Differences from Captain Falcon
Attributes
- Ganondorf's attacks have more reach than Captain Falcon's due to his longer arms and legs.
- Ganondorf's ledge jump is higher than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf's walking and dashing speed, and air speed are all lower than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf's jump and midair jump are lower than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf's body is larger than Captain Falcon's, which makes his hitbox larger and thus easier to hit.
- Ganondorf cannot wall jump unlike Captain Falcon.
- Ganondorf's moves are generally slower but more powerful than Captain Falcon's.
- Ganondorf is heavier than Captain Falcon but has lower gravity and falling speed, giving him horizontal endurance but less vertical endurance.
- Many of Ganondorf's attacks deal darkness and electric damage as opposed to Captain Falcon's flame.
Ground attacks
- Neutral attack is a single punch with an electric effect and unusually high knockback for a jab. It also deals more damage than the first two hits and the infinite of Captain Falcon's jab, but is weaker than the Gentleman (third hit).
- Forward tilt is significantly more powerful (the third strongest in the game) and deals more damage than Captain Falcon's.
- Up tilt is radically different; it consists of Ganondorf raising his leg in the air for 88 frames before bringing it down in an explosive kick. It deals much higher damage with extreme knockback, able to KO from center under 25%, but its laughable start-up makes it impossible to land to the point of uselessness.
- Down tilt is slower.
- Dash attack is much more powerful than Captain Falcon's, as well as being a useful combo starter.
- Forward smash has much higher knockback and range.
- Forward smash has more start-up than Captain Falcon's.
- Forward smash has almost purely vertical knockback instead of largely horizontal.
- Up smash's two hits do not link reliably, but both hits deal more damage and knockback, with the first hit being more powerful than the two hits of Captain Falcon's, and both being the most damaging up smash in the game.
- Up smash is less useful as a combo move.
- Down smash's two hits can naturally combo into each other, dealing more damage than Captain Falcon's if both hits connect, and also deals more knockback.
- Down smash's two hits deal less damage, resulting it being weaker than Captain Falcon's if it only hits once.
- Down smash has diagonal knockback instead of largely horizontal.
Aerial attacks
- Neutral aerial has much higher damage and knockback on both hits, and the first hit has KO power on its own.
- Neutral aerial's two hits do not link reliably, and does slightly less damage than Captain Falcon's two hits if it hits once.
- Ganondorf has a completely different forward aerial: an arcing downward punch. It has no sourspot and much longer range than Captain Falcon's Knee Smash.
- Forward aerial is less powerful than a sweetspotted Knee Smash and has significantly higher landing lag.
- Back aerial has no sourspot and better range and power than Captain Falcon's.
- Up aerial is much stronger and longer-ranged than Captain Falcon's. Its late hitboxes that semi-spike have more knockback and higher hitstun, making it more effective at edge-guarding than Captain Falcon's.
- Up aerial is a less effective move for combos thanks to its increased power, and it cannot hit opponents upwards. Additionally the late semi-spiking hitboxes are weaker sourspots.
- Down aerial is much stronger in both damage and knockback than Captain Falcon's equivalent, and is the strongest meteor smash in Melee, able to KO grounded opponents under 100%.
- Down aerial is much slower than Captain Falcon's, with drastically increased landing lag, and lacks the nipple spike hitbox.
Special moves
- Warlock Punch is much more powerful than the Falcon Punch, dealing more damage and able to KO virtually any character under 30% damage on the tournament legal stages.
- Warlock Punch has more start-up lag than the Falcon Punch, and Ganondorf is unable to perform an equivalent to Captain Falcon's Sacred Combo due to his lower air speed, the diagonal knockback angle of his forward aerial, and Warlock Punch's obscene startup lag.
- Warlock Punch has significantly different aesthetics from the Falcon Punch; even discounting the darkness effect, it lacks the falcon-shaped fiery aura and falcon screech during the punch.
- Gerudo Dragon deals much more damage than Raptor Boost.
- Gerudo Dragon's increased knockback makes it harder to combo into other attacks compared to Raptor Boost, while still being unable to KO at realistic percentages. It also is slower, covers less distance, and the aerial version cannot meteor smash.
- Dark Dive deals higher damage and knockback than Falcon Dive and can hit opponents who attempt to intercept Ganondorf.
- Dark Dive is slightly slower than Falcon Dive.
- Dark Dive deals multiple hits before releasing the opponent, but cannot be Smash DI'ed out thanks to being a grab.
- Grounded Wizard's Foot is stronger than Falcon Kick with a more favorable semi-spike angle.
- Aerial Wizard's Foot is a powerful spike instead of dealing upwards vertical knockback like Falcon Kick, making it deadly off-stage. It is also safer to use to restore Ganondorf's midair jump thanks to his lower falling speed compared to Captain Falcon.
- Both Grounded and Aerial Wizard's Foot has slightly more start-up and ending lag.