Hello!
And welcome to New Frame Plus, a series about video game animation.
We’re gonna talk some more Smash Bros today,
and because so darned many of you requested him
let’s dig into the animation of Nintendo’s OTHER flagship hero: Link.
As we discussed last time, Smash Bros animation has to achieve two goals simultaneously:
it must functionally serve Smash’s gameplay needs
while aesthetically staying true to each character’s origins and personality.
So!
What do we know about Link?
To start, we know he’s not just one person.
We’ve been playing a lot of different “Link”s over the course of the Zelda series
(all of them blonde, by incredible coincidence I guess).
And something I didn’t realize until researching for this video
is that we’ve actually been playing different Links in Smash Bros this whole time also!
And I’m not talking about these fellas.
I mean the Link we’ve been playing from Day One to today has been different people.
The Link of Smash 64 and Melee is the Link of Ocarina of Time,
but the Link of Brawl and Smash 4?
That guy’s the Link of Twilight Princess!
An entirely different person donning the green tunic.
And in Smash Ultimate, we’re going to get an entirely NEW Link from Breath of the Wild!
Granted, you don’t really see that difference reflected in their animation, which...
that’s kind of a shame.
But still!
It’s neat.
Let’s see, what else do we know...
Well, we know that it probably wasn’t too hard to condense all that personality
into one Smash character because…
...there just ain’t much there.
That’s the thing with silent protagonists: what you see on the surface is usually what you get.
He’s not a completely blank canvas, though!
Despite the fact that he’s silent, and despite the fact that he’s technically like TEN different people,
there are a few constants about Link’s personality in every single incarnation.
He is, in every single sense... a hero.
I know it’s not much, but it IS something.
No matter his disposition, whether he’s a serious Link or a cute Link,
he always evokes courage.
It is his one defining trait, he is literally BRANDED with a courage symbol.
Of course, in practice, this trait usually just boils down
to Link having an air of “stoic heroism”
and eagerly charging into any dungeon he finds, BUT...
“courage” is a pretty abstract quality to have to sell in animation.
And probably even more so when you’re trying to design a moveset for a fighting game.
Fortunate for us, then, that - if there is one thing we ARE very familiar with - it's how Link fights.
From day one, Link has fought with that iconic sword and shield,
and supplemented that with a wide assortment of gadgets and tools.
Link becomes more powerful by finding and using new gear.
And that is something we’ve seen accurately reflected
in his Smash incarnation from the very beginning, which I just love.
This is VERY on-brand.
Now, I COULD spend this whole episode doing pretty much the same thing we did last time.
I could dig into Link’s history, go through all of his moves,
talk about how faithfully the character has been represented,
pointing out all the references to Zelda games past...
But honestly, making that same episode over and over would get kinda boring.
Besides, if you just want to know all the references in his design,
somebody else already made that video, and did a pretty fine job!
I’ll link to it in the description.
But no, today I want to come at this from a different angle.
Last episode, I started by posing a question:
Today, I want to ask a new question:
How are the basic attacks in this game structured?
Last episode was the overview.
Now, we’re digging in deep.
STRAP IN.
Back in 2008, Masahiro Sakurai gave a talk at GDC
about his design process for Smash Bros Brawl.
You can listen to the whole thing if you’re interested, I’ll link to it down below.
And big thanks to Jonathan Cooper for bringing it to my attention!
But about halfway through, Sakurai starts digging into the structure of a Smash Bros attack.
And it’s all pretty standard game animation stuff, but it’s a useful framework so let’s go ahead and use it.
According to Sakurai, every basic Smash Bros attack consists of four phases:
Standby... Windup... Strike... and Follow-Through.
And there’s a lot of different terms that you could swap in for these...
In animator lingo, we would probably call “Standby” something like “Idle” or "Starting Position".
The Windup would almost certainly be called “Anticipation”.
and a lot of people would probably refer to the “Follow-Through” as a “Recovery"--
Look, animators are REALLY bad at standardizing terms.
For today, let’s just go with Sakurai’s terms:
Standby > Windup > Strike > Follow-Through
Now let’s go through these one by one.
The Standby is basically the pose from which the attack animation will start.
This will almost always be the character’s standing idle loop,
although it might also be their crouching pose, or a falling pose if they’re airborne.
The Windup is the moment before the attack.
For animation clarity, you NEED this anticipation phase
in order to convey the power of the attack.
Without a windup, big actions just feel….
...weird.
But this component fills a gameplay need as well:
it gives the attacking player visual confirmation that their input has been recognized,
and it gives the defending player a hint that an attack is coming,
providing them just a tiny opportunity to react.
The Strike is the attack itself.
It’s the narrow window of time where the attack is meant to connect and do damage.
This phase may only last a few frames, but if the attack connects
Smash games almost always use a chunky Hit Pause to emphasize that connection,
effectively freeze-framing the characters for a fraction of a second.
So this particular pose needs to look really powerful and clear.
And finally, the Follow-Through is the window of time AFTER the attack has happened,
but BEFORE the character has fully returned to their Standby position.
In Smash games, this is the longest phase by far,
and it fills several VERY important functions.
First, it helps to sell the power of the swing by emphasizing the over-extension,
the exertion that was required to perform the Strike.
Second, it provides visual feedback to the attacker,
signaling that they don’t have full control of the character back yet,
that the attack they committed to isn’t yet complete.
Third, this phase gives the defender a window of time to punish the vulnerable attacker
while they’re recovering.
And by the end of the Follow-Through, the character returns to their Standby position.
Every basic attack has this structure.
Standby…
Windup…
Strike…
Follow-Through.
Standby…
Windup…
Strike…
Follow-Through.
Alright now, let’s put on our animator caps and really dig into this.
Like every character, Link starts in his Standby idle, and this is a good Idle animation loop.
Nice silhouette (even when factoring in the sword and shield),
clear posing no matter which direction he’s facing,
and enough movement to keep him feeling active and visible on screen
even when he's not doing anything.
NOW.
Let’s say the player hits the attack button.
On FRAME 1, we already we have a huge change.
Link pops right from this pose to THIS pose.
Remember, Smash Bros attacks are FAST,
so Link is going to have barely any time for that windup pose.
He needs to get to that pose QUICK if it’s going to have a chance to read.
FRAME 2 is our Key Pose for the Windup.
This is the most important frame for the WindUp phase,
it’s the pose that most clearly communicates the anticipation before the attack,
so it is absolutely critical that this pose be clear.
You see how the first three frames of Link’s attack REALLY favor this pose?
1/20th of a second is just not enough time for our brains to fully process what’s happening,
so these three frames need to do everything possible to sell the feeling
of Link winding up for a sword swing.
Ok, now FRAME 3...
The front foot is stepping forward slightly and the back foot is planted.
A lot of power is going to come from that planted foot.
The hand is kinda clipping through the hat a little bit, but
who cares, it’s one frame.
Nobody's going to see that in motion.
And it actually kind of helps to sell how far back the arm is rotated.
Ok, FRAME 4... now the proper swing is starting.
Link is leaning forward, his center of gravity is dropping,
there’s a twist running from his planted foot up through his entire torso
as he rotates his hips and then his shoulders.
This is where the power of the swing is going to come from.
FRAME 5: This frame is SO GOOD.
I love this.
The twisting rotation up the torso has finally reached the sword arm
and is just starting to whip it forward.
And the best part of it is the sharp change in Link’s Line of Action.
Here’s where he started...
and now here’s the line of action at FRAME 5.
That change in the Line of Action alone sells the power behind this move!
The hat reinforces the line, the outer curve of the shield somehow manages to reinforce it as well
despite obscuring so much of the body...
I do wish we could see a bit more of the sword arm to get a clearer silhouette, but whatever,
we can still easily get a sense of what it’s doing.
Seriously, this breakdown pose is so great.
Ok, FRAME 6. Now the proper attack is starting.
We’re out of the Windup and we're entering the Strike itself,
that brief window of time where the sword can cause damage.
FRAME 7: Now, here’s the key pose for the Strike, and it’s a strong one.
Nice silhouette again: both the sword and the shield arm’s position are very clear.
Link’s got a nice wide, powerful stance.
He’s shifted his weight almost completely onto his front foot.
the twist up the torso is at its maximum rotation,
to the point that his upper body is facing camera now,
and the sword has reached the middle of its swinging arc.
Compare this key pose to the key pose for the Windup.
Look at how extreme a change has just happened in 1/12th of a second!
Ok, FRAME 8: Now we’re past the mid point of Strike, and what a nice arc on that sword swing!
The blade’s path is completely clear thanks to that bright smear,
and it looks really good to this camera angle.
The torso twist is complete, the body’s exertion to power the sword swing is done,
but now that sword has a lot of momentum, and it’s HEAVY.
It’s not just going to stop on a dime.
Ok, FRAME 9. Now we’ve transitioned from the Strike to the Follow-Through,
the longest phase of the attack.
The sword’s arc is going to continue for the next few frames until Link can manage to slow it down.
And you can already see the rotation up his hips and shoulders
starting to reverse back to where he started.
The sword finally comes to a stop around FRAME 12. Link has regained control of it fully by FRAME 15,
but notice how he’s still doubled over.
Like I said before, there are a lot of reasons for him to spend so many frames in this pose
right after the sword swing.
For one, he needs to be left vulnerable to give his opponent an opportunity to counterattack.
For two, the Follow-Through is a really important component for visibly selling the attack’s power.
Seeing how far the blade’s momentum carries it past the target really emphasizes
how hard Link just swang that dang sword.
But there’s yet one other reason, and that is: clarity.
You see, SO MUCH has just happened in SO FEW frames - in that 1/12th of a second - that it’s
pretty likely the people watching the screen couldn’t fully take it in.
The Windup was so short and the Strike so quick that, at most, the player being attacked
probably only had a chance to process Link suddenly moving real fast,
and then a big bright smear frame of the sword whipping in front of him.
But unlike the Windup and the Strike, this Follow-Through pose with Link doubled over
and the sword coming to a stop has PLENTY of time to read.
And this pose combined with that big, bright smear of the sword slash
helps our brain to kinda back-fill in the detail of what just happened.
And this Follow-Through is LONG.
It starts at FRAME 12 and Link doesn’t get back to his Standby pose until about FRAME 28 or so.
That is more than half the attack time dedicated to the recovery phase!
Look at every single one of Link’s basic attacks, and you’ll see these same phases.
Standby…
Windup…
Strike…
Follow-Through.
And the same is true of all the other Smash characters' attacks too.
For that matter, it’s true of the attack animations for just about any game you can think of.
The timing of each phase may vary from game to game based on the needs of their design,
but those phases are all still in there.
But we’re not done!
At any point during the Follow-Through, the player might choose to initiate a combo attack.
Let’s say Link finishes his first swing and the player hits the attack button again
around FRAME 12 or 13.
If that happens, Link’s Follow-Through animation will be interrupted immediately,
and he’ll SNAP to the first frame of the second attack.
Again, no time for lengthy transitions.
Now, this second attack may look different, more of a horizontal slash than the first,
but it has the same phases: Windup... Strike... Follow-Through.
And the final attack in the combo is the same.
Windup... Strike... LONG Follow-Through.
Link has had this three-hit combo ever since the first Smash Bros game,
but it’s actually gone through some iterations over time.
Let’s look at the N64 version of this same attack…
As you can probably already see, several major changes have happened
since this original version.
There are some subtle adjustments to the animation’s spacing for clarity,
the arc of the sword is a lot more clear now too
but the biggest difference by far is how much further they’ve pushed Link's poses.
Look at how much more extreme and exaggerated this pose is compared to the original version.
And this one!
It both sells the physicality of the swing better and just looks more exciting in motion.
It’s really amazing the effect a little exaggeration can have.
Now I realize that I’ve just spent this whole darned video talking about ONE of Link’s moves.
Out of the 30+ attacks and the DOZENS of other animations this character has,
I’ve talked about ONE sword combo.
And you want to know the scary thing?
I could have talked about that one combo EVEN LONGER.
Seriously, there is so much thought and craft that goes into every one of these animations.
Every single frame is carefully sculpted.
They HAVE to be when you’re animating attacks that happen this quickly.
Animators literally spend DAYS polishing this stuff.
It is a slow, tedious craft we do, but when you get it just right?
and especially after all the other disciplines bring their own skills to the party
like FX artists amplifying the move with dust and smears and all those light flashes...
audio engineers making that sword swipe sound exactly right...
and designers tuning the numbers and parameters under the hood just so...
...and you see all of that come together?
MMM.
Feels amazing.
Anyway.
Which character should we look at next?
You’ve got a lot to choose from, so I’ll tell you what:
down in the description is a link to a poll.
Go click on it and pick some characters you’d like to see an episode about!
OR hey, maybe you've got a question about Smash Bros animation
that you would like answered in an episode.
If so, ask it in the comments!
Who knows, it might be the question that one of these episodes gets built around.
In the meantime, subscribe if you want to see more videos about Smash Bros
or game animation in general.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time!