-
Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!
You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!
Why is Link right handed now?
- Thread starter 1FC0
- Start date
Idon
Smash Legend
- Joined
- May 24, 2018
- Messages
- 17,624
- Location
- Waxing Moon Ritual
- NNID
- Miyamoto Iori
- Switch FC
- SW-4826-9581-3305
Because BotW Link is right handed.
Diem
Agent of Phaaze
According to Aounuma:
"In terms of right-handedness of things, when we think about which hand Link is going to use, we think about the control scheme. With the gamepad, the buttons you'll be using to swing the sword are on the right side, and thus he's right-handed."
Which is odd, given that Link's been left-handed for so long, but I guess after Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword they just decided to make him right-handed forever and be done with it.
D
Deleted member
Guest
Link has always been left handed, always thought Mario was too, honestly, maybe they just wanted to change up. Hard to say.
Quillion
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2014
- Messages
- 5,668
It's actually because BotW's HUD is so minimal that they have to communicate the attack button being on the right side in a different way. In previous games, there was always a big HUD that has the sword on the B button, so they could safely have it on his left hand. But since BotW has no such display, they have to put it on his right hand to compensate.
Anyway, Link being right-handed is partly the reason why I want "Classic Link" as an echo with the OoT and TP designs and the Smash 4 moveset.
D
Deleted member
Guest
Makes sense thanks for clarification.
rlwrgh
Smash Apprentice
I assumed it was because of the twilight princess on wii link being right handed to not confuse people who used the motion controls, and they seem to have kept him right handed since then, as a left handed person I feel unrepresented now. 
D
Deleted member
Guest
I never really thought much of it. Link is left handed but.
If they change it from time to time it's fine.
If they change it from time to time it's fine.
Quillion
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2014
- Messages
- 5,668
He doesn't have the Master Sword, though, which is a dealbreaker.
Mogisthelioma
Smash Master
It makes you wonder what gameplay would be like in BotW if Link was left handed. How many logistical mess ups....
rlwrgh
Smash Apprentice
I think they could just flip everything to make him lefty actually I think that's what they did in twilight princess wasn't he left handed in the gamecube version?
Idon
Smash Legend
- Joined
- May 24, 2018
- Messages
- 17,624
- Location
- Waxing Moon Ritual
- NNID
- Miyamoto Iori
- Switch FC
- SW-4826-9581-3305
Yup
The Rhythm Theif
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2019
- Messages
- 885
- Switch FC
- SW-2028-5151-9144
Link was perfectly fine until Smash Ultimate completely RUINED the character. Before, he was the left handed hero, with a great voice, actual BOMBS, amazing down air, the lot. Now in Ultimate, Link is right handed, which completely ruins the aspect of the character, a TERRIBLE voice, horrendous face, and a Snake C4 rip-off. Although they DID keep the good down air, Nintendo just completely took what made Link cool, and utterly destroyed what made the character so fun to play with!
Idon
Smash Legend
- Joined
- May 24, 2018
- Messages
- 17,624
- Location
- Waxing Moon Ritual
- NNID
- Miyamoto Iori
- Switch FC
- SW-4826-9581-3305
Well, the bombs aren't really a Snake C4 ripoff even if they're both remote detonations. They're more just weird physics balls than traps.
The Rhythm Theif
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2019
- Messages
- 885
- Switch FC
- SW-2028-5151-9144
Yeah, I guess you're right on that, but the fact that Link's new completely grabbable bombs can be moved is the only difference between Link's new Remote Bomb attack and Snake's C4 attack.
Last edited:
PhantomShab
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,200
Because he was right handed in BotW and that game made it a mission to be as un-Zelda as possible.
The Rhythm Theif
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2019
- Messages
- 885
- Switch FC
- SW-2028-5151-9144
Because in most of the games pre-Breath Of The Wild and even in The Legend Of Zelda manga, Link always used his left hand to wield his sword.
1FC0
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2013
- Messages
- 1,826
I knew that (except for the manga) but it still seems like it was just an insignificant detail that they were consistent with.
Though I guess it serves the purpose of making clear that the Zelda franchise is being rebooted. They probably made Link change hands and removed his tunic to make this entry less like the other entries in order to make it clear this is a reboot.
ALongWistfulSquiggle
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2018
- Messages
- 1,057
I always figured the change was at least tangentially related to the whole idea that Link is supposed to represent the player's connection to the world, hence the name: Link. Most people in the world are right-handed, and as a representation of as many people as possible, Link was changed to be right-handed. I'm pretty sure somebody said something about the idea when the motion-control Zelda games were being made.
It's not a great explanation, since you'd think the change would have happened earlier if that was the case. I just don't buy that the choice to keep BotW Link right-handed was related to gameplay at all. There really isn't any hand-eye coordination required to hit a button. A motion-control inspired ideology that stuck just makes more sense to me than that.
It's not a great explanation, since you'd think the change would have happened earlier if that was the case. I just don't buy that the choice to keep BotW Link right-handed was related to gameplay at all. There really isn't any hand-eye coordination required to hit a button. A motion-control inspired ideology that stuck just makes more sense to me than that.
KatKit
Smash Lord
My headcanon is that Link is ambidextrous and most of his reincarnations predominantly prefer the left hand. The Hero of the Wild is an outlier in the sense that in-universe, he had a reckless, aggressive fighting style before the timeskip; he didn't carry a shield in the flashbacks (despite being Zelda's protector). He initially failed to defeat Ganon. He doesn't predominantly use his left hand. Etc. He's not like most of the other Links (and his game isn't entirely structured like a typical Zelda game). So yeah, my point is that it makes sense to have this particular Link be right-handed, but chances are he's probably ambidextrous (as well as all of the other Links, past and present); in-universe, he switched between one and two-handed sword techniques when fighting in flashbacks, which further supports this. He probably just prefers to use his right hand.
Last edited:
ALongWistfulSquiggle
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2018
- Messages
- 1,057
You know, that's probably my favorite explanation for Link's handedness, especially since in BotW he is an actual soldier. It's likely he would be taught swordsmanship in a right-handed way, kind of like the way most ambidextrous people would learn to write with their right hand. All of the other Links basically just pick up a sword on their own and start swinging. They would pick whatever hand they want.
The more suspicious lore question is why most of the other Zelda games have shops that exclusively stock left-handed shields, when about 90% of their clientele should be right-handed.