Falco (SSB4)

Falco in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Star Fox
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Landmaster
Tier	F (46)

Falco (ファルコ, Falco) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Falco was officially confirmed on October 3rd, 2014, alongside Ness and Wario, coinciding with the North American and European release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. As in Melee and Brawl, Hisao Egawa reprises his role in the Japanese version with his re-recorded voice clips of the game. Mark Lund, his voice actor from Star Fox 64 3D, now voices him in the English version, replacing Dex Manley from Brawl.

Falco ranks 46th out of 54 on the tier list, placing him in the F tier. This is a drastic drop from Brawl where he was ranked 7th out of 38, making this his worst placement in the series by far, as well the largest drop for a veteran in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4. The majority of Falco's moves have high speed and very favourable angles, granting him a strong combo game and juggling capabilities. These are further aided by his good grab game and strong jumps, with the latter remaining the highest in the game. His moves that lack speed or reach are also packed with power, giving his moves surprisingly high KO power; for example, his back aerial can reliably KO below 130%. He also boasts an effective grab game and out of shield game, with all of his throws possessing great utility and/or KO power, while the speed of his moves allows him to easily punish opponents out of shield.

However, Falco's neutral game has been drastically weakened, with several of the moves that made him a threat at all ranges being nerfed: his two staple moves, Blaster and down aerial, now being much slower, and both are also incapable of autocancelling in a short hop, eliminating Falco's ability to safely approach; changes to his back aerial by lowering its duration and reach also make it less effective at spacing. These weakened tools amplify the issue of Falco's low horizontal mobility, making it very difficult to keep up with opponents or force an approach. Finally, even though Falco benefits from the changes to hitstun cancelling as they make down throw much better for combos, it can no longer lead into the Gatling Combo or rack up damage on its own. In fact, the changes to game mechanics have hindered Falco overall, as the removal of DACUS, the Gatling Combo, and chain grabbing hurt his damage racking capabilities overall, while the introduction of rage makes him more susceptible to KOs, due to his light weight. His recovery, despite being long distanced and buffed overall, is still slow, predictable, and easily intercepted, making Falco vulnerable to gimps.

Owing to his flaws, especially compared to his Brawl incarnation, Falco has held poor tournament representation and results in competitive play. Although updates to the game have attempted to buff a number of his negative attributes, he still has struggled to make an impact at tournaments at the national level.

How to unlock

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• Play 20 VS Matches.
• Complete Classic Mode without using any continues.

Falco must then be defeated on Corneria.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

• Play 10 VS Matches.
• Clear Classic Mode on any intensity.

Falco must then be defeated on Orbital Gate Assault.

Attributes

Falco is a light character with polarized movement. He has the strongest jumping ability, a fast walking speed, fast falling speed, and high air acceleration, but a rather slow dashing speed, below average air speed, and very high gravity. These stats give Falco slow horizontal movement, but proficient vertical movement. They also give him good vertical endurance for a lightweight.

Falco's greatest strength is the speed of his moveset. His neutral attack and forward tilt are both exceedingly quick, while up tilt and down tilt can be used to combo into other attacks or even KO at high percentages. His smash attacks are all powerful and have decent reach as well. Down smash is also a semi-spike, making it very good at edgeguarding. His aerial moves are also powerful in their own way. Neutral aerial deals decently high knockback and is very quick, making it an excellent option for disrupting an opponent's moves and a great combo extender/finisher. Forward aerial is powerful and can easily KO offstage, and can be used for gimping by fast-falling during the move then footstool jumping over the opponent, in a similar manner to fellow fighter Fox. It also has a strong landing hitbox with disjointed range. Up aerial sends opponents vertically and is a great move for comboing and KOing off the top, thanks to Falco's high jumps. Back aerial is Falco's strongest aerial, as well as his second fastest, making it a great choice in many scenarios. Lastly, down aerial, while significantly nerfed from Brawl, can still be useful for KOing offstage, as it is a meteor smash. All of these moves grant Falco a versatile combo game.

Another advantage Falco possesses is his grab game. His pummel is quick and decently damaging, making it great at racking up damage. The forward throw is decently strong and can set up a dash attack or an edge guard. Back throw is great for giving Falco some breathing space, since the first hit is a semi-spike, and when combined with the laser's hit, the throw can even KO at high percentages. Up throw sends opponents straight up, and can be used to combo into any aerial or even KO at very high percents. Finally, down throw can combo into dash attack and any aerial at low percentages, or tech-chase if the opponent is past combo percentages, like in Brawl. Coupled with his fast rolls and sidestep, with the former being long-distance, as well as his aforementioned combo abilities, Falco has an impressive out of shield game.

His special moveset also provides some interesting options. Blaster is Falco's main projectile and, while extremely unsafe at close range, is an invaluable move for pressuring, gimping recoveries (especially those of Ganondorf, Little Mac and Cloud) and halting or even outright preventing approaches. Reflector is, as its name implies, a move capable of reflection, allowing Falco to actively combat camping. It also carries a damaging hitbox that has a high chance of tripping opponents, even at percentages over 400%, allowing for potential tech-chases. Falco Phantasm involves Falco quickly dashing sideways, making it great for horizontal recovery. The aerial version also meteor smashes aerial opponents and has little landing lag, making it useful for gimping recoveries and repositioning, respectively. Lastly, Fire Bird, his primary recovery move, grants him respectable distance in any direction chosen. It also allows Falco to slide across the air, letting him mix up his positioning, and has damaging hitboxes throughout (dealing 31% of all hits connect), making up for its low speed.

However, Falco has numerous weaknesses. His most prominent flaws are his neutral game and recovery. Regarding his neutral game, Falco's horizontal mobility is fairly slow, which limits his movement across the stage. This gives him significant trouble approaching and pressuring opponents, since Blaster, his most reliable tool at doing so, can no longer autocancel. In addition, while Falco's moves are overall very quick startup-wise, many of them are slow endlag-wise, making misused moves heavily susceptible to punishment. When combined with his overall poor reach on his melee attacks and the fact that most of his moves' sweetspots are close to his body, Falco has a below-average neutral game, making him have trouble at KOing despite his overall high power. As for his recovery, while his high jumps, Falco Phantasm, wall jump, and FireBird all give him a very long-distance recovery, it is extremely predictable due to how linear it is. These four options are also very ineffective on their own, making his recovery fairly easy to gimp. Outside of low percentages, Falco's combo-oriented moves are prone to being DIed, making it harder for him to rack up damage effectively, which is further exacerbated by the removal of chain grabbing, DACUS, and the Gatling Combo. Despite being light, Falco is susceptible to combos due to his fast falling speed and lack of escape options. His survivability is below average at best, mainly because of Falco's low weight, high gravity, and predictable recovery.

Falco benefits a decent amount from custom moves. Burst Blaster has less range, but is much faster, forcing bad approaches from the opponent much more easily. Falco Phase cannot hit opponents and does not grant any momentum, like in Melee, but Falco cannot be hurt either, and the move is also faster. Distant Fire Bird is slower and has no charging hitbox, like in Melee, but it moves further and has more momentum, considerably improving its recovery. Reflector Void destroys most projectiles instead of reflecting them, but deals more damage on contact, and is the optimal choice against certain characters like Villager or if the opponent lacks projectiles. The other variations of his custom moves are either very situational or do not have many advantages over the default.

Overall, like Kirby and Luigi, Falco runs hot and cold. Despite having excellent combo potential and KO power, his slow ground mobility, poor range, and significantly nerfed neutral game make it very difficult to put his newfound abilities to use. Mainly due to his poor neutral game, Falco's weaknesses outweigh his strengths, resulting in poor tournament representation and similar results, with very few dedicated mains such as AC and Keitaro.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Falco has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4. Even though the former is technically of greater quantity than the latter, he is considered to be significantly nerfed overall, due to his neutral game being drastically weakened, and the nerfs he received are far more severe than the buffs he received.

Falco's power has been improved significantly, removing his main weakness from Brawl. His down tilt has regained its lost power from Melee and his smash attacks are stronger. His forward aerial is stronger, harder to punish and connects much more reliably, his up aerial has consistent power and more vertical knockback, and his back aerial, while having a shorter duration and less range around him, has much more power, to the point of being the eighth strongest overall in the game while also being the fastest in the game. In addition, his grab game has seen some improvements, with up throw having comboing abilities, and back throw now having KO power. His recovery has also been noticeably buffed. While Falco Phantasm can no longer be shortened and its hitbox was noticed nerfed, it no longer puts Falco in helpless state, allowing Fire Bird to be used immediately after, with the latter also granting more distance than before. Due to being slow, both moves also benefit a lot from the removal of edge-hogging.

However, the nerfs Falco received created new weaknesses that were harsh enough to severely cripple his neutral game. The removal of DACUS (and subsequently the Gatling Combo) prevents his newly buffed up smash from being used as an approach option or a combo finisher. The removal of chain grabbing is a double-edged sword for Falco. While he is no longer adversely affected by it, his ability to easily rack up large amounts of damage with his down throw is no longer present. His down throw was also directly nerfed as it deals less damage and has higher knockback, hindering its combo potential. Down aerial, a staple in Melee and Brawl, has been drastically slowed down, having immensely increased startup lag and no longer auto-cancelling in a short hop. These changes hinder down aerial so much to the point where it is now useless outside of edgeguarding and even then, down aerial has reduced knockback. Falco Phantasm has increased startup lag, travels more slowly, and its hitbox no longer lasts for its entire duration, moving forwards greatly hindering its use on stage, and it can no longer be shortened, hindering its mixup potential. Finally, his Blaster, formerly one of the most reliable tools for approaching and pressuring, is slower and incapable of autocancelling. These changes make Falco much less of a threat in the neutral game, as it is now considerably harder for him to put his high power to good use.

Overall, most of Falco's buffs are not highly beneficial, while the nerfs he received practically removed some of his previous best tools. The general changes to the mechanics also did not help him as much as some other characters, while taking away a few of his key traits. Due to these nerfs, Falco is considered to be one of the characters to have been nerfed the most in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4. His harmful changes have resulted in many players having poor opinions about him, and he has seen far less success in tournaments.

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in Smash 4, Falco's attire is sleeker, and his overall colour scheme is more vibrant.
• Falco now has eight costumes, much like the rest of the cast. In addition, all of his alternate costumes are completely renewed.
• Blaster's design has slightly changed.
• Falco now says "Get some!" when he performs his side taunt, instead of "Don't try me."

Attributes

• Falco dashes slightly faster (1.432 → 1.472), although it is much lower relative to the cast, going from the 18th slowest out of 39 characters to the 16th slowest out of 58.
• Falco's air speed is slightly higher (0.893 → 0.93), although it is significantly lower relative to the cast, going from the 16th slowest out of 39 characters to the 14th slowest out of 58.
• Falco's air acceleration is drastically higher (0.08 → 0.1), going from the 20th fastest out of 39 characters to the 7th highest out of 58.
• Falco's double jump is significantly higher (height multiplier: 0.92x → 1x).
• Falco falls faster (1.708 → 1.8). This makes him more susceptible to combos, and while this would improve his vertical endurance, this is offset by his higher gravity, giving him marginally worse vertical endurance overall.
• Falco's fast falling speed is faster (2.3912 → 2.88), improving his air game and making him less susceptible to juggling.
• Falco's gravity is higher (0.112 → 0.13). This improves his ability to land, but hinders his endurance, air time, and makes him more susceptible to combos, especially against lower knockback moves.
• Falco's Item throw is weaker (1 → 0.94). Additionally, the removal of glide tossing greatly hinders his approach with items.
• The removal of chain grabbing both helps and hinders Falco. It significantly improves his endurance; however, it also removes his ability to chain grab, removing his most reliable way to rack up damage in the previous game.
• Rolls have less ending lag (FAF 32 → 30).
• Rolls have a shorter duration (frames 4-19 → 4-16).
• Air dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 2) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 32).
• Air dodge has a shorter duration (frames 4-29 → 2-26).
• Spot dodge has a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 2-16) and more ending lag (FAF 23 → 26), no longer being one of the fastest spot dodges in the game.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Except the infinite, neutral attack now always launches opponents in the direction Falco is facing, making it more consistent.
  • The first two hits have swapped priority on their nearest and furthest hitboxes.
  • The first two hits have shorter durations (frames 2-5 (hit 1)/3-6 (hit 2) → 2-4/3-5).
  • The first two hits have more ending lag (FAF 17/19 → 23/26).
  • The first hit deals more knockback (5 (set), 100 (scaling) → 35 (base)/30), which improves its jab canceling potential despite its higher ending lag (especially at higher percents).
    • However, this also hinders its ability to lead into the second hit, especially against floatier characters.
  • The first hit's near hitboxes launch opponents at a lower angle (80° → 68°/77°), making it connect more reliably into the second hit.
  • The first hit deals less damage (4% → 3%).
  • The first hit has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u → 2.5u/3.2u/4u) which are positioned closer to Falco (x offset: 0/2/6 → -0.5/1.5/4.5), reducing its range.
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit later (frame 8 → 9).
  • The second hit's near and far hitboxes launch opponents at different angles (50° → 45° (near)/80° (far)), making it connect more reliably into the infinite.
  • The second hit's near hitbox is larger (4u → 5u), and it is positioned closer to Falco (x offset: 0 → -0.5), giving it more range inside of him.
  • The second hit deals more knockback (20 (set), 100 (scaling) → 30 (base)/30). This makes it connect less reliably into the infinite, and while this would improve the move's jab canceling potential, this is offset by the move's higher ending lag, hindering its jab canceling potential overall.
    • Additionally, the higher knockback and launch angles of the first two hits often put the opponent considerably higher in the air, which prevents them from landing as soon as they are no longer in hitstun. This makes it much easier for them to perform an aerial action to avoid any jab cancel follow-ups.
  • The second hit's mid hitbox is smaller (4u → 3u) and both the mid and far hitboxes are positioned closer to Falco (x offset: 2/6 → 1.5/4.5), reducing its range.
  • The second hit transitions into the infinite later, especially when held (frame 8 (pressed)/10 (held) → 9/17). This makes the infinite much easier to avoid if Falco holds to do the infinite, despite the second hit's higher knockback.
  • The infinite has less startup lag (frame 9 → 7).
  • The weakening of SDI makes the infinite harder to escape from (although it can still easily be avoided), despite its SDI multiplier being increased (1× → 1.2×).
  • The infinite deals less damage (1% → 0.4%).
  • The infinite has smaller hitboxes (3u/4u/5u → 2.7u/3.2u/3.5u) which are positioned closer to Falco (z offset: 4/10/14 → 4/7/12), reducing its range.
  • The infinite's far hitbox launches opponents at a lower angle (80° → 70°), making it connect less reliably.
  • As with other infinites, the infinite now pushes Falco away from his opponent after a few hits. This significantly hinders its damage-racking potential, especially at walls.
    • If Falco uses the infinite near an edge, this property can potentially push Falco off the edge and cancel the move. This improves its safety but hinders its reliability.
  • The infinite has received an updated finisher, an outward knifehand strike.
    • This new finisher uses a regular hitbox (rather than a windbox) which deals damage (0% → 3%) and much more knockback (29 (set), 100 (scaling) → 60 (base)/100).
  • The finisher has more range inside of Falco, as Falco now stretches far out using the move, and the move now uses an extended hitbox which extends further away/inside from Falco (z offset: 12 → 14/8).
  • The finisher has a longer duration (frame 2 → 5-6).
  • The finisher has much more startup (frame 2 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 9 → 40), greatly hindering its safety.
    • When combined with its new hitbox, this also removes its mixup potential.
  • The finisher has a smaller hitbox (7u → 5u), giving it less vertical range despite its hitbox being moved upwards (y offset: 8 → 9).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has more ending lag (FAF 27 → 28).
  • Forward tilt has an altered animation where Falco doesn't stretch his leg as far out, reducing its range, despite the foot hitbox being positioned slightly further away from Falco (y offset: 4.8 → x offset: 5).
• Up tilt:
  • The changes to hitstun canceling and DI grant up tilt combo potential beyond non tumble percents.
  • The early first hit launches opponents at a lower angle (100° → 106°), and it has higher set knockback (60 → 100), allowing it to connect more reliably into the second hit, as well as making it safer if it fails to lead into the second hit.
  • The early first hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-5 → 5).
  • The early first hit now only has one static hitbox in front of Falco rather than four hitboxes covering Falco's arm, which significantly reduces its range inside and above Falco.
    • Additionally, the early first hit can no longer hit aerial opponents, considerably increasing up tilt's startup lag against them (frame 4 → 6).
  • The late first hit and the second hit's hand hitboxes are positioned further away from Falco (x offset: -4 (hit 1)/-5 (hit 2) → 5/6.2), giving them more range, especially the former.
  • The late first hit's shoulder and arm hitboxes are smaller (5u/6u → 4u/5u) and the lowest hitbox has been removed.
  • The second hit has smaller hitboxes (5u/6u/6u → 4u/4u/5u) and the lowest hitbox has been removed.
• Down tilt:
  • The changes to hitstun canceling and DI considerably improve down tilt's combo potential.
  • Down tilt has an altered animation where, rather than spinning around in place with his tail out, Falco steps forward slightly and sweeps his tail in front of him. The hitboxes are also now attached to the tip of Falco's tail rather than the base, with both of these changes giving down tilt more range despite the hitboxes being positioned closer to Falco (x offset: 0/6/12 → -4.1/1.9/7.8).
    • However, this also gives the move less range inside of Falco despite the nearest hitbox being larger (2.4u → 2.6u).
  • Down tilt deals more knockback (25 (base), 90 (scaling) → (50/35)/(90/88)), improving the furthest and especially the nearest hitboxes' KO potential.
  • The middle hitbox deals less damage (12% → 11%), hindering its KO potential, as its knockback was not fully compensated.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals more knockback (40/30 (base), 90 (scaling) → (80/70)/70).
  • The clean hit has a larger hitbox (5.28u → 5.5u) which now uses a static extended hitbox, considerably improving its range.
  • The late hit is positioned further away from Falco (x offset: 0 → 2), giving it more range.
    • However, the late hit is also smaller (4.32u → 4u), reducing its range above and behind Falco.
  • Dash attack has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (clean)/8-17 (late) → 8-11/12-18), with its total duration subsequently increased (FAF 36 → 40). This considerably hinders dash attack's usage as a burst approach option or as a whiff punishment tool.
  • The removal of DACUS (and subsequently the Gatling combo) significantly hinders dash attack's utility.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 49).
  • The clean hit deals more knockback (40 (base), 88 (scaling) → 42/(90/93/96)), improving its KO potential, especially the far hit.
  • The clean hit's furthest hitboxes have been moved further away from Falco (x offset: 3.2/6.5 → 4/8), improving their range.
  • The late hit has higher base knockback (10 → 30).
  • Forward smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 16-20 (clean)/21 (late) → 17-19/20). As the move's animation is unchanged, this removes the clean hit's ability to hit opponents behind Falco.
  • Forward smash has a higher hitlag multiplier (0.5× (clean)/0.3x (late) → 1×/0.5×), making it easier to DI.
  • The late hit has a smaller hitbox (9u → 6u) which has been moved closer to Falco (z offset: 13 → 12). When combined with the hitbox coming out one frame sooner, this significantly reduces its range.
    • However, the hitbox is now extended, giving it more range inside of Falco.
• Up smash:
  • Falco has a new up smash, a sideways-flipping kick that hits with both legs, with the following-legged hit re-positioning him forward. It hits twice instead of once.
  • Up smash has less startup with a longer duration (frames 8-11 (clean)/12-17 (late) → 7-12 (hit 1)/13-20 (hit 2)).
  • Up smash now grants intangibility on Falco's legs while the hitboxes are active, making it harder to intercept.
  • Up smash deals more damage overall (14% → 4% (hit 1)/12% (hit 2)/16% (total)).
  • Up smash has larger hitboxes (3.5u/3.5u/3u → 4u/3.5u/4u (hit 1 clean)/4u/3.5u/3.5u (late)/5u/3.5u/3u (hit 2)) and the foot hitbox has been moved further away from Falco (y offset: 6 → x offset: 7.7 (hit 1 (clean))/7 (hit 1 (late)/hit 2)).
  • Up smash has more ending lag (FAF 45 → 50).
  • With up smash now being a multi-hit move, it is overall less reliable as there are multiple instances where the second hit can miss after the first hit connects (especially when the opponent is far below Falco).
  • The second hit launches opponents at a lower angle (95° → 80°) and its knockback was not fully compensated for its lower damage (20 (base), 98 (scaling) → 31/104), slightly hindering its KO potential on its own.
    • However, the extra damage and the upwards lift from the first hit give up smash slightly higher KO potential overall.
  • The removal of DACUS greatly hinders up smash's utility, greatly hindering its approach potential as well as removing its ability to be used after a dash attack.
  • The second hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.3×).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has higher knockback scaling (70 → 78), improving its KO potential.
  • Down smash now uses static hitboxes, which gives the move more range, especially during its later active frames.
    • However, this also gives the move less range inside of Falco.
  • Down smash has smaller hitboxes (5u/5u/4u/4u → 4.3u/4.3u/3.5u/3.5u).
  • The near hits deal less damage (13% → 12%).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 49).
  • The loop hits have higher set knockback (10 → 22) and they now use the autolink angle (110° → 367°), which, alongside the weakening of SDI, allows them to connect more reliably.
  • The loop hits' right arm hitbox is larger (4u → 6u).
  • The final hit deals considerably more knockback (40 (base), 100 (scaling) → 55/130). This improves its KO potential, while the changes to hitstun canceling and DI allow it to retain its combo potential at lower percents.
  • The final hit now always launches opponents in the direction Falco is facing, making it more reliable.
  • The final hit now uses one large extended hitbox rather than four smaller normal hitboxes (5u/5u/4u/4u → 8u), giving it more range.
  • Neutral aerial now has a slash effect instead of a normal effect.
  • The final hit has a much higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 2x). This allows the move to significantly benefit more from the introduction of frame canceling, but this also makes it much easier to DI.
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 15), hindering its safety as well as its follow-up potential, despite the loop hit's higher knockback (unless the move is perfectly frame canceled).
  • Neutral aerial has a longer animation (49 frames → 57), increasing the amount of time Falco cannot grab ledges after performing the move.
  • The loop hits' wing hitboxes are smaller (5u → 4u) and they are positioned closer to Falco (x offset: 4/-4 → 3).
  • The loop hits' left arm hitbox is smaller (4u → 3u).
  • The second hit deals less damage (3% → 2%).
  • The final hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 21-24 → 23-24).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 51).
  • Forward aerial has less landing lag (33 frames → 25).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 49 → 46).
    • However, it auto-cancels later relative to when the final hitbox comes out.
  • Forward aerial has a new animation where Falco does not stretch out as far. This makes Falco harder to hit.
    • However, this animation is also slightly longer (59 frames → 61).
  • The loop hits deal much more knockback (0 (base), 40 (scaling) → 60 (set)/100) and they have a much faster rehit rate (8 → 4). This not only makes the move drastically more reliable (with the move going from rarely connecting properly to now working very reliably), but this also makes the move drastically safer, as opponents can no longer avoid or hit Falco out of the multi hits at lower percents.
  • The loop hits' near hitbox is larger (4u → 5u) and its far hitbox has been moved further away from Falco, improving its range.
    • Additionally, the move's hitboxes are now static, giving it more consistent horizontal range.
    • However, the near hitbox has been moved further away from Falco, giving it less range inside of him.
  • The final hit launches opponents at a lower angle (50° → 361°) as well as dealing more damage (3% → 4%) and much more knockback (80 (base), 60 (scaling) → 55/145), greatly improving its KO potential.
  • Forward aerial now has a landing hitbox which deals a decent amount of knockback, and it possesses high hitlag (which only applies to the opponent). This drastically improves forward aerial's safety when landing, especially on hit.
    • Altogether, these changes drastically improve forward aerial's utility, removing its status as a contender for the worst aerial in the game.
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 6-33 (loop hits)/34-35 (final) → 10-27/28-29).
  • Forward aerial has a higher SDI multiplier (0.8x (loop hits)/0x (final) → 1x (both)), with it now being possible to SDI the final hit.
  • Forward aerial has a higher hitlag multiplier (0.7× (loop hits)/2x (final) → 1×/2.5×), making it easier to DI. As forward aerial cannot be frame canceled, this hinders the move overall.
  • The loop hits deal less damage (2% → 1%), reducing forward aerial's total damage output despite the move having an extra loop hit (11% → 9%).
  • The final hit has one smaller extended hitbox rather than two normal hitboxes (8u/6u → 6u), reducing its range.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has a new animation, with Falco kicking more horizontally.
    • This new animation slightly narrows Falco's hurtbox, leaving him less vulnerable.
    • However, this animation is also slightly longer (39 frames → 41).
  • The clean hit has much higher knockback scaling (103 → 130), significantly improving its KO potential to the point where it is now one of the strongest back aerials in the game.
  • Back aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 23 → 15), although it still auto-cancels three frames after the hitboxes are removed.