Which Zelda and Link are featured in the Super Smash Bros series?

Question

So here's your mindf**k question of the day.

Zelda and Link, from the Legend of Zelda series, are regenerating characters. From adventure to adventure, thousands of years may have passed, and so the two characters are never, actually, the same person every time.

So here's the question. Both those heroes being featured in the Super Smash Bros series, which incarnation of the hero is actually there? We can guess toon link is the one from Windwaker, but where/when is regular link from?

Answer 1

In the original Super Smash Bros. and Melee it's the Link from Ocarina of Time. In Brawl, they changed it to the Twilight Princess Link.

I figured this out by comparing the pictures of the Link from the Zelda games with his pictures from the SSB games. Ocarina of Time was only game out with that shield design when SSB64 and Melee came out. Twilight Princess has the same shield design, but Link's appearance in Brawl is basically identical to his in Twilight Princess. Also, that's what the Zelda Wikia says. :P

Answer 2

SSB64: This Link is the Hero of Time from Ocarina of Time. The only other adult Link at the time of the game's release was the one from Zelda II, and that Link doesn't have the Hylian Shield or Boomerang that this Link wields.

Melee: It's plainly obvious that the four Zelda characters are all from Ocarina of Time: Link has the Hylian Shield, Young Link has the Kokiri Sword, Zelda can transform into Sheik, and Ganondorf has no other game to be from (at the time).

Brawl: This is where it gets a bit funny. Link here has pretty much an identical design as the Hero of Twilight (Twilight Princess), but with a hair colour much more like the OoT Link, and a fairy following him for a taunt and at the start of the Subspace Emissary (which TP Link doesn't usually have). Zelda also uses her design from Twilight Princess but can still turn into Sheik, who is purely an OoT character. So while they're mostly based on their Twilight Princess incarnations, they have a bit of OoT to them as well. Toon Link is obviously from The Wind Waker, and Ganondorf is as he appears in Twilight Princess.