Okay I take it a bit back, they guy knows how to short hop way better and is way faster...while still precise...

Hey, does anyone have any tips for a re-starting Link main for this game? (By restarting, I just mean that I'm coming back to Flash 2 after what, a year?)
Any competitive combos, niche attacks, etc.?

I'm not really a Link player anymore, but using his bombs and his Utilt are your highest priority (imo)

^^what he said

Are the small ticks of damage from the returning boomerang intentional? If so, why? What made link so bad that he needed a spammable move with enormous hitstun?

Boomerang is hardly spammable against any character with a reflector or good timing or any character with any fast approach. Of course, you could always shield it or roll as well. Or platforms. Or sidestep dodge. Not really too spammable.

Yeah, I tried spamming the rang online and, well, it doesn't work. But, playing around with it more, once you catch somebody in the gale it takes about a second to DI out of it. There's a lot you can do in a second, and as the ticks of 1-2% keeping your opponent from doing anything, the move is a little bit overpowered. I think the console games did the boomerang right, making it an edgeguarding tool and great for setups, but having hitstun is a little too much.

Actually, if you think about it, the fact that it hits you is a double edge. When it comes to edgeguarding, it's no different, or even worse than console games because it gives back recoveries. What the hits during move do is make it a better "get over here" move, but even then, the start-up makes it not an OP move, and most of the time, if I was to throw a rang, it'll be for the initial hitbox, not the wind

Very good point. I guess I should go to punish instead of trying to reflect with my garbage timing.

Speculation time, for you both Link and Peach mains:

How does the latest Dev Blog (which confirmed both item throw animations and glide tossing) alter the meta of your characters?

Significantly of course.

Just one problem : Reflecting the boomarang is useless... it deals like 1 percent and it doesn't really help you at getting Link closer to you

It means I spam more bombs than ever before :]
Also, I don't know much about glide tossing but can you through an item upwards and still achieve a glide? If so, you could follow up with an up-smash easier or have an easier time getting an aerial follow up.

This should improve Link's out-of-shield game by adding a more aggressive defensive movement option to his arsenal whenever he has a bomb in hand. That's pretty cool.