Toon Link (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about Toon Link's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Toon Link.

Toon Link (トゥーンリンク, Tūn Rinku) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His moveset appears similar to that of Young Link. His appearance is based off of his look in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, among other games. He is currently ranked 16 on the tier list, thanks to his approaching ability and well-balanced attacks. However, his matchups are below average overall against the high tier characters and average matchups overall leaves him in the B tier.

How to Unlock

 * Complete Classic Mode with any character on any difficulty after already finishing the Subspace Emissary.
 * Toon Link can also be found in a door near the beginning of the Forest level of the Subspace Emissary after the story is completed. You must defeat Toon Link first before obtaining him.
 * Play 400 brawls in Brawl mode.

Gameplay differences between Young Link and Toon Link
Toon Link replaces Young Link from Melee, with some noticeable changes in his fighting style.


 * Toon Link has more range than Young Link, since he uses the Master Sword (and the latter uses the small Kokiri Sword).
 * Toon Link uses his sword for more attacks than Young Link does, due to his shorter legs.
 * Toon Link's Hero's Bow shoots farther and charges faster, but his arrows are slower and do not set targets on fire like Young Link's do. However, two can be fired out of a short hop, providing for an effective fence of pain.
 * Toon Link's Bombs do not perform combos like Young Link's and are weaker than Link's, but they have a bigger blast radius and a different smoke explosion, which was taken from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
 * Toon Link's Up Smash is a single slash, rather than three, and is a much better finisher.
 * Toon Link's recovery is significantly longer, as he has less fall time and higher second and third jumps.
 * Toon Link's Neutral, Back, and Forward Airs are different (Nair is two slashes, one forward and one backward, Bair is a standard backward slash, and Fair is a standard forward slash. Young Link's Nair was a Sex Kick, his Fair was two slashes forward, and his Bair was two kicks backwards)
 * Toon Link's Down Air goes straight down, is much faster, and is easier to control.
 * Toon Link's Down Air spikes in the beginning of the plunge; Young Link could only spike on the opening frame if the opponent was directly above and touching him with his Down Air.
 * Toon Link is much floatier than Young Link.
 * Toon Link can block fire-based projectiles with his Shield, while Young Link can't (since he uses the wooden Deku Shield).
 * Toon Link's hookshot goes farther than Young Link's.
 * Killing power is overall better, due in part to Brawl's slower pace
 * Toon Link's Bair can start combos and Young Link's can't.

Attributes
Toon Link is small, quick, floaty, and powerful. He combos easily, and his attacks are generally high priority, long ranged, and medium to low lag moves. His aerial game is powerful, which combines with decent grabs and high knockback moves. Projectiles, his bombs in particular, are also part of Toon Link's game, which are great for mindgames, and (like Boomerangs) can be used to set up aesthetic combos. He has a powerful, long ranged game due to having 3 projectiles and a Zair, as well as a shield to automatically block most other projectiles while standing in a stationary position. His Stall-Then-Fall down aerial can negate horizontal knockback, which sets up the rest of his recovery, and can also make use of a Tether Recovery and bomb recovery. He also has a disjointed hitbox (his sword). Toon Link also has the ability to wall jump. However, he has a few disadvantages. He is a lighter character, and his forward smash leaves him vulnerable, as does his grab should it miss. Also, his Stall-then-Fall can cause some unwanted self destructs. He may also have problems regarding finishing his opponent off. His best kill move is his up smash; his down smash is not as powerful, and the second hit of his forward smash can easily be evaded. Ultimately, Toon Link becomes what his player makes of him in combining and using his advantages to mitigate disadvantage.

Normal

 * Neutral A - Toon Link slashes twice then thrusts his sword forward. Fairly quick. Three hits; the first hit does 2% and has very little, set knockback. The second hit does 2% and also has little knockback, though not set, and introduces upward knockback. The third hit does 5% and, though it has actual "knockback", has little kill potential. Total, 10%. Primarily used as a way to create space against close-up opponents.
 * Dash Attack - A horizontal slash. It knocks the enemy directly forward with little knockback, decreasing its combo-starting potential. Conversely, it can also cause the enemy to trip. 10% normally, 8% if hit with the tip.
 * Strong Side - Toon Link slashes from behind to in front of him. The beginning of the attack hits behind him. Decent horizontal knockback makes it tolerable for edge-guarding if the Blast line is nearby. Can cause tripping. 9%, no matter where it lands.
 * Strong Down - Swipes his sword along the ground. Ideal for edge-guarding if an off-stage opponent is trying to grab a ledge. Can trip opponents. 9%, no matter where it lands.
 * Strong Up - Quick overhead swipe. Similar to his up smash, except faster and less powerful. Covers a fairly large arc. Knockback is almost entirely vertical, and it is usually possible to chain multiple Strong Ups in succession on a low-damaged enemy. Excellent for starting aerial combos. 9%, no matter where it lands.

Smash

 * Forward Smash - Toon Link, slightly crouching, slashes forward, and if the player hits A, any direction on the C-stick, or even Z, he follows up with another finishing slash. A good finisher. Two hits; the first hit does 10% uncharged, 14% fully charged and has little, upward, set knockback. The second hit does 13% uncharged, 18% fully charged and has powerful knockback. Total, 23% uncharged, 32% fully charged.
 * Up Smash - Single overhead strike. Slower, longer ranged, and more powerful than his uptilt. 15% damage uncharged, 21% fully charged. It has good topkilling capability, and its decent speed and range make it a good choice to execute during a dash.
 * Down Smash - Sweeps his sword in front of and then behind him along the ground. First hit knocks in to second hit. 17% damage uncharged, 23% fully charged. With proper timing it can be used to counter players who roll-dodge a lot. It is possible, by use of slopes (or sometimes automatically at low %s), to hit opponents with only the first hit of his smash, which has, though set, lots of knockback, possibly setting up for very early kills. Also, using it on the furthest left and right sides of Hyrule Temple while facing away from the edge will result in an instant KO.

Other

 * Ledge Attack - Gets on the stage and slashes from head to toe. 8%
 * 100% Ledge Attack - Slowly gets up and stabs forward. 10%
 * Floor Attack - Slashes in front of him and then behind him. 6%
 * Trip Attack - Slashes in front of him and then behind him just like his floor attack. 5%

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral aerial - Double swipe of the sword, similar to Marth's Neutral Air. 10% damage per swing. The first hit can bring the target into the second hit, provided the enemy is positioned properly. Minimal starting lag makes this a useful move out of a short hop.
 * Forward aerial - Forward slash, high knockback. 13% damage. Good for edge-guarding if you are fond of leaving the stage to intercept the recovering enemy. Can be short hopped, but is not as effective in that capacity as his nair or bair.
 * Back aerial - Quick backward arc, raising from his feet to about his head. High damage, but low knockback, enabling multiple-hits strung together consecutively. 10% damage. Excellent for midair combos, and a tolerable edge-guarding move if you stage an aerial-interception defense directly from the ledge itself. Excellent to use out of a short hop using the Reverse Aerial Rush.
 * Up aerial - Sticks his sword above him, as per usual Link Up Air, though it has more knockback. Long duration, decent knockback. 14% damage. The range and disjointed hitbox of this move make it a good choice for juggling. This is a sex kick, meaning that it will do much more damage on the opening frames but is held out for a while.
 * Down aerial - Sticks his sword straight down, as per usual Link Down Air. However, this has a twist. When the attack begins, it stalls momentarily in midair, then launches Toon Link downwards very quickly. The beginning of the downwards descent can spike the opponent powerfully, but it's very risky because if he misses he will Self destruct. In addition, when Toon Link slams into the ground, any opponents near the impact point but not struck by the attack are pushed back with a fair amount of force. 13% damage. Note that it sometimes is identical to Link's, depending on your vertical trajectory during execution. Like Link's, this dair can pogo-hop off an enemy, allowing it to hit twice. This is easily followed up with one of his other aerials like his Nair or his Uair for a quick three-hit combo.  The pogo effect allows one to dair an offsatge opponent and pogo back to the stage.
 * Hookshot Zair - Fires his hookshot straight in front of him, just like Link but with shorter range. The only part of the attack which hits is the tip of the hookshot. 4% damage. There is a very short knockback to this attack, which itself is commonly exploited to follow up with a ground grab attack, which can lead to aerial combos. Toon Link's tether aerial (often called "Zair") is typically done following a short hop, and used at the peak of Toon Link's jump, or just as he begins to fall. This attack is unique in the sense it can be used instantly out of airdodge (a typical combo is a short hop, airdodge, Zair), and is practically lagless when Toon Link hits the ground.

Grabs and Throws

 * Grab - Holds opponent with his right hand after grabbing them with the Hookshot. High ending lag if this move misses, but good range.
 * Pummel - Beats opponent with the hilt of his sword. 2% damage/hit.
 * Forward throw - Drops opponent quickly and shoulder tackles them forward. 7% damage.
 * Back throw - Pulls opponent close, falls back, then kicks them backwards. 7% damage.
 * Down throw - Throws opponent on the ground and slams on top of them. 7% damage.
 * Up throw - Throws opponent upward and slashes them. 7% damage.

Strategies & Tips

 * Always have a bomb in hand. Don't pull one out in the thick of battle, but if you have a little distance then go ahead. They can disrupt opponents' combos and have a large blast radius so use them often.
 * Use the boomerang before going in to attack to cover yourself. Throw it diagonally up towards your opponent and if you start getting hit, the boomerang will come back to you, hit the opponent and interrupt them.
 * Toon Link has a lot of attacks that annoy and interrupt, so poke and prod as much as you need to before going for the final blow.
 * Always try to be unpredictable, don't rely on the same projectiles over and over again. Even Toon Link's slow uncharged arrows can slow down approaches.
 * Toon Link's dair can sometimes be used as a very powerful meteor smash, but only when the opponent is right below him. This is probably the most dangerous meteor smash, for if he misses over a gap, it will result in a self-destruct. This is best practiced on a stage with water in it (Pirate Ship, for example) because the water will save him from self-destructing, or a very large stage (such as the largest size possible for a custom stage) because Toon Link's Dair does not go straight down all the way, but still, the distance it goes is very far.
 * After pulling out a bomb, jump into the air and if you press the grab button during the landing animation, the bomb will lay there until it explodes on it's own, instead of exploding on impact. From there, it can be picked up, sent towards the opponent with the shockwave from a dair, or left there. If left there it can block various projectiles such as Mario's Fireball, Wolf's Blaster, and the Ice Climber's Ice Shot without exploding.
 * When going in for an up smash kill, throw a bomb upwards before executing your up smash. When done properly, your opponent should go in the usual upwards trajectory and collide with the bomb for extra damage and knockback.
 * All grabs can be excellent combo starters, although the lag when his hookshot misses makes them risky against faster characters.
 * Also note that Toon Link has a somewhat unique jump when pushing the reverse direction when grabbing a ledge; that is, whereas most characters just drop diagonally down from the ledge, Toon Link instead will do a jump away from the stage.
 * Toon Link's Zair is an excellent combo starter. A popular combo is short hop, air dodge, Zair, then a running up smash. Try to use this technique on an opponent with over 120%
 * Toon Link's Down air attack can slide on a slanted platform; such as the pipes in the old Yoshi's Island. Using this slide to your advantage can get you half way across a map quite quickly (and trick your opponents), to help rack up some damage with his projectiles.

Stickers
Toon Link uses his sword for all of his attacks except his Back Throw, Forward Throw, and Down Throw. Because of this, he benefits greatly from [Slash] and [Weapon] Damage boosts. Toon Link has more ranged specials than direct, so a [Specials: Indirect] boost would also be beneficial to him.

Taunts
Up: Conducts with his Wind Waker baton. Then a sound from when Toon Link plays a song in The Wind Waker is heard.

Side: Puts his sword away and looks around the environment.

Down: Panics while slashing his sword around wildly, which tires him out.

On-Screen Appearance
Appears from a Wind Waker style explosion, and quickly sheaths and unsheathes his sword.

Idle Poses

 * Looks on both sides of him.
 * Gently stomps the tip of his boot on the ground.

Victory Pose
Victory Theme: Zelda Triforce Theme
 * He waves the Wind Waker baton.
 * He tries to catch a pig but ends up tripping and falling on his bottom and begins rubbing it gently with a small sigh as he falls.
 * Similar to the previous pose except he catches a pig and holds it above his head, all while struggling trying not to drop it.

Credits Music

 * Village of the Blue Maiden

Role in Subspace Emissary
Toon Link is an optional character in Subspace Emissary, like Jigglypuff and Wolf. To find him players must enter a new door in the Forest which appears after defeating Tabuu for the first time. It will take you to the stage Pirate Ship, where Toon Link notices you and prepares for battle. You will then fight Toon Link. Defeating him will add him to your team. He does not have an actual role in the overall plot.

Trivia

 * Toon Link looks slightly more realistic in Brawl than in Wind Waker. This can be seen by comparing his standard trophy and his Outset Link trophy.
 * Toon Link came in first in the "Favorite Brawl Character" poll by Nintendopedia.
 * Despite being able to crawl voluntarily in Wind Waker, Toon Link can't crawl in Brawl.
 * Toon Link's arrows shoot at a very slight upwards angle.
 * Toon Link holds the world record for Level 4 and Level 5 Target Smash (Level 4 completed in 9.05 seconds, and Level 5 completed in 6.65 seconds), Co-op Target Smash Level 1 with Falco (2.66 seconds), and Co-op Target Smash Level 5 with another Toon Link (4.11 seconds).
 * Toon Link's hair is unaffected by gravity.
 * If Toon Link gets Superspicy Curry, even though the flames follow the character wherever the direction the character is facing, Toon Link spins when not moving, and the flames don't follow.
 * An interesting glitch also involving the Superspicy Curry, when Toon Link stands still as its effect wears off, he doesn't arm himself with his sword and shield, but poses as if he were holding them. They reappear in his hands if you move, however.
 * If Link and Toon Link use their down throw on a Jigglypuff it will only do 4% damage. This is because their down throw hits twice, and Jigglypuff is too light to get hit on the first strike (as the second strike does 4 damage and the first does 3).
 * If Toon Link uses Spin Attack right when he's running off the ledge, when he falls and Spin Attack starts, he won't rise at all.
 * Dark Toon Link is the only alternate costume where the color of his shield changes. Unlike Link, the first five of his costumes don't affect his shield's color.
 * Toon Link's hair has almost the same texture as Link's hair.
 * Toon Link is the youngest fighter in Brawl, being 12 years old. (Although Lucas and Ness appear younger, they are actually 13 years old.)
 * Of all of the Post-Subspace Emissary characters, Toon Link is in the highest tier placement.
 * In fact, Toon Link has the highest tier placement of all The Legend of Zelda characters.
 * In the Wind Waker, it is impossible for Link to possess both the fully-powered Master Sword and the Hero's Shield at the same time, but in Brawl this is the case. This is because in Wind Waker Toon Link aquires the Mirror Shield before he upgrades the Master Sword to its full power.