Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda is a major character and the titular character of The Legend of Zelda series created by Nintendo. Many different incarnations of Zelda have existed throughout the course of the series, but they commonly share traits such as they all rule over the kingdom of Hyrule, and they all have the power of the Triforce of Wisdom within them. The plot of her series is that she and Link must protect the kingdom of Hyrule from Ganon and prevent him from obtaining the two pieces of the Triforce not inside him.

Though her series is named after her, the starring role in the games is Link. Zelda serves as more of the series' equivalent of Princess Peach, but she usually has active supporting roles in the plot, sometimes even being somewhat of a sidekick to Link, rather than being solely a damsel-in-distress. For example, in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Zelda disguises herself as her alter-ego Sheik to aid Link without revealing her true identity to him.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Zelda is one of the newcomers introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Her design is based upon her appearance as an adult in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. She is a tall lightweight character with slow movement but powerful attacks.

Zelda's moveset mostly uses her magical abilities, while her special moves are mostly based on the spells Link can acquire in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Her neutral special move is Nayru's Love, which puts up a magical barrier that reflects attacks and damages opponents. Her side special is Din's Fire, which launches a fireball that explodes after a time. Her up special move is Farore's Wind, which causes her to disappear and reappear higher a distance away. Finally, her down special is Transform, which causes Zelda to turn into Sheik, giving her a completely different moveset.

Zelda also appears in Stage 3 of Adventure Mode, where she is fought at the Temple after the player's character makes their way out of the Underground Maze.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Zelda returns as a default fighter for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Her design in this game is based on her appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. While Zelda's moveset has not been changed, her Final Smash is Light Arrow, which fires a Light Arrow that strikes any opponents in its path. For her stage entrance, Zelda teleports with her eyes closed, and hands clasped to her chest.

Zelda's attacks deal more damage and higher knockback than before, but her attacks' strongest hitboxes are smaller in size while her mobility remains abysmal.

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary
Zelda and Peach were watching Mario and Kirby. However, at the arrival of the Halberd, both princesses ran down to assist them after the arrival of the Primid. However, Zelda is soon captured by Petey Piranha and put into a cage along with Peach. Kirby, who battles Petey Piranha, has the choice to rescue either Peach or Zelda.

If Zelda is not rescued, Wario appears and uses a Dark Cannon to transform her into a trophy and runs off with her. She is later seen on Wario's Cargo alongside Ness, who was also turned into a trophy by Wario shooting a Dark Cannon. However, King Dedede distracts Wario by turning Luigi into a trophy and using him to lure Wario off the Cargo. Dedede steals the Cargo, takes back Luigi, and drives off. Link later spots Zelda on the Cargo before Dedede takes Mario and Pit, who were defeated by Link and Yoshi just prior. Although he loses both his newly acquired trophies to Kirby, and the engine of the Cargo is then wrecked by Pit, Dedede manages to get away with the remaining trophies he does have and makes it to his castle, where he pins badges on Luigi, Ness, and Zelda to revive them later. Unfortunately, Bowser arrives, steals Zelda and brings her to the Halberd, having a short scuffle with Mario's team along the way (and causing Zelda to lose her badge to Kirby).

If Zelda is rescued, she will team up with Kirby and escape the stadium the Warp Star right before it explodes. They fly through the sky, and are chased by the Halberd, which both Kirby and Zelda land on. However, the Arwing with Fox McCloud inside is also following the Halberd. The Halberd shoots down the Arwing which falls down and crashes into the duo, and soon, Kirby and Zelda are back on the ground now in a grassland. While Kirby wanders off looking at other things, Zelda is shot by Bowser and she turns into a trophy. Bowser sends Shadow Bugs which take over Zelda and clones her.

False Zelda takes out a Dark Cannon and tries to shoot Link and Yoshi, however is stopped by Pit and Mario. False Zelda and the two fight however she is soon defeated and turned into a trophy, which soon dissolves. However, Link saw this and thinks that Mario is a member of the Subspace Army and that he killed Zelda, so he tries to turn Mario and Pit into a trophy with Yoshi's help. They are both defeated, however, and taken by King Dedede before Kirby's intervention, after which Link attacks the Cargo's engine.

Regardless of whether or not she is rescued from Petey Piranha, she still ends up in the Halberd with Peach. Meta Knight soon arrives with Lucario and Solid Snake as his entourage, fighting off both False Zelda and False Peach before freeing the real princesses. Zelda then goes off on her own with Peach until they are united by Fox, Falco Lombardi, Lucario, and Snake to fight Duon and have Mr. Game & Watch join their team, and Meta Knight retakes the Halberd. She then goes into Subspace and finds Tabuu, but is turned into a trophy along with everyone else by him soon after, leaving it up to Kirby, revived by the badge from earlier, to revive her. If Kirby also rescued Link, then both of them will revive Ganondorf, who learns of Tabuu and joins the other heroes into the Great Maze.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Zelda returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, retaining her appearance from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess that was used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Although Sheik also returns, they are now completely separate characters who cannot transform into each other; her down special attack is instead Phantom Slash, which summons a Phantom to charge forward and attack.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Zelda returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as an unlockable playable character alongside the other previous fighters. In this game, her design is primarily based on her alternate dress artwork from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, with elements from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Like many other characters, Zelda is more expressive; in fact, she is given much more cheerful and energetic expressions compared to her predecessors. She also has a new Final Smash, which involves trapping opponents with the Triforce of Wisdom. Like her fellow The Legend of Zelda fighters, Zelda's victory theme has been changed to a new arrangement of their home series' main theme.

Zelda benefits from the game's universal changes: her mobility is considerably faster, no longer being one of the slowest characters in the game; her short hop timing is reduced; her attacks have less landing lag; she can directionally air dodge once again; and she can use any grounded attack out of a run and any aerial attack while climbing ladders. In addition, Zelda's special attacks receive many improvements while her attacks deal either more damage or knockback, and have lower start-up or ending lag.

In addition, Zelda appears in the World of Light's opening cutscene, where she is firstly shown along with Marth and Pit; she then tries to reflect Galeem's large laser attack along with Mewtwo, but fails, with both of them getting eliminated by the lasers and turned into dark clones. She was among the fighters who were brought under Dharkon's control after Galeem's first defeat, and represents the Triforce of Wisdom section of the Sacred Land, referencing her home series. She must then be awoken in the area to progress the story, along with Young Link, Ganondorf, Sonic and Cloud.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

 * Instruction booklet bio: A graceful princess with powerful magical attacks.

Bios
She has a slightly more subdued color scheme.
 * Instruction booklet: The queen [sic] of Hyrule. Her light movements belie devastating magical attacks.
 * Smash Bros. DOJO!: Just like Link, Zelda’s design has also changed.

''Her movement capabilities are not that good, but her magic adds power to her physical attacks. There’s a reason why her hands and feet glow, after all.''

Snake's codec

 * Colonel: Snake, I see you're fighting Zelda.
 * Snake: Yeah, I guess. Doesn't feel right fighting someone in a dress, though.
 * Colonel: Don't underestimate her just because she's a woman. Zelda's attacks are backed by powerful magic. Her hand-to-hand combat may look weak, but her magic makes it cut to the bone.
 * Snake: So this rose has thorns... Interesting...
 * Colonel: ...This is no time for pickup lines, Snake.
 * Snake: Don't worry. I know from experience that it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

Trophies

 * Both games


 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS-exclusive trophies


 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U-exclusive trophies

Palutena's Guidance

 * Palutena: This isn't quite the Zelda you're used to.
 * Pit: I hear she no longer changes form in battle.
 * Palutena: That's right, but she's got a new special move: the Phantom Slash.
 * Pit: Where does she get the Phantom from?
 * Palutena: It's hard to say. Magic?
 * Pit: WOW! I didn't realize she was such a powerful magician.
 * Palutena: I could do something similar, I'm sure. But it's pretty dark magic. Now, what part of you should I use to make your Phantom?
 * Pit: My Phantom?! Uh, you don't have to do that for me, Lady Palutena!
 * Palutena: Oh, don't be scared! I'll just equip you and-
 * Pit: Uh what will it cost me?
 * Palutena: Oh, I don't know. Maybe just your...soul?
 * Viridi: Hahahaha! Look how pale he got! You're really scaring him! Listen, Pit, if you can knock Zelda's Phantom out, she won't be able to call it back for a bit. Keep an eye on her.

amiibo

 * Zelda is the princess of Hyrule and the namesake of The Legend of Zelda games. Her appearance may change, but she always plays an important role. She knows much about the Triforce; in fact, the only person who likely knows more about Triforce lore is Ganondorf himself, whom Zelda evaded in Ocarina of Time by transforming into her alter ego, Sheik.

Palutena's Guidance

 * Pit: [gasps] Is that...Princess Zelda?
 * Palutena: Yes, that's Zelda from A Link to the Past. She's a descendant of the Seven Sages. When she was captured, she used telepathy to ask Link for help.
 * Viridi: Pit... Pit... Go get me a cinnamon roll...
 * Pit: Right away, Zel— HEY! Knock it off, Viridi!
 * Palutena: Focus, Pit! Zelda has a projectile attack called Din's Fire. It can be steered through the air, kind of like your arrows. The trajectory of Din's Fire is really hard to see, so it's important to pay extra close attention when fighting her.
 * Viridi: Pit... Pit... Get me a glazed donut with rainbow sprinkles...
 * Pit: Yes, right away! A glazed donut with rainbo— [growls] STOP IT!

Super Smash Blog bio

 * You might recognize Zelda's look from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds game. In battle she uses magical moves to reflect and teleport, and for her Final Smash, she seals her opponents away in the Triforce of Wisdom. If an opponent has 100% damage or more, they will be instantly KO'd!

Trivia

 * In Super Smash Bros. Melee's Classic Mode, Zelda cannot appear as an ally.
 * In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, if Zelda summons a Phantom and she is KO'd after it is destroyed, she will be unable to use the move as usual, but the purple cloud on her hand will disappear.
 * In the Japanese version of the E3 2018 presentation for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Zelda's model is said to be based on her appearance in A Link to the Past, while the English version states that the model is based on the one from A Link Between Worlds . Masahiro Sakurai later settled this inconsistency by stating that the design takes elements from both appearances.
 * Sakurai also stated during the same presentation that the choice of her design from said games (instead of the more recent Breath of the Wild like Link) is due to that incarnation being "more into research than fighting", combined with his wish that he wanted to choose the characters' design from different The Legend of Zelda games instead of having the characters' design come from a single game (like Ocarina of Time in Melee and Twilight Princess in Brawl and for 3DS / Wii U).