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 in combination with weight. 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 Pokémon Stadium 2, and the falling portion of Summit. All characters can also fast fall at any time to increase falling speed.
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 and Captain Falcon are prominent examples in the Super Smash Bros. series.
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 prominent example of having a very slow falling speed (the slowest falling speed to be exact). Samus is also a very floaty character in all 3 games, unusual for a heavyweight.
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.
Super Smash Bros.
Falling Speed Ranking
Tested by placing characters on the vanishing clouds in Yoshi's Island (SSB), ranked from fastest to slowest.
(If actually included, Metal Mario would probably have the record of the fastest falling speed, since he's metal)
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Average Falling Speed Ranking
This is a ranking of each character's average falling speed, from fastest to slowest, relative to Mario.
| Speed | Character |
|---|---|
| 159% | Fox |
| 152% | Falco |
| 151% | Captain Falcon |
| 128% | Donkey Kong |
| 128% | Roy |
| 118% | Ganondorf |
| 118% | Sheik |
| 117% | Link |
| 117% | Marth |
| 117% | Young Link |
| 116% | Bowser |
| 108% | Pikachu |
| 107% | Pichu |
| 107% | Yoshi |
| 103% | Ness |
| 101% | Dr. Mario |
| 101% | Mario |
| 101% | Mr. Game & Watch |
| 098% | Ice Climbers |
| 097% | Mewtwo |
| 096% | Kirby |
| 096% | Peach |
| 095% | Luigi |
| 095% | Samus |
| 092% | Zelda |
| 086% | Jigglypuff |
Top Falling Speed
A ">" means that the two characters have the same top speed but the character to the left of the ">" accelerates to their top speed quicker than the character to the right of the ">".
A "=" means the characters have the same top speed and exactly the same acceleration.
1) Falco
2) Captain Falcon
3) Fox
4-5) Roy > Donkey Kong
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 & Watch
19-21) Ice Climbers > Kirby > Luigi
22-23) Mewtwo > Peach
24-25) Zelda > Samus
26) Jigglypuff
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Average Falling Speed Ranking
This is a ranking of each character's average falling speed, from fastest to slowest.
- King Dedede
- Captain Falcon
- Fox
- Wolf
- Snake
- Falco
- Ike
- Ganondorf
- Link
- Sheik
- Donkey Kong
- Pikachu
- Marth
- Sonic
- Zero Suit Samus
- Diddy Kong
- Pit
- Wario
- Meta Knight
- Bowser
- Lucas
- Ivysaur
- Charizard
- Ness
- Olimar
- Squirtle
- Yoshi
- Toon Link
- Mario
- Mr. Game & Watch
- Luigi
- Ice Climbers
- Lucario
- R.O.B.
- Kirby
- Zelda
- Samus
- Peach
- Jigglypuff
References
- Mew2King's page of statistics
- An SWF post about weight and falling speed in Brawl
- Another SWF post about weight and falling speed in Brawl