Captain Falcon


 * Not to be confused with Falco.

Captain Falcon (, Captain Falcon) is a character from the series. Renowned throughout the Milky Way Galaxy as both a bounty hunter and racer, Captain Falcon is also the F-Zero series' de facto mascot.

As a member of the "perfect-attendance crew", Captain Falcon has been featured as a playable character throughout the  series. His highly offensive playstyle, signature moves (most notably his Falcon Punch) and memorable quotes have made him a fan favorite character across the Super Smash Bros. series despite 's status as a lesser-known Nintendo franchise. His voice actor throughout the Super Smash Bros. series is Ryō Horikawa.

Origin
Near the end of 's development, the game's designer, Takaya Imamura, sought to create a character in response to an internal request for a mascot to represent the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Following on the requester's naming suggestion of "captain", Imamura also sought to use a red, blue and yellow color scheme for the character, in reference to the Super Famicom's controller buttons. Although Imamura does not recall why his prototypical captain character was no longer sought to be the SNES' mascot, he nevertheless created concept art of F-Zero's four racers.

During a discussion regarding the game's packaging, Imamura decided to depict these racers in an eight-page comic that used an art style, instead of reusing their original designs. Due to this comic gaining an overwhelmingly positive response from, it was included within F-Zero's game manual and, in Imamura's assumption, was the reason as to why Captain Falcon became the series' de facto mascot.

F-Zero was released in 1990 for the Super Famicom in Japan, and in 1991 for the SNES. Its comic introduced Captain Falcon,, and Samurai Goroh alongside their respective futuristic racing machines, the F-Zero 's announcer , and Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer and his status as a reputable bounty hunter.

Captain Falcon's design and backstory would be revised in future iterations of the F-Zero series; his design in F-Zero X for Nintendo 64 would be used for his appearances as a playable fighter in 1999's Super Smash Bros. and 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee, and his most recent "main" design is in F-Zero GX for GameCube. In all these appearances, Captain Falcon and his machine are touted as the most balanced and easy-to-play-with machine for that game, so players of a new F-Zero game almost always play as Captain Falcon first. He is also known as the series' main character, a fact that was solidified by his starring role in the story mode of F-Zero GX.

Captain Falcon is described as "an accomplished F-Zero pilot, a renowned and talented bounty hunter", and is also an eccentric man in his late thirties (36 in F-Zero X and Melee, 37 in F-Zero GX). His "Captain" title is rumored to originate from his possible status as an officer in the Internova Police Force in the past. He is a resident of Earth, hailing from the city of Port Town.

His bounty hunting exploits have yielded him enough of a reputation that he has gained many enemies across the galaxy; to avoid the constant danger from his adversaries, when he is not racing or bounty hunting he lives in seclusion in his personal archipelago off the coast of Port Town. His need to shield himself from outsiders borders on paranoia (albeit not necessarily unwarranted), as whenever he wins a race, he compulsively dashes to his archipelago with his award money before others can get him. Living comfortably in solitude on his archipelago, Captain Falcon practices his F-Zero racing with a separate track built on each one of his islands.

His outfit consists of a a red helmet with an opaque visor and falcon-shaped ornament on his forehead, and an indigo, form-fitting racing suit with a single pauldron on his right shoulder and a scarf around his neck. He always carries a sidearm in a holster on his right hip, although he has only been shown to use it once. When Captain Falcon removes his helmet, a scar above his left eye can be seen.

The F-Zero series' chronology has many vague elements up for debate, but it is stated by F-Zero X that Captain Falcon was involved in a huge accident that caused the suspension of the F-Zero Grand Prix; while he was hospitalized, his DNA was stolen and used by someone else to create his evil clone, who races against him in hopes of taking him out. The story mode of F-Zero GX shows Captain Falcon winning several races, then saving a fellow pilot known as Jody Summer. He ends up in a heroic role when he races against and defeats the supervillain Black Shadow, then beats a superior villain named Deathborn, and finally goes on to even defeat the Creators of the F-Zero world.

Captain Falcon also appears in , an alternate contuinity of the F-Zero series. Although Falcon's depiction as a mysterious, yet very skilled racer who helps uphold law and order is retained as in the previous installments, he is not the main protagonist. Rather, GP Legend features him as a co-protagonist alongside one of its original characters,. GP Legend also revamps Captain Falcon's backstory in a few major ways. In addition to working as a bounty hunter as shown in GP Legend's video game, he is the owner and barista of the Falcon House café while under the name Burt Lemming. In reality, Burt/Falcon is actually Andy Summer, the long-lost brother of.

As a playable character
Captain Falcon has appeared in the Smash Bros. series from the first installment, beginning as his incarnation from F-Zero X. He is an unlockable fighter, and his unlocking condition is for the player to complete the One-Player mode within 20 minutes, and defeat him in a match to earn him. Like and, he does not make an appearance in the game's One-Player mode. His entrance into a battle is to zoom in on the Blue Falcon and park for him to jump out, and the machine zooms into the background to vanish. His default costume is purple as opposed to the usual blue, while one of his alternate costumes is colored to resemble Blood Falcon, while his last alternate costume gives Captain Falcon's suit his normal blue color.

Captain Falcon's special moves are the Falcon Punch, his neutral special move, a slow but powerful charge-up punch attack; the Falcon Dive, his up special move, a repeatable move involving a jump upward, grabbing an opponent he comes in contact with followed by an explosion; and the Falcon Kick, his down special move, a fiery flying kick that propels him downward from midair or forward on the ground.

Captain Falcon is 3rd on the SSB tier list, due to his powerful and swift fighting ability. His dash is the fastest in the game, and his combo ability and grabbing ability are both nearly as good. He is heavy and thus harder to KO, his aerial attacks feature low lag, his up special is usefully deceptive, his short hop is good, and he can spike. However, he lacks a quick KO move, any sort of projectile, and has a bad recovery, leading to him being vulnerable to combos due to his large size. For this he must be able to short hop extremely well. But Captain Falcon in this game is famous for his versatility as both an offensive character and a counterattacking character.

His in-game description is as follows:
 * A regular pilot in the great galactic race F-ZERO Grand Prix, Captain Falcon is skilled at collecting prize money. Much about his past remains hidden in shadow, but it's clear that many a villain hold a powerful grudge against him.


 * Works:
 * F-ZERO (SNES)
 * F-ZERO X (N64)

As a playable character
Captain Falcon makes a return appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, still in his incarnation from F-Zero X, but his suit is now a very dark gray-blue color. This time, he is a starter character as opposed to being an unlockable character in the previous game, and as before, one of his alternate costumes is Blood Falcon in both coloration and the logo on his suit's back. His new side special move is the Raptor Boost, a rushing uppercut attack. Newcomer is a clone of Falcon due to their similar moves, but they have different animations for several attacks.

Captain Falcon ranks 6th on the current Melee tier list. Captain Falcon remains the most maneuverable character in the game, with the fastest running speed which lends itself to a fast and long dash-dance as well as a short hop that can cover great distances, a high falling speed, and the longest moonwalk. This complements his attacks well, particularly his aerial attacks: his forward aerial, called the Knee Smash, is a powerful, low-trajectory finisher, and his aerial attacks, in general, are low-lag and good at comboing in tandem with his throws. Despite this strong aerial moveset, Falcon's ground attacks are generally slow and lack range, which is exacerbated by his lack of projectiles. Captain Falcon is a fastfaller which lends him the game's highest resistance to attacks of vertical trajectory, making him resistant to upward KO's but vulnerable to combos. Since his up special can not attack targets who may be hanging on a ledge, he can be easily edge-guarded.

Trophies
Captain Falcon, as a playable character, is featured on three trophies. His normal trophy is acquired by beating the Classic mode with Captain Falcon on any difficulty, and his Smash Red and Smash Blue trophies are acquired the same way by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively. Note that his normal trophy depicts both Falcon and his vehicle, the Blue Falcon and that his Smash Blue trophy depicts his Blood Falcon alternate costume.

As a playable character
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he has reverted back to secret character status and has since lost his title of fastest character to. His moves are largely unchanged from the previous games, except he can do a reverse Falcon Punch. His design, this time, is mostly original, with his scarf hanging out instead of being tucked in, he now has two differently designed pauldrons with yellow rims, and he now wears light-yellow kneepads. His Final Smash is his Blue Falcon, which he calls for then rams into opponents. His home stages are Port Town Aero Dive and the returning Big Blue.

Falcon's position has fallen from one of the highest in SSB and Melee to one of the lowest in the tier list in Brawl. He ranks 34th on the current Brawl tier list for many reasons: his power and speed were reduced, the game's lack of hitstun and physics changes severely hindered his combo game and efficiency respectively, and his Knee Smash's sweet spot is more difficult to land. Also, one of his most glaring flaws from Melee, being vulnerable to chain grabs, is only worse here as more characters have this ability.

As a playable character
Captain Falcon returns as a veteran in Super Smash Bros. 4. He appears in 's trailer fighting him, Chrom, and. He is once again a starter character like in Melee and retains his design from Brawl.

Captain Falcon has returned to a favorable position like in SSB and Melee, as he ranks 19th out of 55 on the SSB4 tier list, putting him in B tier. The changes to hitstun canceling greatly benefit Captain Falcon, as they notably restored his once-lost combo game. As usual, he combines speed with power, as well as an effective and vastly reaching dash grab. Raptor Boost saw an increase to its knockback, making it a reliable KO move. Nevertheless, Captain Falcon still saw some notable nerfs. His Knee Smash gained extra landing and ending lag, and it can no longer autocancel from a short hop. His trademark Falcon Punch also does less damage and much less knockback. Additionally, his recovery remains pretty linear and easy to edgeguard against. Overall, Captain Falcon's appearance in SSB4 is seen as a return to his former glory thanks to the important buffs he received, earning him respectable representation and results in tournaments.

As a costume
Captain Falcon's design serves as the basis of a downloadable content costume for s.

As a playable character
Captain Falcon returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Captain Falcon reverts to his status as an unlockable character like in SSB and Brawl; as the first character in 's Classic Mode character unlock tree, he can potentially be the first character unlocked in the game. He also retains his Brawl design.

As a costume
Captain Falcon's costume for Mii Brawlers returns from the previous game, now being unlockable.

Trivia

 * Prior to 2015, Masahiro Sakurai jokingly said on two different occasions that Captain Falcon was his main.
 * Captain Falcon was the only character in SSB to use a symbol instead of a character head as the stock icon.
 * Captain Falcon carries a gun in his holster, but never uses it in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * Captain Falcon has always had exactly the same weight as Link in each of the NTSC releases of the Super Smash Bros. games.
 * While Captain Falcon's scarf is tucked into his shirt in most of the F-Zero games and anime, in Brawl onward his scarf hangs out of his shirt (similar to Captain Falcon's evil clone Blood Falcon in the F-Zero series).
 * While Captain Falcon has always had a Blood Falcon-inspired alternate palette throughout the series, only the emblem on the back of his suit changes to Blood Falcon's skull motifs. Blood Falcon has a white skull emblem on his helmet, which does not replace Captain Falcon's falcon emblem.
 * Captain Falcon, Ness, and Terry Bogard are the only characters to be voiced by Japanese actors yet speak English in all language tracks.
 * Of the three, he is also the only one to be voiced by a fluent English speaker.
 * As a result of all of his non-Smash Bros. appearances being racing games, virtually all of his moves are created specifically for the Super Smash Bros. series rather than drawn directly from in-universe works. The only reference made to F-Zero is his Final Smash, Blue Falcon.
 * Many of Captain Falcon's minor animations, such as shield breaking or using battering items, appear on several characters who are otherwise not clones of him and often those with a similarly realistic physique (such as Solid Snake, Little Mac, and Simon Belmont), suggesting his animations are commonly used as templates.
 * Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong are the only characters to be listed with abbreviated names on the victory screen, trophies, and/or character select screen. In Captain Falcon's case, he is listed as C. Falcon in SSB and Melee.
 * Captain Falcon's voice actor, Ryō Horikawa, reprised his role for the first time in over a decade in Min Min's reveal trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, he only provided sounds of slurping noodles instead of new dialogue.
 * Regarding this appearance, Masahiro Sakurai stated that it was the first time that Horikawa voiced Captain Falcon since Smash 64. However, Captain Falcon still received new voice clips in both Melee and Brawl; Sakurai stated that voice clips that Falcon received later were simply unused, and voice clips for Blue Falcon and other Final Smashes are accessible within the game's debug menu.
 * Captain Falcon and Ganondorf are the only pair of clones to come from different universes ( and, respectively).
 * Kirby and Jigglypuff (who hail, respectively, from and ) were clones in the original game, but were de-cloned in Melee.