This appearance has since been traditional for Link, with the exception of his appearance in Breath of the Wild, which nevertheless features versions of his traditional green clothes as unlockable attires. Link is designed with a green tunic and a green hat, which, like Mario's design, was due to the NES' hardware limitations. Link's first appearance was in The Legend of Zelda, which depicted his quest to rescue Princess Zelda and the land of Hyrule from the evil Ganon. By extension, prepubescent incarnations have also been playable, with the first instance of this occurring in Super Smash Bros. Compared to the rest of the crew, however, he holds the distinction of doing so in name only because of three of his incarnations (the Hero of Time, the Hero of Twilight, and the Hero of the Wild) appearing as playable characters. Ultimate.Īs a member of the " perfect-attendance crew", Link has been featured as a playable character throughout the Super Smash Bros. Unlike the majority of Nintendo protagonists, there are several distinct incarnations of Link seen throughout The Legend of Zelda series, each of whom are destined to become heroes against powerful forces of evil, most notably Ganondorf/ Ganon.ĭue to the consistent critical and commercial success of The Legend of Zelda series, Link is marketed as one of Nintendo's flagship characters alongside Mario, the company's mascot, to the point that both he and Mario are marketed together as mascots for Super Smash Bros. Link ( リンク, Link) is the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series. Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom Disk System) Official artwork for various iterations of Link.