Link (SSBM)

Link (, Link) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Announced at E3 2001, Link returns as a veteran character from the previous game, acting mostly the same as before, as a swordsman with powerful short/mid-range attacks and a wide variety of long range attacks.
As in Super Smash Bros., Nobuyuki Hiyama's portrayal of Link from was re-purposed in Melee, with voice lines used in the previous Smash title returning alongside new ones.
Link is currently ranked 18th in the tier list, in the C- tier, which is much higher than his 11th out of 12 placement in Super Smash Bros., and one place below his clone, . Link's main strengths lie in his range, low-lag aerials (neutral and forward air), a good variety of projectiles, several KO confirms, multiple strong tech-chasing options and relatively good air speed. His disjointed sword attacks also gives him an advantage against most fighters, as well as a passive shield that can block projectiles. Link is also a potent edgeguarder in the NTSC versions of the game; with a great semi-spike in Spin Attack to set up KO's and edgeguards, along with his notoriously overactive neutral air and powerful down air. Finally, similarly to , Link possesses a wide array of advanced techniques relating to his bombs, such as the bomb jump variants to extend his recovery and the goron roll to techroll on command.
Link, however, suffers from very poor defensive options. With slow and/or unreliable out-of-shield options, no good combo breakers, a slow jump squat, along with high weight and fall speed that several meta-defining fighters can take advantage of. Although his recovery can be extended with his hookshot wall grapple and bomb jump techniques, he is still vulnerable to being edgeguarded due to his up special recovery being predictable. Finally, Link, for the most part, is fairly slow in terms of both ground mobility and moveset. This combined with various top-tiers being able to abuse his disadvantage state are the main reasons why Link is considered a non-viable pick at the highest levels of play, although one player, Aklo, has had significant success utilizing him as a counterpick.
==Attributes==
Link generally falls under the "slow, but powerful" archetype of fighter, though many of his attacks are fairly versatile and long reaching. Link has a rather high weight, as well as an above average falling speed and high air speed, an unusual combination of physics for someone of his weight class.
Arguably Link's greatest asset is his range. His sword has a large, disjointed hitbox (though not as large and disjointed as 's sword), allowing him to attack safely from a distance; unlike the duo of Marth and , Link only has one hitbox on his sword, allowing his approach to be considerably less "specific" than either. Additionally, Link has a multitude of projectiles on his Special moves; while the Bow is decidedly situational due to its low range, speed, and power, Link's boomerang and bombs allow him to start combos, continue them, or simply deal damage; the latter also can extend Link's recovery if he slashes them with his Spin Attack. Bombs can also be combined with the various hits of the boomerang for a wide array of trapping options, as well as decent stage control.
Another benefit are his variety of useful attacks in his arsenal; a majority of his grounded attacks have good KO potential, including his tilts, with his up tilt having rather decent speed and acting as an excellent combo starter that takes advantage of his above-average air game. Link's air game is solid; his fast, low-lag back, forward, and neutral aerials coupled with his low short hop and high falling and air speeds give Link among the best SHFFLs in the game. Link's boomerangs and bombs also give him excellent zoning abilities, with the former's modifiable trajectories potentially making it a good approach tool as well. In addition, Link has a variety of powerful finishers. All of his smashes have decent power with acceptable start-up and cool-down lag. His forward smash can be extended should the first hit fail to connect, and both his up and down aerials can be potent finishers, especially when combined with his aforementioned SHFFL. In the NTSC regions, Link's Spin Attack is also a deadly edgeguarding technique when used on the ground; its later hitboxes sharply semi-spike the opponent, and if Link can land this attack on recovering opponents, he can quickly and safely gimp opponents. While the attack lost its semi-spike properties in PAL regions, the attack's long range and high power still make it a decent edgeguarding technique.
Link's grab game has a variety of positive and negative attributes; while his grab has a long range, it also has high ending lag. Link's grab also cannot grab opponents in the air, limiting his chaingrab potential. Link's throws, however, have low knockback and relatively high hitstun, as well as low ending lag, allowing Link to potentially string in a few hits against his opponent. Common options include using his down-throw into his spin attack, giving Link a reliable kill confirm vs mid-fallers and fast fallers. His up throw is also useful in several matchups, allowing him to combo into up-tilt and sometimes down-smash vs fast-fallers, and into several aerials vs other characters and high percent fast-fallers. In general, Link's grab has reliably high reward, but is extremely committal and somewhat hard to hit with.
Link's recovery is also considered to be above-average. Link by himself is difficult to edgeguard, as his recovery has a wide variety of options; his wall-grapple can allow him to enter "safe-zones" underneath the ledge, and his spin attack covers the top of him, with his bombs also potentially allowing for some form of recovery if he slashes them with his spin attack or hits them with his back-air to gain additional horizontal distance. In addition, Link's high weight and falling speed make him rather resilient to the upper blast line, though these attributes impact his horizontal survivability.
A high falling speed and being a rather large target, however, reveals Link's primary flaw: Link is a particularly easy target for chain throwing and combos. Against fast characters, such as or , Link players must read opponents very well as to avoid such techniques; unlike most others, however, Link's only fast move that can potentially break combos is his neutral air, causing him to be rather predictable in these cases. In addition, he is arguably the easiest character for Fox to waveshine, for Falco, shine to down air, as well as one of the easiest characters for Sheik to chaingrab. These major setbacks with three very common characters in tournaments is the main problem. In addition, Link boasts among the worst out of shield options in the game; Spin Attack is relatively slow compared to other up-b's out of shield like 's or 's, neutral-air is large and fairly fast but limited by Link's long jump-squat animation, and whilst Link's up-smash out of shield is very fast, it is easy for opponents to SDI out of and only covers above him. Combined with his grab not being able to hit airborne opponents, Link has some of the worst tools for dealing with shield pressure in the game, especially against Fox and Falco.
Exacerbating Link's ease to be comboed is his poor overall mobility. While still rather fast for a character of his strength, weight and range, Link still has a rather slow, inflexible approach on the ground, due to his slow dash speed, poor dashdance, and short wavedash. While this can be somewhat mitigated through Link's Goron Roll, which enables him to techroll on command, it is only usable at high percents. Additionally, Link has multiple high-lag attacks, notably his down and up aerial attacks; while this can be alleviated with L-cancelling, they can still be punished, requiring Link players to carefully set up combos and KO moves. Link also struggles to quickly cover space immediately in front of him on the ground, as his grab and down-tilt are both very laggy and his short hop aerials are a little too slow to come out. He also can struggle against crouch-cancelling and ASDI down, as his fastest aerials like back air and neutral air are easily beaten by crouch-cancelling and counterattacking, and some of his strongest combo starters are poor against grounded opponents SDI'ing down, such as his otherwise very good dash attack.
==Changes from Super Smash Bros.==
In his transition from Super Smash Bros. to Super Smash Bros. Melee, Link received numerous buffs, most of which made him a more potent fighter compared to the previous installment. One of his largest weaknesses, his awful recovery, has been greatly improved as his Spin Attack covers more distance and he now has a grab aerial. When combined with the addition of air dodging, his recovery options now remain fairly diverse. His lighter weight allows him to be more difficult to combo, though he is still one of the easiest characters in the game to combo. Many of his attacks also have decreased ending lag, while some of his other attacks have decreased startup lag. These changes grant him a safer neutral and advantage state, granting him more opportunities to approach while being more flexible to recover from disadvantage states.
However, Link has also received some nerfs: some of his attacks, such as his back aerial, forward aerial, and throws, are weaker, while others are even slower, such as his down aerial, which also heavily suffers from the changes to L-canceling. While his grabs are significantly faster, they also have less range, he cannot grab aerial opponents unless he is right in front of them, giving him less room to fend off opponents.
Nevertheless, he is overall a stronger character than in Smash 64. However, he still heavily struggles against most high and top-tiers competitive play due to the faster mechanics of the game offsetting some of the buffs he gained in the transition.
===Aesthetics===
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===Attributes===
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===Ground attacks===
*Neutral attack:
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*Forward tilt:
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*Up tilt:
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*Down tilt:
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*Dash attack:
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*Forward smash:
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*Up smash:
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*Down smash:
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===Aerial attacks===
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*Neutral aerial:
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*Forward aerial:
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*Back aerial:
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*Up aerial:
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*Down aerial:
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*Grab aerial:
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===Grabs and throws===
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===Special moves===
*Bow:
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*Boomerang:
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*Spin Attack:
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==Version history==
Like other characters, Link received some changes in the PAL version of Melee which slightly nerfed him overall as his spin attack's late hit no longer semi-spikes making it worse for edgeguarding. Despite this, he has a slightly easier time against higher tiered characters due to them also being nerfed and he is currently ranked higher on the current PAL tier list at 16th.
NTSC 1.02
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==Moveset==
For a gallery of Link's hitboxes, see here.
===Stats===
NTSC
PAL
===Announcer call===
File: Link Announcer SSBM.wav
===Taunt===
===Idle pose===
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (International) 	Cheer (Japanese)
Cheer 	 	
Description	Go - Link! *claps 3 times*	Lin - k!
===Victory poses===
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
:See also: :Category:Link players (SSBM)
* - The best Link player in the post-Project Slippi era. Although better known as a main, he uses Link as a counterpick, usually for . He was the first Link player to rank globally since Lord HDL in 2014. He notably won using Link to beat and in his bracket, and used Link to beat at and , marking the best result and wins the character has seen in the post-Slippi era. Following this, he became the first Link player to be ranked top 10, ranking at number 8 on SSBMRank 2024, although his ranking was predominantly due to Fox.
* - One of the first notable Link players, and was the best Link in Japan. Placed 17th at , which remains the best supermajor result seen for Link (outside of 's 13th place finish at the major/supermajor ).
* - One of the best Link players in the world during the early 2010s, once peaking at 13th in SoCal during 2012. His placements of 33rd at and 49th at are some of the best solo Link results at Melee supermajors to this day.
* - One of the best Link players in the world during the early 2010s. While he commonly used as well and would eventually solo-main him, he used Link to place 17th at and 49th at . He became the first Link player to have been ranked on a global Melee top 100 power ranking list, with 87th on the SSBMRank 2014.
* - Co-mains Link with and is currently considered one of the best Link players in the world. He has shown a strong regional presence, ranking 5th in Central Florida in 2023 and placing 7th at , 13th at , and 17th at .
* - A Link player well known for advancing the character's technique, popularising many glitches such as Ghost Arrow and Dimensional Arrow. Briefly resided in Europe and was the continent's best Link player while active, with some respectable placements of 4th at , 17th at , and 25th at . Formerly held the speedrun record for Link's Break the Targets stage. Eventually retired in 2023.
* - Considered the best Link player of all time before his hiatus in competitive play. He placed 9th at one of the biggest European tournaments for Melee with , where he notably beat . His best win with Link was with at Avalon M-VI, and he has taken sets over other top European players such as , , , and .
===Tier placement and history===
Historically, Link has always been regarded as an average to below-average character in the competitive metagame. While Link's spacing ability and his above-average air game have been noted, his poor mobility on the ground is widely seen as the reason for his low-mid tier ranking; even Aniki's impressive performance with Link at the could not move him up in the tier list, and Link's defensive playstyle has not become particularly powerful in the fast-paced metagame of competitive Melee. As such, while the metagame progressed, Link's standings began falling: aside from being ranked sixth on the April Fools' tier list, Link's best ranking was thirteenth on the sixth tier list; however, he has since progressively ranked lower on each subsequent list, including ranking below his clone, , since the eleventh tier list, owing to Young Link's better mobility. Currently, he sits at 18th, having been ranked there since the twelfth tier list.
The post-Slippi era reignited discussions about Link's viability. These conversations initially revolved around Link's presence in doubles, where (alongside ) had a resounding 1st place finish at multiple European tournaments shortly after the release of Slippi. In the present metagame, has collected wins over numerous other top-level players using Link, both solo (such as , , , , and ) and as a mid-set counterpick (such as , , , and ). At , placed 33rd out of 601 entrants using only Link, marking the best solo run placement for the character in over a decade, which was followed up by Aklo defeating using his Link, first at in Top 8, then again with Link only at in winners semi-finals; Zain was considered the best Marth player in the world and ranked #1 globally at the time. 
While Link is still considered to be a mid-tiered character at best, and still struggles against the majority of the cast, it is more commonly agreed that his strong projectile game and kill confirms off said projectiles give him a competitive edge against many of the higher-tiered characters on .
==In 1-P Mode==
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Link can appear in Classic Mode as a solo opponent, an opponent or ally in team battles (paired up with either , , or ), a giant opponent, or a metal opponent. Link will always appear on either Great Bay or Temple with the exception of when on a team with Luigi, where they will be fought on , as well as the metal battle, where, like everybody else, he will be fought on .
===Adventure Mode===
Link's sole appearance in the Adventure Mode is in the Underground Maze stage. In the stage, the player must find the Triforce in one of six stages; however, five of these stages contain a Master Sword, where the player will fight a Link. While players have the option to skip these matches by merely jumping over the stage, the player receives the "Link Master" bonus if they KO all five Links in the stage.
===All-Star Mode===
In All-Star Mode, Link and his allies are fought on Great Bay.
===Event Matches===
Link is featured in the following event matches:
*Event 3: Bomb-fest: The player chooses any character and must defeat Link and on Princess Peach's Castle. Link and Samus will only use their bomb special moves, and only items that create explosions (such as the Motion-Sensor Bomb and the Bob-omb) will spawn on the stage.
*Event 18: Link's Adventure: The player uses Link and must defeat Dark Link in a two-stock match on Temple.
*Event 20: All-Star Match 2: Link is the second opponent to be fought in this series of staged battles. The player battles him on Great Bay, which will transition to the next stage if Link gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with , , , and .
*Event 29: Triforce Gathering: The player plays as Link with Zelda as their partner, who each has 1 stock, and must work together to defeat , who has 2 stock, on Temple. Clearing the event allows the player to unlock Ganondorf.
*Event 34: Seven Years: As , the player must defeat Link in a three-stock match on Great Bay.
*Event 41: En Garde!: As , the player must defeat Link in a two-stock match on Temple stage.
===Congratulations Screens===
LinkClassicMode.jpg|Classic Mode
LinkAdventureMode.jpg|Adventure Mode
LinkAllStarMode.jpg|All-Star Mode
==Trophies==
In addition to the normal trophy about Link as a character unlocked by completing as Link on any difficulty, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing and All-Star Mode respectively as Link on any difficulty. Each of the trophies can also be unlocked by playing 100, 200, and 300 versus matches respectively as Link:
==Alternate costumes==
				
				
==Gallery==
Link SSBM Artwork.png|Official artwork of Link.
SSBMWebsiteLink1.jpg|Taunting on Princess Peach's Castle.
SSBMWebsiteLink2.jpg|Charging his Bow on Princess Peach's Castle.
LinkBombMelee.jpg|Throwing a at on Pokémon Stadium.
SSBMWebsiteLink4.jpg|Using his aerial Spin Attack on Temple.
SSBMWebsiteLink5.jpg|Using his Hookshot on Temple.
SSBMWebsiteLink6.jpg|Standing next to Tingle on Great Bay.
GanondorfClassicMode.jpg|Battling on Temple.
ZeldaSheikAdventureMode.jpg|Battling on Temple.
NessAdventureMode.jpg|Glancing at on Brinstar Depths.
MarthAdventureMode.jpg|Battling on Temple.
RoyAllStarMode.jpg|Battling and Marth on Temple.
==Trivia==
*Link and Young Link both use the same model for the Hookshot; as a result, it looks larger when Young Link uses it.
*Link is the only character in Melee to get only 33 frames of invincibility when grabbing a ledge. All other characters get 37 frames of invincibility when grabbing a ledge, however this is due to him being actionable on the ledge 4 frames faster than any other character in the game.
*Link is one of 3 Super Smash Bros. characters whose neutral special move changed during the transition from Super Smash Bros. 64 to Super Smash Bros. Melee, the others being Ness and Jigglypuff. In the first Super Smash Bros. game, Link's neutral special was the Boomerang; from Super Smash Bros. Melee and forth, he instead uses the Bow (or variants such as the Hero's Bow), with the Boomerang being reassigned as a side special move.
*Melee is the only Smash game where Link is paired up with another version of him who is technically the same character: in this case, the adult form of the Hero of Time is paired up with his own child form, who is now portrayed here as being his own character. Both Brawl and SSB4 replace the two with the Twilight Princess and Wind Waker versions of Link, respectively, while Ultimate replaces the former with the Breath of the Wild version of Link, brings back the younger version of the Hero of Time, but keeps the latter from The Wind Waker.
*Despite having his adult form from Ocarina of Time being retired after Melee, the Adult Hero of Time still makes a cameo appearance in Brawl as a sticker (while riding Epona), a trophy in 3DS, and as a spirit in Ultimate (once again riding on Epona).
**Wii U is the only game where Adult Link does not make any appearance at all.
*Link's neutral aerial is the only move in the game that lacks a flag for when the hitbox is supposed to end; because of this, the hitbox stays out for longer than it is supposed to.
==External links==
*Link's page at Smabura-Ken
*Translation
*Home Run Contest World Record
*Target Test World Record
 
Category:Trophies (SSBM)
es:Link (SSBM)