mountain_tiger
Smash Champion
For the past decade and a half, Zelda has had the damnable dishonour of being bottom tier in every single fighting game whose presence she has graced. Her play style plain and simply does not work the way it’s supposed to. Now, in Melee and Brawl they had the ‘excuse’ (I’m using that term lightly) that Sheik and Zelda were meant to compliment each other. Too bad that argument doesn’t really hold any water when Melee Sheik was one of the best characters in the game all on her own. Even in Brawl, where she’s not nearly so good, she’s a considerably more ‘complete’ character than Zelda has been in any Smash game so far.
In short, she’s been a ‘work in progress’… since 2001. And now that she and Sheik are fully, completely separate characters, there is absolutely NO excuse for that.
So in this thread, I would like to propose a new Zelda which might actually be able to reach the lofty ranks of *gasp* mid tier in the next iteration of Smash, whenever it may come. Admittedly this isn’t completely rebuilding her from the ground up, because then they may as well slap it on a brand new Legend of Zelda character entirely! But at any rate, there are nevertheless some quite considerable changes detailed here.
Let’s get to it!
Attributes
Weight: 85 --> 88
Nothing too drastic here – just a tad more bulk to give that extra little bit of survivability, whilst still keeping her a moderately lightweight character
Dash speed: 1.3 --> 1.43
Again, nothing drastic. Being a slow dasher is one of Zelda’s more minor problems, but having that extra bit of ground mobility can come in handy
Walk speed: 0.87 --> 0.95
Same reasoning as dash speed above.
Falling speed: 1.35 --> 1.3
Fast falling speed: 2.16 --> 2.34
By default, Zelda will fall very slightly slower (same speed as Samus), but her fast fall will be noticeably faster than before, allowing her to change her aerial momentum surprisingly quickly. This is mainly to act as a cherry on top of the cake to the following changes…
Air speed: 1.04 --> 1.1
Air acceleration: 0.055 --> 0.08
Zelda has always been at least slightly more adept at moving in mid-air than on the ground. These changes would help to further build on that. The air acceleration, combined with the fall speed changes mentioned above, would allow her to move more freely in mid-air, and the higher air speed would further enhance her momentum, and also be beneficial for recovery. This would help to compliment her new improved air game, as will be described in much more detail further down this page!
Roll dodges: Marginally increase distance gained when used
This is mainly to reflect Zelda’s defensive nature than anything else. The frames on her rolls (and sidestep and air dodge) aren’t really an issue.
Attacks
Ground attacks
Jab: IMO, the patch where they increased jab’s damage to 11% addressed the move in the wrong way. What is and always has been the problem is that it’s a JAB which takes ELEVEN FRAMES to start up. That’s just silly.
The solution is simple. Dial the damage back down to 6% like it was before, but make it much faster so that it starts up in 5 frames. The minimal end lag should remain, thereby making the move almost lagless on the whole, and a much more effective defensive tool. It also gives Zelda’s close range game a little more versatility.
Down tilt: One of Zelda’s better attacks, and one that doesn’t need much changing at all. It could do with very slightly more range, and some minor knockback alterations to make comboing with it even easier (a bit like how it was in Brawl, only not in the cheesy ‘down tilt lock’ sort of way), but otherwise this move is all good.
Forward tilt: Well, the main problem with this move was always THAT DAMN BLINDSPOT. Otherwise it’s a pretty solid attack, doubly so now that it starts up a little bit faster. All this move could do with besides that is a bit more shield pushback and also a small hitbox behind her at the end of its animation, which would deal 7% damage and have weak diagonal knockback. Her hand already moves towards her back anyway, so just tweak the animation a little, add a sourspot hitbox there and it’s good to go!
Up tilt: SSB4 definitely did the right thing by making it a low knockback combo move, especially in conjunction with her down tilt. Honestly, this doesn’t need any changes at all.
Dash attack: Well, this doesn’t really need any changes either. It’s about on par with most dash attacks utility-wise. Potentially the sourspot hitbox having weak vertical knockback to allow a small combo might be nice, but it’s not really needed…
Forward smash: A good move on the whole, but that multi-hit mechanic isn’t doing her any favours. I personally reckon that this move would function more effectively as a single-hit attack (same start-up and end lag frames) that does 16% damage uncharged. Knockback should remain unchanged. This allows it to retain most of the advantages forward smash has now, but with the added benefit of it being much more favourable on trades.
Up smash: Above all else, give it back the horizontal range it had in Brawl! The hitbox should also be extended above her slightly more so that it doesn’t get beaten out by aerials so easily. Otherwise, it does its job reasonably well.
Down smash: Like up smash, give it back the range it had in Brawl! As an otherwise solid move, that’s all that’s really needed here.
Grab: Having it be slightly slower than average is reasonable given its range, but its current start-up is a tad excessive. 8 frames for standing grabs and 9 frames for dash/pivot grabs should do nicely. Combined with the below changes, this would give Zelda an enviable grab game.
Back throw: This should have significantly increased knockback, such that it can KO Mario from the centre of Final Destination starting from 150%.
Up throw: This should also have significantly increased knockback, being able to KO Mario from 150% upwards.
Forward throw: If back throw and up throw are already available as kill throws, this doesn’t need to be one too. Instead, it should have very low base knockback, such that at very low percents (though only very low percents), they end up almost directly in front of her allowing her to get another hit in.
Down throw: With the changes to her aerial game (to be described soon!), this wouldn’t need any direct changes, as it would ultimately be great for set-ups.
Aerial attacks
Neutral aerial: This is the one aerial that, as of the most recent patches, SSB4 got right. With the above mentioned aerial mobility changes, neutral aerial would become even more potent as a result of that, and so no direct changes needed there.
Forward aerial: Now THIS is the move that I would change far more than any other. When you think about it, it’s really very unfair that in a game where characters only have twenty moves ANYWAY, that Zelda has borderline identical forward and back aerials. It becomes disgraceful when you remember this has been true for A DECADE AND A HALF. So with this in mind, some quite huge changes are in order.
As back aerial is the better of the two lightning kicks, forward aerial can be the one to be revamped completely. With this new forward air, the animation would start identically, but she would retract her leg much faster. This new attack would have 8 frames start-up, fairly small ending lag and 12 frames landing lag. Damage would be 10%, along with fairly weak knockback, such that it doesn’t start killing until 200%+. While not a kill move, combined with her new air mobility this would VASTLY help Zelda with approaching, and also allow another method of confronting mid-air opponents head-on without taking huge risks. It could also work well as an edgeguarding tool (Zelda’s long recovery coming in handy here too!)
Back aerial: As mentioned already, this can stay as Zelda’s ever-famous lightning kick. BUT (and this is quite a big but) it would be taking a lot of cues from the Melee version of the move. It would have a Melee-esque sweetspot, i.e. more generous than Brawl or SSB4 lightning kicks, and it would be dealing 7% damage if sourspotted and 17% damage if sweetspotted. Its frame data would be much like that of Melee too. It can retain the extended hitlag from Brawl onwards, but otherwise, this version of the lightning kick, with the mobility to make full use of it, would surely work wonders for her. Potentially it could even become as feared as Captain Falcon’s knee, you never know!
Up aerial: This one needs some drastic changes too, albeit not to the same extent as forward aerial. Instead, it could have a spinning animation where Zelda has her hands held upwards imbued with fire to start with, then followed by the powerful upwards blast we all know and love (sort of). Start up would be 9 frames, first two hits would deal 2% damage each, and then the blast an extra 9%. The first two hits would cover Zelda 35 degrees from vertical in each direction and have comparable horizontal range to her neutral aerial. Because of the extra cover provided, the kill power of the final blast would be significantly toned down, such that it kills a good 40-50% later than it does now. However, as it would now have uses outside of strictly killing, this would hopefully allow it to be a far more versatile move on the whole.
Down aerial: To be perfectly honest, one ‘extreme’ aerial is enough, so the ‘lightning kick’ properties of this attack would be removed in favour of it always doing 11% (with the electric effect still there because, well, why not?) and having weaker but still fairly powerful downwards knockback. Effectively, it would be a big brother to the Melee down air. This would make it a more consistently potent threat against recovering opponents, and not just those with poor recovery anyway. It could also, combined with the new forward aerial, help Zelda a little with shield pressure.
Special Attacks
Nayru’s Love: With the changes to the intangibility frames and whatnot, this special move is actually in a decent place right now. The only real change that Zelda could do with would be the option to ‘hold’ the shield in place by holding down the special button a la Fox’s Reflector. Besides that, it’s a situational but reasonable move.
Farore’s Wind: To be fair, this already got the biggest buff it could have thanks to the change in ledge grab mechanics! Farore’s Wind kills, as awesome as they are, aren’t a tactic that can be relied upon too much, and attempting to change that too much runs a huge risk of making it overpowered.
The move’s startup and end lag are in a ‘good place’ balance-wise given the move’s strengths – it needs some vulnerability there. The only improvement Farore’s could really do with is maintaining more horizontal momentum after it finishes – as it stands, it stops you dead in your tracks regardless of the direction it’s used from, and there’s no real good reason for that to be the case.
Din’s Fire: THIS move, on the other hand, needs a massive amount of reworking.
First things first, GET RID OF IT MAKING YOU HELPLESS WHEN USED IN MID-AIR. There is literally zero good reason for that property to have been there for any length of time, let alone THREE CONSECUTIVE GAMES.
After that, the move should have two key additions from how it functions currently:
1) The first addition is that as the fireball is travelling, it has numerous hitboxes every 1/6 of a second or so that deal 1% damage and tiny set knockback each, potentially leading into the more powerful blast afterwards.
2) Secondly and far more critically, if you press shield whilst the fireball is travelling, it will ‘lock’ in place (this deactivates the above mentioned 1% hitbox). From there, it will stay indefinitely until you press forward+B again. Doing so will cause the fireball to erupt. This can be done at any time provided you aren’t in cooldown, and the animation lasts for 18 frames before you can perform another action afterwards.
This would give Zelda all sorts of set-ups, traps and pressure possibilities, and (in my opinion, at least) make her a lot more interesting to use.
Phantom Slash: Given that this move has the quite huge disadvantage of not letting you play Sheik anymore, by all rights it should be damn well worth the while!
Removing the blindspot was a good start, but this move needs more – a lot more.
First of all, it needs a considerably faster start-up – for the uncharged version this can be 19 frames (10 frames minimum charge, 9 frames for the actual attack). Secondly, its endurance should be increased just slightly, such that it can take up to 17% damage (rather than 13% as currently). Thirdly, it needs to NOT COUNT AS A PROJECTILE, so that it can’t simply be reflected on reaction.
Most importantly of all, however, it should have the ability to STORE CHARGE. In simple terms, like with most charge moves if you press shield you will store any charging you’ve done up to that point for later use. This means you can store up a fully charged Phantom, and then keep it for when you need it. Given that this is a potentially highly overwhelming advantage, the total charge time would of course have to be extended to accommodate this – about the same amount of time as Samus’ Charge Shot should do quite nicely.
Being able to release it mid or full charge anytime you wish would make the move far more practical. It can be used as a long-range kill move when you get a good opening, and would enhance the edgeguarding possibilities no end.
What this will mean for Zelda (hopefully)
Ideally, these changes would help fit Zelda into the defensive archetype more effectively. The faster jab alone would already work as an effective ‘get away from me’ move, and changing forward smash to a single-hit attack would remove the unreliability of its multiple hits and make it a far bigger deterrent for approachers. Up smash being restored to Brawl range would also deter careless aerial approaches nicely. Then her faster grab and more effective throw game improves her out of shield game noticeably. All of this on top of Zelda’s current defensive capabilities would make her a strong wall of defense, at least in theory.
Furthermore, although her approach options would still be limited compared to the rest of the cast, she would no longer be totally helpless in this regard due to her improved air game. Her high air speed and new forward air would grant her at least one method of safely approaching her opponent, and her down air modifications would make it more consistent for shield pressure too.
Speaking of her air game, it would become very potent thanks to its easier to sweetspot, if slightly weaker, back aerial, and the still decent strength of her down aerial. This would combine nicely with the already good neutral aerial and new improved forward aerial. Up aerial would be predominantly a tool for harassing opponents above her, and possibly also for an alternative form of aerial protection. Her slightly slowed regular falling speed combined with a noticeably faster fast fall would also compliment the newfound mobility Zelda would have in the air.
Her grab being slightly slower than average is fine (emphasis on ‘slightly’), but it would compliment Zelda’s game plan pretty well if she had access to a couple of kill throws at higher percentages, improving her out-of-shield game and making Zelda’s grab something to truly fear (as things stand, Zelda’s grab game is really rather underwhelming).
The changes to her special moves in particular would mark out a whole new world of possibilities for Zelda. Din’s Fire being able to be placed on screen and exploded as and when you wish (think Snake’s C4) opens up all sorts of set-ups and possibilities for stage control and combos. For example, you could use it to deter them from going towards centre stage, catch them in a grab, throw them towards it, and combo into the blast. Alternatively, you could make life hell for characters with more limited recoveries by placing a flame offstage. It would be a highly unorthodox projectile, but potentially a very rewarding one.
Meanwhile, Phantom Slash would become a much more potent threat as well. Being able to stock full charge and release it when you want enhances its use as a ranged tool (a godsend against sword characters and the like), as a kill move, and as an edgeguarding tool. It might even come close to matching the utility of Sheik’s down special Bouncing Fish – you never know!
However, while considerably more powerful than before, Zelda would still have noticeable flaws that stop her being TOO overwhelming. Her ground mobility would still be on the slow side, and she would still have slower than normal attack speed on the whole, not having any moves faster than frame 5. Her tilts and enhanced air game would give her decent combo ability, but nothing too overwhelming. And, of course, she’d still be light and fairly easy to KO at lower percentages.
Closing Words
I’ll admit, it frustrates me that while a lot of the veterans have been buffed, improved or streamlined in some way, Zelda has been largely passed over on that front. Heck, even newly long-term members of the bottom tier crew, like Samus and Jigglypuff, have at least had a chance to shine at SOME POINT during their Smash career. Zelda has never had that outside of Sheik – ever. And surely this princess deserves just a little bit better than that...
The question is: how many people would want to play with this new revamped Zelda? I leave that to you lot to critique at your discretion.
In short, she’s been a ‘work in progress’… since 2001. And now that she and Sheik are fully, completely separate characters, there is absolutely NO excuse for that.
So in this thread, I would like to propose a new Zelda which might actually be able to reach the lofty ranks of *gasp* mid tier in the next iteration of Smash, whenever it may come. Admittedly this isn’t completely rebuilding her from the ground up, because then they may as well slap it on a brand new Legend of Zelda character entirely! But at any rate, there are nevertheless some quite considerable changes detailed here.
Let’s get to it!
Attributes
Weight: 85 --> 88
Nothing too drastic here – just a tad more bulk to give that extra little bit of survivability, whilst still keeping her a moderately lightweight character
Dash speed: 1.3 --> 1.43
Again, nothing drastic. Being a slow dasher is one of Zelda’s more minor problems, but having that extra bit of ground mobility can come in handy
Walk speed: 0.87 --> 0.95
Same reasoning as dash speed above.
Falling speed: 1.35 --> 1.3
Fast falling speed: 2.16 --> 2.34
By default, Zelda will fall very slightly slower (same speed as Samus), but her fast fall will be noticeably faster than before, allowing her to change her aerial momentum surprisingly quickly. This is mainly to act as a cherry on top of the cake to the following changes…
Air speed: 1.04 --> 1.1
Air acceleration: 0.055 --> 0.08
Zelda has always been at least slightly more adept at moving in mid-air than on the ground. These changes would help to further build on that. The air acceleration, combined with the fall speed changes mentioned above, would allow her to move more freely in mid-air, and the higher air speed would further enhance her momentum, and also be beneficial for recovery. This would help to compliment her new improved air game, as will be described in much more detail further down this page!
Roll dodges: Marginally increase distance gained when used
This is mainly to reflect Zelda’s defensive nature than anything else. The frames on her rolls (and sidestep and air dodge) aren’t really an issue.
Attacks
Ground attacks
Jab: IMO, the patch where they increased jab’s damage to 11% addressed the move in the wrong way. What is and always has been the problem is that it’s a JAB which takes ELEVEN FRAMES to start up. That’s just silly.
The solution is simple. Dial the damage back down to 6% like it was before, but make it much faster so that it starts up in 5 frames. The minimal end lag should remain, thereby making the move almost lagless on the whole, and a much more effective defensive tool. It also gives Zelda’s close range game a little more versatility.
Down tilt: One of Zelda’s better attacks, and one that doesn’t need much changing at all. It could do with very slightly more range, and some minor knockback alterations to make comboing with it even easier (a bit like how it was in Brawl, only not in the cheesy ‘down tilt lock’ sort of way), but otherwise this move is all good.
Forward tilt: Well, the main problem with this move was always THAT DAMN BLINDSPOT. Otherwise it’s a pretty solid attack, doubly so now that it starts up a little bit faster. All this move could do with besides that is a bit more shield pushback and also a small hitbox behind her at the end of its animation, which would deal 7% damage and have weak diagonal knockback. Her hand already moves towards her back anyway, so just tweak the animation a little, add a sourspot hitbox there and it’s good to go!
Up tilt: SSB4 definitely did the right thing by making it a low knockback combo move, especially in conjunction with her down tilt. Honestly, this doesn’t need any changes at all.
Dash attack: Well, this doesn’t really need any changes either. It’s about on par with most dash attacks utility-wise. Potentially the sourspot hitbox having weak vertical knockback to allow a small combo might be nice, but it’s not really needed…
Forward smash: A good move on the whole, but that multi-hit mechanic isn’t doing her any favours. I personally reckon that this move would function more effectively as a single-hit attack (same start-up and end lag frames) that does 16% damage uncharged. Knockback should remain unchanged. This allows it to retain most of the advantages forward smash has now, but with the added benefit of it being much more favourable on trades.
Up smash: Above all else, give it back the horizontal range it had in Brawl! The hitbox should also be extended above her slightly more so that it doesn’t get beaten out by aerials so easily. Otherwise, it does its job reasonably well.
Down smash: Like up smash, give it back the range it had in Brawl! As an otherwise solid move, that’s all that’s really needed here.
Grab: Having it be slightly slower than average is reasonable given its range, but its current start-up is a tad excessive. 8 frames for standing grabs and 9 frames for dash/pivot grabs should do nicely. Combined with the below changes, this would give Zelda an enviable grab game.
Back throw: This should have significantly increased knockback, such that it can KO Mario from the centre of Final Destination starting from 150%.
Up throw: This should also have significantly increased knockback, being able to KO Mario from 150% upwards.
Forward throw: If back throw and up throw are already available as kill throws, this doesn’t need to be one too. Instead, it should have very low base knockback, such that at very low percents (though only very low percents), they end up almost directly in front of her allowing her to get another hit in.
Down throw: With the changes to her aerial game (to be described soon!), this wouldn’t need any direct changes, as it would ultimately be great for set-ups.
Aerial attacks
Neutral aerial: This is the one aerial that, as of the most recent patches, SSB4 got right. With the above mentioned aerial mobility changes, neutral aerial would become even more potent as a result of that, and so no direct changes needed there.
Forward aerial: Now THIS is the move that I would change far more than any other. When you think about it, it’s really very unfair that in a game where characters only have twenty moves ANYWAY, that Zelda has borderline identical forward and back aerials. It becomes disgraceful when you remember this has been true for A DECADE AND A HALF. So with this in mind, some quite huge changes are in order.
As back aerial is the better of the two lightning kicks, forward aerial can be the one to be revamped completely. With this new forward air, the animation would start identically, but she would retract her leg much faster. This new attack would have 8 frames start-up, fairly small ending lag and 12 frames landing lag. Damage would be 10%, along with fairly weak knockback, such that it doesn’t start killing until 200%+. While not a kill move, combined with her new air mobility this would VASTLY help Zelda with approaching, and also allow another method of confronting mid-air opponents head-on without taking huge risks. It could also work well as an edgeguarding tool (Zelda’s long recovery coming in handy here too!)
Back aerial: As mentioned already, this can stay as Zelda’s ever-famous lightning kick. BUT (and this is quite a big but) it would be taking a lot of cues from the Melee version of the move. It would have a Melee-esque sweetspot, i.e. more generous than Brawl or SSB4 lightning kicks, and it would be dealing 7% damage if sourspotted and 17% damage if sweetspotted. Its frame data would be much like that of Melee too. It can retain the extended hitlag from Brawl onwards, but otherwise, this version of the lightning kick, with the mobility to make full use of it, would surely work wonders for her. Potentially it could even become as feared as Captain Falcon’s knee, you never know!
Up aerial: This one needs some drastic changes too, albeit not to the same extent as forward aerial. Instead, it could have a spinning animation where Zelda has her hands held upwards imbued with fire to start with, then followed by the powerful upwards blast we all know and love (sort of). Start up would be 9 frames, first two hits would deal 2% damage each, and then the blast an extra 9%. The first two hits would cover Zelda 35 degrees from vertical in each direction and have comparable horizontal range to her neutral aerial. Because of the extra cover provided, the kill power of the final blast would be significantly toned down, such that it kills a good 40-50% later than it does now. However, as it would now have uses outside of strictly killing, this would hopefully allow it to be a far more versatile move on the whole.
Down aerial: To be perfectly honest, one ‘extreme’ aerial is enough, so the ‘lightning kick’ properties of this attack would be removed in favour of it always doing 11% (with the electric effect still there because, well, why not?) and having weaker but still fairly powerful downwards knockback. Effectively, it would be a big brother to the Melee down air. This would make it a more consistently potent threat against recovering opponents, and not just those with poor recovery anyway. It could also, combined with the new forward aerial, help Zelda a little with shield pressure.
Special Attacks
Nayru’s Love: With the changes to the intangibility frames and whatnot, this special move is actually in a decent place right now. The only real change that Zelda could do with would be the option to ‘hold’ the shield in place by holding down the special button a la Fox’s Reflector. Besides that, it’s a situational but reasonable move.
Farore’s Wind: To be fair, this already got the biggest buff it could have thanks to the change in ledge grab mechanics! Farore’s Wind kills, as awesome as they are, aren’t a tactic that can be relied upon too much, and attempting to change that too much runs a huge risk of making it overpowered.
The move’s startup and end lag are in a ‘good place’ balance-wise given the move’s strengths – it needs some vulnerability there. The only improvement Farore’s could really do with is maintaining more horizontal momentum after it finishes – as it stands, it stops you dead in your tracks regardless of the direction it’s used from, and there’s no real good reason for that to be the case.
Din’s Fire: THIS move, on the other hand, needs a massive amount of reworking.
First things first, GET RID OF IT MAKING YOU HELPLESS WHEN USED IN MID-AIR. There is literally zero good reason for that property to have been there for any length of time, let alone THREE CONSECUTIVE GAMES.
After that, the move should have two key additions from how it functions currently:
1) The first addition is that as the fireball is travelling, it has numerous hitboxes every 1/6 of a second or so that deal 1% damage and tiny set knockback each, potentially leading into the more powerful blast afterwards.
2) Secondly and far more critically, if you press shield whilst the fireball is travelling, it will ‘lock’ in place (this deactivates the above mentioned 1% hitbox). From there, it will stay indefinitely until you press forward+B again. Doing so will cause the fireball to erupt. This can be done at any time provided you aren’t in cooldown, and the animation lasts for 18 frames before you can perform another action afterwards.
This would give Zelda all sorts of set-ups, traps and pressure possibilities, and (in my opinion, at least) make her a lot more interesting to use.
Phantom Slash: Given that this move has the quite huge disadvantage of not letting you play Sheik anymore, by all rights it should be damn well worth the while!
Removing the blindspot was a good start, but this move needs more – a lot more.
First of all, it needs a considerably faster start-up – for the uncharged version this can be 19 frames (10 frames minimum charge, 9 frames for the actual attack). Secondly, its endurance should be increased just slightly, such that it can take up to 17% damage (rather than 13% as currently). Thirdly, it needs to NOT COUNT AS A PROJECTILE, so that it can’t simply be reflected on reaction.
Most importantly of all, however, it should have the ability to STORE CHARGE. In simple terms, like with most charge moves if you press shield you will store any charging you’ve done up to that point for later use. This means you can store up a fully charged Phantom, and then keep it for when you need it. Given that this is a potentially highly overwhelming advantage, the total charge time would of course have to be extended to accommodate this – about the same amount of time as Samus’ Charge Shot should do quite nicely.
Being able to release it mid or full charge anytime you wish would make the move far more practical. It can be used as a long-range kill move when you get a good opening, and would enhance the edgeguarding possibilities no end.
What this will mean for Zelda (hopefully)
Ideally, these changes would help fit Zelda into the defensive archetype more effectively. The faster jab alone would already work as an effective ‘get away from me’ move, and changing forward smash to a single-hit attack would remove the unreliability of its multiple hits and make it a far bigger deterrent for approachers. Up smash being restored to Brawl range would also deter careless aerial approaches nicely. Then her faster grab and more effective throw game improves her out of shield game noticeably. All of this on top of Zelda’s current defensive capabilities would make her a strong wall of defense, at least in theory.
Furthermore, although her approach options would still be limited compared to the rest of the cast, she would no longer be totally helpless in this regard due to her improved air game. Her high air speed and new forward air would grant her at least one method of safely approaching her opponent, and her down air modifications would make it more consistent for shield pressure too.
Speaking of her air game, it would become very potent thanks to its easier to sweetspot, if slightly weaker, back aerial, and the still decent strength of her down aerial. This would combine nicely with the already good neutral aerial and new improved forward aerial. Up aerial would be predominantly a tool for harassing opponents above her, and possibly also for an alternative form of aerial protection. Her slightly slowed regular falling speed combined with a noticeably faster fast fall would also compliment the newfound mobility Zelda would have in the air.
Her grab being slightly slower than average is fine (emphasis on ‘slightly’), but it would compliment Zelda’s game plan pretty well if she had access to a couple of kill throws at higher percentages, improving her out-of-shield game and making Zelda’s grab something to truly fear (as things stand, Zelda’s grab game is really rather underwhelming).
The changes to her special moves in particular would mark out a whole new world of possibilities for Zelda. Din’s Fire being able to be placed on screen and exploded as and when you wish (think Snake’s C4) opens up all sorts of set-ups and possibilities for stage control and combos. For example, you could use it to deter them from going towards centre stage, catch them in a grab, throw them towards it, and combo into the blast. Alternatively, you could make life hell for characters with more limited recoveries by placing a flame offstage. It would be a highly unorthodox projectile, but potentially a very rewarding one.
Meanwhile, Phantom Slash would become a much more potent threat as well. Being able to stock full charge and release it when you want enhances its use as a ranged tool (a godsend against sword characters and the like), as a kill move, and as an edgeguarding tool. It might even come close to matching the utility of Sheik’s down special Bouncing Fish – you never know!
However, while considerably more powerful than before, Zelda would still have noticeable flaws that stop her being TOO overwhelming. Her ground mobility would still be on the slow side, and she would still have slower than normal attack speed on the whole, not having any moves faster than frame 5. Her tilts and enhanced air game would give her decent combo ability, but nothing too overwhelming. And, of course, she’d still be light and fairly easy to KO at lower percentages.
Closing Words
I’ll admit, it frustrates me that while a lot of the veterans have been buffed, improved or streamlined in some way, Zelda has been largely passed over on that front. Heck, even newly long-term members of the bottom tier crew, like Samus and Jigglypuff, have at least had a chance to shine at SOME POINT during their Smash career. Zelda has never had that outside of Sheik – ever. And surely this princess deserves just a little bit better than that...
The question is: how many people would want to play with this new revamped Zelda? I leave that to you lot to critique at your discretion.
