Remedial Matchups: Ganon vs Link

[Tonzura Koite]

Fittingly, I've been having a lot of trouble beating Ganon's arch-nemesis, especially on Final Destination. I know Ganon has harder matchups, but this is my personal hardest one to beat.

I have a ton of trouble closing the distance against a good Link who knows to keep away, snipe me with projectiles and use Link's better range in close combat to punish my approaches. I have much less trouble and go even on other stages, even omega stages, due to either platforms or a shorter stage length.

So this is sort of a specific request: how do I significantly up my game against Link on FD? This is assuming I'm playing a solid Link. Should I work on my muscle memory to catch every bomb? Learn to surf on the gale boomerang's return trip better? Use more rolls to close in or sh + air dodge a lot? Any help would be appreciated. This matchup is one of my problem areas as a Ganon co-main with Mega Man. Let's help the King of Evil beat that pesky ******* once and for all.

 

[Shogger]

Link's projectiles are all very high startup so my usual approach is to WALK, not run, up to Link while powershielding everything. Jumping also helps if you're not already too close. However, I'd recommend against using too many rolls, and especially recommend against using SH airdodge as the landing lag will leave you open. Full hop airdodge is still okay.

If they dare use arrow when you're too close, you can fullhop Fair to punish. Once you're close, you can try to bait a move from him. If he rolls, you want to be ready to land a punish when he pops out of his i-frames (this is what you'll usually find on FG.) If he attacks you, shieldgrab or try for a counterhit with something fast like jab or Ftilt.

I've never personally used Gale Boomerang's return against a Link but if your opponent is not expecting it it's always a great trump card to help you land than finishing Fsmash.

EDIT: To add on, try to gimp him if you get him offstage. His recovery is vulnerable. If you can come at him from a high angle, you won't get hit by his up-B and can land a spike or something. If you can hit him before he uses up-B, you can land a falling Nair or Uair. You can also jump backwards off the stage and hit him with a Tipman Uair semispike to gimp him.

 

[Tonzura Koite]

I would love it if anyone could link to a quality Ganondorf vs Link vid, tourney preferred (if it's happened in a legit tourney yet.)
Seriously, I'd owe a solid to anyone who can make that happen.

Edit: I am usually too worried about getting hit by Link's up-b to make spike gimp attempts, but now I know that it's doable, that will be a major tool in my arsenal. Will Ganon's uair or nair get to Link's hurtbox in time when he's using his recovery?

 

[Shuckle89]

I actually had some pretty good matches with ganon vs link the other day in for glory mode. Made a lot of replays. But... looking back at it, it looks rather crappy xD in those matches there was a lot of lag involved and it felt very intense, but, when you look at the replay you're like: what the hell are they aiming at. I'm afraid I can't help you. However, I personally don't feel as if Link is a very hard match up. Maybe 55-45 for link. A link will try to keep you away, but you do have some ways to approach. A warlock kick cancels out some projectiles. Approaching from the air works. They'll try to hit you when you hit the ground, but you've got side B and down B to change the moment you hit the ground.

One match, I didn't get to link at all for the first half of the game. Up to 75% or so I hadn't touched link once. But, if you do get close, you can do a lot of damage in a short period of time. Ride the boomerang. Grab the bombs. Arrows are slow. That's the advice I can give. I rather face a good link than a good ness. Oh, how I hate those. No clue how to handle them.