Captain Falcon (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

What has happened to the mighty Falcon who is the Captain!?

NOTE: This page is discussing on how badly nerfed he was in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, not to mention that this page is only judging him on his moveset and playstyle, not him as a character.

Captain Falcon is the main protagonist of the Nintendo racing series F-Zero. He also appeared in the Super Smash Bros. games since the first game, which he is fun to play as in. However, Brawl is the exception, as he was badly nerfed in it.

Why He Does Not "Show Your Moves"

1. He was badly nerfed from an awesome fighter in the first 2 games to a very bad fighter in Brawl, experiencing a huge drop from his Melee standing on tier list that is one of the biggest ones, much like what happened with Jigglypuff and Ganondorf.
2. His combo and KOing power were nerfed from Super Smash Bros. Melee, with his finishers either being weakened (such as forward smash), or significantly more difficult to land (such as his Knee Smash).
3. In addition to this, most of Falcon's attacks have poor hitbox placement, making safe approaches and spacing difficult.
4. The impact of the new Brawl physics arguably hit Captain Falcon the hardest; the ability to act out of hitstun hurt the combo abilities of Falcon more than other characters, since his higher knockback attacks no longer keep opponents in longer periods of hitstun.
5. A less effective dashdance and inability to moonwalk give him even fewer approaching options.
6. He also has fairly poor out of shield options due to his short grabbing reach and possessing either slow and/or poor reaching attacks.
7. In addition, he has a predictable recovery, making him easy to edge guard.
8. His vulnerability to chain grabbing makes him easier to KO.
9. The general inability to pressure opponents or escape opposing pressure is also cited as a problem for Falcon's metagame.
10. Because of all of these flaws, Captain Falcon was considered by many to be the worst character in Brawl back then, until a year after Brawl was released, where Falcon's positives were noticed, and that it was realized that Ganondorf and Link were worse characters than Falcon.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Captain Falcon has his trademark speed-and-power combo, which can work if everything is done right.
2. He has great mobility, meaning that he can get closer to or farther from his opponents quicker.
3. He has great momentum cancelling, meaning he can be harder to KO if everything goes well.
4. He has great overall survivability, meaning he can survive longer if he does everything right.
5. He has an all-purpose attack in his up aerial, which can be great for set ups into combos/KOs.
6. He has one of the best jabs, which can be used for combo/KO setups.
7. He has noticeably improved in later games, as Smash 4 made him a good fighter again, and it continues on to Ultimate.
8. Also, his Flash 2 counterpart was better than Brawl counterpart.
9. Ryō Horikawa still does an awesome job at voicing Falcon.

Trivia

• Despite being an unlockable character, Captain Falcon can be seen in the "How to Play" video in the game; he can be seen sleeping on Delfino Plaza at the end of the video as a result of Peach's Peach Blossom.
• Captain Falcon's official artwork greatly resembles his F-Zero GX artwork, as well as his down taunt.

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