Super Smash Bros. series

Falling speed

From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Not to be confused with gravity.

Falling speed is the 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 its low falling speed to attack multiple times in mid-air.

Additionally, falling speed directly affects the vertical component of attacks' knockback in combination with weight. Attacks of upward trajectory knock back slow-falling, floaty characters more than they knock back fast-fallers. However, a floaty heavyweight will be harder to KO vertically than a floaty lightweight. 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. Samus and Fox are notable examples to this.

The items Bunny Hood and Metal Box increase the user's falling speed. Some stages can also affect a character's falling speed, such as the flying-type portion of Pokémon Stadium 2 and the falling portion of Summit. All characters can also fast fall at any time to increase falling speed.

Categories of falling speed

Characters are generally put into one of two groups of falling speed: floaty and fast-faller, each of which have certain advantages and disadvantages depending on playstyle.

Fast-faller

Fast-faller is a name that refers to characters with a fast falling speed. Fox and Captain Falcon are prominent examples of characters with very high falling speeds in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Fox being unusually light for his falling speed.

Fast-fallers enjoy increased speed in the air and faster SHFFL'd approaches; however, they suffer from shorter recoveries. They are also susceptible to different combos from floaty characters. For instance, Captain Falcon can chain grab floaty characters with down throw, but cannot do so against fast-fallers. On the other hand, he can tech-chase fast-fallers (or chain grab them given the right percents) with up throw, which he cannot do against floaty characters. Generally, fast fallers are more vulnerable to chain grabs and combos (although weight and character size are other factors as well); such as Marth's up throw chain grab in Melee that he can finish with a forward smash.

Floaty

Floaty is a name that describes characters with a slow falling speed. Jigglypuff and Samus are prominent examples of very floaty characters in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Samus being unusually heavy for her falling speed.

Floaty characters have great benefits in terms of performing aerial attacks since one would able to perform multiple aerial attacks in succession (such as Jigglypuff's slow falling speed and multiple mid-air jumps allows it to do Wall of Pain) and easier recoveries due to slow falling speeds allow easier maneuvering while consequently suffer the vulnerability of being Juggled, having their recoveries easily predictable, or being KO'd vertically easily. On the flip side, floaty characters tend to be less vulnerable to chain grabs and combos.

Super Smash Bros.

Rank Character Falling Speed (JPN) Falling Speed (NTSC)
1 (JPN)
2 (NTSC)
Link 64 64
2-3 (JPN)
3 (NTSC)
Fox 60 60
2-3 (JPN)
1 (NTSC)
Captain Falcon 60 66
4 (JPN)
5 (NTSC)
Donkey Kong 56 56
5-6 (JPN)
4 (NTSC)
Yoshi 55 58
5-6 (JPN)
6 (NTSC)
Ness 55 55
7 Pikachu 52 52
8 Kirby 48 48
9 Mario 44 44
10-11 Luigi 42 42
10-11 Samus 42 42
12 Jigglypuff 38 38

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Rank Character Falling Speed
1 Falco 3.1
2 Captain Falcon 2.9
3 Fox 2.8
n/a Giga Bowser 2.4
4-5 Donkey Kong 2.4
4-5 Roy 2.4
6 Marth 2.2
7-9 Link 2.13
7-9 Young Link 2.13
7-9 Sheik 2.13
10 Ganondorf 2
11 Yoshi 1.93
12-14 Bowser 1.9
12-14 Pikachu 1.9
12-14 Pichu 1.9
15 Ness 1.83
16-18 Mario 1.7
16-18 Dr. Mario 1.7
16-18 Mr. Game & Watch 1.7
19-21 Luigi 1.6
19-21 Kirby 1.6
19-21 Ice Climbers 1.6
22-23 Peach 1.5
22-23 Mewtwo 1.5
24-25 Zelda 1.4
24-25 Samus 1.4
26 Jigglypuff 1.3

Notes

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Rank Character Falling Speed
1 King Dedede 1.95
2 Captain Falcon 1.837
3 Fox 1.831
4 Wolf 1.8
5 Snake 1.73
6 Falco 1.708
7-8 Ganondorf 1.65
7-8 Ike 1.65
9 Link 1.6
10-11 Donkey Kong 1.58
10-11 Sheik 1.58
12-13 Pikachu 1.5
12-13 Marth 1.5
14 Sonic 1.45
15-16 Diddy Kong 1.43
15-16 Zero Suit Samus 1.43
17 Pit 1.42
18 Wario 1.4
19-20 Bowser 1.39
19-20 Meta Knight 1.39
21 Lucas 1.37
22-23 Ivysaur 1.35
22-23 Charizard 1.35
24 Ness 1.31
25-26 Squirtle 1.3
25-26 Olimar 1.3
27 Yoshi 1.29
28-29 Mario 1.28
28-29 Toon Link 1.28
30 Mr. Game & Watch 1.24
31 Luigi 1.22
32-35 Kirby 1.2
32-35 Lucario 1.2
32-35 Ice Climbers 1.2
32-35 R.O.B. 1.2
36 Zelda 1.13
37 Samus 1.07
38 Peach 1.05
39 Jigglypuff 0.98

Notes

  • The Alloys are equipped to have falling speeds of 1.28 (The same as Mario, just like they share his weight, air speed and gravity), even though they are modeled after characters of differing air status (falling, air movement, gravity).
  • Every character in Brawl cannot surpass a falling speed of 2, though Dedede came close to surpassing Ganondorf`s falling speed in Melee.

See also