Captain Falcon


 * This article is about the character in general. For the fighter info, see Captain Falcon (Super Smash Flash) and Captain Falcon (Super Smash Flash 2).

Captain Falcon (キャプテン・ファルコン, Kyaputen Farukon), whose full name is Douglas Jay Falcon, is the main character of Nintendo's F-Zero racing games. Captain Falcon is also depicted as a bounty hunter in the cosmos, besides being an F-Zero professional pilot. He is a playable character in Super Smash Flash and Super Smash Flash 2.

Character description
Nintendo originally meant Captain Falcon to be the flagship character of the then-new Super Nintendo Entertainment System. However, this never panned out, and Captain Falcon was rarely seen in Nintendo media.

The first F-Zero game was released in 1990 for the Super Famicom in Japan and its western counterpart, the SNES, and it introduced the first character design of Captain Falcon along with the other three F-Zero-series characters that appeared in the game as racing pilots, along with their respective futuristic racing machines, such as Captain Falcon's Blue Falcon. The manual to the game featured an eight-page comic featuring these characters, with the comic's story revolving around one of Falcon's trademark bounty-hunting missions in his Falcon Flyer transport ship. Captain Falcon's design and backstory would be revised in future iterations of the F-Zero series; his design in F-Zero X for Nintendo 64 would be used for his appearances as a playable fighter in 1999's Super Smash Bros. and 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee, and his most recent "main" design is in F-Zero GX for GameCube. In all these appearances, Captain Falcon and his machine are touted as the most balanced and easy-to-play-with machine for that game, so players of a new F-Zero game almost always play as Captain Falcon first. He is also the main game character. He recently appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii in 2008.

Captain Falcon is described as "an accomplished F-Zero pilot, a renowned and talented bounty hunter", and is also an eccentric man in his late thirties (36 in F-Zero X and Melee, 37 in F-Zero GX). His "Captain" title is rumored to originate from his being perhaps an officer in the Internova Police Force in the past. He is a resident of Earth, coming from the city of Port Town. His bounty hunting exploits have yielded him enough of a reputation that he has gained many enemies across the galaxy; to avoid the constant danger from his adversaries, when he's not racing or bounty-hunting he lives in seclusion in his personal island chain off the coast of Port Town. His need to shield himself from outsiders borders on paranoia (albeit not necessarily unwarranted), because whenever he wins a race he has to dash home to his islands with his award money before others can get him. Living comfortably in solitude in his islands, Captain Falcon practices his F-Zero racing with a separate track built on each one of his islands.

His outfit consists of blue, form-fitting racing suit and a red helmet with an opaque visor as well as a single pauldron on his right shoulder and a scarf around his neck. He always carries a sidearm in a holster on his right hip (although he has only been shown to use it once). When Captain Falcon removes his helmet, it is obvious that he has a scar above his left eye.

The F-Zero series' chronology has many vague elements up for debate, but it is stated by F-Zero X that Captain Falcon was involved in a huge accident that caused the suspension of the F-Zero Grand Prix; while he was hospitalized, his DNA was stolen and used by someone else to create his evil clone Blood Falcon, who races against him in hopes of taking him out. The story mode of F-Zero GX shows Captain Falcon winning several races, then saving fellow pilot Jody Summer. He ends up in a heroic role when he races against and defeats the super villain Black Shadow, then a superior villain named Deathborn, and he goes on to even defeat the Creators of the F-Zero world.

In Super Smash Flash
Captain Falcon is the only starter character hailed from the F-Zero franchise in Super Smash Flash. His moveset consists mainly of his signature moves from the Smash series, including the famous Falcon Punch.

In Super Smash Flash 2
Captain Falcon is playable veteran character in Super Smash Flash 2. He is the only character representation of the F-Zero franchise. In Demo 0.8 he appears as unlockable character. His design is based on how he appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl which in turn is based on his appearance in F-Zero GX. He is ranked 11th on the current tier list.