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Well, he’s most likely the second most popular hero of Nintendo behind Mario, yet Link has only two animated series to his name, and one of them is a cartoon he only made a couple of guest appearances on. Why? I don’t know. The Zelda series has always been held in high regard and as such, you’d think it would have a few animations under its belt. But that’s the way it is. Well at least the only animated appearance is awesome right? RIGHT?!?......... Let Link’s expression above set the tone for the… ‘awesomeness’ of this show… So how did Link fair? If you’ve read my reviews of the series, you’d know… not well.
The image above is the recurring ‘joke’ through the series of Link wanting a kiss and when he’s actually about to get one, something intervenes. It usually set Link off with his ‘Well EXCCCCCUUUUUUSSSEE ME! Princess!’ line. As you can see above, this version of Link was very different to the version today, mostly due to the American artwork. That said there are still plenty of things that do stay true to the games about him.
The image above is the recurring ‘joke’ through the series of Link wanting a kiss and when he’s actually about to get one, something intervenes. It usually set Link off with his ‘Well EXCCCCCUUUUUUSSSEE ME! Princess!’ line. As you can see above, this version of Link was very different to the version today, mostly due to the American artwork. That said there are still plenty of things that do stay true to the games about him.
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First and foremost, is his swords ability to shoot a beam. In the game this is achieved when Link has full life (hearts) but in the cartoon he uses it all the while. I believe this is for censorship reasons (which makes it a joke when he full on slices an enemy in half in Captain N later) While it is kinda cool they used something from the games which allowed him to kill enemies whilst not teaching kids to play with knives, it still seems really surreal, I mean no way should he ever be called a Swashbuckler. Anyway, other than that he has his shield which he very rarely uses in the show. This I can understand, as him fighting a guy with a sword and shield when the other guy only has a sword is kinda one sided, so at least I agree with them on that front. Also, there are similarities as you can see above between the original artwork for Link and the cartoon version.
Next we have the items, and honestly, they were way underused in the show. They did appear, but very rarely, in fact in the whole show I believe that all Link ever uses was the power bracelet (pictured above) a boomerang and a bomb. Zelda had the bow. One really cool thing that the show did do however, was gave the characters pouches which allowed them to shrink items, explaining how Link could use so many weapons. If any competent writer made a show with Link in it, it’s simple what humorous personality to give him which would even stay true to the games. Make him an item-whore. Just look at that picture above, that is official art and he’s perfectly shown as an obsessive item collector. Anyway that’s really about it for Link as the cartoon version was very boring. That cannot be said in my opinion however for his next appearance.
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Link appeared in Captain N. Not only with the voice actor from the previous show, but with a better script, better character, better design basically better everything. I put the picture next to Link as I noticed how both Links suddenly gained a slightly more mature look. Link has longer hair, a more stitched together looking tunic, and an injury. Granted the injury was part of the plot but still it was leaps and bounds over his previous appearance. Also Link had a far more mature character. He was no longer going after Zelda in the over the top ‘KISSS ME PRINCESSS!!1111’ way of the cartoon, but was instead getting angry at the attention Kevin got from Zelda. Also in later episodes he actually gets a few friendly kisses from Zelda and seems to make nothing of it, making it seem like he’s grown up.
Finally a comparison of the voices (As with the comparison of character) was pretty tough. Obviously we’re comparing adult Link and TP Link’s voices as they’re closer in age to the cartoon Link’s voice, but Links got a voice that was very annoying and whiny in the series, but in the Captain N series, the same voice actor became much better. Maybe it has something to do with Captain N being less comedy orientated or something, but he’s definitely better. Link’s voices from the game are clearly Japanese, so really there’s no similarity from what I can tell at all.
Finally a comparison of the voices (As with the comparison of character) was pretty tough. Obviously we’re comparing adult Link and TP Link’s voices as they’re closer in age to the cartoon Link’s voice, but Links got a voice that was very annoying and whiny in the series, but in the Captain N series, the same voice actor became much better. Maybe it has something to do with Captain N being less comedy orientated or something, but he’s definitely better. Link’s voices from the game are clearly Japanese, so really there’s no similarity from what I can tell at all.
