Spin To Win? - Analyzing Link's Spin Attack

hello everyone mockrock here and welcome to the debut episode of the signature move tier list where we dive into the history of an iconic video game technique break it apart in a series of trials and finally stack it up against the competition today's contender is one of the longest standing signature moves in the entire medium link's spin attack an all-encompassing sword slash first appearing in 1991's the legend of zelda a link to the past it's been seen in every mainline legend of zelda entry since along with every installment of super smash brothers the gamecube edition of 3d fighting game soul calibur 2 hack and slash hyrule warriors and the quirky rhythm roguelike cadence of hyrule as the first contender to enter the ring will the spin attack be a tough act to follow let's begin [Music] all right you guys seemed to like the quote-unquote announcer voice last time i had a sponsorship and it's honestly a lot of fun to do so maybe that's just how we're doing ad reads now in which 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appearances across the video game world and evaluating it on power utility synergy style and design with some categories weighted more highly than others totaling these scores up we'll place it in either a b or c tier with further promotions or demotions into s and f tier done on a case-by-case basis also on a somewhat related note there will be some important channel updates at the end of this video so please stay tuned for those all right let's kick things off the spin attack is typically learned early on in link's adventure but remains consistently useful throughout due to its sweeping area of effect and high damage output typically among the more damaging options available to the hero in 2d legend of zelda entries this is frequently augmented by link's ready stance performed with swordpoint forward allowing him to guard his front with a persistent threat an action which is often almost as useful as the spin itself this isn't the case in 3d titles where link instead tends to opt for a more conventional ready sense that better conveys the momentum of the strike but it nevertheless remains a powerful option a major weakness of both 2d and 3d titles is the mobility penalty that takes place when charging the blade this is significantly more painful in the 3d titles because of the larger screen real estate and lack of frontal guard but is often remedied by allowing link to perform a spin attack by circling the joystick and attacking somewhat bypassing the issue several entries also allow link to combo into the attack including the wind waker out of a thrust sequence or twilight princess out of a jump attack link can also occasionally alter the direction the spin attack is performed in which is a particularly significant advantage in skyward sword where its different horizontal and vertical variations tie heavily into that game's directional combat style its high knockback can be used to force enemies off cliffs or create some impromptu crowd control if link is being swarmed improved even further if you're facing enemies that can be knocked down or have their armor bypassed the attack is available to link on foot while mounted or on occasion even in a non-hylian form including his deku form in majora's mask and wolf form and twilight princess these do tend to be less dangerous overall though particularly the wolf version which actually dramatically shortens his potential striking range and directly competes with a considerably stronger shadow field attack accessible with only a slightly longer charging time the wolf broadly shows surprisingly limp combat prowess but his generally nasty signature move definitely gets the short end of the stick here this is the core functionality of the spin attack however as one of the most recurring techniques in one of gaming's longest running series many variations have surfaced over the years multiple titles have featured the great spin or magic spin an enhanced version of the base ability with increased range and power although it frequently asks for specific requirements including magic power or a full life bar another variant of this generally called the hurricane spin whirlwind spin or confusingly the great spin attack sends link into a frenzy of destruction that would make the tasmanian devil proud but may also consume magic meter and usually sends him into a dizzy spell a trait that the tune incarnation of the character has shown a particular trend towards on the topic of toon link four swords adventures features four copies of the hero fighting simultaneously and executing the move from their cross formation will create a massive super spinning attack about as much range as you can ever expect from a non-upgraded version albeit with the catch that it does involve multiple swords if pure raw coverage is what you're after though look no further than urbosa's fury a breath of the wild upgrade that creates a colossal paralyzing lightning strike tempered with a cooldown after three uses but legitimately devastating when it is active finally in a series famous for its treasure hunting it's no surprise that some of these treasures have boosted the spin attack's power level over the years including the speed and damage boosts from the oracle title's magic rings or the great spin-esque properties of triforce hero's spin attack attire this also extends to the actual weapon link is swinging with two handed weapons in particular trading off defense for the highest damage output available especially in breath of the wild where the standard spin attack charge is replaced with a whirling motion that can devastate even the largest enemies with no dizziness required and in fact even being cancelable in line with the rest of the game's combat moving outside of the mainline legend of zelda series the spin attack's power throughout the super smash brothers titles has been slightly inconsistent but has generally leaned towards quite solid being a fast option out of shield with typically high power or in the case of young lincoln ultimate a multi-hit attack that creates powerful combos on the topic of combos the spin attack's high speed damage and power frequently make it a good choice for combo finishers or again in the case of modern youngling to extend combos even further and its rising multi-hit nature also makes it a powerful edge guarding tool even being possible to reverse scenarios where you're the one being guarded just be careful to control your drift so they don't pop out of the multi-hits the attack has some important alleged interactions including the ability to slide into a ledgehog or being a massively powerful option after successfully performing alleged trump in the later smash titles this rising property has been carried forward into hyrule warriors where we see link performs several variants of the spin attack it's used as his standard strong attack a technique which is quite restrained by the standards of the warriors series typically outlandish combat but nevertheless highly effective and can also be used in various combos including the ability to carry opponents into the sky for further damage before plummeting to the ground with a new spin attack primed and ready to go a ludicrously huge version also appears as his special attack which is likewise straightforward but extremely devastating to a vast crowd of enemies a similar special attack appears in youngling's moveset as the notoriously powerful fierce deity from majora's mask young link has the unique ability to sacrifice his special attack gauge in order to transform into the fierce deity for an extended period of time which will make him extremely powerful while it's active and also results in an automatic devastating spin attack right before he takes the mask off toon link appears in this title as well where he has access to the hurricane spin for using combos and as a special attack likewise being very effective while carrying over a bit of the dizziness seen in his canonical appearances link also brings the spin attack into soul calibur 2 which received a unique guest character for each of the gamecube xbox and playstation 2 versions it's not nearly as powerful here as in most of its iterations although does feature several variants including the base attack a non-dizzying version of the hurricane spin a jumping attack possibly inspired by super smash brothers as well as an unblockable form if the move is charged now is anyone with a pulse actually going to get hit by that to be honest it's pretty hard even to cheese the cpu with being a high attack with absurd startup time the spin attack overall isn't actually that great in this title not being terribly fast or safe but does at least cause your model to shift around a bit and has reasonable reward to round things off we see the spin attack appear as link's unique technique and cadence of hyrule while it does consume stamina this is grid-based combat and the ability to interact with multiple grid squares at once is incredibly valuable to the degree that this is a significant amount of what weapon upgrades in the game accomplish overall even the base form of the spin attack is a consistently versatile powerful move in both single combat and against waves of enemies and the massive array of upgrades across its appearances greatly improve its potency stretching into genuinely ludicrous territory with its most extreme variants while it is subjected to some penalties in order to tap into this power and an occasional variant may be on the tame side these do little to diminish the sheer usefulness of the technique across the vast majority of lynx combat encounters for power the spin attack receives four out of five puzzle solving is a major component of the legend of zelda formula and while the spin attack isn't a prominent factor in this it has been the basis of multiple puzzles over the years either directly as a progression key or due to its ability to interact with multiple objects at once it can also be used to quickly gather resources both by attacking the sources and collecting them quickly afterwards particularly with longer ranged weapons when available the deku version in majora's mask notably provides an immediate speed boost which allows link to cross pawns far more quickly than usual although this was considerably more effective in the original version rather than the later 3d remake where it could only increase your existing momentum rather than creating momentum from scratch the pointed stance in the 2d titles can also sometimes be used to detect bombable walls allowing you to check without wasting resources and is how the minish cab incarnation is able to duplicate himself which sees widespread use throughout the game this hero can also fire a curse-breaking beam that doesn't have much of an impact in general combat but does have an important role to play in story regression there's also nothing like a good spin if you've got some unwelcome guests swaying you down in the super smash brothers series meanwhile the spin attack has consistently served as the up special recovery for all incarnations of the character although its distance and vulnerability have been lingering issues especially with adult link and especially in the nintendo 64 title where his spin attack is comically useless certainly closer to the real world effectiveness of trying to become a helicopter but also clearly undertuned compared to the competition while the spin attack is certainly a recovery option you're happy to have link players are also frequently forced to lean on their tethers and bombs to assist with recovery duties as even the furthest traveling versions the younger heroes bring to the table tend to be somewhat exploitable in competitive play while the spin attack has higher utility than might be expected at first glance it's still clearly a combat centric technique and as such receives a utility score of 2 out of 5. [Music] the legend of zelda titles along with cadence of hyrule feature numerous ways to stun or knock down basic opponents which makes the powerful spin attack a natural choice to follow up with that said the move's mobility penalty and startup time can make this somewhat easier said than done in many scenarios still there are many instances where prime opportunities can be created for the spin attack and it also works itself as a knockdown strike which can have synergy with other elements of link's toolkit most notably the ending blow or fatal blow in addition to the gear we covered which concretely augments the spin attack zelda games feature numerous items which provide indirect boosts to the move in a variety of ways such as improving link's overall attack power magic meter or stamina management it can be cheated out as the last hit of an otherwise conventional slash sequence for additional damage and this combo aspect is touched on far more heavily in the previously mentioned super smash bros and hyrule warriors variants in smash the combo potential into this move is fantastic due to its speed and size ranging from numerous aerials to throws two tilt attacks two projectiles and let's not forget abusing the fuse on his bombs to cheat out extra spin attacks before touching the ground hyrule warriors meanwhile places the heavy combo emphasis on the spin attack you'd expect out of a hack and slash title and also benefits from activating his focus spirit gauge super meter and various equipment upgrades spin attack isn't quite so combo focused in soul calibur although it does have a few combos into it and can also be indirectly upgraded with different weapon sets while link's spin attack is more than capable of being used as a standalone move it does also combine reasonably well with his other tools throughout his appearances and for synergy receives a score of 3 out of 5. spinning around during an actual fight is a great way to get yourself killed but that hasn't stopped it from being a staple of swordfighting in media for the simple reason that it looks cool link takes this a step further though eschewing any sense of physical reality in exchange for flashy punchy attacks that have been further augmented in later titles with generous hit stop allowing you to really savor the multi-hit nature of the move with the arguable exceptions of a link to the past which hadn't quite solidified the energetic style of the move yet and the game boy color titles which we're dealing with very limited sprites spin attack animations are uniformly snappy and fluid in both 2d and 3d with nintendo free to utilize some of the best animators the world has to offer and frequently feature additional flourishes outside of the core sword spin with the dizziness toon link experience as being a particularly charming touch consistently beautiful particle effects further highlight this in a wide variety of colors and styles and the sound design is also regularly excellent with satisfying hit sounds and the voice actors for links selling the power of the strikes with only the simplest of vocalizations while we've been speaking about the legend of zelda series these comments can really be applied across the board as one of the most iconic gaming characters of all time link usually finds himself in the hands of accomplished development teams working with talented artists as a result you can expect his combat animations to feel satisfying his sprite work to be clean and readable and his particle effects to be visual treats taken to the highest of highs in hyrule warrior's color explosion the core of the attack is already stylish and it's been taken in many artistic directions with great success for style the spin attack receives 4.5 out of 5. in the original legend of zelda directionality of attack proved to be a major issue link could only strike in cardinal directions which often made combat feel more than a bit awkward and resulted in taking hits that didn't always feel completely fair the series experimented a bit with a respite from overhead combat as we've discussed on the channel before but when it returns to what would become the primary direction for 2d zelda titles with the link to the past it brought significant improvements to link's ability to interact with the environment with his sword the first of these was replacing the basic stab with a more generous horizontal slash and the second was the spin attack both of which became instant staples of the series with link's movement still restricted due to the nature of d-pads precise enemy alignment remains somewhat of a tough prospect but an all-encompassing combat option went a long way towards fighting this aspect of the hardware while still testing the player's timing and positioning moving into 3d space with ocarina of time the inherent value of the spin attack was reduced the addition of analog control and the lock-on feature made covering awkward angles far less relevant airborne enemies were less susceptible to the technique and while 2d screens had a fixed amount of real estate which the spin attack could reliably cover a decent portion of no such concept existed in a 3d environment this was somewhat compensated for though by beginning to introduce much more powerful variants of the attack a practice that seriously started with the magic spin the hero of time received while this became a conventional element of zelda design that the later 2d titles would also adopt it came about in 3d and to this day many of the spin attack's most potent upgrades still appear in the 3d titles even with these concessions i don't feel that the spin attack translates perfectly into 3d as the spacing for a charge release can be somewhat difficult to gauge particularly with slowed movement and the joystick circling method is a somewhat clunky option for quick activation the wii titles have the right idea by letting you shake the nunchuck instead overall though the strides made are solid and it's far from the clumsiest transition into 3d we've seen in super smash brothers the spin attack being adopted into a helicopter-like technique was a clever idea that while not actually used in the canon series still felt like a natural fit with the whimsical yet understandable design direction the original attack came from its first incarnation did not need to be so short-ranged and to this day i still don't understand what led to this decision even with smash 64's prototypical nature but it's evolved over the years into a multifaceted powerful attack with weaknesses that can largely be compensated for with smart play now with three links in the most recent smash title should they necessarily all have the spin attack for their up special considering all the other options available no i wouldn't say so and this is a recurring issue with legacy smash characters but at the very least they do all behave differently hyrule warriors and cadence of hyrule meanwhile both use link as somewhat of a template character think of how mario is frequently utilized in his spin-off titles and as a result the spin attack is used as a simple easy to understand option in move slots that are often considerably more complicated among other roster members this is particularly true in hyrule warriors where the strong attack is often designed for more specialized interactions as opposed to the spin attack being immediately passable without losing effectiveness in fact i often found it an incredibly reliable go-to option my biggest design complaint with the spin attack is in soul calibur 2 as it would have been nice to see link's signature move be utilized a bit more effectively in his move set but with several variants as well as many other gnaws to his canonical abilities it's hard to say that he doesn't feel like a faithful incarnation despite the occasional stumble the spin attack was a strong concept that's been iterated on in many fun and effective ways over the years and for design receives a score of 3.5 out of 5. with all categories accounted for it's time to tally up the points and assign link his final placement power utility synergy style design as the first entry into the signature move tearless link spin attack starts off strong with a solid placement in a tier a true icon in the video game world that's been performed countless millions of times throughout his adventures the spin attack has a simple concept but enormous variation in its execution and has been a reliable go-to for decades with no signs of slowing down it did indeed prove to be a tough act to follow and whether the next combatant is up to the challenge we'll just have to wait until next time to find out and on the topic of that next combatant thanks for watching everyone and let's talk channel updates this series is something a bit different and will likely take a bit of time to find its footing but it's a concept i'm excited for and will also allow me to finally make content tailored towards for example new smash dlc characters how nice would it have been to have this up and running when min-min or banjo-kazooie were released the next two videos on this channel will be the second signature move to your list entry as well as another smash archetype analysis in the vein of the last heavyweights video exactly what the contents of those videos are though will be decided through a poll on the mock rock discord server accessible either through any pledge tier on patreon or by becoming a member on youtube which is a new option and since i'm going to be playing games for research anyways i may as well start streaming them starting with dual streams to both youtube as well as my twitch channel mock rock twitch one word popeyether platform for a variety of streaming content let me know your feedback on this format leave a like if you liked and follow me on twitter out to mr mockrock to see what i'm up to later people if you've played super smash brothers in any capacity the odds are that you've had your strongest move sent right back at you with a counter at some point these attacks occupy interesting design space in the smash series if a character's toolkit rewards a user for playing in a way that a large portion of the player base would find boring or unpleasant that's an indictment of the character's design

Channel: MockRock

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Keywords: Smash Ultimate, Review, alpharad, mkleo, Nintendo, little z, tier list, nintendo direct, esam, hungrybox, zeltik, age of calamity, zelda theory, breath of the wild 2, hyrule warriors, hyrule warriors age of calamity gameplay, hyrule warriors age of calamity trailer, zelda, alpharad deluxe, animal crossing new horizons, minecraft, minecraft steve, minecraft smash, meme, memes, zelda news, nairo, nairomk, marss, wadi, hbox, speedrun, speed run, nintendo meme, nintendo memes, nintendo, smallant

Id: ItaEnBgPFN0

Length: 20min 37sec (1237 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 06 2020