Falco (SSBB)

Falco in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Star Fox
Other playable appearances	in Melee in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Landmaster
Tier	A- (7)

Falco (ファルコ, Falco) is a character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He reprises his role from Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was confirmed to return as a playable character on February 20, 2008. Falco is no longer voiced by Hisao Egawa in all regions of the game; he reprises his role in the Japanese version but his now voiced by Dex Manley in the English versions of the game.

Falco currently clocks in at 7th position out of 38 on the tier list, at the lowest position of the A- Tier and top tier. While still being a drop from his Melee tier placement, where he is ranked 2nd, this is not a large drop and is still a good tier placement. Falco's Blaster shots are very fast, hard to punish, very long-ranged, transcendent, and allow him to camp and punish approaches easily. At low percents, Falco can rack up damage quickly using lasers and his down throw chain grab with many follow-ups such as the Gatling Combo or the meteor smash in his down aerial. He also has incredible vertical mobility, fast attack speed, a strong all-purpose attack in his back aerial, the aforementioned down air meteor smash (the fastest meteor smash in Brawl with only 5 frames of startup lag), a long-ranged Reflector, and other tricks such as his BDACUS. Falco still has significant problems, however. While his vertical mobility is excellent, his horizontal mobility is sub-par as Falco has lackluster dashing speed and air speed. Falco can have difficulty KOing his opponents who can survive his meteor smash offstage from his chain throw, possessing few reliable KO moves that are not particularly powerful and stale quickly (made worse by the fact that some of his finishers are used frequently). Falco also has a poor recovery; while his Falco Phantasm provides great horizontal distance, it can be predictable and leaves Falco vulnerable for the duration of the move, allowing opponents to easily hit him out of it. Additionally, his Fire Bird travels a short vertical distance, has a very small ledge sweetspot, and is easily edgehogged. His fast falling speed also hinders his recovery, and the fast acceleration of it makes him vulnerable to chain throws from characters like Pikachu who can chain throw him from low percentages to a KO. Regardless of his disadvantages, Falco still has an amazing amount of favorable matchups, having only three disadvantageous ones, and has achieved some very strong tournament results.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play 50 VS. matches.
• Complete 100-Man Brawl.
• Have Falco join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary (The Swamp).

With the exception of the third method, Falco must then be defeated on Lylat Cruise.

Attributes

Falco is gifted with a diverse moveset featuring quick attacks, great follow-up ability, capable finishers, the ability to wall jump, the highest initial jump in the game, and a fantastic projectile. Outside of his forward aerial, all of his aerials cancel quickly upon landing, including his down aerial. Falco's Blaster has great range, transcendent priority, and decent speed. The ending lag of aerial blaster shots also cancel quickly upon landing. This gives him an incredible ability to approach or shutdown approaches, as short-hopped Blaster cancels can be immediately chained into many of Falco's other attacks at close or mid range. Although he has a great camping game, he also has a very good close-range game. He has a very fast jab which is can be used to rack up damage or set up for a grab, and his spot dodge is one of the fastest in the game. Falco can also bolster his approach with his dash attack, a quick, strong move that is difficult to defend against. Falco has a chance to forcibly trip opponents with his quick down special, Reflector to further harass their approach due its great range, although it is unsafe on shields and spot dodges due its fairly long ending lag and low amount of shield stun. Reflector can go through walls and also has the ability to reflect uncommon projectiles, such as Pikachu's Thunder. It can also be used in conjunction with his blaster to safely disrupt recovering opponents from a distance.

One of Falco's most potent moves is his down throw. Although impractical for KOs, it instead provides Falco with an excellent and easy to use chain-throw, chaining into itself up to damage percentages as high as 50% on most characters including the down aerial finish, and it affects more characters than King Dedede's down throw chain. When Falco gets to the edge during the chain-throw, he can unavoidably meteor smash opponents to their doom; should they be able to recover, he can simply edge-hog at the right time to prevent their return (on some characters, it doesn't work against most characters). This attack chain is particularly fatal to all the space animals, including himself, due to the delay and movement limitations in their up specials, though Fox can still recover thanks to his buffed up midair jump in the form of Rising Fair. Falco's down throw also combines well into down aerial and dash attack, and a popular alternative finish to the chain-throw is the Gatling Combo where Falco will hit with dash attack before instantly canceling into an up smash. As for characters on which he cannot initiate his chaingrab, his down throw still makes for a good setup move as he can follow the throw up with a wide range of attacks from his arsenal, such as his neutral & down aerials, side smash, DACUS, Blaster, Reflector, jab, and forward tilt. However, while chain throwing with Falco's down throw is easy, actually grabbing opponents is not. Falco's grab range is sub-par at best and as such, he can have trouble grabbing nimble characters who can potentially out-camp him such as Meta Knight or Fox, who would otherwise be helpless against Falco's chain grab. It should be noted though that if Falco lands close to his opponents after successfully connecting a Short Hopped Double Laser, he is almost guaranteed a free grab.

For finishing moves, one of Falco's lackluster areas, Falco can use his forward and up smashes to good effect, though his forward smash is slow and is weak in the tip (although it has a fast charge release, has fairly long range and the hitbox lasts some frames with the weak hitbox being during the last frames). His up smash has strong, purely vertical knockback if it hits during the upswing of his kick, and can be used as a DACUS to gain the jump on opponents further away (while charging, even), though it's hitboxes have poor range. The hitboxes of the latter portion of Falco's up smash have little knockback and cannot KO below 200%. However, at high percentages, it acts as a somewhat effective semispike, which can prove fatal to opponents with poor recoveries. Falco is also armed with a fast and powerful meteor smash in his down aerial that can KO at percentages as low as 50%. However, this move has little range (although a slight horizontal disjoint) with a small sweetspot (only the very start on the move which isn't the head hitbox spikes, and sourspotting the attack knocks back horizontally with fairly low knockback) and lasts a long time while in the air, which makes it dangerous to use off the edge given Falco's fast falling speed. Falco's down aerial excels at spikes near the edge and at spiking opponents above the stage, setting them up for punishment or even a different finisher as they get up from the floor. Falco also has an infinite in the form of his laser lock which can be set up up somewhat easily with his down aerial or down throw followed by a buffered jab (see the techniques section below for more thorough information). It can also potentially set up KOs from his BDACUS.

Falco's major weaknesses lie in recovery and finish ability. Although Falco Phantasm (side special) gives moderately good horizontal distance, Fire Bird (up special) has very short distance, leaves Falco vulnerable during the charge, and is easily edgeguarded, and its only real use is recovering from below or diagonally. His falling speed has some hindrances, such as making him a candidate for Pikachu's 0%-100% chain-grab (although he has resistance against chain-grabs that are ineffective against lightweights such as King Dedede's down throw chain-grab). Although planking can pose a problem for Falco, this issue is ameliorated in the tournament scene where it's usually limited or banned altogether. The main causes of Falco's poor finish ability stem not from a lack of KO moves, but rather his difficulty in landing them, particularly against quick, mobile characters, due to the fact that some of his moves used for racking up damage also happen to be his only KO moves, have poor range, and stale when his foes get within KO percentages, and his forward smash has its aforementioned power though slow start-up and ending lag.

Other than his recovery and poor finishing ability, Falco has no critical problems. Smart, experienced Falco players can easily overcome these setbacks with his defense and adaptability.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Unlike in Melee where Falco was a clone of Fox, Falco's moveset received a massive overhaul, to the point where is now a semi-clone rather than a full clone.

While Falco is still a top tier character in Brawl, he has been significantly nerfed from Melee with little to no compensation, albeit to a less extent than Fox. His overall endurance has been worsened; his much slower falling speed and the changes to knockback formula have made him more frail despite his increased weight, similar to Fox. His Reflector has lost a lot of its utility: it can no longer be jump-cancelled, and the changes to hitstun have removed his high damaging combos and KO setups from Melee. Falco's overall KO power has been weakened, as his back aerial, down tilt, and forward smash have been weaker. Down aerial is slightly stronger during its early hitbox; however, it now only meteor smashes during the first few frames, instead of throughout the whole move, similarly to how it was in the PAL version of Melee. Also, due to the removal of spikes, it is now meteor-cancellable, significantly worsening its KOing potential.

Falco's new moves have overall poorer utility than their previous iterations. Neutral aerial is less effective for approaching, pressuring, and comboing, forward aerial has very high landing lag, and up aerial deals less damage and is weaker. Forward smash's sweetspot is hard to land. His already poor recovery has been both buffed and nerfed: he can maneuver more effectively offstage due to his lower falling speed and faster air speed, and Falco Phantasm goes farther, but Fire Bird travels an even shorter distance than before.

However, Falco has received notable buffs. His grab game has better utility. Down throw can no longer be teched by opponents, and allows for easy and highly damaging chain-grabs, partially making up for the loss of his Shine combos. The addition of the DACUS gives Falco a new and reliable approach option, and aids his damage racking ability. The more defensive gameplay in Brawl has indirectly boosted his already strong camping game; the loss of several mobility options makes it much harder to overcome Falco's Blaster, and he has gained a few notable laser techniques, and he can also fire two lasers from a short-hop.

Despite his numerous nerfs, Falco still remains more effective than the majority of the cast since most other veterans were heavily nerfed to various degrees, as well as him being less affected by the transition of Melee's physics to Brawl's compared to other characters.

Aesthetics

• Similar to Fox, Falco's design is based off his appearance in Star Fox Command. The boost in graphics also gives Falco much more detail.
• Falco's Blaster now fires blue lasers instead of red.
• Falco has a new running animation.

Attributes

• Falco is slightly heavier (80 → 82).
• Many of his moves have been given better range, giving Falco superb camping abilities.
• Falco walks slower (1.4 → 1.28).
• Falco dashes slightly slower (1.5 → 1.432).
• Falco's air speed is slightly faster (0.83 → 0.893).
• As with the returning veterans, Falco's Falling speed is drastically slower (3.1 → 1.708). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Falco still falls much slower, improving his recovery and making him less vulnerable to combos, while drastically weakening his vertical endurance despite being heavier.
• Falco's traction is lower (0.08 → 0.065), going from the 7th highest in Melee to the 9th highest. Compared to the returning veterans, however, Falco's traction is higher, making it easier for him to punish out of shield.

Ground attacks

• Falco has a new neutral attack, where he chop-slashes with his left wing twice (once more input), and then spins quickly while leaning forward stationary with a single wing out to repeatedly slash the opponent. The first two hits have better hitbox placement and less ending lag.
• The first two hits of neutral attack now have set knockback; as a result, it cannot combo as easily as his old one in Melee.
• Forward tilt has a shorter hitbox duration (5-9 → 6-8).
• Falco has a new up tilt, where he swings both of his wings above his head in a tip-toed turn. It deals more damage (10% → 13%) and has better vertical reach. It also has slightly faster start-up and a longer duration overall (5-13 → 4-17).
• New up tilt has less range and less combo ability because of its longer ending lag (IASA 37 → 23). Despite having increased knockback growth (120 → 150), it has weaker knockback, due to it consisting of 3 hits instead of one.
• Down tilt is drastically weaker (125 (growth) → 90/88), no longer being a reliable KO move (KOing around 170% rather than around 100% in Melee).
• Falco has a new forward smash, where he swings his wings forward in an overhead swipe, It has more start-up (frame 12 → frame 17) and ending lag (IASA 40 → 51), deals less damage (17% → 15%), and the clean hit has slightly less growth (90 → 88). It also gained a larger and significantly weaker late hit that can no longer KO reliably (Damage: 14% → 10%; Knockback scaling: 105 → 90). Additionally, the sweetspot was moved closer to Falco's body, making it significantly harder to land the strong hit without a hard read, despite the longer overall reach of the forward smash.
• Introduction of the DACUS gives Falco an additional KO, approaching, and followup option, as well as a quick move that can deal damage in excess of 20% at lower percentages (via the Gatling Combo).
• Up smash has reduced knockback (25 (base)/100 (growth) → 20/98).
• Down smash is 1 frame slower (frame 6 → frame 7), deals less damage (16%/13% → 15%/12%), and has significantly less range, greatly decreasing its utility. Combined with the loss of intangible frames on the leg hurtboxes when charging, it is a much poorer edgeguarding option.

Aerial attacks

• Falco has a new neutral aerial, where he does a single tumbling spin swipe with his wings to his right. It does not hit confirm into other moves as well as his previous neutral aerial since foes can SDI out of it. It is also less effective for approaching and pressuring. It is also much weaker than his old "sex kick" in Melee, no longer being able to KO at very high percentages (140%~170%).
• Falco has a new forward aerial, where he spins in a horizontal corkscrew to perform a drilling peck, similar to Pikachu and Sonic's forward aerials. It can no longer be used as a combo extender, and has much more landing lag.
• Back aerial does 2% less damage (15% → 13%), making it weaker despite its slightly increased growth (100 → 103).
• Falco has a new up aerial, where he does a single front-flip kick pointed forward into the air. It is now only hits once, allowing it to have consistent damage and knockback.
• New up aerial deals 5% less damage (16% → 11%).
• Down aerial's meteor hitbox does 1% more damage (12% → 13%), and has reduced landing lag (18 frames → 12 frames).
• Down aerial can now only meteor smash in the first part of its duration. While this was also the case in the PAL version of Melee, the initial hit's duration in Brawl was drastically shortened to 3 frames as opposed to 10 (now lasting 17 frames instead of 20), making the move much less useful, although it still remains one of Falco's most powerful KO options. The late hit also has less knockback growth (100 → 90) and less damage (9% → 8%).

Throws/other attacks

• All of Falco's throws are no longer weight dependent.
• Down throw can now chaingrab and has better followup options, and can no longer be teched out of.

Special moves

• Falco can no longer fast fall while firing lasers, taking away his ability to finely control the laser height. In particular, Falco can no longer short hop laser lower than a grounded laser and cannot fire consecutive low lasers as frequently. This makes his lasers are actually less effective for pressuring and approaching since Falco cannot get to the ground as quickly after firing them (though he still gets to the ground rather quickly), though it remains one of his best options, still gives him among the best neutrals in Brawl, and is still considered one of the best moves in the game.
• Falco can now shoot two lasers in a short hop, making them better for tacking on damage, especially against aerial opponents.
• Falco Phantasm travels farther; combined with his slightly faster air speed and lower falling speed, making it a slightly better horizontal recovery overall.
• Falco Phantasm's meteor smash is weaker.
• Fire Bird travels an even smaller distance, is no longer capable of KOing, and causes Falco to lose all momentum after using the move (meaning that his already low air speed is drastically lowered until he lands, and brings his air speed to a complete stop).
• Fire Bird now has hitboxes while charging and is a multi-hitting move that deals more damage than it did in Melee.
• Reflector now acts like a boomerang; it has longer reach and can trip opponents occasionally. However, it is largely inferior to his old Reflector as it is harder to time, no longer has 1 frame of startup, and can no longer be jump-canceled, held infinitely, or used to stall in the air. This means that Falco's shine combos, which were perhaps Falco's most lethal form of punishment in Melee, no longer exist. Additionally, it is unsafe on hit if it fails to trip the opponent, since the move has considerable ending lag and deals insufficient knockback to render Falco safe after using it offensively.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%	Falco does a jab, another jab, and then tilts diagonally and spins very quickly with his arms out.
			2%
			1%
Forward tilt	↗		9%	Kicks his leg out. Can be angled.
	→		9%
	↘		9%
Up tilt			4% (hit 1), 3% (hit 1 tip), 5% (hit 2)	Swings both of his wings above his head in a tip-toed turn, hitting twice. Good for racking up damage.
Down tilt			12% (near), 9% (far)	Falco performs a quick tail swipe. It lost KO power from Melee but still deals high knockback.
Dash attack			9% (clean), 6% (late)	Falco jumps slightly off the ground while running and performs a kick.
Forward smash			15% (clean), 10% (late)	Falco brings his wings back behind himself and slam-chops with them in a forward lean, slashing anyone who is caught in it. High knockback.
Up smash			14% (clean), 12% (late)	Falco does a flip kick. Weaker than Fox's up smash but better for juggling. Moderately high knockback.
Down smash			15% (feet), 13% (legs)	Falco does a split kick that comes out relatively quickly. His legs are intangible for a short time before the attack strikes.
Neutral aerial			3% (hits 1-2), 2% (hit 3), 4% (hit 4)	Falco does a series of spinning swipes with his wings, hitting four times. The final hit knocks opponents away.
Forward aerial			2% (hits 1-4), 3% (hit 5)	Falco turns horizontally and spins, hitting multiple times with his beak, similar to Pikachu's or Sonic's forward aerial. All hits deal small knockback excluding the last hit, which deals slightly more knockback. The move has a long duration with landing lag, making it dangerous to use in most situations.
Back aerial			13% (clean sweetspot), 9% (clean sourspot), 7% (late)	Falco does a backwards sex kick. Good knockback scaling.
Up aerial			11%	Falco does an overhead vertical flip kick. Best knockback is located at the foot while the worst is at the body, which has set knockback.
Down aerial			13% (clean), 8% (late)	Falco turns diagonally and spins. At the start of this attack, the hitbox from his knee to his lower body, can execute a spike at his spinning heel. Extremely fast start-up with barely any landing lag but can be considered a dangerous off-stage move due to Falco's fast falling speed.
Grab			—	Grabs the opponent.
Pummel			2%	A quick knee strike.
Forward throw			4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Falco bashes the opponent forward.
Back throw			2% (throw), 2% (shots)	Falco throws the foe backwards and then fires three shots with his blaster.
Up throw			2% (throw), 2% (shots)	Falco throws the foe upwards and fires three shots with his blaster. Nearly useless at higher percentages due to it being easy to DI out of, allowing the opponent to avoid all laser shots.
Down throw			2% (shots), 1% (throw)	Tosses opponent upward, then fires four very quick Blaster shots. It can chain grab most characters at low percentages, and may be finished with a down aerial meteor smash at the edge of the stage. Falco can also finish chain grabs with a DACUS to deal as much as 60% damage in total. The down throw is also an effective tech chase move once opponents are past chain grab percentage.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Falco lunges and kicks backwards and forwards.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Falco extends to attack in front and in back.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Falco spins around, kicking those who are near.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6% (legs), 8% (body)	Falco lunges at the opponent with a kick.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Falco slowly gets up and hammers the ground with a kick.
Neutral special		Blaster	3%	Falco fires his blaster. Unlike Fox's Blaster, it is slow but does stun the opponent. It fires faster when used in the air.
Side special		Falco Phantasm	7% (ground), 6% (airborne opponents when used in air)	Falco dashes forward, leaving an afterimage behind him. Unlike Fox Illusion, Falco Phantasm launches opponents downwards and has slightly less startup.
Up special		Fire Bird	2% (charge loop), 3% (launch hit 1), 2% (launch hits 2-8)	Falco charges up and suddenly fires himself in any direction, depending on what direction is held. The attack hits multiple times.
Down special		Reflector	6% (reflector), 1.5x damage for reflected projectiles	Falco activates his Reflector and kicks it away from him, reflecting any projectiles and shocking any enemies it comes in contact with. Can be used as a poking tool that trips low-damage opponents and can start combos.
Final Smash		Landmaster	5-19% (movement), 15-16% (turn), 13% (shot), 13% (roll), 14% (fall)	Falco summons his Landmaster. It has more aerial mobility than Fox's, but is slightly weaker and has less ground mobility.

A demonstration of Falco following up his down throw chaingrab with a down aerial meteor smash.

Techniques

• Silent Lasering: A silent laser refers to canceling the ending lag of a single blaster shot by short hopping and using his Blaster instead of using it in the ground. This allows Falco to SHDL and combo a laser into an up smash, DACUS, or BDACUS for a KO. Another interesting advantage to this technique is that a perfectly performed silent laser will cancel about 6 frames of the blaster's landing lag. This will allow Falco to land in front of his opponents and grab them before they can spot dodge. He can proceed to start his trade mark, deadly chain grab combos. It should be noted that this will not work if the blaster is stale, as a stale silent laser will only cancel 4 lag frames.
• Laser Cancelling: Using Falco's Blaster before touching the ground cancels landing lag and shortens response time upon landing. The optimal timing is noticeable because Falco will draw his laser, but not fire a shot. This is used for mind games, because of its look of Falco immediately becoming neutral. It is more useful for flail recovery than tapping the shield button upon landing because there are no frames on landing, and Falco is able to attack more quickly. In Melee, the response time reduction is more significant, but it lacks in flail recovery. In Brawl, the flail recovery is better, but the response time reduction is almost unnoticeable. They both cancel flail (assuming the player has control) equally.
• Laser lock: Some of Falco's moves have enough hit stun to cause opponents to bounce on the ground. If one's reflexes allow it, Falco can use his lasers to trap opponents in the bouncing animation, effectively giving him a potent and inescapable lock.

On-screen appearance

• Ejects from an upside-down Arwing.

Taunts

Falco is one of only four characters to speak in all three taunts in Brawl, the others being Zero Suit Samus, Peach and Pikachu (though Peach uses real words in only one of her taunts, and Pikachu, like most Pokémon, only ever says variations of its name). Additionally, in the English version, Falco speaks in his taunts with a Brooklynese Italian-American accent (his surname, Lombardi, is Italian).

• Up taunt: Kicks his reflector around like a hackey sack before catching it, and says "Piece of cake." Japanese: (楽勝だぜ。, An easy win.)
• Side taunt: Stands on one foot with his wing raised, posing and says "Don't try me." (かかってきな。, Come bring it.)
• Down taunt: Spins once and crosses one arm, (same as in Melee) and says "Hands off my prey." (俺の獲物に手を出すな！, Get your hands off my prey!)
• Smash taunt: On Lylat Cruise or Corneria, Falco can summon various Star Fox Conversations by quickly tapping down on the Control Pad (for one frame). This taunt can only be used once per match.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt	Smash taunt

Idle poses

• Slightly turns to the side.
• Moves his hand in front of his face.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer	File:Falco Cheer NTSC Brawl.ogg	File:Falco Cheer JP Brawl.ogg
Description	Fal - Co!	Fal - Co!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Wii Remote selection sound

• Falco says "Piece of cake!" like one of his taunts.

Falco's selection sound

Victory poses

This victory theme comes from the main theme of Star Fox 64.

• Crosses arms, turns his head to the side, and says "You aren't worth the trouble". In Japanese: 付き合ってらんねぇな。 (Not worth associating with.)
• Jumps extremely high and lands kneeling. He then looks up at the camera.
• Rapidly kicks and says "Had enough already?" (くたばるのはまだ早いぜ。, Too early to kick the bucket just yet.) Then puts his foot down and crosses his body over to look at the camera.

• If Fox is present after a match, he will instead say "You're off your game, Fox". Or in Japanese: 腕が落ちたな、フォックス。 (Your skills have fallen off, Fox.)

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

According to the current SmashBoards matchup chart, Falco's matchup spread has the fourth highest unweighted rank, fourth highest total (tied with Marth), and sixth highest weighted total. Falco is countered in two matchups, soft countered by one matchup, and has seven even matchups. He soft counters ten characters, counters nine characters, hard counters six characters, and has one close-to-unloseable matchup. He does have trouble against some other top/high tiers, being countered by Ice Climbers, whom Falco lacks safe options to approach without getting grabbed (allowing their 0-death chaingrab), and Pikachu, who can take advantage of his fast falling speed acceleration attribute by chaingrabbing him (if started at 20%, which can be reached with two forward throws, it can also buffer down throws and finish with a Thunderspike, as a 0-death combo). Falco is one of the few characters to have an arguably even matchup against Meta Knight, due to his ability to projectile camp against him, though this is stage specific, with him only coming close on neutral stages (specifically Final Destination). One major disadvantage against said character is that he can easily be gimped and edgeguarded however.

Notable players

See also: Category:Falco professionals (SSBB)

• Aki
•  Bloodcross
•  Kasper
•  Keitaro
•  Kismet
•  Larry Lurr - Widely considered to be the best Falco player in the world.
•  Masha - Considered to be one of Japan's two best Falco players, along with SLS.
•  RAIN
•  Shugo
•  SK92
•  SLS - Considered to be one of Japan's two best Falco players, along with Masha.
•  Xzax

Tier placement and history

Falco has always been one of the top/high tier characters in Brawl, though he is ranked slightly lower in the most recent tier lists than in the previous ones. Falco was ranked 5th place on the first tier list (September 2008) in the top tier, and rose to 3rd in the second (January 2009; his highest position so far). He then remained at 4th from the third tier list to the sixth, before dropping to 6th on the seventh (April 2012), then 7th on the eighth and current list, as of April 2013. While Falco has had many notable players contributing to his metagame, as well as having always had great matchups against the majority of the cast, he does have trouble against some top/high tiers, and his less successful recent tournament results holds him back, though he still remains a top tier character.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Falco in SSE

Ejecting from his Arwing, Falco shows up in the nick of time to save Fox from trophyization at the hands of Bowser and a Shadow Bug clone of Diddy Kong by flip-kicking the Dark Cannon from Bowser's hands and destroying it with dual lasergun fire, forcing Bowser to leave. He is shown to use two blasters, but only uses one when he is used in-game. This makes Falco the only character who destroys a Dark Cannon in SSE, no matter which princess the player rescues. The Diddy clone begins to absorb more Shadow Bugs, becoming gigantic, and after Fox revives the real Diddy, the three fight the giant clone. Falco then turns to leave, but is dragged back by Diddy and reluctantly comes along. 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 detrophifies 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, Zelda, Snake, and Lucario. When it's defeated, Peach revives Mr. Game and Watch as Meta Knight takes back control of his ship. He uses his Arwing during the attack on the Subspace Gunship and maneuvers effectively to avoid the cannons. He enters Subspace and stands loftily, as if he is above this. When he is turned into a trophy, he is rescued by Luigi, Ness and Dedede, and joins them in the Great Maze. He aids them in the fight against Tabuu.

Playable appearances

After Outside the Ancient Ruins is finished, Falco will be removed from the player's team until the Duon battle in Battleship Halberd Bridge.

• The Swamp
• Battleship Halberd Bridge
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze - If he's rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Exclusive stickers

These stickers can only be used by Falco or a select few including him.

• Andrew: Launch Resistance +7
• Arwing: [Leg] Attack +6
• Falco (Star Fox 64): [Weapon] Attack +11
• Falco (Star Fox Adventures): [Specials: Indirect] Attack +11
• Falco (Star Fox Command): [Energy] Attack +14
• Falco (Star Fox: Assault): [Tail] Attack +20
• Fox (Star Fox 64): [Energy] Attack +18
• Fox (Star Fox Adventures): [Arm, Leg] Attack +15
• Fox (Star Fox Assault): [Energy] Attack +33
• Krystal (Star Fox Adventures): [Electric] Attack +28
• Krystal (Star Fox Command): [Energy] Attack +12
• Krystal (Star Fox: Assault): [Tail] Attack +17
• Miniature Dachshund: [Tail] Attack +28
• Panther: [Tail] Attack +18
• Pigma: [Arm] Attack +7
• ROB: [Electric] Resistance +15
• Wolf: [Arm, Leg] Attack +15
• Wolfen (Star Fox 64): [Tail] Attack +16
• Wolfen (Star Fox: Assault): [Tail] Attack +30

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 32: Bird in Darkest Night: As Falco (with a dark alternative costume), the player must defeat Mr. Game & Watch on Brinstar. The stage gets dark very frequently throughout the match.
• Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Falco is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros Melee.
• Event 38: The Wolf Hunts the Fox: As Wolf, the player must defeat Fox and Falco on Lylat Cruise.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 19: Shadow of Andross: Fox and Falco team up to defeat Wolf on Lylat Cruise while an Andross assist trophy is used against them.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Falco's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Falco.

Trophy descriptions

Falco

A Star Fox pilot whose real name is Falco Lombardi. He once roamed the starways as the head of a galactic gang, and his piloting skills are superb. He affects an air of cool disdain and is sometimes uncooperative, but in reality his passion for Star Fox is second to none. He once left the team to fly solo for a time.

: Star Fox (NTSC), Starwing (PAL)

: Star Fox Command

Landmaster (Falco)

Falco's Final Smash. He jumps aboard the Landmaster high-spec, antiaircraft tank. With the tank's powerful cannon blasts and rolling ability, it's possible to take out all enemies at once. The Landmaster is based on actual production vehicles, but Team Star Fox's Landmaster was customized by the team's mechanic, Slippy Toad.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic

• 

  Landmaster

Alternate costumes

Falco's alternate costumes in Brawl

Trivia

• Falco holds the world record for Level 2 Target Smash, by completing it in 3.95 seconds. He also holds the Co-op Target Smash world record for Level 1 with Toon Link (2.66 seconds), and holds the top two records in Level 2 (Co-op) with:
  • Pit (3.30 seconds).
  • R.O.B. (3.55 seconds).
• Falco's up and down smashes have the lowest uncharged base knockback of all the uncharged up and down smashes.
• Strangely, the Prima game guide gives Falco a "10" ranking on speed, even though his dash speed is actually only average (although his walking, falling, and attack speed are among the fastest).
• The lasers fired during Falco's up, down and back throws can be reflected, and damage Falco instead, if his opponent is wearing a Franklin Badge.
• All of Falco's smash attacks can hit on both sides of him.

External links

• Falco's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• Falco character guide on SmashBoards
• Falco's hitbox size of each of his moves