Metroid_01
Smash Journeyman
Alright, first I would like to say that I have never played Zelda (more than a few times) before Brawl, so I cant actually compare her to melee very well. I did try to play her a bit in melee after playing brawl, but it was pretty tough to do, since none of her cool skills from brawl were particularly helpful. Also, it occurred to me I have NO CLUE what the damage is for like any of her attacks. Ill try to remember next time 
.
Anyway, onto my impressions of her: Zelda rocks.
Its really true. I played with a few other folks and they were all impressed with how good Zelda has become in Brawl. So, now lets look at her moves:
B Moves-
Up B (Farore's Wind) - Zelda teleports a good distance to recover - I heard some of you guys saying she has more range on her Up B, but I didn't play Zelda nearly enough in Melee to get a feel for her range, so I dunno if thats true...but ill take yall's word for it. However, I can say this...it does appear to do damage and a small amount of knockback when she disappears and appears again. Unfortunately, this move is pretty slow...a few times when I thought I would make it in time, I got hit before she actually teleported...I dunno if it was that way in melee, but its worth noting.
Side B (Din's Fire) - Zelda launches a flaming sphere of doom - This seems to be the most popular buff around here (not that I blame anyone). As I have read here this move increases in damage, knockback, and damage radius the longer it moves. It also felt very fast and not particularly abusable. I managed to mess up approaches with it on more than one occasion as well. Also, the big thing was that at around max range it killed MetaKnight off the top of FinalD at 80%. Awesome.
Down B (Transform) - Sheik - I didn't play her in brawl, but after talking about the transformation time, we encountered a video where it seemed to speed up from Sheik to Zelda. I tested it in a couple different situations myself and could not verify that. Its definitely around 2 seconds long both ways, looks neat and has a ton of invincibility. But who cares about Sheik in brawl? Watch out, you can still get nailed as this move finishes. Also, I was informed that transforming removes all of the proration on attacks...but this is yet to be tested
Neutral B (Naryu's Love) - Zelda creates a shield around her and then swirls it around her, damaging nearby foes - This was a fun move. Its your typical brawl reflector in that it sends stuff back alot faster than it came to you. After playing both Zeldas, this Naryu's Love is definitely faster. It is definitely worth throwing this out from time to time if you wiff an aerial, the damage is sturdy and the knockback is reasonable.
Aerials -
Up Air - Zelda launches a quick burst of flame directly above her outstretched palm - You all know how this one goes, but now it has some awesome knockback along with it. It was a fairly quick attack overall (but I think it was in melee as well). Its definitely a solid kill move for Zelda, however I did not succeed in landing it as often as I would have liked...they learned to avoid this attack like the plague. The damage was pretty decent as well.
Forward Air - Zelda throws an aerial kick forward - It definitely has a smaller sweetspot than it used to, but the trade off is some nasty knockback. Also, when you do sweetspot this move, you and your opponent will freeze for just an instant (Extra DI frames), so realize this is a very easy move to DI now...but that wont save you at even moderate percents. I don't know anything about speed and range compared to melee, but it felt no different. HOWEVER, I recall that you could short hop a sweetspotted forward air into foes in melee, I could not perform that in this game...but I am sure with proper timing it can be done.
Back Air - Same as forward air, inst it? Looked like that to me anyways =/.
Down Air - Zelda stabs her foot downward - Its a real meteor! Like all Meteors in brawl, this sends them down very fast. It looked similar to how it was in melee. A sweetspot is required for this attack to meteor, but it felt alot easier to land than a Forward or Back aerial. When you fail to land the sweetspot, it sends them down pretty slowly. I just tested this for a little while, but it looks like all that a sweetspot down air (which is really not intuitive at all...the hitbox is somewhere around the front of her leg) on a foe on the ground just knocks them down, no upward trajectory at all.
Neutral Air - darn, I totally forgot to include this on the first posting. I had a hard time landing this move because it looked like Zelda had a high short hop and the hitbox looked pretty high, but when it did connect it was nice. Damage was alright, and it held them in for all the hits (like Mewtwo's neutral air). I forget how the knockback goes, but in reading the other Zelda thread its pretty good. woo.
Ground Attacks-
Smashes-
Forward Smash- Zelda reaches forward and damages and knocks back foes with magic - This move seemed to get a buff. I felt like it had really good priority. The knockback isn't amazing, but its still a kill move. Nobody managed to DI out of this (like I would imagine was possible in melee), but it might still be possible. The damage was pretty good as well.
As we know, you can DI out of this attack, but it wont happen every time, atleast. I played someone who tended to DI the multi hits, but he couldnt pull it off much more than half of the time.
Up Smash- Zelda waves her hand back and forth over her head with magic trailing her hand - This is similar to her up tilt, but it hits twice as much. It mostly builds damage, but at high percents you should be able to kill off the top. The priority felt rather good too, but I did honestly prefer up tilt to this because the tilt doesnt leave you as open. Its definitely situational, the up smash was awesome when they are flying at you from above, it goes through alot of things, whereas up tilt isnt as effective in that respect.
Also, as we know, DI spam happy foes can make it out of this, but not always
Down Smash- Zelda performs a fast kick all around her -Probably still the fastest smash attack in the game. Damage is alright (I think around 10%) and the knockback is awesome when they are at higher percents. Overall, this is very useful for clearing someone away from you, not to mention a great way to get them off the stage once they break 100%.
Tilts -
Forward Tilt - Zelda waves her hand in front of her with the usual magicness - I played with this more, and like in melee, this is definitely a kill move. Its pretty quick which is nice, but I dont think that tilts are going to be as useful in brawl...so this move might not end up very popular
Up Tilt- Zelda waves her hand once over her head with magic trailing her fingers - This move is great. Its fast to come out and fairly fast to end and if you get hit by one hit the rest tend to follow. It will hold them in and then launch them. I am inclined to say this has less knockback than the smash, but I am not sure. Up Tilt is great to cover over yourself.
Down Tilt- Zelda performs a quick low kick - The down tilt isnt bad...its fast enough that it could be used multiple times at low %s (but a jab or tilt might break you out of it), and I was able to tilt to smash because of the low knockback. Overall, I would say you have better options if you are within down tilt range. (namely down smash)
Throws -
Forward Throw- Apparently this was a kill move in melee, but it isnt any longer. The trajectory on this and the back throw is kind of wierd, but that might just be some spammy DI from the person I was playing. Not kill worthy, but a throw is a throw.
Back Throw - This has a somewhat longer trajectory to it than the forward throw, but its not a kill move unfortunately.
Up Throw- Up throw had reasonable distance to it, but it was definitely not a kill move (not like Zelda needed more ways to kill off the top
)
Down Throw- Down throw looks like it might be comboable like it once was, but as of now I have not managed to do it.
Dash Attack-
I started using Zelda's dash attack alot more to close distance between myself and more ranged based characters (read: wolf) and it seemed to work well. The knockback and damage is nice, and for some reason it has those stun frames you see on the foot. If that means there is a sweet spot, I dunno...but I really like this dash attack.
Jabs -
Zelda's jab is pretty quick, and actually has reasonable knockback to it, so...I approve. I need to incorporate it more into my style as it looks like a useful move. Also, the priority is pretty good to say the least.
My general strategy
The general idea here is that while everything Zelda does looks amazing on paper, alot of her kill moves are tougher to land than you think...but shes still incredible. Ill actually write something next time, chem work to do (always)
.Anyway, onto my impressions of her: Zelda rocks.
Its really true. I played with a few other folks and they were all impressed with how good Zelda has become in Brawl. So, now lets look at her moves:
B Moves-
Up B (Farore's Wind) - Zelda teleports a good distance to recover - I heard some of you guys saying she has more range on her Up B, but I didn't play Zelda nearly enough in Melee to get a feel for her range, so I dunno if thats true...but ill take yall's word for it. However, I can say this...it does appear to do damage and a small amount of knockback when she disappears and appears again. Unfortunately, this move is pretty slow...a few times when I thought I would make it in time, I got hit before she actually teleported...I dunno if it was that way in melee, but its worth noting.
Side B (Din's Fire) - Zelda launches a flaming sphere of doom - This seems to be the most popular buff around here (not that I blame anyone). As I have read here this move increases in damage, knockback, and damage radius the longer it moves. It also felt very fast and not particularly abusable. I managed to mess up approaches with it on more than one occasion as well. Also, the big thing was that at around max range it killed MetaKnight off the top of FinalD at 80%. Awesome.
Down B (Transform) - Sheik - I didn't play her in brawl, but after talking about the transformation time, we encountered a video where it seemed to speed up from Sheik to Zelda. I tested it in a couple different situations myself and could not verify that. Its definitely around 2 seconds long both ways, looks neat and has a ton of invincibility. But who cares about Sheik in brawl? Watch out, you can still get nailed as this move finishes. Also, I was informed that transforming removes all of the proration on attacks...but this is yet to be tested
Neutral B (Naryu's Love) - Zelda creates a shield around her and then swirls it around her, damaging nearby foes - This was a fun move. Its your typical brawl reflector in that it sends stuff back alot faster than it came to you. After playing both Zeldas, this Naryu's Love is definitely faster. It is definitely worth throwing this out from time to time if you wiff an aerial, the damage is sturdy and the knockback is reasonable.
Aerials -
Up Air - Zelda launches a quick burst of flame directly above her outstretched palm - You all know how this one goes, but now it has some awesome knockback along with it. It was a fairly quick attack overall (but I think it was in melee as well). Its definitely a solid kill move for Zelda, however I did not succeed in landing it as often as I would have liked...they learned to avoid this attack like the plague. The damage was pretty decent as well.
Forward Air - Zelda throws an aerial kick forward - It definitely has a smaller sweetspot than it used to, but the trade off is some nasty knockback. Also, when you do sweetspot this move, you and your opponent will freeze for just an instant (Extra DI frames), so realize this is a very easy move to DI now...but that wont save you at even moderate percents. I don't know anything about speed and range compared to melee, but it felt no different. HOWEVER, I recall that you could short hop a sweetspotted forward air into foes in melee, I could not perform that in this game...but I am sure with proper timing it can be done.
Back Air - Same as forward air, inst it? Looked like that to me anyways =/.
Down Air - Zelda stabs her foot downward - Its a real meteor! Like all Meteors in brawl, this sends them down very fast. It looked similar to how it was in melee. A sweetspot is required for this attack to meteor, but it felt alot easier to land than a Forward or Back aerial. When you fail to land the sweetspot, it sends them down pretty slowly. I just tested this for a little while, but it looks like all that a sweetspot down air (which is really not intuitive at all...the hitbox is somewhere around the front of her leg) on a foe on the ground just knocks them down, no upward trajectory at all.
Neutral Air - darn, I totally forgot to include this on the first posting. I had a hard time landing this move because it looked like Zelda had a high short hop and the hitbox looked pretty high, but when it did connect it was nice. Damage was alright, and it held them in for all the hits (like Mewtwo's neutral air). I forget how the knockback goes, but in reading the other Zelda thread its pretty good. woo.
Ground Attacks-
Smashes-
Forward Smash- Zelda reaches forward and damages and knocks back foes with magic - This move seemed to get a buff. I felt like it had really good priority. The knockback isn't amazing, but its still a kill move. Nobody managed to DI out of this (like I would imagine was possible in melee), but it might still be possible. The damage was pretty good as well.
As we know, you can DI out of this attack, but it wont happen every time, atleast. I played someone who tended to DI the multi hits, but he couldnt pull it off much more than half of the time.
Up Smash- Zelda waves her hand back and forth over her head with magic trailing her hand - This is similar to her up tilt, but it hits twice as much. It mostly builds damage, but at high percents you should be able to kill off the top. The priority felt rather good too, but I did honestly prefer up tilt to this because the tilt doesnt leave you as open. Its definitely situational, the up smash was awesome when they are flying at you from above, it goes through alot of things, whereas up tilt isnt as effective in that respect.
Also, as we know, DI spam happy foes can make it out of this, but not always
Down Smash- Zelda performs a fast kick all around her -Probably still the fastest smash attack in the game. Damage is alright (I think around 10%) and the knockback is awesome when they are at higher percents. Overall, this is very useful for clearing someone away from you, not to mention a great way to get them off the stage once they break 100%.
Tilts -
Forward Tilt - Zelda waves her hand in front of her with the usual magicness - I played with this more, and like in melee, this is definitely a kill move. Its pretty quick which is nice, but I dont think that tilts are going to be as useful in brawl...so this move might not end up very popular
Up Tilt- Zelda waves her hand once over her head with magic trailing her fingers - This move is great. Its fast to come out and fairly fast to end and if you get hit by one hit the rest tend to follow. It will hold them in and then launch them. I am inclined to say this has less knockback than the smash, but I am not sure. Up Tilt is great to cover over yourself.
Down Tilt- Zelda performs a quick low kick - The down tilt isnt bad...its fast enough that it could be used multiple times at low %s (but a jab or tilt might break you out of it), and I was able to tilt to smash because of the low knockback. Overall, I would say you have better options if you are within down tilt range. (namely down smash)
Throws -
Forward Throw- Apparently this was a kill move in melee, but it isnt any longer. The trajectory on this and the back throw is kind of wierd, but that might just be some spammy DI from the person I was playing. Not kill worthy, but a throw is a throw.
Back Throw - This has a somewhat longer trajectory to it than the forward throw, but its not a kill move unfortunately.
Up Throw- Up throw had reasonable distance to it, but it was definitely not a kill move (not like Zelda needed more ways to kill off the top
)Down Throw- Down throw looks like it might be comboable like it once was, but as of now I have not managed to do it.
Dash Attack-
I started using Zelda's dash attack alot more to close distance between myself and more ranged based characters (read: wolf) and it seemed to work well. The knockback and damage is nice, and for some reason it has those stun frames you see on the foot. If that means there is a sweet spot, I dunno...but I really like this dash attack.
Jabs -
Zelda's jab is pretty quick, and actually has reasonable knockback to it, so...I approve. I need to incorporate it more into my style as it looks like a useful move. Also, the priority is pretty good to say the least.
My general strategy
The general idea here is that while everything Zelda does looks amazing on paper, alot of her kill moves are tougher to land than you think...but shes still incredible. Ill actually write something next time, chem work to do (always)
