people on the ground, and easily combos with Zelda's quick down smash. This move can also combo into itself. Does 7%-8%.
• Up tilt - Zelda waves her hand above her head in an arc, starting in front of her to behind her, trailing sparkles like her forward tilt. This move has very high vertical knockback, and makes an excellent finisher. Although it is less reliable and slower than her up smash and requires set ups, the knockback from the up tilt is stronger. It can KO opponents top and under 100%. Does 11%.
• Dash attack - Zelda extends her arms, palms out. Any enemy caught in her path is electrocuted and knocked upwards. Does 12% when close and less damage (about 9%) when at the tip of her hands.

Smash attacks

• Forward smash - Zelda extends her hands with a thrust, and a burst of sparkles appears. If an enemy is hit by this, it expands its animation, shocking them multiple times and then launching them away with high knockback. Quick, with large range. Is very easy to SDI out of. Does 17% (23% when fully charged).
• Up smash - Zelda waves her hand back and forth over her head once quickly, trailing a stream of light. If an enemy is caught in this, the animation expands in to more back and forth, hitting and shocking multiple times before launching them away. At low percentages, especially against heavy characters, this can combo several times with itself, and is also easily followed by an up tilt. Fast, with large range. Does 15% (20% when fully charged).
• Down smash - Zelda kicks along the ground in front of her and then behind her, appearing to sweep forward and back with her dress. This smash comes out very quickly (the fastest down smash in Brawl start-up lag wise, tied with R.O.B.'s), and powerfully knocks almost entirely horizontally. Semi-spike with decent range. Zelda is able to hit a bomb in front of her with this move without taking any damage, due to the disjointed hitbox. Does 12-16% damage in front, 10-14% at back. If both hits connect, it will deal 22-30%.

Other

• Ledge attack- Zelda climbs up and swings her legs in a circular motion, while pulling her self up. Does 6%.
• 100% ledge attack- Zelda raises up slowly, and after gaining some strength, smacks the enemy with the back of her hand. Does 10%.
• Floor attack- Zelda swings her legs around, hitting enemies on both sides of herself. Does 6%.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Zelda spins in place, slowly trailing sparkles from her hands. This hits 5 times and sucks people in, dealing a decent amount of damage. The first few hits of this move cannot be DI'd or SDI's whatsoever. Does 13% if all hits connect.
• Forward aerial - Known as the Lightning Kick, Zelda kicks to one side, with a spark at her foot. In the first few frames, if the player hits directly with the foot, this attack pauses the opponent in place for a second dramatically, before dealing heavy lightning damage and launching them away with huge knockback. If any other part of this attack hits, or if it hits after the first few frames, it deals only a small amount of damage, with very little knockback. Larger foes tend to be more vulnerable to falling victim to a sweet-spotted hit. Does 20% when sweet-spotted, does 4% when sourspotted.
• Back aerial - Identical to Zelda's forward aerial, except the opposite direction and faster. Slightly higher knockback than the forward lightning kick. Does 20% when sweet spotted, does 4% when sourspotted.
• Down aerial - Zelda sticks one foot out beneath her. Like her forward & back aerials, if this hits within the first frame with the foot, it causes a dramatic pause in the opponent's movement, then deals high damage and meteor smashes the opponent straight downwards very fast. If it hits with any other part or outside this window, it does a very small amount of damage and still knocks downwards, but much slower. If it hits a non-airborne opponent, the sweet spot cannot hit, and it is always the weak hit. The sweet spot itself is slightly smaller than the weak hit and does not actually cover the tip of her foot. Does 16% when sweet-spotted, otherwise 5%.
• Up aerial - Zelda holds one hand up, and a small trail of sparkles extends to a point above her where it shortly explodes and launching the enemy upward. This explosion has a smaller hitbox than "Melee Zelda's" up aerial, but it is significantly faster and stronger, with the most powerful vertical knockback in the game. Does 15%.

Grabs and throws

Note: She has by far the slowest non-tether grab, but the range is the third longest of the non-tether grabs.

• Pummel: Discharges magic into them. A very slow pummel. Does 3%.
• Forward throw: Telekinetically twirls opponent and throws them forward. Does 12%.
• Back throw: Telekinetically twirls opponent behind herself and tosses them. Does 11%. Strongest knockback of all her throws, mediocre KO potential.
• Up throw: Telekinetically twirls opponent above her head, then releases them upward. Does 11%.
• Down throw: Throws opponent on ground and shocks them repeatedly with magical bursts. The enemy will end up behind Zelda though it is easily DI'd away preventing any follow-ups though it has very good follow-ups if the opponent doesn't. Does 10%.

Special moves

Zelda's special moves

Neutral special	Nayru's Love
Side special	Din's Fire
Up special	Farore's Wind
Down special	Transform		Phantom Slash
Final Smash	—	Light Arrow		Triforce of Wisdom

Taunts

• Up: Jabs her arm upwards, creating sparkles above her palm.
• Side: Claps her hands. When she does, a ball of fire appears between her hands, a remodel of one of her victory poses from Melee.
• Down: Leans forward and waves.

Brawl instruction booklet description

"The queen of Hyrule. Her light moves belie devastating magical attacks."

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary

In the Subspace Emissary single-player mode, Zelda and Peach have two different storylines, depending on which one is saved from Petey Piranha.

Zelda and Peach in the Subspace Emissary.

At the start, she and Peach are watching a friendly match between Mario and Kirby. After the Halberd appears, she and Peach rush from offstage after the stadium is attacked by the Primid. The player can choose out of the four to fight off the Primids. When the Ancient Minister appears and drops a Subspace bomb, Mario is blasted away by a cannonball when he tries to stop it. Zelda and Peach are captured by Petey Piranha. The player, as Kirby, must save either Peach or Zelda by destroying one of their cages.

Storyline 1

If Zelda is saved, she joins Kirby as they both escape from the stadium on a Warp Star. They are pursued by the Halberd, and land on top of it. Soon they fall off and reach the ground, fighting along through hordes of Subspace foes. Later on, Kirby leaves Zelda behind, and Bowser appears from the sky and turns her into a trophy.

The Shadow Bugs (which came along with Bowser) make a clone of Zelda that proceeds to ambush Link and Yoshi with a Dark Cannon. However, Pit destroys the Dark Cannon and he and Mario fight and defeat her. When the clone is defeated, Link witnesses her trophy disintegrating into Shadow Bugs and, believing it was the real Zelda, proceeds to attack both Mario and Pit with Yoshi’s help. Mario and Pit defeat them and turn them into trophies and then Link and Yoshi fall into a state of unconsciousness as trophies.

Storyline 2

If Zelda was not saved, Wario appears whilst she is trapped under her wrecked cage. He blasts her with a Dark Cannon and turns her into a trophy, before fleeing the stadium with her. She is later captured by King Dedede when he ambushes Wario and steals his Cargo along with Ness. As he passes Link and company, Link spots her on the back of the Cargo, and Pit shoots the Cargo, slowing it down so that they can pursue Dedede.

Dedede puts his own Dedede brooch on her, but when Bowser attacks his castle, he finds her trophy and takes it. However, he is pursued by Mario and Pit, and when Pit fires an arrow at Bowser, the Dedede brooch falls off and is found by Kirby. Bowser escapes in the Koopa Clown Car and takes her trophy up to the waiting Halberd.

Re-merge

After this point, the storylines are the same regardless of who was rescued.

At a later part of the story, Zelda and Peach are discovered by Lucario, Meta Knight, and Snake in cages aboard the Battleship Halberd, stuck in their trophy form. Shadowbugs of the princesses then fight the trio. After being freed, Snake tells both Zelda and Peach to stay in the room that they were being held captive in. Zelda transforms into Sheik, and both she and Peach make their way to the deck of the Halberd, against Snake's orders.

When Fox attacks the Halberd against and nearly hits Peach by accident, Sheik uses Vanish to appear on top of Fox's Arwing. She then breaks the cockpit and Fox ejects, and they both fall to the Halberd. Just as they begin to fight, Peach holds up a hand and yells, "Hi!" Both Fox and Sheik look over, and find Peach has just offered them both tea. Fox, looking confused, looks to Sheik, to find she has already begun to drink. Fox accepts the tea and they do not fight again.

As Sheik, Zelda helps Peach, Fox, Lucario, Snake and Falco defeat Duon. She is on the Halberd when Meta Knight lands it and meets up with the two other groups. Sometime between the defeat of Duon and the entrance to Subspace, she returns to Zelda's appearance.

During the fight against Tabuu, Zelda (along with all the other characters) gets turned into a trophy. If she is revived, she, along with Link, revives Ganondorf and points out what happened. She then aids the heroes in defeating Tabuu at the end of the story.

Trophy form

Zelda, like Luigi, doesn't have the trophy form pose of her collectable trophy. She instead has her arm in front of her rather than behind, as in her down taunt.

Exclusive Stickers

The following stickers can either only be used by Zelda or by a small set of characters which includes her:

• Acro: [Magic] attack +15
• Ashley: [Magic] attack +22
• Boomerang: [Weapon] attack +4
• Bow: [Magic] attack +8
• Colin: [Specials: Direct] attack +4
• Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] attack +31
• Dark Samus: [Electric] attack +31
• Darknut: [Slash] attack +13
• Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] attack +9
• Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] attack +21
• Girl [Animal Crossing]: [Magic] attack +21
• Girl [Magical Vacation]: [Magic] attack +19
• Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] attack +9
• Hylian Shield: [Slash] resistance +10
• Kamek: [Magic] attack +11
• Kyorusuke: [Magic] attack +8
• Lantern: [Flame] resistance +7
• Legend of Outset: [Arm] attack +26
• Linebeck: [Throwing] attack +20
• Link [Link to the Past]: [Electric] resistance +31
• Link [Twilight Princess]: [Slash] resistance +27
• Link [Wind Waker]: [Flame] attack +31
• Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] attack +17
• Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] attack +2
• Lon Lon Milk: Launch power +18
• Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] attack +26
• Moblin: [Slash] attack +15
• Moon Fairy Seren: [Magic] attack +16
• Myrrh: [Magic] attack +15
• Naomi Hunter: [Leg] attack +5
• Octorok: [Leg] attack +4
• Peach & Daisy: [Leg] attack +27
• Piece of Heart: Heart Container effect +50
• Pinkle: [Magic] attack +15
• Salvatore: [Electric] attack +9
• Shahra: [Leg] attack +7
• Sheik: [Body, Spin] attack +17
• The Great Fairy: [Magic] attack +21
• Tingle [Wind Waker]: [Flame] resistance +24
• Toadette: [Magic] attack +7
• Young Zelda [Minish Cap]: [Battering] resistance +16
• Zelda [Link to the Past]: [Magic] attack +27
• Zelda [Ocarina of Time]: [Flame] resistance +18

Costumes

Zelda's and Sheik's alternate costumes in SSBB

Trivia

• Despite being buffed from Melee to Brawl, Zelda went down on the tier list.
• In the Super Smash Bros. Brawl manual, Zelda is referred to as a "queen" even though she is commonly referred to as "princess". This is because her Brawl appearance is based on the Zelda of Twilight Princess, who is queen de facto, but doesn't officially bear the title as her coronation was prevented by the events of the game.
• If Zelda is shrunk or enlarged by someone else picking up a Lightning Bolt, and then, while small or big, transforms into Sheik, she will not naturally return to her normal size, for the entirety of the match, even if she transforms back into Zelda.
• Three of Zelda's special moves - Din's Fire, Farore's Wind & Nayru's Love - are based on spells used by Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Though Zelda's recovery goes farther than Sheik's, Sheik can actually go higher vertically from the ground.
• The amount of transformation lag can be shortened by pausing the game during the transformation; doing this, however, causes a replay of the match to lag at the point of where the player transformed.
• Zelda's taunt in Melee appears as one of her victory poses in Brawl. This is similar to how Fox gained his taunt from SSB as a victory pose in Melee and Brawl.
• Unlike in Melee, where completing Classic mode with either Zelda or Sheik one would get both Zelda and Sheik trophies, Brawl makes one play both characters separately at the end to retrieve their trophies.
• During Zelda's down smash animation, there is a small rendering error where her arm twists the wrong way near the end of it. It only lasts for about one frame, however, and is nearly impossible to see in a normal match; in Training mode, where the player can set the game's speed at 1/4 and zoom in, the error "blinks" shortly.

External links

• Zelda's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!
• Zelda and Mario in the Subspace Emissary (2:18-2:31)
• Zelda Character Guide at SWF
• Zelda and Sheik's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice