Falco (SSBU)

Falco (, Falco) is a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside fellow Star Fox fighter and the rest of the returning roster during the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct. Falco is classified as Fighter #20.

Mark Lund reprises his role from Super Smash Bros. 4 with new voice clips, sounding more akin to his appearances in Star Fox Zero and Starlink: Battle for Atlas. In the Japanese version, Falco is now voiced by Kōsuke Takaguchi, reprising his role from Star Fox 64 3D and Star Fox Zero and who also voiced, replacing Hisao Egawa from Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Smash 4.

Falco is ranked 41st out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier. This is a significant improvement over his 46th out of 54 placement in SSB4. Falco, unlike his fellow Star Fox brethren, is more centered on combos and advantage state. His up tilt is one of the best combo starters in the game, courtesy of him having the highest jump and vertical mobility in the game along with excellent aerial followups. Falco's edgeguarding is also very effective due to his aerials having either long-lasting hitboxes (neutral aerial and forward aerial) or being strong KO tools (back aerial and down aerial). His Blaster helps to force approaches and can aid with some defensive play and Falco Phantasm serves as a solid burst option to surprise opponents. His Reflector is his main anti-zoning tool, which can also help set up niche edgeguards and combos.

Despite these strengths, Falco has some weaknesses. Like Fox and Wolf, his endurance is not the greatest; in Falco's case, he is a lightweight character with the same predictable recovery issues as the other space animals due to Fire Bird and Falco Phantasm's linear angles. Falco's neutral is also lacking, as he lacks the speed of Fox and the overall effectiveness of Wolf's Blaster; since he is a slower run-up combo-oriented character, most opponents can play around his combo starters by playing more defensively against him. While his combo game is strong, he lacks strong KO moves, making him reliant on moves such as down tilt, back air, or edgeguarding.

Overall, Falco's drastic improvements has resulted in him seeing significantly better representation in comparison to Smash 4. While the size of his playerbase pales compared to the other Star Fox fighters, Falco still sees solid results from players such as and.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: With the exception of the third method, Falco must then be defeated on Corneria. In World of Light, he is fought on the Ω form of Lylat Cruise.
 * Play VS. matches, with Falco being the 32nd character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 4th character unlocked after.
 * Have Falco join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Falco is a lightweight character with the highest jump in the game, a fast initial dash speed, the 7th highest gravity, the 10th fastest walking speed, the 11th fastest falling speed, the 12th highest traction and the 9th best air acceleration, but in contrast has average dashing speed and the 23rd slowest air speed. This makes his movement somewhat polarizing as he has overall mediocre horizontal movement (especially while airborne), but excels in reaching impressive heights.

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 and, 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.

Overall, Falco has the tools that let him defensively pressure his opponent, then effectively capitalize on their errors with his strong combo and edgeguarding capabilities. However, he can struggle keeping up with opponents who can outmaneuver or outrange his options. Although he can score early KOs through a well-executed edgeguard or hard read, Falco must be careful not to let opponents take advantage of his own weaknesses to avoid being combo'd and KO'd early himself.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Falco was previously a lackluster character in SSB4, due to harsh nerfs it received in the previous game as well as gameplay mechanics working adversely towards him. Likely owing to this, Falco has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to Ultimate, being greatly buffed overall.

Falco's buffs mainly address his weakened tools that affected his previous transition from Brawl to SSB4, notably to his notoriously nerfed and down aerial]; Blaster has faster startup, now fires at the same rate while grounded as it does in the air, and has much lower ending lag, drastically improving one of his staple moves and making it less punishable. Additionally, down aerial is much faster (now being half as fast as in Brawl) and has regained its ability to [[autocancel from a short hop. These changes allow both to function as tools for approaching or walling once again, instead of being limited to only edgeguarding and hard reads. Many of Falco's other moves have been made more usable as well. Neutral attack's first two hits can lock, and its infinite portion connects more consistently; down tilt, forward smash and up smash deal more damage, while forward tilt and up tilt have reduced ending lag (greatly improving their spacing and combo potential, respectively), and forward aerial starts faster.

Changes to gameplay mechanics have been kind to Falco. His grounded movement is noticeably faster, and the universal 3-frame jumpsquat and reduction to landing lag improve his strong aerial game, allowing him to easily juggle aerial foes while leaving him less vulnerable when landing; this also makes his short hop combos more effective. The nerfs to air dodging further strengthen his aerial game, allowing him to once again abuse his edgeguarding capabilities. As a result, Falco's neutral game is more consistent, improving on one of his biggest weaknesses from SSB4.

However, Falco has also received numerous nerfs, which worsen a few of his worst traits and give him more defined weaknesses. Though he possesses the highest jump in the game, Falco has had his already poor recovery nerfed as Falco Phantasm now travels slightly less distance and no longer passes through shields, making it even easier to intercept and more punishable. Additionally, while many of his combo-centric moves were made more effective through reduced lag, they have also been weakened (forward tilt, up tilt and up aerial), requiring him to deal more hits to acquire damage. This ties in with Falco's KO ability, which has also been toned down: moves such as forward aerial and back throw do less knockback, while his strongest attacks have higher startup lag (down tilt, down smash, and most notably back aerial), making it even harder for him to close a stock.

Moves such as neutral attack and forward smash no longer move him forward as much, reducing their range, while up smash's hitbox was altered to such an extent that it will completely miss against grounded opponents unless they are right in front of Falco. no longer has a bonus chance to trip opponents, removing its utility for follow-ups and worsening its overall safety. Finally, although the changes to air dodging help Falco more than they hinder him, they make both of his recovery options even more linear and exploitable than before.

In the end, Falco is considered to be much better than his appearance in SSB4, with his key strengths being more threatening than before, and his neutral game has seen noticeable improvements, though at the cost of worse KO ability, recovery and disadvantage. This overall amounts to Falco being a much better character than he was in SSB4.

Update history
Falco has been noticeably buffed via game updates. Curiously, he was left totally unchanged throughout several updates until update 7.0.0, which enlarged his shield as part of a near-universal buff. Following this, update 8.0.0 granted Falco a number of noteworthy buffs. His infamous up smash became significantly more consistent, thanks to hitbox and knockback adjustments, and its respectable power was increased even further. Neutral aerial, which was also somewhat notable for being inconsistent, was noticeably improved via hitbox adjustments and its last hit being sped up.

Down tilt's overall lag was decreased and its angle was adjusted; these changes not only improved both its KO and combo potential, but also reduced its susceptibility to DI. Down aerial also became more useful, as its excessive ending lag and landing lag were both decreased. Lastly, Falco Phantasm was sped up and its hitboxes were improved, which improved its trapping potential and even granted it utility as a set-up option.

In update 13.0.1, Falco was buffed one last time. His dash attack deals deals more damage on both of its hitboxes with compensated knockback, making it KO slightly earlier. And finally, his forward smash now has added hitboxes on frame 17, making it better match the animation and giving it slightly longer hitbox detection.

Due to his buffs, Falco fares better than he did at Ultimate's launch, and he is now generally seen a lower high tier character.

 

 

 

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

On-screen appearance

 * Ejects from an upside-down Arwing.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Kicks his around like a hacky sack, saying "Piece of cake." (, An easy win.) before catching it.
 * Side taunt: Holds out his hand and slowly raises it in a beckoning gesture, saying "Come on!" (, Come bring it.)
 * Down taunt: Spins on one foot, then poses with one of his arms/wings before him, saying "Hands off my prey!" (, Get your hands off my prey!) while doing so.
 * Smash Taunt: Kneels down before contacting Team Star Fox. This can only be done on Star Fox stages and is performed by tapping the down taunt command. Falco will hold a pose for a few seconds, then a conversation will begin. This can only be done once each round and if the player is hit while Falco is holding his pose before the conversation starts, it is canceled.

Idle poses

 * Turns his torso towards the camera (away from it if he's facing left).
 * Similar to the first one, but he flaps his left wing in front of his face after turning.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Does a flurry of rapid kicks and then poses, saying "Had enough already?" ("", Too early to kick the bucket just yet.).
 * If Fox was present in the match, there's a chance he’ll say "You're off your game, Fox!" ("", Your skills have fallen off, Fox.) instead.
 * Up: Jumps high into the air while scoffing, then poses on the ground while forcing a laugh. His ending pose is reminiscent of his artwork in Smash 4, as well as his old spot dodge animation.
 * Right: Walks up towards the camera, shrugs, and crosses his arms, saying "Sorry! Gotta jet!" ("", Not worth associating with.).

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Falco players (SSBU)


 * - The best Falco player in the early metagame, placing 13th at defeating  and 25th at . He was also ranked 81st on the OrionRank 2019, the highest-ranking player who primarily played Falco. He dropped Falco in favor of  following the pandemic.
 * - One of the best Falco players in the United States, playing the character alongside . Although somewhat inconsistent, he has still placed highly at many events, including winning using solo-Falco and placing 13th at  and 17th at  primarily using Falco.
 * - One of the best Falco players in the world in the post-online metagame. He is the second Falco player ranked in the top 50, with his highest being 49th on the OrionRank 2022. He regularly places highly at majors despite some dips, most notably placing 4th at both and  as well as 5th at.
 * - The second-best Falco player in Japan in the post-online metagame, especially since mid-2023, where despite inconsistencies he had several notable peaks at majors, including placing 5th at and 7th at both  and.
 * - The best Falco player in the world, especially in 2021 and 2022. He is the first Falco player ranked in the top 50, with his highest being 29th on the OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse. He notably won, the largest tournament win for a Falco player, and has also performed strongly at majors such as 4th at and 7th at . Although he has since become less active outside his region, he is still considered one of the best Falco players, most notably placing 3rd at , the best Falco placement at a major/supermajor.

Tier placement and history
Before release, many players immediately took notice of Falco's drastic improvements from the previous game, as the mechanics of the game being greatly in his favor and he received improvements to his combo and neutral games. However, upon release many quickly believed that Falco's buffs seemed "overhyped", and Falco was largely overshadowed by his other fellow Spacies, both of which were considered top tier. Despite this, Falco still found success in the early metagame thanks to players such as and. As a result Falco's representation in the metagame still remained around average, and he was widely considered a mid-tier character.

In the post-online metagame, although many of Falco's older players either dropped the character or saw worse results, new Falco players began making their marks on the metagame, most notably, , and. These players became known for using Falco's powerful combos and KO confirms to secure strong results at majors. Falco's improving results and representation helped gradually improve the community's perception on Falco, with some players believing the character has the potential to be high-tier. As it stands, Falco is currently ranked 41st on the current tier list near the top of upper-mid tier.

: Soar Above the Darkness
All of Falco's battles are against "dark" forms of main characters. Referencing how Crazy Hand is the chaotic version of Master Hand, he is encountered instead of Master Hand on lower difficulties.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Falco has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Falco was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to fight an army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Falco was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Falco attempted to flee the scene immediately, as he was already seated in his Arwing; however, Galeem destroyed his aircraft and vaporized him, placing him under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters, excluding.

Falco is unlocked in the space area of the World of Light on the planet resembling Titania, a callback to the Star Fox games where Fox rescues a teammate on the said planet if they were shot down at certain levels. The player must have a Slippy Toad or ROB 64 spirit to ride the Great Fox to navigate this sector. Then, the player must defeat the Starship Mario and the Aparoid spirits to access his unlock stage.

Spirit
Falco's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Falco has been unlocked. Unlocking Falco in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * Unlike in previous Smash games, where he was confirmed post-release, Falco was the 8th character to be confirmed for Ultimate, and the second outside of the perfect-attendance crew.
 * One of the pictures of Falco from his fighter page on the Ultimate website features him using Fire Bird above the Great Plateau Tower. This is a likely homage to, a similar-looking character from . Falco also represents Revali in his Spirit battle.
 * A section of Falco's trailer pictures him showing frustration by charging Fire Bird once he notices a roast chicken food item on the ground. This is a recurring joke from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, as 's clear movie shows him crouching near the roast chicken food item, as well as 's clear movie, where he is seen "turning" into a roast chicken item upon being hit by Flare Blade.
 * In Falco's character showcase video, frame-by-frame inspection reveals that the hitbox visualization of Falco's lasers and Falco Phantasm are visible while Falco fights Cloud  . This is likely an error that went unnoticed during editing.
 * Falco and are the only clones in World of Light that appear in the opening cutscene. In Falco's case, he appears alongside all the other fighters and later tries to escape from the beam of light.
 * Falco's artwork was one of the three that have been updated on the official site, alongside and . In his case, he is covered with more feathers, his forehead appears slightly larger, the gaps in his wings were made smaller, and his body and beak have more saturated colors.
 * Due to an error on the American official site blog, Falco does not have his own Fighter tag nor the general "Fighter" tag on his blog entry, thus not being listed when sorting the "By Fighter" category. The former also applies to.
 * The afterimages of Falco's Falco Phantasm still use his model from Smash 4 rather than his Ultimate model. This is shared with Fox's Fox Illusion.
 * Falco's zipper will sometimes detach from his jacket on certain animations such as hanging on an edge. This also happens with.
 * Strangely, the footstool jump sound effect doesn't play if Falco is on the receiving end unless it is a phantom footstool.
 * Falco,, , , and  are the only fighters to appear as allies in spirit battles.
 * Falco's Classic Mode route is vaguely similar to 's, as both of their routes fight "dark" forms/rivals of main characters as opponents, and both of their routes have the same opponents in some rounds.
 * Falco and Ken are the only two fighters to face Crazy Hand by himself as their final boss in Classic Mode under Intensity 7.0.
 * If Falco uses Falco Phantasm in the air and lands without any action, the move's special landing animation will play but with no sound and landing effects.
 * When Falco performs a forward smash with the Home-Run Bat, he grunts during the windup rather than during the swing. This is a carryover from Brawl, where all characters would grunt during the windup. He shares this distinction with Nana.
 * In the Sound Test, Falco's special victory quote against Fox is ordered before his generic victory quotes. This is unlike Fox and Wolf, who have their special victory quotes ordered after their generic ones.