Editing Falco (SSBU)

Owing to his status as a "talented aerial fighter" with an "amazing jumping ability" and fast falling speed, Falco's greatest strengths lie in his strong combo, juggling, and edgeguarding capabilities; with his aerials being most evident of these traits. Up aerial in particular, is his primary juggling tool, thanks to its quick startup, wide hitbox that can hit opponents on landing, and low overall lag and knockback. These traits make it very effective at starting and extending juggles, and as well as being capable of comboing into itself and other aerials. Additionally, it can KO at high percents near the upper blast line. Neutral aerial has a large, lasting hitbox that covers Falco and is a fast multi-hit, making it a good disruptor and combo extender/finisher. It can also drag opponents downward, allowing it to start combos on stage. Forward aerial has decent horizontal range and is also a lasting multi-hit, allowing it to edgeguard and KO reliably. Like his neutral aerial, it can drag opponents downward as well, potentially leaving offstage opponents in a very vulnerable position. Back aerial is one of the strongest aerials of its kind and can reliably KO even from center-stage. Lastly, down aerial, while nowhere near as notorious as its previous iterations, comes out fast and is a lasting hitbox; with its clean hit being a powerful meteor smash, giving it the ability to start combos onstage and score early KOs against poor recoveries.

Although Falco's ground game appears limited, he has a handful of respectable options at his disposal. Up tilt, in particular is Falco's staple in initiating combos thanks to its very quick startup, large hitboxes, and low ending lag and knockback. It can combo into itself and any of his aerials, and even setup for KO's into back aerial or up aerial at high percents. Down tilt, despite being Falco's most powerful tilt, is also capable of follow-ups into aerials thanks to its sourspots' lower power. Additionally, it covers a good distance in front of himself, allowing him to KO grounded opponents with ease or 2-frame many recoveries. Forward smash has considerable range and respectable KO power, while down smash starts up quickly and sends at a [[semi-spike]] angle, working as another quick KO option and heavily threatening those with poor recoveries. His other moves, although more situational, still have their uses: neutral attack comes out exceedingly quick and its first two hits can [[lock]], forward tilt can be angled and is relatively fast, allowing it to be used as a decent neutral option, and dash attack has a long duration, enabling it to catch dodges and landings, with its clean hit sending at a favorable angle for juggles and its late hit setting up for potential edgeguards.

Complementing Falco's aerials and tilts is his grab game, as shielding too often provides Falco the opportunity to make use of his highly damaging throws. Up throw is highly useful, as much like up tilt, it is an effective combo starter into any of his aerials at all percents and can perform KO setups or even outright KO with its second hit. Down throw combos into forward aerial at low percents and forward, while lacking true combos, is useful for setting up edgeguards and tech-chases. Finally, back throw's first hit is a semi-spike that sets up for Falco's strong edgeguarding game, while its second hit can outright KO at high percents near the ledge.

Considering his versatile moveset, Falco's specials can provide unique benefits. [[Blaster]] is his primary ranged option, with it being an effective disruptor due to its fast projectile and surprisingly low ending lag. Its shots can be used to pressure, provoke or halt approaches, snipe double jumps, or even outright gimp poor recoveries. [[Falco Phantasm]] propels Falco a significant distance very quickly, making it great for horizontal recovery. Its grounded version can start combos at low to mid percents and even set up KOs with back aerial at high percents, while its aerial version can meteor smash careless edgeguarders and even 2-frame low recoveries. [[Fire Bird]] is his primary recovery option and grants respectable distance in any chosen direction. Falco can notably use it in conjuction with [[footstool]] as an [[out of shield]] option; it has damaging hitboxes throughout and can deal up to 40% if all hits connect. Lastly, [[Reflector]] activates on frame 1, making reacting to projectiles less of a liability for Falco; it also has a hitbox which activates slightly later that serves as a decent poking tool.

In spite of Falco's well-balanced strengths, he has numerous weaknesses. His most prominent flaws are his survivability and his inconsistency. Despite being a lightweight, Falco is vulnerable to combos due to his fast falling speed and lack of reliable escape options. Although Falco's recovery grants respectable distance, it is very linear. Falco Phantasm no longer passes through shields, making it far easier to corner him and force him offstage as a result. Without his double jump, Falco is in great danger offstage due to the nerfs to air dodging and his two recovery options each being slow and predictable.

Regarding his moveset, Falco has several moves that do not function properly and can even work against him. Up smash, despite having fast startup and high vertical reach, has large blind spots that often miss outright against many grounded opponents, leaving him extremely vulnerable from behind and against small or crouching opponents (even if they're directly in front of Falco). Plaguing him since ''Smash 4'', both up tilt and up smash are prone to failing to properly connect against aerial opponents. Despite its appearance, neutral aerial has difficulty hitting opponents from behind, and due to changes in the game's engine, the move's looping hits are more prone to missing than they were in the previous installment. While Blaster and Reflector have reduced lag, the former is still unsafe on hit even from a distance, while the latter still has a misleadingly small hitbox and its removed trip chance ironically makes it even more unsafe on hit overall than in ''Smash 4''. Most notoriously, however, are Falco's back and up throws. Due to changes in the game's physics, the laser from both throws are even more susceptible to [[DI]] than before, allowing opponents to survive what otherwise would effortlessly KO.

These aforementioned problems compound Falco's other, more defined weakness of struggling to secure a KO. Like fellow ''Star Fox'' fighters {{SSBU|Fox}} and {{SSBU|Wolf}}, Falco's strongest moves are also his slowest in terms of startup and/or endlag, requiring careful execution in order to avoid heavy punishment. Lastly, Falco's damage output and range have been nerfed from ''Smash 4''. This is especially noteworthy due to most of the cast receiving various buffs not limited to these aspects and the prominence of swordfighters and zoners in ''Ultimate''.