Captain Falcon (Super Smash Flash 2)

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

Captain Falcon is ranked 10th out of 40 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier, one spot higher than the last tier list. 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, down smash, back aerial, down aerial, Knee Smash, Falcon Dive, and his signature move, Falcon Punch.

However, Falcon is highly vulnerable to combos and chain grabs, thanks to a combination of high falling speed, the second highest, and an above-average weight. 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 ). His Falcon Punch, though powerful, takes a while to start, and has a large amount of endlag when he is finished executing it, making him easy to punish if he misses. Falcon also has trouble recovering, due to Falcon Dive not being able to grab opponents who stay on the ledge and covering a mediocre vertical, 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, down smash, a sweet spotted forward aerial, his back aerial, down aerial, Falcon Dive, 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 spacie 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 poked 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.

Overall, Falcon is a character focused on speed and power, and can reward players who can handle such power and speed. However, his predictable recovery and high lag keep him from the high tiers.

Changes and revisions
Throughout the Super Smash Flash 2 demo versions, Captain Falcon has received an abundance of buffs, though these are offset by his numerous nerfs. Here are his changes as of demo 1.1.0.1:

Inactive

 * Bolt_lightspeed
 * Mattheus

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

 * For demo v0.8a to v0.8b, Captain Falcon's portrait was taken from F-Zero: GP Legend.
 * Captain Falcon's artwork from v0.9a to Beta 1.1 are based on his artwork in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (and one of his taunts from the same game).
 * Steven, his spriter, stated that Captain Falcon helped him with human anatomy when spriting characters.