Can Young Link Win a Major?

[@ProbablyBarney]

"This still falls under the umbrella of a rushdown playstyle, as your bombs are rushing down to the ground, in the direction you have thrown them" marry me rishi

[@toontownveteran]

"This still falls under the umbrella of a rushdown playstyle, as your bombs are rushing down to the ground, in the direction you have thrown them" thought this was an april fools video after this line

[@abjoern]

"you can rushdown to the ledge"

[@davidyang438]

"Young Link has a chain-grab on every character"

[@JacobThePoe]

No joke. I randomly decided to look at the comments at this part of the video. I read this at the exact time he started saying it. No one can convince me that we don't live in a simulation.

[@Ruminations09]

"Young Link has a chaingrab on every character." Wait, really? That's fucking awes- oh. Godammit.

[@beigematt4927]

I feel like rishi is attempting to awaken the next axe for a character with these videos

[@YamiKyougi13]

for real. Rishi trying to awakening people to the next era of Smash. What a legend.

[@noamblumberg6003]

There actually is a discord server for YLink. It's got players Like Bambi, Molten, Niklas and so many more people. I'm there and consistently learn shit. they have a 100 page long Google Docs all about Ylink

[@Sly_Maverick_31]

Legend of Llod: Rishi's Awakening

[@shoePatty]

@@noamblumberg6003 Is there something like this for other characters, or Melee as a whole? I've always wanted to write something of a sports manga like Hajime no Ippo about Melee, but I lack the depth of game knowledge to take it far.

[@noamblumberg6003]

@@shoePatty there are. I think for all characters. Or st least a really good amount of them. Edit: found it! put the "character discord" filter smashcords.com/melee#

[@tetsuoumezawa5833]

How can Young Link win a major when he's obviously still a minor?

[@edi4360]

The exit is right over there.

[@kentaIzzy]

he just has to pull the master sword out

[@idontcheckmynotifications]

Isn't there Cremia?

[@imjokingstop]

M I L K

[@ParadoxBoxx]

this unfortunately has a new meaning given recent events

[@peregrinecovington4138]

Two years later there's now a young link in the top 100. Well done Rocket

[@peter42466]

Yeah it’s crazy how well this video and the dk one have aged

[@Freefallyyz]

"Its still rushdown because the bombs are rushing down"

[@LazyLee]

Young Link also has a fire sword, so ofc he can win a major

[@mateobea7801]

So does Roy, and has he ever won a ma-....

[@Sly_Maverick_31]

@@mateobea7801 *cuts you off* Sorry, nothing to see here folks. Back to you, Rishi.

[@imjokingstop]

*jUSt bEACaUse tHEy hAvE A FlAMe sWorD dOesNT mEAN He CaN wIN A maJOR >:( >:( >:( >:(*

[@revelationsgaming2727]

Flame Sword > Falchion

[@burst0th]

@@mateobea7801 Zain Roy won a tournament

[@cancelskawoforgivingmedlib4710]

The only thing that has kept me going as a YL main is the thwack his boomerang makes when you land the strong hit (and the combos it leads to).

[@Sax4565]

Guys, cherish his dair spike. I main YL in Ultimate and I would kill to have it back :(

[@Base_Bass_Forte]

@@Sax4565 what does his dair do in ult.?

[@alfredusmagnus]

@@Base_Bass_Forte it doesnt meteor smash at the hilt of the sword its just like a normal daie

[@MishKoz]

Hey Rishi, I really loved the video, but the music was kind of loud at parts and almost drowned out your voice sometimes. Keep up the great content dude

[@deathrod123]

You know what else is loud? My screams of terror when I watch all known deaths on icarly

[@hughmungus99]

@@deathrod123 r/suspiciouslyspecific

[@theinktician]

No it didnt and fAWK the 100 likes

[@107_cow]

its called putting down the volume

[@theleeryone]

@@107_cow turning down the volume would also turn down the volume of rishi's voice, meaning the music would still drown it out. the music is definitely too loud

[@Hope4NewDay1]

The character that feels like you need to take 6 stocks before your opponent takes your 4.

[@JV-uq9cf]

I've always really liked Young Link and Samus since they're the only characters to have both a tether and a wall jump, giving them the most fun and versatile recoveries to use.

[@hylianmango8272]

They're a great pair to main because while they dont really fully counter anybody, they cover a wide enough variety to be able to have a good matchup against every chracter

[@jeffreycanfield1939]

7:28 best joke of 2020

[@NeonDart]

Hmm, I feel like I found some secret video or some shit. Just and FYI this video is unlisted but because it is in your video essay playlist it can be found.

[@Cunt143]

Not unlisted anymore

[@jon630]

"You can always go for the tried and true jump airdodge zair out of shield" I lost it.

[@dabsol9137]

yeah i main the links and ive never seen or heard of anyone doing that in my LIFE

[@Base_Bass_Forte]

@@dabsol9137 then you're not lived enough.

[@Nagstersept109868]

This is the most esoteric community I’ve ever seen. I love it.

[@HunyBearLink]

Local Link expert here. You can Jump cancel item throws. No need for pivot. If you CC bomb throw you can throw it in any direction. You can also shield stop bomb throw to achieve the same goal. Also if you want to smash throw the bomb while dashing forward (normally you will get tilt throw) then you do run cancel (hold down) then C-stick forward.

[@gsubs2008]

Rishi's deadpan is on another level LOL

[@CyanEyed07]

I thought the music was a bit too overpowering, but otherwise it was a great it was a great video.

[@Themonkeymartin]

I liked the loud music tho lol

[@goldiesloth]

@@Themonkeymartin yeh, but it almost drowns out what Rishi is saying more than a couple times

[@Eagleye-ws1lk]

goldiesloth pretty sure that’s intentional

[@josephglynn545]

no

[@ClassicBentobox]

I don’t mind but everybodies different

[@snood3658]

i was dreading the end of the video. this was absolutly amazing with the ammount of depth you used. i wish so badly it continued :'(

[@oliviawallace3636]

'rushing down to the ledge' LMFAOOOOOO music was a little too loud in some places but holy shit between you and AsumSaus, melee content rn is AMAZING

[@zxien1]

8:28 that boomerang just came back from the next dimension.

[@jevn11]

Young link imo is such a well designed character. A rush down projectile character

[@_sah_dude]

The chaingrab on every character killed me good vid homie

[@bubberducky295]

Even 19 years later and we're still finding new things and changing the meta. Goes to show how complex melee is.

[@robo-rex0239]

I honestly think a bunch more characters are not optimized nearly as much as they could

[@ryanmarcus3970]

To be fair the meta still needs time to develop. Give it another 20 years

[@YouB3anz]

Probably because the more optimized play styles involve a lot more work from the player to execute. So it may be possible but not worth all the extra effort.

[@ln8496]

@@YouB3anz yeah the idea is higher tiers do what YL does but much better

[@Saskaruto16]

There are. Of course Yink isn't optimized to the level of Fox. But we know what could be optimized further through things like TAS. So we can look at what 20YL looks like, and it's not good enough to want to use when you could just play Fox and still beat that while having more fun playing agressive.

[@zaraimpala3962]

20YL is the future I dream of

[@pippincovington1348]

I hope this video spawns a new wave of Young Link players. Such a cool character

[@Fizzor]

I’ve always felt Young Link brought out the finner elements of melee as well. He’s my main; was cool to come across this video.

[@Fizzor]

Thank you, I appreciated this so much.

[@dominicwallington9568]

I'm a young link main! Thanks for this video!

[@Themonkeymartin]

Game And Watch main still waiting 😭👌

[@zacclark5945]

@@Themonkeymartin I main G&W and Young Link.

[@Claudia-km9lo]

@@zacclark5945 oh wow, me too!

[@speckwii]

I love that this is a series (do Doc next).

[@rainyprac]

Rishi i just want to say i love this content snd your other essay style videos from this era. The decision making video in particular was and is extremely helpful to me. Thanks for making them and i hope you make more.

[@kifkif7117]

6:18 latest nair is +0 on shield according to uncle punch training event, late backair is -2

[@7373walker]

Young Link's aerial drift is insane. Most fun character in the whole game imo

[@benk6153]

Rishi posts this just days after beating me with young link in r1 of untitled 10... hmmm... IM THE METRIC OF WINNING A MAJOR. Jkjk

[@averysketchygamer3241]

I haven't really been hyped to play Melee until I watched this video. I couldn't really find a proper character with a powerful rushdown playstyle that I liked, but now that my horizons have been broadened, I might pick up the competitive scene in this game. I'm not planning on winning any majors or anything, but this definitely seems like fun. Thank you.

[@Josuh]

are u still at it bro

[@BakedBanana]

oh? It's been over a year, how is it going?

[@carterclem7]

Time to switch from DK to Young Link now

[@Errorfile404]

"at his core, yl is a rush down character" with the music, makes me happy to hear this as someone who 2nd mains him but probably plays him more than my main (Falco)

[@BongoDrumme]

not gonna lie, when the OOT music cued in after a minute of just narration i was impressed just really solid editing

[@leaffinite2001]

4:01 Turn up your volume to hear Young Link shriek as hes hurled into the abyss

[@StarchasirK]

OMG! You're right. A lot of hidden potential and as you said, there's many other things to master. Down tilt, down air's meteor, down angles of his boomerang, etc... I think I'll give him a chance in some incoming online tournaments.

[@julien2136]

Another banger in the books my man

[@NinF37]

7:33 i legitimately exhaled over this joke. you win this time rishi...

[@LRXC1]

This makes me wanna play Young Link

[@Brando550]

"Bombs will always beat out aerials." Oh how wrong you are (YL main here for the past 5 years)

[@nahor88]

YL won't win a major because he'll never beat the top tier characters in neutral. Axe is by far the best YL out there, and I just don't see him taking a set off a top level player going straight YL. It's not like AmSa with Yoshi where he mastered an under-utilized technique which took his neutral game to another level, covering up some of his glaring weaknesses. I agree with Rishi and YL is a rush down character, but he's just not as good at it as the spacies, Falcon or Sheik, and he consequently struggles in those match-ups.

[@radiosignal]

There is so much more melee to be played

[@edi4360]

:)

[@weez8311]

the best smash content creator

[@saigesmart4167]

Whenever I see Axe's Young Link I honestly wonder why he doesn't use him more, its sick and looks hard to beat

[@emceehawaii7542]

His pika is better

[@saigesmart4167]

@@emceehawaii7542 You're not wrong but if he put the hours he did into cultivating the character's meta like he did for Pika I wonder if it would be better?

[@talbotsolenberger4434]

@@emceehawaii7542 I think more importantly, he likes Pika more. He identifies with the character, both literally with all the pikachu branded stuff he's got and figuratively, with how he likes to play.

[@seikluss89]

You just opened my eyes to younglink and ive been playing for 7 years. Thanks Rishi!

[@coldcommando4889]

Thanks for the video YL has been one of my favourite characters in melee

[@noahvegetables]

Both the links are super underrated

[@sel7506]

that chain grab joke baited me so hard I was angry at it xD wp

[@e77gma]

I like how this is really just a young link guide

[@deejaykriskrush]

hit the nail on the head, ppl dont think young link has what it takes.. just gotta play differently.. rishi really out here doin it for the young link mains

[@dabsol9137]

I'm a young link main and just... thank you. Thank you a lot.

[@im_outtahere]

I'm working on controlling space with bombs right now, I'm starting to be able to L-cancel more. I need to work on wavedashing more, but I am improving. I guess my playing speed is increasing too.

[@beauhendershot7911]

I want another one of these videos :( Is Mr. Game and Watch viable?

[@LANBobYonson]

Another thing you didn't mention is YLs dtilt is really good, sorta like Link's dash attack in that it pops people up for a combo. I love playing YL but his projectiles and grab are outclassed by other characters above him, and though he can rush down other characters really well he also can't deal with rush down pressure as well as other characters above him. I can actually see him winning a major though, you would just have to play him perfectly so the opponent never gets an opening.

[@jamesdongvideos]

The reason I (and I suspect many others) haven't played Young Link more is simply because his grab is too risky and getting shield spammed is frustrating. But this was a great informative video and I'll definitely try him out more now.

[@jandaxprss6784]

It’s funny how after being a young link main for almost 20 years and him being the only reason I wanted ultimate I still can’t find a video that shows every bit of his potential in either game the amount of optimization I have placed on this character in both games is crazy and nobody else has this is why he has never gotten out of the low tier

[@jandaxprss6784]

And it disturbs me that everyone just calls him the jigglypuff counter pick because he’s also a direct counter to fox and I’ll fight about that all the way to my grave

[@Thierce]

@@jandaxprss6784 then make that video...? Or like make a text guide if you don't have the stuff needed to record a video.

[@leaffinite2001]

Young Link is a rush down character in the same way Diddy Kong (especially in ultimate) is. He’s a rush down character who isn’t quite as good at getting in as someone like Fox or Falco, but makes up for it with a neutral defining tool or two. Banana for Diddy, and bombs for Young Link.

[@joshuabrown6256]

His down air has meteor smash properties if you hit with the hilt of the sword, and so does his down tilt. It’s super effective cause no one knows you can spike at the ledge with it.

[@Aio-Project]

air dodge cancel throws are also a great tool and can help you edge cancel more often which keeps him moving even faster

[@cagnacagnacagnacagna1127]

7:29 DUDE I'M DONE 😂🤣

[@benjaminparker1134]

"Perhaps there are characters with yet untapped potential; we will never know." *Sad Ness Main noises

[@MessengerOscars]

Bro I love Rishi and his break downs

[@liger1491]

Omg i want to teach you guys everything about this character You cant even imagine how little people usually know about him

[@Alleis]

You should make a discord server and post all your Yink wisdom there. Send the server invite if you do end up making one.

[@Doormin]

This video makes me want to play young link so bad holy shit It literally all makes so much sense now

[@nicung4946]

Thank you. I've been trying to learn yink for 2 months

[@2BuckFridays]

Next: Can Doctor Mario win a major? (uh huh) Great video as always.

[@MagnaLynx21]

Both this and the DK video feel a lot more exciting now that matchmaking is out!

[@B-Luna]

"And who knows? Maybe there other characters with untapped potential....we will never know." Um, did you mean we MAY never know? XD

[@4whitesharpEz]

Thank you for giving Young Link the love he deserves.

[@Acryte]

Every Falco: My lasers are rushing you down.

[@peter42466]

Honestly both this and to a greater extent the donkey kong video were kinda ahead of their time as time goes on the links have seen a decent boost and dk has seen a massive boost in terms of players and viability so rishi I’m a luigi fan can you make a video on him and samus (who it has honestly taken too long to be considered viable and their viability has kinda gone down seen as no one plays samus) and doc and all my other favourite characters that aren’t considered top of the top

[@embler946]

can you do "can ness win a major" i feel like that character has so much potentia

[@ggPUNX]

Damn, I kinda have just been getting into melee and was wondering who to play since I've played Link in the other games for years and knew that both Link and Yink are pretty far down on the tier list, but this video has really made me consider playing yink

[@agaed7676]

I love the way you tell all the jokes with the exact same voice you use everywhere else

[@scottiedarko7951]

I've always loved randomly playing as YL since I thought he was a well designed character because he's actually a fun one that uses items and isn't pigeonholed into it due to his speed (unlike his Ultimate version and honestly Ultimate zoners in general besides imo Snake and Richter). Melee is a fun game to play with items, just watch Mango Axe Wednesday. And I think YL kinda lets they part of melee shine thru due to his use of bombs being much more interactive and interesting as well as consistent (no item rng swaying the favor) compared to Peach pulling turnips. I originally started messing around with him because I liked z dropping bombs into platforms and wall jumping, but stayed for a fun and explosive (pun intended) character

[@Saskaruto16]

Young Link even in Ult can rush down. The problem is similar to Melee though, unless he gets a difficult projectile confirm (in ult it's more so arrow not bomb but similar enough) then he's just not going to kill. So he can be a decent zoner who can't kill Or a decent rushdown who can't kill Playing as both is best obviously, but still doesn't make him good enough because he doesn't have the punish game to compete with the best in either archetype he is trying to play in. Compare him to the two most similar characters in Ult (as ult has way more overlap it's easier than Melee to compare) Who is a rushdown character with a bit of a disjoint, not too much speed, and projectiles to control the stage? Joker. Compared to Yink Joker has: - A slightly slower initial dash - Fair bit faster run. -Worse projectiles for space control - Better combo game and damage for a much better punish game - Better recovery - An actual grab game that combos and sets up for edgegaurds - Less disjointed attacks - More range from the combination of his longer limbs and hurtbox shifting - Better recovery by a fair bit And even with all that, he is considered high tier at best by most pros. Only bumping up to top tier because of Arsen comes in the help him get those kills and occasionally make comebacks. So no wonder Yink isn't a great rushdown. How about zoning? Someone quite close to him is Samus in that respect. Samus has: - A projectile that kills by itself - A way better grab and throw combo game - Does a lot more damage - Has way more kill options - Can tank more because of her weight - More mixups on her recovery So no matter which way Yink wants to play, there are other characters better at doing that job than he is. Same thing goes in Melee just with less concrete comparisons. He's a jack of multiple trades, mediocre at all of them. That's a fair bit off from Melee top tiers who can do multiple things to adapt to the opponents style and play around their options much more than Yink while still being able to win.

[@kentoryah]

Now we need Rishis Temple

[@Blundabus1337]

Young Link is basically the spy from stratego. Trash against everyone except the best.

[@popanda3652]

"perhaps there are other characters with untapped potential?" Amsa enters the chat

[@x123Juancho123x]

4:00 The scream of absolute pain

[@maiisd1251]

You're really ab to get me to start labbing this character

[@oledakaajel]

Is it just me or does Melee seem like a better game when characters other than spacies are involved?

[@punnnerSSBM]

can Dr. Mario win a Major? 🥺

[@ElasticLove12]

A lot of this still applies to YL in Ultimate which is why I still play him he really is very rewarding and rewards rush down and creativity. Sadly most only see him as a spammer

[@nicolashrechko8845]

Your videos are inspiring, thanks!

[@KemicalKiddMUSIC]

A skilled Young Link begins...

[@tekgeekster]

It's ironic that he's one of the few characters I feel transitioned well into ultimate.

[@tekgeekster]

@GenesisGems exactly

[@SlackLink]

came for a mini documentary, stayed for the lesson

[@qwert12345asdfgzxcvb]

The sarcasm infused in this otherwise serious video had me a bit confused at first lol

[@takane3651]

This video made me committed to playing YL in Melee :)

[@kiwikarp9509]

I really appreciate this series. I'm indifferent to Melee, but I wouldn't want it to be known as the game where only half of the cast is viable.

[@SufferDYT]

Brawl, smash 4.

[@Sethekk11]

7:27 - "Plus, Young Link has a chain grab on every character" Me: "What? Wait. Really?" 7:32 Me: "Booooooooo, get off the staaage"

[@bbefb045]

Young links the hardest dude walking Nintendo

[@peliparado94]

I know a lot of people would likely be against it, but with the insane stuff they're doing with Slippy I wonder if they could actually add a few buffs to low tier characters to make the game a bit more balanced, like fixing Roy's hitboxes, giving young links f smash a bit more punch, a tad less startup lag in dk's f smash. With the insane modding community there's a lot of stuff that could be done.

[@stupakoopa_3987]

Melee Young Link? In MY Winners' Bracket?! It's more likely than you might think.

[@Prof_GizMo]

He exposed my character so well

[@Acryte]

Rishi you're sick and your content is top notch. What's not to love?

[@savaget2058]

After what I've seen the Tetris community pull off, the sky's the limit for Melee. Now that we have Slippi, Melee is going to look completely different after another 20 years (which I guarantee it lives that long) The only thing holding back mid and low tiers from fully developing their metas was a lack of access to other players. aMSa has proven that consistent use of high level tech skill is manageable as long as you're willing to put in the effort to play as many people as possible to be sure you've mastered it. The beautiful thing that will always give mid and low tiers an edge is the lack of MU knowledge from their opponent. They literally don't know what to expect in every neutral or edge guard scenario. Will playing top tiers always be the path of least resistance? Absolutely. It's easier to perform their tech and the resources to learn it quickly have been well established for new players to pick it up. But we're in the beginning stages of a new era. Where frame data can be analyzed by anyone with a passing interest. I still think there is tons of undiscovered or unexplained tech that will be cracked in the future that will majorly shake up character tiers. Honestly, the game continues to evolve and get better until someone finds something that is so broken that it forces us to either ban it or just stop playing the game because it is so abused. Looking forward to the future!