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Hello!

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And welcome to New Frame Plus,
a series about video game animation.

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We’re gonna talk some more Smash Bros today,

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and because so darned many of you requested him

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let’s dig into the animation of
Nintendo’s OTHER flagship hero: Link.

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As we discussed last time, Smash Bros animation
has to achieve two goals simultaneously:

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it must functionally serve Smash’s gameplay needs

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while aesthetically staying true
to each character’s origins and personality.

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So!

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What do we know about Link?

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To start, we know he’s not just one person.

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We’ve been playing a lot of different “Link”s
over the course of the Zelda series

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(all of them blonde, by incredible coincidence I guess).

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And something I didn’t realize
until researching for this video

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is that we’ve actually been playing different Links
in Smash Bros this whole time also!

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And I’m not talking about these fellas.

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I mean the Link we’ve been playing
from Day One to today has been different people.

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The Link of Smash 64 and Melee is
the Link of Ocarina of Time,

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but the Link of Brawl and Smash 4?

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That guy’s the Link of Twilight Princess!

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An entirely different person donning the green tunic.

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And in Smash Ultimate, we’re going to get an entirely
NEW Link from Breath of the Wild!

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Granted, you don’t really see that difference
reflected in their animation, which...

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that’s kind of a shame.

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But still!

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It’s neat.

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Let’s see, what else do we know...

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Well, we know that it probably wasn’t too
hard to condense all that personality

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into one Smash character because…

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...there just ain’t much there.

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That’s the thing with silent protagonists:
what you see on the surface is usually what you get.

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He’s not a completely blank canvas, though!

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Despite the fact that he’s silent, and despite
the fact that he’s technically like TEN different people,

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there are a few constants about
Link’s personality in every single incarnation.

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He is, in every single sense... a hero.

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I know it’s not much, but it IS something.

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No matter his disposition, whether he’s
a serious Link or a cute Link,

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he always evokes courage.

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It is his one defining trait, he is literally
BRANDED with a courage symbol.

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Of course, in practice, this trait
usually just boils down

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to Link having an air of “stoic heroism”

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and eagerly charging into
any dungeon he finds, BUT...

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“courage” is a pretty abstract quality
to have to sell in animation.

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And probably even more so when you’re trying
to design a moveset for a fighting game.

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Fortunate for us, then, that - if there is one thing
we ARE very familiar with - it's how Link fights.

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From day one, Link has fought with that iconic
sword and shield,

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and supplemented that with a
wide assortment of gadgets and tools.

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Link becomes more powerful
by finding and using new gear.

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And that is something we’ve seen accurately reflected

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in his Smash incarnation from the very beginning,
which I just love.

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This is VERY on-brand.

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Now, I COULD spend this whole episode doing
pretty much the same thing we did last time.

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I could dig into Link’s history,
go through all of his moves,

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talk about how faithfully
the character has been represented,

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pointing out all the references to Zelda games past...

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But honestly, making that same episode over
and over would get kinda boring.

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Besides, if you just want to know all the
references in his design,

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somebody else already made that video,
and did a pretty fine job!

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I’ll link to it in the description.

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But no, today I want to come at this
from a different angle.

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Last episode, I started by posing a question:

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Today, I want to ask a new question:

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How are the basic attacks in this game structured?

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Last episode was the overview.

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Now, we’re digging in deep.

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STRAP IN.

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Back in 2008, Masahiro Sakurai gave a talk
at GDC

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about his design process for Smash Bros Brawl.

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You can listen to the whole thing if you’re
interested, I’ll link to it down below.

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And big thanks to Jonathan Cooper
for bringing it to my attention!

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But about halfway through, Sakurai starts
digging into the structure of a Smash Bros attack.

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And it’s all pretty standard game animation
stuff, but it’s a useful framework
so let’s go ahead and use it.

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According to Sakurai, every basic Smash Bros
attack consists of four phases:

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Standby... Windup... Strike... and Follow-Through.

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And there’s a lot of different terms
that you could swap in for these...

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In animator lingo, we would probably call
“Standby” something like “Idle” or "Starting Position".

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The Windup would almost certainly
be called “Anticipation”.

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and a lot of people would probably refer
to the “Follow-Through” as a “Recovery"--

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Look, animators are REALLY bad at standardizing terms.

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For today, let’s just go with Sakurai’s terms:

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Standby > Windup > Strike > Follow-Through

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Now let’s go through these one by one.

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The Standby is basically the pose from which
the attack animation will start.

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This will almost always be
the character’s standing idle loop,

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although it might also be their
crouching pose, or a falling pose
if they’re airborne.

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The Windup is the moment before the attack.

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For animation clarity, you NEED this anticipation phase

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in order to convey the power of the attack.

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Without a windup, big actions just feel….

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...weird.

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But this component fills a gameplay need as well:

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it gives the attacking player visual confirmation
that their input has been recognized,

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and it gives the defending player
a hint that an attack is coming,

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providing them just a tiny opportunity to react.

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The Strike is the attack itself.

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It’s the narrow window of time where the
attack is meant to connect and do damage.

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This phase may only last a few frames,
but if the attack connects

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Smash games almost always use a chunky Hit Pause
to emphasize that connection,

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effectively freeze-framing the characters
for a fraction of a second.

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So this particular pose needs to look
really powerful and clear.

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And finally, the Follow-Through is the window
of time AFTER the attack has happened,

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but BEFORE the character has fully returned
to their Standby position.

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In Smash games, this is the longest phase by far,

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and it fills several VERY important functions.

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First, it helps to sell the power of the swing
by emphasizing the over-extension,

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the exertion that was required to perform the Strike.

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Second, it provides visual feedback to the attacker,

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signaling that they don’t have full control
of the character back yet,

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that the attack they committed to isn’t yet complete.

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Third, this phase gives the defender a window
of time to punish the vulnerable attacker

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while they’re recovering.

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And by the end of the Follow-Through, the
character returns to their Standby position.

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Every basic attack has this structure.

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Standby…

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Windup…

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Strike…

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Follow-Through.

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Standby…

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Windup…

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Strike…

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Follow-Through.

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Alright now, let’s put on our animator caps
and really dig into this.

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Like every character, Link starts in his Standby idle,
and this is a good Idle animation loop.

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Nice silhouette (even when factoring in
the sword and shield),

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clear posing no matter which direction he’s facing,

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and enough movement to keep him feeling
active and visible on screen

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even when he's not doing anything.

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NOW.

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Let’s say the player hits the attack button.

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On FRAME 1, we already we have a huge change.

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Link pops right from this pose to THIS pose.

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Remember, Smash Bros attacks are FAST,

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so Link is going to have barely any time 
for that windup pose.

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He needs to get to that pose QUICK if it’s
going to have a chance to read.

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FRAME 2 is our Key Pose for the Windup.

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This is the most important frame for the WindUp phase,

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it’s the pose that most clearly communicates
the anticipation before the attack,

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so it is absolutely critical that this pose be clear.

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You see how the first three frames of
Link’s attack REALLY favor this pose?

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1/20th of a second is just not enough time for
our brains to fully process what’s happening,

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so these three frames need to do
everything possible to sell the feeling

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of Link winding up for a sword swing.

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Ok, now FRAME 3...

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The front foot is stepping forward
slightly and the back foot is planted.

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A lot of power is going to come
from that planted foot.

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The hand is kinda clipping through the hat a little bit, but

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who cares, it’s one frame.

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Nobody's going to see that in motion.

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And it actually kind of helps to sell
how far back the arm is rotated.

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Ok, FRAME 4... now the proper swing is starting.

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Link is leaning forward, his center of gravity
is dropping,

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there’s a twist running from his planted foot
up through his entire torso

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as he rotates his hips and then his shoulders.

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This is where the power of the swing
is going to come from.

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FRAME 5: This frame is SO GOOD.

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I love this.

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The twisting rotation up the torso
has finally reached the sword arm

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and is just starting to whip it forward.

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And the best part of it is the sharp change 
in Link’s Line of Action.

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Here’s where he started...

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and now here’s the line of action at FRAME 5.

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That change in the Line of Action alone
sells the power behind this move!

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The hat reinforces the line, the outer curve
of the shield somehow manages to reinforce it as well

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despite obscuring so much of the body...

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I do wish we could see a bit more of the sword arm
to get a clearer silhouette, but whatever,

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we can still easily get a sense of what it’s doing.

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Seriously, this breakdown pose is so great.

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Ok, FRAME 6. Now the proper attack is starting.

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We’re out of the Windup and
we're entering the Strike itself,

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that brief window of time where
the sword can cause damage.

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FRAME 7: Now, here’s the key pose for the Strike,
and it’s a strong one.

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Nice silhouette again: both the sword and
the shield arm’s position are very clear.

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Link’s got a nice wide, powerful stance.

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He’s shifted his weight almost completely
onto his front foot.

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the twist up the torso is at its maximum rotation,

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to the point that his upper body is facing camera now,

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and the sword has reached
the middle of its swinging arc.

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Compare this key pose to the key pose
for the Windup.

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Look at how extreme a change
has just happened in 1/12th of a second!

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Ok, FRAME 8: Now we’re past the mid point of
Strike, and what a nice arc on that sword swing!

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The blade’s path is completely clear
thanks to that bright smear,

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and it looks really good to this camera angle.

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The torso twist is complete, the body’s
exertion to power the sword swing is done,

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but now that sword has a lot of momentum,
and it’s HEAVY.

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It’s not just going to stop on a dime.

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Ok, FRAME 9. Now we’ve transitioned from
the Strike to the Follow-Through,

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the longest phase of the attack.

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The sword’s arc is going
to continue for the next few frames
until Link can manage to slow it down.

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And you can already see
the rotation up his hips and shoulders

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starting to reverse back to where he started.

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The sword finally comes to a stop around FRAME 12.
Link has regained control of it fully by FRAME 15,

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but notice how he’s still doubled over.

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Like I said before, there are a lot of reasons
for him to spend so many frames in this pose

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right after the sword swing.

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For one, he needs to be left vulnerable to
give his opponent an opportunity to counterattack.

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For two, the Follow-Through is a really important
component for visibly selling the attack’s power.

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Seeing how far the blade’s momentum 
carries it past the target really emphasizes

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how hard Link just swang that dang sword.

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But there’s yet one other reason,
and that is: clarity.

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You see, SO MUCH has just happened in SO FEW
frames - in that 1/12th of a second - that it’s

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pretty likely the people watching the screen
couldn’t fully take it in.

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The Windup was so short and the Strike so
quick that, at most, the player being attacked

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probably only had a chance to process Link
suddenly moving real fast,

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and then a big bright smear frame
of the sword whipping in front of him.

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But unlike the Windup and the Strike,
this Follow-Through pose with Link doubled over

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and the sword coming to a stop
has PLENTY of time to read.

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And this pose combined with that
big, bright smear of the sword slash

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helps our brain to kinda back-fill in
the detail of what just happened.

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And this Follow-Through is LONG.

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It starts at FRAME 12 and Link doesn’t get
back to his Standby pose until about FRAME 28 or so.

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That is more than half the attack time
dedicated to the recovery phase!

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Look at every single one of Link’s basic attacks,
and you’ll see these same phases.

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Standby…

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Windup…

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Strike…

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Follow-Through.

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And the same is true of all the other
Smash characters' attacks too.

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For that matter, it’s true of the attack animations
for just about any game you can think of.

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The timing of each phase may vary from game
to game based on the needs of their design,

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but those phases are all still in there.

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But we’re not done!

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At any point during the Follow-Through, the
player might choose to initiate a combo attack.

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Let’s say Link finishes his first swing
and the player hits the attack button again

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around FRAME 12 or 13.

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If that happens, Link’s Follow-Through animation
will be interrupted immediately,

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and he’ll SNAP to the first frame of the second attack.

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Again, no time for lengthy transitions.

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Now, this second attack may look different,
more of a horizontal slash than the first,

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but it has the same phases:
Windup... Strike... Follow-Through.

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And the final attack in the combo is the same.

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Windup... Strike... LONG Follow-Through.

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Link has had this three-hit combo
ever since the first Smash Bros game,

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but it’s actually gone through
some iterations over time.

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Let’s look at the N64 version of this same attack…

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As you can probably already see,
several major changes have happened

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since this original version.

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There are some subtle adjustments
to the animation’s spacing for clarity,

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the arc of the sword is a lot more clear now too

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but the biggest difference by far is
how much further they’ve pushed Link's poses.

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Look at how much more extreme and exaggerated
this pose is compared to the original version.

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And this one!

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It both sells the physicality of the swing better
and just looks more exciting in motion.

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It’s really amazing the effect
a little exaggeration can have.

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Now I realize that I’ve just spent this whole
darned video talking about ONE of Link’s moves.

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Out of the 30+ attacks and the DOZENS
of other animations this character has,

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I’ve talked about ONE sword combo.

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And you want to know the scary thing?

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I could have talked about that one combo
EVEN LONGER.

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Seriously, there is so much thought and craft
that goes into every one of these animations.

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Every single frame is carefully sculpted.

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They HAVE to be when you’re animating attacks
that happen this quickly.

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Animators literally spend DAYS
polishing this stuff.

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It is a slow, tedious craft we do,
but when you get it just right?

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and especially after all the other disciplines
bring their own skills to the party

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like FX artists amplifying the move
with dust and smears and all those light flashes...

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audio engineers making that
sword swipe sound exactly right...

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00:13:48,780 --> 00:13:53,240
and designers tuning the numbers and parameters under the hood just so...

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...and you see all of that come together?

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MMM.

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Feels amazing.

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Anyway.

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Which character should we look at next?

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You’ve got a lot to choose from,
so I’ll tell you what:

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down in the description is a link to a poll.

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Go click on it and pick some characters you’d
like to see an episode about!

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OR hey, maybe you've got a question
about Smash Bros animation

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that you would like answered in an episode.

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00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:16,440
If so, ask it in the comments!

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00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,120
Who knows, it might be the question that one
of these episodes gets built around.

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In the meantime, subscribe if you want to
see more videos about Smash Bros

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or game animation in general.

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Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you next time!