AngeloBangelo
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
- Messages
- 1,819
This guide is ridiculously über. It's so über that it should be seen nowhere else on the entire internet. If you do discover it anywhere else besides smashboards, please E-mail me at AngeloBangelo@safe-mail.net.
You can also contact me on AIM as: i g0t teh micr0
Send comments or questions to the hotmail address!
Changelog as of 2.00:
-2.00- A bunch of stuff has been changed, mainly the character matchups and move descriptions. I’ve learned a lot since I first made this guide so I’m going to just update it with everything I possibly can. Tell me if I forget anything
Some stuff includes:
More information on moves, specifically the gentleman and A LOT more information on aerials
Some more info in the “main keys” section
Moonwalking (Since it’s so vital to any Falcon player)
I switched up the Character Specific area so it’s a bit easier to read Coming soon
Added interview section
Changed section 11 to “Comboing n00bs” instead of an edgeguarding section
Adding "approaching" to the combo section
Added the Art of War section
Added the Falcownage section
Added Illustration section Coming soon
Added more to the Thank You section (Adding more soon probably)
AngeloBangelo’s Guide to Playing a Competitive Falcon
I've been playing Falcon competitively for a while now, and I feel I have a good enough understanding of him to make a decent guide for people to further their knowledge of him. Falcon is all about using his incredible air game combined with his blinding speed to combo people into his Fair (The knee). Hopefully this guide will inspire you to start playing Falcon more, or take your current Falcon game to the next step. So, without further ado:
(First is the legend for the moveset/intro )
1. Who is this Falcon character that everyone is talking about and praising?
2. Advanced Techniques
3. The Main Keys to a Competitive Falcon
4. Basic Ground
5. Tilts and dash
6. B Moves
7. Smashes
8. Throws
9. Aerials
10. Miscellaneous Frame Information
11. Combos/Approaching
12. Comboing n00bs
13. What should I do when I have no one to play?
14. Mindgames
15. Styles of play... Which is right for you?
16.Individual Matchups
17. 2v2 Play
18. Free for All
19. Break the Targets
20. Home Run Contest
21. Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”
22. Illustrations and pictures
23. Falcownage part 1
24. Interviews with good Falcon’s and AngeloBangelo’s opinion of them
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1. Who is this Falcon character that everyone is talking about and praising?
Captain Falcon is the king of pwnage. He's basically as he was in the first SSB: The fastest character in the game with fast and powerful moves. The only difference between him in that game and SSBM is that now he has a serious finisher... The knee. Falcon first appeared in F-Zero in August of 1991 for the SNES I believe. I believe Falcon is one of the harder characters to play well. He requires quick thinking and fast hands. Not as fast as say... Fox... But you still need to be pretty fast and accurate with your buttons. I'm going to rate Falcon in a few categories, go over his pros and cons, and talk a bit about exactly what you need to do during a game to win, before I move onto his moveset:
Power: 4/5- I gave Falcon this score in power because a lot of his moves can deal damage quickly, especially if they're in a combo. The opponent simply won't know what hit them. Falcon's real power comes from his Fair. His smashes are seriously powerful, but difficult to land. But then again, this category isn't about how easy it is to land his moves. All in all, he's a pretty powerful character, especially when combined with his amazing speed.
Speed: 5/5- Ok, Falcon is the fastest character in the game. Fox is not. I'm glad I got that out of the way. Falcon is blindingly fast, and all of his moves are very quick and have very low lag (Especially if L-canceled). His dash is the fastest in the game, and his run is tied for the fastest. Just to give you an idea, I've been able to knee people off of Final Destination, run a quick lap around the level, come back, and edgeguard. Falcon's speed allows him to combo people very well because he can SHFFL an attack and continue the combo quite effectively due to his ability to catch up with a stunned opponent.
Combo Ability: 5/5- Falcon is about combos. This is quite simple. Well, the idea is simple. Combo people a lot and j00 r winnar. But doing it is a lot harder. DI, wiggling, fastfalling... All of these things work against your combo ability. Fear not though. Most pros agree that Falcon has the highest amount of combo ability in the game with his lightning fast moves, running speed, and low lag. Learn how to combo, and how to control Falcon's speed. They're his main strengths.
Size: 3/5- Falcon is not particularly tall, nor is he particularly small. He lies somewhere between Bowser and Pichu. I don't think I really need to go into too much detail here.
Weight: 3/5- Falcon isn't as heavy as Bowser or as light as Game and Watch. Keep in mind that weight is not necessarily how fast he falls. Since he is a fast faller, I will go into his falling speed in a little bit. By weight, I mean how far he flies from a tipper or something in comparison to other characters (Like Bowser or GaW as I previously compared him to).
Jump: 4/5- Falcon has a great jump. It takes a bit to get used to because it can basically reach across stages. This of course wouldn't be possible without his amazing speed. I love his jump, it suits him perfectly. If he jumped as short as Fox, he'd have no combo ability. Also if he fell as fast as Fox, he would have no combo ability. At least, SHFFLing would be a lot more difficult if his jump was a clone of Fox's. Also, his jump lets you jump really really really far off of the edge to spike someone and look flashy. This, although hilarious, isn't always the best tactic at tourneys. Actually, never do it at a tourney. But in friendlies, it's a riot.
Usage: 3/5- Falcon isn't really used that much. I'd say the person to get the 5/5 award for usage would have to be.... Sheik. Or Fox. Everyone loves Sheik and Fox. I don't know why. Falcon doesn't get as much attention, but it's fine. When I first started playing SSBM I played Fox. Then my friend took up Fox. I hate mirror matches, so I took up Falcon instead. I didn't like him at first, but now he's the only person I really use. Hopefully this guide will help raise this number to a 4 or 5. Falcon pwnz j00!
Falling Speed: 4/5- Falcon is a fast faller. That being said... Guess how fast he falls! Yep, that's right. Fast. This can be an advantage or disadvantage. An advantage being that your fast fall (Pressing down on the control stick to SHFFL) makes your air moves executed much faster than a Marth's ever could. A disadvantage to fastfalling is that you can be comboed very easily yourself. A good example is a Fox Utilting you repeatedly. It's very hard to get out of. Or a Marth chainthrowing you with Uthrows. These are one of the few weaknesses Falcon has.
Pros:
-He's fast... Really really fast
-Fantastic jump
-The perfect finisher
-Low lag aerials. This is very important since he's very much an aerial based character
-You could combo people across several TV screens if it was possible
-It's so fun to link combos together!
- http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=55881
-2 Chaingrabs
-Best dashdance in the game
-Isai plays him
Cons:
-Juggled very easily due to his weight combined with his fastfalling
-Only moderate air priority. This can be a problem when your character is going to spend about 80% of their attacks in the air.
-Although his smashes pack a huge punch, they are very very hard to land on a living opponent
-Horrid recovery. Seriously. My grandmother can shine me out of it...And she's paralyzed and has had all of her limbs amputated.
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2. Advanced Techniques
Here are some things you may or may not know to use as Falcon. I use them when I see an opportunity, but hopefully you haven't heard of all of these so I feel like I've taught you something.
Tech Chasing- This is Dthrowing or Uthrowing the opponent and watching which way they tech. Then following that tech with a Forward-B. You will catch up to them and land it, sending them into they air making them susceptible to a combo or a finishing knee.
Tech Punishing- This is Dthrowing or Uthrowing the opponent, dash dancing, reading their tech, and then running after them and grabbing them to repeat this process until they stop teching.
Walljumping- This is pretty simple. You can use this to aid your recovery and it can also confuse opponents because people can rarely read when you're going to walljump.
Ledgehopping- Ledgehopping is holding a ledge, falling off, then double jumping into an attack (Usually Nair for Falcon). You need to perform the LH immediately after you grab the ledge so that your invincibility frames do not fade. You can even link it into a combo. Who else has a ledgehop that can lead into people being comboed across the screen... Hmm.. Possibly Marth... No one else though!
Wavedashing- Wavedashing has a lot of synergy with his... Everything. He just has a very short and smooth wavedash. It's especially helpful for stopping you in your tracks during a DD. You can also keep opponents guessing with constant WDing and empty short hops. It makes you much more difficult to read which is very key for Falcon. I suggest DDing into a reasonably readable charge into your opponent. When they try to hit you (Or when you expect them to attacK), WD backwards, and then charge back in. After their attack, they will be vulnerable to being comboed.
SHFFLing- This stands for short hop fast fall L-cancel... This is a must for Falcon players due to the fact that almost all of his strategy is juggling people with his fantastic air game. If you don't know how to do it... Learn.
Dash Dancing- Basically just run back and forth really fast, in place. This is a great fakeout tactic because people can't see when you're coming. You can also dash in either direction at any time... And lose almost no frames/time doing so. I suggest doing this often. Making Falcon difficult to predict is one of his greatest strengths. This move is one of his most commonly done "advanced tactics" because there is really no reason not to do it. You can dash forward if you see an opportunity to combo, or dash backwards if you need to as well. His WD and DD have great synergy and you need to use them together... And often.
Edgeguarding- Edgeguarding refers to the entire process of using attacks off the stage, shffld bairs on the stage, and edgehogging to prevent someone from getting back to the stage. You can sit on the edge and time Dairs well (I <3 weird hitboxes), or use Utilts.
Sidestep- Falcon's sidestep is pretty awful. I usually don't use it because it's so slow compared to really good ones like Fox, Falco, or Young Link.
Empty Shorthops- Empty shorthops are what they sound like... Shorthops without an attack. They're used only for mind games. Basically just to keep the opponent guessing, and to keep Falcon as unpredictible as he should be when played. To add even more craziness, waveland after an ESH. Wavelanding is dodging back towards the ground as if you're going to platform dash. This allows your ESH to give you more mobility. ESH are great for mindgames in 1v1, but they really shine in 2v2. Read more about that in section 17.
Tap Reset- A tap reset is Uthrowing someone, but intead of comboing them in the air, and you give them one or two punches (Double tap A). After this you can dashgrab, and do it again for a while. Since you "reset" them by hitting them, they cannot tech out of it. They can, however, recover before you get a chance to hit them. So remember that when using this against non-fast fallers.
DJ aerials- I'm not sure what these are called, so I will just call them double jump aerials. They're usually a last resort to a failed knee. A good example would be if your opponent was off of the edge and you used one jump trying to knee them. It fails, and you tip them with it, you then double jump and immediately use an Uair to push them farther away from the edge. Then you use your Up-B to recover. You can also use this with double knees, or double Uairs on floaties.
Reverse Uair spikes- A reverse Uair spike is jumping off of the level with your back to your opponent (They are attempting a recovery) and you use an Uair and hit them with the tip of your foot. This sends them slightly down, but more importantly, very far back. This is a good "spike" against opponents with horrible horizontal recoveries (Like Marth).
Chainthrowing- This is throwing an opponent down (Best characters are floaties/semi-floaties... Like Marth!), dash after them, and you can grab them again to repeat the process. This only works at 0%, until you chain them to about 20%. It's still very useful though. Don't try to chainthrow after about 30% though, because they will not be stunned long enough for you to grab them again, and they will just double jump.
Baiting- Baiting people is basically faking them out into doing something they normally wouldn't to put yourself in an advantageous position. An example would be running to them, forcing them to shield, rendering them immobile. Then you WD back, and run back in to throw their timing off followed by grabbing them. DDing, WDing, empty shorthops, and things like that are good for baiting people.
Jump canceling- JCing your grabs is very handy. To do it, just press jump right before you grab as you're running. It will cause you to stop and grab, rather than keep moving forward after you miss (Assuming you do). This is an important tactic for Falcon players to use because it speeds up your grabs.
Platform Dash- Platform dashing is jumping above a platform, and WDing across it. This is very useful for Ganondorf to speed him up, since it's faster than his run and makes him more agile. This is not so necessary for Falcon because is already the fastest character in the game and is very mobile. It's still a good tactic to employ, but it's nowhere near as necessary with Falcon as it is with Ganon.
Wavelanding- Wavelanding is usually performed after an empty shorthop. It's basically the same thing as a platform dash except no platform. To practice, try running at an opponent, and SHing backwards. Right before you land, dodge backwards and towards the ground. The physics of the game will cause you to slide backwards, providing more space between you and your opponent.
Flubbed techs- A flubbed tech is just when someone doesn't tech after they land. This is important to Falcon because he can land knees on people who are laying on the ground if the knee is SHFFLed. If you combo people and throw off their timing, they will try to tech at the wrong time, land, and you will be able to knee them for a stock.
IASA- IASA stands for "Interrupted as soon as". This basically means that the move can be interrupted as soon as this (Or these) frame(s) have been met. By interrupted, I mean that you can perform another move, jump out of it, etc...
Moonwalking I’ve only really seen Germ use this with Link until Silent Spectre was seen in his videos. This is basically dashing, then doing a half circle backwards while dashing. You’ll appear to be moving backwards doing the running forward animation. It’s not useful at all in a real match. Only for showing off, like short hop double laser and stuff.
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3. Keys to Playing a Competitive Falcon
To play Falcon, you need to have at least one thing down for sure... SHFFLing. I gave a brief explanation on SHFFLing in the Advanced Techniques section. SHFFLing is the fastest possible way to execute any aerial. Let me explain exactly how SHFFLing works. SHFFLing is about getting the most out of your aerials. First tap the jump button (Or up on the stick if you use the control stick) as lightly as you can. You should jump significantly lower. This will cause you to be in the air for less time. It's basically bringing your amazing air game to the ground. Ok, now... Let's say you're in training mode. You're Falcon vs a Fox computer. You set his damage to 50%. Use a Dair, and try to knee him out of it. It's not possible without SHFFLing. Ok, practice this on a standing computer: Perform a Nair and just practicing pressing down on the control stick after you reach the height of your jump. This will cause you to fall faster, which is called fastfalling or "FFing". Again, this reduces the amount of time that you spend doing a move, and opens up a larger time window to combo your opponent. Ok, after you get FFing down, you have to learn to L-cancel. L-canceling is pressing L or R right before you hit the ground after an aerial. This will cut down your landing lag by exactly one half. This is obviously crucial to a character who's offensive game consists of nothing short of his aerials. The lag change will not be too obvious at first. This is because Falcon already has pretty low lag times, and someone new to L-canceling probably won't notice. The easiest way to tell if you're SHFFLing correctly is going back to our previous exercise. Fox at 50%. If you can stomp (Dair) him, and land a sweetspotted knee on him... You're SHFFLing the Dair correctly because landing the knee is impossible without SHFFLing due to the amount of frames an unSHFFLed Dair takes to finish.
Another huge concept of Falcon: teh_mindgam3z. Mindgames are very crucial for Falcon because his priority sucks, and moves that have decent priority usually have crappy range (Fsmash being a good example). Keeping this in mind, you have to fit your moves in somehow. Your moves sure as hell aren't going to overwhelm a smash happy Marth. You need to use all of Falcon's strengths (Mainly his speed and great mindgame potential) to try to get your opponent in the air, where you will (Hopefully) combo the living hell out of him. When he lands, you do it again. I'll go into mindgames a bit later. This is kind of the n00b section and I don't want to overload you.
The mighty C-stick... This can make or break a Falcon. Technically, the C-stick is a must for Falcon players. It's almost required to SHFFL Uairs repeatedly, and it also lets you do things that would be impossible without it (Like retreating sweetspotted knees). Does everyone use the C-stick? Nope. Isai doesn't. But I do now at least, and it’s been incredibly helpful to my Falcon. Anyway, it's just a good habit to get into. If you can learn the C-stick, I suggest learning it and applying it to your Falcon game as soon as possible.
Learning when your opponent is going to flub his or her tech is so insanely vital to any Falcon player, I can’t stress it enough. Knees, stomps, boosts all have insanely high potential for punishing flubbed techs. If you don’t start stomping, boosting, or kneeing your opponent when they hit the ground and miss their tech, you need to start or your Falcon will never get better.
Controlling Falcon is also very vital. You need to be able to dashdance and wavedash to stop your momentum if your opponent is coming for you, or turning away from them in dashdance and Bairing them. It’s fun to do and you look pro doing it but unless you can control it very well you’re better off playing in a more noobish-way.
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Hi! Read this! I am teh intr0z0rz
Before the moveset begins I want to explain three quick things:
1. Bold = Category that the move falls into.
2. Italic = Summerization of the category for Falcon... How useful the moves are and such.
3. Underline = The name of the move
The numbers after all of the moves are the frame information. I figured this stuff might be good to know. After that, KB=Knockback, and then I will rate the range of the attack and give you the approximate amount of damage that it can perform (Spamming a move will weaken its damage considerably, if you did not know).
4. Basic Ground
Yeah... Basic ground... Well, to sum it up... Don't use rapid punch. Use the rest after a SHFFLed aerial to prevent shieldgrabbers. All of these moves are pretty low in damage and knockback. But they make up for that in speed. The only exception is The Gentleman which is has good knockback, decent damage, and is about as fast as a jab.
A
Official name: Jab
Total: 21
Hit: 3-5
Window of the second punch: 3-25
Second punch starts: 9
KB: None
Range: Low
Damage: 1-2%
-A single punch. I use this after a shffled aerial to prevent shieldgrabbing. The best moves to use it after is a Fair or Nair since when L-canceled they have such low lag. Otherwise it's difficult to get the punch in before getting shieldgrabbed.
AA
Official name: Straight
Total: 20
Hit: 5-7
Window of the knee: 2-25
Knee starts: 8
KB: None
Range: Low
Damage: 2-3%
-Double punch. Use this after a shffled aerial to get an extra hit in, or after an uthrow. Once again, this will only really work after a Nair or Fair because of the low lag times.
Rapid Punch
Official name: Rapid Punch (Is this really the official name?!)
Total: 55
Jab hits: 5-6, 13-14, 21-22, 29-30,
36-37, 45-46
KB: None
Range: Low
Damage: 1%
- This actually can be used, although that doesn’t make it a very good move. I’ve seen it used all the time in videos (Probably not on purpose) but I’ve never seen one video in which the Falcon player was punished for using this move. I still don’t use it unless I mess up on a gentleman but… I’m just saying. It’s been used well.
Gentleman
Official name: Knee
Total: 12
Hit: 6-12
intermediary animation: 5 frames
KB: Above average
Range: Low
Damage: 7-8%
-The gentleman is slang for hitting A twice very rapidly, waiting a moment, and then hitting A again to hit the opponent with your knee, but not go into rapid punches. If you learn to do this very well, I recommend using this after shffled aerials because most people will block the first two punches. If you have difficulty timing this, you can just press AA really quickly, and then press A and Z at the same time. Almost never fails. A gentleman is rarely suspected and it sets up well for the knee.
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5. Tilts and Dash
Falcon's tilts are actually pretty good. Just his Ftilt isn’t used that much but his dash is... Well... It's not Samus’. They are both very situational. I’ll cover the situations you can use them in right now.
Ftilt
Hitbox (UFtilt)
Hitbox(DFtilt)
Hitbox(Ftilt)
Official name: Round Kick
Total: 29
Hit: 9-11
KB: Average
Range: Above average
Damage: 6-11%
-Good for spacing, because it can't be shieldgrabbed. This cannot be comboed into though, so I rarely use it. It can be used however if you tilt up with forward at the same time. After an Uthrow, you can UFtilt them which sends them slightly more into the air which will open up for more combo opportunities. I don't use that combo often though because there are usually better moves that you can use after an Uthrow... Like a ForwardB or a Usmash, most of the time.
Dtilt
Hitbox
Official name: Crouching Kick
Total: 35
Hit: 10-15
IASA: 35
KB: Average (Vertical height)
Range: Average
Damage: 6-12%
-This move is a bit slow due to the time it takes for Falcon to retrieve his leg. Although it does have a fair amount of combo potential, but I still use it sparingly. It can be used against an opponent if you're at a low percentage and just need one knee to win. It's easy to CC an attack, use Dtilt, and knee them out of it. DYC informs me that it can be used to combo into the knee vs characters like Marth or Sheik. I just tested it. Now I have a good way to knee McHenry's Sheik player! I always just Dthrew, but it was hard to reach her with proper DI. Yay for DYC! This move can also be used to disrupt sweetspotters, such as Fox or Falco, which sets up nicely for a knee. Most floaty characters are set up very nicely by the Dtilt for a knee and I’ve discovered myself using this to start combos more and more now that I’ve been experimenting with it.
Utilt
Hitbox
Official name: Wheel Kick
Total: 39
Hit: 17-21
IASA: 38
KB: Very good
Range: Average
Damage: 7-13%
-Most people don't think this move is very good, which I disagree with... The start-up time is kind of bad, but if you connect, it is worth it. This move is actually really fast for how powerful it is. A lot of japanese players (Masashi and CJ) use this as a safer edge guard than... Say... Stomping. I'm trying to adapt this as well. I mean, if Captain Jack only uses this move for edgeguarding... I'm going to learn it. This move can disturb people who try to sweetspot the ledge. If you look at the hitbox, you'll notice that the hitbox area extends slightly below his foot after it's reached the ground, allowing you to disrupt sweetspotters.
Dash A
Official name: Turbo Shoulder
Total: 39
Hit: 7-16
IASA: 38
KB: Average
Range: Very low
Damage: 3-10%
-Bad move. Waaaaaay too punishable, and even if you do connect (You're more likely to get shieldgrabbed), you can't combo from it very well because of the amount of time it takes to recover. A lot of people are like "But this move is pretty good!" and you know what I say? It's not about what's good... It's about what's best. This move is actually seen pretty often though, unfortunately it’s only if they use the control stick. It’s usually from a throw, they try to jump and knee, but they hit jump too early and just use this piece of crap. If you’re in the habit of doing this, stop now.
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6. B Moves
His B moves are pretty useless except his Forward-B. You're usually looking for combo potential and well.. None of these moves really have any with the exception of the forward B.
B
Official name: Falcon Punch
Total: 99
Hit: 52-56
KB: Your head "esplode"!!!!11
Range: Good
Damage: 16-32%
-Don't use this except in FFA and 2v2. There are rare occasions when you can use it in 1v1. The only real example I can think of in which you can use this is against a Fox or Falco at around 70-80% after a stomp if they don’t DI AT ALL. Still, it’s really awesome/rare to pull off. Just so we’re all clear, this move is called the Tapion Punch Combo developed by a board member named Tapion013.
Up B
Official name: 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
KB: Average, but they gain their second jump back
Range: Good, but it's hard to land
Damage: I haven't looked yet... Probably crap
-Computers use this a lot... As a human, I recommend never using this. Something neat to remember is that if you connect with it off of the level (Say... if a Fox tries to shine you) you can ricochet them off of a wall and it makes it very difficult for them to recover, especially since you're usually edgehogging afterwards. None of my friends ever tech this, but I'm sure they will eventually learn. If you're playing people who are good at teching, this probably isn't a very reliable tactic. This move also gives your opponent their second jump back, so using it as some sort of kill move is nothing short of completely stupid. I have seen this move used out of desperation against Masashi with CJ. Basically he did an attack, it was shielded, and to prevent getting grabbed he used this move on Masashi's Yoshi. This doesn't make it a reliable move though. He's CJ... He can do these things and make them look good.
Forward B
Official name: Raptor Boost
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
landfallspeciallag: 20
KB: Very good
Range: Good
Damage: I haven't looked yet
-This move is really good for starting combos, but it is hard to land because of the startup animation (This makes it really predictable, and you will get shieldgrabbed). This move is best used at medium percentage, and just shffl an easy knee for the win... Good times.. Another good time to use this move is if you ever get an aerial shielded and land behind your opponent. This is obviously because you can use this move without being shieldgrabbed. Something handy to know is that this move will penetrate through projectiles when you're in the stage of the move that charges you forward. Something else that’s handy to know is to NOT USE THIS MOVE NEAR LEDGES. Sidestep dodge + Edge + Forward B = Stock.
Down B
Official name: Falcon Kick
Hit (from ground): 14-32
Hit (from air): 15-29
Recovery time (from ground): 29
Recovery time (from air): 28
NOTE: landing during the air recovery
time causes the ground hit
Ground hit lag: 45
Ground hit damaging: 1-2
Wall hit lag: 60
KB: Below average
Range: Very good
Damage: I haven't looked yet
-This move is not meant for combat. It's really slow, does no damage, has no knockback, and before he performs this move he yells "FALCON KICK!" so it's easy to see coming. You should never use this move in a competitive game. Friendlies or FFAs can be funny since you can hit multiple people with it repeatedly. A special trick worth mentioning is that if you use your second jump, followed by a Falcon kick, you will regain your second jump back. Use this sparingly because Falcon's kick lasts for a long time, and he falls very quickly. Only use this technique when you are very high in the air and very far away from the stage. Never use it more than once in the same recovery attempt because you will plummet down too far and will probably kill yourself in doing so except for rare occasions.
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7. Smashes
Falcon's smashes are all very powerful if they land... But they are impossible to land on an opponent. Or if it is possible to land a smash... It most likely has little/no ability to combo. Just... Try to steer clear of them, in most cases with the exception of the occasional Usmash when I see a good opportunity.
Fsmash
Official name: Overheat Elbow
Total: 64
Hit: 18-21
IASA: 60
Charge frame: 10
KB: Very good
Range: Disturbingly low
Damage: 11-27%
-This move sends people very far. Due to the startup time, it's very difficult to land though. If you're really good at reading techs, you can just Fsmash people after they tech past you. It's usually a stock if you land it at a reasonable percentage. You can also Uthrow fast fallers at 50-60% and Fsmash them if they flub their DI. If you’re facing an edge, you can Dthrow FFers and expect them to tech into you which leads nicely into a Fsmash for a stock depending on the character and percentage.
Dsmash
Official name: Pinwheel Kick
Total: 49
Hit: 19-22, 29-32
IASA: 45
Charge frame: 14
KB: Above average
Range: Above average
Damage: 12-20%
-If someone is on the edge and you Dthrow them, they're most likely going to tech into you. You can either land a Fsmash or a Dsmash. This move is very useful against people who roll a lot. Other than that, it is a pretty slow move. Slower than the Fsmash and not as powerful. Although it does have more range than his Fsmash, but I would still use his Fsmash over this in most situations. The move is just so slow and gives you no payoff for the amount of time it takes to use. The only time this is especially handy is after Uthrowing a Fox or Falco. They will usually either tech in place or behind you for whatever reason. Either way, they’re light and this almost always lands on them until they start DIing away from you.
Usmash
Official name: Pendulum Kick
Total: 54
Hit: 21-22, 27-28
IASA: 40
Charge frame: 8
KB: Above average
Range: Low
Damage: 15-27%
-This move is tough to land because it only hits slightly above, and slightly in front of you. It does have great combo potential, but it's a bit to unreliable to use consistently. At lower percentages you can Uthrow into this if they don't DI too much. It can also be Forward-B'ed into. As you can see, the damage is really high. It can actually be used as an effective KO move against characters that seem to have problems getting killed horizontally... Like Peach. The fact that it's two hits is also pretty good, because the move is active for a while, giving you a larger window to hit your opponent with it. This can also be a good move to kill with. An example would be CJ’s Falcon vs Ikki’s Peach. I think it’s the second vid. He predicts a jump off of the edge and Usmashes for the final stock. Good stuff.
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8. Throws
Falcons throws are simply fantastic. Uthrow and Dthrow both set up for the knee quite well. Bthrow and Fthrow well... They make for good paperweights.
Fthrow Official name: Bodyblow- There are few reasons to use this throw over the Dthrow and Uthrow, since they have infinitely more combo potential over this one. You can occassionally use this throw to get an opponent off of the edge for an Utilt or whatever. It's not completely useless, but most of the time Dthrow or Uthrow are better options. Does about 2-9% damage.
Dthrow Official name: Throwdown- Very good throw. Can chainthrow semi-floaties and floaties. You can also shffl knees into people when they hit the ground if they don't tech, or you can just pop them up and shffl a knee. Try to prevent them from teching so you can land knees when they're on the ground. They will stop teching if you tech punish a lot. Does about 3-7% damage.
Bthrow Official name: Kickback- Refer to Fthrow... Does about 2-9% damage.
Uthrow Official name: Rising Palm- This is what I use to set up fastfallers up for a knee or for a ForwardB. Fox/Falco are even susceptible to this at medium (40-50) percentages. Does about 2-9% damage. This is the main way you’ll want to tech punish fast fallers.
"A" while holding opponent Official name: Captive Knee- This is used to tack on a bit of damage before a throw. I always forget to use it, but that doesn't mean you should neglect it. You've got to think about how often Ken did this vs Bombsoldier and how much damage it tacked on each time he threw him... This is definitely a move you should not start to forget. It does between 1-2% damage.
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9. Aerials
Falcon's aerials have moderate priority, come out reasonably fast, and make up about 90% of his offensive game (Minus throws). Let's just say his air game is ridiculously better than his ground game. This is the meat and potatoes of any good Falcon player and I’m going to write a huge summary of each aerial, so be prepared
Nair
Hitbox
Official name: Rotary Kick
Total: 44
Hit: 7-12, 20-29
Auto cancel: <3 34>
Landlag: 15
Lcanceled: 7
KB: Good
Range: Good
Damage: 2-12%
-Great move. I love it because it's two hits and people usually block the first one and get hit by the 2nd one. I suggest learning to retreat this attack, which is basically just using it, but moving backwards so that you cannot be grabbed out of it. The first hit will do nothing, the second one is the one you need to connect with to start a combo. Spacing this move is extremely important. You don’t see good Marth players right next to you spamming their Fair for a reason. Some people say not to shffl this attack because you miss the second hit. It's not very hard to shffl it and land both hits, though. You can actually chain Nairs together against him if he doesn’t DI properly. This is also one of the safest moves to approach with against Fox or sometimes Falco, depending on if he’s lasering you (He probably will be, that son of a *****…)If you want to see Nairing at it’s finest, watch Darkrain vs Aho’s Marth. G-regulate also has a nice Nair Uair Nair on Aho. Or better yet, watch “tani(marth)_vs_kei(falcon) 2”. Wow, disgusting. This move the safest aerial you can do vs other fastfallers, in my opinion. It’s pretty easy to juggle certain characters with this move, depending on how they DI. If they want to avoid several Nairs in a row, then they have to DI towards you and up at the same time, which makes Nair useless. However, you can counter this by SHFFLing a Uair to combo them instead. A lot of characters are very susceptible to the Nair – Uair – Nair combo. These characters include, but are not limited to: Peach, Marth, Mario, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf , Link, and Samus. Something else worth noting is Nair is rarely teched. Unless it’s really obvious they’re going to. But most of the time if you use a Nair on a grounded character, they will get hit by the second kick and fall backwards and flub their tech. This allows a huge opportunity for you because flubbed techs are a good Falcon players wet dream. Knee him, stomp him, boost him, hell you can even Falcon kick him. Just be sure to always punish people who constantly flub their techs when they don’t tech Nairs when grounded or even when they’re in the air (Although techs are seen more often here unless in a combo).
Bair
Hitbox
Official name: Reverse Knuckle
Total: 35
Hit: 10-17
IASA: 29
Auto cancel: <6 21>
Landlag: 18
Lcanceled: 9
KB: Very good
Range: Average
Damage: 4-14%
-A very fast and effective move. Think of it like sex kick, kind of. Except instead of getting gradually weaker, it only has two different possibilities for effectiveness: Suck, and pwnage. I suggest "pwnage" but whatever floats your boat. This is a good move to ledgehop from if your opponent is already off of the stage. If you want to ledgehop really sexily, do a walljump off of the level into a knee… Phew… That’s too much. The bair is such a fast move that you can often chain a few together against semi floaties if you SHFFL them very well. This is also a good way to move characters towards the edge of the level. Unfortunately this move will send people upwards usually if you hit them with the strongest part of the attack. This can make it really easy for them to come back. The main time to use Bairs is when falling off of a platform or just coming down from above your opponent if you need some breathing room. It’s not usually used offensively or as an approaching move. More as a lightning fast move to give you some space if your back is to your opponent and you want to throw something out to keep him off of you for a second. I really don’t use this move that much anymore. It’s all mainly Nairs, Dairs, Fairs, and Uairs now. Sorry Bair. I still love you.
Dair
Hitbox
Official name: Step on It
Total: 44
Hit: 16-20
IASA: 38
Auto cancel: <3 36>
Landlag: 24
Lcanceled: 12
KB: Good
Range: Good
Damage: 8-16%
-This is a really good meteor. Not to send people down with, but more to pop people up for combo opportunities. If shffled against floaties, you can just knee them out of it when they pop up. It's hilarious to do! Something worth mentioning is this moves insane hitbox. You don't even necessarily have to connect with your body to hit them (I'll talk about this later). Also, it seems like you hit your opponent with the upper part of your body, they are spiked at a 45 degree angle. This is a key move against space animals and semi-floaties to get them into knee range. Some characters like Sheik, can really only be set up for a knee through this move (Or Raptor boost). This is one of the safest moves to approach with because momentum will carry you past your opponent and will not allow your opponent to shieldgrab. This move can be tricky to SHFFL for some reason, because the hitlag seems to be longer than all of Falcon’s other aerials. This should be one of your main moves used for approaching safely next to Nair. It really depends on the matchup, which I’ll get into later.
Uair
Hitbox
Official name: Overhead Kick
Total: 33
Hit: 6-13
IASA: 30
Auto cancel: 22>
Landlag: 15
Lcanceled: 7
KB: Average
Range: Above average
Damage: 6-13%
-This move is really good against floaties and semi-floaties. As you can hit them with two if you do not SH. Or 3 if you shffl one, and then full jump to fit another two in. It's great for racking up damage. It comes out so fast too...It's perfect for just jumping around punishing platform whores. Using late Uairs (Uairs with the C-stick right before you land on the ground) is a great way to surprise enemies. It’s kind of like when Husband always comes down without a move, or so it seems, with his Marth. And at the last second just throws out a Fair. You can do that with Uairs if your opponent starts to predict your empty shorthops. Since this move has such crazy low lag and decent range, it’s not a bad idea to do it once in a while since no one expects it. This move is really good vs some characters that have really weak Dairs like Sheik. You can’t combo her with Nairs like you can with Uairs. Uairs are also much more forgiving and noob-friendly because insane DI is not required like it is when linking several Nairs together. This moves range, speed, and extremely low lag makes it a bread and butter move when it comes to comboing.
Fair
Hitbox
Official name: Knee Smash
Total: 39
Hit: 14-30
IASA: 36
Auto cancel: <6 35>
Landlag: 19
Lcanceled: 9
KB: Very good
Range: Low
Damage: 8-16%
-This... Is the knee. I'm sure you already know what the knee is so I probably don't need to say too much. Basically it's CF's finisher. And people know this. They will watch for it often, so you may have to throw some mind games in there. You should not try to just SHFFL knees into people on the ground. Something I'd like to point out to those who don't know is that "The Knee" requires a sweetspot to be effective. The sweetspot is not about where you hit them with the knee, but rather the timing that you land the knee with. Speaking of missing the sweetspot, DYC brought something to my attention. If your opponent is already off of the stage and you weak knee them, you can follow it with a Uair and mess up their recovery still. I call it “Getting rocked” since DYC jokingly calls it the “**** you got rocked”. Not everyone knows that the knee will send you on a downward trajectory if you knee someone on the ground. This can be hard to do as you can only really pull it off if someone has a low shield or is rolling out of a tech, rolling towards you, etc… That’s why it’s usually better to knee someone on the ground than in the air. A knee in the air is worth two in the bush…? If the opponents shield is low and you are in front of them, fricking knee them. It will most likely break through their shield and send them very far away/down very quickly. Some crazy Asians can actually tech these so if your opponent is playing with one hand and eating rice in the other, be careful! Also, kidding. Don’t hate me.
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10. More Frame information
If you really want to get good with Falcon, you should have at least some sort of idea about where his frames stand. Here is a list of frame measurements of things that aren't direct attacks, but they're more like miscellaneous collected frame data that you should have a brief (Or extended if you're that extreme about your Falcon) understanding of.
Ledge stand <100%
Total: 32
Invincible: 1-22
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Ledge stand 100%>
Total: 58
Invincible: 1-49
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Ledge roll 100%>
Total: 78
Invincible: 1-54
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Ledge roll <100%
Total: 48
Invincible: 1-24
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Ledge attack <100%
Total: 54
Hit: 24-29
Invilnerable: 1-20
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Ledge attack 100%>
Total: 68
Hit: 37-40
Invulnerable: 1-33
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Ledge jump <100%
Total: 43
Invulnerable: 1-11
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Ledge jump 100%>
Total: 53
Invincible: 1-18
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Grab
Total: 30
Grab: 7-8
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Running grab
Total: 40
Grab: 11-12
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Jump: airborne on frame 5
Air time: 49
Earliest FF: 26
FF air time: 36
SH air time: 31
Earliest FF: 17
SH FF air time: 20
2nd jump earliest FF: 23
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Air dodge
invulnerable 4-29 out of 49
landfallspeciallag: 10 frames
Ground dodge
invulnerable 3-20 out of 32
Roll
invulnerable 4-19 out of 31
Landing lag: 4 frames
Ledge grab lag: 7
Dash becomes run at frame 16
Turn-jump Threshold: 16
Run turnaround: 28
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11. Combos
I like to start combos on the ground with a throw, then keep them in the air with whatever I can and end it with a knee. Here is a list of moves that set up well for combos (Assuming they land of couse), followed by a few combos that I see used often or use often myself:
Combo starters
- Forward B
- UThrow
- Dthrow
- Nair
- Dair
- Bair
- Fair
- Utilt
- Dtilt
- Usmash
- The Gentleman
- Dsmash
- UFtilt
- Dash attack
Beginner combos
- Usmash - Knee
- Uthrow - Knee
- Forward-B - Knee
- Dair - Knee
- Dthrow - Knee
- Uair - Knee
- Dsmash - Knee
Advanced combos
- Uair - Uair - Knee (My favorite)
- Knee - Grab/Uthrow - Uair - Knee (This is at 0% only, otherwise they fly too far after the first knee to be grabbed out of it)
- Nair - Uair - Grab - Uthrow - Knee
- Uair - Uair - Forward-B - Knee
- Dair - Forward-B - Knee
- Nair - Uair - Uair - Knee
- Uthrow - Nair - Uair - Knee
- Dair - Dair - Knee
- Uthrow - Forward-B - Knee
- Dair – Grab - Uthrow - Nair - Knee
- Uthrow - UFtilt - Knee
- Uthrow - Utilt - Dair (It's possible to land a knee if you land the Dair right after they hit the ground if they don't tech. They will pop up)
- Uthrow - Usmash - Nair - Knee
- Uthrow - Usmash - Nair - Uair - Knee
- Uthrow - Usmash - Bair - Knee
- Dair - Uair - Knee
- Nair - Forward-B - Nair - Knee
- Uthrow - Nair - Uair -Grab/Uthrow - Knee
- Dthrow - Techchase --> Dair - Knee
- Dair - Uair - Bair - Knee (This looks very impressive)
- Uthrow - Uair - Bair - Bair - Knee
- Nair - Knee - Knee
- Dair - Forward-B - (You can end it with a knee right here, or if you want them to travel further to the edge use a...) Nair - Knee
A thing to remember about combos, if you only think you can get one more hit in (Besides the knee)... Forget it. It's usually better to SHFFL, chase after them (With you on the ground, and them in the air), grab them, and throw them for another combo. Then hopefully they will have enough percent for you to finish the combo with a knee this time. Also, this is by no means the end of the combo list! Get creative and maybe post a few that you've pulled off that you're proud of. I'll add it to the guide and give appropriate credit.
Approaching with Falcon
Approaching is basically what it sounds like… Approaching the opponent, usually with a move. Here are some basic moves to approach with and my opinions of them.
Dair- My main approaching move. It’s safe from shieldgrabbing which is awesome. It also will land after a spotdodge if your opponent tries to dodge it. Also, it leads into anything, and if they’re too low for it to lead into another aerial, you can raptor boost them and combo that into an aerial. This is probably the safest move to approach with when beginning with Falcon as well as one of the most vital to learn.
Nair- Second favorite approaching move, as it has huge range which can stop shieldgrabbing and it’s two hits which is always awesome. If people always shield both of your hits you can actually SHFFL this before the second kick comes out and grab out of it like I show in Falcownage. This move is also great for catching people in midair and comboing off of it. If you can catch someone in midair with a Nair you can combo it into another usually when it wouldn’t have been possible to combo off of it if you had got them in the air with a Dthrow or something else.
Fair- Not a good approaching move. It has a lot of KO power but due to it’s small range and larger lag than other moves it’s just not a safe move to approach with consistently. The only time you should approach with the knee is when your opponents shield is very worn down and you think that the knee will just plow through the shield. But as far as combo potential you’re better off using a different move unless it’s at very low percentage.
Grab- Grabbing is great for approaching because it can lead into almost anything. The only downside is that if you miss the grab you’re probably going to get punished, which is never very cool at all. If people start to spotdodge your grabs you can start to charge at them and when you reach grabbing range, you wavedash in place. People will usually spot dodge anyway out of reflex and you can grab them out of their spotdodge or start up a Dair since it will land when their dodge ends most likely.
Raptor boost- Not very good for approaching. Although it has huge combo potential the fact that it has a huge windup and a lot of lag if it is whiffed or shielded which can lead to you getting punished… It’s too risky in my opinion. You’re better off using a raptor boost if you whiff a Dair or if you’re behind your opponent to at least eliminate the chance of you getting shieldgrabbed.
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12. Comboing n00bs
Falcon is ALL about the combos. I feel it’s only necessary to have a section completely dedicated to learning how to combo with him and discussing his comboing potential.
Ok, here it is: The combo section. Learning how to combo will make or break your Falcon. This section is probably going to be the most important in my guide because of how important comboing your opponent is for Falcon. So I’m going to try to go as in depth as I can. First we’ll talk about moves with the most combo potential. These moves are Uthrow, Dthrow, Raptor boost, Dair, Nair, and Uair. These are the moves you’re going to see a lot with floaties and semi-floaties. Against fastfallers, it’s much more difficult more difficult to set up for the knee. The only way you can knee them is through a stomp, boost, chased tech, or flubbed tech (Usually from a Nair since people rarely tech the Nair). Now let’s look at the combos that work on most characters. I’ll describe the best way to combo most of the characters in general. When I say “Nair” I mean that you can link consecutive Nairs together against the character (Usually around 3 of them, but you can link as many as 4 or 5 against Ganondorf if he sucks at DI):
Nair: Bowser, Ganondorf, Mario, Doctor Mario, Link, Young Link, Yoshi, Bowser
Uair: Jigglypuff, Kirby, Luigi, Samus
Nair/Uair. Alternating depending on DI: Marth, Peach, Samus, Mario, Doctor Mario, Ganondorf
Stomp, Forward-B, or punish flubbed Nair tech: Falcon, Fox, Falco
Sometimes when you’re comboing someone with Nairs, like a Link or something, you’ll notice that they’ll DI up or whichever way… This is when your Falcon comboing skills are truly tested. Don’t go straight after them, wait until they go into what I’m going to refer to as the “Nair zone”. The Nair zone is basically the spot where you can SHFFL Nairs and send them just high/far enough to land another one. Obviously if you Uthrow your opponent and hit them at the top of your first jump with a Nair, you’re not going to combo into another one. Wait until someone is in the Nair zone if you plan to juggle them with Nairs only. Here’s a picture of what I consider the Nair zone.
[Picture coming soon]
This is pretty much the ideal place to land a Nair if you’re looking to chain them together with other aerials. Practicing comboing Nairs into knees or other aerials is a great thing to practice when you’re alone since few people DI the Nair correctly, and they usually miss the tech if you miss the FF or whatever, which is a great way to set space animals and Falcon up for knees assuming they flub their tech.
Here is a guide to comboing Nairs into knees and such. This was actually a post I made a while ago, but I think it explains how to combo heavier characters (Like Bowser and Ganondorf) as well as lighter characters like Yoshi and Link:
There's a big difference between comboing easy characters like Ganon with Nairs, and more difficult characters like Link with Nairs. The difference is in the jump and in the amount you have to DI backwards after the kicks.
Ganondorf:
1. Forward B, Usmash. SHFFL a Nair. (1 Nair so far)
2. Jump IN PLACE and do a Nair, then DI yourself forward slightly. (2 Nairs so far)
3. Then jump forward and do another Nair DON’T DI BACKWARDS. (3 Nairs so far)
4. You can repeat the last step and knee, or just go for a knee.
5. That’s why it’s so easy to combo Ganon with Nairs once at higher percentages, because you don’t have to DI at all. It’s pretty skill-less.
Link:
1. Usmash Link
2. Jump in place, Nair, DI forward
3. Remember to Nair Link as soon as you can to keep him as high as possible or you will not be able to land the next Nair on him (1 Nair so far)
4. Jump while dashing, the momentum will carry you to Link
5. Nair. Be sure to start DIing backwards right before you land the first kick but after you press the A button, then DI SLIGHTLY forward to cancel all momentum (2 landed Nairs so far)
6. Also be sure to land the kicks with the tips of your feet, rather than around your thighs or he will be sent upwards, making it easier for him to get out of it and impossible for you to follow up.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 two times (4 Nairs so far)
8. Knee him in the face (4 Nairs, and 1 knee)
Mario:
1. Raptor boost
2. Grab him out of the boost
3. Dthrow
4. Nair in place. DI forward slightly. (1 Nair so far)
5. Jump forward and Nair, DI backwards right after the first kick (2 Nairs so far)
6. Repeat step 5/6 as needed
Marth:
1. Dthrow
2. SHFFL a Nair while DIing backwards after the first kick
3. Wait for a moment and then repeat step 3. The reason for waiting is because Marth travels kind of high up to just keep comboing him with Nairs as fast as you can depending on percentage. In most cases, you need to wait a millisecond or you will miss your second Nair.
These are a couple of examples of how to combo certain characters. Once you start to get the hang of it, comboing off of multiple Nairs is really easy (On opponents that don’t DI or flub often, anyway).
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13. What should I do when I have no one to play?
Here are a few things you can practice when you're bored to improve your Falcon game in one way or another. I find myself doing these things at midnight when I am not tired and no one is awake to play Smash with me... Or if all that is on TV is lame talk shows.
- Practice combos on a computer in evade mode
- Practice ledgehopping Nairs into a the characters listed above and comboing them off of the Nairs
- Practice wavelanding or wavelanding into edgehogs
- Practice platform dashing across FoD on all of the platforms (Like the Isai vid on the hub)
- Practice teching or meteor canceling
- Experiment with combos on different characters that you have a hard time comboing (Like for me, this would be Fox)
- Practice juggling the characters I listed in section 12 across FD with Nairs or Uairs depending on the character
- Pratice landing triple knees
- Practice tipping knees off of the level, followed by a double jump into a Uair to push them back farther
- Practice stomping into moves. This is pretty invaluable when you're back to back with your opponent can you stomp - nair - knee
- Practice timing stomps on opponents on the ground after they've been struck by a move... But do it after they have flubbed their tech so you can continue to combo them with stomps
These are just some of the things off of the top of my head that I do when I am bored. If you guys want to tell me what you do in your Melee down time... Post away and I'll add your ideas.
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14. Mindgames
Mindgames is a very broad term. It can be anything from dash dancing to creative uses of wavelanding. Let's discuss.
Like I said, Mindgames applies to so many different things that it would be ridiculous to explain them all. However, since I want to provide a guide that is as informative as possible, I will go into as many as I can think of at the moment. Here is a basic mindgame for Falcon: The matchup is Falcon vs Marth on FD. You dash towards him. He believes you're going to continue dashing to grab him because you do this often. To counter this he forward smashes. You predict this. This is why you WD backwards, followed by dashing forwards. His lag from the Fsmash is still occuring and you grab him. You can now combo the crap out of him. This was a simple mind game. Here is a slightly more advanced one: Falcon vs Fox on FD. You're DDing in the middle of the level waiting for him to approach you. He figures he can add on some easy damage. You're completely ready for his laser. You see Fox reach for his gun. It's ridiculously easy to knee Fox out of his laser. He probably wasn't expecting that. Whether you can call that a mindgame is arguable. Here's a good one: Falcon vs Fox on FD. You Uthrow Fox, he tech backwards. You grab him again and Uthrow. He techs backwards again. You grab him again... By now he is tired of teching backwards because you've grabbed him out of it. He's going to try to switch it up, most likely. Like I said before, you have a hold of him at the time. Uthrow... He techs forwards. But since you're the master of predicting your opponents, you're ready. You knee him out of his tech for a stock. This is not so much mindgames for you, but poor decision of mindgames for your opponent. A very advanced mindgame would be something like: Falcon vs Marth on FD. You're running at him. He is ready for you to WD back, grab him, or try to Nair him. He is waiting for one of these three because it's the only options you've used so far in the match and he now expects them. Instead, you shorthop backwards. He lowers his guard (Mentally) because you've put spacing between you. But right before you land, you waveland towards him into a grab - Dthrow - Knee. Mindgames can be very difficult, but they're vital for Falcon. Learn what to do and what not to do through experience. Or you can just go to this excellent thread started by Greg (G-Regulate): http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=54186
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15. Styles of play... Which is right for you?
There are four types of competitive decks in Magic the Gathering. I believe you can play Falcon just like any of these decks depending on what style suits you. There is no "one right way" to play Falcon. There are certain moves that dominate others in certain situations, but you can play Falcon in pretty much any of these fashions and come out victorious depending on the matchup.
Aggressive- This playstyle is how I used to play all the time, or at least this is what I'd classify myself as... A very aggressive player. Although Falcon has to be aggressive at times to fit combos in, it's not always the best approach. If you're vs a Marth and you keep running and jumping at him, throwing caution to the wind, you're going to get Fsmash, Faired, Naired, and lose. Against Marth you need a different style of play, other than Aggressive. So when can you be horribly aggressive? I think in certain matchups it's fine to use this playstyle. An example would be vs the Ice Climbers. Against Nana, you can be really aggressive and just combo her to hell because she has horrid DI/AI and there's no reason to be careful around her. Then when you're against a lone Popo, I would suggest Aggro Control.
Control- So how do you control your opponent with Falcon with no projectiles? One word: Throws. His throwing game is devastating when it comes to controlling the stage. You don't want to use this style of play against say... A Luigi or Jiggs. But against another Falcon or against another fastfaller in general... You can tech punish repeatedly and grab them a ton. Should you only use grabs? Well of course not. But against certain characters you'll discover that grabbing a lot, throwing them, then following their tech and continually grabbing them, can be devastating to their game. Fox is a good example. His speed is completely negated if he cannot move. The only real problem vs Fox is sometimes you mess up the timing and he'll pull out a shine.
Aggro Control- A mixture of the previous two playstyles. Aggressive Nairs, grabbing... All of that stuff put together into one. This is probably the best and most balanced form of playstyle for Falcon. You really can't go wrong by mixing an aggressive air game with a controlling grab game. It's a balanced mix and works well vs most characters. I especially like this playstyle vs Fox/Falco.
Combo Based- Falcon is very much so, a combo based character. So what is his combo based playstyle? It's when you set up for certain combos at certain percentages. An example would be... Let's say you know that if you land a knee on Fox at 75% he's dead. But he's at 50%. So you grab Uthrow - Forward B - Knee. This playstyle is a little more complicated to explain but it requires a lot of practice to use well. Or at lower percentages, Marth can be juggled with multiple Nairs. This is very hard to land, but with practice, you'll know how to use it correctly. And at the beginning of each match you'll know you can, and will, chain Marth with Nairs or Uairs depending on which you're more comfortable with/DI from the Marth player. A good example of seeing this is Bombsoldier vs Ken... On both sides. Obviously Bombsoldiers style of play is like one huge combo vid, but with Ken... He knows he can chaingrab at low percentages. Is this really a combo? Not really... But this is just to give you of what I mean about "Certain combos at certain percentages."
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16. Individual matchups
* * Feel free to correct me/add anything. Also, tell me if you'd like to see me elaborate on more matchups. These are the ones I thought would be the most useful to talk about, so I can get to my video as soon as I can. I still need a cool name for the video. Suggestions will be taken into serious consideration :/ * *
- Falcon (The mirror) - There are a few select moves that are going to win you this matchup... The first in Nair. This because it's very fast and strikes before most moves because of the range. It's also two hits and comboable. The second move is Dair. This is because Falcon will pop up and you can grab him to perform the third vital move (You can also SHFFL Nairs and grab them immediately to use the third move). The third move is Uthrow - Tap reset - DD - Repeat. This is good because... It works very well vs Falcon! It keeps him immobile (Very bad for him) and racks up damage really quickly. The fourth move is obviously... The knee. Use this to pwn Falcon at decent percentage. When he's off of the stage, just edgehog. I cannot stress enough how important edgehogging is in the mirror match. Falcon's recovery sucks and can't hurt you if you're EHing (Unlike say... Hmm... Pretty much every other character in the game). You will win or lose depending on if you nail those crucial edgehogs to get the stock advantage. You can rack up damage so quickly with CF that one stock advantage can be all you really need to seal your opponents fate. It's also worth mentioning that at about 48%, Falcon can be chainthrown with Uthrow. He can DI out of it easily, but they usually won't catch on until you start spamming it. Use this to your advantage, and also try to gain even more of an edge by throwing in some knees while you're holding them. If you hit them once everytime you grab, and you spam Uthrow a lot, it's a lot of damage in the end. Ok, last thing... Everyone plays Falcon really aggressively in the matchup. I recommend playing him as usual by DDing and WDing around, sneaking in a hit here and there. When you see an opportunity, **** them with a combo (Uthrow to Knee works nicely). Don’t forget to Isai stomp!
- Falco - This character basically negates DD/WDing together. The winner is semi-dependant on the level. If you're on Final Destination... Ouch. If you're on a level with a lot of platforms that you can abuse (With your lightning fast Uair), things are looking up. The thing that always wins this match for me is a well placed Forward-B followed by a Knee. If Falco falls off of the level, he's usually dead. Remember when I talked about crucial edgehogging with Falcon? Same thing in this situation. You cannot miss an edgehog, because it will be Falco's doom if you grab the ledge while he is trying to recover. Just Nair/tech punish a lot to rack up damage. Don't stay on the ground. Falco's air game is inferior to Falcon's, but it's the otherway around on the ground. Falco's smashes are much better and he will SHB you followed by a Nair. Not good. Try to also come in as low as you can when recovering to avoid being spiked. Don't try to go above him. It will not work. Another thing worth noting is when you Dthrow them, if they tend to tech backwards... You can SHFFL a Knee to their face very very easily. This is usually game, unless they tech again after the knee. When a Falco is recovering and using illusion (You are standing on the edge), remember you can time your Dairs to hit them as they are about to grab the ledge. This is useful if you're afraid of being spiked by the illusion/don't have enough time to make the edgehog.
- Fox - Noooooooooooo... Not the shine! Seriously, shine is all this guy has going for him in this matchup... That, and he's lucky that he's a fastfaller. And he's speedy. Just as fast as Falcon, except a SLIGHTLY slower dash. Ok, so... Fox is not a walk in the park. This is my least enjoyed matchup. First Falcon's weaknesses: Fox is excessively difficult to combo due to his fast falling (Assuming they tech consistently). If you get shined once when off of the stage, you're boned because his firefox will go off RIGHT before you reach it to get burned/gain your Up B back (Not like Fox would just shine you again anyway...), and he's very speedy and difficult to set up for a knee. The only way you can really set him up for one is an Uthrow, Forward-B, or Dair. You can't really combo him into it. It's very tough. Lastly, Falcon is juggled wayyyyy too easily by repeated Uairs. Ok, Falcon's strengths in this matchup: He's very fast, and his grab game works perfectly on Fox since he's a fastfaller. To rack up easy damage, all I do is tech punish a lot. It's much easier than it sounds actually. They can only go... Forward... Behind you... Or not move at all. And you can keep grabbing them and Uthrowing them over and over. Since he's a FFer, he will never be able to get out of your Uthrows (Like a floaty would) short of tricking you with his tech patterns. To read most people's tech, this is the general rule of thumb: Whichever way they didn't go last time, they're going that way this time. They try to change it up, but it's actually pretty predictable. Also, if Fox techs backwards often, you can easily knee them out of his tech for a stock (At decent percentages). Also, Fox flies very far from the knee. Sure, his recovery is ridiculously long, but that's what Dair is for. You can safely sit on the edge of the level and just SHFFL Dairs to his face until he fails to meteor cancel. This is also very easy because of how predictable Foxes recovery is. If you aren't good at tech punishing, it's kind of dependant on the level. If it has lots of platforms, it's easy to Uair him a lot. Regardless of the level, I recommend using retreated Nairs a lot. These seem to work well vs Fox. I also cannot stress the important of SHFFLed Dairs when back to back with Fox. Fox has a hard time dealing with them, and they set up PERFECTLY for the knee. They're amazing! Also, Foxes laser is rendered useless unless they hop it everytime. If you face a Fox who uses lasers on the ground, just keep in mind you're the fastest character in the game and he will feel like it takes decades to put his blaster away. You can knee him straight out of it easily. A good way to lure lasers out (To knee them) is to just DD in place. They will usually start blasting you. Great memories... Heh.
- Ganondorf - This matchup is all about the mindgames for Ganondorf. You'll have to predict when he's coming down with a move and when he's not. He's going to try to be tricky, but I'm sure you'll be able to overcome his mindgames. Ganondorf is bottom tier material... Just kidding. Anyway, his moves usually eat right through yours, so be careful. If Ganon starts Dthrowing into jabs, avoid stationary teching, or teching backwards. Ganondorfs really like to show you how powerful their Fair is when you do that. If you tech backwards, there's the chance he's going to land a really big stomp, but it's difficult for them to land those. Just switch it up. If you find yourself eating Fairs out of your techs, you know you need to start switching your tech directions. There are 2 easy combos at low percentages and one at high percentage vs a Ganon player: Uthrow - Nair - Knee and Uthrow - Uair - Knee are for lower percentages. Once he gets in the 70% range you can just Uthrow into a knee. Utilt edgeguard is very useful vs Ganondorf, and if he tries to go too low for you to reach, go for an edgehog. Like I said before, Ganondorf is slower than Falcon and relies heavily on mindgames to land his crucial attacks, so you'll have to be ready to dash in if you see him come down without an attack. He will usually do one of two things from there, after you begin dashing: Shield, or roll backwards. If your opponent rolls backwards a lot, just run straight past where he's standing and grab him out of his backwards roll to begin a combo. Some Ganondorfs spotdodge actually, but I think knees or stomps work well vs those. Even Nairs are good because they last for so long. You can slack a bit on your timing with Nairs. Comboing Ganon is all about the retreating Nairs. Seriously, if you learn how to dash in, retreat Nairs, and land both hits, you'll combo him like mad. Otherwise, it's going to be a bit tougher. Remember to follow stomps with Forward-B. If you get him in the air, you're usually able to combo him pretty well. Especially with Uairs when he's above you like that. You can pull of the famous Uair - Uair - Knee that I LOVE (Notice I even say it's my favorite combo in my combo section).
- Ice Climbers - Do not get grabbed. You can get chained from 0 to death. It's not particularly easy to do against a good Falcon, but it's still a possibility. Stick to aerials, as usual. IC's will usually stay on the ground and confuse the poo out of you with their wavedash. It's very hard to land aerials on good IC players because of their evasiveness. Falcon's largest hitbox moves that can be used on them is probably a SHFFLed Nair or a very late Uair (Late as in, hit C-stick up right before you hit the ground). Bairs and knees have a small hitbox and are difficult to land on IC unless they're stunned or seperated. Seperating them is pretty important, I might add. Nana is very vulnerable when they're seperated. So how can you do this? Well, since I said IC's stay on the ground often, you can Forward-B them pretty easily and almost be positive it's going to land. From there you can just knee her or go all Darkrain on her and land like 6 consecutive Uairs. Uair ***** Nana's bad AI. She won't even try to interrupt it usually. It's like juggling a level 1 computer with Uairs. Anyway, landing knees is difficult because of how evasive the IC's can be and even if you land it and they shield... You're going to get chaingrabbed, which sucks a lot. So what moves can you use as finishers?... Well... Not very many. Uairs and Bairs mainly. You can Dthrow to knee if your opponent is caught off guard by the throw. Otherwise it can be interrupted by the IC. Lastly, when recovering, watch for smashes. Mainly, watch out for edgeguarding with Fsmash. Just get your trigger finger ready. Because unless you're at a very low percent, you're dead. Your best bet is to mash L or R and try to tech off of the wall. It's hard as hell, but it looks sweet and gives you a second chance, which are always welcome by me.
- Jiggs - This is a pretty annoying matchup, but that doesn't mean it's not winnable. You'll want to approach Jiggs from above and below. Do this by staying on the ground and DDing... When they start WoPing, dash grab - Dthrow - Uair/Nair. When approaching from above, Dair is awesome. Just be sure to combo it into something after she pops up. 50% damage is the optimal time to knee because it will kill her, but she won't fly ridiculously far when she's stomped or Forward B'ed. It's VERY easy to set up with a Dthrow around that percent. Try to kill at that time or the percent will get so high that you will have a hard time comboing her. Just keep taking her out at 50% with a Dthrow - Knee and don't use Knee (By itself), or Bair (Unless you're sure about not being WoPed) and this isn't too tough. A final thing to mention is DO NOT edgeguard her. Don't... Don't do it. Jiggs will Forward-B you, Bair, and edgehog. Just let her back on, or maybe try to sneak an attack in if she's already used her Forward-B and you can sneak on in. Just be careful though. You never want to be off of the level vs Jiggs because of your horrible recovery. If you are already off of the level, just be sure to drop as far as you can and still be able to make the Up B or you're going to get Baired across the abyss.
- Link - This guy can get some pretty devastating combos in, and his edgeguard is aggrevating. A common combo would be something like Uthrow, Utilt, Bair, Boomerang, Fair. His boomerang does a fantastic job of keeping his combos going. To avoid being comboed is kind of dependant on who you're playing. Some people like to Uthrow, some don't. Some like to use bombs, some only use boomerangs, no one uses the bow. His projectile game is just synergetic with his combo ability.... That's why it's good. Try to prevent him from comboing you by... As always... Staying unpredictable and try not to let him follow you with boomerangs and such or else you will be very sad. If you're off of the level, just drop as low as you can and use your Up-B. If he catches you with his Up-B while edgeguarding... You'll be sad. Link is very easy to combo. CF is also kind of easy to combo, but Link doesn't really have a good finisher like Falcon does. You never see a Link played using his Fair and yelling "The swooooooooooooooord!" like someone would with The Knee. His Dair is really good, but I still use my Uair because it's habit. Not to say his Dair is bad... Especially if it hits you twice, or even three times if your opponent is good. I actually find Usmash to be really useful against Link at low percentages. I always try to Uthrow to Usmash at 0%. It does massive damage, and opens up for more combo ability later.
- Luigi - "It's Luigi time!" as my good friend Chris says before unleashing his Luigi on me. Luigi is an odd matchup because of his insanely high air priority. His Dair, Bair, sex kick, and Fair all have ridiculous priority and eat through your main moves (I approach with Nair usually, which doesn't usually go through). Another thing Chris said when I was playing him once: "Why is Uair the only move you ever use now?" The answer is because Luigi is very easy to juggle with Uairs. Plus it has a large hitbox, which is nice and forgiving with the accuracy since sometimes I play very sloppily vs Luigi since he's not a common matchup for me (Until recently when Chris switched from Fox to Luigi). Knees are hard to land on Luigi because of his priority and the knee's small hitbox. If you ever do land a knee, Luigi doesn't die to it easily. Constant missles, followed by the rising tornado, double jump, to an Up-B makes for some Cape-like recoveries. Edgehogs work nicely against his Up-B though. Just be sure to ledgehop to reset your invincibility frames for a larger window for the edgehog. Some Luigis, like the one I face, enjoy trying to abuse the priority of his Down-B and fling themselves across the stage with it occassionally (Or often...
). This used to be annoying to me until I found the Nair ties priority with it, while coming out quickly. Don't use the Raptor Boost against Luigi. He flies far too high for it to do anything. Don't Uthrow him either. He will just sex kick if you try to combo him out of a Uthrow. Use Dthrow and Uairs to deal maximum damage. Dealing damage to him is easy, him being so floaty, and Falcon being one of the best comboing characters in the game. However, finishing him off can be a real challenge because of his godly recovery, and the difficult task of breaking through his high priority air game.
- Marth - C-c-c-combo! I love this matchup, it is definitely my favorite. Marth is the funnest character to combo, I love it! All your aerials set him up for more combos, and you can Dair - Knee without trouble. You can also Dthrow - Knee easily. The problem with Marth is... Yes. His range. Not projectiles, but he has range over you with everything (Your Nair has decent reach though). This causes a problem if the Marth can read you because Marth has a good juggling game as well with his Fair - Fsmash. The key to this matchup is juggle - juggle - juggle - Knee. But stay random and DD/WD a lot or you're going to get juggled just as easily. I read somewhere on the forums that Falcon vs Marth is all about who can juggle the other one better. I absolutely agree. Watch for his Ftilt, because it will send you to the air, which can be a problem. You will not be able to land aerials on Marth as long as he isn't being juggled. He just has too much range, especially with his Fair. It's easy to get into postion for combos though, if you utilize Falcons strengths correctly. You have speed and are infinitely harder to predict. He has range, is much slower, and you juggle him much easier than he can you. I'd like to say Falcon has a slight advantage, but it's pretty even. Whoever uses their advantage to their ability better than their opponent is going to win (obviously).
- Peach - Peach is very annoying to play with because no matter how hard you knee her, she always comes back. She can also edgeguard you very easily with float canceling Bairs and her downsmash is better than every one of your smashes combined (Not really... But it's good). Nair works wonders vs Peach. Don't use Uair too much because she just floats ridiculously high and will start stepping on your face if you try to hit her from below with a Uair. The only way to kill Peach early game is by reading her extremely well. If you can read her float (When she's recovering) and knock her out of it, you're in good shape. With her umbrella, she's going to try to be unpredictable. If you land a stomp, she's dead. Focus on that. Something else to focus on vs. Peach... Using the 1-2 punch after SHFFLed aerials. This prevents both 1. Her forward throw (Or the B*tch slap), and 2. Her downsmash. She will NEVER be able to get a Dsmash or throw on you if you keep 1-2ing her (Especially after moves with no lag with a proper SHFFL, like Nair). Do that a lot and make her reposition herself. If you keep her on the move, and stay on her... You're in good position because she's so slow. Turnips can mess you up a bit, so like I just said, stay on her. Just make sure Peach gets no breathing room when in the air (Unless she is float canceling, then just try to Nair her out of it, or DD to mess up her timing).
- Samus - I don't really like facing a Samus. A lot of people say she is easy to face because she's a floaty and she can be comboed easily. Although this is true, she has an insane projectile game and can be very difficult to read with her bombs and fantastic wavedash. Try not to stay toe-to-toe with her at all on the ground. Her Dsmash is awesome, and pwns your roll. Just roll away from her, not past. If you stand next to her with your shield up for a shieldgrab or whatever... You're going to get bombed repeatedly until your shield is gone. Her Fsmash is also really good. Try to stay on her, but in the air. Your Stomp, Forward-B, and Uthrow are pretty bad past 60%(Forward-B is awful at pretty much any percent). She flies too high to combo, and she'll just bomb you or something if you try to combo her. Your Dthrow is the best way to set her up for a knee after decent percentages. Just make her fight you in the air, don't stray from her and give her a chance to use projectiles, and don't set yourself up for a fully charged blast. You can avoid blasts by teching often, and moving with techs. No stand-still techs. The most common time to expect a blast is after a Dthrow from her, and she will try to catch you during your roll (Similar to how you will chase her tech with a Forward-B). Just don't give her breathting room. Use your Nair a lot because it's so fast and also sets up for the Knee well. Don't forget to SHFFL it... No one SHFFLs Nairs!
- Sheik - Yeah... This character is totally lame. Who thought up her dash? Why does she teleport? Anyway, Sheik is a bit harder to play vs, especially if you're a bit of a n00b with Falcon. Combos are key. Racking up damage, and throwing her/Forward-B into the knee. You cannot just run around kneeing her. Her Fair comes out so much faster than your knee that it's just stupid. Her needles make mindgames more difficult, and she has nearly as much combo ability as Falcon (Slightly less in my opinion). Be cautious when ledgehopping as well. Her Dsmash will usually eat through your Nair depending on her position on the stage. On, the plus side, Sheik is very easy/fun to combo and is very weak from the bottom. What I mean is, her Dair is horrible. Your air game penetrates it very easily. If you can throw her up and start comboing her from below, it's optimal. Also, stay very low to the ground if you're at a high percentage (Because her Fair is her normal kill move, and you will ricochet off of the ground and recover very quickly). Just stick to hit and runs. Like I just said, you can tech off of the level very easily from her Fair, and even if you miss the tech... You can come back without a problem. Since her run speed is slow, you'll usually be able to get back. So to sum it up, stay low to the ground at high percentages. Don't go for kill moves when at high percentages, just rack up a bit of damage and put yourself in an advantageous position for your next stock. It's best to approach Sheik from the bottom if she's in the air. And don't try to go toe to toe with her too often because her Dsmash will ruin you. Just be sneaky and combo her when you see opportunities.
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17. 2v2 Play- Falcon is sick in teams. You can land knees like crazy and juggling isn't hampered as badly as you may think considering there will be 4 people on the screen at once. Isai has some good 2v2 games with Ken and other pros which you can watch and learn from. The first thing to do when 2v2ing is discuss general strategies with your partner to get the basics down. Stuff like "If I grab, and he's in killing percentage range, I'll keep hitting him and you just knee him out of my grab." Do I hit my partner when I knee my opponent? Nope, never. Just kidding. I knee him in the face all the time. I'm only human. Anyway, you have to have good communication without actually talking with your partner to get good at teams. You have to know their playstyle, know what they're going to do, and play off of that assumption. Something I cannot stress enough of in 2v2 as Falcon: Empty shorthops. People see a Falcon running at them, they're expecting a knee and are going to shield. Run towards your partner/opponent's side of the level if you see them in trouble and then ESH when you reach your opponent. Most of the time they will shield. This provides your partner with a valuable second to regain his or her breath and give them some breathing room. ESH can lead into so many things, it's insane. You don't always have to do ESH though. Sometimes just toss in a knee if the opponent doesn't look like they notice you're running at them at like... 150 miles per hour (Assuming that's how fast Falcon runs at top speed). Chaingrabs are not very effective in 2v2 unless the opponent has JUST spawned (0% still) and they're Marth or something. It's difficult to tech punish with throws as well. Forward-B can be really useful because it sets up for the knee well and it's huge windup time makes you less vulnerable when you have someone to watch your back. Forward-B almost always leads to a knee. Juggling with chained Nairs is better than ever in 2v2. Sometimes you can combo someone with a Nair and even hit both the first opponent, and their partner with the second kick. This is, needless to say, incredibly effective. Falcon's recovery also isn't as bad in 2v2 because edgehogging can be dealt with by your partner. Same goes with edgeguard crazy Marth players. Who are some good partners for Falcon? Personally, I like to have a Ganondorf, Marth, or Fox by my side. Samus can be Ok as well. But those first three are definitely my top choices. Experiment with your friends and see who works for you guys.
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18. Free for All- Falcon is decent in FFA but his combo ability is hampered slightly because of all of the chaos. One move that seems to really stand out where it never did before is the mighty Falcon Punch. You can jump, hit B in mid air, and be able to land Falcon Punches on unsuspecting victims. It's almost always an instant kill move, which is nice. And the huge time it takes to use is somewhat negated because it should only be used on two people who are already fighting. Sometimes you can even get both of them at once, which is cool to do. Something else that really shines is his Fsmash. It's so powerful, and like the Falcon punch, the startup lag is negated by the fact that you should be using it on an opponent that is preoccupied with another opponent. Forget chainthrowing in FFA, because it will never work. Something different about FFA as well is that Falcon can land knees very easily. Especially on two people that are fighting, or on someone that is in the middle of a grab. Sometimes you can even get the grabber, and the person being grabbed with one knee. Nairs are your best friend here because of their speed, range, and double hit. Never leave the stage for a fancy stomp or anything like that! Everyone will usually run to the edge fighting for your kill... Fox will usually get it with a shine. Uair is also fast and effective in FFA, especially on levels with platforms like Battlefield. Dair is somewhat negated because of the fact that it has longer lag than all of Falcon's moves. Vulnerability is not good against 3 potential opponents. Raptor boost is quite effective in FFA because no one sees it coming, and it sets up perfectly for the knee. Even if you miss one person, you're probably going to hit another one. Basically, you'll never whiff with it. Last thing to remember in FFA, there is NO honor. If Fox falls off of the level near a Marth, sit in the middle of the level and start taunting. This will usually make the Marth think he's safe to edgeguard. The moment you see him wind up for that Fsmash or spike... Run like hell and land a knee on him, right when he thought he was safe. Mindgames!
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19. Break the Targets- Here is how to complete the Break the Targets for Captain Falcon step by step.
Target 1: Jump up and hit the target on the platform above you with a Uair.
Target 2: Double jump up to the higher platform, land, jump again. Pass the first target, and walljump to the left instead. Now you can wall jump to the right. Land a Uair (It will reach through the level).
Target 3: While falling from that previous attack, you can just use a Bair to hit the target you passed earlier.
Target 4: Drop back down to the grey/neon green platform, and drop from there. Hit the target in front of you with a Nair.
Target 5: Land on the ground and perform a Uair. Land on the ramp
Target 6: Jump, and double jump. During your DJ, use a Uair. The momentum will carry you onto grey/neon green platform right above you.
Target 7: Drop down and double jump. Immediately after you activate your double jump, use your Nair. Your first kick will hit the first target
Target 8: DI to the left, your double jump will carry you onto the little elevator thingy.
Target 9: From the elevator, jump out and knee the next target. You shouldn't sweetspot the knee, it's unnecessary. Don't try to land back on the platform!
Target 10: Double jump to your right, and walljump off of the wall to your left. From there you can use a Uair.
Using this path, you should be able to get it under 10 seconds easily. Just remember to SHFFL. Fast falling is key in this stadium event.
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20. Home Run Contest- This is not particularly hard if you know how to bat drop. If you don't, here's what it is: Bat dropping is pick the bat up, jumping, dropping it with Z, spiking the sandbag, the bat will hit the bag which keeps it in place. Grab the bat, and repeat. You can do this to almost 300% damage. After you bat drop for the 10 seconds, just Falcon punch. You don't even need to throw the bat. Should get you around 1500 feet if you bat drop for the full 10 seconds.
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21. Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”
Not only am I a huge Melee fan and powerlifter, but a fan of martial arts as well. I’ve read a few books here and there and I’ve noticed that strangely enough, martial arts (Depending on the discipline) bares a lot of similarities to Melee. In this section I’m going to give you some last minute tips that I’ve learned from martial arts books that I think will help you in Melee. This stuff is kind of inspiring to read too, for me at least.
“Plan no useless move. Take no step in vain” Basically this boils down to “Don’t do a Nair Uair Knee combo when just a simple knee will kill them”. Don’t approach your opponent when you don’t have to. Don’t shield when not necessary. This may seem like common sense but you’d be surprised how many people don’t even think about things like “Should I approach him now?” It’s more like “Might as well… I mean, it’s a fighting game, so I should fight him.” The thing you have to realize is that your opponent is thinking the exact same thing. He or she wants to do damage to you. Most people are much more aggressive than they have to be. Now with Falcon you have to aggressive when the time is right and your opponent has made a mistake. Don’t just charge in blindly with Nairs and hope to combo off of them.
“It is dangerous for a warrior to have likes and dislikes… Do not move one foot preferentially.” A lot of people spam a move that they like a lot rather than doing the move that would yield them the most advantage at the moment. I love kneeing things. Anything, even my partner in 2v2’s (Sorry Cunning). This is a bad habit to get into when you face an IC player and get shieldgrabbed for like 80%. I love to combo things to hell, especially with like, 4-5 Nairs. It’s fun and flashy and makes you look better than you are (Depending on the combo). But some characters aren’t comboed that well by Nairs like Peach. You can get her with 1-2, but after that it’s tough. Unfortunately sometimes I don’t care and I just want to combo her with a lot of Nairs. I end up messing up my combo and losing what could’ve been a nicer combo if I had just did maybe a Nair Uair Nair instead.
“Once we understand how the eye gets its information, it’s a simple matter to confuse an enemy’s eye into misinterpreting the information.” Falcon is a very fast character, and his combos are very dependent on your opponent almost as much as they are dependant on you. If they DI, sidestep, interrupt your combo with an aerial, etc… You should understand that Falcon is so fast that your enemy often has to jump to conclusions as to what you’re going to do next based on what you’re doing at the moment. Example: Whenever I run straight for my opponent I try to grab. They learn this after a bit and spot dodge. Then I start running in with stomps because when they spot dodge, the stomp hits them right when they come out of it. Do exactly what your opponent is not expecting at the moment and you’ll have a huge advantage over them because patterns are a huge weakness for most players.
“Perception is strong, sight is weak” This is basically saying to trust instinct over what you see. Because the opponent knows you can see what he’s doing. His character is right in front of you. But above average players will usually attack with moves you’re not expecting or that you cannot beat at the moment. This is the kind of stuff that makes Melee an intensely deep game when it comes to manipulation and predictions. The game becomes not what you see, but what your opponent thinks you see, and how he can capitalize on that. I think this kind of stuff happens more often with really good players like Ken, Isai, Chu etc… But I think it applies to all of us at times.
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22. Illustrations and pictures
Coming soon!
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23. Falcownage part 1
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=68307
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDvCthsXGE
That is Falcownage part one. It’s basically a Falcon tutorial to try to make my guide a bit more visual. If you want to learn how to do any of those techniques in the video, this is your place to be!
Basic techniques:
1. Empty shorthop (ESH)- Jump at your opponent and DI backwards in mid-jump. It’s tough but I know you guys can do it if you put your minds to it!
2. Dashdance- Press forward and backwards really fast! We’ll get to the good stuff soon I think
3. Wavedash- Jump and immediately try to dodge towards the ground/your enemy. You should slide a very short distance.
4. Chaingrab- Grab some poor soul and Dthrow them or Uthrow them depending on the character. Chase them and grab before they hit the ground. Rinse and repeat.
5. SHFFLing- I explain this thoroughly throughout the guide.
6. Tech punishing throws- This really only works on fastfallers. You basically just Uthrow and chase their tech and grab them out of the end of it. This can be done until they choose to purposefully flub the tech
7. Tap reset- Uthrow and punch once. I punch twice in the video but DYC informs me that you can DI the second punch… News to me.
8. Moonwalk- Ok, I can’t moonwalk for **** but I never really practiced it until this vid because I knew people would be like “OMFG WHERE IS TEH MOONWALKZZZ?” Run in a direction and do a halfcircle downwards as fast as you can and hold the opposite direction.
Intermediate techniques
1. Tech punishing raptor boosts: Same as with throws but raptor boosts offer more combo potential which ultimately leads to more damage. The only thing is that if you whiff it’s much riskier.
2. Wavelanding- Do an ESH but dodge into the ground and towards/away from your opponent at the last second to slide similar to a wavedash
3. Platform dash- Same thing as wavelanding but you actually travel farther on platforms
4. Ledgehop waveland edgehog- Ledgehop off of the edge, then it’s the same thing as platform dash except hold the control stick towards the stage to ensure that you grab on for the edgehog
5. Reverse Uair Ledgehop edgeguard- I MESSED THIS UP IN THE VIDEO. You’re supposed to stay on the ledge between jumps. If you’re really fast you can ledgehop a Uair without touching the stage and still grab the edge. So yeah… Do that instead. :D
6. Nair into grab- Just SHFFL a Nair really early and grab immediately after the landing animation is done. Easy stuff.
7. Edge sliding- Same as the waveland edgehog but hold the control stick away from the stage so you don’t grab the ledge
Advanced techniques
1. Double Nair- Uthrow and Nair in place. DI slightly forward and pull off another Nair. Easy.
2. Tapion punch combo- At exact percentages you have to SHFFL a Dair perfectly and then start MASHING the B button so you pull of the Falcon punch as soon as possible. Only works on fast fallers
3. G-regulate combo- Much more difficult to pull off. At exact percentages you can do this to Marth or a few other characters. Mash B really fast. The timing for this one is much more strict
4. Triple knee- You can actually execute this and get a 5 hit combo. I’ve done it before. It just wasn’t my day I guess
5. Knee into grab- Knee and follow through with DI towards the opponent. Grab during the stun and **** them as necessary
6. Dair into grab- I don’t think this needs an explanation
7. Stomp spamming against Fast fallers- Wait until the opponent has flubbed the tech. Then just stomp them. If you stomp them while they’re still in the air, they will hit the ground before you can stomp again and it will not work
End of Advanced techniques/Darkrain Style
1. Triple Nair, Triple Nair into knees, Quad Nair- Basically just follow section 12. It’s pretty much all there. Just practice a lot!
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24. Interviews with good Falcon’s and AngeloBangelo’s opinion of them.
Helios
Helios was mentioned a lot in my thread about good Falcon players outside of the U.S. which lead me to watch a few vids of him. Although rare, I did enjoy the few vids I was able to find.
AB: Hey, you want to do that interview really fast? I've got some questions ready to go if you've got some time
Helios: sure
AB: Ok, cool
AB: First just basic stuff like Name, age, location, favorite hobby besides smash, main, favorite fun character, favorite player, crew name that you're in, and favorite band and food too
Helios: O_o
Helios: k
AB: Haha, sorry about all the questions
Helios: Christoffer Lindgren
18 yrs old
Gothenburg, Sweden
main fox
seconday falcon
favourite fun char falcon hehe
fav player ek
crew = team sweden?
fav hobby = music, trance/progressive
fav artist Armin van Buuren
fav food chocolate lol
AB: Haha, Chocolate
AB: Ok, now for the questions... When did you start playing Smash, and why did you stick with it?
Helios: march 02
Helios: it was the game I got together with my cube, so I ended up playing it every day
Helios: and all my friends played it too, and there was something about it that was just so much fun.
AB: Yeah, I know what you mean. Just a fun game to have 4 people with
Helios: 1 vs 1's were awesome aswell
Helios: I just couldn't not have fun with the game lol
AB: Haha, yeah. Same here when I got it
AB: So, what made you decide to start playing competitively and getting as good as you are?
Helios: I found some really cool videos on the internet, which displayed tons of new techniques that were all new to me
Helios: and once I started reading about them and learning new stuff, it opened up a complete new world for me
AB: Pretty much the same thing with me too. Except I only discovered it about a few years ago
Helios: then I found out about tournaments, and me and my friends started practicing regularly to become just as good as the pros
Helios: then I made it to my first tourney, in the netherlands, completely new to the scene
AB: Regularly? How often do you play nowadays with all of your friends?
Helios: =/
Helios: not much
Helios: last time I played anyone was over 3 weeks ago at a tourney abroad
AB: Oh
Helios: haven't seen the other swedish for over a month now
AB: Oh, that is a pretty long time. Me and my friends tend to play about once or twice a week together But I still practice by myself. Do you practice just by yourself against level 1's or anything since you can't play your friends much?
Helios: yeah, I've been doing that more and more recently
Helios: to be quite honest I think I got 280 KO's today, while just trying to get my tech skill down
AB: Wow
Helios: trying to get some new techniques down rather
AB: Like what?
Helios: drillshine infinite
AB: Oh
Helios: a year and a half ago, I was able to waveshine people across FD
Helios: now I can't do it anymore
Helios: I guess it's just the kind of stuff you don't really practice much, so you forget it completely
Helios: I hardly waveshine much in my playing style
AB: Oh, I see. I don't really forget anything because I haven't been playing long enough to really forget
Helios: LOL
AB: Right now I'm just practicing chaining Nairs together vs Link, Y Link, Bowser, Ganon, Marth, etc...
Helios: I see
Helios: I tend to miss that, dunno why
Helios: they just move too much upwards from the first hit of the second nair
AB: Ah, try retreating it more and hitting them with the tip of your foot, and waiting a moment later before you fastfall. Might help... Who are some of the best players you've played? And what was that experience like?
Helios: neo, azen, pc chris
Helios: this was a long time ago, and I was nowhere near my current level, but yeah, I was overwhelmed by the level of playing
AB: Haha. How do you think you stand up against them now?
Helios: no idea
AB: I don't want to make this interview too long since I'm going to have several of them, so how about any final words for our Helios/Falcon fans out there? Any advice for them or anything?
Helios: Err, nothing outside the obvious. Practice a lot, make sure to have several people to play, study smash videos and go to tournaments ^_^
AB: Yeah tournaments, I've noticed, help an incredible amount. Ok, thanks a lot for your time Christoffer.
A few words on Helios: I’ve never really seen Helio’s vids until someone brought them to my attention a few months ago. I had never heard of him as a Falcon player (Only Fox) so I was a bit skeptical. His Falcon is very good however, and I highly recommend the 2-3 vids of his Falcon that are actually available. Hopefully there will be more soon.
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Final words
Falcon is really fun. He's all about waiting for a mistake by your opponent and ****** them for it. With this in mind, don't rush in. If you just play stupidly, like a smash-crazy Marth... You're going to get dominated. Falcon isn't about that. Take your time, and stay unpredictable. WD back, DD as much as you can, use empty shorthops and wait for your opportunity. Then combo them across the screen, end it with a knee, edgeguard, "Show me yo' moves!" etc etc... Hopefully this guide has helped your Falcon game somewhat, PLEASE feel free to add anything you want that I have not included (Especially new combo ideas!).
I'd like to thank a few people like Tipman, Duke for being like a little AngeloBangelo while I was gone, Krumber (And his inspiring guide), Roy_R (For the gentleman information), Superdoodleman for all of the frame information, G-regulate for the hilarious thread (Listed under Falcon's "Pros" section), and especially DYC for helping me with the finishing touches and a lot of specifics I didn't know... Lastly, anyone else who has posted intellectual Falcon material on the boards. Also Isai, DarkRain, and Captain Jack for having awesome Falcon games to study. Lastly Kitsune, Big C, Rick, Drew, Tapion, the best 2v2 partner ever: ORLY, Jake, Stefen, Chris, Captain Awesome, Mendoza, and anyone else who has ***** me match after match to help me get better.
Thanks for reading!
You can also contact me on AIM as: i g0t teh micr0
Send comments or questions to the hotmail address!
Changelog as of 2.00:
-2.00- A bunch of stuff has been changed, mainly the character matchups and move descriptions. I’ve learned a lot since I first made this guide so I’m going to just update it with everything I possibly can. Tell me if I forget anything
Some stuff includes:
More information on moves, specifically the gentleman and A LOT more information on aerials
Some more info in the “main keys” section
Moonwalking (Since it’s so vital to any Falcon player)
I switched up the Character Specific area so it’s a bit easier to read Coming soon
Added interview section
Changed section 11 to “Comboing n00bs” instead of an edgeguarding section
Adding "approaching" to the combo section
Added the Art of War section
Added the Falcownage section
Added Illustration section Coming soon
Added more to the Thank You section (Adding more soon probably)
AngeloBangelo’s Guide to Playing a Competitive Falcon
I've been playing Falcon competitively for a while now, and I feel I have a good enough understanding of him to make a decent guide for people to further their knowledge of him. Falcon is all about using his incredible air game combined with his blinding speed to combo people into his Fair (The knee). Hopefully this guide will inspire you to start playing Falcon more, or take your current Falcon game to the next step. So, without further ado:
(First is the legend for the moveset/intro )
1. Who is this Falcon character that everyone is talking about and praising?
2. Advanced Techniques
3. The Main Keys to a Competitive Falcon
4. Basic Ground
5. Tilts and dash
6. B Moves
7. Smashes
8. Throws
9. Aerials
10. Miscellaneous Frame Information
11. Combos/Approaching
12. Comboing n00bs
13. What should I do when I have no one to play?
14. Mindgames
15. Styles of play... Which is right for you?
16.Individual Matchups
17. 2v2 Play
18. Free for All
19. Break the Targets
20. Home Run Contest
21. Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”
22. Illustrations and pictures
23. Falcownage part 1
24. Interviews with good Falcon’s and AngeloBangelo’s opinion of them
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1. Who is this Falcon character that everyone is talking about and praising?
Captain Falcon is the king of pwnage. He's basically as he was in the first SSB: The fastest character in the game with fast and powerful moves. The only difference between him in that game and SSBM is that now he has a serious finisher... The knee. Falcon first appeared in F-Zero in August of 1991 for the SNES I believe. I believe Falcon is one of the harder characters to play well. He requires quick thinking and fast hands. Not as fast as say... Fox... But you still need to be pretty fast and accurate with your buttons. I'm going to rate Falcon in a few categories, go over his pros and cons, and talk a bit about exactly what you need to do during a game to win, before I move onto his moveset:
Power: 4/5- I gave Falcon this score in power because a lot of his moves can deal damage quickly, especially if they're in a combo. The opponent simply won't know what hit them. Falcon's real power comes from his Fair. His smashes are seriously powerful, but difficult to land. But then again, this category isn't about how easy it is to land his moves. All in all, he's a pretty powerful character, especially when combined with his amazing speed.
Speed: 5/5- Ok, Falcon is the fastest character in the game. Fox is not. I'm glad I got that out of the way. Falcon is blindingly fast, and all of his moves are very quick and have very low lag (Especially if L-canceled). His dash is the fastest in the game, and his run is tied for the fastest. Just to give you an idea, I've been able to knee people off of Final Destination, run a quick lap around the level, come back, and edgeguard. Falcon's speed allows him to combo people very well because he can SHFFL an attack and continue the combo quite effectively due to his ability to catch up with a stunned opponent.
Combo Ability: 5/5- Falcon is about combos. This is quite simple. Well, the idea is simple. Combo people a lot and j00 r winnar. But doing it is a lot harder. DI, wiggling, fastfalling... All of these things work against your combo ability. Fear not though. Most pros agree that Falcon has the highest amount of combo ability in the game with his lightning fast moves, running speed, and low lag. Learn how to combo, and how to control Falcon's speed. They're his main strengths.
Size: 3/5- Falcon is not particularly tall, nor is he particularly small. He lies somewhere between Bowser and Pichu. I don't think I really need to go into too much detail here.
Weight: 3/5- Falcon isn't as heavy as Bowser or as light as Game and Watch. Keep in mind that weight is not necessarily how fast he falls. Since he is a fast faller, I will go into his falling speed in a little bit. By weight, I mean how far he flies from a tipper or something in comparison to other characters (Like Bowser or GaW as I previously compared him to).
Jump: 4/5- Falcon has a great jump. It takes a bit to get used to because it can basically reach across stages. This of course wouldn't be possible without his amazing speed. I love his jump, it suits him perfectly. If he jumped as short as Fox, he'd have no combo ability. Also if he fell as fast as Fox, he would have no combo ability. At least, SHFFLing would be a lot more difficult if his jump was a clone of Fox's. Also, his jump lets you jump really really really far off of the edge to spike someone and look flashy. This, although hilarious, isn't always the best tactic at tourneys. Actually, never do it at a tourney. But in friendlies, it's a riot.
Usage: 3/5- Falcon isn't really used that much. I'd say the person to get the 5/5 award for usage would have to be.... Sheik. Or Fox. Everyone loves Sheik and Fox. I don't know why. Falcon doesn't get as much attention, but it's fine. When I first started playing SSBM I played Fox. Then my friend took up Fox. I hate mirror matches, so I took up Falcon instead. I didn't like him at first, but now he's the only person I really use. Hopefully this guide will help raise this number to a 4 or 5. Falcon pwnz j00!
Falling Speed: 4/5- Falcon is a fast faller. That being said... Guess how fast he falls! Yep, that's right. Fast. This can be an advantage or disadvantage. An advantage being that your fast fall (Pressing down on the control stick to SHFFL) makes your air moves executed much faster than a Marth's ever could. A disadvantage to fastfalling is that you can be comboed very easily yourself. A good example is a Fox Utilting you repeatedly. It's very hard to get out of. Or a Marth chainthrowing you with Uthrows. These are one of the few weaknesses Falcon has.
Pros:
-He's fast... Really really fast
-Fantastic jump
-The perfect finisher
-Low lag aerials. This is very important since he's very much an aerial based character
-You could combo people across several TV screens if it was possible
-It's so fun to link combos together!
- http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=55881
-2 Chaingrabs
-Best dashdance in the game
-Isai plays him
Cons:
-Juggled very easily due to his weight combined with his fastfalling
-Only moderate air priority. This can be a problem when your character is going to spend about 80% of their attacks in the air.
-Although his smashes pack a huge punch, they are very very hard to land on a living opponent
-Horrid recovery. Seriously. My grandmother can shine me out of it...And she's paralyzed and has had all of her limbs amputated.
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2. Advanced Techniques
Here are some things you may or may not know to use as Falcon. I use them when I see an opportunity, but hopefully you haven't heard of all of these so I feel like I've taught you something.
Tech Chasing- This is Dthrowing or Uthrowing the opponent and watching which way they tech. Then following that tech with a Forward-B. You will catch up to them and land it, sending them into they air making them susceptible to a combo or a finishing knee.
Tech Punishing- This is Dthrowing or Uthrowing the opponent, dash dancing, reading their tech, and then running after them and grabbing them to repeat this process until they stop teching.
Walljumping- This is pretty simple. You can use this to aid your recovery and it can also confuse opponents because people can rarely read when you're going to walljump.
Ledgehopping- Ledgehopping is holding a ledge, falling off, then double jumping into an attack (Usually Nair for Falcon). You need to perform the LH immediately after you grab the ledge so that your invincibility frames do not fade. You can even link it into a combo. Who else has a ledgehop that can lead into people being comboed across the screen... Hmm.. Possibly Marth... No one else though!
Wavedashing- Wavedashing has a lot of synergy with his... Everything. He just has a very short and smooth wavedash. It's especially helpful for stopping you in your tracks during a DD. You can also keep opponents guessing with constant WDing and empty short hops. It makes you much more difficult to read which is very key for Falcon. I suggest DDing into a reasonably readable charge into your opponent. When they try to hit you (Or when you expect them to attacK), WD backwards, and then charge back in. After their attack, they will be vulnerable to being comboed.
SHFFLing- This stands for short hop fast fall L-cancel... This is a must for Falcon players due to the fact that almost all of his strategy is juggling people with his fantastic air game. If you don't know how to do it... Learn.
Dash Dancing- Basically just run back and forth really fast, in place. This is a great fakeout tactic because people can't see when you're coming. You can also dash in either direction at any time... And lose almost no frames/time doing so. I suggest doing this often. Making Falcon difficult to predict is one of his greatest strengths. This move is one of his most commonly done "advanced tactics" because there is really no reason not to do it. You can dash forward if you see an opportunity to combo, or dash backwards if you need to as well. His WD and DD have great synergy and you need to use them together... And often.
Edgeguarding- Edgeguarding refers to the entire process of using attacks off the stage, shffld bairs on the stage, and edgehogging to prevent someone from getting back to the stage. You can sit on the edge and time Dairs well (I <3 weird hitboxes), or use Utilts.
Sidestep- Falcon's sidestep is pretty awful. I usually don't use it because it's so slow compared to really good ones like Fox, Falco, or Young Link.
Empty Shorthops- Empty shorthops are what they sound like... Shorthops without an attack. They're used only for mind games. Basically just to keep the opponent guessing, and to keep Falcon as unpredictible as he should be when played. To add even more craziness, waveland after an ESH. Wavelanding is dodging back towards the ground as if you're going to platform dash. This allows your ESH to give you more mobility. ESH are great for mindgames in 1v1, but they really shine in 2v2. Read more about that in section 17.
Tap Reset- A tap reset is Uthrowing someone, but intead of comboing them in the air, and you give them one or two punches (Double tap A). After this you can dashgrab, and do it again for a while. Since you "reset" them by hitting them, they cannot tech out of it. They can, however, recover before you get a chance to hit them. So remember that when using this against non-fast fallers.
DJ aerials- I'm not sure what these are called, so I will just call them double jump aerials. They're usually a last resort to a failed knee. A good example would be if your opponent was off of the edge and you used one jump trying to knee them. It fails, and you tip them with it, you then double jump and immediately use an Uair to push them farther away from the edge. Then you use your Up-B to recover. You can also use this with double knees, or double Uairs on floaties.
Reverse Uair spikes- A reverse Uair spike is jumping off of the level with your back to your opponent (They are attempting a recovery) and you use an Uair and hit them with the tip of your foot. This sends them slightly down, but more importantly, very far back. This is a good "spike" against opponents with horrible horizontal recoveries (Like Marth).
Chainthrowing- This is throwing an opponent down (Best characters are floaties/semi-floaties... Like Marth!), dash after them, and you can grab them again to repeat the process. This only works at 0%, until you chain them to about 20%. It's still very useful though. Don't try to chainthrow after about 30% though, because they will not be stunned long enough for you to grab them again, and they will just double jump.
Baiting- Baiting people is basically faking them out into doing something they normally wouldn't to put yourself in an advantageous position. An example would be running to them, forcing them to shield, rendering them immobile. Then you WD back, and run back in to throw their timing off followed by grabbing them. DDing, WDing, empty shorthops, and things like that are good for baiting people.
Jump canceling- JCing your grabs is very handy. To do it, just press jump right before you grab as you're running. It will cause you to stop and grab, rather than keep moving forward after you miss (Assuming you do). This is an important tactic for Falcon players to use because it speeds up your grabs.
Platform Dash- Platform dashing is jumping above a platform, and WDing across it. This is very useful for Ganondorf to speed him up, since it's faster than his run and makes him more agile. This is not so necessary for Falcon because is already the fastest character in the game and is very mobile. It's still a good tactic to employ, but it's nowhere near as necessary with Falcon as it is with Ganon.
Wavelanding- Wavelanding is usually performed after an empty shorthop. It's basically the same thing as a platform dash except no platform. To practice, try running at an opponent, and SHing backwards. Right before you land, dodge backwards and towards the ground. The physics of the game will cause you to slide backwards, providing more space between you and your opponent.
Flubbed techs- A flubbed tech is just when someone doesn't tech after they land. This is important to Falcon because he can land knees on people who are laying on the ground if the knee is SHFFLed. If you combo people and throw off their timing, they will try to tech at the wrong time, land, and you will be able to knee them for a stock.
IASA- IASA stands for "Interrupted as soon as". This basically means that the move can be interrupted as soon as this (Or these) frame(s) have been met. By interrupted, I mean that you can perform another move, jump out of it, etc...
Moonwalking I’ve only really seen Germ use this with Link until Silent Spectre was seen in his videos. This is basically dashing, then doing a half circle backwards while dashing. You’ll appear to be moving backwards doing the running forward animation. It’s not useful at all in a real match. Only for showing off, like short hop double laser and stuff.
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3. Keys to Playing a Competitive Falcon
To play Falcon, you need to have at least one thing down for sure... SHFFLing. I gave a brief explanation on SHFFLing in the Advanced Techniques section. SHFFLing is the fastest possible way to execute any aerial. Let me explain exactly how SHFFLing works. SHFFLing is about getting the most out of your aerials. First tap the jump button (Or up on the stick if you use the control stick) as lightly as you can. You should jump significantly lower. This will cause you to be in the air for less time. It's basically bringing your amazing air game to the ground. Ok, now... Let's say you're in training mode. You're Falcon vs a Fox computer. You set his damage to 50%. Use a Dair, and try to knee him out of it. It's not possible without SHFFLing. Ok, practice this on a standing computer: Perform a Nair and just practicing pressing down on the control stick after you reach the height of your jump. This will cause you to fall faster, which is called fastfalling or "FFing". Again, this reduces the amount of time that you spend doing a move, and opens up a larger time window to combo your opponent. Ok, after you get FFing down, you have to learn to L-cancel. L-canceling is pressing L or R right before you hit the ground after an aerial. This will cut down your landing lag by exactly one half. This is obviously crucial to a character who's offensive game consists of nothing short of his aerials. The lag change will not be too obvious at first. This is because Falcon already has pretty low lag times, and someone new to L-canceling probably won't notice. The easiest way to tell if you're SHFFLing correctly is going back to our previous exercise. Fox at 50%. If you can stomp (Dair) him, and land a sweetspotted knee on him... You're SHFFLing the Dair correctly because landing the knee is impossible without SHFFLing due to the amount of frames an unSHFFLed Dair takes to finish.
Another huge concept of Falcon: teh_mindgam3z. Mindgames are very crucial for Falcon because his priority sucks, and moves that have decent priority usually have crappy range (Fsmash being a good example). Keeping this in mind, you have to fit your moves in somehow. Your moves sure as hell aren't going to overwhelm a smash happy Marth. You need to use all of Falcon's strengths (Mainly his speed and great mindgame potential) to try to get your opponent in the air, where you will (Hopefully) combo the living hell out of him. When he lands, you do it again. I'll go into mindgames a bit later. This is kind of the n00b section and I don't want to overload you.
The mighty C-stick... This can make or break a Falcon. Technically, the C-stick is a must for Falcon players. It's almost required to SHFFL Uairs repeatedly, and it also lets you do things that would be impossible without it (Like retreating sweetspotted knees). Does everyone use the C-stick? Nope. Isai doesn't. But I do now at least, and it’s been incredibly helpful to my Falcon. Anyway, it's just a good habit to get into. If you can learn the C-stick, I suggest learning it and applying it to your Falcon game as soon as possible.
Learning when your opponent is going to flub his or her tech is so insanely vital to any Falcon player, I can’t stress it enough. Knees, stomps, boosts all have insanely high potential for punishing flubbed techs. If you don’t start stomping, boosting, or kneeing your opponent when they hit the ground and miss their tech, you need to start or your Falcon will never get better.
Controlling Falcon is also very vital. You need to be able to dashdance and wavedash to stop your momentum if your opponent is coming for you, or turning away from them in dashdance and Bairing them. It’s fun to do and you look pro doing it but unless you can control it very well you’re better off playing in a more noobish-way.
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Hi! Read this! I am teh intr0z0rz
Before the moveset begins I want to explain three quick things:
1. Bold = Category that the move falls into.
2. Italic = Summerization of the category for Falcon... How useful the moves are and such.
3. Underline = The name of the move
The numbers after all of the moves are the frame information. I figured this stuff might be good to know. After that, KB=Knockback, and then I will rate the range of the attack and give you the approximate amount of damage that it can perform (Spamming a move will weaken its damage considerably, if you did not know).
4. Basic Ground
Yeah... Basic ground... Well, to sum it up... Don't use rapid punch. Use the rest after a SHFFLed aerial to prevent shieldgrabbers. All of these moves are pretty low in damage and knockback. But they make up for that in speed. The only exception is The Gentleman which is has good knockback, decent damage, and is about as fast as a jab.
A
Official name: Jab
Total: 21
Hit: 3-5
Window of the second punch: 3-25
Second punch starts: 9
KB: None
Range: Low
Damage: 1-2%
-A single punch. I use this after a shffled aerial to prevent shieldgrabbing. The best moves to use it after is a Fair or Nair since when L-canceled they have such low lag. Otherwise it's difficult to get the punch in before getting shieldgrabbed.
AA
Official name: Straight
Total: 20
Hit: 5-7
Window of the knee: 2-25
Knee starts: 8
KB: None
Range: Low
Damage: 2-3%
-Double punch. Use this after a shffled aerial to get an extra hit in, or after an uthrow. Once again, this will only really work after a Nair or Fair because of the low lag times.
Rapid Punch
Official name: Rapid Punch (Is this really the official name?!)
Total: 55
Jab hits: 5-6, 13-14, 21-22, 29-30,
36-37, 45-46
KB: None
Range: Low
Damage: 1%
- This actually can be used, although that doesn’t make it a very good move. I’ve seen it used all the time in videos (Probably not on purpose) but I’ve never seen one video in which the Falcon player was punished for using this move. I still don’t use it unless I mess up on a gentleman but… I’m just saying. It’s been used well.
Gentleman
Official name: Knee
Total: 12
Hit: 6-12
intermediary animation: 5 frames
KB: Above average
Range: Low
Damage: 7-8%
-The gentleman is slang for hitting A twice very rapidly, waiting a moment, and then hitting A again to hit the opponent with your knee, but not go into rapid punches. If you learn to do this very well, I recommend using this after shffled aerials because most people will block the first two punches. If you have difficulty timing this, you can just press AA really quickly, and then press A and Z at the same time. Almost never fails. A gentleman is rarely suspected and it sets up well for the knee.
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5. Tilts and Dash
Falcon's tilts are actually pretty good. Just his Ftilt isn’t used that much but his dash is... Well... It's not Samus’. They are both very situational. I’ll cover the situations you can use them in right now.
Ftilt
Hitbox (UFtilt)
Hitbox(DFtilt)
Hitbox(Ftilt)
Official name: Round Kick
Total: 29
Hit: 9-11
KB: Average
Range: Above average
Damage: 6-11%
-Good for spacing, because it can't be shieldgrabbed. This cannot be comboed into though, so I rarely use it. It can be used however if you tilt up with forward at the same time. After an Uthrow, you can UFtilt them which sends them slightly more into the air which will open up for more combo opportunities. I don't use that combo often though because there are usually better moves that you can use after an Uthrow... Like a ForwardB or a Usmash, most of the time.
Dtilt
Hitbox
Official name: Crouching Kick
Total: 35
Hit: 10-15
IASA: 35
KB: Average (Vertical height)
Range: Average
Damage: 6-12%
-This move is a bit slow due to the time it takes for Falcon to retrieve his leg. Although it does have a fair amount of combo potential, but I still use it sparingly. It can be used against an opponent if you're at a low percentage and just need one knee to win. It's easy to CC an attack, use Dtilt, and knee them out of it. DYC informs me that it can be used to combo into the knee vs characters like Marth or Sheik. I just tested it. Now I have a good way to knee McHenry's Sheik player! I always just Dthrew, but it was hard to reach her with proper DI. Yay for DYC! This move can also be used to disrupt sweetspotters, such as Fox or Falco, which sets up nicely for a knee. Most floaty characters are set up very nicely by the Dtilt for a knee and I’ve discovered myself using this to start combos more and more now that I’ve been experimenting with it.
Utilt
Hitbox
Official name: Wheel Kick
Total: 39
Hit: 17-21
IASA: 38
KB: Very good
Range: Average
Damage: 7-13%
-Most people don't think this move is very good, which I disagree with... The start-up time is kind of bad, but if you connect, it is worth it. This move is actually really fast for how powerful it is. A lot of japanese players (Masashi and CJ) use this as a safer edge guard than... Say... Stomping. I'm trying to adapt this as well. I mean, if Captain Jack only uses this move for edgeguarding... I'm going to learn it. This move can disturb people who try to sweetspot the ledge. If you look at the hitbox, you'll notice that the hitbox area extends slightly below his foot after it's reached the ground, allowing you to disrupt sweetspotters.
Dash A
Official name: Turbo Shoulder
Total: 39
Hit: 7-16
IASA: 38
KB: Average
Range: Very low
Damage: 3-10%
-Bad move. Waaaaaay too punishable, and even if you do connect (You're more likely to get shieldgrabbed), you can't combo from it very well because of the amount of time it takes to recover. A lot of people are like "But this move is pretty good!" and you know what I say? It's not about what's good... It's about what's best. This move is actually seen pretty often though, unfortunately it’s only if they use the control stick. It’s usually from a throw, they try to jump and knee, but they hit jump too early and just use this piece of crap. If you’re in the habit of doing this, stop now.
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6. B Moves
His B moves are pretty useless except his Forward-B. You're usually looking for combo potential and well.. None of these moves really have any with the exception of the forward B.
B
Official name: Falcon Punch
Total: 99
Hit: 52-56
KB: Your head "esplode"!!!!11
Range: Good
Damage: 16-32%
-Don't use this except in FFA and 2v2. There are rare occasions when you can use it in 1v1. The only real example I can think of in which you can use this is against a Fox or Falco at around 70-80% after a stomp if they don’t DI AT ALL. Still, it’s really awesome/rare to pull off. Just so we’re all clear, this move is called the Tapion Punch Combo developed by a board member named Tapion013.
Up B
Official name: 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
KB: Average, but they gain their second jump back
Range: Good, but it's hard to land
Damage: I haven't looked yet... Probably crap
-Computers use this a lot... As a human, I recommend never using this. Something neat to remember is that if you connect with it off of the level (Say... if a Fox tries to shine you) you can ricochet them off of a wall and it makes it very difficult for them to recover, especially since you're usually edgehogging afterwards. None of my friends ever tech this, but I'm sure they will eventually learn. If you're playing people who are good at teching, this probably isn't a very reliable tactic. This move also gives your opponent their second jump back, so using it as some sort of kill move is nothing short of completely stupid. I have seen this move used out of desperation against Masashi with CJ. Basically he did an attack, it was shielded, and to prevent getting grabbed he used this move on Masashi's Yoshi. This doesn't make it a reliable move though. He's CJ... He can do these things and make them look good.
Forward B
Official name: Raptor Boost
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
landfallspeciallag: 20
KB: Very good
Range: Good
Damage: I haven't looked yet
-This move is really good for starting combos, but it is hard to land because of the startup animation (This makes it really predictable, and you will get shieldgrabbed). This move is best used at medium percentage, and just shffl an easy knee for the win... Good times.. Another good time to use this move is if you ever get an aerial shielded and land behind your opponent. This is obviously because you can use this move without being shieldgrabbed. Something handy to know is that this move will penetrate through projectiles when you're in the stage of the move that charges you forward. Something else that’s handy to know is to NOT USE THIS MOVE NEAR LEDGES. Sidestep dodge + Edge + Forward B = Stock.
Down B
Official name: Falcon Kick
Hit (from ground): 14-32
Hit (from air): 15-29
Recovery time (from ground): 29
Recovery time (from air): 28
NOTE: landing during the air recovery
time causes the ground hit
Ground hit lag: 45
Ground hit damaging: 1-2
Wall hit lag: 60
KB: Below average
Range: Very good
Damage: I haven't looked yet
-This move is not meant for combat. It's really slow, does no damage, has no knockback, and before he performs this move he yells "FALCON KICK!" so it's easy to see coming. You should never use this move in a competitive game. Friendlies or FFAs can be funny since you can hit multiple people with it repeatedly. A special trick worth mentioning is that if you use your second jump, followed by a Falcon kick, you will regain your second jump back. Use this sparingly because Falcon's kick lasts for a long time, and he falls very quickly. Only use this technique when you are very high in the air and very far away from the stage. Never use it more than once in the same recovery attempt because you will plummet down too far and will probably kill yourself in doing so except for rare occasions.
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7. Smashes
Falcon's smashes are all very powerful if they land... But they are impossible to land on an opponent. Or if it is possible to land a smash... It most likely has little/no ability to combo. Just... Try to steer clear of them, in most cases with the exception of the occasional Usmash when I see a good opportunity.
Fsmash
Official name: Overheat Elbow
Total: 64
Hit: 18-21
IASA: 60
Charge frame: 10
KB: Very good
Range: Disturbingly low
Damage: 11-27%
-This move sends people very far. Due to the startup time, it's very difficult to land though. If you're really good at reading techs, you can just Fsmash people after they tech past you. It's usually a stock if you land it at a reasonable percentage. You can also Uthrow fast fallers at 50-60% and Fsmash them if they flub their DI. If you’re facing an edge, you can Dthrow FFers and expect them to tech into you which leads nicely into a Fsmash for a stock depending on the character and percentage.
Dsmash
Official name: Pinwheel Kick
Total: 49
Hit: 19-22, 29-32
IASA: 45
Charge frame: 14
KB: Above average
Range: Above average
Damage: 12-20%
-If someone is on the edge and you Dthrow them, they're most likely going to tech into you. You can either land a Fsmash or a Dsmash. This move is very useful against people who roll a lot. Other than that, it is a pretty slow move. Slower than the Fsmash and not as powerful. Although it does have more range than his Fsmash, but I would still use his Fsmash over this in most situations. The move is just so slow and gives you no payoff for the amount of time it takes to use. The only time this is especially handy is after Uthrowing a Fox or Falco. They will usually either tech in place or behind you for whatever reason. Either way, they’re light and this almost always lands on them until they start DIing away from you.
Usmash
Official name: Pendulum Kick
Total: 54
Hit: 21-22, 27-28
IASA: 40
Charge frame: 8
KB: Above average
Range: Low
Damage: 15-27%
-This move is tough to land because it only hits slightly above, and slightly in front of you. It does have great combo potential, but it's a bit to unreliable to use consistently. At lower percentages you can Uthrow into this if they don't DI too much. It can also be Forward-B'ed into. As you can see, the damage is really high. It can actually be used as an effective KO move against characters that seem to have problems getting killed horizontally... Like Peach. The fact that it's two hits is also pretty good, because the move is active for a while, giving you a larger window to hit your opponent with it. This can also be a good move to kill with. An example would be CJ’s Falcon vs Ikki’s Peach. I think it’s the second vid. He predicts a jump off of the edge and Usmashes for the final stock. Good stuff.
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8. Throws
Falcons throws are simply fantastic. Uthrow and Dthrow both set up for the knee quite well. Bthrow and Fthrow well... They make for good paperweights.
Fthrow Official name: Bodyblow- There are few reasons to use this throw over the Dthrow and Uthrow, since they have infinitely more combo potential over this one. You can occassionally use this throw to get an opponent off of the edge for an Utilt or whatever. It's not completely useless, but most of the time Dthrow or Uthrow are better options. Does about 2-9% damage.
Dthrow Official name: Throwdown- Very good throw. Can chainthrow semi-floaties and floaties. You can also shffl knees into people when they hit the ground if they don't tech, or you can just pop them up and shffl a knee. Try to prevent them from teching so you can land knees when they're on the ground. They will stop teching if you tech punish a lot. Does about 3-7% damage.
Bthrow Official name: Kickback- Refer to Fthrow... Does about 2-9% damage.
Uthrow Official name: Rising Palm- This is what I use to set up fastfallers up for a knee or for a ForwardB. Fox/Falco are even susceptible to this at medium (40-50) percentages. Does about 2-9% damage. This is the main way you’ll want to tech punish fast fallers.
"A" while holding opponent Official name: Captive Knee- This is used to tack on a bit of damage before a throw. I always forget to use it, but that doesn't mean you should neglect it. You've got to think about how often Ken did this vs Bombsoldier and how much damage it tacked on each time he threw him... This is definitely a move you should not start to forget. It does between 1-2% damage.
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9. Aerials
Falcon's aerials have moderate priority, come out reasonably fast, and make up about 90% of his offensive game (Minus throws). Let's just say his air game is ridiculously better than his ground game. This is the meat and potatoes of any good Falcon player and I’m going to write a huge summary of each aerial, so be prepared
Nair
Hitbox
Official name: Rotary Kick
Total: 44
Hit: 7-12, 20-29
Auto cancel: <3 34>
Landlag: 15
Lcanceled: 7
KB: Good
Range: Good
Damage: 2-12%
-Great move. I love it because it's two hits and people usually block the first one and get hit by the 2nd one. I suggest learning to retreat this attack, which is basically just using it, but moving backwards so that you cannot be grabbed out of it. The first hit will do nothing, the second one is the one you need to connect with to start a combo. Spacing this move is extremely important. You don’t see good Marth players right next to you spamming their Fair for a reason. Some people say not to shffl this attack because you miss the second hit. It's not very hard to shffl it and land both hits, though. You can actually chain Nairs together against him if he doesn’t DI properly. This is also one of the safest moves to approach with against Fox or sometimes Falco, depending on if he’s lasering you (He probably will be, that son of a *****…)If you want to see Nairing at it’s finest, watch Darkrain vs Aho’s Marth. G-regulate also has a nice Nair Uair Nair on Aho. Or better yet, watch “tani(marth)_vs_kei(falcon) 2”. Wow, disgusting. This move the safest aerial you can do vs other fastfallers, in my opinion. It’s pretty easy to juggle certain characters with this move, depending on how they DI. If they want to avoid several Nairs in a row, then they have to DI towards you and up at the same time, which makes Nair useless. However, you can counter this by SHFFLing a Uair to combo them instead. A lot of characters are very susceptible to the Nair – Uair – Nair combo. These characters include, but are not limited to: Peach, Marth, Mario, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf , Link, and Samus. Something else worth noting is Nair is rarely teched. Unless it’s really obvious they’re going to. But most of the time if you use a Nair on a grounded character, they will get hit by the second kick and fall backwards and flub their tech. This allows a huge opportunity for you because flubbed techs are a good Falcon players wet dream. Knee him, stomp him, boost him, hell you can even Falcon kick him. Just be sure to always punish people who constantly flub their techs when they don’t tech Nairs when grounded or even when they’re in the air (Although techs are seen more often here unless in a combo).
Bair
Hitbox
Official name: Reverse Knuckle
Total: 35
Hit: 10-17
IASA: 29
Auto cancel: <6 21>
Landlag: 18
Lcanceled: 9
KB: Very good
Range: Average
Damage: 4-14%
-A very fast and effective move. Think of it like sex kick, kind of. Except instead of getting gradually weaker, it only has two different possibilities for effectiveness: Suck, and pwnage. I suggest "pwnage" but whatever floats your boat. This is a good move to ledgehop from if your opponent is already off of the stage. If you want to ledgehop really sexily, do a walljump off of the level into a knee… Phew… That’s too much. The bair is such a fast move that you can often chain a few together against semi floaties if you SHFFL them very well. This is also a good way to move characters towards the edge of the level. Unfortunately this move will send people upwards usually if you hit them with the strongest part of the attack. This can make it really easy for them to come back. The main time to use Bairs is when falling off of a platform or just coming down from above your opponent if you need some breathing room. It’s not usually used offensively or as an approaching move. More as a lightning fast move to give you some space if your back is to your opponent and you want to throw something out to keep him off of you for a second. I really don’t use this move that much anymore. It’s all mainly Nairs, Dairs, Fairs, and Uairs now. Sorry Bair. I still love you.
Dair
Hitbox
Official name: Step on It
Total: 44
Hit: 16-20
IASA: 38
Auto cancel: <3 36>
Landlag: 24
Lcanceled: 12
KB: Good
Range: Good
Damage: 8-16%
-This is a really good meteor. Not to send people down with, but more to pop people up for combo opportunities. If shffled against floaties, you can just knee them out of it when they pop up. It's hilarious to do! Something worth mentioning is this moves insane hitbox. You don't even necessarily have to connect with your body to hit them (I'll talk about this later). Also, it seems like you hit your opponent with the upper part of your body, they are spiked at a 45 degree angle. This is a key move against space animals and semi-floaties to get them into knee range. Some characters like Sheik, can really only be set up for a knee through this move (Or Raptor boost). This is one of the safest moves to approach with because momentum will carry you past your opponent and will not allow your opponent to shieldgrab. This move can be tricky to SHFFL for some reason, because the hitlag seems to be longer than all of Falcon’s other aerials. This should be one of your main moves used for approaching safely next to Nair. It really depends on the matchup, which I’ll get into later.
Uair
Hitbox
Official name: Overhead Kick
Total: 33
Hit: 6-13
IASA: 30
Auto cancel: 22>
Landlag: 15
Lcanceled: 7
KB: Average
Range: Above average
Damage: 6-13%
-This move is really good against floaties and semi-floaties. As you can hit them with two if you do not SH. Or 3 if you shffl one, and then full jump to fit another two in. It's great for racking up damage. It comes out so fast too...It's perfect for just jumping around punishing platform whores. Using late Uairs (Uairs with the C-stick right before you land on the ground) is a great way to surprise enemies. It’s kind of like when Husband always comes down without a move, or so it seems, with his Marth. And at the last second just throws out a Fair. You can do that with Uairs if your opponent starts to predict your empty shorthops. Since this move has such crazy low lag and decent range, it’s not a bad idea to do it once in a while since no one expects it. This move is really good vs some characters that have really weak Dairs like Sheik. You can’t combo her with Nairs like you can with Uairs. Uairs are also much more forgiving and noob-friendly because insane DI is not required like it is when linking several Nairs together. This moves range, speed, and extremely low lag makes it a bread and butter move when it comes to comboing.
Fair
Hitbox
Official name: Knee Smash
Total: 39
Hit: 14-30
IASA: 36
Auto cancel: <6 35>
Landlag: 19
Lcanceled: 9
KB: Very good
Range: Low
Damage: 8-16%
-This... Is the knee. I'm sure you already know what the knee is so I probably don't need to say too much. Basically it's CF's finisher. And people know this. They will watch for it often, so you may have to throw some mind games in there. You should not try to just SHFFL knees into people on the ground. Something I'd like to point out to those who don't know is that "The Knee" requires a sweetspot to be effective. The sweetspot is not about where you hit them with the knee, but rather the timing that you land the knee with. Speaking of missing the sweetspot, DYC brought something to my attention. If your opponent is already off of the stage and you weak knee them, you can follow it with a Uair and mess up their recovery still. I call it “Getting rocked” since DYC jokingly calls it the “**** you got rocked”. Not everyone knows that the knee will send you on a downward trajectory if you knee someone on the ground. This can be hard to do as you can only really pull it off if someone has a low shield or is rolling out of a tech, rolling towards you, etc… That’s why it’s usually better to knee someone on the ground than in the air. A knee in the air is worth two in the bush…? If the opponents shield is low and you are in front of them, fricking knee them. It will most likely break through their shield and send them very far away/down very quickly. Some crazy Asians can actually tech these so if your opponent is playing with one hand and eating rice in the other, be careful! Also, kidding. Don’t hate me.
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10. More Frame information
If you really want to get good with Falcon, you should have at least some sort of idea about where his frames stand. Here is a list of frame measurements of things that aren't direct attacks, but they're more like miscellaneous collected frame data that you should have a brief (Or extended if you're that extreme about your Falcon) understanding of.
Ledge stand <100%
Total: 32
Invincible: 1-22
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Ledge stand 100%>
Total: 58
Invincible: 1-49
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Ledge roll 100%>
Total: 78
Invincible: 1-54
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Ledge roll <100%
Total: 48
Invincible: 1-24
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Ledge attack <100%
Total: 54
Hit: 24-29
Invilnerable: 1-20
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Ledge attack 100%>
Total: 68
Hit: 37-40
Invulnerable: 1-33
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Ledge jump <100%
Total: 43
Invulnerable: 1-11
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Ledge jump 100%>
Total: 53
Invincible: 1-18
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Grab
Total: 30
Grab: 7-8
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Running grab
Total: 40
Grab: 11-12
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Jump: airborne on frame 5
Air time: 49
Earliest FF: 26
FF air time: 36
SH air time: 31
Earliest FF: 17
SH FF air time: 20
2nd jump earliest FF: 23
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Air dodge
invulnerable 4-29 out of 49
landfallspeciallag: 10 frames
Ground dodge
invulnerable 3-20 out of 32
Roll
invulnerable 4-19 out of 31
Landing lag: 4 frames
Ledge grab lag: 7
Dash becomes run at frame 16
Turn-jump Threshold: 16
Run turnaround: 28
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11. Combos
I like to start combos on the ground with a throw, then keep them in the air with whatever I can and end it with a knee. Here is a list of moves that set up well for combos (Assuming they land of couse), followed by a few combos that I see used often or use often myself:
Combo starters
- Forward B
- UThrow
- Dthrow
- Nair
- Dair
- Bair
- Fair
- Utilt
- Dtilt
- Usmash
- The Gentleman
- Dsmash
- UFtilt
- Dash attack
Beginner combos
- Usmash - Knee
- Uthrow - Knee
- Forward-B - Knee
- Dair - Knee
- Dthrow - Knee
- Uair - Knee
- Dsmash - Knee
Just so people don't actually get confused and think this combo is possible in any way, shape, or form... It's a horrible combo (Not to mention impossible) and I only added it for humor purposes. Don't try it at home, or you'll be laughed out of your own house by your peers.Legendary Trainer said:
Advanced combos
- Uair - Uair - Knee (My favorite)
- Knee - Grab/Uthrow - Uair - Knee (This is at 0% only, otherwise they fly too far after the first knee to be grabbed out of it)
- Nair - Uair - Grab - Uthrow - Knee
- Uair - Uair - Forward-B - Knee
- Dair - Forward-B - Knee
- Nair - Uair - Uair - Knee
- Uthrow - Nair - Uair - Knee
- Dair - Dair - Knee
- Uthrow - Forward-B - Knee
- Dair – Grab - Uthrow - Nair - Knee
- Uthrow - UFtilt - Knee
- Uthrow - Utilt - Dair (It's possible to land a knee if you land the Dair right after they hit the ground if they don't tech. They will pop up)
- Uthrow - Usmash - Nair - Knee
- Uthrow - Usmash - Nair - Uair - Knee
- Uthrow - Usmash - Bair - Knee
- Dair - Uair - Knee
- Nair - Forward-B - Nair - Knee
- Uthrow - Nair - Uair -Grab/Uthrow - Knee
- Dthrow - Techchase --> Dair - Knee
- Dair - Uair - Bair - Knee (This looks very impressive)
- Uthrow - Uair - Bair - Bair - Knee
- Nair - Knee - Knee
- Dair - Forward-B - (You can end it with a knee right here, or if you want them to travel further to the edge use a...) Nair - Knee
A thing to remember about combos, if you only think you can get one more hit in (Besides the knee)... Forget it. It's usually better to SHFFL, chase after them (With you on the ground, and them in the air), grab them, and throw them for another combo. Then hopefully they will have enough percent for you to finish the combo with a knee this time. Also, this is by no means the end of the combo list! Get creative and maybe post a few that you've pulled off that you're proud of. I'll add it to the guide and give appropriate credit.
Approaching with Falcon
Approaching is basically what it sounds like… Approaching the opponent, usually with a move. Here are some basic moves to approach with and my opinions of them.
Dair- My main approaching move. It’s safe from shieldgrabbing which is awesome. It also will land after a spotdodge if your opponent tries to dodge it. Also, it leads into anything, and if they’re too low for it to lead into another aerial, you can raptor boost them and combo that into an aerial. This is probably the safest move to approach with when beginning with Falcon as well as one of the most vital to learn.
Nair- Second favorite approaching move, as it has huge range which can stop shieldgrabbing and it’s two hits which is always awesome. If people always shield both of your hits you can actually SHFFL this before the second kick comes out and grab out of it like I show in Falcownage. This move is also great for catching people in midair and comboing off of it. If you can catch someone in midair with a Nair you can combo it into another usually when it wouldn’t have been possible to combo off of it if you had got them in the air with a Dthrow or something else.
Fair- Not a good approaching move. It has a lot of KO power but due to it’s small range and larger lag than other moves it’s just not a safe move to approach with consistently. The only time you should approach with the knee is when your opponents shield is very worn down and you think that the knee will just plow through the shield. But as far as combo potential you’re better off using a different move unless it’s at very low percentage.
Grab- Grabbing is great for approaching because it can lead into almost anything. The only downside is that if you miss the grab you’re probably going to get punished, which is never very cool at all. If people start to spotdodge your grabs you can start to charge at them and when you reach grabbing range, you wavedash in place. People will usually spot dodge anyway out of reflex and you can grab them out of their spotdodge or start up a Dair since it will land when their dodge ends most likely.
Raptor boost- Not very good for approaching. Although it has huge combo potential the fact that it has a huge windup and a lot of lag if it is whiffed or shielded which can lead to you getting punished… It’s too risky in my opinion. You’re better off using a raptor boost if you whiff a Dair or if you’re behind your opponent to at least eliminate the chance of you getting shieldgrabbed.
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12. Comboing n00bs
Falcon is ALL about the combos. I feel it’s only necessary to have a section completely dedicated to learning how to combo with him and discussing his comboing potential.
Ok, here it is: The combo section. Learning how to combo will make or break your Falcon. This section is probably going to be the most important in my guide because of how important comboing your opponent is for Falcon. So I’m going to try to go as in depth as I can. First we’ll talk about moves with the most combo potential. These moves are Uthrow, Dthrow, Raptor boost, Dair, Nair, and Uair. These are the moves you’re going to see a lot with floaties and semi-floaties. Against fastfallers, it’s much more difficult more difficult to set up for the knee. The only way you can knee them is through a stomp, boost, chased tech, or flubbed tech (Usually from a Nair since people rarely tech the Nair). Now let’s look at the combos that work on most characters. I’ll describe the best way to combo most of the characters in general. When I say “Nair” I mean that you can link consecutive Nairs together against the character (Usually around 3 of them, but you can link as many as 4 or 5 against Ganondorf if he sucks at DI):
Nair: Bowser, Ganondorf, Mario, Doctor Mario, Link, Young Link, Yoshi, Bowser
Uair: Jigglypuff, Kirby, Luigi, Samus
Nair/Uair. Alternating depending on DI: Marth, Peach, Samus, Mario, Doctor Mario, Ganondorf
Stomp, Forward-B, or punish flubbed Nair tech: Falcon, Fox, Falco
Sometimes when you’re comboing someone with Nairs, like a Link or something, you’ll notice that they’ll DI up or whichever way… This is when your Falcon comboing skills are truly tested. Don’t go straight after them, wait until they go into what I’m going to refer to as the “Nair zone”. The Nair zone is basically the spot where you can SHFFL Nairs and send them just high/far enough to land another one. Obviously if you Uthrow your opponent and hit them at the top of your first jump with a Nair, you’re not going to combo into another one. Wait until someone is in the Nair zone if you plan to juggle them with Nairs only. Here’s a picture of what I consider the Nair zone.
[Picture coming soon]
This is pretty much the ideal place to land a Nair if you’re looking to chain them together with other aerials. Practicing comboing Nairs into knees or other aerials is a great thing to practice when you’re alone since few people DI the Nair correctly, and they usually miss the tech if you miss the FF or whatever, which is a great way to set space animals and Falcon up for knees assuming they flub their tech.
Here is a guide to comboing Nairs into knees and such. This was actually a post I made a while ago, but I think it explains how to combo heavier characters (Like Bowser and Ganondorf) as well as lighter characters like Yoshi and Link:
There's a big difference between comboing easy characters like Ganon with Nairs, and more difficult characters like Link with Nairs. The difference is in the jump and in the amount you have to DI backwards after the kicks.
Ganondorf:
1. Forward B, Usmash. SHFFL a Nair. (1 Nair so far)
2. Jump IN PLACE and do a Nair, then DI yourself forward slightly. (2 Nairs so far)
3. Then jump forward and do another Nair DON’T DI BACKWARDS. (3 Nairs so far)
4. You can repeat the last step and knee, or just go for a knee.
5. That’s why it’s so easy to combo Ganon with Nairs once at higher percentages, because you don’t have to DI at all. It’s pretty skill-less.
Link:
1. Usmash Link
2. Jump in place, Nair, DI forward
3. Remember to Nair Link as soon as you can to keep him as high as possible or you will not be able to land the next Nair on him (1 Nair so far)
4. Jump while dashing, the momentum will carry you to Link
5. Nair. Be sure to start DIing backwards right before you land the first kick but after you press the A button, then DI SLIGHTLY forward to cancel all momentum (2 landed Nairs so far)
6. Also be sure to land the kicks with the tips of your feet, rather than around your thighs or he will be sent upwards, making it easier for him to get out of it and impossible for you to follow up.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 two times (4 Nairs so far)
8. Knee him in the face (4 Nairs, and 1 knee)
Mario:
1. Raptor boost
2. Grab him out of the boost
3. Dthrow
4. Nair in place. DI forward slightly. (1 Nair so far)
5. Jump forward and Nair, DI backwards right after the first kick (2 Nairs so far)
6. Repeat step 5/6 as needed
Marth:
1. Dthrow
2. SHFFL a Nair while DIing backwards after the first kick
3. Wait for a moment and then repeat step 3. The reason for waiting is because Marth travels kind of high up to just keep comboing him with Nairs as fast as you can depending on percentage. In most cases, you need to wait a millisecond or you will miss your second Nair.
These are a couple of examples of how to combo certain characters. Once you start to get the hang of it, comboing off of multiple Nairs is really easy (On opponents that don’t DI or flub often, anyway).
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13. What should I do when I have no one to play?
Here are a few things you can practice when you're bored to improve your Falcon game in one way or another. I find myself doing these things at midnight when I am not tired and no one is awake to play Smash with me... Or if all that is on TV is lame talk shows.
- Practice combos on a computer in evade mode
- Practice ledgehopping Nairs into a the characters listed above and comboing them off of the Nairs
- Practice wavelanding or wavelanding into edgehogs
- Practice platform dashing across FoD on all of the platforms (Like the Isai vid on the hub)
- Practice teching or meteor canceling
- Experiment with combos on different characters that you have a hard time comboing (Like for me, this would be Fox)
- Practice juggling the characters I listed in section 12 across FD with Nairs or Uairs depending on the character
- Pratice landing triple knees
- Practice tipping knees off of the level, followed by a double jump into a Uair to push them back farther
- Practice stomping into moves. This is pretty invaluable when you're back to back with your opponent can you stomp - nair - knee
- Practice timing stomps on opponents on the ground after they've been struck by a move... But do it after they have flubbed their tech so you can continue to combo them with stomps
These are just some of the things off of the top of my head that I do when I am bored. If you guys want to tell me what you do in your Melee down time... Post away and I'll add your ideas.
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14. Mindgames
Mindgames is a very broad term. It can be anything from dash dancing to creative uses of wavelanding. Let's discuss.
Like I said, Mindgames applies to so many different things that it would be ridiculous to explain them all. However, since I want to provide a guide that is as informative as possible, I will go into as many as I can think of at the moment. Here is a basic mindgame for Falcon: The matchup is Falcon vs Marth on FD. You dash towards him. He believes you're going to continue dashing to grab him because you do this often. To counter this he forward smashes. You predict this. This is why you WD backwards, followed by dashing forwards. His lag from the Fsmash is still occuring and you grab him. You can now combo the crap out of him. This was a simple mind game. Here is a slightly more advanced one: Falcon vs Fox on FD. You're DDing in the middle of the level waiting for him to approach you. He figures he can add on some easy damage. You're completely ready for his laser. You see Fox reach for his gun. It's ridiculously easy to knee Fox out of his laser. He probably wasn't expecting that. Whether you can call that a mindgame is arguable. Here's a good one: Falcon vs Fox on FD. You Uthrow Fox, he tech backwards. You grab him again and Uthrow. He techs backwards again. You grab him again... By now he is tired of teching backwards because you've grabbed him out of it. He's going to try to switch it up, most likely. Like I said before, you have a hold of him at the time. Uthrow... He techs forwards. But since you're the master of predicting your opponents, you're ready. You knee him out of his tech for a stock. This is not so much mindgames for you, but poor decision of mindgames for your opponent. A very advanced mindgame would be something like: Falcon vs Marth on FD. You're running at him. He is ready for you to WD back, grab him, or try to Nair him. He is waiting for one of these three because it's the only options you've used so far in the match and he now expects them. Instead, you shorthop backwards. He lowers his guard (Mentally) because you've put spacing between you. But right before you land, you waveland towards him into a grab - Dthrow - Knee. Mindgames can be very difficult, but they're vital for Falcon. Learn what to do and what not to do through experience. Or you can just go to this excellent thread started by Greg (G-Regulate): http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=54186
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15. Styles of play... Which is right for you?
There are four types of competitive decks in Magic the Gathering. I believe you can play Falcon just like any of these decks depending on what style suits you. There is no "one right way" to play Falcon. There are certain moves that dominate others in certain situations, but you can play Falcon in pretty much any of these fashions and come out victorious depending on the matchup.
Aggressive- This playstyle is how I used to play all the time, or at least this is what I'd classify myself as... A very aggressive player. Although Falcon has to be aggressive at times to fit combos in, it's not always the best approach. If you're vs a Marth and you keep running and jumping at him, throwing caution to the wind, you're going to get Fsmash, Faired, Naired, and lose. Against Marth you need a different style of play, other than Aggressive. So when can you be horribly aggressive? I think in certain matchups it's fine to use this playstyle. An example would be vs the Ice Climbers. Against Nana, you can be really aggressive and just combo her to hell because she has horrid DI/AI and there's no reason to be careful around her. Then when you're against a lone Popo, I would suggest Aggro Control.
Control- So how do you control your opponent with Falcon with no projectiles? One word: Throws. His throwing game is devastating when it comes to controlling the stage. You don't want to use this style of play against say... A Luigi or Jiggs. But against another Falcon or against another fastfaller in general... You can tech punish repeatedly and grab them a ton. Should you only use grabs? Well of course not. But against certain characters you'll discover that grabbing a lot, throwing them, then following their tech and continually grabbing them, can be devastating to their game. Fox is a good example. His speed is completely negated if he cannot move. The only real problem vs Fox is sometimes you mess up the timing and he'll pull out a shine.
Aggro Control- A mixture of the previous two playstyles. Aggressive Nairs, grabbing... All of that stuff put together into one. This is probably the best and most balanced form of playstyle for Falcon. You really can't go wrong by mixing an aggressive air game with a controlling grab game. It's a balanced mix and works well vs most characters. I especially like this playstyle vs Fox/Falco.
Combo Based- Falcon is very much so, a combo based character. So what is his combo based playstyle? It's when you set up for certain combos at certain percentages. An example would be... Let's say you know that if you land a knee on Fox at 75% he's dead. But he's at 50%. So you grab Uthrow - Forward B - Knee. This playstyle is a little more complicated to explain but it requires a lot of practice to use well. Or at lower percentages, Marth can be juggled with multiple Nairs. This is very hard to land, but with practice, you'll know how to use it correctly. And at the beginning of each match you'll know you can, and will, chain Marth with Nairs or Uairs depending on which you're more comfortable with/DI from the Marth player. A good example of seeing this is Bombsoldier vs Ken... On both sides. Obviously Bombsoldiers style of play is like one huge combo vid, but with Ken... He knows he can chaingrab at low percentages. Is this really a combo? Not really... But this is just to give you of what I mean about "Certain combos at certain percentages."
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16. Individual matchups
* * Feel free to correct me/add anything. Also, tell me if you'd like to see me elaborate on more matchups. These are the ones I thought would be the most useful to talk about, so I can get to my video as soon as I can. I still need a cool name for the video. Suggestions will be taken into serious consideration :/ * *
- Falcon (The mirror) - There are a few select moves that are going to win you this matchup... The first in Nair. This because it's very fast and strikes before most moves because of the range. It's also two hits and comboable. The second move is Dair. This is because Falcon will pop up and you can grab him to perform the third vital move (You can also SHFFL Nairs and grab them immediately to use the third move). The third move is Uthrow - Tap reset - DD - Repeat. This is good because... It works very well vs Falcon! It keeps him immobile (Very bad for him) and racks up damage really quickly. The fourth move is obviously... The knee. Use this to pwn Falcon at decent percentage. When he's off of the stage, just edgehog. I cannot stress enough how important edgehogging is in the mirror match. Falcon's recovery sucks and can't hurt you if you're EHing (Unlike say... Hmm... Pretty much every other character in the game). You will win or lose depending on if you nail those crucial edgehogs to get the stock advantage. You can rack up damage so quickly with CF that one stock advantage can be all you really need to seal your opponents fate. It's also worth mentioning that at about 48%, Falcon can be chainthrown with Uthrow. He can DI out of it easily, but they usually won't catch on until you start spamming it. Use this to your advantage, and also try to gain even more of an edge by throwing in some knees while you're holding them. If you hit them once everytime you grab, and you spam Uthrow a lot, it's a lot of damage in the end. Ok, last thing... Everyone plays Falcon really aggressively in the matchup. I recommend playing him as usual by DDing and WDing around, sneaking in a hit here and there. When you see an opportunity, **** them with a combo (Uthrow to Knee works nicely). Don’t forget to Isai stomp!
- Falco - This character basically negates DD/WDing together. The winner is semi-dependant on the level. If you're on Final Destination... Ouch. If you're on a level with a lot of platforms that you can abuse (With your lightning fast Uair), things are looking up. The thing that always wins this match for me is a well placed Forward-B followed by a Knee. If Falco falls off of the level, he's usually dead. Remember when I talked about crucial edgehogging with Falcon? Same thing in this situation. You cannot miss an edgehog, because it will be Falco's doom if you grab the ledge while he is trying to recover. Just Nair/tech punish a lot to rack up damage. Don't stay on the ground. Falco's air game is inferior to Falcon's, but it's the otherway around on the ground. Falco's smashes are much better and he will SHB you followed by a Nair. Not good. Try to also come in as low as you can when recovering to avoid being spiked. Don't try to go above him. It will not work. Another thing worth noting is when you Dthrow them, if they tend to tech backwards... You can SHFFL a Knee to their face very very easily. This is usually game, unless they tech again after the knee. When a Falco is recovering and using illusion (You are standing on the edge), remember you can time your Dairs to hit them as they are about to grab the ledge. This is useful if you're afraid of being spiked by the illusion/don't have enough time to make the edgehog.
- Fox - Noooooooooooo... Not the shine! Seriously, shine is all this guy has going for him in this matchup... That, and he's lucky that he's a fastfaller. And he's speedy. Just as fast as Falcon, except a SLIGHTLY slower dash. Ok, so... Fox is not a walk in the park. This is my least enjoyed matchup. First Falcon's weaknesses: Fox is excessively difficult to combo due to his fast falling (Assuming they tech consistently). If you get shined once when off of the stage, you're boned because his firefox will go off RIGHT before you reach it to get burned/gain your Up B back (Not like Fox would just shine you again anyway...), and he's very speedy and difficult to set up for a knee. The only way you can really set him up for one is an Uthrow, Forward-B, or Dair. You can't really combo him into it. It's very tough. Lastly, Falcon is juggled wayyyyy too easily by repeated Uairs. Ok, Falcon's strengths in this matchup: He's very fast, and his grab game works perfectly on Fox since he's a fastfaller. To rack up easy damage, all I do is tech punish a lot. It's much easier than it sounds actually. They can only go... Forward... Behind you... Or not move at all. And you can keep grabbing them and Uthrowing them over and over. Since he's a FFer, he will never be able to get out of your Uthrows (Like a floaty would) short of tricking you with his tech patterns. To read most people's tech, this is the general rule of thumb: Whichever way they didn't go last time, they're going that way this time. They try to change it up, but it's actually pretty predictable. Also, if Fox techs backwards often, you can easily knee them out of his tech for a stock (At decent percentages). Also, Fox flies very far from the knee. Sure, his recovery is ridiculously long, but that's what Dair is for. You can safely sit on the edge of the level and just SHFFL Dairs to his face until he fails to meteor cancel. This is also very easy because of how predictable Foxes recovery is. If you aren't good at tech punishing, it's kind of dependant on the level. If it has lots of platforms, it's easy to Uair him a lot. Regardless of the level, I recommend using retreated Nairs a lot. These seem to work well vs Fox. I also cannot stress the important of SHFFLed Dairs when back to back with Fox. Fox has a hard time dealing with them, and they set up PERFECTLY for the knee. They're amazing! Also, Foxes laser is rendered useless unless they hop it everytime. If you face a Fox who uses lasers on the ground, just keep in mind you're the fastest character in the game and he will feel like it takes decades to put his blaster away. You can knee him straight out of it easily. A good way to lure lasers out (To knee them) is to just DD in place. They will usually start blasting you. Great memories... Heh.
- Ganondorf - This matchup is all about the mindgames for Ganondorf. You'll have to predict when he's coming down with a move and when he's not. He's going to try to be tricky, but I'm sure you'll be able to overcome his mindgames. Ganondorf is bottom tier material... Just kidding. Anyway, his moves usually eat right through yours, so be careful. If Ganon starts Dthrowing into jabs, avoid stationary teching, or teching backwards. Ganondorfs really like to show you how powerful their Fair is when you do that. If you tech backwards, there's the chance he's going to land a really big stomp, but it's difficult for them to land those. Just switch it up. If you find yourself eating Fairs out of your techs, you know you need to start switching your tech directions. There are 2 easy combos at low percentages and one at high percentage vs a Ganon player: Uthrow - Nair - Knee and Uthrow - Uair - Knee are for lower percentages. Once he gets in the 70% range you can just Uthrow into a knee. Utilt edgeguard is very useful vs Ganondorf, and if he tries to go too low for you to reach, go for an edgehog. Like I said before, Ganondorf is slower than Falcon and relies heavily on mindgames to land his crucial attacks, so you'll have to be ready to dash in if you see him come down without an attack. He will usually do one of two things from there, after you begin dashing: Shield, or roll backwards. If your opponent rolls backwards a lot, just run straight past where he's standing and grab him out of his backwards roll to begin a combo. Some Ganondorfs spotdodge actually, but I think knees or stomps work well vs those. Even Nairs are good because they last for so long. You can slack a bit on your timing with Nairs. Comboing Ganon is all about the retreating Nairs. Seriously, if you learn how to dash in, retreat Nairs, and land both hits, you'll combo him like mad. Otherwise, it's going to be a bit tougher. Remember to follow stomps with Forward-B. If you get him in the air, you're usually able to combo him pretty well. Especially with Uairs when he's above you like that. You can pull of the famous Uair - Uair - Knee that I LOVE (Notice I even say it's my favorite combo in my combo section).
- Ice Climbers - Do not get grabbed. You can get chained from 0 to death. It's not particularly easy to do against a good Falcon, but it's still a possibility. Stick to aerials, as usual. IC's will usually stay on the ground and confuse the poo out of you with their wavedash. It's very hard to land aerials on good IC players because of their evasiveness. Falcon's largest hitbox moves that can be used on them is probably a SHFFLed Nair or a very late Uair (Late as in, hit C-stick up right before you hit the ground). Bairs and knees have a small hitbox and are difficult to land on IC unless they're stunned or seperated. Seperating them is pretty important, I might add. Nana is very vulnerable when they're seperated. So how can you do this? Well, since I said IC's stay on the ground often, you can Forward-B them pretty easily and almost be positive it's going to land. From there you can just knee her or go all Darkrain on her and land like 6 consecutive Uairs. Uair ***** Nana's bad AI. She won't even try to interrupt it usually. It's like juggling a level 1 computer with Uairs. Anyway, landing knees is difficult because of how evasive the IC's can be and even if you land it and they shield... You're going to get chaingrabbed, which sucks a lot. So what moves can you use as finishers?... Well... Not very many. Uairs and Bairs mainly. You can Dthrow to knee if your opponent is caught off guard by the throw. Otherwise it can be interrupted by the IC. Lastly, when recovering, watch for smashes. Mainly, watch out for edgeguarding with Fsmash. Just get your trigger finger ready. Because unless you're at a very low percent, you're dead. Your best bet is to mash L or R and try to tech off of the wall. It's hard as hell, but it looks sweet and gives you a second chance, which are always welcome by me.
- Jiggs - This is a pretty annoying matchup, but that doesn't mean it's not winnable. You'll want to approach Jiggs from above and below. Do this by staying on the ground and DDing... When they start WoPing, dash grab - Dthrow - Uair/Nair. When approaching from above, Dair is awesome. Just be sure to combo it into something after she pops up. 50% damage is the optimal time to knee because it will kill her, but she won't fly ridiculously far when she's stomped or Forward B'ed. It's VERY easy to set up with a Dthrow around that percent. Try to kill at that time or the percent will get so high that you will have a hard time comboing her. Just keep taking her out at 50% with a Dthrow - Knee and don't use Knee (By itself), or Bair (Unless you're sure about not being WoPed) and this isn't too tough. A final thing to mention is DO NOT edgeguard her. Don't... Don't do it. Jiggs will Forward-B you, Bair, and edgehog. Just let her back on, or maybe try to sneak an attack in if she's already used her Forward-B and you can sneak on in. Just be careful though. You never want to be off of the level vs Jiggs because of your horrible recovery. If you are already off of the level, just be sure to drop as far as you can and still be able to make the Up B or you're going to get Baired across the abyss.
- Link - This guy can get some pretty devastating combos in, and his edgeguard is aggrevating. A common combo would be something like Uthrow, Utilt, Bair, Boomerang, Fair. His boomerang does a fantastic job of keeping his combos going. To avoid being comboed is kind of dependant on who you're playing. Some people like to Uthrow, some don't. Some like to use bombs, some only use boomerangs, no one uses the bow. His projectile game is just synergetic with his combo ability.... That's why it's good. Try to prevent him from comboing you by... As always... Staying unpredictable and try not to let him follow you with boomerangs and such or else you will be very sad. If you're off of the level, just drop as low as you can and use your Up-B. If he catches you with his Up-B while edgeguarding... You'll be sad. Link is very easy to combo. CF is also kind of easy to combo, but Link doesn't really have a good finisher like Falcon does. You never see a Link played using his Fair and yelling "The swooooooooooooooord!" like someone would with The Knee. His Dair is really good, but I still use my Uair because it's habit. Not to say his Dair is bad... Especially if it hits you twice, or even three times if your opponent is good. I actually find Usmash to be really useful against Link at low percentages. I always try to Uthrow to Usmash at 0%. It does massive damage, and opens up for more combo ability later.
- Luigi - "It's Luigi time!" as my good friend Chris says before unleashing his Luigi on me. Luigi is an odd matchup because of his insanely high air priority. His Dair, Bair, sex kick, and Fair all have ridiculous priority and eat through your main moves (I approach with Nair usually, which doesn't usually go through). Another thing Chris said when I was playing him once: "Why is Uair the only move you ever use now?" The answer is because Luigi is very easy to juggle with Uairs. Plus it has a large hitbox, which is nice and forgiving with the accuracy since sometimes I play very sloppily vs Luigi since he's not a common matchup for me (Until recently when Chris switched from Fox to Luigi). Knees are hard to land on Luigi because of his priority and the knee's small hitbox. If you ever do land a knee, Luigi doesn't die to it easily. Constant missles, followed by the rising tornado, double jump, to an Up-B makes for some Cape-like recoveries. Edgehogs work nicely against his Up-B though. Just be sure to ledgehop to reset your invincibility frames for a larger window for the edgehog. Some Luigis, like the one I face, enjoy trying to abuse the priority of his Down-B and fling themselves across the stage with it occassionally (Or often...
). This used to be annoying to me until I found the Nair ties priority with it, while coming out quickly. Don't use the Raptor Boost against Luigi. He flies far too high for it to do anything. Don't Uthrow him either. He will just sex kick if you try to combo him out of a Uthrow. Use Dthrow and Uairs to deal maximum damage. Dealing damage to him is easy, him being so floaty, and Falcon being one of the best comboing characters in the game. However, finishing him off can be a real challenge because of his godly recovery, and the difficult task of breaking through his high priority air game.- Marth - C-c-c-combo! I love this matchup, it is definitely my favorite. Marth is the funnest character to combo, I love it! All your aerials set him up for more combos, and you can Dair - Knee without trouble. You can also Dthrow - Knee easily. The problem with Marth is... Yes. His range. Not projectiles, but he has range over you with everything (Your Nair has decent reach though). This causes a problem if the Marth can read you because Marth has a good juggling game as well with his Fair - Fsmash. The key to this matchup is juggle - juggle - juggle - Knee. But stay random and DD/WD a lot or you're going to get juggled just as easily. I read somewhere on the forums that Falcon vs Marth is all about who can juggle the other one better. I absolutely agree. Watch for his Ftilt, because it will send you to the air, which can be a problem. You will not be able to land aerials on Marth as long as he isn't being juggled. He just has too much range, especially with his Fair. It's easy to get into postion for combos though, if you utilize Falcons strengths correctly. You have speed and are infinitely harder to predict. He has range, is much slower, and you juggle him much easier than he can you. I'd like to say Falcon has a slight advantage, but it's pretty even. Whoever uses their advantage to their ability better than their opponent is going to win (obviously).
- Peach - Peach is very annoying to play with because no matter how hard you knee her, she always comes back. She can also edgeguard you very easily with float canceling Bairs and her downsmash is better than every one of your smashes combined (Not really... But it's good). Nair works wonders vs Peach. Don't use Uair too much because she just floats ridiculously high and will start stepping on your face if you try to hit her from below with a Uair. The only way to kill Peach early game is by reading her extremely well. If you can read her float (When she's recovering) and knock her out of it, you're in good shape. With her umbrella, she's going to try to be unpredictable. If you land a stomp, she's dead. Focus on that. Something else to focus on vs. Peach... Using the 1-2 punch after SHFFLed aerials. This prevents both 1. Her forward throw (Or the B*tch slap), and 2. Her downsmash. She will NEVER be able to get a Dsmash or throw on you if you keep 1-2ing her (Especially after moves with no lag with a proper SHFFL, like Nair). Do that a lot and make her reposition herself. If you keep her on the move, and stay on her... You're in good position because she's so slow. Turnips can mess you up a bit, so like I just said, stay on her. Just make sure Peach gets no breathing room when in the air (Unless she is float canceling, then just try to Nair her out of it, or DD to mess up her timing).
- Samus - I don't really like facing a Samus. A lot of people say she is easy to face because she's a floaty and she can be comboed easily. Although this is true, she has an insane projectile game and can be very difficult to read with her bombs and fantastic wavedash. Try not to stay toe-to-toe with her at all on the ground. Her Dsmash is awesome, and pwns your roll. Just roll away from her, not past. If you stand next to her with your shield up for a shieldgrab or whatever... You're going to get bombed repeatedly until your shield is gone. Her Fsmash is also really good. Try to stay on her, but in the air. Your Stomp, Forward-B, and Uthrow are pretty bad past 60%(Forward-B is awful at pretty much any percent). She flies too high to combo, and she'll just bomb you or something if you try to combo her. Your Dthrow is the best way to set her up for a knee after decent percentages. Just make her fight you in the air, don't stray from her and give her a chance to use projectiles, and don't set yourself up for a fully charged blast. You can avoid blasts by teching often, and moving with techs. No stand-still techs. The most common time to expect a blast is after a Dthrow from her, and she will try to catch you during your roll (Similar to how you will chase her tech with a Forward-B). Just don't give her breathting room. Use your Nair a lot because it's so fast and also sets up for the Knee well. Don't forget to SHFFL it... No one SHFFLs Nairs!
- Sheik - Yeah... This character is totally lame. Who thought up her dash? Why does she teleport? Anyway, Sheik is a bit harder to play vs, especially if you're a bit of a n00b with Falcon. Combos are key. Racking up damage, and throwing her/Forward-B into the knee. You cannot just run around kneeing her. Her Fair comes out so much faster than your knee that it's just stupid. Her needles make mindgames more difficult, and she has nearly as much combo ability as Falcon (Slightly less in my opinion). Be cautious when ledgehopping as well. Her Dsmash will usually eat through your Nair depending on her position on the stage. On, the plus side, Sheik is very easy/fun to combo and is very weak from the bottom. What I mean is, her Dair is horrible. Your air game penetrates it very easily. If you can throw her up and start comboing her from below, it's optimal. Also, stay very low to the ground if you're at a high percentage (Because her Fair is her normal kill move, and you will ricochet off of the ground and recover very quickly). Just stick to hit and runs. Like I just said, you can tech off of the level very easily from her Fair, and even if you miss the tech... You can come back without a problem. Since her run speed is slow, you'll usually be able to get back. So to sum it up, stay low to the ground at high percentages. Don't go for kill moves when at high percentages, just rack up a bit of damage and put yourself in an advantageous position for your next stock. It's best to approach Sheik from the bottom if she's in the air. And don't try to go toe to toe with her too often because her Dsmash will ruin you. Just be sneaky and combo her when you see opportunities.
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17. 2v2 Play- Falcon is sick in teams. You can land knees like crazy and juggling isn't hampered as badly as you may think considering there will be 4 people on the screen at once. Isai has some good 2v2 games with Ken and other pros which you can watch and learn from. The first thing to do when 2v2ing is discuss general strategies with your partner to get the basics down. Stuff like "If I grab, and he's in killing percentage range, I'll keep hitting him and you just knee him out of my grab." Do I hit my partner when I knee my opponent? Nope, never. Just kidding. I knee him in the face all the time. I'm only human
. Anyway, you have to have good communication without actually talking with your partner to get good at teams. You have to know their playstyle, know what they're going to do, and play off of that assumption. Something I cannot stress enough of in 2v2 as Falcon: Empty shorthops. People see a Falcon running at them, they're expecting a knee and are going to shield. Run towards your partner/opponent's side of the level if you see them in trouble and then ESH when you reach your opponent. Most of the time they will shield. This provides your partner with a valuable second to regain his or her breath and give them some breathing room. ESH can lead into so many things, it's insane. You don't always have to do ESH though. Sometimes just toss in a knee if the opponent doesn't look like they notice you're running at them at like... 150 miles per hour (Assuming that's how fast Falcon runs at top speed). Chaingrabs are not very effective in 2v2 unless the opponent has JUST spawned (0% still) and they're Marth or something. It's difficult to tech punish with throws as well. Forward-B can be really useful because it sets up for the knee well and it's huge windup time makes you less vulnerable when you have someone to watch your back. Forward-B almost always leads to a knee. Juggling with chained Nairs is better than ever in 2v2. Sometimes you can combo someone with a Nair and even hit both the first opponent, and their partner with the second kick. This is, needless to say, incredibly effective. Falcon's recovery also isn't as bad in 2v2 because edgehogging can be dealt with by your partner. Same goes with edgeguard crazy Marth players. Who are some good partners for Falcon? Personally, I like to have a Ganondorf, Marth, or Fox by my side. Samus can be Ok as well. But those first three are definitely my top choices. Experiment with your friends and see who works for you guys.___________________________________________________________________________
18. Free for All- Falcon is decent in FFA but his combo ability is hampered slightly because of all of the chaos. One move that seems to really stand out where it never did before is the mighty Falcon Punch. You can jump, hit B in mid air, and be able to land Falcon Punches on unsuspecting victims. It's almost always an instant kill move, which is nice. And the huge time it takes to use is somewhat negated because it should only be used on two people who are already fighting. Sometimes you can even get both of them at once, which is cool to do. Something else that really shines is his Fsmash. It's so powerful, and like the Falcon punch, the startup lag is negated by the fact that you should be using it on an opponent that is preoccupied with another opponent. Forget chainthrowing in FFA, because it will never work. Something different about FFA as well is that Falcon can land knees very easily. Especially on two people that are fighting, or on someone that is in the middle of a grab. Sometimes you can even get the grabber, and the person being grabbed with one knee. Nairs are your best friend here because of their speed, range, and double hit. Never leave the stage for a fancy stomp or anything like that! Everyone will usually run to the edge fighting for your kill... Fox will usually get it with a shine. Uair is also fast and effective in FFA, especially on levels with platforms like Battlefield. Dair is somewhat negated because of the fact that it has longer lag than all of Falcon's moves. Vulnerability is not good against 3 potential opponents. Raptor boost is quite effective in FFA because no one sees it coming, and it sets up perfectly for the knee. Even if you miss one person, you're probably going to hit another one. Basically, you'll never whiff with it. Last thing to remember in FFA, there is NO honor. If Fox falls off of the level near a Marth, sit in the middle of the level and start taunting. This will usually make the Marth think he's safe to edgeguard. The moment you see him wind up for that Fsmash or spike... Run like hell and land a knee on him, right when he thought he was safe. Mindgames!
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19. Break the Targets- Here is how to complete the Break the Targets for Captain Falcon step by step.
Target 1: Jump up and hit the target on the platform above you with a Uair.
Target 2: Double jump up to the higher platform, land, jump again. Pass the first target, and walljump to the left instead. Now you can wall jump to the right. Land a Uair (It will reach through the level).
Target 3: While falling from that previous attack, you can just use a Bair to hit the target you passed earlier.
Target 4: Drop back down to the grey/neon green platform, and drop from there. Hit the target in front of you with a Nair.
Target 5: Land on the ground and perform a Uair. Land on the ramp
Target 6: Jump, and double jump. During your DJ, use a Uair. The momentum will carry you onto grey/neon green platform right above you.
Target 7: Drop down and double jump. Immediately after you activate your double jump, use your Nair. Your first kick will hit the first target
Target 8: DI to the left, your double jump will carry you onto the little elevator thingy.
Target 9: From the elevator, jump out and knee the next target. You shouldn't sweetspot the knee, it's unnecessary. Don't try to land back on the platform!
Target 10: Double jump to your right, and walljump off of the wall to your left. From there you can use a Uair.
Using this path, you should be able to get it under 10 seconds easily. Just remember to SHFFL. Fast falling is key in this stadium event.
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20. Home Run Contest- This is not particularly hard if you know how to bat drop. If you don't, here's what it is: Bat dropping is pick the bat up, jumping, dropping it with Z, spiking the sandbag, the bat will hit the bag which keeps it in place. Grab the bat, and repeat. You can do this to almost 300% damage. After you bat drop for the 10 seconds, just Falcon punch. You don't even need to throw the bat. Should get you around 1500 feet if you bat drop for the full 10 seconds.
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21. Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”
Not only am I a huge Melee fan and powerlifter, but a fan of martial arts as well. I’ve read a few books here and there and I’ve noticed that strangely enough, martial arts (Depending on the discipline) bares a lot of similarities to Melee. In this section I’m going to give you some last minute tips that I’ve learned from martial arts books that I think will help you in Melee. This stuff is kind of inspiring to read too, for me at least.
“Plan no useless move. Take no step in vain” Basically this boils down to “Don’t do a Nair Uair Knee combo when just a simple knee will kill them”. Don’t approach your opponent when you don’t have to. Don’t shield when not necessary. This may seem like common sense but you’d be surprised how many people don’t even think about things like “Should I approach him now?” It’s more like “Might as well… I mean, it’s a fighting game, so I should fight him.” The thing you have to realize is that your opponent is thinking the exact same thing. He or she wants to do damage to you. Most people are much more aggressive than they have to be. Now with Falcon you have to aggressive when the time is right and your opponent has made a mistake. Don’t just charge in blindly with Nairs and hope to combo off of them.
“It is dangerous for a warrior to have likes and dislikes… Do not move one foot preferentially.” A lot of people spam a move that they like a lot rather than doing the move that would yield them the most advantage at the moment. I love kneeing things. Anything, even my partner in 2v2’s (Sorry Cunning). This is a bad habit to get into when you face an IC player and get shieldgrabbed for like 80%. I love to combo things to hell, especially with like, 4-5 Nairs. It’s fun and flashy and makes you look better than you are (Depending on the combo). But some characters aren’t comboed that well by Nairs like Peach. You can get her with 1-2, but after that it’s tough. Unfortunately sometimes I don’t care and I just want to combo her with a lot of Nairs. I end up messing up my combo and losing what could’ve been a nicer combo if I had just did maybe a Nair Uair Nair instead.
“Once we understand how the eye gets its information, it’s a simple matter to confuse an enemy’s eye into misinterpreting the information.” Falcon is a very fast character, and his combos are very dependent on your opponent almost as much as they are dependant on you. If they DI, sidestep, interrupt your combo with an aerial, etc… You should understand that Falcon is so fast that your enemy often has to jump to conclusions as to what you’re going to do next based on what you’re doing at the moment. Example: Whenever I run straight for my opponent I try to grab. They learn this after a bit and spot dodge. Then I start running in with stomps because when they spot dodge, the stomp hits them right when they come out of it. Do exactly what your opponent is not expecting at the moment and you’ll have a huge advantage over them because patterns are a huge weakness for most players.
“Perception is strong, sight is weak” This is basically saying to trust instinct over what you see. Because the opponent knows you can see what he’s doing. His character is right in front of you. But above average players will usually attack with moves you’re not expecting or that you cannot beat at the moment. This is the kind of stuff that makes Melee an intensely deep game when it comes to manipulation and predictions. The game becomes not what you see, but what your opponent thinks you see, and how he can capitalize on that. I think this kind of stuff happens more often with really good players like Ken, Isai, Chu etc… But I think it applies to all of us at times.
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22. Illustrations and pictures
Coming soon!
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23. Falcownage part 1
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=68307
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDvCthsXGE
That is Falcownage part one. It’s basically a Falcon tutorial to try to make my guide a bit more visual. If you want to learn how to do any of those techniques in the video, this is your place to be!
Basic techniques:
1. Empty shorthop (ESH)- Jump at your opponent and DI backwards in mid-jump. It’s tough but I know you guys can do it if you put your minds to it!
2. Dashdance- Press forward and backwards really fast! We’ll get to the good stuff soon I think
3. Wavedash- Jump and immediately try to dodge towards the ground/your enemy. You should slide a very short distance.
4. Chaingrab- Grab some poor soul and Dthrow them or Uthrow them depending on the character. Chase them and grab before they hit the ground. Rinse and repeat.
5. SHFFLing- I explain this thoroughly throughout the guide.
6. Tech punishing throws- This really only works on fastfallers. You basically just Uthrow and chase their tech and grab them out of the end of it. This can be done until they choose to purposefully flub the tech
7. Tap reset- Uthrow and punch once. I punch twice in the video but DYC informs me that you can DI the second punch… News to me.
8. Moonwalk- Ok, I can’t moonwalk for **** but I never really practiced it until this vid because I knew people would be like “OMFG WHERE IS TEH MOONWALKZZZ?” Run in a direction and do a halfcircle downwards as fast as you can and hold the opposite direction.
Intermediate techniques
1. Tech punishing raptor boosts: Same as with throws but raptor boosts offer more combo potential which ultimately leads to more damage. The only thing is that if you whiff it’s much riskier.
2. Wavelanding- Do an ESH but dodge into the ground and towards/away from your opponent at the last second to slide similar to a wavedash
3. Platform dash- Same thing as wavelanding but you actually travel farther on platforms
4. Ledgehop waveland edgehog- Ledgehop off of the edge, then it’s the same thing as platform dash except hold the control stick towards the stage to ensure that you grab on for the edgehog
5. Reverse Uair Ledgehop edgeguard- I MESSED THIS UP IN THE VIDEO. You’re supposed to stay on the ledge between jumps. If you’re really fast you can ledgehop a Uair without touching the stage and still grab the edge. So yeah… Do that instead. :D
6. Nair into grab- Just SHFFL a Nair really early and grab immediately after the landing animation is done. Easy stuff.
7. Edge sliding- Same as the waveland edgehog but hold the control stick away from the stage so you don’t grab the ledge
Advanced techniques
1. Double Nair- Uthrow and Nair in place. DI slightly forward and pull off another Nair. Easy.
2. Tapion punch combo- At exact percentages you have to SHFFL a Dair perfectly and then start MASHING the B button so you pull of the Falcon punch as soon as possible. Only works on fast fallers
3. G-regulate combo- Much more difficult to pull off. At exact percentages you can do this to Marth or a few other characters. Mash B really fast. The timing for this one is much more strict
4. Triple knee- You can actually execute this and get a 5 hit combo. I’ve done it before. It just wasn’t my day I guess
5. Knee into grab- Knee and follow through with DI towards the opponent. Grab during the stun and **** them as necessary
6. Dair into grab- I don’t think this needs an explanation
7. Stomp spamming against Fast fallers- Wait until the opponent has flubbed the tech. Then just stomp them. If you stomp them while they’re still in the air, they will hit the ground before you can stomp again and it will not work
End of Advanced techniques/Darkrain Style
1. Triple Nair, Triple Nair into knees, Quad Nair- Basically just follow section 12. It’s pretty much all there. Just practice a lot!
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24. Interviews with good Falcon’s and AngeloBangelo’s opinion of them.
Helios
Helios was mentioned a lot in my thread about good Falcon players outside of the U.S. which lead me to watch a few vids of him. Although rare, I did enjoy the few vids I was able to find.
AB: Hey, you want to do that interview really fast? I've got some questions ready to go if you've got some time
Helios: sure
AB: Ok, cool
AB: First just basic stuff like Name, age, location, favorite hobby besides smash, main, favorite fun character, favorite player, crew name that you're in, and favorite band and food too
Helios: O_o
Helios: k
AB: Haha, sorry about all the questions
Helios: Christoffer Lindgren
18 yrs old
Gothenburg, Sweden
main fox
seconday falcon
favourite fun char falcon hehe
fav player ek
crew = team sweden?
fav hobby = music, trance/progressive
fav artist Armin van Buuren
fav food chocolate lol
AB: Haha, Chocolate
AB: Ok, now for the questions... When did you start playing Smash, and why did you stick with it?
Helios: march 02
Helios: it was the game I got together with my cube, so I ended up playing it every day
Helios: and all my friends played it too, and there was something about it that was just so much fun.
AB: Yeah, I know what you mean. Just a fun game to have 4 people with
Helios: 1 vs 1's were awesome aswell
Helios: I just couldn't not have fun with the game lol
AB: Haha, yeah. Same here when I got it
AB: So, what made you decide to start playing competitively and getting as good as you are?
Helios: I found some really cool videos on the internet, which displayed tons of new techniques that were all new to me
Helios: and once I started reading about them and learning new stuff, it opened up a complete new world for me
AB: Pretty much the same thing with me too. Except I only discovered it about a few years ago
Helios: then I found out about tournaments, and me and my friends started practicing regularly to become just as good as the pros
Helios: then I made it to my first tourney, in the netherlands, completely new to the scene
AB: Regularly? How often do you play nowadays with all of your friends?
Helios: =/
Helios: not much
Helios: last time I played anyone was over 3 weeks ago at a tourney abroad
AB: Oh
Helios: haven't seen the other swedish for over a month now
AB: Oh, that is a pretty long time. Me and my friends tend to play about once or twice a week together But I still practice by myself. Do you practice just by yourself against level 1's or anything since you can't play your friends much?
Helios: yeah, I've been doing that more and more recently
Helios: to be quite honest I think I got 280 KO's today, while just trying to get my tech skill down
AB: Wow
Helios: trying to get some new techniques down rather
AB: Like what?
Helios: drillshine infinite
AB: Oh
Helios: a year and a half ago, I was able to waveshine people across FD
Helios: now I can't do it anymore
Helios: I guess it's just the kind of stuff you don't really practice much, so you forget it completely
Helios: I hardly waveshine much in my playing style
AB: Oh, I see. I don't really forget anything because I haven't been playing long enough to really forget
Helios: LOL
AB: Right now I'm just practicing chaining Nairs together vs Link, Y Link, Bowser, Ganon, Marth, etc...
Helios: I see
Helios: I tend to miss that, dunno why
Helios: they just move too much upwards from the first hit of the second nair
AB: Ah, try retreating it more and hitting them with the tip of your foot, and waiting a moment later before you fastfall. Might help... Who are some of the best players you've played? And what was that experience like?
Helios: neo, azen, pc chris
Helios: this was a long time ago, and I was nowhere near my current level, but yeah, I was overwhelmed by the level of playing
AB: Haha. How do you think you stand up against them now?
Helios: no idea
AB: I don't want to make this interview too long since I'm going to have several of them, so how about any final words for our Helios/Falcon fans out there? Any advice for them or anything?
Helios: Err, nothing outside the obvious. Practice a lot, make sure to have several people to play, study smash videos and go to tournaments ^_^
AB: Yeah tournaments, I've noticed, help an incredible amount. Ok, thanks a lot for your time Christoffer.
A few words on Helios: I’ve never really seen Helio’s vids until someone brought them to my attention a few months ago. I had never heard of him as a Falcon player (Only Fox) so I was a bit skeptical. His Falcon is very good however, and I highly recommend the 2-3 vids of his Falcon that are actually available. Hopefully there will be more soon.
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Final words
Falcon is really fun. He's all about waiting for a mistake by your opponent and ****** them for it. With this in mind, don't rush in. If you just play stupidly, like a smash-crazy Marth... You're going to get dominated. Falcon isn't about that. Take your time, and stay unpredictable. WD back, DD as much as you can, use empty shorthops and wait for your opportunity. Then combo them across the screen, end it with a knee, edgeguard, "Show me yo' moves!" etc etc... Hopefully this guide has helped your Falcon game somewhat, PLEASE feel free to add anything you want that I have not included (Especially new combo ideas!).
I'd like to thank a few people like Tipman, Duke for being like a little AngeloBangelo while I was gone, Krumber (And his inspiring guide), Roy_R (For the gentleman information), Superdoodleman for all of the frame information, G-regulate for the hilarious thread (Listed under Falcon's "Pros" section), and especially DYC for helping me with the finishing touches and a lot of specifics I didn't know... Lastly, anyone else who has posted intellectual Falcon material on the boards. Also Isai, DarkRain, and Captain Jack for having awesome Falcon games to study. Lastly Kitsune, Big C, Rick, Drew, Tapion, the best 2v2 partner ever: ORLY, Jake, Stefen, Chris, Captain Awesome, Mendoza, and anyone else who has ***** me match after match to help me get better.
Thanks for reading!
