Heart Container

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 * name     = Heart Container
 * image    = Heartcontainer.png
 * caption  = A Heart Container
 * firstgame = The Legend of Zelda(1987)
 * games    = The Legend of Zelda The Adventure of Link A Link to the Past Link's Awakening Ocarina of Time Majora's Mask Oracle of Ages Oracle of Seasons Four Swords The Wind Waker Four Swords Adventures The Minish Cap Twilight Princess Phantom Hourglass
 * found    = Boss battles, collecting Pieces of Heart
 * use      = Increase Link's life meter
 * eagainst =

Heart Containers are recurring items in the Legend of Zelda series. These heart-shaped containers are visual representations of Link's current health. The more Heart Containers the player collects, the more health Link can have and the more "hit points" he has. The number of Heart Containers Link has is the maximum amount of health he could have at that time, not the amount he actually does have. In The Legend of Zelda, the name for these items is Container Heart.

Heart Containers are traditionally displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen in The Legend of Zelda games. When Link's health is full, the Heart Containers are filled with a red color. As Link loses hit points, they lose their color or disappear. In some games, Link can lose quarter hearts or half hearts.

Link usually starts his adventure with three Heart Containers and can eventually gather up to 20 Heart Containers or lower depending on the game. Whole Heart Containers are usually found when a boss is defeated. Certain containers that contain a quarter of a heart can be found scattered throughout the game worlds and are known as Pieces of Heart or Heart Pieces. When 4 of these are collected, Link receives an additional Heart Container. The exception to this rule is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess where 5 must be collected.

In Ocarina of Time, they appear exactly in the spot where the boss died, or, more specifically, in the spot where the last body part of the boss was destroyed. For example, after the battle with Volvagia, the container appears where Volvagia's head explodes.

Exceptions

 * In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Link has a health meter instead of a string of heart images, and heart containers extend this meter. Instead of losing whole, half, or quarter hearts, damage simply decreases a continuous bar. The health meter begins with four bars, and an additional four heart containers may be found in the course of the game, extending the bar to a maximum of eight units.

Super Smash Bros. series
Heart Containers appear in the Super Smash Bros. series as healing items. There are a few differences between how much they healed in each game.
 * In the original Super Smash Bros., Heart Containers heal all damage. If a player picks one up, all of his/her damage is decreased all the way to 0%. Its appearance is similar to that of Heart Containers from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Melee, they heal 100% damage. However, there are three in All Star Mode that heal all damage. As in the first title, their appearance is very similar to the ones found in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, their appearance is based on the Twilight Princess design and once again heal 100% damage. In All Star Mode, as well as Boss Battles, they once again heal all damage.

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