Falco (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about Falco's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Falco Lombardi.

Falco (ファルコ, Faruko) is a character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His moveset has been altered quite a bit from his Fox-cloned moveset in the last game. One of the most immediately noticeable differences is that he kicks his Reflector (down special) like a boomerang. Some of Falco's movements have also been changed from Melee: He no longer has a tiny short hop or the fastest base falling speed.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following:
 * Win 50 matches in Brawl, then defeat Falco
 * Beat 100 Man Brawl, then defeat Falco
 * Get Falco to join your party in The Subspace Emissary

Pros:

 * Has two of the most useful projectiles in the game.
 * Can short hop double laser. Blaster stuns and deals a few percent damage.
 * Blaster can "lock" characters in tumble if they tumble in front of Falco, racking up damage across the entire stage.
 * Reflector reflects projectiles and is a quick, short-ranged physical projectile of its own, tripping up nearby enemies and even going through walls.
 * Aerials and tilts come out quickly.
 * Highest initial jump if full-hopped.
 * One of the best spikers in the game.
 * Forward smash is a good horizontal finisher.
 * Neutral A combo now traps really well. Useful for racking on damage.
 * Can chain throw opponents at low percents.
 * Good, high-priority aerial attacks that come out quickly with minimal lag
 * Can Wavebounce with his laser.
 * Can Wall jump.
 * Can rack up damage quickly.
 * Most of his moves are quick and solid hits.
 * Little overall lag.
 * Fairly large range on Forward smash.
 * Very quick and useful dash attack canceling with up smash.
 * Blaster and Reflector can negate the speed advantage of faster characters.
 * Good at limiting opponents approach options.
 * Reflector has the ability to reflect uncommon projectiles, such as Pikachu's Thunder.
 * Falco Phantasm is abusable on horizontal stages.

Cons:

 * Most of his aerials cannot kill except at fairly high percentages.
 * Overly reliant on Spikes (Down Air) or Forward Smashes for kills.
 * Down Aerial has a fairly small window in which it can spike.
 * Forward Smash has slow wind up compared to other moves. Reach of clean hit is limited.
 * Falco Phantasm can SD if not careful
 * Light and easy to juggle.
 * Bad Vertical Recovery that can be caped and edge-guarded easily.
 * Easy to combo and chaingrab.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

 * New Neutral Normal Combo
 * New Forward Smash
 * New Neutral Aerial
 * New Forward Aerial
 * New Up Tilt
 * Falco kicks his Reflector when using Down Special
 * As a result of him kicking his reflector, he can no longer Shine spike
 * No longer falls as fast
 * Down Aerial must be sweet-spotted to spike
 * Length of Falco Phantasm (Special Side B) has increased
 * Shots from his blaster are slightly faster
 * Slower Running Speed
 * Blaster range is slightly longer
 * Dair can be meteor-canceled
 * Fire Bird (Special Up B) now does damage when charging and multi-hits when strikes instead of a solid hit.
 * Can no longer Jump-cancel his shine.

Role in The Subspace Emissary
Ejecting from his Arwing, Falco shows up in the nick of time to save Fox from trophy-ization at the hands of Bowser and a Shadowbug clone of Diddy by flip-kicking the Dark Cannon from Bowser's hands and destroying it with dual lasergun fire, forcing Bowser to leave. The Diddy clone begins to absorb more Shadowbugs, becoming gigantic, and after Fox revives the real Diddy, the three fight the giant clone. Falco then turns to leave, but is quickly dragged away by Diddy. A stupefied Fox shrugs his shoulders and walks off after them as he received the same treatment from Diddy earlier.

As Captain Falcon and Captain Olimar look down at the ship carrying Donkey Kong's trophy, Falco's Arwing shows up, ejecting Diddy Kong from the cockpit. Diddy then activates his Rocket Barrel Jet Pack and shoots the ship with his Peanut Popguns. Landing on the ship, he quickly de-trophifies DK, and after DK, Diddy, Captain Falcon, and Olimar defeat the Primids that board the ship, Falco gives Diddy and Donkey Kong a thumbs up as he leaves.

He makes his next appearance in the battle against Duon on the Halberd, where he teams up with Fox, Peach, Sheik, Snake, and Lucario. When it's defeated, Peach revives Game and Watch as Meta Knight takes back control of his ship. He uses his Arwing during the attack on the Subspace Gunship and joins with the heroes throughout the rest of the story.

Ground Attacks
Normal Smash
 * Neutral A - After the standard Jab, Jab, Falco tilts himself diagonally in the direction he is facing and begins to spin, arms out, repeatedly hitting the opponent. While it can be escaped with directional influence, it's a great wall combo and flows nicely into a shine.
 * Dash A - Identical to his dash attack in Melee (he jumps slightly off the ground while running and performs a sexkick). Vertical knockback allows it to set up combos, and it can be dash-attack canceled into his upsmash for a handy combo.
 * Down Tilt - Tail swipe. Identical to his attack from Melee, except a bit weaker. Vertical knockback and minimal lag allow it to set up combos.
 * Forward Tilt - Kicks his leg out, like his forward tilt from Melee. Can be directed up or down with the control stick. Little knockback, but its speed makes up for this.
 * Up Tilt - Swings both of his wings above his head. Hits twice. Useful for starting aerial combos, performing ceiling combos, and attacking through platforms.
 * Forward Smash - Falco swings his wing in an overhead powerful swipe, slashing anyone who is caught in it. Best smash for killing enemies.
 * Down Smash - Split kick, less range than his Melee Downsmash. Has primarily horizontal knockback, but its minimal range and relative weakness limit its kill potential.
 * Up Smash - Flip kick, like his Melee Upsmash. While slower and weaker than Fox's, this move can be used to cancel his dash attack for a swift combo. The knockback is entirely vertical, making it a potential topkilling attack.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Falco spins in midair diagonally, like Peach's Neutral aerial, except it hits multiple times. Difficult to hit with each strike unless you have upward momentum when it is executed. Last strike is the most powerful.
 * Forward Aerial - Falco turns horizontally and spins, hitting multiple times with his head, similar to Pikachu's or Sonic's Forward Air. Hard to short hop due to extended duration. Knockback is fixed, and is minimal regardless of damage. Last strike is the most powerful.
 * Back Aerial - Falco sticks his leg out horizontally behind him, similar to his Back Air from the previous game. Speed and duration make it very useful. Can be followed by a midair-jumped second bair in some situations. Useful for aerial-intercept edge guarding, and can be used effectively with the Reverse Aerial Rush.
 * Up Aerial - Overhead vertical flip kick, like Fox's. Still weaker than Fox's, but still capable of high percent KO's. Exhibits different knockback properties depending on when and where you hit the foe.
 * Down Aerial - Falco turns diagonally and spins, similar in appearance to his down aerial from last game. Also similar to last game, it is a powerful spike, but this time, it appears as if this only happens if Falco hits with the proper part of his body (the center of his legs) at the begining of the move. If he misses this, it appears to knock the opponent up and away slightly. Recommended spiking technique is to fall just below an airborne target, then midair jump through them and immediately execute the dair. Falco's best edge-guarding move.

Grabs & Throws

 * Pummel -
 * Forward Throw - Grabs opponent and punches them forward.
 * Back Throw - Throws opponent backwards and shoots them diagonally with his blaster, this is his best throw can kill at low percentages so use it.
 * Up Throw - Throws opponent upward and shoots his blaster straight up.
 * Down Throw - Throws opponent on the ground and shoots them with his blaster. Can be followed up by a Shine or chained with other Down Throws up to 40-70%, depending on the character. If performing a chain-throw and the next toss is likely to send the enemy too high to grab again, the last down throw can be followed with a dash attack canceled up smash to finish the combo.

Stickers
Falco uses his arms in his attack more than Fox does, so [Arm] Damage boosts is more recommended for him than Fox, otherwise he can be customized similarly to Fox.

Taunts
Up: Kicks his reflector around like a hackey sack, and says "Piece of cake."

Side: Stands on one foot and raises a wing while saying "Don't try me."

Down: Spins once and poses (same as in Melee), and says "Hands off my prey." Amusingly, due to his accent, many players think that Falco says something such as "Hands off my bread", "Hands off my grill", and "Hands off my grape".

Special: When fighting as Falco on the Lylat Cruise stage or Corneria stage, quickly tap down on the directional pad once and he will kneel down and seem as though he's trying to communicate with someone through a device, and then stand back up. He will do a Starfox conversation. Though when he is hit during the contact, it won't work, though if it's a success, the conversation will come out shortly after a warp tunnel in the stage on Lylat Cruise, otherwise on Coneria, it comes up right away. This taunt can only be done once per match, even if it wasn't successful. Falco can be hit during the conversation, but if he is KOed, then the conversation will end.

On-Screen Appearance
Jumps out of an Arwing.

Victory Pose
Victory Theme: Star Fox 64 Victory Theme
 * Dashes from the sky and poses on the ground
 * Does rapid kicks and says "Had enough already?"
 * (After fighting against Fox, he says, "You're off your game, Fox." while doing the second pose.)
 * Crossing his arms, he looks upward and says, "You aren't worth the trouble!"

Wii Remote Choice
Says "piece of cake."

Credits Music

 * Main Theme (Star Fox 64)

Snake's Codec
Snake: This is Snake...

Slippy: Copy, Snake! This is Slippy!

Sn:: Whaa--! Who is this? What are you, some sort of frog?!

Sl: Easy there, buddy ~ Just thought I'd hop on the wireless and give you a holler, don't get mad!

Sn: Hacked right into my channel, huh...

Sl: But I'm not here to mess nothin' up. Don't worry.

Sn: ...

Sl: Just so ya know, Falco uses a Blaster and Reflector that I designed, just like Fox does. But Falco will kick his Reflector and send it flyin' around. Just showin' off if you ask me.

Sn: No reason a weapon can't have more than one use. In fact, I'd say that its versatility shows how well you designed it.

Sl: Hey, maybe so! I feel all fuzzy now! Thanks Snake!

Sn: Maybe next time we meet, you can design me a weapon...

NOTE: This is the only time a Metal Gear character (besides Snake) is not present