Captain Falcon (SSBB)

Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	F-Zero
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Blue Falcon
Tier	F (34)

Captain Falcon (キャプテン・ファルコン, Captain Falcon) appears as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was confirmed on February 22, 2008 on the Smash DOJO!!

Ryō Horikawa reprises his role as Captain Falcon in Brawl, albeit via recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. Melee, along with new, previously unused voice clips.

Captain Falcon is ranked 34th on the tier list in the bottom tier, a massive drop from his 6th position in the current Melee tier list, making this by far his worst placement in the series. Captain Falcon has his trademark speed-and-power playstyle, in addition to great mobility, great momentum cancelling and overall survivability, a versatile up aerial, and one of the best jabs in the game. However, his combo and KOing power were nerfed from Super Smash Bros. Melee, with his finishers either being weakened (such as forward smash), or significantly more difficult to land (such as his Knee Smash). In addition to this, most of Falcon's attacks have awkward hitbox placements, making safe approaches and spacing quite difficult, especially when considering his lack of projectiles. The impact of the new Brawl physics severely harmed Captain Falcon: the universal ability to act out of hitstun hurts him more than any other character, since his attacks no longer keep opponents in longer periods of hitstun. A less effective dashdance and an inability to moonwalk gives him even fewer approaching 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. In addition, he possesses a linear recovery and a vulnerability to chain grabs. All of these factors result in him being unable to pressure opponents or escape opposing pressure. As a result, he has terrible matchups and 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 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, though his tripping animation being the shortest in the game slightly alleviates this. His attacks mostly consist of hard-hitting kicks and punches, resulting in him operating in close-quarters.

Many of his moves have high knockback and damage output, though they also have considerable startup time and small sweetspots. His standard special, Falcon Punch, deals high damage, can KO at early percentages, and can be reversed in direction after start-up, but its extremely slow startup and audio cue makes it close to impossible to successfully land. Raptor Boost makes him rush forward and perform a fiery uppercut that launches opponents upwards opponents in the air, but its terrible shieldstun and slow startup makes it trivial to block or shield. If he misses it, he will suffer from considerable ending lag. When used in the air, he will instead swing downward, which can meteor smash targets. This makes it useful when recovering, since catch edge-guarders and edgehoggers off guard, but the attack is slow, predictable, and leaves Captain Falcon more vulnerable than the Falcon Dive. Raptor Boost also has the ability to cut through most projectiles. Falcon Kick sends him rocketing forward when used on the ground, and downward and slightly forward when used in mid-air. It deals decent damage and knockback, but like his other moves, it has subpar start-up and the hitbox is rather small, making it only good at surprise, quickly get downward or punish laggy moves. Falcon Dive sends him upwards with some horizontal movement, which gives him an important recovery move when combining it with great air speed. If the attack connects, it will deal high damage to the opponent and Captain Falcon will jump off from them. This also enables him to use the attack again should it connect. When used near the stage, the attack can sometimes stage spike when used against edge-guarders, though Falcon Dive can be teched to prevent that. It can also deal with edgehoggers if they are within its grab range. In terms of recovery, though, Falcon Dive is a slow move, cannot 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. 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 edgehogger 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 also make for powerful finishers. His forward aerial is renowned for its 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 startup and knockback, his down aerial is a powerful meteor smash, and his forward smash deals high damage and has very high knockback scaling.

Even though most of his attacks have high power and damage output, they have considerable startup and unfavorable hitboxes (which make it difficult to land his attacks), and his small amount of disjoints is a severe issue when against characters with disjoints that outrange 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. His poor, small hitboxes in his aerials and fast falling speed additionally make it difficult for him to hit grounded characters from the air. Falcon is also very easily outcamped due to his below average attack speed, unfavorable hitboxes, and unremarkable attack range. All of this, combined with his abysmal shieldstun (one of his biggest flaws), lack of a projectile, and slow ground attack speed, results in a very poor approach, though Falcon's high mobility slightly alleviates this. Captain Falcon also has a difficult time handling small characters, as most of his attacks have no low hitboxes. Captain Falcon's low tiering despite his speed and power is derived from his inability to combo characters effectively.

In the end, Captain Falcon relies on his weight, survivability, power, decent range, and mobility to make up for his abysmal approach options, poor amount of disjointed hitboxes, barren combo tree, 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.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

Captain Falcon has been heavily nerfed from Melee to Brawl. The vast changes in the gameplay physics removes many of his options while also significantly inhibiting his mobility, mixup options, and ability to play offensively. Additionally, his overall frame data is worse and his KO power was considerably toned down, since many of his moves have reduced KO power, while his forward aerial was nerfed to be rendered situational, since its sweetspot has a shorter duration, a smaller hitbox and increased hitlag making it much harder to land. Even if he does land it, his opponents have ample time to DI and SDI the move. The changes to hitstun and falling speeds, as well as changes to his moves that increased their lag or altered their angle, also harm Captain Falcon's hitstun-heavy combos. On top of this, none of Captain Falcon's major issues from Melee have been addressed: despite generally better aerial mobility, his recovery has been shortened and weakened even further elsewhere as Falcon Dive is more reliant on momentum while Falcon Kick no longer restores his double jump.

However, Captain Falcon has received a few buffs. His specials have seen some minor improvements, as Falcon Punch can now be reversed, which gives it some extra power. Raptor Boost is far more useful offstage, since he can now use other attacks like his aerials or his Falcon Dive. Falcon Dive can also grab opponents hanging onto the ledge. Despite how much Brawl's mechanics have harmed him, Falcon does benefit from the changes to aerial grab releases, which gives him some followups out of a grab.

Overall, Captain Falcon fares significantly worse off in Brawl than Melee, as the handful of buffs he received do not make up for the nerfs to his KO power and the game's mechanics drastically harming his offensive and defensive capabilities. While he still has great mobility and has a handful of solid moves, such as his jab and up aerial, he lacks reliable options to challenge his opponents and overall has poor defensive capabilities. Ergo, his tournament representation and results are significantly worse than they were in Melee, resulting in him being a contender as one of the worst characters in the game.

Aesthetics

• Captain Falcon has a new design primarily based on F-Zero GX, although he has his scarf from F-Zero GP Legend (with the tip hanging out the front as opposed to completely tucked in), has hair coming out from the back of his helmet, has new kneeguards and a redesigned shoulder pad, and his belt buckle is now blue with his insignia and his initials adorned at the bottom. His helmet and chest buttons keep their Melee design.
• He has a new "toppling" animation.
• His previous taunt has been moved to his down taunt. Additionally, it now uses the same voice clip as Smash 64.
• Captain Falcon no longer vocalizes during any of his victory poses, although a set of unused voice clips implies it was originally going to have one.
  • The voice clip from his up-inputted victory pose in Melee has been moved to his Wii Remote selection sound.
• Captain Falcon no longer uses his stun voice clip when waking out of sleep status.

Attributes

• The universal changes to the physics in Brawl make his dashdance less effective (on top of increasing the chances of randomly tripping), and moonwalking and L-canceling have been removed, giving him fewer options to approach. In addition, Captain Falcon no longer carries momentum from his dash when he jumps, and the ability to act out of hitstun hurts him more than other characters by making his finishing moves (all of which have been nerfed, as outlined below) harder to combo into and land.
• Captain Falcon's dashes slower (2.3 → 2.18).
• Captain Falcon's air speed was increased (1.12 → 1.18).
• As with the returning veterans, Captain Falcon's falling speed was significantly reduced (2.9 → 1.837). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Captain Falcon falls slower (although it is still the second highest in the game). While this worsens his vertical endurance, it improves his recovery and makes him less vulnerable to combos.
• Captain Falcon's gravity was decreased (0.13 → 0.1027).
• Captain Falcon's traction is significantly lower (0.08 → 0.05), especially when comparing with the returning veterans, now being one of the lowest (from being tied for 3rd best in Melee to 9th worst in Brawl). Given the lack of wavedashing in the game, the few benefits it provides are far less significant, and is exacerbated by a character's out of shield game being more important than in Melee. This also makes it harder for him to punish out of shield.
• Captain Falcon's jumpsquat is longer (4 frames → 5).
• 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.
• Spot dodge has less startup lag, a longer duration (frames 3-20 → 2-20) and less ending lag (FAF 33 → 26).
• Captain Falcon's backwards glide toss covers more distance.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The attack button can now be held for Captain Falcon to repeat the first hit of the attack until it finally connects.
  • Rapid jabs of his neutral attack combo are faster, making them safer to use. The Gentleman (third hit of neutral attack) is also easier to perform without performing Falcon's rapid jab and the universally decreased falling speeds combined with the removal of DI against moves which do not put opponents into tumble has improved the first two hit's jab cancel followup potential. The loop hits also deal more damage (1% → 2%/1%) and have reduced knockback scaling (70 → 50/20) making it connect more reliably.
  • The damage on the first two hits of neutral attack was swapped.
  • The Gentleman has reduced damage (8%/6% → 6%/5%) and significantly reduced knockback for the purpose of reliably linking to the rapid jabs (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/50 (clean), 0/100 → 0/70 (late)). While this may result in more damage from using the full jab combo, the Gentleman itself does not allow for any followups to his finishing moves; therefore, it is considered to have much less utility overall (despite this, it is still one of the best jabs in Brawl). The second hit also has more startup (frame 4 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 18 → 19).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt can now lock opponents.
  • Forward tilt deals less damage on all angles (up: 12% (leg), 11% (body)/forward: 11%/down: 10% (leg), 11% (body) → 11%, 10%/10%, 9% (foot)/10%, 9%). It also has slightly less reach (despite now moving with it and having a larger hitbox), and increased ending lag on all angles (FAF 29 → 37 (non angled), 32 (angled)).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has has more reach (due to it moving Falcon forward slightly) and lasts one frame longer (frames 17-21 → 17-22). It also has larger hitbox sizes overall and a hitbox has been added closer to his body (4.6872/3.1248 → 6.5/4.0/3.0).
  • Up tilt has increased ending lag (FAF 38 → 40).
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals 2% less damage (12% → 10%) and has increased start-up, a shorter duration (frames 10-15 → 11-15) and ending lag (FAF 35 → 36). The hitboxes closest to Falcon have had their angles lowered (70°/60° → 40°/20°). In addition, due to the changes in hitstun, down tilt has drastically reduced combo ability.
  • Down tilt's altered angles have granted it edgeguarding potential, somewhat akin to his down tilt in Smash 64.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has significantly altered knockback (22 (base), 90 (scaling) → 80/40), making much safer to use at very low percentages.
  • Dash attack deals less damage (10%/7% → 8%/6%). Its lower damage coupled with its drastically lower knockback scaling makes it much weaker at much higher percentages (can KO Mario under 210% in Melee but cannot KO Mario until around 360%-380% in Brawl.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash deals significantly less knockback (24 (base), 100 (scaling) → 20/85) and slightly less damage (21%/20%/19% → 20%/19%/18%). It now has only slightly above-average knockback, compared from being the 3rd most powerful forward smash in Melee. It also lasts one frame shorter (frames 18-21 → 18-20).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has more horizontal reach . Due to Falcon having much lower traction, it covers significantly more distance when performed out of a dash improving its approach potential (he can also DACUS to make it cover a shorter distance).
  • Both hits of up smash have increased start-up (frame 21 (hit 1), frame 27 (hit 2) → 22/28), the first hit's sweetspots deal less damage (14% → 11%) and the second hit has reduced knockback scaling (128/126/110 → 102/103/110). Up smash also has increased ending lag (FAF 40 → 53), no longer being as fast as Mario's up smash overall.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less knockback scaling (100 (both kicks) → 85 (first kick)/90 (second kick)) and both kicks have slightly shorter durations (4 frames → 3 ). It also has increased ending lag (FAF 45 → 50).
  • Down smash gained a new hitbox on his body for both kicks (not including the weak sourspot that deals 6% damage, which may or may not lead into the second kick), making it easier to connect on smaller characters. Its hitbox sizes are larger as well (4u/4u (front)/3.6u/3.6u (back) → 6u/5u/4u/3.5u, 5u/4.5u/4u).

Aerial attacks

• Due to his lower fall speed, Captain Falcon can once again auto-cancel all of his aerials in a short hop as opposed to just his back and up aerials.
• Weak Knee Smash, back aerial and up aerial can now all lock opponents at lower percents.
• Weak Knee Smash and down aerial can now trip opponents.
• All aerials except Knee Smash have less landing lag (15 frames → 9 (neutral/up), 18 frames → 12 (back), 24 frames → 21 (down)) however due to the removal of L-canceling, their landing lag was not fully compensated.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's second kick has significantly increased knockback (40 (base), 100 (scaling) → 45/125). It also auto-cancels earlier (frame 34 → 32).
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (6%/5% → 4% (hit 1), 7% → 6% (hit 2)). Both kicks have much shorter durations as well (6/10 frames → 2 frames each). It also has a smaller hitbox size.
• Forward aerial:
  • A sweetspotted forward aerial will always send in the direction Captain Falcon is facing.
  • Knee Smash deals 1% more damage on a clean hit (18% → 19%), making it slightly stronger despite its knockback being altered (24 (base)/100 (growth) → 30/93). Its new sourspot hitboxes enable it Wall of pain potential.
  • Knee Smash now requires a sweet spot (the hitbox on his knee) to land a clean hit.
  • The clean hitbox duration has been lowered (frames 14-16 → 14), now requiring it to land on the very first active frame.
  • It also has a much smaller hitbox size (5.08u → 3u).
  • The late hit deals 3% much like in the PAL version of Melee with severely reduced knockback, and the initial hitbox behind his knee deals 6% damage with similar properties to NTSC Melee's late hit.
  • The clean hit has significantly increased freeze frames upon connecting (1x → 1.2x, especially for Captain Falcon due to electric hitlag properties being slightly altered to where both the attacker and the victim suffer the same amount of hitlag as opposed to just the victim taking the extra hitlag), allowing the opponent to DI and SDI the hit to lessen its knockback, which was altered (as aforementioned above).
  • It has more landing lag (19 frames → 22).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's clean hit has a shorter duration (4 frames → 2) without proper compensation on the moves entire duration (frames 10-17 → 10-15). It also has increased ending lag (FAF 29 → FAF 36), no longer having the least amount of ending lag among his aerials.
    • However, due to its hitbox duration being shortened, his back aerial autocancels two frames earlier (frame 21 → 19).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has slightly more ending lag (FAF 30 → 34) and a shorter duration (frames 6-13 → 6-12).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's higher hitbox sends opponents at a different angle (290° → 361°). This hinders its edgeguarding potential as the Nipple spike was removed but it can now get reliable onstage KOs.
  • Down aerial now has smaller hitboxes (6.8/6/5.6 → 4.5/6) and its sweetspot has much less base knockback (40 → 10) meaning that he has a harder time meteor smashing and utilizing the move in general despite the changes to meteor canceling. Its duration was shortened as well (frames 16-20 → 16-18), it auto-cancels 3 frames later (frame 36 → 39), and it has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 45).

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Grabs have slightly less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30 (standing), FAF 41 → 40 (dash).
  • Grabs have less range with Captain Falcon now having the second shortest grab range.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has less end lag (FAF 25 → 16).
  • Pummel deals less damage (3% → 2%).
• The changes to aerial grab releases benefit Captain Falcon more than most other veterans as his speed gives him multiple followups against various characters. He can force smaller characters into an air release and he can air release most of the cast if he grabs them while they are in mid-air which he can set up with the first hit of his neutral aerial.
• Due to universally decreased fall speeds and the introduction of hitstun canceling, up and down throws can no longer combo or chaingrab opponents. Down throw can also no longer be used for tech chasing severely harming its utility.

Special moves

• Falcon Punch:
  • Falcon Punch can now be reversed for a short time during the startup, slightly increasing damage and knockback at the cost of increased startup lag.
  • It has slightly more startup lag (frame 52 → 53) and has less knockback scaling (102 → 93), making it slightly weaker KOing around 10% later. The aerial version is also weaker dealing less damage (27%/25%/23% → 26%/23%/22%) and knockback (40 (base), 102 (scaling) → 30/93).
  • It now uses a charging sound effect during its startup. Captain Falcon also gains a slight increase in height if he uses Falcon Punch and a jump at the same time although not enough to be hugely impactful (Kirby on the other hand gains a huge amount of height if he performs the same trick with Falcon Punch. The knockback on Kirby's Falcon Punch was also unchanged from Melee making it stronger although it has less range than Falcon's).
• Raptor Boost:
  • Raptor Boost is easier to use and makes a "leapfrog" effect when the attack connects in the air. Additionally, it can now edge sweet spot, making it much safer to use in the air and for recovery.
  • It has more startup lag (frame 15 (grounded), frame 17 (aerial) → 20 (grounded), 23 (aerial)).
  • Its knockback has been altered (78 (base), 80 (scaling) → 100/52).
• Falcon Dive:
  • Falcon Dive can now grab edge-hoggers, the grab hitbox is larger, its furthest grabbox has more reach (12.93u → 13.65u), and it grabs onto the edge earlier into the move, making Captain Falcon harder to edge-hog. Due to the changes in the stale-move negation, Falcon Dive deals more damage (15% → 17%).
  • Falcon Dive relies more on his horizontal momentum to gain any horizontal distance and controls erratically just when Captain Falcon is about to fall, requiring more precise control from the player to properly space his recovery.
• Falcon Kick:
  • Grounded Falcon Kick no longer has a chance of blasting Captain Falcon off diagonally downwards when he travels towards an edge near the end of the move.
  • The aerial version's hitboxes are now on Captain Falcon's attacking leg, giving the move better range.
  • The aerial version no longer restores Captain Falcon's midair jump. The grounded version also deals less damage (15% (clean), 12% (mid), 9% (late) → 13%/11%/7%). While the late hit had its knockback compensated (50 (base), 50 (scaling) → 50/60), the clean hit did not and the mid hit deals less knockback (50 (base), 60 (scaling) → 62/40).
• Blue Falcon:
  • Captain Falcon now has a Final Smash: Blue Falcon. Captain Falcon calls his Blue Falcon which drives in front of him. If it catches an opponent, they will fall on a race track and Falcon will ram into them in his Blue Falcon. It has very slow startup lag (frame 28) giving him no guaranteed methods to set up into it (not even his aerial grab release).

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Jab (ジャブ) / Straight (ストレート) / Kneebutt (ニーバット) / Mach Punch (マッハパンチ)	3%	Punches twice then knees the opponent, which is followed by a series of punches. It is effective at racking damage.
			2%
			6% (clean), 5% (late)
			1-2% (loop)
Forward tilt	↗	Round Kick (ラウンドキック)	11% (foot), 10% (leg)	A roundhouse kick. Can be angled.
	→		10% (foot), 9% (leg)
	↘		10% (foot), 9% (leg)
Up tilt		Wheel Kick (ホイールキック)	13%	An axe-handle 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.
Down tilt		Sprawl Kick (スプロールキック)	10%	Does a sweep kick with vertical knockback. It is a fast semi-spike.
Dash attack		Turbo Shoulder (ターボショルダー)	8% (clean), 6% (late)	Captain Falcon rams a shoulder into the opponent.
Forward smash	↗	Overheat Elbow (オーバーヒートエルボー)	20%	Captain Falcon leans back and jabs an elbow forward, making a fire effect on contact.
	→		19%
	↘		18%
Up smash		Dual Edge (デュアルエッジ)	11%/8% (hit 1), 13%/12% (hit 2)	Captain Falcon performs a spinning double-kick. Has good vertical range but poor horizontal reach.
Down smash		Front & Back Kick (フロント＆バックキック)	18%/6% (hit 1), 16% (hit 2)	Captain Falcon kicks forward and then backward. Has great reach and very high horizontal knockback.
Neutral aerial		Rotary Kick (ロータリーキック)	4% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2)	Captain Falcon kicks forward twice. The first kick has set knockback which easily connects into the second kick.
Forward aerial		Knee Smash (ストライキングニー, Striking Knee)	19% (clean sweetspot), 6% (clean sourspot), 3% (late)	Captain Falcon jabs a knee forward. Deals high knockback when sweetspotted.
Back aerial		Back Knuckle (バックナックル)	14% (clean), 8% (late)	Captain Falcon does a quick backhand.
Up aerial		Overhead Kick (オーバーヘッドキック)	13%/12% (clean), 12%/10% (late)	Captain Falcon does a flip kick with fast start-up and good all-around range. One of his best moves and can easily juggle into another aerial.
Down aerial		Stampede Bomb (スタンピードボム)	14%	Stomps downward. Deals horizontal knockback when sourspotted and meteor smashes when sweetspotted.
Grab		Grab (つかみ)	—	Reaches out with his right hand. Despite his tall stature, Captain Falcon's grab range is extremely short (the second-shortest behind that of Ganondorf), and his pivot grab has absurdly slow startup for a non-tether pivot grab (the slowest to be precise).
Pummel		Grab Kneebutt (つかみニーバット)	2%	Knees the opponent. A fairly fast pummel.
Forward throw		Short Body Blow (ショートボディブロー)	5% (hit), 4% (throw) (9% total)	Captain Falcon punches his enemy forward.
Back throw		Striking Throw (ストライキングスルー)	5% (hit), 4% (throw) (9% total)	Captain Falcon puts the enemy behind him and kicks.
Up throw		Rising Flat (ライジングフラット)	4% (hit), 3% (throw) (7% total)	Captain Falcon holds the enemy up and punches them upwards.
Down throw		Head Crush (ヘッドクラッシュ)	7%	Captain Falcon flips the opponent and slams them on the ground.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Captain Falcon does a spin on the ground to kick both sides.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Captain Falcon spins around to do a double kick.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Captain Falcon punches both sides.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			10%	Captain Falcon does a flip-kick to the opponent.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			8%	Captain Falcon does a slow uppercut.
Neutral special		Falcon Punch	27%/25%/23% (ground), 28%/26%/24% (ground reverse), 26%/23%/22% (air), 27%/24%/23% (air reverse)	Captain Falcon winds up and releases his iconic fiery punch. Can be reversed which deals more damage. KOs at 63% at the far edge of Final Destination.
Side special		Raptor Boost	7%	Captain Falcon dashes forward and follows up with an uppercut if he touches a character. Punishable on shield. In midair, the strike is a dashing overhand that can meteor smash.
Up special		Falcon Dive	5% (grab), 12% (release)	Captain Falcon grabs his opponent and releases them with an explosion. Goes into helpless if he misses but if the move connect, he's free to use the same move again.
Down special		Falcon Kick	13%/11%/7% (ground), 15%/13%/11% (air), 9% (landing)	Captain Falcon bursts forward with a flaming high-speed kick. If used in the air, he will plunge downwards at a diagonal angle.
Final Smash		Blue Falcon	10% (car), 20% (ram), 10% (release)	Captain Falcon calls in his F-Zero racer, the Blue Falcon. The opponent is hit by the vehicle as it zooms past, sending them to an unknown F-Zero track. Captain Falcon proceeds to run them down in the Blue Falcon, resulting in high knockback.

Stats

This article or section may require additional technical data. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Needs short hop and double jump heights You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

Stats	Weight	Dash speed	Walk speed	Traction	Air friction	Air speed	Air acceleration	Gravity	Falling speed	Jumpsquat	Jump height	Double jump height
Value	104	2.05 – Initial dash 2.18 – Run	0.85	0.05	0.0075	1.18	0.01 – Base 0.05 – Additional	0.1027	1.837 – Base 2.5718 – Fast-fall	5	37.31948794 - Base ? - Short hop	?

Announcer call

This article could use additional or higher-quality audio files. The editor who added this tag suggests: Needs announcer calls from other languages. If you have a good audio file for this article, upload it here.

• English/Japanese

Wii Remote selection sound

• Captain Falcon says "yeeeeAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!", similar to a victory pose from previous games.

Captain Falcon's selection sound

On-screen appearance

• The Blue Falcon appears then Captain Falcon jumps out of it as it speeds off. If Captain Falcon starts the match facing left, he will do a flip as he exits the 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 to his right side while saying "Show me your moves!" When facing left, Captain Falcon extends his saluting arm behind him; this also shortens the taunt.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

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

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer	File:Captain Falcon Cheer NTSC Brawl.ogg	File:Captain Falcon Cheer JP Brawl.ogg
Description	Cap-tain! Fal-con!	Cap-tain! Fal-con!
Pitch	High female, then deep male	High female, then deep male

Victory poses

An electric guitar-based cover of the music that plays whenever a character finishes a race in F-Zero GX.

• Up: Two jump kicks.
• Left: Charges up red energy, similar to one of his Melee poses but with fire added.
• Right: Does three consecutive roundhouse kicks, then poses.

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Captain Falcon players (SSBB)

•  Ally - While Ally never used Captain Falcon in serious tournament matches against legitimately threatening opponents, it became perhaps the most famous "low tier main" of a top player in Brawl, with Ally being able to beat high level players with Falcon and dominate low tier tournaments. As such, Ally was considered to have the best Falcon for a long time, and only Stroumbert would contend with him for this title near the end of Brawl.
•  Daiki - Like Ally, Daiki had an extraordinarily competent Captain Falcon that he never used as a main nor serious secondary, but in Brawl's late competitive life, Daiki would use primarily Falcon at some Kantō regionals. In particular, his 7th at Piosuma 7 using solo Falcon and 7th at Umebura 1 using primarily Falcon are the best known results anyone have achieved with Falcon in Brawl, giving him a strong argument for having the best Falcon in the world.
•  Lordy - One of the very few genuine competitive Captain Falcon mains, and the only one to have achieved any real notability beyond his region. Was considered the third best Falcon player under Ally and Stroumbert.
•  Stroumbert - Like Ally, he didn't actually main Captain Falcon, but he became known for having an especially competent Captain Falcon, and would end up competing with Ally for the title of best Falcon in Brawl by the end of its competitive life.

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 Smash, his go-to finisher in Melee, becoming extremely difficult to land), and that he got adversely affected to a severe degree by the universal mechanical changes; most prominently the introduction of hitstun canceling, which hurt Falcon worse than any other character due to not only being one of the most combo-reliant characters, but also his combo game was diminished more severely by it due to him relying on higher knockback moves to combo. It was additionally widely believed 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 he could do anything to any competent degree in competitive matches. A year after Brawl's release, it was realized that Ganondorf and Link were even worse characters than Falcon; as such, on the third tier list, Falcon rose up from last place and has never ranked there since. Players also began recognising some of the significant 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 his incredible endurance potential while having a capable recovery that does not 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 then consistently hovered around the 33rd-34th spot. However, he was still crippled by his remaining flaws; although his attacks enjoy the same amount of priority as those of any other character, he still suffered from a lack of disjointed range that could not compete with other longer-ranged characters.

While Captain Falcon was no longer seen as a candidate for worst character in the game, the stigma from his previous last placings still held on, and thus he was commonly seen as a joke character on the level of Ganondorf. With this, Falcon had barely any serious players; nearly everyone who could play Falcon at a competent competitive level only used him 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 was barren even by low tier standards, and only Jigglypuff saw even worse representation in Brawl tournaments, leaving Falcon's capability to perform beyond low tier play rarely seen in practice.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Captain Falcon in the SSE.

In The Subspace Emissary, Captain Falcon teams 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. Once the two get out of the forest, they find a Primid transport platform, otherwise known as the Smash Skiff, 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.

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 King 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

In Solo Modes

Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Captain Falcon can appear as an opponent or ally in Stage 7 if he has been unlocked along with Fox, Falco, and Wolf on Lylat Cruise or Port Town Aero Dive. Captain Falcon can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if he hasn't appeared in Stage 7.

All-Star Mode

In All-Star Mode, Captain Falcon is fought in Stage 13 on Port Town Aero Dive.

Solo Events

• Event 23: Molten Norfair: Samus must retreat into the safety capsule when it appears. Captain Falcon and Fox are featured in this event, who will try and prevent the player from entering the capsule.
• Event 24: Come On! Blue Falcon!: Captain Falcon must must use his Final Smash, Blue Falcon, to defeat two R.O.B.s before one lap on Port Town Aero Dive is complete.
• Event 29: All-Star Semifinal Regulars: Captain Falcon is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are characters that were unlockable from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
• Event 36: High-Tech Special Forces: Captain Falcon is one of the three bounty hunters along with Samus and Wolf that Snake must defeat.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 6: Unwanted Suitors: Zelda and Zero Suit Samus must defeat an invisible Captain Falcon and Luigi on Port Town Aero Dive.
• Co-Op Event 12: Come Back! Falcon Flyer: Captain Falcon and Olimar must defeat two Samuses in under 30 seconds.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Ending Images

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Trophies

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

Classic Mode trophy

Captain Falcon

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

Blue Falcon trophy

Blue Falcon

Captain Falcon's Final Smash. His beloved ship, the Blue Falcon, roars onto the screen once he touches a foe in front of him. The enemy gets sent to a racetrack, at which point the Blue Falcon screams down at a ridiculous speed and launches the unlucky victim. What track is it? Where did the machine come from? This is one technique that's an utter mystery.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Posing on Temple.

• 

  Taunting on The Plain in The Subspace Emissary.

• 

  Dashing with Sonic on Port Town Aero Dive.

• 

  Using Falcon Dive on Charizard on Temple.

• 

  Falcon Punch in Brawl.

• 

  Captain Falcon's reverse Falcon Punch.

• 

  Raptor Boost before the charge.

• 

  Raptor Boost in Brawl.

• 

  Raptor Boost used in midair in Brawl.

• 

  Falcon Kick in midair in Brawl.

• 

  Blue Falcon in Brawl.

• 

  The Blue Falcon drives into Luigi, initiating the Final Smash.

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 that have a two-hit forward smash with battering items. He shares this ability with Sheik, Ike and Marth.
  • 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.
• Captain Falcon is one of the few characters that says something meaningful when teetering; he will say "Whoops".
• Despite being an unlockable character, Captain Falcon can be seen in the "How to Play" video in the game; he can be seen sleeping on Delfino Plaza at the end of the video as a result of Peach's Peach Blossom.
• Captain Falcon and Yoshi are the only members of the perfect-attendence crew that remain the only playable characters to represent their own series in Brawl. This carries on to future instalments of the series.
  • However, as Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Wario are sub-franchises of the Mario series, then Captain Falcon is the only fighter of the perfect-attendance crew who represents his franchise alone.
• Captain Falcon's official artwork greatly resembles his F-Zero GX artwork, as well as his down taunt.

• If one clips through Captain Falcon's head with a hacked camera, they will find a blue eye.
  • This is likely a remnant of an unused feature where characters would show visible damage during battle, as other characters like Meta Knight and Marth have unused textures for their armor or weapons being damaged. Presumably, Falcon's visor was supposed to crack, showing one of his eyes underneath, but as this feature was never implemented, the now-vestigial modeled eye region is all that remains.
• Interestingly, size changing items affect Captain Falcon's damage multiplier differently than with most other fighters. For an example, acquiring a Super Mushroom causes Captain Falcon's direct attacks to deal around 1.8x their normal damage, instead of the usual 1.56x. He shares this trait with Wario, Wario-Man, Samus, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Lucario, and Snake.
• Interestingly, Captain Falcon's up aerial has a very late hitbox that will load, but will then be deleted at the same time it appears. The hitbox deals 8%/6% damage. This is also the case in Melee.

External links

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