Captain Falcon (SSB4)

Captain Falcon (, Captain Falcon) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was confirmed during a live stream on July 14th, 2014, which is exactly 16 years after F-Zero X was released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan in 1998, alongside and.

's portrayal of Captain Falcon from Melee and Brawl were repurposed for Smash 4.

Captain Falcon ranks 19th on the SSB4 tier list, thus going into the B tier. This is a remarkable improvement over his bottom tier placement in Brawl, where he was ranked 34th out of 38. Thanks to the changes to hitstun canceling, Captain Falcon's lost combo game has been greatly restored. Additionally, Captain Falcon retains his rudimentary speed and power, allowing him to rush foes down with ease. When combined with his excellent endurance, Captain Falcon has a very effective neutral game, courtesy of his strong edgeguarding game, further supplemented by several renowned moves, the most notable being his forward aerial.

However, Captain Falcon has noteworthy shortcomings. Captain Falcon remains highly susceptible to combos, which are linked to his high weight, gravity, falling speed, and hurtbox. While his high air speed and air acceleration can allow him to return to a stage, Raptor Boost and Falcon Dive do not grant sufficient protection, meaning that Captain Falcon is also very vulnerable to edgeguarding himself. Captain Falcon's neutral game is also moderately hindered by his short range and lack of a projectile, making it very difficult for him to counter spacing and camping.

Attributes
Captain Falcon is a tall heavyweight character. However, his mobility is nearly unconventional for his weight class: he has the 2nd fastest dashing speed, the 4th fastest falling speed, the 5th highest gravity, the 14th fastest air speed, and above average air acceleration. He also has very high jumps and wall jumps. Strangely, though, his walking speed is rather slow, and his traction is below average. Such an odd mix of traits grant him excellent mobility, yet also allow him to keep up with his opponents.

Despite lacking a projectile, Falcon has an overall effective neutral game, thanks to his mobility. His dash grab covers a long distance, making it a reliable approach option, and his back aerial is quick, has good range, and autocancels in a short hop, allowing it to lead into his grab. From there, he has many tools with which to rack up damage. His pummel is quick, and his down and forward throws are effective combo-starters, with his combo ability being arguably his greatest strength. His down throw leads into multiple up aerials, or his neutral aerial, and his forward throw combos into his dash attack or even his neutral air at low percents. Falcon's up aerial demonstrates the versatility of his combo game. At a wide range of percents, it can chain into any aerial including itself. Starting at middling percentages, it can even lead into his down air meteor smash on grounded foes, which can either extend combos onstage, or finish opponents near the ledge. Alternatively, Falcon can chain his up aerial into some his deadliest finishers, which include his down air meteor smash and the famed Knee Smash forward air, and end his opponent's stock below 100%.

Captain Falcon also boasts excellent KO power, as well as a formidable edgeguarding ability. His smash attacks and back aerial deal high knockback, and his aforementioned Knee Smash is an extremely powerful semi-spike that KOs at early percentages offstage. His down aerial is relatively fast, has a large hitbox, and its sweetspot is one of the most powerful meteor smashes in the game, while its sourspot deals high horizontal knockback. His down tilt is a semi-spike, being useful for putting opponents offstage. His back and forward throws are good for starting edgeguards, and killing at high percentages. Due to being a heavy weight, he is a proficient user of rage, bolstering his already high power.

However, he has his weaknesses. Though he has numerous hard-hitting moves, most of them are difficult or slow to land, some prominent examples being his smash attacks. His Knee Smash is faster than those moves, but it suffers from a small sweetspot that lasts for only one frame, making it hard to land without an air dodge read or setup off of an up aerial. As a result, he often has to rely on edgeguarding to score his kills. Though his neutral game is good overall, his lack of a projectile leaves him susceptible to camping, especially against characters like. Falcon suffers from a poor out of shield game and, while his dash grab has a long range, his standing grab range is average at best. His dash grab is also very easy for players to whiff should they use it carelessly, especially since Captain Falcon's overall high mobility may make him a bit difficult to control properly. His high weight and fast falling speed give him great endurance, but they also leave him vulnerable to combos, and he has no fast options with which to break them.

Captain Falcon's greatest problem lies in his recovery, despite having an impressive air speed. His two recovery options, Falcon Dive and Raptor Boost, are linear and do not grant enough distance, making them predictable and easily intercepted, and they have small ledge sweetspots. These two moves do not have hitboxes above him, leaving him open to meteor smashes, which he usually cannot survive due to his short recovery and falling speed. To his merit, he can reuse Falcon Dive if it connects with an opponent, and even stage spike them, though this is easily teched. Although he has a wall jump, he will be in danger offstage without his double jump.

With customs on, Captain Falcon gets many benefits. While Falcon Dash Punch is weaker and has slower startup than the default Falcon Punch, it propels himself forward, forcing his opponents offstage for him to KO them with his aforementioned above average edgeguarding tools. Heavy Raptor Boost, while being slower and giving less distance, has super armor throughout and much more power. Wind-Up Raptor Boost, while being weaker than the regular Raptor Boost, allows for mindgames as Captain Falcon backs up a bit before charging forward, and it moves faster as well. Falcon Strike, while being unable to grab opponents, thus sacrificing reusability, has a hitbox during the entire ascent, granting better overall protection. It also goes higher and has much more horizontal momentum, not only giving Captain Falcon a better vertical recovery, it also gives him one of the quickest horizontal recoveries in the game, as his already fast air speed is put into even better use. The Explosive Falcon Dive is similar to the Heavy Raptor Boost in that while it is slower and has less recovery potential than the default, has much more launching power KOing at 80% in the air. Finally, even though Lightning Falcon Kick has slower startup and weaker knockback than Falcon Kick, it travels significantly faster and the landing hit paralyzes opponents, which allows numerous setups should the Captain Falcon player be skilled and lucky enough to pull it off. It also goes straight through opponents, allowing for easy cross-ups.

Overall, Captain Falcon's strengths outweigh his weaknesses. With speed, power, and easy-to-use combos off of throw setups, he has a comparatively low learning curve and high payoff. While Falcon is not as common or as dominant as other perceived top-tier characters such as and, he has a dedicated playerbase that brings his usage in line with many characters said to be better than he is, with many top players continuing to use him as a main or a secondary. As a result, he has achieved notable tournament success at high-level play and even stronger results in low- and mid-level play (including regional tournaments), and is considered by the competitive community to be a viable choice for tournament play.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Captain Falcon has been significantly buffed from Brawl, in which he was a bottom-tier character despite his speed and power. Several of his moves have been given more reach and knockback, and some of his situational moves, such as his up tilt, have been greatly improved. Falcon's grab game has also been buffed, as his throws have less ending lag, allowing him to string together combos more reliably, much as he could before Brawl. Complementing this is his newly buffed dash grab, which comes out very quickly and covers a lot of distance. Falcon also significantly benefits from the changes to two of Brawl's mechanics - hitstun canceling, which is now only possible at higher percents and restored his comboing ability for lower percents, and chain grabbing, which is now impossible and was one of his biggest weaknesses in Brawl. As he is a heavyweight character, Falcon also benefits from the rage mechanic, without his combos being affected. As in SSB and Melee, Falcon is mainly a heavily offensive rushdown character who relies on overwhelming his opponents with rapid combos and powerful finishers.

On the other hand, some of Captain Falcon's previous staple moves were nerfed; for example, his Knee Smash now has much more landing lag and can no longer autocancel from a short hop, and Falcon Dive has decreased safety due to its higher ending lag, weakening some of his possible recovery mixups. As a result, while being considered much better in comparison with his Brawl incarnation, he is still considered to be slightly inferior to his Melee incarnation. However, these nerfs are minuscule compared to the massive buffs he received, and as such, not only is one of the few characters to get truly buffed in the transition to Smash 4, but he is also one of the most improved characters in the game, alongside, , , , , and.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial (Knee Smash):
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial (Knee Smash):
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs
 * Pummel
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Pummel
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Front Floor attack
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:

Special moves

 * Falcon Punch:
 * Raptor Boost:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Raptor Boost:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Raptor Boost:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Dive:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Falcon Kick:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:
 * Blue Falcon:

Update history
Captain Falcon was slightly nerfed throughout balance patches, mostly to his KO power. However, changes to the shield mechanics in 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 have indirectly buffed Falcon, as the increase in shieldstun and the application of hitlag on shields benefit many of his moves, improving his offensive playstyle.

 1.0.4

 1.0.6

 1.0.8
 * Forward smash:
 * Up aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Up aerial:

 1.1.0

 1.1.1

 1.1.4

Moveset
For a gallery of Captain Falcon's hitboxes, see here.
 * Captain Falcon can wall jump.

Tier placement and history
During the early lifespan of Smash 4's metagame, Captain Falcon's buffs were immediately noticed, with the most notable of them being the heavy changes to hitstun canceling and the improved combo ability on his moves. As a result, he has always been considered a high tier character, thanks to his quick mobility, high power, and the ability to perform heavily damaging combos and juggles with his throws and aerial moves, with his combos being quite easy to start due to his far-reaching dash grab. His representation has been strong throughout the game's lifespan, both due to his own strengths and his general popularity as a character. However, perceptions surrounding Falcon have not grown as much as other higher tiered characters than him, due to his poor recovery and difficulty escaping pressure and combos, along with receiving nerfs to his damage output and KOing ability through game updates. Players also began to cite his troublesome match-up against, who would go on to become the perceived best character in the game for a long period of time. Despite this, his playerbase is among the largest in the entire roster, with players such as, , , , , , and  achieving strong enough tournament results with the character.

He would rank at 14th on the first iteration of the 4BR tier list, at the very top of the mid-tier, then dropped six spots on the second tier list to 20th, and dropped once again to 23rd on the third tier list. However, the change in the arrangement of the tiers caused him to be ranked more positively than in the initial tier list. However, his tier placement became a topic of debate amongst players, due to the recent appearances of many noteworthy results. Most notably, placed 2nd at 2GGC: Civil War, which is one of the largest Smash 4 tournaments to date. Afterwards he went on to decisively eliminate from MomoCon 2017, even while ZeRo counterpicked. This had him rise to 19th on the fourth and current tier list. Overall, Falcon has had the third highest rise from the Brawl tier list, and is one of the characters to have improved the most from that game.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PGR 100, which recognizes the official top 100 players in Super Smash Bros. 4 of all time.

See also: Category:Captain Falcon players (SSB4)


 * (#19) - The best Captain Falcon player in the world. Placed 2nd at both and, 3rd at , 5th at , and 7th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Placed 13th at both and, 17th at both  and , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 114th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - Placed 5th at, 9th at , , , and 17th at . Ranked 86th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - The best Captain Falcon player in Mexico. Placed 9th at both and WeTecThose 7, 13th at, and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 47th on the Mexican Power Rankings.
 * - The best Captain Falcon player in Europe. Placed 13th at both and, 25th at both  and , and 33rd at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 49th on the European Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The best Captain Falcon player in Japan. Placed 1st at, 5th at and , and 9th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked as high as 19th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Captain Falcon players in Japan. Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , 5th at , 7th at , and 13th at . Ranked 52nd on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Captain Falcon players in the United States. Placed 5th at, 7th at , 9th at , and 17th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Captain Falcon players in the early metagame. Placed 3rd at, 9th at both and , 17th at , and 33rd at  wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Placed 5th at, 9th at , 17th at both and , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 97th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.

Solo Events

 * All-Star Battle: Secret: Captain Falcon is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are characters that have been unlockable in previous Super Smash Bros. games.
 * Bounty Hunter Clash: Captain Falcon must defeat in a 2 stock battle. Afterwards, 2 s will appear and challenge the player.
 * Up to Speed: Captain Falcon appears as an opponent that must defeat.

Co-op Events

 * Full Speed Ahead: Captain Falcon and must defeat another Captain Falcon and Sonic in a high-speed stock battle.
 * Sky Pirates: and  must defeat Captain Falcon and  before the plane returns to the airfield.
 * The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Trivia

 * The lines bordering Captain Falcon's "eyes" change depending on the costume used.
 * Of all the veterans that have appeared in and retain their voice clips from Brawl, Captain Falcon,, and are the only ones to not make use of knockback voice clips that weren't used in-game in Brawl despite having them.
 * Captain Falcon,, and are the only characters who have voice clips that have been used in all five Super Smash Bros. installments.
 * is the only game where and Captain Falcon do not have the same availability.

Captain Falcon (SSB4)