Link

Link (Japanese: リンク or Rinku) refers to several different incarnations of the same fictional character and the protagonist of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. Link has been featured in other media from Nintendo, including its merchandising, comic books, and a cartoon series. Link is depicted as a child, teenager, or adult of the Hylian race, originating from the fictional land of Hyrule. Link often travels through Hyrule, defeating creatures, evil forces, and the series' primary antagonist, Ganon, while attempting to save Princess Zelda and Hyrule. To defeat him, Link usually requires the mystic Master Sword and Light Arrows, or a similar legendary weapon, obtained after many trials and battles, and magical objects or using other items such as musical instruments and weaponry.

Attributes
Link is a character that has courage. He may be character of average speed, (although canonically he is very quick and nimble), but he makes up for that with power. Link's tilts are fast and powerful, his down tilt is good for getting opponents into the air to combo them more. It can also spike at the tip of the sword. His up tilt is fast and good for juggling, and his forward tilt can easily kill at high percentages. Link's forward smash can become a two hit combo, it is also a great kill move. His down smash is an easy kill move at fairly high percentages, and is Link's quickest smash. Link's up smash doesn't kill easily, but it does decent damage. Link's aerials are also good, as both his nair and zair, combined with a short hop and fast falling, is a great option for approach. Links back aerial is good for spacing when needed. Links forward air is fairly fast and is powerful. Link's up and down aerials are some of his best kill moves, having high duration and high knockback, but have high ending lag. Specials for Link are also good for keeping distance, racking up damage, and great for survival. On the ground, Link can charge his Up special, it is a good edgeguarding tool, but is predictable. His Neutral Special is a fast bow that can also be charged up. Links down special pulls out a bomb and throws it, which can be used for mindgames. His Boomerang, Links side special move has fairly good range and can gimp some opponent's recovery. Smashing the side special will cause the boomerang to reach farther. Link's shield can act as a shield on its own, when Link doesn't move, many projectiles can't hit him, Crouching can also block most attacks as well, but leaves his upper hitbox open.

The most crippling problem for Link is his abysmal recovery. His poor jumping, high fall speed, slow air speed, and poor distance on Spin Attack make his recovery arguably the worst in the game.

In the Super Smash Bros. series
Link was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. For Nintendo 3DS / Wii U in Nintendo's pre-E3 Nintendo Direct. His design now devrives from Skyward Sword instead of Twilight Princess

Changes from Brawl to SSB4

 * New design from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
 * New voice actor (from Twilight Princess rather than in Melee where the Ocarina of Time voice actor was used)
 * Spin Attack can now be charged, but no longer semi-spikes.
 * Arrows are faster.
 * Boomerang (now called Gale Boomerang) pushes opponents on the way back without causing damage. Also, it does lower damage but higher knockback.
 * New costume (Dark Link costume, replaces his black tunic from Melee), in addition to a "gold" costume.

Normal

 * Neutral attack - Swipes his sword across his body, second swipe goes outwards and the third hit is a stab forward. First slash does 4%, second does 3%, and the stab does 5%.
 * Dash attack - Swings sword from head to toe. Good combo starter. Does 12% normally, 10% if hit with the tip of the sword, and 11% if hit at very close range.
 * Strong Side - An overhead swipe. Does 13% damage and is an efficient kill move at higher percents.
 * Strong Up - Swings sword in an arc. Does 9% damage and has good range and knockback. Good for juggling heavy opponents at low percentage.
 * Strong Down - Swipes sword across ground. Does 12% damage. Spikes aerial opponents in contact with Link's body, and opponents hanging on a ledge. Unlike Ike's strong down, Link's strong down is more difficult to use as a meteor smash, because the sweetspot is significantly smaller ranging only from his head to his body (while crouching). There is also a small sweetspot on his sword that can be found by playing on Final Destination an examining the vertical lines that range across its surface. This move will spike a character hanging on a ledge if the tip of Link's toes are touching the very last line on either side of the stage. The same place on Link's sword will also be the sweetspot for spiking aerial opponents, although usually opponents will not be spiked due to the unlikeliness of this sweetspot connecting.

Smash

 * Side Smash - Swings sword forward, if attack button is pressed again, he swings again but with more force. Both hits can be used to rack up damage quickly at very low percents. First hit, 15% (14% if hit at very close range) uncharged, 21% (19% if hit at very close range) fully charged. Second hit, 17% (20% if hit at very close range) uncharged, 23% (26%-28% if hit at very close range) fully charged. Can be used to perform Bomb Smashing.
 * Up Smash - Swings sword in an arc three times. First hit, 4% uncharged, 5% fully charged. Second hit, 3% uncharged, 4% fully charged. Third hit, 10% (8%-9% at very close range, depending on distance) uncharged, 14% (11%-13% at very close range, depending on distance) fully charged.
 * Down Smash - Swipes sword from front to back, very quick; like his down tilt but with more force and it aims behind him too, however it does not spike if sweetspotted. Forward hit, 14% uncharged (16%-17% at very close range, depending on distance), 19% (23% at very close range) fully charged. Backward hit, 16% (17% at just the right distance) uncharged, 22% (23% at just the right distance) fully charged. Opponents can be hit by both swipes if they are between Link and the Gale Boomerang during it's second phase as it pulls the opponent towards Link. However, good timing is required. 31%-35% uncharged, and 42%-48% charged if both hits connect.

Other

 * Ledge attack - Pulls himself up into a front flip and slices downward. Does 8% damage.
 * 100% ledge attack - Slowly climbs up and stabs in front of him. Does 10% damage.
 * Floor attack - Does two slashes front and back. Does 6% damage.

Aerial Attacks

 * Nair - Does a flying jump-kick. 6% normally, 10% sweetspotted. Sex kick. Good priority. Can be auto-canceled.
 * Fair - Swings his sword twice while spining 360 degrees. First hit, 9%. Second hit, 12%.
 * Bair - Does a two kick combo. First kick does 4%, second does 7%. Can be auto-canceled.
 * Uair - Thrusts his sword upward. Can Star KO at higher percents. 15% in the first several frames, 13% in the rest.
 * Dair - A very powerful finisher that can K.O as low as 75%, although notoriously high landing lag if missed. Holds his sword downward. Can bounce off when the attack lands, scoring an additional hit. Both hits can do anywhere from 8% to 22%. The pogo effect can be canceled by a fast fall.
 * Zair - Fires his clawshot forward, scoring two hits. Auto-cancels. Can be used as a tether recovery. First hit, 4%. Second hit, 6%. Very useful for spacing, and stopping approaches. This tether recovery can be used to save Link from a KO at extremely high percents ranging up to even higher than 300%. This can be done by simply air dodging and then immediately using Zair after getting hit by an attack that can semi-spike, such as Fox's, Jigglypuff's, or Zelda's Down Smashes. Link's Zair can also be used while a bomb is held to cancel an airdodge. Link has the 2nd longest Zair in Brawl, though is only a bit shorter than Samus'

Grabs & Throws

 * Grab - Holds opponent with his right hand after grabbing them with the Claw Shot. High ending lag if this move misses.
 * Pummel - Hits opponent with the hilt of the Master Sword. Does 2% damage.
 * Forward Throw - Lets go of foe then kicks them, football punt style. Does 7% damage.
 * Back Throw - Throws foe back then back kicks. Does 7% damage.
 * Down Throw - Throws foe down then elbow drops them. Does 7% damage.
 * Up Throw - Throws foe a very short distance above him, then slashes. Does 7% damage.

Taunts
Up: Twirls his sword twice and spins the sword while sheathing it. (Similar to his Twilight Princess "Victory Pose", which he performs after defeating a boss or certain enemies putting away the sword in the right moment).

Down:Link's mysterious taunt from the original. Similar to Lucario's down taunt.

Side: Takes out a fairy, who will fly around him.

Role In Subspace Emissary
Link's role begins with him walking through a forest with his fairy companion. Upon reaching the Master Sword's resting place, Link pulls the sword from its pedestal, wielding it once more. In a clearing of the forest is a napping Yoshi, who Link at first pays no mind to. However, the Halberd soon flies over the clearing, dropping Shadow Bugs which soon form into Primids. At this point, Link and Yoshi form a team and battle through the enemies while in pursuit of the Halberd, only to lose their aforementioned target as it flies far off into the distance, though they quickly continue their pursuit. Link's next appearance plays out depending on which princess is saved earlier on in the story. If Peach was saved, Link and Yoshi do battle with a Shadowbug clone of Peach (who had recently been turned into a trophy by Bowser) after it attempted to turn an unsuspecting Mario and Pit into trophies until Link prevented the attack by slicing the Dark Cannon in half. Upon defeating the clone of Peach, Link is attacked by Mario, who witnessed the defeat of Peach's copy as it reverts into Shadowbugs and drifts away, apparently mistaking it for the real Peach. Then Link and Yoshi fight him and Pit. If Zelda is saved earlier on, then it is she who is cloned, and Mario and Pit fight the clone of her, and must then fend off an attack by Link and Yoshi, whom Link thinks Mario killed the real Zelda. After the defeat (and subsequent trophification) of Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi, King Dedede arrives in a cargo, and snatches the trophies of the fallen duo with an arm attached to it. Fortunately, Kirby (who had accompanied Peach/Zelda earlier) appears and frees the two trophies, and revives them as well. Upon revival, Pit/Link fires an arrow at the incoming cargo, slowing it down a little. The five characters then form an alliance and pursue Dedede.

During their pursuit, they find Dedede's cargo (now empty) parked outside of a cave, and decide to enter it. After getting out of the cave, they find Dedede's trashed hideout, and, upon finding a hole in the wall, they decide to enter it. After they get out of the hole, they find Bowser, who Mario tries to attack until Bowser raises Peach/Zelda's trophy as a shield, forcing him to miss. Pit then fires an arrow at Bowser, which he barely dodges, before escaping in his Koopa Clown Car.

They then pursue the Ancient Minister in a desert, trying to stop him from detonating another Subspace Bomb. Mario and Link begin to approach the Minister while dodging the lasers he fires at them. Despite their best efforts, the Subspace Bomb still explodes while the heroes barely escape the blast.

Link later appears after the team makes its way to the desert, where they aid another group (consisting of Marth, Ike, the Ice Climbers, Lucas, and the Pokémon Trainer) in fighting off the Subspace Army. If Link and Zelda's trophy forms are retrieved after the initial attack by Tabuu, they will both be shown agreeing to revive Ganondorf (who was turned into a trophy earlier on when he tried to attack Tabuu on his own), at which point they show him where their common target is. Link helps the other heroes throughout the rest of the story.

Trivia

 * Even though Link's design is from Twilight Princess, he has blond hair in SSBB, and dirty blonde/brown hair in Twilight Princess. His face is also somewhat more slender and sharper, with smaller eyes and a more fierce expression - possibly hinting that this is a slightly older version of the Link in Twilight Princess. This is also supported by the fact that the Master Sword is a lot smaller compared to him than it was in Twilight Princess.,
 * Another theory is that it is the original Link from Ocarina of Time with an updated appearance. This is also supported by a fairy (possibly Navi) appearing alongside Link as he pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal in the Subspace Emisarry.
 * Link and Toon Link are the only characters in Super Smash Bros Brawl who are literally left-handed, as they are in their own games, despite the fact that Link becomes right-handed in the Wii version of Twilight Princess. However he remains left-handed in the artwork for the game and only is right-handed due to the game being mirrored to accommodate right-handed gamers.
 * Link uses battering items such as the Beam Sword and Lip's Stick with his right hand in order to wield his sword with his left.
 * Link's spin attack has been known to deflect projectiles (in the air).
 * One of Link's taunts involves Navi the fairy appearing and flying around him. Navi was never in Twilight Princess, although a fairy was used as the pointer when you point the Wii Remote at the screen. This fairy also appears in the Subspace Emissary during the first sequence Link appears in, and is subsequently never seen again. It could be theorized that this is a merging of several Links, or a general Link that represents his universe in brawl, much like Snake could be either Solid Snake or Naked Snake.
 * Link's shield protects him from small projectiles that hit his shield when he stands still. This works as a crude version of Pit's Mirror Shield when he crouches. (Note: This does not work when Link carries items including his own bombs, as he puts his shield away as he does so.).
 * Link does not have his taunt from SSBM, unlike other SSBM veterans. Although this technically also holds true for Zelda, her Melee taunt can be seen as one of her victory poses.
 * In addition to alternate costume colors, the color pattern of Link's shield changes with each costume, unlike in SSB or SSBM. This is quite possibly because Link wears only his standard green tunic in Twilight Princess, though he does have different colors of armor in the game.
 * If Link and Toon Link use their down throw on a Jigglypuff it will only do 4% damage. This is because their down throw hits twice and Jigglypuff is too light to get hit on the first strike (as the second strike does 4 damage and the first does 3)