tripl3dogdare
Smash Rookie
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2015
- Messages
- 10
Hello! Two things to note first - First, Melee isn't really a competitive game anymore, as it's pretty old. Changes have probably been made to the character since then, so don't rely too heavily on this for the newer games. That said, I am by no means a competitive player, let alone with the Cap. This is a BEGINNER'S GUIDE; to any experienced CF player, most of this is probably old news.
I'll also make updates to this as I find new things - CF is currently my Melee main (even though I'm better at Sheik...), so I play him a lot and I may find new useful things to do.
Personally, I feel like a lot of players are intimidated by CF. He's slow, hard to understand, and (at first glance) has awful recovery. However, after playing him a bit, I've started to see that he has his good points. For one, he has some ridiculously abusable combos that work most of the time. He has surprisingly good recovery for such a slow, heavy character, and he's actually fairly fast if you play him right.
Basics
Attacks
Overall, CF doesn't have very good basic attacks (IMO). They come out slowly and don't usually do much damage (although if you can actually manage to lock someone into a jab, it's fairly decent for racking up damage). His smash attacks are a similar story; use them when you can, but as to combos they aren't much good in my experience as they come out too slow to be unpredictable.
Specials
CF's specials are awesome. Enough said.
Neutral-B - Falcon Punch: A flaming punch that hits everything in a surprisingly large area in front of CF. Super slow, but kills at ridiculously low percentages. Good when opponents are recovering high. Make sure to practice the timing on this, as it can be tricky to predict well enough to hit with it.
Side-B - (Not sure what this one's called): Launches CF forwards (or backwards). If he comes close enough to something he can hit, he uppercuts it (or spikes it if he's in the air). Awesome for approach, and can be comboed out of really easily. Be careful not to use this off the stage unless it will bring you back on, as you can't do anything when you're falling after using it. It also tends to move you just off the stage if you don't know the spacing, which ends in an SD. Be VERY careful around breakable terrain as well - I've gotten more than a few SDs on Yoshi's Island by accidentally using it in the middle of the stage.
Up-B - Air Grab (Not sure of the real name): Launches CF upwards. If he hits an opponent on the way, he grabs onto them and explodes, launching them away and him backwards. Great recovery move with surprising range. Also keep in mind that if he hits an opponent it doesn't lock him into a fall; he can even use Up Special again! Not very useful as a combo starter, but a good combo finisher and easy to abuse, especially in conjuction with Side Special.
Down-B - Falcon Kick: Launches CF forwards/down in a deadly flaming kick. Useful for maneuvering and changing up with Side-B. Watch out when you're off the stage or near the edge, it goes down at an angle and fairly far, so you probably won't be able to recover unless you're really high up. Watch out for the substantial ending lag.
Combos
Side Special (Ground) -> Up Special
This one is definitely old new to most CF players, as it's one of the oldest tricks in the book; on the other hand, it's really useful, really abusable, and easy to pull off. Works better on CPUs than on humans, as they don't start to see it coming, but if you use it sparingly enough it's very powerful and hard to escape. At higher percentages you may need to add a jump or two in between to get the spacing right - don't be afraid to chase your opponents down mid-air (the longer you wait, the more likely you'll get Dair'd/Down-Special'd by most characters).
(I'll add more combos as I find them)
I hope you've found this guide useful!
A message to the mods: I've already gotten a post similar to this (about Brawl Sonic) locked for "fraudulent charges" (whatever that means), simply because I stated some combos that could be executed differently/better. I've already stated that this is a beginner's guide and I'm not the best CF ever; please take into account that this isn't a competitive play guide. It's intended to help people get started with the character, not combat guys like ZeRo. Thank you.
I'll also make updates to this as I find new things - CF is currently my Melee main (even though I'm better at Sheik...), so I play him a lot and I may find new useful things to do.
Personally, I feel like a lot of players are intimidated by CF. He's slow, hard to understand, and (at first glance) has awful recovery. However, after playing him a bit, I've started to see that he has his good points. For one, he has some ridiculously abusable combos that work most of the time. He has surprisingly good recovery for such a slow, heavy character, and he's actually fairly fast if you play him right.
Basics
Attacks
Overall, CF doesn't have very good basic attacks (IMO). They come out slowly and don't usually do much damage (although if you can actually manage to lock someone into a jab, it's fairly decent for racking up damage). His smash attacks are a similar story; use them when you can, but as to combos they aren't much good in my experience as they come out too slow to be unpredictable.
Specials
CF's specials are awesome. Enough said.
Neutral-B - Falcon Punch: A flaming punch that hits everything in a surprisingly large area in front of CF. Super slow, but kills at ridiculously low percentages. Good when opponents are recovering high. Make sure to practice the timing on this, as it can be tricky to predict well enough to hit with it.
Side-B - (Not sure what this one's called): Launches CF forwards (or backwards). If he comes close enough to something he can hit, he uppercuts it (or spikes it if he's in the air). Awesome for approach, and can be comboed out of really easily. Be careful not to use this off the stage unless it will bring you back on, as you can't do anything when you're falling after using it. It also tends to move you just off the stage if you don't know the spacing, which ends in an SD. Be VERY careful around breakable terrain as well - I've gotten more than a few SDs on Yoshi's Island by accidentally using it in the middle of the stage.
Up-B - Air Grab (Not sure of the real name): Launches CF upwards. If he hits an opponent on the way, he grabs onto them and explodes, launching them away and him backwards. Great recovery move with surprising range. Also keep in mind that if he hits an opponent it doesn't lock him into a fall; he can even use Up Special again! Not very useful as a combo starter, but a good combo finisher and easy to abuse, especially in conjuction with Side Special.
Down-B - Falcon Kick: Launches CF forwards/down in a deadly flaming kick. Useful for maneuvering and changing up with Side-B. Watch out when you're off the stage or near the edge, it goes down at an angle and fairly far, so you probably won't be able to recover unless you're really high up. Watch out for the substantial ending lag.
Combos
Side Special (Ground) -> Up Special
This one is definitely old new to most CF players, as it's one of the oldest tricks in the book; on the other hand, it's really useful, really abusable, and easy to pull off. Works better on CPUs than on humans, as they don't start to see it coming, but if you use it sparingly enough it's very powerful and hard to escape. At higher percentages you may need to add a jump or two in between to get the spacing right - don't be afraid to chase your opponents down mid-air (the longer you wait, the more likely you'll get Dair'd/Down-Special'd by most characters).
(I'll add more combos as I find them)
I hope you've found this guide useful!
A message to the mods: I've already gotten a post similar to this (about Brawl Sonic) locked for "fraudulent charges" (whatever that means), simply because I stated some combos that could be executed differently/better. I've already stated that this is a beginner's guide and I'm not the best CF ever; please take into account that this isn't a competitive play guide. It's intended to help people get started with the character, not combat guys like ZeRo. Thank you.