You know, every time I enter this topic, I wonder if the Mods actually know it exists, or if they created it intentionally, as some unholy tupperware to house all their spam. Not that I don't enjoy it, mind you. Call it personal intrigue.
Anyhow, these discussions of Young Link vs. Adult Link always interest me for a couple of reasons. First of all "Adult" Link is not an adult. No offense to those of you who are around seventeen, but in the overall scheme of things, it still falls under what most people see as young. Second of all, "Young" Link and "Adult" Link each only appear in one game. That is to say that "Young" Link and "Adult" Link are terms that exist as a frame of reference toward a character at two exact ages (10 and 17, if I remember correctly), right? Well, in Majora's Mask, he has aged to the ripe old age of 11, but I can see the point, in that it refers to the same Link. Every other game refers to a completely different character, who just so happens to share a few common traits. And here's the interesting part; none of them are as young as 10 or as old as 17. The two commonly cited "Adult" Link's besides OoT Link are AoL Link and TP Link, who are both 16. Some of the commonly cited "Young" Links are WW Link and LttP Link in which he is respectively 12 and inconclusive. I say inconclusive because I remember my manual saying something around 13 or 14, but I have to dig it up before I can say that with any confidence. One I am quite confident on is the Oracle series, in the manuals of which he is listed as being 14.
All of this to say that each Link is a different age. There is no "Young" Link and there is no "Adult" Link outside the context of OoT. They simply have preffered to utilize the older Links suchas the elder version of OoT Link and TP Link for Smash Bros. Honestly, I think if we were to see LttP Link or LoZ Link or LA Link, each one would look different.
It is all a matter of perspective. I mean, for one thing, they are all young Links to me. But that aside, there is only a dramatic difference between the oldest and youngest Link (ironically they are both the same Link), and the rest are closer to the middle.
As far as the actual inclusion of the OoT Young Link, his inclusion makes no sense. Why? Because the Link included in this game as of yet is TP Link, rather than OoT Adult Link. It made sense in Melee, because all of the Zelda characters were patterned off of OoT, that is obviously not the case in Brawl, and so far I have yet to see any younger incarnations of Link in Twillight Princess (though I'm not done yet). What might make some sense would be the inclusion of another recent incarnation of Link which is distinct from either OoT Young Link and TP Adult Link; WW Link. Because he didn't appear in OoT he ISN'T Young Link, and therein lies the reason his inclusion would make sense when OoT Young Link's would not; because Wind Waker falls between the release of Melee and Brawl, and his game currently has no representation even though it was a major tentpole of the Gamecube, his inclusion as a character makes sense.
Okay, that was a friggin long post. I don't blame those of you who did not read it. Honestly, perhaps it would fit better on the Zelda Timeline topic, but I didn't put it there for two reasons; first, it's already been discussed there something like a year and a half ago (during which, there was great joy and enlightenment and feasting on suckling pig), second, I'm not touching that topic until I've beaten TP, because I don't trust anyone.
On that note, I stop. Good night.
Andy
