Falco (PM)

Falco in Project M and Project+
Universe	Star Fox
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Falco (SSBM)
Alternate costume	Classic Falco

Falco is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He was remade to be nearly identical to his Melee counterpart in terms of attack hitboxes and animations.

Falco ranks 22nd out of 41 on the official tier list, near the lower half of the B tier, a significant drop from his 4th out of 26 and 7th out of 38 positions on the Melee and Brawl tier lists, respectively. In Project+, he ranks 22th in the official tier list, at the start of the B+ tier.

Attributes

Falco retains his strength of having an above-average on-stage game, as he possesses a rather powerful and formidable comboing game in his repertoire.

However, Falco has some major issues with his survivability, which compose most of his weaknesses. He is among the lightest characters in the game (he weighs as much as Lucas, Pikachu, and Pit), and is therefore easy to knock off the stage horizontally. Additionally, his recovery continues to be one of the worst in the game; this is due to a few factors, including a very low air speed, an extremely fast falling speed, and his two recovery options, Fire Bird and Falco Phantasm, not providing enough distance.

In addition, other characters have been buffed in Project M to the point where Falco's matchups are not as favorable as they were in Melee.

Given that Falco was among the best characters in Melee however, and has transitioned better than other Melee top tier characters (such as Jigglypuff) he remains a significant threat to most of the roster.

Changes from Melee to PM

Falco was slightly nerfed overall in the transition from Melee to Project M. He was reverted to become a clone of Fox again, rather than a semi-clone (as he was in Brawl). While he gained situational options from his Brawl incarnation, he lost a fair amount of his camping prowess due to the damage decay of lasers. Additionally, the strong hitbox of his down aerial now lasts less than half of its duration from Melee, forcing Falco to time his down aerial far more precisely than he had to before to approach, pressure, and KO with it.

Overall, Falco is still very strong and has the tools to take on any character. However, he is less effective in the metagame because he must now contend with not only his nerfs, but the prevalence of more floaty characters that he cannot combo as easily.

Aesthetics

• Falco retains his dash and run animations from Brawl.

Attributes

• Falco's jumps are slightly higher (1.9 (short hop)/4.1 (full hop)/3.9 (ledge jump) → 2.07/4.27/4.07).
  • Additionally, the ability to act out of ledge jump benefits Falco moreso than any other returning veteran from Melee (besides Peach and Ganondorf), due to him retaining the second highest ledge jump in the game being able to make great use out of it.
• Falco has an altered size multiplier (x1.1 → x1.05). However, his overall size remains unchanged as his Brawl model is naturally bigger than his Melee model.
  • His shield size was also compensated to match (12.5 → 8.9).
• Falco's rolls have more ending lag (FAF 32 (both) → 33).
• Spot dodge has more ending lag (FAF 23 → 25).
• Falco's star spit when Inhaled by Kirby or King Dedede retains it Brawl damage, dealing less than Melee as a result (15% → 12%), hindering its potential in Doubles.

Ground Attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Each hit of neutral attack use their animations from Brawl. As a result, they also now use a slash effect instead of a punch effect.
  • The second hit has less ending lag (FAF 20 → 19).
  • The second hit's inner hitbox is positioned further out (x offset: 0u → -1.5u).
  • The infinite has shorter gaps between hits (5 → 4 frames).
  • The infinite has altered knockback (10 (base), 80 (scaling) → 3 (set)/100), and angles (80° → 30°/50°/80°).
  • The infinite has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.3x) making it easier to SDI.
    • Altogether, these changes make it connect more reliably.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's hitboxes are positioned slightly lower (y offset: 0.66u/2.65u → 0.73u/2.92u), improving its range below Falco, but hindering its range above him.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash begins charging sooner (frame 7 → 4), increasing its relative start-up lag when charged (frame 5 → 8).
• Up smash:
  • Falco retains the ability to DACUS from Brawl, although it covers less distance than it did in Brawl, and Falco cannot perform the Gatling combo due to the universally decreased DACUS window.
  • Up smash no longer grants intangibility on Falco's head while the strong hit is active.
  • The late hit has a longer duration (frames 11-15 → 11-16).

Aerial Attacks

• All aerials except forward aerial have one extra frame of animation (49 frames → 50 (neutral), 39 → 40 (back), 39 → 40 (up), 49 → 50 (down)), slightly increasing the amount of time Falco cannot grab the ledge after using them, and increasing down aerial's ending lag.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-5 → 1-4).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels later (frame 49 → 50).
  • The second and fourth hits deal less damage (8% (hit 2)/5% (hit 4) → 7%/4%), with their knockback scaling compensated (100 (both) → 109 (hit 2)/111 (hit 4).
• Up aerial:
  • The first hit deals less damage (6% → 5%), with its knockback scaling compensated (20 → 22), decreasing the moves total damage output (15.91% due to stale-move negation → 15%).
  • The second hit's sourspot now has transcendent priority, making it unable to cancel out projectiles.
• Down aerial:
  • The clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 5-14 → 5-8).
  • The late hit deals less damage (9% → 8%), with its knockback scaling not fully compensated (100 → 107).
  • Down aerial's upper hitbox has been removed, and the remaining late hitbox is smaller (5.99u → 3.75u).

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Falco's standing grab has more ending lag (FAF 31 → 32).
  • Dash grab has less startup lag (frame 12 → 11).
  • His standing and dash grabs' have altered vertical placements (y offset: 7.03u/7.03u (standing)/5.86u/7.03u/7.03u (dash) → 7.73u/7.73u (standing)/6.45u/7.73u/7.73u (dash).
  • All of standing and dash grab' grabboxes (except dash grab's innermost grabbox) are positioned further away from Falco (z offset: 8.59u/4.68u (standing)/7.81u/3.12u. (dash) → 9.45u/5.16 (standing)/8.59u/3.44u), increasing their horizontal range.
  • Dash grab's innermost grabbox is positioned closer towards Falco (z offset0: -0.78u → -0.8u), making its harder to grab opponents behind Falco.
  • Compared to Brawl, pivot grab has smaller grabboxes (4.8u/3.36u → 3.91u/2.73u) and altered placements (y offset: 7.2u/7.2u → 7.73u/7.73u, z offset: -12.8u/-4.8u → -11.2u/-4u), reducing its horizontal and making it more prone to low-profiling against smaller characters.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel now uses a burn sound effect instead of a punch sound effect.
  • Pummel has more startup lag with its total duration subsequently increased (frame 4 → 5, 23 frames → 24).
• Blaster shots from back, up, and down throws now use an electric hit effect like in Brawl.

Special Moves

• Blaster:
  • Blaster shots now use an electric hit effect like in Brawl.
  • Blaster shots decay in damage based on distance (3% (all) → 3% (close)/2% (mid)/1% (far)), hindering their damage racking and camping potential.
  • Blaster retains its ability to be wavebounced/B-reversed from Brawl, improving its mixup potential.
• Falco Phantasm:
  • Falco Phantasm can now be reversed on start-up, making it less prone to self-destructing.
  • Falco Phantasm can now grab edges when Falco is facing away from it, making it less prone to self-destructing.
• Reflector:
  • Reflector no longer has intangibility on the first frame of activation.

Revisions

v2.5

• Falco's hurtboxes adjusted to more closely resemble Melee.
• The first hit of neutral attack has a higher SDI multipler (0.5x → 1x).
• Back and up throw's Blaster shots' properties adjusted to more closely resemble Melee.
• Falco's down throw now has an animation for the victim while being lasered and no longer freezes them in place before being thrown.
• Reflector's initial graphical effects sized down to match the hitbox.
• Relfector no longer has transendent priority.

v2.6

• Forward Smash animation adjusted to match Melee.
• Up aerial animation adjusted to match Melee.
• Blaster shots decay in damage based on distance (3% (all) → 3% (close)/2% (mid)/1% (far)), hindering their damage racking and camping potential.
• Fire Bird's distance ported from Melee.
• Reflector no longer has intangibility on the first frame of activation.

v3.0

• Reflector start-up animation has been improved.

v3.0.1

• Forward smash charge graphical effects moved from his hands to his feet.

v3.5

• Falco can no longer perform the Gatling Combo due to the DACUS window being shortened to 2 frames.
• First hit of up aerial deals less damage (6% → 5%), with its knockback scaling compensated (20 → 22), decreasing the moves total damage output (15.91% due to stale-move negation → 15%).
• Down aerial's clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 5-14 → 5-8).
• The late hit of down aerial deals less damage (9% → 8%), with its knockback scaling not fully compensated (100 → 107).
• Fire Bird's travel distance and speed altered to more closely match Melee'; it travels a slightly greater distance and Falco falls later into the move.
• Falco can no longer jump cancel Reflector's recovery frames after reflecting a projectile.
• Ending Landmaster in the air now puts Falco in a helpless state.
• AI is more intelligent when using Falco.

v3.6 Beta

• Falco Phantasm no longer slides during its start-up, preventing a bug related to sliding off and down platforms.

Changes from PM to P+

Falco received small buffs and fixes in the transition to Project+.

Ground Attacks

• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's innermost hitbox no longer sends opponents behind Falco, matching the outer hitboxes (110° → 361°), making the move more consistent and improving its KO potential.
• Up smash:
  • DACUS distance normalized between first and second frame timings, making it cover its longest distance consistently.

Aerial Attacks

• Up aerial:
  • The second hit's sourspot now deals the same knockback as the sweetspots (30 (base), 20 (scaling → 20/120), making the move much more consistent.
• Down aerial:
  • The clean hit's duration has been reverted to its Melee incarnation's (frames 5-8 → 5-14).

Special Moves

• Blaster:
  • Laser spawn height now matches the current position of Falco instead of where he was on the previous frame.
• Falco Phantasm:
  • Falco Phantasm has a longer window to perform the shortest shorten distance (1 frame → 2).
  • Aerial Falco Phantasm has less base knockback (70 → 40).
• Fire Bird:
  • Fire Bird now has hitboxes while charging, akin to Fire Fox, significantly decreasing its startup (frame 43 → 20), and making Falco more difficult to edgeguard, while also allowing it to deal more total damage (16% → 23%).
  • Fire Bird has more landing lag (3 frames → 7).
• Reflector:
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Falco to grab ledge during his reflect frames.
  • Reflector only changes vertical acceleration when held.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%	Falco does a chop, another outward chop, and then tilts diagonally and spins very quickly with one of his arms out.
			4%
			1% (loop)
Forward tilt			9%	Sticks his foot out to the side. This move be aimed up or down.
Up tilt			9%	Does a quick upwards back kick that can be useful for juggling opponents.
Down tilt			13%	Falco performs a quick tail swipe.
Dash attack			9% (clean), 6% (late)	Runs forward and sticks his leg out. Sends opponents upwards.
Forward smash			17% (clean), 14% (late)	Flips his body in front and kicks in front of him. Similar to Fox's f-smash, but much stronger.
Up smash			14% (clean), 12% (late)	Performs a quick bicycle kick. Drastically weaker than Fox's u-smash, but has better juggling potential. Unlike the Melee version of the move, Falco's head does not gain intangibility frames.
Down smash			16% (legs), 13% (body)	Does a quick split kick. The move deals high knockback and semi-spikes opponents, making it is an excellent edgeguarder, though it has short range. Both of Falco's legs are intangible whenever he starts up the move, even while he's charging, all the way until the hitboxes come out.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 9% (late)	Does a sex kick that loses power the longer it's out.
Forward aerial			9% (hit 1), 7% (hits 2-3), 4% (hit 4), 3% (hit 5)	Kicks forward five times. The move as high duration due to the number of kicks, and it is very difficult to connect all the hits.
Back aerial			15% (clean sweetspot), 9% (clean sourspot/late)	Does a quick kick backwards, with sex kick properties. A good move for edgeguarding due to its high KO potential.
Up aerial			5% (hit 1), 10% (hit 2)	Whips his tail up and kicks immediately after.
Down aerial			12% (clean), 8% (late)	Spins around in place at a downwards angle while extending one foot. Always acts as a spike, even in the lingering hitbox.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Knees opponent. A fairly quick pummel.
Forward throw			4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Falco bashes the opponent forward.
Back throw			2% (throw), 2% (laser)	Falco throws the foe backwards and then blasts them with his blaster.
Up throw			2% (throw), 2% (laser)	Falco throws the foe upwards and shoots at them.
Down throw			1% (laser shots 1-4), 1% (throw)	Falco forces his foe onto the floor, and fires directly at them. The foe now lands at the place they were thrown at, taking away Falco's chain grab ability.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Falco does a kick in front and in back.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Falco punches forwards, and kicks backwards.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Falco spins around, kicking foes with who are close.
Edge attack (fast)			8% (legs), 6% (head)	Falco lunges at the opponent with a kick.
Edge attack (slow)			9%	Falco slowly gets up and hammers the ground with a kick.
Neutral special		Blaster	1-3% (laser)	Falco fires his blaster. Unlike Fox's Blaster, it is slow but does stun the opponent. Falco fires his Blaster faster when used in midair. The lasers now lose power the farther they travel.
Side special		Falco Phantasm	7%	Falco dashes forward, leaving an afterimage behind him. Enemies hit by the move will be meteor smashed.
Up special		Fire Bird	16%	Falco charges up in flames and suddenly launches himself in one of many directions, depending on what direction is held.
Down special		Reflector	8% (activation), 1.5x damage for reflected projectiles	Falco activates his Reflector around him. When activated, it can do damage to opponents. Any projectiles are reversed back at opponents and do more damage than normal.
Final Smash		Landmaster	Varies	Falco summons his Landmaster. It has more aerial mobility than Fox's, but is slightly weaker and has less ground mobility.

In competitive play

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Falco players (PM)

•  Captain Birdman - Formerly ranked #37 on PMRank 2019.
•  FingerStripes - Ranked 8th in Arizona.
•  Ivayne - The best active Falco player in the world. Ranked #37 on PMRank 2023.
•  Silver - Considered one of the best Falcos in the world. Was ranked B+ tier (Top 24) on PMRank 2021-22 Mid-Season Contenders List.
•  Westballz - 9th at The Big Balc and BroCal's Gym: Bulking Season. Formerly ranked 3rd on the SoCal Project M Power Rankings.

Alternate costumes

Project M

Falco now has an alternative costume based off of his appearance in Melee, and Star Fox 64. There are four variations of this costume: the original and the three team colors used in Melee.

Falco's alternate costumes in PM

Project+

Falco has three new recolors for his default costume; a sky blue one similar to one in Smash 4, a pink one loosely inspired by Katt Monroe from early Star Fox titles, and a purple one inspired by his rival Panther Caroso from Star Fox Assault. The pink Melee outfit is similar to a hidden costume in the 20XX Melee training pack.

Falco's alternate costumes in P+

Z-Secret Costume: Star Fox Adventures Falco

R-Secret Costume: Star Fox Assault Falco

Trivia

• Oddly, Falco's Melee portrait in the Character Selection screen is mirrored, with his reflector and holster being on the wrong positions, and he faces right. Whenever any of his costumes is used in battle, his portrait shows him facing left, which is the correct position.

External links

• Falco's page at the Project M website
• Labbing Discord Tech Post