TV Link

TV LINK

In 1989, the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! debuted, premiering a new episode every day of the week for about three months, with the Saturdays devoted instead to episodes of a similarly animated Legend of Zelda series. The series’ setup saw Link as a young adventurer, hired on by the royal family of Hyrule to protect their Triforce of Wisdom.

This is Link, portrayed in the series as a lazy womanizer who spent most of his time propositioning Zelda or trying to get out of his work, punctuating every moment he got into trouble with his famous “Excuuuuuse me, Princess.”

Much like the Mario series, the cartoon somewhat reimagined his moveset in a different way than the way most gamers are probably used to, enough to reasonably develop an entirely new moveset. Other than that, he will have most of the same stats as his game counterpart.

Likelihood rating: Non-game.

Character Sheet: TV Link

TV LINK

There's not much point to a big returning character review this time around, so let's cover the small handful of characters we were able to pull from the Legend of Zelda cartoon series created by DiC, and the few western comics published under the Zelda series banner. We have eleven to add, including:

1.     TV Link

2.     TV Zelda

3.     King Harkinian

4.     Queen Seline

5.     Roam

6.     Sing

7.     Doof & Automaton

8.     Sleezenose

9.     TV Ganon

10.  Goriya

11.  Water Monster

Well, excuuuuuuuuse me, Princess, but it looks like he still gets to go first. The TV version of Link is not a great version of the character, being an arrogant idiot who can't take no for an answer, a far cry from Ocarina, Wind Waker, or Breath of the Wild's versions. Still, there are some significant differences between him and his video game counterparts, likely stemming from the animators interpreting pixels differently than later game developers would, resulting in more than enough distinction to be his own character.

So first off, Link has a horse named Catherine and a fairy companion named Sprite, both of whom can be factored in here. He also wields a sword with which he can cast sword beams and a shield on which he can surf. He has a magical pouch that he can store and draw items from, a whistle to whip up the wind, a rope he can use as a lasso, a power bracelet, and a force field ring. He can also kick, throw pillows, and springboard off of things, so I'd say we have plenty.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Magic Pouch

Basically functioning just like Villager's pocket move, Link will grab projectiles and items and stash them away for future use.

Side B: Sword Beam

Link will cast a sword beam with his sword, but in this instance, with the animation for the attack as used by the show.

Up B: Shield Springboard

He will toss his shield down and then springboard off of it to get himself higher, a frequent tactic used by him.

Down B: Force Field Ring

He will cast a force field from his ring around himself, protecting himself from harm.

Final Smash: Triforce of Wisdom

The Triforce of Wisdom will rise and start to glow, blowing players back with its power as Link protects it.

Entrance: He will ride in on Catherine and dismount.

Taunts: Up, Sprite will circle around him and they will laugh. Side, he will lean in and ask for a kiss. Down, he will cross his arms and say, well, you know.

Thanks for reading! Next up, his counterpart version of Princess Zelda.