As a rule of thumb, center-stage is a good place to be. Stage position is important to consider with regards to angles of approach and should be an integral part of your decision-making. It’s a cycle, and it’s the Falcon player’s job to be able to stay in control of the mixup cycle using these tools. And if your opponent finds themselves choosing panic movement options out-of-shield, you can start getting huge openings thanks to Falcon’s wide array of combo-starters. But once you’ve conditioned opponents to shield, you can use his ground speed to find grabs. Although Falcon has great ground speed, his grounded options are relatively limited. It is at this point that veterans like S2J will smell blood in the water. When faced down with this healthy array of mix-ups, Falcon’s opponents often begin overusing shield or trying to retreat. Here are a couple of examples on how you can utilize a couple of aerials to threaten multiple angles by changing your jump patterns and drift:

If you pay close attention, you’ll see how he mixes up his aerial drift and aerial choice to find openings that may otherwise appear random. Take note of how evasive S2J can be just by changing the way he jumps. I will harp on aerial drift once again (because it really is that important) - mixing up all of these options with fast-fall and instant-double-jumps will take you far. And Bair can be used as a zoning tool - you can use multiple Bairs safely in one full-hop. Uair is largely strong as a mixup to tomahawk-grab (empty land → grab). Dair, as I have mentioned, beats crouch-cancel, which is a hugely valuable tool in this meta. Out of a full-hop, Falcon’s Dair, Uair, and Bair are especially strong. With a wide array of hitboxes and timings, Falcon has access to several angles of attack just from a short-hop. Bair is a more defensive pick but can still combo on DI in, or can hit opponents offstage. Uair is an anti-air or combo-starter, or both - take your pick. Stomp will beat out crouch-cancel attempts - it's basically an overhead - and start a combo. Knee can be used on shield and followed up with either Gentleman or grab or a movement callout. Nair is his bread-and-butter with its long range and ability to start combos. Let’s take aerial drift, for example.įalcon can actually threaten with every single aerial using a short-hop in neutral, especially when throwing in aerial drift and changing up aerial timings. Both of these articles will help construct a more comprehensive toolkit of attacks with Falcon. I would first recommend checking out my previous articles on pivots and aerial drift. The ability to constantly threaten multiple angles of attack at once will force Falcon’s opponents to stay on their toes as they try to defend - after all, Falcon only needs a handful of openings to land a kill. He has horizontal combo starters from mid-range, combo starters from above, from below, a couple of solid mixups on shield, and the ability to barrel in from long-distance using his crazy horizontal aerial drift. In order to maximize on his strengths and compensate for his weaknesses, Falcon must be able to attack from all angles.

The other Max Yield articles can be found here: Falco and Peach.įalcon is fast, has good range, and has multiple combo-starters, but he lacks direct approach options. There are many skills one must master in order to improve in Melee, but these are the ones I’ve selected that will maximize your results for the effort. How is it that a non-top-tier character can see such success and look so different depending on who is behind the wheel?įor those of you new to the Max Yield series, I’m going to break down the skills I see as necessary to finding efficient success with Falcon. This makes him an especially interesting subject for analysis. Not only is Falcon debatably overrepresented given his place on a “tier list”, but the manner in which he is represented varies greatly between the three top Falcons. And the likes of Captain Smuckers and Gahtzu are not too far behind. And unlike Peach, Falcon has not one, but three consistent representatives propelling him into top 8s: Wizzrobe, S2J, and n0ne. Despite this, however, we consistently see Falcon in top 8 of big tournaments. In fact, Falcon might be the only character to consistently garner cheers from fans even if the combo he performs is exactly the same every time (see: Dair -> Fair).Īlthough Falcon has long been a staple of high tier play, he has never been considered a “top tier.” Conventional wisdom dictates that Falcon is disadvantaged against Sheik, Fox, and Falco. He is a bit unwieldy for most newcomers, but many are drawn to his highly satisfying combo game.

Captain Falcon is arguably the most explosive character in Melee.

Captain flacon dance gif