Captain Falcon (SSBB)

Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	F-Zero
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Blue Falcon
Tier	F (34)

Captain Falcon (キャプテン・ファルコン, Kyaputen Farukon), commonly known as Falcon or CFalcon, appears as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Originating from the F-Zero universe, Captain Falcon returns once again to compete in Brawl.

Captain Falcon is currently ranked 34th on the tier list in the low tier, a significant drop from his 7th position in the Melee tier list. Captain Falcon has his trademark speed-and-power combo, in addition to great mobility, great momentum cancelling and overall survivability, an all-purpose attack in his up aerial, and one of the best jabs. However, his attack speed and KOing power are nerfed from Melee, with his finishers either being weakened (such as forward smash), or are significantly more difficult to land (such as his Knee Smash). In addition to this, most of Falcon's attacks have poor hitbox placement, making safe approaches and spacing difficult, especially when considering his lack of projectiles. The impact of the new Brawl physics arguably hit Captain Falcon the hardest; less hitstun and the loss of L-canceling result in drastically fewer, weaker combos, and a less effective dashdance and inability to moonwalk give him even fewer options. He also has fairly poor out of shield options due to his short grabbing reach and possessing either slow and/or poor reaching attacks, as well as a predictable recovery, vulnerability to chaingrabbing, and the general inability to pressure opponents or escape opposing pressure are also cited as problems for Falcon's metagame. As a result, he has terrible matchups as well as terrible overall tournament results.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play 70 VS. matches.
• Complete Classic Mode on Normal difficulty or higher in under twelve minutes.
• Have Captain Falcon join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary (Outside the Ancient Ruins).

With the exception of the third method, Captain Falcon must then be defeated on Port Town Aero Dive.

Attributes

Captain Falcon is a heavy character with great momentum canceling, especially vertically due his very quick fast falling speed, with strong attacks, and has the second fastest running speed, second to Sonic. However, though his speed is useful, his dash has very low traction, causing him to trip more often than other characters, although he has the shortest tripping animation in the game. His attacks mostly consist of kicks and punches, including the famed Falcon Punch, which is one of the most powerful moves knockback wise in the game. However, it is a very situational move because it has a very slow start-up and high amount of ending lag. He is also capable of performing Wall jumps. He has the second fastest falling speed, but his air speed is one of the best in the game.

Many of his moves have high knockback and damage, lending him considerable power, but they also have considerable start-up time and small sweetspots. His standard special, the Falcon Punch, deals high damage, can KO at early percentages, and can be reversed in direction after start-up, but its extremely slow start-up makes it extremely situational in actual play. Raptor Boost makes him rush forward, then do a quick fiery uppercut that pops opponents in the air, but the abysmal shieldstun and slow start-up makes it very easy to block or shield and if he misses it he falls with considerable ending lag. When used in the air, he will instead swing downward, meteor smashing targets. This makes it useful when recovering, since it can meteor smash edge-guarders and even edgehoggers but the attack is slow, predictable, and it leaves Captain Falcon more vulnerable than the Falcon Dive. Raptor Boost also has the ability to cut through most projectiles, but Captain Falcon lacks a projectile himself. Falcon Kick sends him rocketing forward when used on the ground, and downward and slightly forward when used in midown aerial. It deals decent damage and knockback, but it has below-average start-up and the hitbox is rather small, making it only good at surprise, quickly get downward or punish laggy moves. Contrary to the name, Falcon Dive sends him upwards with a little horizontal movement, which gives him a great horizontal recovery when combining it with great air speed. If the Falcon Dive connects, it will deal damage to an opponent and Captain Falcon will jump off from them (sometimes stage spiking when used against edge-guarders, although it can be teched to prevent that) and he will be able to use Falcon Dive again. Falcon Dive can also grab edgehoggers if they are within its grab range. In terms of recovery, though, Falcon Dive is a slow move, can't auto-sweetspot ledges if he is using it in the opposite direction of the edge and it is easy to edgeguard because it has no grab box directly above him and although Captain Falcon has a very big ledge sweetspot range, Falcon Dive is easily edge hogged, and if he still manages to get to the stage, his recovery leaves him in a fairly high landing lag, high enough to often allow the edge-hogger to get up in time to punish it. Although it is a minor problem, Captain Falcon suffers from the landing lag glitch. Captain Falcon's very fast falling speed makes recovery problems even worse.

Many of his moves make powerful finishers. His forward aerial (informally known by many different names, of which "Knee of Justice" is probably the most popular) is known for having extreme knockback, but it is hard to sweetspot and has fairly slow start-up (the first frames of it are not avoidable on reaction but are still predictable). His back aerial has good start-up and knockback, his down aerial is a powerful meteor smash, and his forward smash deals high damage with very high knockback scaling. Even though most of his attacks have good power and damage output, they have considerable start-up lag, unfavorable hitboxes (which can make it difficult to land his attacks), and his little amount of disjoints can become a major trouble against characters with disjoints that outranges him, especially the faster ones. His throws chain well, but Captain Falcon himself is an easy target for chain grabbing and comboing (like Ike's jab canceling) due to his heavy weight, large size, and fast falling speed. All of this results in a poor approach.

Falcon's critical weakness lies in his abysmal shieldstun, which, combined with his slow ground attack speed and lack of projectiles, results in a lack of a reliable approach. His poor, small hitboxes in his aerials and fast falling speed only add to his approach problems, and also make it difficult for him to hit grounded characters from the air. His below average attack speed, unfavorable hitboxes, and only decent range makes approaching with Captain Falcon difficult, meaning he is easily camped. Though, his high mobility does help during approaches. Captain Falcon also has a difficult time handling small characters, because most of his attacks have no low hitboxes.

In the end, Captain Falcon relies on his weight, survivability, power, decent range, and mobility to make up for his abysmal approaches, poor amount of disjointed hitboxes and his often sluggish attacks. He can KO and rack up damage quite easily when the opportunity presents itself, though he lacks a quick ground finisher.

Captain Falcon enters the battlefield in Brawl

Moveset

Ground attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack - Punches twice then knees the opponent, which is followed by a series of punches. The first two punches and the knee do 4% and 5% respectively, and the punches at the end do 1% each. A good jab-canceling move, the first hits can lead into a grab. Extremely fast, this is Captain Falcon's fastest attack, start-up lag wise (3 frames), though it deals poor shieldstun.
• Dash attack - Rams a shoulder into the opponent. Quick (hits on frame 7-16), but few reliable follow-ups, extreme unsafety on shields due lack of shieldstun and high ending lag means it's still an unsafe approach move. When the hit is successfully landed, it can lead into his neutral aerial, running up smash, or some other aerial combo. Does 9-12% damage. The attack, though short in duration, is at its strongest when it first comes out.
• Forward tilt - Roundhouse kick. Mediocre range. This can be angled up or down. At higher damage percentages, near the ledge, it can lead into Falcon Dive, The Knee, or a down aerial. Best used as a quick punisher, though fairly awkward in general. Can KO when angled up at very high damage percentages, though overwise fairly weak. Does 7-10% damage. Hits on frame 9-11.
• Up tilt - An Axe kick with good horizontal knockback. This move's hitbox stretches from above Falcon, giving it some anti-air properties, to dropping in front of him. Above average KO power with good range, with a disjoint slightly extending the range, though somewhat slow (hitbox out on frame 17 and it ends on frame 22). It also moves Falcon forward a little. When used near the ledge, it can lead into a down or forward aerial. Inflicts 10-13% damage.
• Down tilt - Does a sweep kick with vertical knockback. This move has lost practically the combo ability it had in Melee, the only real combo being at moderate-high damages, where it can lead into an aerial. The starting lag is predictable, and ending lag prevents any quick follow up, usually giving the foe enough time to escape at lower percentages. It has decent horizontal reach. Does 10%. Hits on frame 11-15.

Smash attacks

• Side smash - Rears back and jabs an elbow forward, making a fire effect on contact. Great knockback scaling but its low base knockback makes its KO power only slightly above average among forward smashes (though the high knockback scaling makes momentum canceling not very effective on it). It also has fairly good reach, but slow (although is still his fastest smash) and has abysmal shieldstun. Can also be angled. Does 19% damage; 20% when angled up and 18% when angled down. Hits on frames 18-20.
• Up smash - Kicks into the air twice. Good knockback for a up smash, especially for a multi-hit up smash. This is one of Falcon's best moves due to the good vertical range, power, damage output, its usefulness as a running up smash (due to Captain Falcon's very fast dash speed), and juggling ability. It has very poor horizontal reach, which can make it difficult to land on grounded opponents, but the horizontal disjoint makes the range better than it looks and using it during a dash can help with this problem. First kick does 8% or 11%, second hit does 12% or 13%. This move can be followed by Falcon's up special or simply his up aerial. Hits on frames 22-23 and 28-29.
• Down smash - A kick forward, then backward. Very high horizontal knockback with great reach and little vertical knockback as well, though rather easy to DI at mid to high damage percentages. If the move connects when the foe's hurtbox is overlapping Falcon's in a certain way, the first hit has a small trapping hitbox below him so the foe gets hit into the second kick, though this is quite rare. Unlike most of his moves, it's safe on shields and has a quick charge release, making it one of his better moves. However, it is one of the slower down smashes in the game. Does 16% behind, 18% in front (except for the 6% sourspot). Surprisingly, this is Captain Falcon's strongest and most reliable smash attack, KO percentage wise. First kick on frame 19-21, second kick hits on frame 29-31.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack - Flips over and brings his foot down. Very fast with good range. Does 10%. The only ledge attack in the game that is stronger than its 100% counterpart.
• 100% ledge attack - Cimbs up the ledge and does an uppercut attack, which visually resembles his grab. Medium speed, though short range. Does 8%. The only 100% ledge attack that does less damage than the normal ledge attack.
• Floor attack - Performs a headstand and spin kicks horizontally. Very fast.
• Trip attack - Gets up and hits forward and backward with his fist.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Kicks horizontally twice, first hit does 4%, then 6% damage, for 10% total damage if they both connect. The first hit has very low set knockback which is intended to lead directly into the second hit. Has almost no landing lag. It's purpose from Melee has been reduced dramatically due to the lower hitstun, making both kicks connect much harder, and it's duration is risky to use airborne. If the first kick is autocancelled, it can lead to a grab or jab. Start-up of 7 frames.
• Forward aerial - Knee Smash; jabs a knee forward. If sourspotted, it deals 3% with extremely low knockback, but if sweetspotted, it deals 19% with extremely high knockback, making it an excellent horizontal finisher, although it is very hard to land due to 14 frames start-up, sweetspot lasting only 1 frame and the back counts as a semi-sourspot (very weak but still stronger than hitting in later frames, though it is much less useful than hitting later). When sweetspotted, an electric effect can be seen. Also, the sour-spotted knee can trip opponents if they are not airborne, can lead into another attack. Against characters with poor recoveries, the sourspotted knee can be followed with his up aerial. Has high landing lag, but it can be completed in the air during a short hop before Captain Falcon lands.
• Back aerial - A quick backhand. Has high knockback when sweetspotted, although significantly less than his forward aerial. It has limited range, and like his forward aerial, the sweetspot has a very short duration while the sourspot is weak. Has some landing lag, though it is less than his forward and down aerials. Hits on frame 10-15.
• Up aerial - Kick flips with fast start-up and good all around range (though not directly below him). The attack does more horizontal knockback if hit at the tip but more vertical knockback if his body connects. Has almost no landing lag at all. One of his best moves and is easily his most versatile attack, it easily juggles or follows into another aerial, with good KO potential at high damage percentages. It can also edgeguard quite well and more reliably than his forward, down and back aerials. Does 12% damage when sweetspotted. Hits on frame 6-12.
• Down aerial - Stomps downward. This is a meteor smash with above average power when his boots hit the target. When it connects on his body, it deals horizontal knockback, which means that the nipple spike has been removed. Even so, the knockback is surprisingly high for a non sweetspot and it can earn Captain Falcon many surprise KOs, especially since foes may DI the wrong way, thinking they are going down instead of horizontal. It has a fairly small hitbox, making it hard to land. This can also be completed like Ganondorf's Down Aerial following a short hop, but the horizontal range is much worse, making this much less effective than Ganondorf's and it has high landing lag should someone perform it too late in the short hop. Hits on frame 16-18.

Grabs & throws

• Grab: Captain Falcon's standing and pivot grab both have terrible range (in the standing one, it has the 2nd shortest horizontal grab range in the game, only slightly better than Ganondorf's, and the pivot grab one has 16 frames start-up to reduce its usefulness despite Captain Falcon's mobility), while his dash grab has fairly long ending lag (predictable as an approach and punishable when spot dodged.
• Pummel - Knees the enemy's midsection. A fast pummel. Does 2% damage.
• Forward throw - Punches the enemy and sends them forward. Can be followed by a dashing up smash for a KO, and the throw itself has some KO power when the opponent's damage percentage is high. Can also be followed with his dash attack, or even a Falcon Kick at medium damage percentages. Can be used to pseudo-chain throw the opponent at very low damage due to Captain Falcon's dashing speed. Leads into aerial follow ups near the ledge. Does 4% then 5% damage.
• Back throw - Puts the enemy behind him and kicks. First 4% then 5%. Looks identical to his back throw from the original SSB, though with much less KO potential. Usually only used to get the opponent offstage for a up aerial setup, but can lead into a backwards-running up smash.
• Up throw -Holds the enemy up and punches them upward with his left hand. Mainly upwards knockback, though it appears to be slightly angled. Can combine with other attacks well, such as his up special and up aerial. Does 3% then 4%. This is one of Falcon's more powerful throws in terms of knockback.
• Down throw - Flips opponent and throws them on the ground. Can combine with other attacks well, however this is heavily depending on the foe's DI reaction, weight, and damage. Can be followed by a slide smash, a running short hop up aerial, or mindgames into another attack or down throw. In some cases at higher damages (usually around 130%), the foe is launched within range of an aerial. Does 7% damage.

Special moves

Captain Falcon's special moves

Neutral special	Falcon Punch
Side special	—	Raptor Boost
Up special	Falcon Dive
Down special	Falcon Kick
Final Smash	—		Blue Falcon

Taunts

• Up taunt - Clenches his fists while surrounded by a fiery aura.
• Side taunt - Jumps back, extends his hand out, and says "Come on!"
• Down taunt - Gives a salute while saying "Show me your moves!" When facing left, Captain Falcon extends his right arm behind him; this also shortens the taunt.

On-screen appearance

• The Blue Falcon appears then Captain Falcon jumps out of it as it speeds off.

Idle poses

• Does a battle pose.
• Does a battle pose slightly different from the first one.

Cheer

Captain Falcon's NTSC and PAL cheer

Cap-tain! (high female voices) Fal-con! (deep male voices)

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Captain Falcon professionals (SSBB)

•  Ally
•  Lordhelmet
•  Stroumbert

Tier placement and history

Captain Falcon was initially seen as the worst character in Brawl; right away players noticed the severe nerfs to Falcon's key traits (such as his Knee, his goto finisher in Melee, becoming extremely difficult to land), and that Falcon got adversely affected to a severe degree by the physics changes. It was additionally widespread belief at the time that Falcon had "terrible priority" and would thus be unable to win any exchanges with opposing characters. As such, despite Falcon's still very fast movement speed and powerful attacks, players at the time did not believe Falcon could do anything to any competent degree in competitive matches. A year after Brawl's release, it was realised Ganondorf and Link were even worse characters than Falcon, thus on the third tier list Falcon was no longer the worst ranked character. Then shortly after this, players realised Falcon wasn't as terrible as first thought; players realised Falcon's "low priority" was a myth and he had no issues with priority, as well as begin recognising some of the caveats Falcon had, such as his access to one of the best jabs, his still rather strong effectiveness at punishing, his still great mobility, and Falcon's incredible endurance potential while having a capable recovery that doesn't compromise it. Additionally, with Ally's tremendous success with Falcon in low tier tournaments, it was seen that Falcon had some clear advantages over his low tier brethren. With this, Falcon shot up to 32nd on the fourth tier list, and has since consistently hovered around the 33rd-34th spot.

While Captain Falcon is no longer seen as a candidate for worst character in the game, the stigma from his previous last placings still holds today, and thus he is commonly seen as a joke character on the level of Ganondorf. With this, Falcon has barely any serious players; nearly everyone who can play Falcon at a competent competitive level only use Falcon as a "low tier main" or "fun character", including his best players Ally and Stroumbert, leaving true competitive Captain Falcon mains very rare even at the local level. As such, Falcon's tournament representation is barren even by low tier standards, and only Jigglypuff has even worse representation in Brawl tournaments, leaving Falcon's capability to perform beyond low tier play rarely seen in practise.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Captain Falcon has been severely nerfed from Melee to Brawl (being one of the biggest nerfs between the two games, despite having some good buffs).

• His down smash is slightly stronger in terms of knockback.
• Falcon Punch has less startup lag, and can now be reversed for a short time during the startup.
• Raptor Boost is easier to use and makes a "leapfrog" effect when the attack connects in the air, making it much safer to use in the air.
• Falcon Dive can now grab edge-hoggers and the grab hitbox is larger, making Captain Falcon harder to edgehog.
• Captain Falcon is now able to swing the Home-Run Bat like other characters can. Because of this, he can now properly use a Home-Run Bat for the Home-Run Contest.
• His attacks are slower and have been given less favorable hitboxes, which makes safe approaches and landing blows difficult.
• His traction is significantly lower, now being one of the lowest.
• Forward smash has been weakened significantly (it now has only slightly above-average knockback, compared from being the 3rd most powerful forward smash in Melee).
• The Knee Smash is much harder to sweet spot, as the hitbox is smaller and now lasts only 1 frame. Also, it is slightly weaker in terms of knockback (though it is stronger in terms of damage output, if only by 1%).
• Down aerial now has a smaller hitbox, is weaker, and can no longer Nipple Spike, meaning that he has a harder time meteor smashing and utilizing the move in general.
• Falcon Punch has less knockback.
• Falcon Dive travels much less horizontal distance.
• Falcon Kick no longer enables him to regain his midair jump.

In terms of cosmetics, Captain Falcon has a slightly new design from F-Zero GX, most notably his scarf (from F-Zero GP Legend). His victory theme changed to the finish from F-Zero GX/AX. He has a new "toppling" animation.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

In Subspace Emissary, Captain Falcon will team up with Captain Olimar and his Pikmin. When Olimar sends his Pikmin to attack a giant R.O.B., it wakes up the robot, causing it to shake off the Pikmin. Luckily, Captain Falcon drives his F-Zero machine straight towards them, jumps out in mid-motion, and Falcon Punches the ROB, thus destroying it, but upon landing, Olimar's remaining Pikmin (except for the red Pikmin beside Olimar) were killed when he slid into them. When Captain Falcon shouts "Falcon Punch!" in this Subspace Emissary Cutscene, it strongly resembles the sound bit from the N64 version of the game. Once the two get out of the forest, they find a Primid transport platform that is holding the trophied Donkey Kong hostage. The two watch as Diddy Kong falls from Falco's Arwing, and fires peanuts at the ship. After Diddy Kong revives DK, Captain Falcon grabs Olimar, and jumps off the ledge and onto the ship. Then the four must fight off a horde of Primids. Afterwards, the ship will take them into the secret Subspace HQ, where they will meet up with Samus, Pikachu, and, eventually, a friendly R.O.B.

Captain Falcon in the SSE

After fighting off a large army comprising of various Subspace troops with the others, the heroes are unable to stop the ROBs which arm the last remaining Subspace bombs. Captain Falcon seemed to be analyzing the power of the Subspace Bombs, because afterwards, he motions to everyone to leave quickly. Captain Falcon presses a few buttons on his wrist, summoning his ship, the Falcon Flyer. Everyone piles into the ship and prepares to escape the doomed base when they are attacked from behind by Meta Ridley. After defeating the monster, they escape the floating island where a massive number of Subspace Bombs destroy the island. Captain Falcon joins the other heroes and uses his ship to help in the assault on the Subspace Gunship. He also helps in The Great Maze.

Towards the end, Captain Falcon and everyone else confront Tabuu. In a single, devastating act, Tabuu turns everyone into trophies. All are brought back to life due to the Dedede Badges and the efforts of Kirby, Luigi, Ness, and Dedede. With the aid of Sonic, Tabuu becomes vulnerable, and a final battle between the characters and Tabuu begins. The player may pick Captain Falcon to fight Tabuu, if the player has collected the Captain Falcon trophy in Subspace.

Playable appearances

• Outside the Ancient Ruins
• The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II)
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze - If rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Exclusive stickers

The following stickers can only be used by Captain Falcon:

• Blue Falcon: [Specials: Direct] Attack + 3
• Capt. Falcon (F-Zero): [Slash] Resistance +23
• Capt. Falcon (F-Zero GX): [Arm, Leg] Attack + 8
• Capt. Falcon (F-Zero X): [Specials: Direct] Attack +19
• Gomar & Shioh: [Specials: Direct] Attack +10
• Samurai Goroh: [Arm] Attack +18
• Black Shadow (F-Zero GX):[Flame] Attack +25

Costumes

Captain Falcon's alternate costumes in SSBB

Trophy description

Captain Falcon's trophy in Brawl.

A skilled F-Zero pilot and resourceful bounty hunter. All that's known of his past is that he hails from Port Town. He's won fame and fortune outracing his opponents in his beloved Blue Falcon. His incredible athleticism and never-say-die attitude makes him the pilot to turn to in times of trouble.

: F-Zero

: F-Zero GX

Trivia

• Captain Falcon is one of the few characters to speak during The Subspace Emissary. He yells out "Falcon Punch!" while using the move on a giant R.O.B. and he says "Come on!" following with a snap to summon the Falcon Flyer.
• Captain Falcon is one of four characters who has a holstered weapon but does not use it.
• Captain Falcon is one of two characters that has a two hit forward smash with battering items. He shares this ability with Sheik.
  • In addition, Captain Falcon only does 10% with both forward smash hits with the Star Rod in Brawl instead of 18% like the rest of the characters.
• Brawl is the only Smash Bros. game to have Captain Falcon's scarf hanging out of his shirt.
• Captain Falcon can be seen in the "How To Play" video in the game, despite being a secret character.
• Captain Falcon and Ness are the only two characters to have their unlockability status change between games.

External links

• Dojo page
• Screenshots of Captain Falcon and the rest of the Subspace Emissary characters
• Captain Falcon Guide on SWF
• Captain Falcon's hitbox size of each of his moves