I love Falcon.
But Falcon is pretty bad.
So was Bowser in the last game, but I loved him anyway, too. That said, I play Falcon just for fun. I don't see myself making him into a high level competitor anytime soon, but some day in the future when I can develop his metagame to that level (if it's possible in Brawl, we'll find out in a year or two), then I might try to throw him into higher level play. Meanwhile, he's a fun, awesome character, but he isn't far from the bottom 5 as far as the game stands.
And mind, to those of you saying that his grab range isn't crap, that his ground game/approach game isn't crap, and that he can combo, I advise you to take another look at who and what game you're playing.
This is Brawl, combos beyond two or three hits are (generally) gone, and finishing move (knee) combos are virtually out the window thanks to the new hitstun mechanics.
Try playing against a short character like Olimar, Jigglypuff, or Kirby, and tell me that Captain Falcon's approach and ground game aren't horrible. Try grabbing short people on sloped terrain. Try grabbing short people without having to stand with your fist tucked into their chest before the grab. Try d-throw->uair comboing someone who has a higher priority aerial move that they can use out of the d-throw in lieu of an airdodge (this issue can be solved with mindgames. This can also be made a problem by mindgames against you).
Falcon's characteristics stack up against him in this game. His recovery is easily gimpable, and the knee is nigh impossible to use. It's as much of a punish-only move as a Falcon Punch is, now that the game's been stripped of combos. B-air and u-air are his only two universally reliable kill moves, and while he's still capable of killing, the rest of his moveset requires that you be in the perfect situation in order to score a kill. Raptor Boost has crap priority. Falcon Kick is still only somewhat useful. He's sluggish compared to his old self (though this is expected w/ Sonic's introduction into Smash), and when you enter the air from a dash it almost feels like you're losing velocity (whereas previously you could shoot across the stage and dragoon the crap out of everyone).
While it's not necessarily fair to compare Falcon to his former self, in the grand scheme of Brawl, he still doesn't shape up against the rest of the cast. With the removal of sufficient combo hitstun, the nerfing of his nair, the increased relative height of his short hop (he can't use aerial moves to start an approach except against the tallest or slowest characters, though perhaps there are only one or two exceptions to this rule, albeit situational. Try using anything but dair to approach in the air and watch how quickly you get shield grabbed or punished in some other method. Even then the dair can get punished). Ranged characters, short characters, high priority characters, and ground game characters can typically demolish Falcon. He had a bad draw in this game as far as his moveset goes, especially because of the limitedness of his moves (almost all are extremely situational, few universal) and his inability to go from the ground->air (low priority on most ground moves, else they're too slow to really get your opponent above your head). It's something to deal with.
I hate to admit it, but Falcon is among the worst in this game as far as his natural statistics and play style. That isn't to say he doesn't have potential, and that isn't to say you guys can't overcome the things that I find impossible with Falcon (namely Olimar and the rest of the ****** cast). But you're not fooling anyone by saying that Falcon is naturally a good character. He's far from it once you tally up his advantages and disadvantages. You don't have to believe the tallies on paper, either, as playing him should speak for itself. And don't trick yourself into thinking he doesn't have to jump through a lot of hoops before he's barely playable while novice players can step in and wreck even the most experienced Falcons.
Don't get me wrong. Falcon is my favorite character and always will be. But boy does he have a lot to fight against in this game, and the fight's mostly with himself.
) also u almost have to relearn him i did and he is my fav person in the whole game overall i think he is one of the better fighters in smash he is defintly not bottom tier. 
. people are just two mad about him not being as godly in brawl sure he has changed but that dosen't automaticaly make him bad
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