SSBM/Falco

Introduction

Falco is the quintessential definition of a glass cannon. He dominates the neutral game, boasting insane frame data, the most limitless combo and mix up potential in the game, and by far the best projectile. All neutral interactions happen on falco’s heavily skewed terms.

He is best described as a shoto. Boasting one of the most complicated yet oppressive fireballs in all of fighting games in his laser. Falco can immediately start his obscene pressure from a laser, or do an extremely low commitment anti air with an utilt, a hard counter to those trying to punish his lasers that leads to massive combos

Falco has a few main weaknesses. First his speed. Compared to his crewmate fox, he is much slower and makes up for it by controlling his opponent's movement with his gun. Second, his kill confirms. In general, building damage and performing long flashy combos is the easy part. Finishing the job however can necessitate mix ups or creativity. This is a problem only exacerbated by his weak grab combos, resulting in Falco dominating the majority of most matches but having the final result determined by how well the Falco can seal the deal

His recovery is a bit of an anomaly. It effectively cannot be rinse repeated. His side b is borderline unreactable and sends unprepared opponents straight down, leading to a massive combo onstage and instantly reversing the situation into a kill offstage

However, he is extremely susceptible to early % kills, dubbed gimps, due to its short length. When it works, it’s an amazing recovery with infinite mix up potential. When it doesn’t, it can be frustrating

In summary, Falco is a control focused character who sports the best neutral and flashiest combos of the cast. Just remember that this bird can’t fly

Strengths

Weaknesses

Lasers are an incredibly powerful projectile that allow him to dominate neutral and stuff opponent's movement. Extremely strong and versatile combo game means that almost any opening can lead to a brutal punish. Fastest jump speed, a fast fall speed, and the highest DJ height gives him a huge advantage in vertical mobility over every other character and synergize well with his vertical-oriented combo game.

Slow: Relatively slow movement speed Combo food: Due to his fall speed Falco is prone to taking huge combos if hit Weak Recovery: Short and easily gimpable recovery means he often dies if knocked offstage, even at low percentages

"A" Moves Analysis

Ground moves

Normal

• Jab 1 Total: 17 Hit: 2-3 Window for Jab 2: 3-31 Jab 2 starts: 6

Average jab seeing occasional use in disrupting the opponent's attacks and mixing up timing for shield pressure.

• Jab 2 Total: 20 IASA: 19 Hit: 3-4 Window for Jab 3: 1-20 Jab 3 starts: 7

• Jab 3 Total: 36 Hit: 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, 31-32

Almost never used in practice. Incredibly slow, weak move which does not lead to anything and often punishable on hit.

• Dash attack Total: 39 Hit: 4-17 IASA: 36

Too weak and slow to be used in most situations but can combo into bair at high percents.

• Down tilt Total: 29 Hit: 7-9 IASA: 28

Swipes his tail in front of him with somewhat short range. However, it is unusually powerful in both damage and knockback. One of the more reliable options to score KOs off the top blastzone. 13% damage.

• Forward tilt Total: 26 Hit: 5-9

Quickly kicks his foot out. Pretty fast, impressive range for it's speed. Can be angled to hit opponents who are slightly higher or lower.

• Up tilt Total: 23 Hit: 5-11 IASA: 23

Flips his leg behind him. Slightly larger than Fox's up tilt with incredible combo potential. Often safe and a great killer at higher damage.

Smash attacks

• Side smash Total: 39 Hit: 12-21 Charge frame: 7

Flips his body in front and kicks in front of him. Good knockback, usually killing around 90-110%, and damage racking should not be difficult for experienced, adept Falco players. 14-17% uncharged, 19-23% fully charged.

• Up smash Total: 43 Hit: 7-15 Charge Frame: 2

Flips his whole body in a 360° spin from his standing point, feet extended, and lands. Falco's version is notably weaker than Fox's; although, it is a better juggler. This also hits behind Falco, albeit with significantly lower knockback. 14% uncharged, 19% fully. Head is intangible frames 1 - 10.

• Down smash Total: 49 Hit: 6-10 Charge Frame: 2

Does a quick split. An excellent killer, if not good for setting up edgeguards, or simply spacing. 16% uncharged, 21% fully charged. Legs intangible: 1-6.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack- Throws himself onto the stage with both feet sticking out. 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack- Slowly gets up and kicks in front. 8% damage.
• Floor attack- Gets up and kicks on his left, then right. 6% damage.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial- Does a simple sex kick. Great knockback when it first comes out, and the move comes out quickly, usually out of a short hop. 12% max.
• Back aerial- Kicks behind him. Sex kick. Good for KO-ing, and a great edgeguarder. 9-15% damage.
• Down aerial- Unlike Fox's down aerial, Falco, who spins around in places at a downwards angle, strongly spikes the foe. Fox's variation is a multi-hitting drill kick. This makes Falco's version much better at edgeguarding and KO-ing in general. However, it also causes Falco to fall faster than usual. 9-12% damage.
• Up aerial- Kicks up and extends his tail afterwards. A two-hit move, first hit does 6%, then 9%, for a total of 15% damage. If the center of Falco's body hits the opponent, then it inflicts the full damage, but with no knockback.
• Forward aerial- Five kicks in front. Due to the number of kicks, this move has a high duration, and it's very unlikely that all hits will connect; Falco players usually have a short time to react with another jump or recovery. A surprising 27% damage if all hits connect.

Grabs & throws

• Pummel- Knees foe. 2-3% per pummel.
• Forward throw- Punches foe forward. Not many comboing follow-ups outside of using it to force opponents off the stage for edgeguarding. Can be used to chaingrab floaty characters at low percentages. 7% damage
• Up throw- Tosses the foe upwards, which causes 3% damage, and fires four very quick shots doing 1% each. Excellent air combo set-up (most particularly up aerial), however, this can be DI'd out of at higher percentages.
• Back throw- Tosses foe behind, for 4% damage, and fires four quick laser shots, dealing 1% each. It is possible to tech-chase an opponent, depending on the opponent's DI. Not most useful throw outside of edge-guard set-ups.
• Down throw- Picks foe up and slams them to the floor, then shoots them four times with his Blaster. Only does 4% damage, though an up-tilt of predicted foe reaction an counter-attack is possible. Not too useful due to it being easy to tech out of.

"B" Moves List

Move Analysis

• Neutral B

The Blaster is Falco's neutral special move in his Melee incarnation, which, like Fox, shoots a laser gun to damage faraway opponents. It is significantly different from that of Fox's: the Blaster has a slower firing rate and longer end lag, (though it fires faster in the air, but not as fast as Fox's), and each beam stuns the opponent in addition to doing damage. Falco's Blaster closely resembles Fox's Blaster as it appeared in the original Smash Bros. The end lag can be skipped if used during a short hop. Falco's Blaster is mainly used from long range to help build damage for later KO attempts, and as an aid in approaching. It has set knockback. It is also used for setting up kills, especially versus Captain Falcon and Ganondorf, as it can be fired numerous times off the ledge to force these characters to recover the same way each time.

• Side B

Falco quickly dashes at the opponent leaving a trail of blueish-tinted afterimages behind him. The opponent can be hit by Falco or any one of the afterimages. Despite the fact that the move is an attack, it is rarely used as such; It is primarily used as a recovery technique, due to its speed. When used as an attack, it deals about 7% damage.

Like the Fox Illusion and Wolf Flash, the Falco Phantasm can be ended early by pressing the button for a special move before its animation is complete, but a few frames must pass by before it will work. An easy way to time the canceling of this move would be to press the special button at the exact point the high pitched 'cling' noise is played. While not an ideal move for KOing, the move's meteor smash can be useful for counter edgeguarding while recovering, but is highly unlikely to KO the opponent even at high percentages, as it is exceedingly weak. The Phantasm can also be used for a very swift approach. Short hopping slightly increases the distance traveled. It, along with the Fox Illusion, can be reversed by quickly tapping the control stick in the opposite direction. The sparkle will stay in its original position, which can lead to mindgames.

• Up B

Fire Bird is Falco's up special move in both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Fire Bird is almost identical to Fire Fox, but with some small differences. Unlike Fire Fox, which only hits an opponent once after Fox starts moving, Fire Bird can hit opponents with multiple small hits after a few frames when the move is charged and when moving, followed by a stronger finishing blow similar to Lucas' PK Thunder 2. On the downside, Falco travels a shorter distance than Fox or Wolf. Its best use would be vertical or diagonal recovery because it has lots of start-up, short distance, and Falco falls almost straight down after using it, meaning it can easily be edge-hogged or hit out of. To maximize the usefulness of Fire Bird, one should try to position Falco exactly under the ledge and use it completely vertical, because then it can sweetspot easier. Fire Bird doesn't burn opponents during the charge-up animation in Melee, unlike in Brawl.

• Down B

In Melee, Falco's Reflector is identical to Fox's, although it sends opponents upwards when used as an attack; because of this, Falco cannot waveshine combo, unlike Fox. He can, however, Star KO with his shine.

Strategies

Lasers (SHL/B)

Falco's neutral-b or "Laser" is the single most powerful and nuanced tool in his arsenal. On hit it deals 3% damage and (more importantly) 4f of hitlag and 8f of hitstun. This makes laser a valuable tool for interrupting an opponent's movement or attack, creating frame advantage falco can leverage to attack or harassing at long-range. Because of Falco's relatively low speed, he relies heavily on laser to slow faster opponents down. Against even slower characters like Peach laser serves as a powerful lockdown tool, stuffing movement almost completely and forcing them to commit to a whiff-punishable option.

SHL stands for "Short-Hop Laser/Blaster" and is very disruptive to opponents. A laser performed while Falco is airborne will auto-cancel upon landing (experiencing only 4f of landing lag), giving Falco the ability to quickly shoot lasers while weaving in and out of an opponent's threat range - pressuring them and setting up for an offensive mixup.

In order to do a SHL/B, one must short-hop, and shoot a laser, and then fast-fall. Depending on a player's timing, Falco can shoot lasers at a wide variety of heights. -High Laser: Short-Hop > Immediate Laser > Late fastfall. This is useful for stuffing opponents attempting to jump. This is particularly strong against opponents with powerful aerial options, like Falcon and Jigglypuff -Low Laser: Short-Hop > Late Laser > Slightly delayed fastfall. Low lasers are difficult to powershield, making them a good option for pressuring an opponent or stuffing grounded movement like Fox's dashdance.

When performed correctly, the player is free to move about while shooting. A player can send flurries of SHL/Bs while approaching an opponent. SHL/B is considered to be the best approach tactic in the game and one of the most annoying moves in the game. It is imperative that Falco players learn to SHL/B since it is Falco's main method of both opening up opponents' defenses and protecting himself.

Pillaring

How to perform

Against a shielding opponent, the easiest way to pillar is to SHFFL'd a down aerial and immediately shine. The shine is then jump-cancelled into another shffl'd down aerial, and the cycle continues. However, other aerials may be used, depending on preference. This can be mixed up with multishines and waveshines. Jabs, down tilts (for Falco) and jump-canceled grabs out of shine are also popular mix-ups.

Uses

Pillaring can pressure an opponent in a shield, forcing them to roll out of it, which can be chased. It is possible for Falco's down aerial pillar to be shield-grabbed, but it requires very good timing. If the opponent is not good at defending against pillaring, their shield may be broken. This is rare in high-level play.

Technicalities

Pillaring can be shield grabbed or broken out of by Samus's up special move; Bowser's up special; Fox's shine or neutral aerial; and a few other moves. The exact timing of when to break out of the pillar depends on how the opponent times his aerials and the breakout attack used.

Waveshining

A wavedash can be performed anytime a character is on the ground and can jump. The shine can be canceled by jumping shortly after it is initiated. Therefore, it is possible to jump out of the shine into a wavedash. To waveshine, use the shine, then jump cancel into a wavedash out of it.

It is often easier to use the X button|X/Y buttons instead of the Control Stick because it is considered harder to wavedash with only the control-stick. The logic is that to jump with the Control Stick requires the stick to go up. To wavedash, the succeeding angle is angled towards the ground. This makes for more complicated manual motions, and should be avoided in order to achieve a speedy waveshine.

The waveshine is generally used to aid in Falco's vertical down aerial and shine combos. It gives Falco the added horizontal distance such that he can jump up and catch up with his opponent. This is especially useful against a DIing Fox. A waveshine followed by another wavedash makes Falco a combo machine.

Waveshined Laser

The Waveshined Laser is a very useful technique because it's a good defense and a good offense. To do this, use Reflector, Wavedash backwards without facing behind the player, and shoot as many Lasers that they want to shoot.

Waveshining is also a popular mixup when pillaring an opponent's shield. The waveshine allows the Falco player to move behind an opponent's shield to not get shieldgrabbed.

For both Fox and Falco, the waveshine can be used as a method of spacing and avoiding the lag after a Shine.

Offense

Falco's down air (also known as the Quailbird) is one of the best Spikes in the game, and can usually kill at around 50%. His up tilt can be used to start combos. His down tilt can usually kill at high percentages. His forward smash is fast, combos from his lasers well and kills at fairly low percentages. His back air is also considered a Sex Kick.

A basic combo of Falco's is grabbing the opponent, throwing them down, immediately shining them and chasing them upward for a spike. The player can do this several times to build up damage, forcing them near the edge, and spiking them a final time. This combo is a guaranteed kill around 100% or 110%. It works on nearly every character except other space animals (although with C. Falcon it is imperative to SHL or SHFFL the down aerial), but does not work as well on floaters or lightweights.

Like Fox, Falco can down throw an opponent at the very edge of a stage which can't normally be passed through, and the lasers from the throw send the opponent down extremely quickly. It is almost impossible to meteor cancel it or recover from it at any percent, due to the speed. This tactic will only work if Falco is facing inward when he is on the edge. This technique is highly situational, however.

Boost grab

Along with Fox and Sheik, Falco can use a boost for his grab. To do it, the player has to do a dash attack and right after they do it, press the grab button and Falco will be able to reach out more when he grabs. The player can't jump cancel the boost grab. This can be used to increase the grab range.

Match-ups

Serious Advantage Match-ups

Y.Link, Zelda, Mew2, Yoshi, G&W, Ness, Bowser, Kirby, Pichu

Advantage Match-ups

C.Falcon, Doc, Ganon, Pikachu, Mario, DK, Luigi, Link, Roy

Fair Match-ups

Fox, Marth, Puff, Sheik, Peach, Samus, IC

Disadvantage Match-ups

None

Serious Disadvantage Match-ups

None