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[lazygecko]

I don't think this mysterious creative decision for Link's hair color in A Link to the Past has ever been officially disclosed by Nintendo. Why is his hair pink? It never appeared that way in any of the promotional artwork.

All I've heard is a bunch of speculation, such as it somehow being that way palette-wise to accomodate for the bunny form in Dark World, or due to some kind of technical limitation with sprite colors (both which I'm pretty sure have been debunked by rom hack edits by now).

 

[TheMoon]

The 90s.

 

[120v]

Brown or tan would've looked off with the rest of the sprite

LttP is my GOAT but it had some seriously fugly sprite work, even for its time

 

[Platy]

If was something for the bunny than would be easier to put the belt green and the hair yellow.

I like and think this is the TRUE version of Link in this game, like how most Amano artworks are pretty much alien to me related to the Final Fantasy sprites.

The final product is the game so therefore it is the last word on something

 

[Bentendo]

I always thought it was an extension to the hat (sort of like that orange band above it).

 

[ThatsMytrunks]

I've never really understood myself. Like, it probably wasn't a technical issue, because using the colors available you could do something a little closer to the art, like this:

I'm colorblind so maybe those colors aren't great, but still. Better.

 

[bman94]

I never played a Legend of Zelda game so I figured I'd start with Link to the Past. I was legitimately confused the first 30 minutes of playing: "Why does he have pink hair? Who thought this was okay"?

 

[Deleted member 245925]

Brown or tan would've looked off with the rest of the sprite

Blonde looks fine to me.

But the more orange-ish color of the artworks looks not so great.

 

[OnimaruXLR]

It looks like part of his hat if it's not a color that contrasts strongly against the green

This line of conversation is thrice-heated over. Can we discuss something fresh, like how the 2D Final Fantasy sprites have little to no resemblance to Amano's artwork? How do you go from a yellow uniform to a green leotard and white cape???

 

[Xun]

It always did baffle me as to why his hair was pink.

A "corrected" version of the sprite was actually initially going to be used for FSA:

 

[BluePigGanon]

Blonde looks fine to me.

I dunno, that looks kinda weird. Too light.

Not that pink is less weird. I'm sure it was a color budget thing.

 

[PSqueak]

Blonde looks fine to me.

Disagree, the yellow parts look like part of the hat rather than hair, and if you think people would see it right, let me remind you people have been looking at the aghanim sprite wrong for over 2 decades.

 

[TheMoon]

I've never really understood myself. Like, it probably wasn't a technical issue, because using the colors available you could do something a little closer to the art, like this:

I'm colorblind so maybe those colors aren't great, but still. Better.

Blonde looks fine to me.

Now make a version of this in an actual screenshot in the game in proper size, not a blown up pic. Let's see how it looks there and if yellow doesn't bleed into the orange and brown tone it's sandwiched between.

 

[Vampirolol]

The real question is why those aren't canon. Pink hair link is best link.

 

[ElTorro]

The fact that official artwork shows Link with his regular blonde hair makes the sprite even more of a mystery.

 

[Deleted member 245925]

Now make a version of this in an actual screenshot in the game in proper size, not a blown up pic. Let's see how it looks there and if yellow doesn't bleed into the orange and brown tone it's sandwiched between.

Both look equally weird to me.

I dunno, that looks kinda weird. Too light.

Not that pink is less weird. I'm sure it was a color budget thing.

Yeah, probably too light, I just used the color from some artwork but I had f.lux enabled so it didn't appear that light.

 

[Nottle]

I think the yellow/brown fold of his hat should just be green like how it is post Ocarina of time.also maybe his hair should be a bit more messy poking out of the front, that's when I think a dark blonde color would work.

I really wish there was an option for pink hair in Link Between Worlds I love how different and weird it is.

Thinking about it link always had funky 2d Art.

I do like how he looks on the gameboy.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I think it's just supposed to make the sprite standout a little more.

Blonde looks fine to me.

But the more orange-ish color of the artworks looks not so great.

Keep in mind though that his is not the way sprites looked on people's 19 inch CRT tv's over RF signal in 1992.

 

[To Far Away Times]

I've always assumed they did it because they thought it would read better. Color accuracy be damned, they wanted you to tell that was his hair underneath his hat.

 

[Joey Ravn]

He can dye his hair pink if he wants. You just don't understand.

It's not phase, mom. This is who he really is.

 

[Piers]

I think it's just supposed to make the sprite standout a little more.

This. Presumably play testers found focusing on Link hard with a soft colour between his face and hat.
It's similar to Mario's weird palette in SMW

 

[120v]

Blonde looks fine to me.

But the more orange-ish color of the artworks looks not so great.

Those look ok but I think they just wanted to go with the most distinctive color possible to say "this is links hair"

Maybe it wasn't the best choice but like I said earlier the game's sprite work was wonky to begin with (cue the agahnim visual interpretation jpgs)

Personally I never even noticed the hair color until people started pointing it out recently, and I bought the game day 1

 

[Spwn]

My guess is that they felt the need to make Link easier to locate on the screen. I'd imagine the screen scrolling could confuse someone new to video games for the first couple of screens and making Link's pink hair can be found on the screen immediately. TV sizes were also smaller and so on.

edit:

I think this demonstrates it pretty well. The pink hair is recognizable immediately. It's such a stand out color that it works well as a visual cue for the player as to where to concentrate their attention or where to return their attention after scanning the environment around the player character.

 

[Deleted member 245925]

I think it's just supposed to make the sprite standout a little more.

Keep in mind though that his is not the way sprites looked on people's 19 inch CRT tv's over RF signal in 1992.

That's a very good point.

 

[Neff]

As I understand it, they simply needed an extra colour to help him stand out against the numerous greens and browns in the overworld more. Probably the same reason Ocarina of Time's Link has has a distinctly more orangey tint to his hair than his art did.

 

[Neiteio]

It always did baffle me as to why his hair was pink.

A "corrected" version of the sprite was actually initially going to be used for FSA:

Oh, wow! This is pretty neat.

 

[shaowebb]

I think this thread needs to devolve into everyone pinkerfying their avatar hairs again.
Its the best and most logical outcome so why not cut to the chase

 

[TheMoon]

Both look equally weird to me.

This is so hard to judge because we've all been looking at pink Link for 25 years now. So I don't actually know when I say yellow hair looks weird if that's because it actually looks weird or if that's just my conditioning kicking in.

 

[John Kowalski]

pink is punk

 

[Weltall Zero]

Disagree, the yellow parts look like part of the hat rather than hair, and if you think people would see it right, let me remind you people have been looking at the aghanim sprite wrong for over 2 decades.

Right, coloring the hair pink is the best way to avoid people confusing it with the hat's rim.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

That's a very good point.

I think a lot of sprite design back in the day probably came from things like that. Didn't Miyamoto say that the only reason Mario has a hat or a mustache (I can't remember which) was so that it would be easier to read his face with the super primitive pixel work they were using?

 

[Nickle]

I remember someone saying that the pink looked brownish on certain types of older TV's. Don't know how much truth there is to this, but it makes sense.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

CRT screens added a significant amount of blur and distortion. I can only assume that pink hair blended better with the surrounding pixels in terms of standing out and not white washing out surrounding colours.

 

[TheMoon]

did one myself. below the screens is the color I used for the hair. very poor contrast.

 

[Roldan]

I always thought it was part of the tunic, like something he'd wear under the hood.

I don't know, looking at it as pink hair seems so weird... >_>

 

[Sciz]

I think a lot of sprite design back in the day probably came from things like that. Didn't Miyamoto say that the only reason Mario has a hat or a mustache (I can't remember which) was so that it would be easier to read his face with the super primitive pixel work they were using?

The hat and mustache were easier to read than any sort of hairstyle and mouth, yes.

 

[DeathPeak]

The pink hair adds character. Always liked it.

 

[Platy]

The fact that official artwork shows Link with his regular blonde hair makes the sprite even more of a mystery.

 

[Mak]

I think it looked more red-ish in magazine previews from how it looked on CRT TVs at the time. The pink color stands out more when you're looking at direct screenshot form an emulator. Later on, Link's hat turns yellow and purple.

SNES - composite
Wii VC - composite
Emulator - (direct screenshot)
GBA Player - composite

Could have something to do with the fairy companion that was originally planned for the 3 person party system.
http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/miyamoto-horii-discussion/

In a few pieces of artwork for The Legend of Zelda, Link's hair is a lighter shade than other artwork because of the light source than the brown color of his boots and sleeves, making his hair stand out from his hat.

 

[IndieJones]

I always thought it was done for colour contrast on CRT TVs.

 

[James Scott]

Yeah, it's weird. Would be nice if someone asked Miyamoto or Aonuma about it.

If was something for the bunny than would be easier to put the belt green and the hair yellow.

I like and think this is the TRUE version of Link in this game, like how most Amano artworks are pretty much alien to me related to the Final Fantasy sprites.

The final product is the game so therefore it is the last word on something

So Yoshi's arms are supposed to be orange?

 

[DonMigs85]

This must be the 15,136th thread about Link's pink hair

 

[mdtauk]

I think it was a deliberate decision, possibly made for colour palette, and contrast reasons.

I remember an interview with Super Play magazine I believe, with Shigeru Miyamoto about A Link to the Past, and he showed a little model of Link they made for the sprite designers to study at different angles...

 

[BluePigGanon]

I think it was a deliberate decision, possibly made for colour palette, and contrast reasons.

I remember an interview with Super Play magazine I believe, with Shigeru Miyamoto about A Link to the Past, and he showed a little model of Link they made for the sprite designers to study at different angles...

I would buy the shit out of that lol

 

[Oli]

Bring it back, Nintendo.

 

[NeonZ]

Bring it back, Nintendo.

There's a false Link in Triforce Heroes with the pink hair color.

 

[Platy]

Yeah, it's weird. Would be nice if someone asked Miyamoto or Aonuma about it.

So Yoshi's arms are supposed to be orange?

In this game, why not ?

edit : Unless you say that it was the foot suport that yoshi has in it's saddle.

But considering in later games he was more upright, why not changing the color of his arms ? If Sonic can have his arms change colors, why not yoshi ?

 

[Blastoise]

it was just a phase ok

 

[jstripes]

I'm gonna go with "because CRTs".

The game was never meant to be played on a pixel-perfect display.

 

[Crayolan]

Pink hair Link is best Link. At least give me a Smash bros palette!