When Nintendo was getting ready to launch The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, developer Yoshiaki Koizumi was met with a reality check from his wife. We have to thank the wife of one of the developers for Link’s mid-1990s look. Characters who sported them were, at least to a certain extent, sexy but not in a threatening way. (L) Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | (R) Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet Images: Nintendo 20th Century Fox/Everett CollectionĪt the height of the popularity of Nick Carter and the Backstreet Boys, Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet and Titanic, Johnny Depp’s grunge era, and the highly melodramatic love triangles of Dawson’s Creek, if you wanted to play the part of the hero, you needed curtain bangs. On the cartoon front, notice how he vaguely resembles swineherd Taran from Disney’s The Black Cauldron and the Hobbits from the Lord of the Rings 1978 animated feature (and, to be honest, even Elijah Wood’s IRL Frodo). Even Tom Cruise’s fairy boy character in Legend bears some resemblance. Fox’s characters Scott Howard from Teen Wolf and Marty McFly from Back to the Future do, in a way, resemble the original Link, as does Noah Hathaway as Atreyu in Wolfgang Petersen’s The Neverending Story. Link’s mullet was a hairstyle sported by many a 1980s hero who was childlike and resourceful, but not exactly dashing. Link keeps the flip in The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and A Link to the Past. In an era of low-res pixel screens and limited color capabilities, his pointy ears and voluminous, pompadour-like mullet were instrumental in making the character recognizable in the in-game graphics - that’s why Mario got his mustache, after all. Official lore has it that Peter Pan played a great part in the character design inspo. Link’s original character design featured a button nose, freckles, and a stubby frame and limbs. Fox in Teen Wolf Images: Nintendo Atlantic Releasing Corporation (L) Promo art for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link | (R) Michael J. The NES and SNES era: The Hero With a Mullet That’s because all of Link’s hairdos reflect major hairstyle trends across the decades. He is, by all means, classically handsome and hot - and his hair plays a major role in conveying his handsomeness.
Link is not your average mascot: His looks, which include soft, androgynous features, a sharp nose, and a lithe physique, set him apart from most Nintendo, Sony, and Sega mascots.
The Hylian Champion in Breath of the Wild rocks a modern reinterpretation of a mullet cut. The Hero of the Skies from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword sports an uncanny early Instagram look, with over-inflated lips and neat, side-swept bangs. While his uniform - green tunic, floppy beanie, boots, and relatively skintight pants - remains fairly consistent (with the exception of the highly customizable outfits in newer installments), Link’s hair defines the Hero of Time with each console incarnation. That easily applies to The Legend of Zelda series’ hero, Link. Polygon’s Video Game Fashion Week returns for 2023 with a week of stories covering the worlds of in-game and game-adjacent fashion.
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