Falco (SSBM)/Down aerial

Overview

The hitbox of Falco's dair.

Falco spins around in place at a downward angle. His down aerial is considered the best spike in the game, having an extremely long duration of 20 frames and having sourspot hitboxes that still spike relatively powerfully. A candidate for the best aerial in the game, Falco's down aerial is vital to his success as a character, acting as a powerful approach, combo, tech chasing and edgeguarding option all at once. The move is Falco's most rewarding approach option; at low percents the move directly combos into his shine and at higher percents combos into other aerials including itself.

Using this move in conjuction with the shine is known as pillaring and is the basis for all of Falco's combos; the vertical knockback of shine directly combos into a down aerial which as a spike, links perfectly into another shine. This cycle of shines and down aerials is expanded with a variety of other moves, most notably up tilt, neutral aerial, and back aerial, and is a notable way to wear down shields. The possibilities opened up by Falco's down aerial are near unlimited, and this is one of the primary reasons why Falco is such an unforgiving character; in the hands of a competent player, this move can absolutely devastate every other character, potentially netting KOs as early as 50%.

Hitboxes

NTSC

ID	Part	Damage	SD	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Sound
Clean
0	0	12%	0	10	100	0	0.02062368	7	-0.00531216	0.005983992	0.0	Kick
1	0	12%	0	10	100	0	0.023951592	7	0.00398412	0.00398412	0.0	Kick
Late
0	0	9%	0	20	100	0	0.02062368	7	-0.00531216	0.005983992	0.0	Kick
1	0	9%	0	20	100	0	0.023951592	7	0.00398412	0.00398412	0.0	Kick

PAL

ID	Part	Damage	SD	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Sound
Clean
0	0	12%	0	10	100	0	0.02062368	7	-0.00531216	0.005983992	0.0	Kick
1	0	12%	0	10	100	0	0.023951592	7	0.00398412	0.00398412	0.0	Kick
Late
0	0	9%	0	20	100	0	0.02062368	7	-0.00531216	0.005983992	0.0	Kick
1	0	9%	0	20	100	0	0.023951592	7	0.00398412	0.00398412	0.0	Kick