The Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda: A Link Between WorldsZelda: A Link to the PastBS Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastZelda: Breath of the Wild
Link would return in Zelda II, a game that continued to expand his early 8-bit look. Now 16 years old, the character sprite was drawn taller for the side-scrolling sections. The rest of his outfit remained largely unchanged, but in the production art, he was shown with brown pants and longer hair. Although Link’s shield originally had a cross on the front, it would later be removed after Zelda II.
For the 16-bit era, the franchise returned to a classic top-down perspective. Nintendo emphasized an expressive hero in a Link to the Past, and gave Link more personality than we’d seen before. Starting his adventure in bed, he now had pink hair, a hat that animated when he ran and a face that turned red whenever he pulled on objects. A Link to the Past also introduced the iconic Master Sword, a weapon that could be upgraded two times, but it wouldn’t sport its traditional blue and steel look until the next big Zelda. Link’s in-game model retained his young form from the original, but the manual art used a taller, blonde Link that closely resembled his Zelda II character model.
This particular take on Hyrule would return in the 3DS sequel “A Link Between Worlds” and hewed closer to A Link to the Past’s original designs…but nixed the pink hair.
The Game Boy Zelda games wrapped together visual ideas from the NES original and A Link to the Past. Surprisingly, Link retained some of his expressive traits, despite taking a step back to a smaller, portable screen. However the promotional art for the games followed A Link to the Past’s slightly older look. For Oracle of Ages and Seasons, the visual style depicted a younger character that came closer to the presentation in the games themselves.
As the first game of the series that used 3D graphics, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time pulled out all the stops. Link appeared in not one, but two forms: a younger version at the beginning of the game, and an older one that resembled his look in Zelda II. Link’s green tunic came from his life as a Kokiri, the children of the forest. Link’s signature shield featured the crest of the Hyrule kingdom, and the Master sword also settled into its iconic role as the Blade of Evil’s Bane.
Majora’s Mask made small improvements the young Link design, but outside of experimenting with new forms his look was kept mostly the same.
However, the next big console game would introduce a radical visual shift. Wind Waker embraced the stylized look of an animated cartoon. Nintendo decided to revisit Link’s younger form and emphasized his expressions: You could see all sorts of silly reactions and responses on his face.
The final product became so iconic that multiple games including Four Sword Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks would revisit the colorful art style.
For Twilight Princess, the Zelda team tapped into their appreciation of fantasy worlds and Hyrule received one of its most detailed face-lifts. The dual dimension, known as the Twilight Realm, would transform Link into a grey wolf. Link himself looked more ready for battle than before, sporting chainmail suit under his tunic and a stylish bracer over his sword hand.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword would deliver a painterly rendition of Link. Skyward Sword revisits adult Link’s look from the previous games but added lighter primary colors, baggier pants, and a simpler design that still feels rustic and classic at the same time.
Now we haven’t seen much of Link’s next adventure, but the little we know already points at a beautiful, stylized game that marries many of the previous art styles with a new anime-inspired look. Link himself is garbed in traditional clothing, a recurring theme from the previous games. His arm bracer and wraps look inspired by Gerudo designs, but it’s difficult to be sure.
No matter how he looks, Link is one of those iconic characters that has grown with the games industry and we can’t wait to see what’s next. Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. You can follow him on Twitter.
