Captain Falcon (Super Smash Flash 2)

Captain Falcon is a playable veteran starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He is, once again, the only character representation of the F-Zero franchise. His sprites are custom made and based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His moveset is taken directly from Brawl and so are his voice clips.

Captain Falcon is ranked 11th on the current tier list, regaining his position from the 2nd v0.9b tier list and making him the lowest-ranked high-tier character. Falcon possesses fast attacks, a great grab game, and very useful aerials, which gives him one of the best combo games in the entire cast. He also has the second fastest dashing speed, good walking speed, and great air speed, giving him amazing mobility. He has the ability to recover over large horizontal distances by extending his recovery with Falcon Kick to restore his midair jump. He also has powerful finishers in his forward smash, back aerial, forward aerial (the Knee Smash), and his signature move the Falcon Punch.

However, Falcon is highly vulnerable to combos and chain grabs due to a combination of high accelerated falling speed, the second highest, and above-average weight, making him one of the easiest characters to combo. He is also arguably the worst character at long range, due to both his lack of a projectile move and his difficulty in dealing with other characters' projectiles. He has a very difficult time approaching fighters who outrange him, whether it be a close range swordsman (like or ) or a projectile specialist (like  or ). Falcon also has trouble recovering, due to Falcon Dive not being able to grab opponents who stay on the ledge, thus making him vulnerable to ledge hogging.

Falcon has a strong player base and has strong representation in online tournaments. Falcon normally takes high spots in tournaments where his placements are consistent.

Attributes
Captain Falcon returns to his playstyle in Melee with a few additions from Brawl. He is one of the fastest characters in the game, possessing the second fastest dashing speed, the fifth fastest walking speed and one of the fastest air speeds, giving Falcon amazing mobility overall. Even though Falcon lacks a projectile, his great mobility gives him great approaching options. He has great finishers in his forward smash, a sweet spotted forward aerial, his back aerial and the Falcon Punch.

Captain Falcon possesses the twenty-first longest grab in the current demo, with three of his grabs, forward, up and down throws, being able to be used as chain grabs or start his combos. Although his grab range is not incredible, his amazing dash speed allows Falcon to easily punish opponent's mistakes with grabs, making his grab game one of the most threatening. Falcon's great combo ability lies in his excellent SHFFL, his good grab game and attacks that chain well into each other.

His high accelerated falling speed, the second highest in the game, and above-average weight makes him hard to KO until higher percents, which gives him great survivability.

However, these attributes, combined with his tall frame, leave him vulnerable to combos and chain grabs. However, some combos that work on other fast-fallers, such as the space animal slayer or Pikachu's down throw chain grab, are not guaranteed to work on Falcon because his slim frame allows him to DI out and escape under certain scenarios. Falcon is susceptible to getting shield stabbed because his shield's size is not adjusted to compensate for his tall height, giving him poor coverage.

When dealing with high-priority projectiles or characters with good spacing tools, Falcon has problems approaching.

His recovery, though perfectly functional, is predictable and easy to edge guard against, leaving him vulnerable to gimps. Falcon Dive or Raptor Boost can not grab or knock opponents off the ledge, which makes him very susceptible to edge hogging. Falcon Dive also covers mediocre vertical distance which makes it difficult for Falcon to recover from certain heights, although it has a big grab box. However, getting a successful meteor smash with Raptor Boost will not put Falcon into a helpless state, which will allow him to recover.

Changes from v0.9a
Falcon received a mix of buffs and nerfs. The nerfs were mostly to his recovery and combos. However, he gained buffs in kill power to some of his attacks. However, the meta game showed that Falcon was seen as a less effective character then last demo.

Tier list placement
When first introduced, Falcon was already seen as a strong character. He ranked 9th of C tier for demo v0.8b. In demo v0.9a, Falcon dropped to 11th of what could be considered B tier, but some people felt that he should have been higher. Falcon dropped again in demo v0.9b, where he ranked 13th of A tier in the first tier list. Due to the changes in the metagame, Falcon has dropped once again to 17th of B tier on the second list of demo v0.9b.

Trivia

 * Captain Falcon was an unlockable character when he was introduced in demo v0.8. He would become available by winning at least one brawl with every character besides him. The player would then have to defeat Captain Falcon on Sand Ocean in order to unlock him. From v0.9 onwards, he was a starter character.
 * Captain Falcon was an unlockable character in some of the main Super Smash Bros. games, as were, , , , , , and . However, unlike the former five, Jigglypuff and Falcon had to be unlocked in the SSF2 demos they appeared in.
 * For demo v0.8a to v0.8b, Captain Falcon's portrait was taken from F-Zero: GP Legend.
 * Steven, his spriter, stated that Captain Falcon helped him with human anatomy when spriting characters.
 * Captain Falcon, along with, , , , , , , and are the only characters so far who wear their default costumes in team battle when they are on the blue team.