Captain Falcon (SSBU)

Captain Falcon (, Captain Falcon) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed on June 12th, 2018. As in the original Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is unlockable, instead of being available from the start. Captain Falcon is classified as Fighter #11.

As in Super Smash Bros. 4, 's portrayals of Captain Falcon from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl were repurposed for Ultimate. However, Horikawa briefly returned to voice Captain Falcon in 's reveal trailer, though only recording eating sounds for Captain Falcon rather than new voice lines.

Captain Falcon is ranked 39th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier. This is a noticeable drop from his 19th out of 54 placement in SSB4. Captain Falcon retains his speed and mobility from previous games, which allow him to rush down his opponent with ease and combo them or carry them off into the Blast line. Captain Falcon's normals, such as his neutral aerial are useful as they open up combos or KO setups into his forward aerial, back aerial, or down aerial. Additionally, Captain Falcon's back aerial, down aerial, and forward aerial make him potent offstage. Captain Falcon has little to no trouble KOing his opponent with a plethora of powerful moves, such as up smash, sweetspotted forward aerial, back aerial, Falcon Kick, and Falcon Dive. Captain Falcon's special moves also saw some improvement. Raptor Boost became one of Captain Falcon's main combo starters, Falcon Dive is a solid out of shield option, and Falcon Kick was buffed to be a faster KO move.

Despite all these strengths, Falcon has prevalent weaknesses for a character of his archetype. His tall stature makes him easy to combo for most of the cast and his recovery is linear enough to where most characters can easily edgeguard him. This results in Falcon having problematic matchups with characters above him on the tier list. Captain Falcon also has an issue where he extends his hurtbox when he turns around after a run, causing him to get clipped by many moves. Finally, Captain Falcon is usually forced to approach in most matchups, which puts him at risk of losing neutral.

Overall, Falcon remains a high-risk high-reward fighter with a solid punish game overall. Falcon has seen respectable tournament results from players such as and.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: With the exception of the third method, Captain Falcon must then be defeated on Port Town Aero Dive.
 * Play VS. matches, with Captain Falcon being the 11th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or anyone in his unlock tree, being the 1st character unlocked.
 * Have Captain Falcon join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Captain Falcon is a tall heavyweight character, yet he boasts some of the best overall mobility out of any character in spite of his weight class. Captain Falcon sports the 2nd fastest dashing speed, the 7th fastest falling speed, the 11th fastest air speed, and the 14th highest gravity. His jumps and wall jumps are also very high. Strangely, though, his walking speed is rather slow, while his traction and air acceleration are around average. Additionally, while his running speed is very high, his initial dash speed is only slightly above average, and crucially he hits this lower limit during his initial dash a few frames before transitioning to his running animation, making his effective movement speed in short bursts lower than expected. Compounding this is his turnaround dash animation, which causes him to slide in the opposite direction for a few frames, before sliding back into his origin location. While his high run acceleration can mask this to an extent, this effectively results in him making no progress in the direction he is turning into for several frames, resulting in his retreat being counter-intuitively one of the least safe in the game, especially when combined with his legs extending a long distance behind him. Nonetheless, his high mobility overall, combined with his strong punish game and generally low landing lag on his aerials, benefits him with a trademark speed-and-power combo.

Despite lacking a projectile, Falcon has an overall effective neutral game, courtesy of his mobility. His primary combo starter is grounded Raptor Boost; its low knockback along with its vertical launching angle and low ending lag make it a fearsome combo starter if landed, allowing it to combo into a plentiful number of moves. Neutral aerial can chain into itself at low percents, and Falcon can combo it into his other aerials if he lands with the first hit. His up tilt consistently meteor smashes opponents even if they are grounded, making it not only a great combo tool, but a decent edgeguarding tool as well. One of his best combo tools is his up aerial; at a wide range of percents, it can create incredibly long chains, especially into itself due to its low base knockback and overall low lag. Alternatively, Falcon can chain his up aerial into some of his deadliest finishers, most notably into his forward aerial, the Knee Smash.

Captain Falcon, like most of his fellow medium-heavyweights also boasts excellent KO power. He also has a formidable edgeguarding ability. His up and down smashes are both excellent baiting options due to their low ending lag, making them safe on shield and potentially even on whiff. Even if they both have rather noticeable startup, they are also long enough to punish spot dodges reliably. His up smash in particular even functions as a situational combo starter at low percentages, which can allow Falcon to deal insane amounts of damage in just a few measly hits. While his forward smash is his least useful smash attack as a whole, even it has its uses, being a powerful KO option that can be angled. His forward, back, and down aerials all deal high knockback, with his forward aerial in particular being the strongest of its type in the entire game. His down tilt, while having noticeable startup, sends at a semi-spike angle with high knockback, and it has low ending lag, making it not only a good spacing and poking tool, but also a great edgeguarding and KO move, the lattermost quirk being extremely rare for a down tilt.

Falcon's special moveset also has its uses. Falcon Punch, while being extremely situational in the long run, is one of the strongest neutral specials in the entire game, especially when reversed on the ground, and is perfect for punishing shield breaks. As mentioned earlier, Raptor Boost is an excellent combo starter on the ground. In the air, it has the potential to meteor smash, and it also serves well as a KO move in such cases. Falcon Dive is one of the strongest command grabs in the game, and while it is linear, it does cover a decent amount of distance. It also works well as a combo finisher and out-of-shield option due to its high knockback and being a command grab. Finally, Falcon Kick is effective in terms of dealing with pressure due to its speed and long-lasting hitbox, and it also possesses decent KO power when hit early on. It is also an excellent tool for returning to the stage quickly when used in the air.

However, Captain Falcon does have his fair share of weaknesses. While he is a powerhouse, most of his KO moves are difficult to land, the most prominent examples being his forward smash and Falcon Punch. His forward aerial is faster than those moves, but even then it suffers from a rather 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 KOs. Though his neutral game is good overall, his lack of a projectile leaves him susceptible to camping. While his above average weight and fast falling speed give him excellent endurance, they also leave him vulnerable to combos, which is further exacerbated by the fact that he has little to no fast options with which to break them.

Falcon's moveset in general is also full of issues. As mentioned earlier, most of his KO moves are slow and tough to land, which forces him to rely on edgeguarding to KO effectively. Falcon Kick is extremely unsafe offstage due to its lag and Falcon's fast falling speed, as it is not unlikely for him to self-destruct with it. While Raptor Boost can meteor smash in the air, it will leave him helpless if he misses, which could also result in a self-destruct. Other examples of unreliability within his moveset lie in his neutral aerial and up smash, both of which tend to have trouble connecting properly at high percentages. His overall range, while not necessarily lacking for a brawler, is also lackluster when compared to other characters with good physical reach, especially due to the fact that he lacks a projectile.

While Captain Falcon has a good ground game and an excellent air game, his grab game is rather mediocre. To begin with, his grab range is overall somewhat short despite his height, making it risky to throw out. His down throw remains a useful combo starter at low to medium percents, but has lost its utility as a semi-guarenteed setup into Knee Smash due to its knockback and angle adjustments. While Captain Falcon's back throw remains a useful KO move, his forward throw has lost its decent combo potential as an indirect consequence of his much higher traction, just like 's forward throw. Although it remains a serviceable KO move, it is utterly outclassed by back throw in this regard. Captain Falcon's up throw suffers from similar issues to his forward throw: it has too much ending lag to combo properly, even in spite of his faster jumpsquat, and it is somewhat weak for a KO throw despite dealing more damage than in Smash 4.

Captain Falcon's biggest flaw is his recovery: despite his impressive air speed, his two recovery options, Falcon Dive and Raptor Boost, are linear, easily intercepted, and have small edge sweetspots. Raptor Boost also doesn't have a hitbox above him, which can leave him open to meteor smashes, which he usually has trouble surviving due to his linear recovery and fast 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. Furthermore, since all characters can wall jump out of a tech, opponents can punish Falcon as he leaps back, possibly putting him in a worse offstage situation. In addition, while Falcon Dive covers an alarmingly high amount of horizontal distance due to its high drift, its vertical travel distance is quite mild, and Raptor Boost also renders him helpless, making it situational when combined with its poor travel distance. Although he has the second-best wall jump in the game, Falcon will be in danger offstage without his double jump.

Overall, Captain Falcon is the epitome of a hit & run character, yet also benefits from a bait and punish playstyle; when combining his excellent mobility and combo game, he can string very long combos for huge amounts of damage. Otherwise, if he can use his KO moves wisely, he does not have much trouble scoring KOs. However, his flaws are quite susceptible to be punished easily if the player is not careful due to Captain Falcon's susceptibility to combos and exploitable recovery. He also falls under the bait and punish archetype, requiring to have a very precise and patient gameplay style in order to take advantage of the opponent's mistakes to score KO's.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Captain Falcon was previously considered a high tier character in SSB4 (ranked 19th out of 54 characters) and a highly popular choice at lower levels of play due to his great advantage state and low learning curve. Most likely owing to this, Captain Falcon received a mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate; although he has a noticeably higher learning curve as a result of his nerfs, the plethora of very useful buffs he received from subsequent game updates has essentially resulted in him being nerfed slightly overall.

Falcon's overall punish game has seen many buffs in one way or another. Several of Falcon's options at close range have been improved, some of which are more rewarding by virtue of their increased combo potential. His neutral infinite connects much more reliably and is therefore more effective for racking up damage; his forward tilt's lower lag and higher base knockback make it safer for spacing; his up tilt consistently meteor smashing both grounded and aerial opponents, allowing for combo extensions; and his up smash's increased damage, added leg intangibility, and reduced ending lag have turned it into a high-risk, high-reward combo starter that can contest aerial approaches and transitions into a powerful KO move at higher percentages. A notable buff was to his neutral aerial's first hit; while it is harder to connect into the second hit at high percents, it more notably launches opponents at a more vertical angle on landing, allowing Falcon to land combos and even KO confirms with his Knee Smash, which deals far more damage if sweetspotted. Falcon's other options have improved KO ability, such as his dash attack, his smash attacks (with forward smash gaining more power despite already being remarkably powerful in SSB4, and down smash now semi-spiking and hitting low-profile opponents more effectively).

Furthermore, Falcon's entire special moveset has been buffed in miscellaneous ways: Falcon Punch has significantly increased knockback, making it deadlier as a hard read or shield break punish much like in previous games; Raptor Boost, in lieu of his Melee appearance, is a much more effective combo starter on the ground thanks to its lower knockback, ending lag, and new damage-based armor on hit, and leaves Falcon less vulnerable if it connects in the air (no longer causing helplessness in such a case); Falcon Dive has increased recovery distance, deals more knockback and has less ending lag, making it safer to hit opponents with and giving him a KO option that can counter shielding opponents; and Falcon Kick is faster, has increased power on the ground, and less landing lag. In addition to these direct changes, the universal changes in Ultimate benefit Falcon's rushdown-oriented playstyle, having increased mobility and reduced landing lag on aerial attacks that allow him to juggle and punish opponents more effectively, the ability to use any attack out of a dash cancel further improving his grounded game, and the removal of teching grounded meteor smashes giving his up tilt and down aerial increased combo potential.

However, Captain Falcon has received significant nerfs as well. His grab game is overall worse than before: forward throw and down throw are less reliable for combos at higher percents in combination with the latter's altered knockback, and for mixups at lower percents. Falcon's increased traction notably shortens and makes it harder to land his dash grab, infamous in SSB4 for being one of his best approach, punish and/or burst options due to its large ground coverage and high reward. Combined with all standard grabs having increased ending lag in Ultimate, Falcon is easier to punish if his grab misses. While his up aerial has slightly less ending lag and knockback, it also has increased landing lag compared to almost all other aerials (which instead had it decreased), lower damage, and a shorter duration with increased startup, narrowing its KO setups. Raptor Boost's restored combo potential comes at the cost of its KO power at realistic percents, especially with rage. Meanwhile, his new forward smash, while dealing more knockback, has significantly decreased range, to the point it can sometimes miss at point-blank range if the opponent is pushed by Falcon himself, due to the changes to jostling.

While Falcon's playstyle benefits from some of the universal changes, other changes have negatively impacted its execution. Namely, the tumbling animation from a footstool jump now being techable prevents Falcon from racking up large amounts of damage and setting up KOs by repeatedly footstooling and meteor smashing opponents back up with his down aerial. Ironically, the changes to dash-dancing have also adversely affected him compared to other characters; since his initial dash animation is quite slow, this causes his dash-dancing animation to be more awkward and slower-moving than other characters, and reduces its mindgame potential compared to his previous extended dash-dance in SSB4. Lastly, of note is that Falcon retains notable weaknesses from previous appearances, notably his problematic recovery and high vulnerability to combos.

Overall, Captain Falcon's buffs have improved several of his options and punish game, as well as granted him new options to utilize his speed and power, but his nerfs to the previous options he had in SSB4 mean he has to take higher risks at approaching and optimizing their use. As such, Falcon's playstyle is more bait-and-punish oriented than before in order to win the neutral game, which now gives him a higher learning curve. Game updates have improved Falcon in various ways, improving his power, fixing some inconsistencies with his moveset and giving him a much less vulnerable recovery; the discovery of instant double jump (IDJ) and optimization of his playstyle has also improved Falcon's perception. Nevertheless, his higher learning curve and the various improvements to numerous veterans collectively result in Falcon performing slightly worse than in SSB4.

Update history
Captain Falcon was buffed significantly by game updates. In update 3.1.0, back aerial's knockback was increased, which slightly improved its KO potential after it was initially nerfed in the transition from Smash 4. Knee Smash's sweetspot and Falcon Kick's clean hit received hitbox adjustments that made them easier to land. Captain Falcon's close range options and combo game were also improved: forward tilt's base knockback was increased, up tilt's lag was decreased, and Raptor Boost's uppercut gained a marginal decrease to its start-up lag alongside increases to its hitstun and the damage threshold of its armor.

Following update 7.0.0's minor buffs to Captain Falcon's shield and neutral attack, update 8.0.0 granted him a number of very useful buffs. Most notably, Raptor Boost was buffed again: the grounded version has longer horizontal range, regained its launching angle from Smash 4, and its knockback was decreased. Altogether, these changes significantly improved its combo potential. Conversely, aerial Raptor Boost's meteor hitbox became much more consistent, thanks to its higher priority. Additionally, down tilt and up smash gained higher knockback, dash attack's ending lag was decreased, and Falcon Kick became quicker and gained a stronger clean hit, making it a better burst option.

Update 9.0.0 buffed up smash by adjusting the hitboxes and decreasing the knockback of its first hit, which improved its consistency into its second hit, especially under platforms. Most recently, update 11.0.0 significantly decreased the ending lag of Falcon Dive's throw (a buff shared with Dark Dive), which almost completely alleviated its glaring susceptibility to Tech Checking.

Overall, Captain Falcon fares much better than he did at Ultimate's launch. Due to online tournaments currently being more prominent, however, his true viability still remains unknown.

 

Technical changelist 3.1.0

 

 

 

 

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

On-screen appearance

 * Captain Falcon jumps out of the after it flies into the stage, after which it speeds off. Like in previous games, Captain Falcon has the unique property where his jumping animation will differ based on facing direction: a simple vaulting jump if entering from the right, and a front flip if entering from the left.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Kneels while emitting a fiery aura with an angry expression.
 * Side taunt: Thrusts out his left arm and gestures for his opponent to come closer, shouting "Come on!"
 * Down taunt: Gives a salute to his right side while saying "Show me your moves!" When facing left, Captain Falcon extends his saluting arm behind him; he also salutes with two fingers instead of all five in such cases.

Idle poses

 * Leans forward and thrusts his arm out.
 * Similar to the first one, but he crouches slightly and thrusts his elbow out instead of his arm.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Kneels while briefly emitting a flaming aura, similarly to his up taunt and one of his Smash 64 poses.
 * Up: Performs a 540 kick and then assumes a crouching fighting stance.
 * Right: Performs a hook kick, then a roundhouse kick, and then another hook kick before striking a fist pumping pose similar to his character select animation in Super Smash Bros.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Captain Falcon players (SSBU)


 * - The best Captain Falcon in Japan during the 2019 season. He held some of the best major results for Captain Falcon prior to Jogibu with 13th at both and 17th at, the former being the first time a Captain Falcon player made top 16 at a Ultimate supermajor. He is currently ranked 92nd on the Experimental Smash Player Rankings and has beaten top Japanese players such as  and.
 * - The best Captain Falcon player in Mexico. Previously was more known as a prominent Wi-Fi Warrior, placing highly in online tournaments such as 9th at both and . He attended more offline tournaments starting in 2022 and placed 3rd at, 13th at , and 17th at  as some of his best results.
 * - The best Captain Falcon player throughout most of the game's lifespan prior to his retirement. He has some of the best performances of the character in North America with 4th at and 7th at  and has made notable bracket runs in other countries such as Europe with 2nd at  and 9th at . He has been ranked on a multitude of different global rankings such as 48th on the Spring 2019 PGRU and is currently ranked 46th on the UltRank 2022.
 * - The current best Captain Falcon player in the world. He placed top 8 at multiple Japanese supermajors such as 5th at and 7th at . He is currently the highest ranked Captain Falcon player, being 25th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023, setting a record by being the only player to outrank Fatality with the character on a global ranking.
 * - One of the best Captain Falcon players in Japan and in the post-pandemic era, being ranked top 70 in the world on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023. He regularly competes at Sumabato events where he has garnered placements such as 3rd at and 4th at  and wins over players such as  and, as well as a very strong supermajor placement in 5th at  and other majors such as 9th at.
 * - One of the best Captain Falcon players in the world during the early metagame. During the latter half of 2019, he was contested with Fatality as the best Falcon in the world, notably placing 2nd at the invitational and marking some of the best supermajor placements for Captain Falcon such as 13th at  and 17th at . He has also defeated many - at the time - top 50 players such as  and . He has gone mainly inactive since the return of offline tournaments.
 * - The best Captain Falcon player in Europe. While he first co-mained the character with, he has been the highest placed Captain Falcon player on every European ranking and has solo mained him in recent times. Won a smaller tournament with and made major top 64 placements such as 17th at  and 33rd at  with wins over  and.
 * - The current best Captain Falcon player in the United States. He made a notable run of 7th at, beating and . He has also beaten other players such as  and placed 13th at  among other events located in Florida.

Tier placement and history
Many players have noted Captain Falcon's higher learning curve compared to Smash 4. As a result, early Captain Falcon players struggled in the metagame as his once easy-to-use combos (which included his dash grab and footstool combos) became harder to use or were removed entirely as a result of the game's mechanics; the changes to his playstyle required players to be more cautious in the neutral game. Captain Falcon's playerbase was largely spearheaded by dedicated mains such as, , and , players who were active during the Smash 4 days. However, none of their performances were able to match what Captain Falcon had in Smash 4, leading many to believe Captain Falcon was at best a mid-tier.

Captain Falcon received numerous buffs throughout the game's lifespan that gradually improved his perception over time. This was most apparent right at the start of the post-online metagame, which saw an explosion of Captain Falcon results thanks to the efforts of many Captain Falcon players including Ogey and. Most notable among these players were Fatality, who was a top 50 player for all of 2021 and 2022, and, who consistently placed highly at multiple major events. This allowed Captain Falcon's representation to skyrocket into the top 20 during this time, and many players began considering Captain Falcon as a high-tier.

Unfortunately, this honeymoon period would begin to end in the latter half of 2022, most notably due to Sean's decreased activity in mid-2022 and Fatality's worse results in 2023. Captain Falcon's representation managed to stay afloat due to Jogibu's consistent strong results as well as the rise of, however his representation was still noticeably smaller than it was before. Due to this, opinions on Captain Falcon had mellowed out a bit, which is reflected in his current placement, where he is ranked 39th as the very top of the upper mid-tier.

: Up Close and Personal
Captain Falcon's opponents are fighters who specialize in close-range combat. To fit with this theme, Captain Falcon fights Giga Bowser in the Final Round, due to him having the least amount of projectiles (one) among Ultimate's bosses.

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

Role in World of Light
Captain Falcon was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Captain Falcon was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. He attempted to escape in the Blue Falcon, but Galeem vaporized him and his vehicle before he could do so. He was then imprisoned by Galeem along with the rest of the fighters (excluding ). A puppet fighter of him can be seen behind Mario in the group of puppet fighters under Galeem's control.

Captain Falcon can be found early in the mode if the player goes through 's path instead of those of and. He is in the middle of a racetrack that can only be traversed with the assistance of Pico's spirit.

Spirit
Captain Falcon's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Captain Falcon has been unlocked. Unlocking Captain Falcon 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

 * A pre-release screenshot for the game shows Captain Falcon in his costume, with the logo on the back reading "Hell Hawk"; in the final game, this is only true for the Japanese release of the game, as other languages translate it to "Blood Hawk".
 * Captain Falcon's fighter number, #11, is coincidentally his Vs. Mode unlock number. He is the only character in Ultimate with this distinction.
 * Although most characters from the original Super Smash Bros. are numbered by their debut game's original release date, Captain Falcon and Ness can be considered an exception; F-Zero was originally released in 1990, four years before EarthBound. Additionally, in Super Smash Bros., Captain Falcon will always be fought first if the unlock conditions for both him and Ness are met simultaneously. However, it is also possible that Ness is numbered per the 1989 release date of EarthBound Beginnings, which is also how he is ordered in Brawl's All-Star Mode.
 * Oddly, no sound effect plays whenever a character gets hit by the lower hitbox of the first hit of Captain Falcon's up smash. This is due to the hitbox having no sound assigned in his moveset files.
 * On the character selection screen, the icon in the Japanese version shows Captain Falcon's name within only one row, while in the English version it is shown with two rows. He shares this trait with, , , , , the s, and.
 * Interestingly, both of Captain Falcon's falling animations use the incorrect animation when moving forward and backward in midair. He uses his secondary falling animation when moving during his first falling animation and vice versa.
 * For 's reveal trailer, Captain Falcon's voice actor, Ryō Horikawa, was brought back to record new voice effects of Captain Falcon eating. This is the first time Captain Falcon has received new voice sounds since Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64.