Falling speed
Falling speed is the usual rate at which a character can move downward in mid-air. A character's falling speed can greatly impact his fighting style - for instance, Fox, a fast-faller, uses his aerial speed to perform shffl'd attacks very quickly, whereas Jigglypuff, a floaty character, uses her low falling speed to attack multiple times in mid-air.
Additionally, falling speed directly affects the vertical component of attacks' knockback. Attacks of upward trajectory knock back slow-falling, floaty characters more than they knock back fast-fallers. Though both falling speed and weight affect knockback, they are independent of each other - a fast-falling character is not necessarily heavy, and vice versa.
The items Bunny Hood and Metal Box increase the user's falling speed.
Average Falling Speed Ranking
This is a ranking of each character's average falling speed, from fastest to slowest.
1. 159% - Falco
2. 152% - Fox
3. 151% - Captain Falcon
4. 128% - DK / Roy
6. 118% - Ganondorf / Sheik
8. 117% - Link / Marth / Young Link
11. 116% - Bowser
12. 108% - Pikachu
13. 107% - Pichu / Yoshi
15. 103% - Ness
16. 101% - Dr. Mario / Mario / Mr. Game & Watch
19. 98% - Ice Climbers
20. 97% - Mewtwo
21. 96% - Kirby / Peach
23. 95% - Luigi / Samus
25. 92% - Zelda
26. 86% - Jigglypuff
Top Falling Speed
A ">" means that the character to the left of the ">" ACCELERATES to his/her top speed QUICKER than the character to the right of the ">."
A "=" means the two or three characters between the "=" have the same exact acceleration.
1) Falco
2) Captain Falcon
3) Fox
4-5) Roy > DK
6) Marth
7-9) Sheik > Link = Young Link
10) Ganondorf
11) Yoshi
12-14) Bowser > Pichu = Pikachu
15) Ness
16-18) Dr. Mario = Mario = Mr. Game and Watch
19-21) Ice Climbers > Kirby > Luigi
22-23) Mewtwo > Peach
24-25) Zelda > Samus
26) Jigglypuff
Fast Falling Speed
1. 100% ---------- Captain Falcon / Falco
3. 97.5% --------- Fox
4. 86% ----------- Link / Sheik
6. 85% ----------- DK
7. 84% ----------- Yoshi
8. 83% ----------- [[Roy
9. 77.5% --------- Pikachu
10. 74.5% -------- Ganondorf
11. 72% ---------- Marth / Pichu
13. 69% ---------- Bowser
14. 66.5% -------- Dr. Mario / Mario / Mewtwo / Mr. Game & Watch / Samus
19. 63.5% -------- Ness / Young Link
21. 57.5% -------- Ice Climbers / Kirby / Luigi / Peach
25. 53.5% -------- Zelda
26. 46% ---------- Jigglypuff
