Captain Falcon (SSBM)

Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	F-Zero
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	A (6) (North America) C (7) (Europe)

Captain Falcon (キャプテン・ファルコン, Captain Falcon), shortened as C. Falcon on the character select screen and victory screen, is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Ryō Horikawa reprises his role as Captain Falcon in all regions of Melee through re-purposed voice clips left over from the recording sessions for Super Smash Bros.

Captain Falcon currently ranks 6th out of 26 on the Melee tier list, in the A tier; this is very similar to his previous placement in Smash 64, where he was ranked 4th out of 12. Captain Falcon's greatest feats are complemented and supplemented by his Knee Smash, one of Melee's best aerials. It sees abundant use to exert immense pressure in neutral, and convert off his many combo starters. His great mobility allows him to chase down opponents and combo into a Knee Smash in many scenarios, and its incredible killpower effectively makes numerous attacks into low-risk options to take an early stock, as landing any combo-oriented move means a knee is sure to follow. Falcon's speed also makes for a strong grab game, with throws that can set up Chain grabs and tech-chases, with the threat of a Knee Smash waiting in tow. What's more, Captain Falcon's fast fall speed and heavyweight status can make him difficult to KO, particularly off the top.

Captain Falcon's primary weakness is his slow and predictable recovery. His main recovery move, Falcon Dive, travels slowly while providing almost no protection (only possessing a small command grab hitbox in front of him), while also having high landing lag. This makes his recovery relatively easy to edgeguard or edgehog, and if Falcon chooses to recover high, he can be freely punished upon landing. So against skilled players, getting sent far off the stage almost always results in a stock loss. Falcon also has limited reach. While his limbs are relatively long, he has no projectile, short grab range, and very few disjointed hitboxes. Falcon's approach options are rather predictable, relying on SHFFL'ed aerials to initiate openings. His tilt and smash attacks are slow and punishable, and combined with his unimpressive range, limits his effectiveness in the neutral game, especially against characters like Fox, who can overwhelm him with fast attacks. Falcon is also more than susceptible to chain grabs and combos due to his quick fall speed, high weight, and tall hurtbox.

Overall, Captain Falcon has a strong matchup spread, although he can face challenges against the handful of characters at the top of the tier list. With his few drawbacks, Captain Falcon is widely considered to be a viable character, even at the highest levels of play, with performances from Isai, S2J, Wizzrobe, and several others backing this up.

Attributes

Captain Falcon is arguably the fastest character in the game. He has the single fastest dash speed, the second fastest falling speed (behind Falco), and one of the fastest lateral air speeds in the game. These traits, coupled with his high traction, good jumping prowess, the ability to wall jump, and the longest dash dance (because of his many dash initiation frames) give Captain Falcon great approach options, a short but quick wavedash, and the best moonwalk in the game.

Despite lacking a projectile, Captain Falcon's attacks and speediness enable great approach options to KO and combo reliably and efficiently. Many of Falcon's attacks have fairly long startup, but they deal incredible damage and knockback, have great range, and have little ending lag. His low short hop, very fast falling speed, and aerials that reliably chain into one another makes for an excellent SHFFL, giving him a great damage rate and a multitude of approaches and combo finishers.

His aerials are fast and powerful and allow for many approach and KO options. The second hit of his neutral aerial has sex kick properties and can be SHFFLed very easily. His forward aerial, the Knee Smash, is arguably Captain Falcon's best move. It can follow up into itself through a series of well-timed sweetspots and sourspots, dealing high damage with little startup and KOing at damage percentages as low as 60% off stage. It can be a combo starter and finisher. His back aerial is a quick and powerful backhand punch that is useful for edgeguarding. His up aerial is a high-reaching, strong bicycle kick with very fast startup (5 frames), and can be used for edgeguarding or as an out-of-shield option. His down aerial is the fourth most powerful meteor smash in the game. It has minor startup, high hitstun, and can follow up into another down air by SHFFLing. If the down aerial hits above Captain Falcon's waist, then it acts as the most powerful spike in the game, though landing this sweetspot requires good spacing and timing.

All of Captain Falcon's smash attacks can be powerful combo tools and finishers with high KOing potential. Captain Falcon's forward smash, despite its fairly long startup, is one of the most powerful forward smashes in the game in terms of damage and knockback and is an excellent combo finisher, and a hard read or punishing tool. His down smash is his fastest, dealing great horizontal knockback, and his up smash can flexibly act as a combo starter and finisher.

A combo notoriously difficult to execute is the infamous Sacred Combo, a two-hit combo involving his Knee Smash followed by a midair Falcon Punch, before the hitstun of the Knee Smash wears off. If executed correctly, the opponent is likely to be KO'd. However, there are severe consequences if Falcon makes a mistake while performing this technique; it's possible for him to jump too far while performing the Falcon Punch, which will result in a self-destruct.

Despite having a poor grab range (the sixth shortest in the game), Falcon's grab game is among the most flexible and devastating in Melee; his forward and back throws can easily send opponents off the stage at higher percents and create an edgeguard situation, while his up and down throws can be used to start combos and chain grabs.

One of Captain Falcon's glaring and well known weaknesses is his mediocre recovery. He has high air speed, but the distance that he can cover is drastically shortened by his fast falling speed. He is prone to edgeguarding because his recovery move cannot grab edgehoggers. He can extend his horizontal recovery by performing an uninterrupted Falcon Kick in the air; this gives him back his double jump, but it usually forces him to recover from quite low, as the Falcon Kick sends him very far down. Raptor Boost can be a niche and situational horizontal recovery option, but it grants nonexistent vertical height and cannot instantly snap to the ledge. It also halts recovery immediately if it connects with anything in midair, sending him down to the bottom blast line, making it a risky option.

Besides somewhat crippling his horizontal recovery, Captain Falcon's fast falling speed also acts as a double-edged sword; while it does grant him a very good combo game and among the best vertical knockback resistances in the game due to his above average weight, he is also prone to chain grabs such as Pikachu's and Peach's up throws; combos that utilize moves with decent vertical knockback, such as up tilts and up aerials, are also easier to land on Captain Falcon due to his relatively large hurtbox.

Overall, Captain Falcon is a tank with gifted speed; he can deal a lot of damage and take as much punishment, while having one of the fastest movement speeds in the game. Players must take advantage of this speed and quickly adapt to their opponents to fully utilize his abilities.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

In the transition from Smash 64 to Melee, Captain Falcon gained a mix of buffs and nerfs. His recovery has seen multiple improvements due to his higher air speed, Falcon Kick giving him his double jump back and Falcon Dive covering more distance (though Falcon Punch does not grant the same slight recovery boost). He also benefits from the fact that jumps carry over momentum from a dash moreso than any other character greatly improving his aerial approach. His forward aerial is now his Knee smash which has excellent KO potential and combo ability which along with the previous change, now gives him an extremely powerful and deadly approach option and combo ender. Captain Falcon's horizontal movement is better than ever due to multiple universal changes giving him access to new movement options such as more flexible dash-dancing, wavedashing and moonwalking. Captain Falcon has also gained strong tech-chasing potential due to both the universally increased falling speeds and his new up throw, down throw and his new side special Raptor Boost which also acts as a solid combo starter. Lastly, many of his attacks have reduced ending lag and some of his attacks also have increased KO power (such as forward smash, down smash and the aforementioned Knee smash).

Falcon has also received some significant nerfs however. While he has more movement options and better aerial mobility, his dash speed (while still the fastest) has been decreased especially relative to the cast. His up aerial is no longer an extremely powerful juggling tool due to its clean hit now launching opponents horizontally (although it is still one of his best moves) and its late hit has drastically reduced power no longer being a strong KO move. His throws are also less reliable at comboing (although he now has the potential to chain grab or tech chase his opponents out of his down throw) while his back throw has much lower KO potential. His combo game in general is less consistent and effective due to both the introduction of DI and the fact that some of his other moves having reduced combo potential (such as up smash and down aerial which also have drastically increased startup lag) and are less reliable as his up smash no longer consists of one hit and down aerial can now be meteor-cancelled. A decent amount of Captain Falcon's moves have increased startup lag (such as his smash attacks and aerials) and while some of his attacks have increased KO potential, others have reduced KO power (such as his afforementioned back throw and his aerials besides his forward and down aerials). Captain Falcon also suffers from the changes to shields as while he is less vulnerable to shield pressure, his moveset is less safe on shield with multiple moves (such as his up tilt, landing aerials and Falcon Punch which previous gave him frame advantage against shield) now becoming punishable and his own out of shield options are worse due to his slower and altered aerials making his out of shield game a bigger weakness than it was before. Lastly, his specials are worse in various ways. Falcon Punch is weaker and slower giving it less combo potential, Falcon Dive is considerably weaker and has seen other non-beneficial changes and Falcon Kick now decays over time, making it less effective from afar.

Overall, Captain Falcon has a less consistent combo and punish game along with having many moves with increased startup lag and reduced KO power. Despite this, the few reliable KO moves he has are extremely effective and he still possesses a solid combo and punish game. Additionally, most of his moves which were nerfed in some ways were buffed in other ways and he has benefitted from numerous changes to Melee's mechanics which have made his excellent movement speed an even bigger advantage and threat. Nevertheless, Captain Falcon remains one of the stronger characters in the game and has still seen a fair amount of success in tournaments.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube give Captain Falcon a more proportionate build. He is slightly more muscular and has a bluish gray racing suit. His visor is also slightly transparent.
• Captain Falcon has a new idle pose along with his one from Smash 64, which was also altered.
• Captain Falcon has new and higher quality voice samples, though he is still voiced by Ryō Horikawa.
• Captain Falcon’s default color is now dark blue instead of purple.
• Captain Falcon’s green and blue palette swaps from Smash 64 are now accessible through normal battle instead of just Team Battles.
• Captain Falcon's taunt has a new voice clip (although later games would go back to using the same voice clip as in Smash 64).
  • It also has two new animations depending on which way Captain Falcon is facing: he looks behind his shoulder and waves while facing left, and salutes with his hand above his eyes while facing right.

Attributes

• Captain Falcon walks slightly slower (0.8533 (25.6) → 0.85).
• Captain Falcon dashes slower (2.333 (70, JPN) / 2.5 (75, NA) → 2.3).
  • Captain Falcon's initial dash is significantly slower (2.667 (80) → 2) and covers less distance.
• Captain Falcon's traction is higher (0.06 (1.8) → 0.08), making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• Captain Falcon's air speed is faster (1.033 (31) → 1.12). Captain Falcon also greatly benefits from the fact that jumps now carry momentum from a dash noticeably improving his aerial approach.
• Captain Falcon's air acceleration is much lower (0.1067 (3.2) → 0.06).
• Captain Falcon jumps drastically lower (51.3 (1539) → 38.52), hindering his vertical recovery and ability to chase opponents above him. While still the 3rd highest out of 26 characters, he jumps lower than the lowest full hop height value in Smash 64.
• Captain Falcon's gravity is higher (0.1133 (3.4) → 0.13) having the same benefits and drawbacks as his higher falling speed but also reducing the height of his jumps.
• Captain Falcon falls significantly faster (2 (60, JPN) / 2.2 (66, NA/AUS/EUR) → 2.9), which combined with his high weight, gives him the best vertical endurance in Melee, ousting Donkey Kong (who has the second highest vertical endurance). However, this does make him more susceptible to combos.
  • Captain Falcon's fast falling speed is also faster (3.333 (100) → 3.5). However, the difference between his falling speed and fast falling speed is much lower (increase: 66.7% (JPN) / 51.5% (NA/AUS/EUR) → 20.7%), which makes it more predictable when landing and gives him fewer options in the air.
• Captain Falcon is lighter (108.333333 (0.96) → 104), hindering his endurance.
• Captain Falcon's rolls have less ending lag (FAF 42 → 32).
• Melee's more lenient window for dash-dancing combined with the addition of moonwalking and air dodging has given Captain Falcon more/superior movement options.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit of neutral attack has less startup (frame 5 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 21 → 16).
  • The first hit of neutral attack deals less damage (3% → 2%) and has a shorter duration (frames 5-8 → 3-5).
  • The second hit has less ending lag (FAF 20 → 19).
  • The second hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 → 5-7).
  • The first two hit's knockback scaling (80 → 100) and angles (361° → 80°) have been altered.
  • The Gentleman deals more damage (4% → 8% (clean), 6% (late)), has much more knockback (40 (base), 30 (scaling) → 20/100) and launches opponents at a different angle (80° → 361°). Altogether, these changes improve its utility granting it tech-chasing, followup and KO potential.
    • However, these changes make it connect into the rapid jab much less reliably.
  • The Gentleman has a longer duration (frames 5-9 → 6-12) and has much less ending lag (FAF 32 → 23).
  • The Gentleman also has a more exaggerated animation.
  • The Gentleman has more startup lag (frame 5 → 6).
  • The Gentleman now requires precise timing to be performed without Falcon performing his neutral infinite making it more difficult to utilise.
  • Neutral infinite's animation is altered: Captain Falcon kneels down forward a bit more, as well as having his punches reach a bit further.
• Forward tilt:
  • Captain Falcon has a new forward tilt: Captain Falcon performs an inward roundhouse spin kick. It has slightly more range than the previous one.
  • Forward tilt has a shorter duration (frames 9-15 → 9-11).
  • Forward tilt deals less damage (15% (up)/14% (mid up)/13% (non angled)/12% (mid down)/11% (down) → 12% (up sweetspot)/11% (up sourspot/non angled/down sweetspot)/10% (down sourspot)) and its base knockback was not fully compensated (6 → 10).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt only hits once which in turn:
    • Increases its startup lag and shortens its duration (frames 8-17 (hit 1)/18-23 (hit 2) → 17-21).
    • Makes it deal 10% less damage (9% (hit 1)/14% (hit 2)/23% (total) → 13%).
    • However, this also removes the chances of Falcon's opponents being able to SDI out of the stronger hit.
  • Up tilt has altered knockback compared to the previous second hit (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/80) which along with its lower damage, makes it weaker overall.
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 38).
• Down tilt:
  • Captain Falcon has a new down tilt: a leg sweep. It has significantly more combo ability than the previous down tilt due to sending opponents at a more vertical angle (30° → 80°/70°/60°).
    • This new angle however has greatly hindered down tilt's edgeguarding potential.
  • Down tilt deals more damage (11% → 12%) with its knockback scaling compensated (80 → 75).
  • Down tilt has more range.
  • Down tilt has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-15 → 10-15) and has more ending lag (FAF 31 → 35).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has a shorter total duration (FAF 41 → 38).
  • Dash attack has a much larger hitbox (3.6667u → 5.86u).
  • Dash attack has a shorter duration (frames 7-10 (clean)/11-26 (late) → 7-9/10-16) and its total duration was not fully compensated giving it more ending lag.
  • Dash attack deals less damage (12% (clean), 9% (late) → 10%/7%) and its clean hit's knockback was not fully compensated (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 22/90).
    • However, this combined with the move's shorter total duration makes the move safer on hit at lower percents.
  • The late hit deals much less knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/50).
• Forward smash:
  • Captain Falcon has a new forward smash: an advancing elbow thrust in a single move. It has slightly less reach and slightly more start-up lag with a shorter duration compared to the previous forward smash (frames 16-23 → 18-21).
  • New forward smash deals more damage (19%/18%/17% → 21%/20%/19%), and has increased base knockback (20 → 24) improving its KO potential and now being the 3rd most powerful forward smash in Melee.
  • Forward smash has less ending lag (FAF 62 → 60).
• Up smash:
  • Captain Falcon has a new up smash: a jumping-spinning double kick aimed vertically upward. Its first kick has low knockback to connect into the second kick and the second kick has significantly more knockback (90 (base), 40 (scaling) → 25/(128/126/110), no longer making it the weakest up smash, now being the 7th most powerful up smash in Melee if both kicks connect.
  • Up smash has less ending lag (FAF 46 → 40) with the move now only having 11 frames of cooldown (as opposed to 35).
  • Due to having two hits, up smash's maximum damage output is much higher (17% → 26%).
  • Up smash is much less reliable due to now consisting of two hits.
    • This combined with the introduction of DI, the reduction of hitstun and the move's altered knockback has prevented the move from comboing reliably despite its much lower ending lag.
  • Up smash has drastically higher startup lag (frame 4 → 21) going from the fastest up smash to one of the slowest.
    • It also has a shorter duration overall (frames 4-11 → 21-23 (hit 1)/27-28 (hit 2)).
• Down smash:
  • Captain Falcon has a new down smash: a fast swinging kick that hits forwards with an inward punt and backwards with a back thrusting kick. It has more horizontal and much more vertical range.
  • Down smash launches opponents horizontally (60° → 361°) and it deals more damage (16% (front), 14% (back) → 18%/16%). The front hit has higher base knockback while the back hit's base knockback was not fully compensated (25 → 30 (front)/20 (back)). Altogether, these changes significantly improve its KO potential.
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 48 → 45) with the move now only having 12 frames of cooldown (as opposed to 25).
  • Down smash has more startup lag and the first hit has a shorter duration (frames 8-12 (front), 19-22 (back) → 19-22/29-32).
  • Down smash can no longer hit characters hanging on ledges due to its higher hitboxes.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (22 frames → 15 (neutral/up), 30 frames → 19 (forward), 30 frames → 18 (back), 28 frames → 24 (down)).
• All aerials except for back aerial auto-cancel later (frame 28 → 34 (neutral), frame 28 → 35 (forward), frame 19 → 22 (up), frame 25 → 36 (down)). Neutral, forward and down aerials can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop and when combined with the weakening of L-canceling, this makes them more punishable when landing and reduces their follow up potential.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Captain Falcon's previous forward aerial is now his neutral aerial. It has an altered animation where Falcon kicks with his right leg first, then left leg all while turning to his right, as opposed to the other way around (with right leg first and left leg last). It is also angled more diagonally upwards.
  • The first hit of neutral aerial has set knockback and launches opponents vertically (361° → 82°/78°/74°).
  • Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 45).
  • Neutral aerial is far less reliable due to its multi hit properties.
  • Neutral aerial has smaller hitboxes.
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (clean)/8-27 (late) → 7-12 (hit 1)/20-29 (hit 2)).
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (16% (clean)/13% (late) → 6% (hit 1)/7% (hit 2)/12% (total)) and the second hit's base knockback was not fully compensated (20 → 40) significantly hindering its KO potential (no longer being one of the strongest neutral aerials).
    • These changes however give neutral aerial much more combo potential.
• Forward aerial:
  • Captain Falcon has a new forward aerial: an electric knee thrust known as the Knee Smash. Its clean hit deals significantly higher damage (12% → 18%) and knockback compared to the previous second hit (20 (base), 80 (scaling) → 24/100) making it a drastically stronger KO move.
  • Forward aerial is overall a more reliable move due to only consisting of one hit.
  • Forward aerial has less ending lag (FAF 45 → 36).
  • Forward aerial has less range.
  • Forward aerial has double the amount of startup lag (frame 7 → 14).
  • Forward aerial deals less overall damage (10% (hit 1)/12% (hit 2)/22% (total) → 18% (clean)/6% (late)).
  • Forward aerial is overall a less reliable combo starter although the late hit has solid combo potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 35 → 29) and auto-cancels earlier (frame 28 → 21).
  • Back aerial has received a late hit after its first four frames which deals significantly less damage (16% → 8%) with only a slight increase to its base knockback on its sweetspot (10 → 20) while its sourspots have less base knockback (10 → 0).
    • This drastically hinders its KO potential and makes it more susceptible to punishment.
    • However, this also significantly improves its combo potential at higher percents when combined with its decreased ending lag.
  • Back aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 7-18 → 10-18).
  • Back aerial's clean hit deals less damage (16% → 14%). Its sweetspot's base knockback was not fully compensated (10 → 20), KO'ing roughly 10%-11% later, and it now has sourspots on his arm and shoulder with less base knockback (10 → 0), which KOs even later (about 18%-19% later from the sweetspot).
  • Back aerial has a slightly altered animation where Falcon doesn't lean back as far as well as his arm's size not increasing as much, slightly reducing its range.
    • However, the move is more disjointed by comparison, due to the hitbox being moved closer to Falcon's hand. This is despite the hitbox not being increased by much in size (4.6667 → 4.69).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 34 → 30).
  • Up aerial now only has a clean hit and a late hit rather than a clean hit, mid hit and a late hit (a late hit with a 0° angle as well as lower damage and knockback exists in the move's files but it never comes out due to its hitboxes ending one frame before the mid hit).
  • The clean hit has a longer duration (frames 5-7 → 6-10).
  • The clean hit now sends opponents at the Sakurai angle (80° → 361°).
    • This grants it edgeguarding potential.
    • However, this along with the reduction of hitstun and the introduction of DI has significantly hindered its combo potential no longer being a viable juggling tool. This has generally made it much harder to combo into moves such as other aerials, itself and Falcon's specials.
  • The late hit has an angle between up aerial's previous mid hit and late hit (361° (mid)/20° (late) → 30°).
  • Up aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 5-13 → 6-13).
  • Up aerial has less vertical range.
  • Up aerial no longer deals consistent damage (16% → 13%/12% (clean)/10%/8% (late)) and the late hit deals less knockback (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 8/6 (base), 80 (scaling)).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 38).
  • Down aerial has larger hitboxes and has more range overall.
  • Down aerial deals more damage (14% → 16%) and has higher base knockback (0 → 40) significantly improving its KO potential as well as the sweetspot's edgeguarding potential (being the fourth most powerful meteor smash in Melee).
  • As with all meteor smashes from returning veterans, Down aerial has significantly increased startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 7-24 → 16-20).
  • Down aerial's angle has been altered (-80° → 270°/290°) which allows the move to be meteor canceled unless the highest hitbox on his body (nicknamed the Nipple spike) connects, hindering its reliability.
  • The weakening of L-canceling combined with its worse auto-cancel window and higher knockback has hindered down aerial's combo potential.

Grabs and Throws

• Grabs:
  • Like all Super Smash Bros. veterans, Captain Falcon has been given a pummel, up throw and a down throw, significantly improving his attack options out of a grab.
  • As with all returning veterans without a tether grab, Falcon's grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 7 (standing), 11 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
• Forward throw:
  • Captain Falcon has a new forward throw: he punches his opponent forward with horizontal knockback (70° → 45°).
    • Compared to his previous forward throw, it deals less damage (12% → 5% (hit)/4% (throw)/9% (total)) and its knockback was not fully compensated (100 (base), 50 (scaling) → 29/105).
• Back throw:
  • Back throw's angle has been altered (361° → 45°).
  • Back throw deals much less damage (16% → 5% (hit)/4% (throw)/9% (total)) and its knockback was not fully compensated (100 (base), 50 (scaling) → 30/130).
  • Back throw has more ending lag (FAF 44 → 50).
• Down throw:
  • Captain Falcon's previous forward throw has been moved to his down throw. It has an altered animation where Captain Falcon keeps both his feet on the ground as opposed to leaning forward enough to bring his following foot off the ground like in Smash 64.
    • This new animation gives it less ending lag (FAF 44 → 40).
  • Down throw deals much less damage (12% → 7%) and knockback (100 (base), 50 (scaling) → 75/34) which hinders its KO and combo potential but grants it chain grabbing and tech chasing potential.
  • Down throw launches opponents at a slightly lower angle (70° → 65°).
  • Down throw is weight dependent which increases its speed against lighter characters but decreases its speed against heavier characters.

Special Moves

• Falcon Punch:
  • Falcon Punch's sweetspot deals more damage (26% → 27%), takes priority over the sourspots (ID# 2 → 0) and has a larger hitbox than the mid hit making it much easier to land.
  • Falcon Punch has more range.
  • Falcon Punch now has a flame effect and an altered animation for both the grounded and aerial versions.
  • Falcon Punch has significantly increased startup lag (frame 42 → 52) with its ending lag compensated (FAF 90 → 100) drastically hindering its use as a combo ender.
  • The sourspot deals less damage (24% → 23%).
  • Falcon Punch has less knockback scaling (120 → 102) hindering its KO potential especially the sourspot.
  • Aerial Falcon Punch no longer deals extra shield damage (4 → 0).
    • In general, the reduction to shieldstun and shield damage has made Falcon Punch heavily punishable against shield (as opposed to being practically safe on shield).
  • Falcon's higher falling speed/gravity has removed Falcon Punch's use as a recovery option.
• Raptor Boost:
  • Captain Falcon now has a side special move: Raptor Boost. It is a dash that, when connects, does a flaming uppercut, which can act as a great tech-chaser and combo-starter; but on the flipside, is somewhat easy to punish and isn't a viable horizontal recovery option as it cannot snap the ledge.
• Falcon Dive:
  • Falcon Dive travels more distance.
  • Falcon Dive deals less damage (20% → 5% (hit)/12% (throw)/15% (total) with only a slight increase to its base knockback (30 → 40), greatly hindering its KO potential.