Falling speed

Falling speed is the usual rate at which a character can move downward in mid-air. A character's falling speed can greatly impact his fighting style - for instance, Fox, a fast-faller, uses his aerial speed to perform shffl'd attacks very quickly, whereas Jigglypuff, a floaty character, uses its low falling speed to attack multiple times in mid-air.

Additionally, falling speed directly affects the vertical component of attacks' knockback. Attacks of upward trajectory knock back slow-falling, floaty characters more than they knock back fast-fallers. Though both falling speed and weight affect knockback, they are independent of each other - a fast-falling character is not necessarily heavy, and vice versa.

The items Bunny Hood and Metal Box increase the user's falling speed. Some stages can also affect a character's falling speed, the flying-type switch in Pokemon Stadium 2, and the falling portion of Summit.

Categories of falling speed
Falling speed is divided into two categories: floaty and fast-faller. each of which have certain advantages and disadvantages depending on playstyle.

Fast-faller
Fast-faller is a name that refers to many characters is relatively fast falling speed. Fox is well prominent example in the Super Smash Bros series and holds the fastest falling speed in Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Fast-fallers enjoy increased speed in the air and faster shffl'd approaches; however, they suffer from shorter recoveries. They are also susceptible to different combos from floaty characters. For instance, Captain Falcon can chain grab floaty characters with down throw, but cannot do so against fast-fallers. On the other hand, he can tech-chase fast-fallers with up throw, which he cannot do against floaty characters. Generally, fast fallers are more vulnerable to chain grabs and combos (although weight and character size are other factors as well); such as Marth's up throw chain grab that he can finish with a forward smash.

Floaty
Floaty is a name that describes characters with relatively slow falling speed. Jigglypuff is a well prominent example of having a very slow falling fast (the slowest falling speed to be exact).

Floaty characters have great benefits in terms of performing aerial attacks since one would able to perform multiple aerial attacks in succession (such as Jigglypuff's slow falling speed and multiple mid-air jumps allows it to do Wall of Pain) and easier recoveries due to slow falling speeds allow easier maneuvering while consequently suffer the vulnerability of being Juggled and having their recoveries easily predictable. On the flip side, floaty characters tend to be less vulnerable to chain grabs and combos.

Average Falling Speed Ranking In Melee
This is a ranking of each character's average falling speed, from fastest to slowest, based in comparison to Mario, Luigi and Dr. Mario.

Top Falling Speed
A ">" means that the character to the left of the ">" ACCELERATES to his/her top speed QUICKER than the character to the right of the ">."

A "=" means the two or three characters between the "=" have the same exact acceleration.

1) Falco 2) Captain Falcon 3) Fox 4-5) Roy > DK 6) Marth 7-9) Sheik > Link = Young Link 10) Ganondorf 11) Yoshi 12-14) Bowser > Pichu = Pikachu 15) Ness 16-18) Dr. Mario = Mario = Mr. Game and Watch 19-21) Ice Climbers > Kirby > Luigi 22-23) Mewtwo > Peach 24-25) Zelda > Samus 26) Jigglypuff

Average Falling Speed Ranking In Brawl
This is a ranking of each character's average falling speed, from fastest to slowest.

1. Fox 2. Sheik 3. Wolf 4. Falco 5. Squirtle 6. Captain Falcon 7. Ganondorf 8. Bowser 9. Meta Knight 10. Diddy Kong 11. Lucas 12. Link 13. Zero Suit Samus 14. Pikachu 15. Sonic 16. Charizard 17. Wario 18. King Dedede 19. Ike 20. Donkey Kong 21. Snake 22. Ice Climbers 23. Mr. Game & Watch 24. Mario 25. Pit 26. Yoshi 27. Ness 28. Ivysaur 29. Toon Link 30. Marth 31. Zelda 32. R.O.B. 33. Luigi 34. Peach 35. Lucario 36. Kirby 37. Olimar 38. Samus 39. Jigglypuff