Legend of Zelda (Universe)

The Legend of Zelda universe refers to the Smash Fighters' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's long-running and famous Legend of Zelda game series. It is a series of fantasy adventure titles produced by Nintendo throughout the company's history. It is widely considered one of the most influential video game franchises ever created, and has earned a spot as one of the company's flagship franchises alongside such notable series as Mario and Metroid. It has had over a dozen official titles which together have sold 47 million units, making it the 7th best-selling video game series ever.

Universe Decription
As a young boy, Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto explored the hillsides and forests surrounding his home of Kyoto, Japan. One day, he found a cave entrance in the middle of the woods, and he explored its depths with the aid of a lantern. Miyamoto, after having created and established the successful Mario franchise for Nintendo later on, designed and released The Legend of Zelda for the NES in 1986, and the vivid memory of his past experience was clearly an influence on the game: cave and dungeon exploration was a major element in the game. For its time, The Legend of Zelda was quite advanced, featuring an open-ended game world to explore at one's leisure, puzzle-and-monster-filled dungeons to complete with dozens of pieces of equipment such as bombs, boomerangs, and a bow and arrow, and the cartridge's ability to save progress via battery-backed memory. The game was wildly popular in Japan and North America, and many consider it one of the most important video games ever made, because like Super Mario Bros. before it, The Legend of Zelda broke new ground into what a video game can be.

Zelda was made into a full Nintendo franchise in the years afterward with the release of several follow-ups: 1988's radical action-RPG departure Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, 1992's SNES entry The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (an especially highly-revered game by the press), and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. After another hiatus, the series made the transition to 3D on the Nintendo 64 in November 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and it is lauded as one of the finest adventure games ever developed. With a new, more realistic design for the characters, a giant game world with a darker, more narrative mood imparted onto the experience, and a lock-on-based 3D combat system that would serve as a model for 3D game design forever afterward, Ocarina of Time became one of the most notable games in both the series and the game industry in general. It is because of this that the characters and properties from Ocarina of Time are featured in Super Smash Bros., and its direct sequel, 2000's The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, is featured as well in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

After Melee, the Zelda franchise went into a radical new direction in art style for the 2003 GameCube release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, featuring cel-shaded graphics and a very different cartoon-like incarnation of Link that would later be referred to as "Windwaker Link" to differentiate from "Ocarina Link". Fans were shocked initially but accepted the new style in good grace with the game's release. Since then the style has been continued in new releases such as The Minish Cap for GBA, Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube, and official Wind Waker continuation The Phantom Hourglass for DS. However, the franchise's Wii launch title, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, went back to a more realistic character and world design independent of the other games, featuring yet another Link redesign. With a lengthy development time, Twilight Princess was met with very glowing reviews and is considered perhaps the best Zelda experience yet. Partially as a result of this, the "Twilight Princess Link" is the incarnation of Link that features as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the it's based fangame, sequel of Super Smash Fighters'.

Generally, each game in The Legend of Zelda series is a fantasy-adventure game with action and puzzle-solving elements. The player controls either a boy or young man named Link, garbed in green clothing and possessing some of the physical characteristics of an elf, and in many Zelda games Link is called upon (by divine forces at times) to rescue Princess Zelda and the fictional world of Hyrule from (usually) the series antagonist, a demon named Ganon (or alternatively an imposing man whose name is extended as Ganondorf). The action often involves a divine relic known as the Triforce, a set of three magically bound golden triangles of great power. One aspect of the franchise to make it notable, however, is that not many of the games in the series seem to share a chronology and continuity, and some games may not even take place in the same reality as other games in the series. In a sense, there are many different Links and Zeldas (But Ganon is always the same person) found in the franchise, with different sets of these characters being associated with different games in the franchise.

There are various sub-chronologies of the Zelda games that can be pieced together, however, to form the various dimensions of the Zelda franchise. It's likely that The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link are part of the same chronology, and it's possible that A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening are part of another dimension's chronology as well. A far better-known and expansive chronology, however, is the one that begins with Ocarina of Time, featuring a young Link that can shift guises into a 7-years-older teenage Link, a Zelda that uses magic to change her appearance and identity into a stealthy ninja named Sheik to assist Link, and Ganon in his incarnation as a powerful human warlock named Ganondorf. These are the five character appearances that are featured as separate playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and it is the teenage Link from this dimension that is playable in the original Smash Bros. as well. This chronology is continued in both Twilight Princess and in Wind Waker, which take place in alternate dimensions. After Link defeats Ganon and saves Zelda in Ocarina of Time, Zelda offers to give back the 7 years he lost while his body matured in the Temple of Time so he could wield the Master Sword and become the Hero of Time. When she sends him back in time, she inadvertently creates a time paradox with two alternate dimensions. In the time line where Link did not go back 7 years, Ganon once again escaped death and began to again take over Hyrule. When no hero appeared to save them- possibly referring to the Majora's Mask game, where Link traveled to an alternate world-, the 3 goddesses flooded all of Hyrule, allowing the events in Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass to take place hundreds of years in the future. In the alternate world where Link was returned to childhood, he again meets Zelda as a child. But this time, powerful beings known as Sages know what will take place, and arrest Ganondorf and banish him to the Twilight Realm. Over a hundred years later, Ganon again begins to exert his influence over Hyrule, and the events in Twilight Princess occur.

In Smash Fighters
As a base franchise for the Smash series, representation from The Legend of Zelda came as no surprise revealed as being featured in Smash Fighters.

Characters

*Link:Link has been confirmed to return in but he is depicted as his Twilight Princess incarnation rather than his Ocarina of Time incarnation. Some of his moves have also been slightly modified to reflect on the Twilight Princess versions of his items. Link now has the Gale Boomerang as his Side B, which will slightly drag the opponent towards Link upon its return. Link's Bow is now the Hero's Bow, though it seems to be identical in function, and Link can now charge his Spin Attack, but only while standing, not while in the air. Link's grab has also been changed to the Clawshot, which not only appears to be longer than the Hookshot, but also automatically aims towards the nearest ledge when Link is recovering. His Final Smash is the Triforce Slash, which does heavy, prolonged, and concentrated damage towards one opponent.

*Zelda:She is a slow, but light character, but when her attacks hit right, they can be powerful. She retains her ability to transform into Sheik during battle and can be selected between the two on the character select screen. Zelda's Final Smash, is the Triforce Shine.


 * Shiek:She didn't appear in Twilight Princess but her appearance has been based on a "beta Sheik" that was meant to appear in Twilight Princess, but whose design was never seen by anyone by Eiji Aonuma and his development team. She still has her own moveset but shares her Final Smash with Zelda.


 * Ganondorf:A man who wants to use the power of the Triforce to conquer the world. In Twilight Princess, he gives strength to the Twilight King, Zant, and tries to change the land into a world of darkness. He possesses Zelda, transforms into a magical beast, and attacks Link. In the end, however, Link deals him a finishing blow and defeats him.


 * Toon Link:Link as he appeared in The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, with big eyes and an expressive face. He lived peacefully on Outset Island until a bird captured his little sister, and he came to her rescue. In The Wind Waker, he had to crawl, press up to walls, and the like. His green clothes were worn on his 12th birthday and are the lucky outfit of the hero of legend.


 * Minda & Wolf Link:Link's alternate form in the Twilight Realm. In this form, he cannot use weapons such as swords or shields, but he can attack with a ferocious wolf bite. He also has a number of unique skills inherent to his beast form, such as a keen sense of smell, the ability to dig, and a loud wolf howl.

Common Enemies

 * ReDead

Stages

 * Hyrule Temple


 * Hyrule Castle


 * Bridge of Eldin


 * Pirate Ship

Items

 * Heart Container


 * Bunny Hood