Matchup Summary (Win Condition and Game Plan)
This matchup gets worse whenever Young Link keeps taking direct air-to-air or burst-range scraps into Shulk’s massive fair, nair, f-tilt, and up tilt, especially once Monado Arts changes the pace of the exchange.
The win condition is to avoid that raw range battle, use arrow, boomerang, and bomb to interrupt Shulk’s walking rhythm and art usage, then punish the slower grounded swings and landings with up B, nair, and up smash before carrying him to the ledge.
The frame table also shows that jab, tilts, dash attack, smashes, down tilt, dair, and side B are all punishable on shield, while nair, fair, bair, and uair are largely safe, so the better answer is usually to take space under the landing rather than forcing an out-of-shield swing.
For kills, Young Link is more consistent by trapping jump and drift with bomb and boomerang, then finishing at the ledge with up smash, fair, or bair instead of trying to win center-stage sword exchanges.
Full Move Frame Quick Reference
| Opponent Move | Startup | On Shield | Young Link OOS Candidate Moves | Barely Missed Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jab 1 | 5 | -17 |
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| Jab 2 | 5 | -25 |
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| Jab 3 | 6 | -32 |
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| Forward Tilt | 12 | -19/-20 |
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| Up Tilt | 11 | -18/-19 |
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| Down Tilt | 10 | -12/-13 |
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| Dash Attack | 12 | -16/-18 |
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| Forward Smash | 14/23 | -35/-36 |
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| Up Smash | 18/30 | -28 |
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| Down Smash | 18/23/28/35/41 | -/-56/-51/-52/-47/-48/-41/-42/-36/-37 |
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| Neutral Air | 13 | -2/-3 |
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| Forward Air | 14 | -6/-7 |
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| Back Air | 19 | -6/-7 |
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| Up Air | 14/24 | -6/-5/-5 |
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| Down Air | 14/23 | -11/-9/-10 |
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| Neutral B | — | — | ||
| Side B | 22 | -29/-30/-25/-27 |
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| Up B | 10 | ** | ||
| Down B | 7 (Start of Counter) | — | ||
| Grab | 7 | — | ||
| Dash Grab | 10 | — | ||
| Pivot Grab | 11 | — |
Win Condition Checklist
- Use arrow, boomerang, and bomb to cut into Shulk’s walk speed and Monado setup time instead of contesting the sword range directly.
- Punish jab, tilts, down tilt, dash attack, smashes, dair, and side B on shield with the listed nair, uair, up B, up smash, and grab answers.
- Do not force shield punishes on nair, fair, bair, or uair; move first to the landing and air-dodge destination instead.
- If Jump or Speed lets Shulk escape the corner, reset with projectiles and push him back toward the ledge rather than overchasing.
- When Shield art denies the kill, go back to ledgetraps and landing traps instead of swinging harder into his survivability.
Actions to Avoid
- Jumping straight into Shulk’s sword range and challenging lingering fair or nair hitboxes head-on.
- Throwing OOS punishes at every aerial even when nair, fair, bair, and uair are still safe.
- Holding bomb too long while advancing and walking into f-tilt or up tilt counter-hits.
- Giving up ledge pressure just because Smash art is active and returning the game to center-stage spacing.
- Chasing too deep offstage and letting Jump art or uair reverse the position.