Link (Super Smash Flash 2)

Link is a playable character in Super Smash Flash 2. His sprites are custom made and based on his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. His moveset is taken directly from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Link currently ranks 12th on the tier list, a large leap from his 25th place position last demo. Link has long reach in the majority of his attacks, a good projectile game, good throws and strong finishers in his forward and down smashes, forward aerial, down aerial, up aerial, the initial hitbox of a grounded Spin Attack, back throw and a fully charged bomb arrow. He has an array of projectiles that gives him good zoning abilities, good stage control and hinder his opponents approach. He is one of the best edge guarders in the game and breaking his guard will be difficult for the most part. Link has dent vertical and horizontal endurance.

However, Link suffers from poor ground mobility. His weight, falling speed, and size makes him susceptible to combos chain grabs. Most of his projectiles have low priority so they can be out-prioritized and all of them can be reflected. He has to over rely on his projectiles because he sometimes has a hard time getting in.

His cons are greatly overlooked by his pros and that is why he ranked as a high tier caracter.

Attributes
Link has powerful attacks with the majority of them having good reach. He has kill moves in his forward smash(second hit does more knockback then the first hit), down smash, a grounded and fully charged Spin Attack, down aerial, up aerial, forward aerial and a fully charged bomb arrow. He has a wide range of projectiles with his Hero's Bow to shoot arrows and combine it with his bombs to produce bomb arrows which have a lot of power and priority, his Gale Boomerang which he can use to hinder his opponents approach and trap them in a vortex which brings them to him. With all of these projectiles at his disposal he can projectile camp his opponents and aid his edgeguarding. Link possesses a decent grab game, possessing the second longest grab in the current demo. He can chain grab fast fallers and big characters with his up and down throws while they can be used as combo starters on other characters. His back and forward throws can be used to knock opponents off the stage to set up edge guards. His down tilt is a meteor smash with decent range to help him edge guard. Due to Link being a fast faller he has good vertical endurance. His regular shield can out-prioritize most projectiles that come in contact with it.

However, Link's falling speed when combined with his size and weight makes him vulnerable to combos, chain grabs, juggling and zero-to-death combos. Spin attack covers decent vertical distance and little horizontal distance. The combination of poor air speed and high falling speed hinders his already poor recovery. Most of his projectiles can canceled out by attacks with higher priority and all of them can be reflected which can cripple his camping game and forces him to approach his opponent. Due to his poor mobility and sluggish attacks gives Link problems approaching. Link's grab game is situational and very risky to use due to the ending lag of the grab leaves Link vulnerable; which discourages Link players from using it and capitalizing on his good throw game. His shield mainly covers his mid section and will not out-prioritize projectiles if they hit other parts of his body or have transcendent priority in them.

Changes from v0.9a
Link has gone through a mix of buffs and nerfs. He has been nerfed in that his attacks are weaker. However, he has received buffs in his attacks are faster, Link himself is faster, his projectiles are more useful and he has a significantly better recovery. The buffs outweigh the nerfs he received and makes him a more effective character.

Aesthetics

 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]Link has received custom made sprites that resembles his appearance in Brawl and 3DS / Wii U.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]This gives him better hitbox placement.
 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]Updated special effects for his attacks and special moves.

Attributes

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Link's air speed has been increased.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]His walking speed has been increased.

Ground attacks

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Forward tilt is stronger.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Down tilt is now a spike.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Dash attack is stronger.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Up tilt is a little slower.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Forward smash is weaker.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Down smash is a little weaker.

Aerial attacks

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Forward air is stronger and connects better.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Up air appears to be a little weaker.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Link's grab aerial comes out faster, deals more damage, has less ending lag and has a bigger ledge sweet spot.

Throws/other attacks

 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Grab appears to have a little more start up.
 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]New up throw animation has Link throwing his opponent into the air and then slashing them.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Due to the decreased hitstun of the demo, Link has little follow up options and he can no longer chain grab with the move.
 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]Link's new down throw has him throwing his opponent to the ground and than slamming on them.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]He can no longer chain grab with down throw.
 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]Link's new back throw has him putting his opponent behind him and kicking them.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]It's stronger than his old back throw and can KO opponents by the ledge.

Special moves

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Spin Attack covers way more distance in the air and has become one of the best recoveries in the game.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Grounded uncharged Spin Attack appears to be weaker.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Floating Spin Attack is no longer possible.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Gale Boomerange has a stronger vortex which is better for trapping opponents.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]It is much harder to S.D.I. out of.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Bombs now have a timer which allow for Link to escape combos or bait his opponents.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]However, this limits the amount of time Link can do with the Bomb.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Bomb arrows now have a lingering hitbox when they make contact with an opponent or the ground.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Link now can't use Bob-ombs for use Bomb Arrow.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Arrows charges faster and goes through the air faster.

Ground attacks

 * Standard attack 1: Swipes his sword across his body. 4%
 * Standard attack 2: Slashes outward. 3%
 * Standard attack 3: Stabs forward. 5%
 * Down tilt: Swipes sword across ground. It meteor smashes with average power. It covers a great range from behind Link to the tip of the sword. The tip of the sword is a spike. 10%
 * Down smash: Swipes sword from front to back very quickly; it is like his down tilt but with more force, and it aims behind him, too. 14% on the first slash, 17% on the second slash when uncharged. 20% on the first slash, 24% on the second slash when fully charged. His second slash is stronger in terms of KO power.
 * Side tilt: An overhead swipe while moving forward. Good KO move. 13%
 * Forward 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. 14% on the first hit and 17% on the second hit when uncharged, and 20% on the first hit and 24% on the second hit when fully charged.
 * Up tilt: Swings sword over his head in an arc. 9%
 * Up smash: Swings sword in an arc over his head three times. The first two slashes suck the opponent downwards to setup for the last hit. 4% on first hit, 3% on second hit, 3% on third hit when uncharged adding up to 10%. 4% on first hit, 3% on second hit, 5% on third hit when fully charged adding up to 12%.
 * Dash attack: Swings sword from head to toe while moving forward. Identical to his forward tilt. Good combo starter. 10%

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial: Does a flying jump-kick. 11% sweet spot, 6% sour spot.
 * Forward aerial: Swings his sword twice while spinning 360 degrees. Like his backward aerial, the first hit traps the opponent and sets up for the second hit. Good for combos. 11% on the first hit, 12% on the second.
 * Back aerial: Kicks backward twice. Like his forward aerial, the first hit traps the opponent and sets up for the second hit. Also good for combos. 4% on the first hit, 8% on the second.
 * Up aerial: Thrusts his sword upward. Not very powerful but it is a great damage racker to due to fast start-up. 15%
 * Down aerial: Points and holds sword downwards with long duration. After connecting this with an opponent, Link bounces or "pogos" off the opponent. Powerful KO move. 17% first hit, 8% second hit.

Grabs and throws

 * Grab: Link fires his Clawshot, possessing one of the longest grabs in the game so far. Link can use his Clawshot to grab ledges from a short distance away. If used in air, it is used as an attack which deals 4% damage to the opponent. If it is used near a ledge, it grabs the ledge with it and climbs onto it.
 * Pummel: Link hits with the hilt of his sword.  1% per hit.
 * Forward throw: Link kicks his opponent forward. 9%
 * Back throw: Link kicks his opponent behind him. 9%
 * Up throw: Link throws his opponent into the air and slashes them. 7%
 * Down throw: Throws the opponent down and then elbows them. Can chain grab big characters and fast fallers. 6%

Other

 * Ledge attack: Link gets back onto the stage slashes. 8%
 * 100% ledge attack: Link gets back onto the stage thrusts his sword forward. 10%
 * Floor attack: Slashes both sides of him. 5%

Misc.

 * Entrance: Appears in a whirlwind and unsheathes his sword.
 * Taunts:
 * Standard: Performs battle stance from Super Smash Bros..
 * Side:Same as Standard.
 * Down: A fairy flies around Link.
 * Fanfare: Remix of Victory fanfare from Super Smash Bros Brawl.
 * Wins: Happily raises the Master Sword.
 * Loses: Sadly claps to the winner.

Tier placement history
The tier lists for demo v0.6; Link was seen as a top tier character with being 1st of A tier on the first list and being 2nd of B tier on the second list. On the lists for v0.7; Link stayed 5th of B for both lists which made him a solid high tier character for that demo. However, on demo v0.8b; Link dropped down to 18th of D tier where he was seen a low tier character. In demo v0.9a; Link dropped to 25th of K tier where he is now seen as a bottom tier character. With each new demo; Link's tier position kept dropping and made him look like a horrible character(which is similar for his tier positions in any fighting game that he has appeared in). However, this was changed in demo v0.9b where Link rises to 12th place of A tier where he is seen as a high tier character again.

Trivia

 * Link along with are the only characters so far to wear their default costumes in team battle when they are on the green team.
 * SSF2 spriter Steven Borgers said he is proud of the work he did on Link and.