Garde's Link Guide

[ArC_man]

dang.. i didnt kno people thought link couldn't grab in the air... cause it was in the chu vs azen vid.... where chu grabs azen's roy outta the air w/ link... and i thought i read it in a guide somewhere also... =/

chaoser just go to the melee video hub thread... all the instructions are there

 

[Eramor]

sure, the air-grab is pretty cool

Its a neat move, not a lot of people know about it or can do it, but that doesn't make it the best course of action. After you grab the puff, what are you going to do? Downthrow and tilt up A? Great combo - but why not just go to tilt up A straight out of the shield instead of risking certain death if you miss? The throw only adds 7 damage, so its better not to take a chance. Besides, you can probably still combo off of the up tilt. In fact, it kills the puff at about 130%.

As for how it looks, the up-tilt looks much cooler. No question.

 

[Kubuu]

I think that the air grab isnt something you bank on, but lets say you're fighting you're fighting Jiggs, Jiggs is at 85% dmg on FD. You grab, hilt butt once, throw down, and go for a short hop UP-STAB, and thats death for Jiggs, unless DI comes into play there. After a while, the down throw will pop Jiggs up too high above your head for an up tilt. So, if Jiggs is at about 80-85% or so, and you were choosing between a straight up tilt or a down throw to up stab, the latter would kill before the former.

 

[Hmoob Koob]

Chu plays a very good Link, he's got a very aggressive Link should I say, I like to play alittle of both. I'm just wandering, how does Chu do the attack, when Link's clinging on the edge and then he short jumps from the edge to his aerial forward smash...I tried it, and pulled it off a few times, but usually, Link can't jump to land on the platform so I fall to my death...if anyone can help me here, as I never ever thought Link could pull that off, I know other characters like Sheik, Marth and such can do it...so any help here would be great.

 

[CaliburChamp]

If you down throw a Jig with Link, the Jig will just use rest on you when it bounces up on the floor. Anyways, that air grab is useful, just got to know when to take it out.
If Chu does what you say. I got to try to learn that soon with my Link before EoL comes. And Im sure Azen knows how to do the same.

Link vs Link:
CaliburChamp
Pill_Pusher
meleeguy
Insemination_17
Azen
Chu-Dat
Ivan
Mr. Saxophone
L_W48
Jit
Link Dittos Out!!!!!!!

Y. Link vs Y. Link:
CaliburChamp
Azen
Chu-Dat
Mr. Saxophone
Jit
Odin
Bone

As you can see Chu-Dat is in for the Link dittos. So can someone explain how to do what Hmoob Koob says?

 

[Aurafox]

*wants to Link ditto with one of you guys someday..* =)

 

[CaliburChamp]

AuraFox you think you can come to EoL in the summer since you only live one state away? I'll be glad to Link ditto you.

 

[SupaMario]

With link if your hanging, press down then up real quick and press up+b real quick to, if your lucky you can attack them when your going up, its best with link though, because he spins his sword right around, and y.link to

 

[CaliburChamp]

Umm, thats not what Im talking about SupaMario. Anyways I found out how to do it. It just so happens that I can Down Thrust, Up Thrust, F-air, B-air when I edgehog. It really hard to pull off the neutral A with this though, even though its possible. You can use the Hookshot as well to when edgehogging. Just have to have a quick response as soon as you drop then jump from edgehoggin.

 

[Eramor]

That edge-recovery is very difficult to pull off with Link, you have to be *very* quick to do it with the control stick. A slightly easier way to do it is to tap down on the analog stick, then tap Y or X. This way, you get less lag, which is absolutely neccessary, as you will die if you miss the edge on this edgehog.

As for D-throwing the Puff, it bounces out of rest-range at about 40%, so the D-throw up-tilt combo will work quite nicely at that damage. It won't even be able to tech-roll away.

PXTalon2000-
Thanks for your tip earlier, I now have a new awesome combo : A, A, D-smash (C-stick). Much appreciated.

 

[The GERM]

first of all, the reason you're finding that edge recover attack think so difficult is because you're pressing down so you're fast falling off the edge. Just press back and you'll slowly let go, then press X or Y to jump forward and you can even do a air down+A off it onto the platform.

 

[Eramor]

I don't know if its been discussed on this thread before, but I would like to hear y'all's thoughts on Young Link vs Link. What are the advantages of either character, which is the best for what situation, etc.

 

[Eramor]

Gosh, I thought y'all would be more vocal on this subject.

I guess I'll start off...

Young Link's main advantages seem to me to be
1.) his speed is much greater and
2.) his attacks send opponents flying to the side, which makes for easier KO's
3.) wall jump

Old Link advantages-
1.) damage is slightly better
2.) far superior range
3.) better spin attack

myself, I prefer Old Link for his range, because my strategies rely on Link's range and priority. Plus Young Link's spin attack can't spike opponents and isn't as good a finisher, though Young Link's tilt down A is a much easier spike than Old Link's.

And what's up with the wall jump? Why can't Old Link wall jump? Did he forget how to when he grew up or what?

 

[Gobolt]

If I remember correctly, Y.Link can "spike" with his upB, it just has to hit like Roy's usmash. It has happened to me quite much, I just remember that it did send them sideways and a bit downwards. As for the walljump, think about it, Link is a lot heavier than Y.Link. But that's just what I think

 

[Hmoob Koob]

I wished Link was as fast as Y. Link in running speed......oh well, the only thing that I find with Y. Link to me that I like over Link is Y. Link's boomerang, man, I wished Link's could tilt like Y. Links. It would've made tons of new options with Link if you would've been able to do that, but I guess its a no no, so oh well.

Anyhow, thanks for the edgeguarding gig, however, I did learn how to do it, the hard way, by using the d stick the whole time...commited alot of SD's while I was at it too. However, I'll try it the easier way now.

Anyways, I was thinking...since we've all been talking alot about Link's +'s can we talk more now about his -'s, because I want to know what are your people's insights on when you would punish a Link player if you where to confront a good Link player who knew their stuff.

Like, say for example, what would a fox player do against a Link player...what would he set up for an attack..or such...hopefully you peeps get what I'm saying.

IMO, if we learn more of Link's bad heel's we can learn to minimize it as much as possible...I dunno, just a suggestion.

 

[CaliburChamp]

Well I would use less lagier moves when Im dueling against a faster opponent just until their damage is higher. Im just thinking of what to do with Link vs. Link dittos, since I have so many bountys on me for Link vs. Link dittos. Hmm...*ponders*

 

[Eramor]

Its quite difficult for most characters to go straight at link and not get spin attacked, shield grabbed, hit by a bomb, etc. However, my fellow smasher seems to have developed a way to attack me without getting to close to me. He plays with Jigglypuff, Pikachu, and Falco. He knows how to stay just outside my range, and never wastes an opportunity to attack during my lag. Also, he's become adept at dodging my projectiles. He likes to attack me while I'm still under the edge. He'll actually drop down to get hit by my hookshot so that it won't save me. *astard. Also, Falco's SH laser advance that he has just learned is getting on my nerves tremendously. It cancels everything I do.

So...I guess Link's worst feature is his lag. Another friend of mine who plays Shiek can rush in for a dash attack after almost any of Link's moves, sometimes even after being hit by them.

 

[Garde]

Okay, I'm back for one quick post, because I decided to look up a rule set for hosting a tourney (since I might just do so at my high school) and said, "What the heck, I'll check how my guide is doing..."

Eramor, Link's hookshot goes through enemies so it doesn't matter if it does hit someone, you'll still grab onto the wall if you were close enough.

Against Falco, don't hold a bomb and if he tries to advance on you just let your Hylian Shield block the lasers (crouch if necessary).

Eramor, I agree that it does not make sense that YLink would be faster than "Old Link," since "Old Link" is actually in his prime, while YLink is just a little 10 year old twerp. I know that when I was 10, I was NOWHERE near as fast as I am now (especially since I run track and cross country). But, to be fair in the game, they had to give YLink SOME advantage over adult Link, otherwise there'd be no point in using him. Why would you use someone lighter, slower, and weaker than Link that has the same move set? It's just stupid. So even though the abilities of YLink and Link don't make much sense, they are necessary to keep the game at least slightly balanced.

About the edge jumping technique you guys are talking about... I actually use down and then press X or Y and hold forward, I don't dare use back on the control stick because I actually kill myself from doing it that way. If you want to see a hard character to use that technique with, use GDorf, I can only use an aerial attack from using down and X/Y about 1/5 tries (luckily I can usually up+B to get exactly back on to hanging on the ledge if I screw up, not always though).

Well, it felt good to post again. Maybe I'll visit more often... Till then guys.

 

[Eramor]

I knew you couldn't stay away!

Frankly, I don't see why Young Link has to have an advantage over adult Link, they could have just made adult Link fast and strong *grins*. In fact, although I love having two flavors of Link to choose from, I would have preferred Gannon - the huge hulking monster. That would have been sweet. Or maybe Diddy Kong. Seriously, they have three flavors of Mario, but no Wario. There's no need for two Pikachus, I've never met a decent Pichu player. How about that flying dragon monster, Ridley from Metroid? That would kick @$$!

note: I'm not trying to criticize here, just pointing out some cool possibilities.

For the hookshot thing, its not so much that the hookshot doesn't latch as that I can't get close enough to the edge to use it.

Oh, and Falco's short hop laser goes above the Hylian shield, even when standing. And the arrow, too. And If I just use my R or L shield, he'll drop in and get under it with a down tilt. Any other thoughts?

 

[Gobolt]

Well, you always could jump out of the shield when the Falco would try to dtilt you out of your shield and Nair him. As for your hookshot problem, try using the bomb to cancel your upB and then latch onto the wall, or have it on so early that it will blow you up during upB or after it.

 

[SS4Ricky]

I get the 500th post!

Young Link......hmmmm

I know you guy's would hate me if i said this, but i think Y. Link has an advantage, mabye it's just a little, but advantage none the less. The thing with Y. Link is he can play an effective keep away game. You can't really run around, toss two arrows in the air, then come down to combo from one of them. It's just too easy to combo from Y. Link's projectiles, and it'll rack up the percentage quick. His two push moves, downsmash and dash attack, are one of the easiest to connect (downsmash mainly), and you can expect alot of downsmash edgeguarding which can cover people that try to tip the edge. His aerals are mostly worse, 'cept for his neutral which suprisingly does more damage than Link, 14% to 12%.

Yeah, a skilled Link could get through most of that, duck Y. Link's attacks (just about all of them are duckable) and counterattack but i just don't like that easily abusable downsmash, the crazy far wavedash, spammathon, and the insane running speed.

 

[CaliburChamp]

True that SS4Ricky.
Wavedashing+Dash Dancing into a Dash attack or downsmash, great mind game strat. I also noticed that Y. Links bombs have more combo ability. Another really good advantage is that Y. Link has more air manueverbility, than Link. So I do think Y. Link is better in the air for those long vertikills. You can combo better in the air too, since Y. Link doesnt have as much lag as Link.

 

[DMStudios]

Adult Link vs. Y. Link

I'm thinking the reason that A. Link is slower than Y. Link, is that he has a bigger, heavier sword, a bigger, heavier shield, slightly bigger arrows(but no fire ), and a bigger, longer, hookshot. Oh, he also has slightly more power than Y. Link.

My friend doesn't want me to play as him, so I can't physically test the differences, but I can see them when we play.

 

[Eramor]

So, would you agree if I said that Adult Link is a more defensive character and Young Link is a more offensive character? Adult Link's range makes it much easier to play a defensive game, methinks, while Young Link's moves seem more like the search and destroy gender. What say you?

 

[CaliburChamp]

Eramor, its hard to say. It matters on what style and what character your opponent has. It depends on the situation, theres a time to be all out on the offense, and times when you need to be on the defense, determines on the flow of battle.

 

[Garde]

I'd say that Young Link is a failed experiment to make a Sheik-like Link (lots of attacks with little knockback, weaker damage and around the same weight as Sheik, about same WD as Sheik, etc.). He's supposed to be super offensive and chain combos together to build up damage, but the fact that a bunch of his moves have too much lag and can be CCed easily makes him rely on his projectiles too much to be able to chain combos remotely as well as Sheik does. Plus, YLink's range really sucks, and his grab should be modified so that it's either a faster hookshot, or it is no longer a ranged grab, because Marth having (near?) equal grab range that's instantaneous and capable of air grabbing at the farthest reach while YLink can only air grab right in his face is just crap. Why would you have a ranged grab that's the same range as a normal grab? It's just stupid.

CaliburChamp, yes there are times to play defensive and times to play offensive, but YLink plays offensively much better than Link does, and much better than he plays defensively due to his lack of range on his melee attacks.

 

[Eramor]

So are you saying that people playing Young Link should go over to Cheap? That is...Shiek? After thinking on the subject, I couldn't think of a single reason that I would shoose Y Link over Shiek. They have similar range and damage, and both have cheap projectiles, but Cheap is much much faster and has better recovery, more combos...

 

[CaliburChamp]

If its not too much to ask from you guys, I would like to hear some of your combos with Link.

 

[X Japan]

what you are asking for IS a little bit too much. cause some of Link combos can work based on what character you fight, what % they are at, what stage you are on, and what part of the stage u are on. plus Link doesn't really have a combo set up most of his combo(well to me anyway) is based on instinct. cause of his character design you can't be asking about his combos cause even if we tell you its too much detail and too much work and depending on how the battle is going the combo may not work and you might get punish for it. the best thing to do is find out your-self what seems to work in battle. thats the best thing to do. also the combos we may tell u may not fit your playing stlye and you may not be able to pull it off.

so my advice try to learn by fighting people and try to feel whats right to do what move or combo. thats how i learn.

 

[CaliburChamp]

Yeah I can see I was little broad. Lets say Im fighting against a laser spamming Short hopping Falco. Downsmash just dont seem to work for me when Im fighting a SH + Laser Spam Falco. None of my low attacks seem to work on him. And his Falco forces my Link into an aerial fight when Falco uses his shine, then does Up+B, Up-air, down+B, anything to knock me up high in the air to get me KOed. I had a Falco counter move, but not for Aerial Falcos (Falcos that get most KO's from aerial attacks). So in other words, whats the easiest way to combo a Falco from 0% using aerials?

 

[Kenshin]

Those space rodents are the best thing when it comes to combos. There are however things about them that put Link on the spot or up against the wall. Fox and his up-smash or up aerial is almost instant death for Link. Falco has the blaster hopping. On one note you can trust me however, those blasters only get more and more annoying because sooner or later the blasters get lower and lower and before you know it, you have to take it to the air and always be there. The second he gets the blaster and mid shield level, thats when he starts blaster hopping in your face and using the blaster for set ups. The only thing you can do is out play your opponent. Genjutsu (mind games for the ill informed).

The only combos you can really do are bombs into attack combos. But this is all for user discreation. Different levels of falco mean different levels of combos. The better the falco, the more limited you are to combos and the more genjutsu becomes a great weapon. This goes for all Links that make it to Master level. When you start fighting upper tiers, it becomes less and less *combos and what should I do here* to *I can see into the future*. The higher skill you go with the Link, the more everything just hits into second nature, you just know what your going to do. Thats when you have to get better in mind games. Just learn and read, and then fudge him over.

 

[CaliburChamp]

Hmm... Mind games. This Falco was all offensive on my Link, I had to like jump and take my bombs out when he was laser spamming. All my choices was to go aerial since he kept setting me up for aerial combos. My downsmash combos were killing him, and I guess he smartened up and started doing alot of SH's Lasers, Air combo set ups so he can take Link into the air, and Falco definitely has the advantage in the air more so than Link. All the Links that I know, got their @$$ handed to those Falco players. But I will try and use those Mind games of SHield attacking, jumping out of shield, WDing out of shield, and sidestepping to fake them out more to see what of those 5 options Im going to do to them while playing defensive from my shield.

 

[Eramor]

Compared to Marth, Shiek, Falco, etc. Link's air combos are a bit feeble. Most of my air combos are actually just aerial finishers for combos started on the ground. One nice one I've found (if there are no obstacles around) is to knock them in the air with a Dtilt or Uptilt, then use Back air on them, followed by a second jump and upstab or another Back air. Maybe you could get a Dstab in there...

 

[X Japan]

use A in the air. done.

 

[Eramor]

Does anybody use the up smash for anything? The first two swings always knock the enemy out of the range of the strong one, so I rarely get a good one off. Besides the slightly better range, why would you want to use the up smash instead of the up-tilt?

 

[Hmoob Koob]

I also have to agree with you on that one Eramor, I for one, don't use that up smash as much, only sometimes, when, say their on a top platform, and I'm directly under them, then I'll whip it out, for the final hit usually reaches long enough to hit them, other than that, I barely use this move, as it does what you say, knocks them away, sometimes, if your lucky, they won't knock away and will recieve the full blunt, but it's a risk that I don't take, since Link has alot of other moves that are already risky, but they have far better benefits.

 

[CaliburChamp]

I wouldnt call the Upsmash risky. It doesnt have any Lag and is great to use against big and heavy fastfallers, like the space animals, DK, Bowser.But I dont really use it much either unless Im on a platfrom level like BattleField, Pokemon Stadium, Dreamland 64, etc.

 

[Deleted member]

against someone that can DI, it is useless. They get out and get a free hit or combo starter.

Speaking of combos and Link's wonderful ability to fall into them, I have an instant death combo on Link with Mewtwo now. I don't wanna get too specific but it starts with a grab

 

[X Japan]

i already know about it Mow. Blu try to get that **** on me already. its easy to break out of it.

 

[Haz00kie]

I just found out this place existed (just finished the 20th page and catching up, so I dont ask the same questions, this post has the Link bible!) and I love the fact that people play Link for real. He is my superior character by far and its funny all the problems of people in this post are the characters I play against. Downloading the movies and tips from this site just rounds out the knowledge. The only experience with tourneys are the ones my group of friends play and we been doing this since SSB. But it seems there is a subculture we have been missing.

Thanks guys especially Garde's Guide! Seeing moves from a different perspective helps!! Now my bomb tech. needs to expand to grab one to get back from no mans land!