Falco (SSBB)

This article is about Falco's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Falco Lombardi.

Falco
Falco Lombardi
Universe	Star Fox
Appears in	SSBM SSBB
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	N/A

Falco (ファルコ, Faruko) is a character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His moveset has been altered quite a bit from his Fox-cloned moveset in the last game. One of the most immediately noticeable differences is that he kicks his Reflector (down special) like a boomerang. Some of Falco's movements have also been changed from Melee: He no longer has a tiny short-hop or the highest falling speed.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Win 50 matches in Brawl, then defeat Falco
• Beat 100 Man Brawl, then defeat Falco
• Get Falco to join your party in The Subspace Emissary

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Has one of the most useful projectiles in the game
• Can short hop double blaster. Blaster stuns and deals a few percent damage
• Blaster can "lock" characters in tumble if they tumble in front of Falco, racking up damage across the entire stage
• Reflector reflects projectiles and is a quick, short-ranged physical projectile of its own, tripping up nearby enemies and even going through walls
• Aerials and tilts come out quickly
• Highest initial jump if full-hopped
• One of the best spikers
• Forward smash is a good horizontal finisher
• Neutral A combo now traps really well. Useful for racking on damage
• Can chain throw opponents at low percents
• Good, high-priority aerial attacks that come out quickly with minimal lag
• Can wavebounce with his laser, although usefulness is debated
• Can Wall Jump
• Can rack up damage quickly
• Most of his moves are quick and solid hits
• Little overall lag

Cons:

• Most of his aerials cannot kill except at fairly high percentages.
• Overly reliant on spikes (Down Air) or Forward Smashes for kills
• Down Aerial has a fairly small window in which it can spike
• Forward Smash has slow wind up compared to other moves. Reach of clean hit is limited
• Light and easily K.O.'d
• His recovery can be caped and edge-guarded easily
• Easy to combo and chaingrab
• Bad vertical recovery (although better than in melee)
• Slow-Medium running speed

Changes from Melee to Brawl

• New Neutral Normal Combo
• New Forward Smash
• New Neutral Aerial
• New Forward Aerial
• New Up Tilt
• Falco kicks his Reflector
• No longer falls as fast
• Down Aerial must be sweet-spotted to spike
• Length of Falco Phantasm (Special Side B) has increased
• Shots from his blaster are slightly faster
• Slower Running Speed
• Blaster range is slightly longer

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Ejecting from his Arwing, Falco shows up in the nick of time to save Fox from trophy-ization at the hands of Bowser and a Shadowbug clone of Diddy by flip-kicking the Dark Cannon from Bowser's hands and destroying it with dual lasergun fire, forcing Bowser to leave. The Diddy clone begins to absorb more Shadowbugs, becoming gigantic, and after Fox revives the real Diddy, the three fight the giant clone. Falco then turns to leave, but is quickly dragged away by Diddy. A stupefied Fox shrugs his shoulders and walks off after them as he received the same treatment from Diddy earlier.

As Captain Falcon and Captain Olimar look down at the ship carrying Donkey Kong's trophy, Falco's Arwing shows up, ejecting Diddy Kong from the cockpit. Diddy then activates his Rocket Barrel Jet Pack and shoots the ship with his Peanut Popguns. Landing on the ship, he quickly de-trophifies DK, and after DK, Diddy, Captain Falcon, and Olimar defeat the Primids that board the ship, Falco gives Diddy and Donkey Kong a thumbs up as he leaves.

He makes his next appearance in the battle against Duon on the Halberd, where he teams up with Fox, Peach, Sheik, Snake, and Lucario. When it's defeated, Peach revives Game and Watch as Meta Knight takes back control of his ship. He uses his Arwing during the attack on the Subspace Gunship and joins with the heroes throughout the rest of the story.

Standard Moves

Ground Attacks

• Neutral Normal Combo: After the standard Jab, Jab, Falco tilts himself diagonally in the direction he is facing and begins to spin, arms out, repeatedly hitting the opponent.
• Dash Attack: Identical to his dash attack in Melee (he jumps slightly off the ground while running and holds out his leg)
• Down Tilt: Tail swipe. Identical to his attack from Melee, except a bit weaker
• Forward Tilt: Sticks his leg out, like his forward tilt from Melee
• Up Tilt: Swings both of his wings above his head. Hits twice.
• Foward Smash: Falco swings his wing in an overhead powerful swipe, slashing anyone who is caught in it
• Down Smash: Splits kick, less range than his Melee Downsmash
• Up Smash: Flip kick, like his Melee Upsmash

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Aerial: Falco spins in midair diagonally, like Peach's Neutral aerial, except it hits multiple times
• Forward Aerial: Falco turns horizontally and spins, hitting multiple times with his head, similar to Pikachu's or Sonic's Forward Air
• Back Aerial: Falco sticks his leg out horizontally behind him, similar to his Back Air from the previous game.
• Up Aerial: Overhead vertical flip kick, like Fox's. Still weaker than Fox's, but still capable of high percent KO's.
• Down Aerial: Falco turns diagonally and spins, similar in appearance to his down aerial from last game. Also similar to last game, it is a powerful spike, but this time, it appears as if this only happens if Falco hits with the proper part of his body (the center of his legs) at the begining of the move. If he misses this, it appears to knock the opponent up and away slightly.

Grabs and Throws

• Up Throw: Throws opponent upward and shoots his blaster straight up.
• Down Throw: Throws opponent on the ground and shoots them with his blaster (can be followed up by a Shine or chained with other Down Throws up to 40-70%, depending on the character).
• Forward Throw: Grabs opponent and punches them forward.
• Back Throw: Throws opponent backwards and shoots them diagonally with his blaster.

Stickers

Falco uses his arms in his attack more than Fox does, so [Arm] Damage boosts is more recommended for him than Fox, otherwise he can be customized similarly to Fox.

Special Movements

Taunts

Up: Kicks his reflector around like a soccer ball, and says "Piece of cake."

Side: Stands on one foot and raises a wing while saying "Don't try me."

Down: Spins once and poses (same as in Melee), and says "Hands off my prey." Amusingly, due to his accent, many players think that Falco says "Hands off my bread".

Special: When fighting as Falco on the Lylat Cruise stage, quickly tap down on the directional pad once and he will kneel down and seem as though he's trying to communicate with someone through a device, and then stand back up. Once this has occurred, various characters from the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams will begin transmitting messages, in an homage to the Star Fox series. This technique can also be used on the Corneria stage, only with older Star Fox homages.

On-Screen Appearance

Jumps out of an Arwing.

Victory Pose

• Dashes from the sky and poses on the ground
• Does rapid kicks and says "Had enough already?"
• Crossing his arms, he looks upward and says, "You aren't worth the trouble!"
• (After fighting against Fox, he says, "You're off your game, Fox." while doing the second pose.)

Wii Remote Choice

Says "piece of cake."