Fire Bird

Fire Bird
	Falco charging Fire Bird in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.; Falco's Fire Bird charging up in SSB4.
User	Falco
Universe	Star Fox

Fire Bird (ファイアバード, Fire Bird) is Falco's up special move in all games he appears in.

Fire Bird is almost identical to Fire Fox, but with some small differences. Unlike Fire Fox, which only hits an opponent once after Fox starts moving, Fire Bird can hit opponents with multiple small hits after a few frames when the move is charged and when moving, followed by a stronger finishing blow similar to Lucas' PK Thunder 2. On the downside, Falco travels a shorter distance than Fox or Wolf. Its best use would be vertical or diagonal recovery because it has lots of start-up, short distance, and Falco falls almost straight down after using it, meaning it can easily be edge-hogged or hit out of. To maximize the usefulness of Fire Bird, one should try to position Falco exactly under the ledge and use it completely vertically, because then it can sweetspot more easily. Fire Bird burns opponents during the charge-up animation in Brawl, and also Smash 4, unlike in Melee.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:

Fast Fire Bird: Significantly reduces the charging part of the move, causing Falco to shoot in the desired direction almost immediately, whilst removing almost all of the move's damage potential and reducing the knockback and distance travelled.
Distant Fire Bird: Takes longer to charge and is slower, but travels farther, and the powerful at the end of the move is removed in favor of a very powerful hit at the end of the charging animation (with the charging no longer doing damage outside of this hit).