Captain Falcon (SSBM)/Forward smash

Overview
Nicknamed The People's Elbow, Captain Falcon rears back and thrusts his elbow in a fast-moving motion, dealing flame damage to anyone it connects with. This is one of the most powerful forward smashes in Melee, being the third most powerful forward smash overall with especially high knockback scaling (while Ganondorf's produces slightly stronger knockback, the fact Ganondorf's hits vertically allows Falcon's to KO faster on fast fallers and stages with high ceilings). However, it is difficult to land, with slow start-up lag and rather small hitboxes (though since Falcon lunges far with it, it reaches far regardless). It is additionally very punishable, with a heavy 39 frames of ending lag. As such, despite its great power, the move is not seen much in competitive play, especially when Falcon has access to a much easier to land and much safer move with comparable power in his. With a successful hard read though, it can potentially get a KO as early as 80% from center stage, and with its very high damage output, it can outprioritise up to moderate damage dealing ground attacks.

Hitboxes

 * }

Similar moves

 * Ganondorf (SSBM)/Forward smash