Falco Lombardi (Smash 4)

Description

Falco (ファルコ, Falco) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Falco was officially confirmed on October 3rd, 2014, alongside Ness and Wario, coinciding with the North American and European release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. As in Melee and Brawl, Hisao Egawa reprises his role in the Japanese version with his re-recorded voice clips of the game. Mark Lund, his voice actor from Star Fox 64 3D, now voices him in the English version, replacing Dex Manley from Brawl. Falco ranks 46th out of 54 on the tier list, an extreme drop from Brawl where he was ranked 7th out of 38, and an enormous drop from his Melee position where he was ranked 4th out of 26, making this his worst placement in the series by far. The majority of Falco's moves have high speed and very favourable angles, granting him a strong combo game and juggling capabilities. These are further aided by his good grab game and strong jumps, with the latter remaining the highest in the game. His moves that lack speed or reach are also packed with power, giving his moves surprisingly high KO power; for example, his back aerial can reliably KO below 130%. He also boasts an effective grab game and out of shield game, with all of his throws possessing great utility and/or KO power, while the speed of his moves allows him to easily punish opponents out of shield. However, Falco's neutral game has been drastically weakened, with several of the moves that made him a threat at all ranges being nerfed: his two staple moves, Blaster and down aerial, now being much slower, and both are also incapable of autocancelling in a short hop, eliminating Falco's ability to safely approach; changes to his back aerial by lowering its duration and reach also make it less effective at spacing. These weakened tools amplify the issue of Falco's low horizontal mobility, making it very difficult to keep up with opponents or force an approach. Finally, even though Falco benefits from the changes to hitstun cancelling as they make down throw much better for combos, it can no longer lead into the Gatling Combo or rack up damage on its own. In fact, the changes to game mechanics have hindered Falco overall, as the removal of DACUS, the Gatling Combo, and chain grabbing hurt his damage racking capabilities overall, while the introduction of rage makes him more susceptible to KOs, due to his light weight. His recovery, despite being long distanced and buffed overall, is still slow, predictable, and easily intercepted, making Falco vulnerable to gimps. Owing to his flaws, especially compared to his Brawl incarnation, Falco has held poor tournament representation and results in competitive play. Although updates to the game have attempted to buff a number of his negative attributes, he still has struggled to make an impact at tournaments at the national level.