Besides serving his role as the eternal hero for the land of Hyrule, The Legend of Zelda’s Link has quite a keen eye for fashion. Well, most of the time, at least. Link’s general design has gone through a few shifts here and there since his debut on the NES, with some of them solidifying themselves as the definitive versions of the legendary hero.

Triforce Heroes on the 3DS took it one step further, showing three Links who just got really into cosplay. Link’s heroic clothing has changed quite a bit in the last 34 years, but which Link has the potential to win contests and woo his fans with his sense of style? No Triforce Heroes, obviously, as that would be pretty much cheating.

12 A Link To The Past & Link’s Awakening

Link was in such a hurry to get to Hyrule Castle and save Zelda, he basically forgot to put on pants. Link then proceeded to forget his pants for the rest of his adventure in A Link to the Past, and even his second adventure during the events of Link’s Awakening.

The outfit itself isn’t bad, in fact, it’s one of Link’s more iconic styles of the tunic, but it just looks way off seeing the hero of Hyrule run around and slay monsters without any pants. Thankfully, this trend didn’t last too long.

11 The Legend Of Zelda

This outfit is largely the same as the one seen in A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening, but it looks just a bit better on the hero. Artwork seeing during the NES era is often inconsistent, with some versions of this Link having brown tights, and another version is a female Link with red hair.

Regardless of inconsistencies, Link still looks rather goofy to be running around a monster-filled kingdom without any sort of cloth from his thighs down, but he’s just a bit more charming with it this time around, earning him a few extra bonus points.

10 Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link

According to the official Zelda timeline, this is the same Link from the first game and is probably a few years older due to his increased height. He also seems to have grown out of his pantsless-phase, making this version of Link only two of five in the downfall timeline to not lack pants.

This Link instead opts to wear tights that match the color of his undershirt, which is an…odd choice, to say the least. It’s better than not having any pants at all, but, as seen later on, white is a much better color choice.

9 Skyward Sword

Following Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword features the second Link with a more “armored” Hero’s Tunic, as the chainmail can clearly be seen poking out from his clothing. The design of this tunic isn’t bad at all, but it’s severely lacking in detail and personality compared to other games.

Now, it could be argued that the lesser amount of detail is due to the art style of Skyward Sword, but it could really benefit from a few extra colors or accessories to help keep it from looking flat.

8 Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, Four Swords, Triforce Heroes

The “Toon Link” versions of the hero span a good portion of the entire series and most of them wear pretty much the exact same outfit. Due to the nature of cel-shading, these Links’ clothing is rather simple, but it suits them quite well, making it perfect for the more solid colors and dark outlines.

This outfit has a dark-colored tunic with a lighter shade of the same color for the sleeves, and these Links finally adopted the iconic white tights. This version of Link’s outfit works great with just about any color, as is seen in games like Four Swords and Triforce Heroes.

7 Twilight Princess

The Hero of Twilight has, without a doubt, the definitive version of an “adult” looking Link. Darker greens, more detailed stitch-work on the clothing, chain mail, and lots of belts, bells, and whistles to look at. This tunic also comes equipped with gauntlets, which are usually obtained later on in the adventure.

This heroic outfit is both mature and stylish but could get some benefit out of a few brighter colors, as, especially in the older versions of Twilight Princess, everything blends together a little too much.

6 A Link Between Worlds

Finally, the descendant of the hero from A Link to the Past finally got his hands on some legwear, and the best color too. Since A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, there isn’t much difference in outfits between these two Links.

But, the higher detail seen on his boots, collar, belt, and leggings really puts it over the top and is one of the best versions of the “brown-undershirt, yellow-brimmed hat” Link that we have.

5 Ocarina of Time & Majora’s Mask

Ocarina of Time is the first instance where Link is seen as a true adult, and his seven-year transition was, fortunately, met with some great style as well. Rauru certainly did a great job of choosing Adult Link’s new outfit.

Child Link still decides to rock the no-pants look, but it works much better in this case, as Link is from Kokiri Forest where the other kids wear practically the same thing. In previous games, it was never explained why Link hated pants so much.

4 Oracle of Ages & Seasons

 

A Link Between Worlds Link’s outfit was listed as “one of” the best of its kind because Oracle of Ages & Seasons has the definitive version of it. Since these were GameBoy Color titles, it isn’t as easy to see the outfit in detail without looking at artwork, but it was perfected in these games.

The added frills to Link’s tunic and boots give off just the right amount of Whimsical energy that Zelda is known for, and it, unfortunately, goes unnoticed by many fans.

3 Hyrule Warriors

Hyrule Warriors’ Link takes the best stylistic choices from both Skyward Sword’s and Twilight Princess’s Link’s outfits, but Nintendo decided to throw in a blue scarf just for the fun of it. Not to say that it doesn’t work for him, because it really, truly does.

It isn’t just a blue scarf, as it also has some added Hylian designing to give it that much more flair, and leave fans disappointed that this costume isn’t featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

2 Spirit Tracks

Not being able to wear Link’s engineer uniform during the entirety of Spirit Tracks is one of the greatest video game tragedies. This is only worn during the beginning portions of the game but is still one of the coolest outfits that Link has ever worn, and makes for one of the best Smash Bros. costume mods.

If this outfit was the norm for Toon Link during the main story of Spirit Tracks, it would be a great change of pace for the multitude of games that feature him with the same tunic.

1 Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild took a big risk in completely changing pretty much every aspect of Link’s design, but Nintendo couldn’t have done a better job. While still giving Link a classic tunic that any good hero should have, it’s now a striking blue color.

There’s a ton of detail in this outfit in every area from the boots, to the edges of the clothing, to the patterning on the undershirt that all coincides so well. Plus, Link has an absolute ton of options within the game to change up his look, making him the most stylish of the Links.

NEXT: The Legend of Zelda: 5 Villains That Terrified Us As Kids (& 5 That Fell Flat)