Captain Falcon
Captain Falcon (キャプテン・ファルコン, Kyaputen Farukon), whose full name is Captain Douglas Jay Falcon, is the main playable racer from the F-Zero series of futuristic Nintendo racing games, and is the most effective "mascot" of the franchise. He has featured as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. and Melee and will likely make a return appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
See Captain Falcon (SSB) and Captain Falcon (SSBM) for fighter info.
Character description
The first F-Zero was released in 1990 for the Super Famicom in Japan and its American counterpart SNES, and it introduced the first character design of Captain Falcon along with the other three F-Zero-series characters that appeared in the game as racing pilots, along with their respective futuristic racing machines such as Captain Falcon's Blue Falcon. The manual to the game featured an eight-page comic featuring these characters, with the comic's story revolving around one of Falcon's trademark bounty-hunting missions in his Falcon Flyer transport ship. Captain Falcon's design and backstory would be revised in future iterations of the F-Zero series; his design in F-Zero X for Nintendo 64 would be used for his appearances as a playable fighter in 1999's Super Smash Bros. and 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee, and his most recent "main" design is in F-Zero GX for GameCube. In all these appearances, Falcon and his machine are touted as the most balanced and easy-to-play-with machine for that game, so players of a new F-Zero game almost always play as Captain Falcon first.
Captain Falcon is described as "an accomplished F-Zero pilot, a renowned and talented bounty hunter", and is also an eccentric man in his late thirties (36 in F-Zero X and Melee, 37 in F-Zero GX). His "Captain" title is rumored to originate from his being perhaps an officer in the Internova Police Force in the past. He is a resident of Earth, coming from the city of Port Town. His bounty hunting exploits have yielded him enough of a reputation that he has gained many enemies across the galaxy; to avoid the constant danger from his adversaries, when he's not racing or bounty-hunting he lives in seclusion in his personal island chain off the coast of Port Town. His need to shield himself from outsiders borders on paranoia (albeit not necessarily unwarranted), because whenever he wins a race he has to dash home to his islands with his award money before others can get him. Living comfortably in solitude in his islands, Captain Falcon practices his F-Zero racing with a separate track built on each one of his islands.
The F-Zero series' chronology has many vague elements up for debate, but it is stated by F-Zero X that Captain Falcon was involved in a huge accident that caused the suspension of the F-Zero Grand Prix; while he was hospitalized, his DNA was stolen and used by someone else to create his evil clone Blood Falcon, who races against him in hopes of taking him out. The story mode of F-Zero GX shows Captain Falcon winning several races, then saving fellow pilot Jody Summer. He ends up in a heroic role when he races against and defeats the supervillain Black Shadow, then a superior villain named Deathborn, and he goes on to even defeat the Creators of the F-Zero world.
The F-Zero anime spinoff F-Zero GP Legend casts Captain Falcon in a main role in an alternate-reality take on the franchise, where he is the best friend and rival to a pilot named Rick Wheeler. He is a reluctant hero who seems to be no longer very active in bounty hunting and racing, instead content in running a small shop in Mute City, but he is given as his main goal the task of capturing Black Shadow, and his life is complicated by the appearance of his clone, Blood Falcon. Captain Falcon dies in the last episode of the 51-episode anime, and his title is passed onto Rick Wheeler, but American fans never got to see this dubbed because the anime only had the first fifteen of its episodes produced in English before the show's stateside cancellation. Falcon's English voice was provided by David Wills and his Japanese voice by Hideyuki Tanaka (who is not the same as the voice behind Falcon in his appearance in the first two Smash Bros. games, Ryo Horikawa).
Captain Falcon and/or his material possessions have appeared in media outside the F-Zero series. His Blue Falcon ship cameos in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars as a pair of models alongside one model of rival ship Fire Stingray belonging to Samurai Goro, his visor is one of the collectible treasures in Kirby Superstar's "Great Cave Offensive" subgame, and his boots appear to be worn by Falco Lombardi in one of the various endings in Star Fox Command for DS. More notably, however, is that Captain Falcon appears as a near-primary playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series, namely as an unlockable character in SSB and as a default character in SSBM. His appearance is modeled off his F-Zero X incarnation, which is colored slightly differently from his F-Zero GX incarnation (pictured above) and has a different helmet design. It is likely he will return for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
In Super Smash Bros.
As a playable character
- Main article: Captain Falcon (SSB)
Captain Falcon has appeared in the Smash Bros. series from the start, but as his incarnation from F-Zero X for N64. He is an unlockable fighter, and his unlocking condition is for the player to complete the One-Player mode within 20 minutes, and defeat him in a match to earn him. He does not make an appearance in the game's One-Player mode. His entrance into a battle is to zoom in on the Blue Falcon and park for him to jump out, and the machine zooms into the background to vanish. One of his alternate costumes is colored to resemble Blood Falcon.
Captain Falcon's special B-moves are his Falcon Punch as his B-move, a slow but powerful charge-up punch attack; his up-B is his Falcon Dive, where he jumps up into the air as his first jump, and if he comes in contact with a target he'll grab it, attack with an explosion of sorts, and can use the Falcon Dive again; and his down-B Falcon Kick, a manuever where he shoots downward from midair or forward on the ground with a flaming kick extended.
Captain Falcon is 5th on the SSB Tier list for powerful and very swift fighting ability. His dash is the fastest in the game, and his combo ability and grabbing ability are both nearly as good. He is heavy and thus harder to KO, his aerial attacks feature low lag, his Up-B is usefully deceptive, his short hop is good, and he can spike. He lacks a quick KO move, though, and also lacks any projectile, and he has a bad recovery and is easily comboed due to his large size. For this he must be able to short hop extremely well. But Captain Falcon in this game is famous for his versatility as both an offensive character and a counter-attacking character.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
As a playable character
- Main article: Captain Falcon (SSBM)
![Image by Nintendorks. [1]](/File:Captainfalcon.jpg)
Captain Falcon makes a return appearance in the sequel, still in his incarnation from F-Zero X. This time, he is a default fighter, and as before, one of his alternate costumes is Blood Falcon in both coloration and the logo on his suit's back. His new B-Forward move is the Raptor Boost, a rushing uppercut attack.
Captain Falcon ranks at a very strong 6th place on the SSBM Tier list for retaining his famous alacrity; his dash is the fastest, allowing for the fastest dashdance in the game as well as a short hop that can cover more distance than others, his air game is supported by his fast falling speed and good weight which also cause him to be the most resistant character to vertical KOs, and his moonwalk is the best. This complements his offenses well, particularly his aerial offenses: his Fair, called the Knee, is a powerful, low-trajectory finisher, and his aerial attacks in general are low-lag and good at comboing all characters. He himself can be easily comboed due to his fast falling speed, however, and his Up-B can not attack targets who may be hanging on a ledge; he can be easily edgeguarded as a result. Other cons include generally slow and poor ground attacks with low range and no projectile.
In Single-player
Captain Falcon appears in Stage 8 of the Adventure mode as the opponent in the second half, as a straight-up duel on the Mute City stage. His Blue Falcon machine appears in both segments of the stage racing with all 29 of the other F-Zero machines. Captain Falcon is also one of the most extensively used characters in the Event matches, appearing in as many separate events as Mario:
- Event 5: Spare Change: You play as Ness and your opponent is Captain Falcon on the Onett stage; it is a standard Coin match with unlimited stock and a time limit of 1:20.
- Event 12: Seconds, Anyone?: Your character is pit against Captain Falcon on the Mute City stage, with both combatants at one stock each, at 100% damage, and with seven seconds on the timer.
- Event 17: Bounty Hunters: In this original scenario, you play as Samus teamed up with Captain Falcon (with Friendly Fire turned off), and your shared opponent is Bowser on the Jungle Japes stage. With everyone receiving one stock and 2:00 as the time limit, your aim is to be the one to KO Bowser; you fail if Falcon delivers the finishing blow.
- Event 20: All-Star Match 2: Captain Falcon is the fourth opponent you must fight in this series of staged battles. Your character battles him on the Mute City stage (as always), and your character has 2 stock while Falcon has 1. With a timer of four minutes, you must defeat him and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and life you have: Samus, Link, and Zelda/Shiek beforehand, and Fox afterwards.
- Event 33: Lethal Marathon: Probably the most unique scenario in the Smash Bros. franchise, this places you as Captain Falcon on the F-Zero Grand Prix racetrack that you normally must cross in stage 8 of the Adventure mode each time you play, but with two important twists: you only have 45 seconds, and everything is sped up to occur twice as fast: the speed of the F-Zero machines, the speed of Falcon's actions, the speed of the timer, and so on. Crossing the finish line on foot may seem more than twice as hard as doing it in the normal Adventure mode.
- Event 36: Space Travelers: An event similar to the All-Star Matches: your character, Ness, must battle five opponents in succession: First Samus, then Kirby, and then Fox on the Fourside stage, and then Captain Falcon and then Falco on the Battlefield stage. All characters involved have one stock each, and unlimited time.
- Event 43: Birds of Prey: This event pits you as Fox against a team of Captain Falcon and Falco (friendly fire turned off) on the Big Blue stage, with all three characters receiving two stock each and unlimited time.
Trophies
By tradition, Captain Falcon as a playable character is featured on his personal 3 trophies. His normal trophy is acquired by beating the Classic mode with Captain Falcon on any difficulty, and his Smash Red and Smash Blue trophies are acquired the same way by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively. Note that his normal trophy depicts both Falcon and his vehicle, the Blue Falcon, and that his Smash Red trophy depicts his Blood Falcon alternate costume.
- Captain Falcon
- Usually a relentless bounty hunter, Captain Falcon shifts gears to become a race pilot once the F-Zero Grand Prix begins. His beloved racer, the Blue Falcon, can exceed the speed of sound, and he knows how to drive it; he'll go down as one of the all-time greats. Now 36 years old, Captain Falcon wears his F-Zero X visor. (F-Zero, 8/91)
- Captain Falcon (smash red)
- Falcon's style is a balanced combination of raw power and speed. His attacks are slow, but when combined with Falcon's high mobility, he's a formidable combat force. The Falcon Punch packs the highest degree of destructive power, while the explosive Raptor Boost can be used to smash airborne foes into the depths. (B: Falcon Punch, Smash B: Raptor Boost)
- Captain Falcon (smash blue)
- The Knee Smash, used in midair on foes in front of you, is slow and has a short reach, but if it connects, it'll send foes flying a long way on a low trajectory. Falcon uses his Falcon Dive to grab an enemy in midair and fling them away with an explosive blast. He can do this technique repeatedly without landing, so it can also be used as a recovery move. (Up & B: Falcon Dive, Down & B: Falcon Kick)
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Captain Falcon has not yet been shown to appear in the upcoming Wii fighting game, but given his staple roles in the previous two games and the appearance of his rival Samurai Goro as an Assist character, his return in Brawl seems to be next to guaranteed.
