Captain Falcon (PM)

Captain Falcon; in Project M and Project+
	;
Universe	F-Zero
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Captain Falcon (SSBM)
Alternate costume	Retro Falcon

Falcon's Retro Costume in Project M 3.5

Captain Falcon is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He was remade to be nearly identical to his Melee counterpart in terms of attack hitboxes and animations.

Attributes

The F-Zero pilot everyone knows and loves has returned in most of his Melee glory. Some of his much welcomed changes from Brawl, such as improvements to Raptor Boost and Falcon Dive, are retained in response to other characters being introduced and buffed. Otherwise, his signature speed, combo game, and beloved Knee Smash have been left untouched. His defensive game is still subpar, but he remains one of the most resilient characters due to his weight and fast falling speed.

Changes from Melee to PM

Due to having the reputation as one of the worst fighters of Brawl despite his high speed and power, placing 34th on the low tier (initially placing last), a massive drop from his 7th place position on Melee's top tier, Falcon has been reverted back to his Melee incarnation, receiving a few buffs in his transition from Melee to Project M. Since Project M retains physics from Melee, Falcon's combo abilities are once again efficient, as players are no longer to act out of hitstun like they could in Brawl; additionally, the Knee Smash, his main finisher in Melee, is once again as easy to sweetspot as it was in Melee.

Aesthetics

Up and down taunts have switched positions. When using down taunt, he now also utters a soft "Yes!"
Connecting with a sweetspotted Knee Smash when a taunt input is held results in Falcon exclaiming "Yes!" (like with his Falcon Dive).
Kneeling victory pose is now more similar to Melee's version; he will thrust his chest forward and shout while briefly emitting fire.

Attributes

Captain Falcon is the character most affected by Project M's dashing changes; he no longer has a more exaggerated delay before his initial dash animation than every other character (particularly when starting the dash in the opposite direction that he is facing), allowing for much easier dashing jumps than in Melee.

Ground Attacks

Neutral attack's Gentleman hit is now always separated from the rapid punches (just like in the PAL version of Melee). While there is still a big window of time where pressing the attack button results in the punches, it can be avoided by jab canceling. On whiff, the jab combo has to be slightly delayed to avoid using the jabs.

Special Moves

Falcon Punch retains its reversible ability and startup from Brawl.
Falcon Punch can be turned around up to four times, though this is predictable and has no real practical use for competitive play. Additionally, each reversal after the first one resets the move's starting animation.
Aerial Raptor Boost propels Captain Falcon with forward momentum if it lands, and can now grab the ledge. When used towards an edge from the ground, Captain Falcon now goes into the ending animation instead of instantly becoming helpless, allowing him to still grab the edge and come back to the stage. Landing lag for a successfully connected aerial Raptor Boost has been lowered to match that of a missed aerial Raptor Boost.
Falcon Dive retains its vertical distance, its ability to grab foes on the ledge, and its damage (deals 17%, 2% more than Melee's 15%) from Brawl. The move also has slightly higher knockback and its ledge grab sweetspot is now located higher on Falcon's body.
Falcon Kick is reversible, and has less endlag. Its lingering hitboxes also have much more favorable angles, making the move safer.

Revisions

v2.1

Captain Falcon's Side-B has a ground to air transition animation similar to Ganondorf's to allow him to grab edges backwards.
Captain Falcon's Up-B Throw animations were touched up
Captain Falcon's dash attack can slip off edges like in Melee
Captain Falcon's Up-B received physics adjustments to match Melee

v2.5b

Captain Falcon's Neutral-B is now reversible
Captain Falcon's Neutral-B turn occurs slightly later and can be performed up to four times
Captain Falcon's hurtboxes adjusted
Captain Falcon's Dash animation cleaned up
Captain Falcon's Forward Roll animation adjusted to be like Melee
Captain Falcon's aerial attack animations cleaned up to match up with Melee timings
Captain Falcon's Up-B launch fire hit graphical effects restored

v2.6b

Aerial Side-B trigger box adjusted so that the hit connects more reliably once triggered
Aerial Side-B now spikes
Initial Dash animation length increased by 1 frame to match Melee, improving moonwalk distance slightly
Turn Grab animation is longer to match other Turn Grabs
Fixed a bug on his Ledge Rolls that caused them to not free up the edge until the animations completely ended
Neutral-B additional turns can be prevented by holding B

v3.0

Side-B landing lag slightly reduced if it connects with an opponent, now is the same for Side-B whiff or hit
Falcon Kick is now B-reversible
Grounded Falcon Kick endlag is slightly longer

v3.01

Forward-Throw and Up-Throw have had their hitlag decreased
Falcon Punch hitlag decreased

v3.5

Up smash's IASA frames decreased by one frame.
Falcon Kick's recovery frames from ground to air reduced to special landing rather than hard landing.
Aerial Raptor Boost knockback reduced slightly.
Grounded Raptor Boost now requires the player to hold the reverse direction for Captain Falcon to grab the ledge after going offstage with it.
Falcon Kick knockback adjusted for its later hitboxes.
Falcon Dive knockback adjusted to use set character momentum instead of set knockback per character.
Up taunt has more IASA frames when facing right.
Air jump and Falcon Dive landing animations cleaned up.

v3.6 Beta

Powershield size multiplier: x0.73 → 0.75
Down aerial's nipple spike now has a fire element.
Up throw and down throw's properties match Melee throws better.
Aerial Raptor Boost has been reverted back to a meteor smash.
Aerial Falcon Kick's landing hitbox has the following changes:
- Only hits grounded opponents.
- Damage: 6% → 10%
- Knockback growth: 83 → 35
- Hitbox size: 6 → 5

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6 Beta.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		2% (hit 1), 3% (hit 2), 8%/6% (hit 3 clean/late), 1-2% (hit 3 loop)	Captain Falcon goes into a rapid punch combo. Stopping at the Knee is called the Gentleman.
Forward tilt		12% (high), 11% (mid), 10% (low)	Captain Falcon kicks the opponent. Can be angled.
Up tilt		13%	Captain Falcon winds up his foot and slams it into the opponent.
Down tilt		12%	Captain Falcon sweeps with a kick.
Dash attack		10% (clean), 7% (late)	Captain Falcon tackles into his opponent.
Forward smash		21% (high), 20% (mid), 19% (low)	Captain Falcon elbows his opponents with fire. Slow startup, but has decent reach. Can be angled.
Up smash		14%/8% (hit 1 foot/body), 12%/13% (hit 2 foot/body)	Captain Falcon does a double spin kick high to the air.
Down smash		18% (hit 1), 16% (hit 2)	Captain Falcon does a sweeping kick to both sides of him.
Neutral aerial		6% (hit 1), 7% (hit 2)	Falcon kicks his opponent twice in mid-air via two spin kicks. A powerful combo tool.
Forward aerial	Knee Smash	18% (clean), 6% (late)	Often simply referred to as "The Knee", Captain Falcon performs a knee attack against his opponent. During the initial frames, the entire hitbox acts as a powerful Sex kick with electrical properties and great horizontal knockback. After the initial frames, it becomes a weak but sufficient semi-spike.
Back aerial		14% (clean), 8% (late)	Captain Falcon does a strong back hand punch.
Up aerial		12%/13% (clean/knee), 10%/12 (late/knee)	Captain Falcon does a bicycle kick to the opponent. A primary combo tool.
Down aerial		16%	Captain Falcon does a small-delayed stomp downward. Does large hitstun and acts as a powerful meteor smash, or a spike if hit by his chest area. Opponents will have a flame effect if nipple spiked.
Grab		—	Grabs the opponent.
Pummel		3%	Captain Falcon knees the opponent. Fairly quick.
Forward throw		5% (hit), 4% (throw) (9% total)	Captain Falcon hits the opponent with a hook punch that hits the opponent two times.
Back throw		5% (hit), 4% (throw) (9% total)	The opponent is kicked backwards, the move hits the opponent two times.
Up throw		4% (hit), 3% (throw) (7% total)	The opponent is punched/palmed upwards this move hits the opponent twice. This can be used to start a chain grab on fast fallers at mid-high percents.
Down throw		7%	The opponent is slammed into the ground one-handed. This can be used to start a chain grab on most non-fast fallers.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Captain Falcon does a spin on the ground to kick both sides.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Captain Falcon spins around to do a double kick.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Captain Falcon punches both sides.
Edge attack (fast)		9%	Captain Falcon does a flip-kick to the opponent.
Edge attack (slow)		10%	Captain Falcon does a slow Uppercut.
Neutral special	Falcon Punch	Ground: 27% (close), 25% (mid), 23% (far) Air: 26% (close), 23% (mid), 22% (far), +1% damage when reversed	The infamous Falcon Punch. Captain Falcon lunges forward with a flaming punch in the shape of a fiery falcon. Can be reversed up to four times.
Side special	Raptor Boost	7%	Captain Falcon dashes into his opponent and performs a fiery uppercut or slams them down with a fiery hook if used in the air. Can be used to edgehog, and works as a leapfrog recovery in midair as well as a spike.
Up special	Falcon Dive	5% (grab), 12% (release)	Captain Falcon grabs his opponent and releases them with an explosion. If it connects, Falcon will not go into Special-fall, allowing him to act afterwards.
Down special	Falcon Kick	15%/12%/9% (ground), 15%/13%/11% (air), 6% (landing)	Captain Falcon performs a horizontal flaming kick when on the ground, or performs a ground-pounding dive kick in the air. If used in the air after a double jump, the double jump will be restored. Oddly, the move deals 13% in the late hitbox.
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.

In competitive play

Notable players

Alternate costumes

Captain Falcon's set of alternate costumes now includes a purple outfit with a tucked in scarf based off of his appearance in the original Super Smash Bros. and his appearance from F-Zero X, and a retro version inspired by his initial F-Zero appearance seen in the original SNES F-Zero.