User:Narr/sandbox

Overview Combos Matchups Strategy Resources Discord

Edit Introduction

Douglas Jay Falcon, or Captain Falcon, is everything defining about melee turned up to 12. Fast as lightning, nigh impossible to control at first, almost always jumping around, and incomparably flashy. There's a reason he's a fan favorite. He has a simple, strong toolset with some of the best moves in the game along with being able to tank a lot of hits due to his weight. His noticeable flaws include a lack of powerful grounded moves, slower than average start up on his otherwise incredible aerial attacks, along with the weakest defensive options of the top tiers. In other words, he’s Melee's gorilla. A character of extreme strengths and weaknesses.

Given his relatively linear moveset, he has to creatively use his movement to dance around his opponent and position his moves appropriately. This is made all the more difficult by how unwieldy his excessive speed, both in the air and on the ground, make him. However, no character is able to take a little momentum in a match and run with it quite like Falcon. Once he gets a solid hit or grab, he can feel truly unstoppable. And, like all melee characters, he has limitless depth with new tech and strategies being discovered to this day.

Make no mistake however, when zoomed out far enough Falcon's plan is quite simple. You run around spacing his gigantic aerials or try to grab the other guy. Then hit them really, really hard. Like a wise man once said, everyone has a plan until they’re kneed in the face.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Extremely Fast and Mobile - Unrivaled combination of ground and air mobility allows for Falcon to fly across the screen and reposition nigh instantaneously Powerful Combos - The Captain has some of the deadliest and most explosive combos in the game off a full combo starter Heavy Fast faller - His combination of high weight and fast falling speed makes him one of the most resilient characters to stray hits in the game, making dropped edge guards vs him particularly punishing

Linear Toolset - Falcon's lack of powerful grounded moves can make him predictable in how he approaches various situations Defense and Recovery - Falcon has notoriously weak answers on defense and recovery Startup - While Doug himself is quite fast, his moves have a significant amount of startup, leading to them having a propensity to be hit before they hitbox has come out.

Physics
Weight	55 (26th)
Fall Speed	1.9/Fast 2.5 (12th)
Gravity	0.11 (8th)
Ground Movement
Walk Speed	1.24 (4th)
Initial Dash Speed	1.8 (3rd)
Initial Dash Length	13f (2nd)
Run Speed	1.72 (4th)
Traction	0.1 (1st)
Jumping
Jumpsquat	3f (1st)
Jump Height	Full 32.04/Short 14/Air 29.44 (13th/10th/6th)
Air Speed	0.85 (17th)
Air Acceleration	0.05 (12th)

Normals

Ground moves

Normal

• Neutral attack - Jabs twice then knees opponent, followed by several fast jabs. First two jabs do around 2-3% each, the "gentlemen" kneeing does 8%, and each jab after does 1% each. A fast and somewhat short-ranged jab-attack, this move is good for stopping close-up opponent's approach.
• Dash attack - Shoulder tackle. Strongest when it comes out, weaker afterward. Pretty fast, this move is good for knocking the foe away from the ledge to follow with an aerial attack or edgeguard, with proper mindgaming/prediction. 10%
• Down tilt - Does a quick round kick. The down tilt is a great launcher, if difficult to land. It has a long lag and therefore is not one of C.F.'s preferred setups. However, it can combo at most percentages and almost every DI into a SHFFLed neutral aerial, which can further combo. Fox and Falco can often be regrabbed from a down tilt at medium damage percentages, and their side special moves can be intercepted by Falcon's down tilt if they try to sweetspot the ledge. The down tilt can also combo into a Knee Smash and the up aerial, depending on knockback and DI. 12% damage.
• Forward tilt - Kicks his foot out in front of him. Fast with decent range. There are not a significant amount of combo options from an forward tilt because of its horizontal hit trajectory, low knockback and stun time, and wind-down lag. One can try to follow up with a up aerial or a Jump-canceled grab, and even a dash-canceled down tilt or Raptor Boost, but they are not true combos and can be countered by every character. It may be a good idea to wavedash slightly forward to maintain pressure, and enter a defensive stance or used after a pivot as a surprise attack to keep enemies away. An forward tilt, angled upward, can stun enemies long enough from an up/down throw that it can lead to a Knee Smash. 11% damage
• Up tilt - Brings his leg up and brings it down in an axe-like way. His up tilt has horizontal knockback as well, and, like the forward tilt, is difficult to combo from. Due to its low trajectory, one can often follow off the edge of a platform or stage with a falling neutral aerial or non-sweetspotted forward aerial edgeguard, but this is not a true combo. It may be a good idea to wavedash slightly forward to maintain pressure, and enter a defensive stance. Most players use up tilts as an edgeguard technique since the heel can extend below the platform. 11% damage.

Smash attacks

• Side smash - Reels his elbow back and thrusts it forward. Excellent knockback even when uncharged with good horizontal and vertical launching power, making it hard to DI. Somewhat fast as well. Uncharged usually kills around 100%+. 20% uncharged, 27% fully.
• Up smash - Quickly thrusts both his feet upward in circular motions. A fast and powerful move, though short range. The second hit sometimes has difficulty connecting, as with Ganon's. When both hits connect, 19% uncharged, 27% fully charged. This is Falcon's most powerful move damage-wise (When fully charged).
• Down smash - Kicks in front then back of him. Small noticeable startup, but good speed and knockback. 18% front, 16% back uncharged, 24% front and 21% back fully charged.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack - Picks himself up and kicks. 10% damage.
• 100% ledge attack- Somewhat slowly gets up and punches in front of him. 8% damage.
• Floor attack - Gets up and flips while kicking. 6% damage.

Aerial attacks

• Forward aerial (Knee Smash) - Captain Falcon sticks out his knee. If sweetspotted (located anywhere on his body at the first frames of execution), the victim is electrocuted and is sent in a difficult-to-DI-out-of semi-spike trajectory. If sourspotted, the move is very weak with little knockback, though it can be chained into another Knee. An extremely powerful move when sweetspotted, it is often regarded as one of the most powerful and useful moves in the game, and undoubtedly the most powerful forward aerial of Melee. This move is the usual end to most of Falcon's aerial combos, or even to use against grounded foes in an aerial assault. Easily KOs at damage percentages as low as 60% off the edge. Impressive 18% when sweetspotted, and does 5-6% otherwise with terrible knockback.
• Neutral aerial - His forward aerial from SSB, kicks twice in front of him. A good two-hit combo starter or ender, though the second hit is difficult to land. This move can infamously lead into a Sacred Combo. First hit does 6%, second hit 7% damage. Total 13%.

• Back aerial - A quick punch behind him. Good power and speed, often used as an edgeguarding move. Weak if the opponent is hit late in the attack. 14% damage.

• dAir/j.2A

Stomp

Total: 44 Hit: 16-20 IASA: 38 Auto cancel: <3 36> Lcanceled landing recovery: 12

"The most powerful nipples in the game"

Generally Falcon's most potent combo starter, stomp is a terrifying move to get hit by when fighting Falcon. Combined with its massive hitbox and Falcon's ridiculously far jump allowing him to stretch its active hitbox frames across the stage, it really is only limited by its slow startup and significant recovery. However, one of its most popular usages, ledge cancel stomp, allows Falcon players to circumvent that.

A major property of stomp is that his feet go through platforms, allowing it to hit character's beneath platforms and steal a turn. This is exacerbated with edge cancel stomp, where Falcon will stomp, land on the side of the platform, and immediately proceed into another action without any recovery. This is generally another aerial attack but the options are nigh limitless.

His upper most hitbox is a true spike, making it often his ideal combo ender offstage but, given the precision required to set it up, not quite as commonly used as his more consistent fAir/J.6A. It remains a commonly useful component of a modern Falcon's toolkit

Finally, it can be used to counter many approaches such as an approaching space animal SHFFL or Sheik kara throw. This is generally done with a pullback stomp, or dash away, jump, drift towards your opponent and stomp. Some refer to this as a "Lord stomp", in reference to the old school Falcon player

• Up aerial - Does a midair bicycle kick and sticks his feet out. Knockback direction depends on what angle the move hits the foe, though strong nonetheless. Also good for juggling, and edgeguarding if hit near the end of the attack. 13% damage.

Grabs & throws

• Pummel - Knees opponent in the torso region. 2-3% damage per pummel.
• Forward throw - Punches foe forward. Oddly, has two hits, the first hit doing 5% damage, second 4%.
• Back throw - Kicks foe behind. Also has two very small and hardly noticeable hits. Knockback is usually hard to follow-up or combo with unless over a ledge. Throw does 5% first, 4% second.
• Up throw - Punches foe upward. Yet another mysterious throw where Falcon supposedly only hits the foe once, although has two separate hitboxes. Foes usually fall straight down afterward, at lower damage percentages can lead into his side special and aerial follow-ups. 4% then 3%.
• Down throw - Crushes foe to the floor. Only one hitbox unlike his other throws. This knocks the foe to the floor, and this can easily lead into his side special. At lower damage percentages, following his down throw and side special, an up smash or tilt is possible. At higher damage percentages, follow with an neutral aerial or whatever, depending on the foe's DI reaction. Throw does a single-hitting 7% damage.

Special moves

• "up B" Falcon Dive- Captain Falcon boost upwards and forwards, grabs his opponent, and explodes them.
• "B neutral" Falcon Punch- Most famous move, does a powerful punch.
• "down B" Falcon Kick- Falcon boost forward for a flame kick.
• " forward B" Raptor Boost- Falcon dashes forward for a flame upper-cut.

Move Analysis

• Up-B, 8B

Falcon Dive

Total: 64 Grab: 13-33 Can grab edges as soon as: 38 --When grabbing--- Total: 79 Hit: 2-6 Sends away: 20 landfallspeciallag: 30

"If only it turned them around before throwing them, now that'd be a recovery"

Falcon's primary recovery tool when double jump isn't enough, Falcon Dive also doubles as a command grab.

There are 3 primary facets of the move. Drift, fast fall timings, and edge cancelling.

On recovery, a critical point is that Falcon struggles to control his drift before he has reached the apex of the move. This means that paying attention to if your opponent can jump and hit you before you begin to access drift mix ups is vital. Once you've passed that point, the basic mix up is drift backwards to ledge or forward into stage. This can be quite tricky to cover without risking hitting the drift forward towards center, which often fails to end Falcon's stock. This combined with fast falling and ledge cancelling on any available ledges or platforms, can help tremendously. Make sure to learn to ledge or wall tech when recovering from below, as this is often the answer to otherwise frustrating edge guards once you have sufficiently high % for the move to knock Falcon down.

Even on successful grab, the move is often unsafe at early %s and indefinitely if it sends an offstage opponent towards the wall and allows for a wall tech. Be aware when using it, just because you can grab them doesn't mean you should!

• Down-B, 2B

Falcon Kick

"Falcon KIIICK"

Hit (from ground): 14-32 Hit (from air): 15-29 Recovery time (from ground): 29 Recovery time (from air): 28NOTE: landing during the air recovery time causes the ground hit Ground hit lag: 45 Ground hit damaging: 1-2 Wall hit lag: 60

Falcon's down-b, or 2b, is a relatively niche move with 3 main use cases.

The most common by far is to use it when recovering it from high and far offstage. This is because it gives Falcon back his double jump, meaning that double jump, falcon kick, double jump is a commonly useful recovery. However, it has quite a bit of recovery so make sure you're far enough from your opponent so that they cannot hit you in it, and high enough that the time spent falling afterwards doesn't send you too low to recover!

The second usage is when you are being juggled without a double jump. When used in mid-air, it will stop your falling momentum, allowing for a falling option. Even if you're punished on its landing, you have regained your defensive options such as your double jump and ability to asdi down as you have now landed! The landing hitbox is also a potent shield poke, allowing for you to steal your turn in some cases. That said, be careful not to overuse it!

Finally, using it as an escape from the corner is quite useful as it sends you forward to center stage, meaning you'll often not die even if punished, and the initial animation both moves Falcon backwards (dodging attacks) and has a potent reverse hitbox. This can reverse a bad situation into a kill in ideal circumstances. It is to be used sparingly but remains a worthwhile addition to Falcon's toolbox.

• Neutral-B, 5B

Falcon Punch

"You already know what it is"

Total: 99 Hit: 52-56

Falcon's most famous move and also likely his least useful. It is nevertheless not entirely without use. It can also be angled!

When an opponent is in a substantial amount of recovery, such as after breaking their shield or after Puff uses rest, Falcon punch is often a good option.

It can also be used as an edge guard vs opponents with linear recoveries such as Captain Falcon or Ganon when forced to use their up-b/8b, but ultimately its high recovery makes it niche at best.

While you can find other niche usages, such as Falcon punch being able to cover the entirety of a side platform in specific spots as a tech chase, or rolling to the ledge and FH up angled falcon punching a recovering Sheik, in general this is likely Falcon's least commonly used move.

• Side-B, 4/6B

Raptor Boost

"F*ck it the move"

Total ground (whiffed): 79 Hit window (ground): 15-34 Hit window (air): 17-34 When he hits: 4-8 Lag from hitting (air): 45 Lag from hitting (ground): 25 Landlag: 20 landfallspeciallag: 20

Falcon's Raptor Boost is the favored special move of many Falcon players.

The initial part of the move pulls Falcon backwards within the first few frames, allowing it to dodge and then punish whiffed attacks or grabs with a full launcher. This makes it tempting to use from the corner when combined with slide off, as rarely will an opponent want to commit to overshooting all the way into the corner if they don't feel that they have to. It can also be used to cover 3 out of 4 tech options on an opponent's knockdown when you have sufficient time to set it up, all but one of the tech rolls, which again can be converted into a massive punish such as a fAir, uSmash, or grab.

Finally, it can be used as a recovery due to being lower lag and quicker than his Up-B/8B. Just be aware that if it activates on anything or anyone it will result in Falcon falling helplessly to his death!

Combos

The basics of Falcon combos are quite simple. Most of his best combos start off of either dAair, or j.2A, or grab.

Some rules of thumb are

1.) If they're above you, you can probably uAir/j.8A them. Even if it's not a true combo, few character can comfortably beat it and it's nearly always a massively favorable situation

2.) If you land a hit, preemptively dashing forward after it will usually allow you to either continue the combo or transition into an edge guard in most situations. They have to be surprisingly far to not get hit by Falcon again. Don't wait to dash until you've seen where they've been sent from your move. Dash preemptively, then react to how far your move has sent them!

3.) If you have enough hitstun to fAir/J.6A, do it! It is very rarely a bad idea to land a knee when you have the ability to combo into it. Otherwise, uAir/J.8A usually works

Frame Data

Speed options

• Captain Falcon's aerial game is very fast, making performing combos fairly easy. His knee is a good KO move at medium-high damage. He also has one true spike. Use that as a follow-up in case his Knee Smash doesn't work, or to continue comboing.
• Because Falcon's Falling Speed and weight are so high, he is the character that is most resistant to vertical knockouts.
• Since he is a heavy character and a fast faller, attacks like Peach's down smash can be horrible against Falcon.

Ground options

• Captain Falcon's ground attacks have some lag, but, in return, they generally have good knockback and damage. Captain Falcon's up smash hits twice which can KO at low percentages. His side smash is a little laggy, but has great range and knockback. His down smash is two kicks which hit both sides of Falcon so opponents on either side of him will be hit so long as they are within range. In addition, his down smash has a very good reach and priority.
• Falcon's tilts include his forward tilt, a long ranged kick with decent damage and knockback, his down tilt, a sweeping kick which sends opponents upwards, and his up tilt, where he lifts his leg in the air and smashes it down. The up tilt is frequently used for edgeguarding.

Aerial attacks

• Forward aerial (Knee Smash) - Captain Falcon's forward aerial is a great, if not Falcon's best, finisher. Timed at the end of grab and aerial combos, it can KO opponents at about 60%. Although the move does require precise timing to land, since a non sweetspotted hit will be very weak, the sourspot can be used as a form of Wall of Pain that can combo into another knee.
• Back aerial - A backhand hit with a significant startup lag. Falcon's back aerial is excellent, especially for edgeguarding. While an opponent is off stage it is common to hop backwards and intercept them with a back aerial for the KO.
• Neutral aerial - Two fast kicks. The Neutral aerial is good for racking up damage.
• Up aerial - A quick back-flip kick. Good for attacking airborne opponents as it is fast and relatively strong, and has a long duration making it comparatively easy to land.
• Down aerial - An airborne stomp. Falcon's down aerial has a considerable amount of startup lag. It is good for use on the ground, where it will send opponents upward, sometimes Star-KOing at high percentages or creating a setup for a Knee. Hitting opponents with the upper hitbox (above Falcon's waist) will result in a nipple spike.

Projectile/Protecting

• Using Falcon's Raptor Boost is a good way to dodge oncoming projectiles like Samus's Missile or Mario's Fireball.
• Falcon is equipped with one of the best roll dodges in the game, as it is one of the fastest and longest. Both left and right roll dodges are quick and long.
• Falcon has the best dash-dance in the game, so if timed right he can dash away from an attack and quickly dash back to retalliate.

Grabs

Captain Falcon has some good grabs that are used to start chains and combos, most notably into his forward aerial, which can allow for quick kills.

Down throw

• Can chain-grab many characters with average falling speeds and weights at various damage percentages. Simply down-throw, follow the opponent's DI with a dash, and use a Jump Cancelled Grab to grab again. If the opponent DIs towards the player, a re-grab in place or turning and re-grabbing may be possible.
• Combos into neutral aerial at most damage percentages and DIs against non-fastfallers.
• Can combo into a forward aerial at medium to high damage percentages against non-fastfallers. This may be escapable at some damage percentages with DI. This is also an option at very high damage percentages against fast-fallers.
• Tech-chasing chain grabs are possible as well against fast-fallers. Additionally, one can Tech-chase with Isai Stomps and Raptor Boost. Down-smash is additionally useful as it hits in front of and behind C.F., hitting 2/3 tech-rolls and hitting non-techs if properly timed.

Up throw

• Combos into neutral up and forward aerials at various damage percentages and DIs against virtually every character. The higher the percent, the more chance opponents have to break free.
• Combos into down tilt at low-medium damage percentages against fast-fallers.
• Combos into forward smash and down smash against fast-fallers at medium damage percentages, depending on DI.
• Against fast fallers at low damage percentages, does not combo directly but leads to Tech-chasing.
• Combos into a up smash against fast-fallers that do not DI to a side. Against large, heavy characters, can be wavedashed into at several DIs.
• Can combo into an angled forward tilt depending on DI. Useful for catching awkward DIs and damage percentages.
• If an opponent bounces, it is possible to hit them with any SHFFL'd aerial, a down-smash, Raptor Boost, Falcon Kick, Falcon Punch, and any tilts out of the bounce.
• Raptor Boost is always an option, and directly combos against many characters at low damage percentages and against most DIs, however is known to be very touchy and avoidable. Can be used to tech-chase as well.
• Up throw can lead to a dashing, jump-cancelled re-grab against Fox at very high damage percentages (approximately 110%) if the opponent DI's away. This is possible due to Fox's light weight and high downward acceleration.

Match-ups

Serious Advantage Match-ups

Mewtwo, Yoshi, G&W, Ness, Bowser, Kirby, Pichu

Advantage Match-ups

Peach, Doc, Ganondorf, Samus, Pikachu, Mario, Luigi, DK, Link, Y.Link, Zelda, Roy

Fair Match-ups

Marth, Ice Climbers

Disadvantage Match-ups

Fox, Falco, Puff, Sheik

Serious Disadvantage Match-ups

None