Falco Lombardi


 * Not to be confused with Captain Falcon.

Falco Lombardi (, Falco Lombardi) is one of the main characters of the series. He is a member of Star Fox, and has been with Fox McCloud and crew since their debut on the first Star Fox game for the SNES. He is considered the finest pilot of the group, and is well-known for his arrogant personality.

Origin
Falco Lombardi was first introduced in the SNES game, Star Fox, as the best pilot of Fox's three wingmates. Falco returns in the game's remake, Star Fox 64, and in that and later games, he is further detailed as being brash and egotistical, as well as mentioned to be formerly a part of the space gang "FREE AS A BIRD", along with female pilot.

In 2002's Star Fox Adventures, Falco is notably missing for nearly the entire game. This is simply due to the fact that he was not able to be properly worked into the plot when Nintendo told Rare to put the Star Fox label on the game. A manga entitled Star Fox: Farewell, Beloved Falco came with the Japanese edition that takes place during the eight-year gap between Star Fox 64 and Adventures. The comic explains Falco's absence, and directly leads up to the events of Adventures. Near the end of the game, Falco aids Fox during the final boss fight and shortly appears again to join the other main characters in the ending cutscene.

Star Fox: Assault sees a more tame Falco as part of the core team again under the title of "Ace Pilot". Every one of the story mode's missions has Falco in his Arwing, as he never joins Fox on foot like Slippy and Krystal.

In Star Fox Command, Falco has again isolated himself from the rest of the characters, though he is still considered to be a member of Star Fox. Falco, like all, pilots a customized vehicle, his own being the Sky Claw, a slim Arwing-like fighter with forward-swept wings armed with a single laser and a multi-lock.

Falco has a cocky attitude and is often uncooperative, frequently chastising his crewmates. He criticizes his leader Fox the most, due to his general disdain for authority and his secret want to be the leader himself. However, he does have a strong sense of loyalty and will always be there to help his friends, albeit at the last minute so he can take the credit. Falco Leaves and rejoins with team Star Fox multiple times throughout the franchise depending on his goals and the actions of the player in the case of Command. Falco is often compared to Han Solo of the Star Wars franchise, including the Nintendo Power Official Player's Guide for Assault.

In Super Smash Bros.
Although Falco does not appear in the game, 's red Alternate costume resembles the color of Falco's pants in Star Fox 64. It also resembles Fox's appearance in the Japanese version of Star Fox 64. Falco was also considered for inclusion as an alternate costume for Fox, alongside Slippy and Peppy.

As a playable character
Falco appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as an unlockable playable character, with his appearance based on his appearance in Star Fox 64. Being one of the late-development clones added to pad the roster, Falco is a clone of.

His playstyle is said to be very similar to Fox's in Super Smash Bros.; indeed, Falco does appear to be a recreation of the "old" Fox. His retains the attributes of Fox's in the original game; rather than having rapid-fire capabilities (as Fox's new Blaster does), Falco's Blaster fires at a much slower rate. However, it has the ability to cause opponents to flinch, unlike Fox's. He couples his trademark projectile with strong mobility, attacks with fast frame data, and excellent comboing capabilities, though his frailty and susceptibility to getting comboed required Falco players to tread carefully when using him. As a result of his potent strengths, he ranks 4th out of 26 characters..

Trophies
As a playable character, Falco has three trophies - a normal trophy won beating the with Falco on any difficulty, and "Smash Red" and "Smash Blue" trophies are acquired by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively.

As a playable character
Falco returns as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl; his appearance in Brawl is a mix between his design in Star Fox Assault and Star Fox Command. Falco is acquired by playing 50 brawls, meeting him in The Subspace Emissary, or by completing the 100-Man Brawl in the Stadium mode on Solo.

Falco's special moves are similar to those of 's and 's. However, his recovery move, the Fire Bird, is shorter, but the Falco Phantasm is slightly longer than Fox's and is also stronger than Fox's variant and weaker than Wolf's version. His Blaster cannot fire rapidly like Fox's, but does fire shots faster that travel quicker than Wolf's. And perhaps the biggest difference in these is the fact that his Reflector is not constant anymore. Instead, Falco kicks it from him and it is released for a second or two instead of being continuous. His side smash now has him slam-chopping his arms over another character instead of a turning kick. His aerials are different too. His forward air is similar to Pikachu's, and his neutral air is him doing a 360 degree spin and slashing with his arms. His Final Smash, though it differs in functionality, is virtually the same as Fox's and Wolf's.

Falco is currently ranked 7th on the tier list in A- tier, retaining his high position from Melee. However, despite being nerfed overall in his transition from Melee, Falco has continued to stay as a top tier in his transition from Melee to Brawl.

As a playable character
is once again an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He retains his appearance from , albeit with his thicker head from Star Fox 64. Mark Lund, his Star Fox 64 3D English voice actor, now voices Falco in non-Japanese versions.

Falco is currently ranked 46th out of 54 on the tier list, in the F tier. In a similar fashion to Melee, Falco possesses a combination of high power, fast attack speed and great combo versatility. His recovery has also been buffed, now being among the longest-distanced. However, the nerfs he received were significant enough to make his neutral game one of the weakest in the game. , formerly a notoriously powerful zoning tool, has been deprived of its high speed and autocancelling capabilities. Down aerial is also much slower, limiting its use in edgeguarding and comboing. Back aerial lasts for a shorter amount of time, removing Falco's most reliable spacing option at close range. Finally, the removal of DACUS prevents his up smash from being used in the Gatling Combo or as a finisher. As a result of his infamously weak approaching capabilities, Falco has low representation and scarce results.

As a playable character
Falco appears as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Like the other Star Fox characters, his design is now based on Star Fox Zero.

Trivia

 * Falco is one of two earliest introduced characters who have been unlockable in every game they appear in. The other is Mr. Game & Watch.
 * When counting and  separately instead of collectively as Super Smash Bros. 4, he is also tied with Jigglypuff and Mr. Game & Watch for the most unlockable appearances, with five.
 * Additionally, he and Mr. Game & Watch are the only characters who appeared as unlockable characters in multiple Super Smash Bros. titles to remain as such in both versions of SSB4. Coincidentally, both debuted in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
 * SSB4 is the only game where Falco reuses his design from a directly preceeding Super Smash Bros. game.
 * With the exception of Brawl, Falco has the highest jump in every Smash game he appears in.
 * Falco is the only Melee veteran to receive entirely new voice clips in each installment in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * Falco has the same unlocking method in two different installments. In both Melee and Brawl, he is unlocked by beating 100-Man Smash.