Classic Link (Gatlinger)

Classic Link showing Kung Fu Man his awesome boots

Being made relatively early into the engine's lifespan, **Classic Link** has the honor of being one of the first *Zelda* characters converted to M.U.G.E.N. Unfortunately, it appears that this Link wasn't enough of a classic for it to be preserved.

## Known info

Classic Link was a character based off Link as he appeared in the 1987 NES game *Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link*, using a mixture of the original game's sprites and custom-made edits. It is listed on the author's site twice with separate downloads, with notes stating that the second version was "for the new Mugen", but identical otherwise. The majority of info on Classic Link comes from an August 2002 review posted on DokiDoki MUGEN, an old M.U.G.E.N review site notable for giving harsh reviews.

The review gives a rough idea of how Classic Link might've played. In the review, Classic Link is criticized for being "very boring" and having "a lot of useless attacks", such as "the [short-range] kick illustrated in the screenshots". (These screenshots have been reuploaded onto this page.) Elsewhere, the character is said to have "slow gameplay" and moves with out-of-place hitsparks. shinaku, the reviewer, remarks, "I wasn't aware that a sword slash to the face resulted in minor bruises, while a kick to the head results in gallons of blood gushing out in all directions."

It is repeatedly pointed out in the review that Classic Link was evidently a lightweight character, with no sound file in sight. This is backed up by the author, Gatlinger, stating that "All that is needed [for Classic Link] is sound". The size of one version's .zip is said to have come out at an estimated 20-25kb.

## Search efforts

As Classic Link was left unsigned, this naturally made it hard to find any info on the character beyond what was described in the aforementioned DokiDoki MUGEN review. In addition to not listing any authors, DokiDoki MUGEN simply stated that Classic Link was located on a "Random Warehouse", with no link provided. The author, or even any of the "random warehouses" remained unknown until July 2022, when a listing for "Classic Link by Gatlinger" was found on an archived copy of a Portuguese M.U.G.E.N character directory from the early 2000s.

Classic Link was stated to be hosted on a site known as "World Of Mugen"; although Link was nowhere to be seen, surviving archives of the site show that it in fact hosted Gatlinger's characters at one point. Gatlinger's M.U.G.E.N site was discovered shortly after, and with it confirmation that Gatlinger had indeed created Classic Link, though as usual the character was ultimately not archived. Collector Electrocaid is one of the few known people to still have Classic Link, as it appears in his Perfect Select document.

## Trivia

* Although Classic Link's portrait is corrupted in the screenshots shown on DokiDoki MUGEN, it is used elsewhere on the site with its intended colors.

## Sources

1. ↑ August 2002 news archive for DokiDoki MUGEN
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 DokiDoki MUGEN review for Classic Link
3. ↑ An archived copy of the site in question, "Mega Colher de Chars"
4. ↑ An archived copy of World Of Mugen's "Anime Characters" section, featuring another one of Gatlinger's characters.