bornfidelity.com
Smash Master
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The Marvellous Guide on Falco Lombardi - by bornfidelity.com (aka BadInfluence aka QF) v4.2
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All the stuff contained in this guide is copyrighted by me (BF/BadInfluence), not to be copied, or whatever. This guide is only to appear on smashboards.com & ssbbrawl.com.
If you found this guide somewhere else, email me at bornfidelity1@gmail.com, that's the same place your suggestions/feedback should go.
Oh, and if some other site is hosting this, also tell them they are lame n00bs for not deleting/rewriting this part ^_^
Note: for information about pillaring, use your browser's search function on this page. Pillaring is not taken up in the index of this guide.
Another Note: I'm currently updating everything but slowly. Expect the definitive Falco Melee Guide to be finished in a few weeks.
---------------------------------------
Update v4.2, 13-01-08:
- Revised Common Terms section
Update v4.1, 12-01-08:
- Came Back! ^^
- Replaced US/J@P Tier list
- Added PAL Tier List
Update v3.3, 15-03-06:
- Added Falco = teh_spiker to Char. Matchups-section
Update v3.2, 6-03-06:
- Edited section III, How the bird moves!
- Elaborated on teching
- Elaborated on throws
- Elaborated on comboing
- Added lasertricks to How the bird plays!-section
- Edited Marth Matchup
- Edited Fox Matchup
- Edited Peach Matchup
- Edited Jigglypuff Matchup
- Added Bowser = teh_fortresser to Char. Matchups-section
Update v3.1, 2-11-05:
- Added Peach = teh_dsmasher to Char. Matchups-section
- Added Jigglypuff = teh_***** to Char. Matchups-section
- Added Tier list
Update v3.0, 24-10-05:
- Edited the entire guide on all sorts of errors, lackings, and indepthfulness.
- That's a LOT of editing. ^_^
Update v2.1, 20-09-05:
- Added section VII, Character Matchups
- Added Marth = teh_edgeguarder to Char. Matchups-section
- Added Fox = teh_lightning to Char. Matchups-section
Update v2.0, 8-09-05:
- Added section VI, How the bird plays!
- Added section VIII, Closure
Update v1.6, 5-09-05:
- Added to Pillaring section
- Added to SHL section
- Corrected some more spelling errors >_>
- Added added aerial-dash to TSI-Section
Update v1.5, 19-08-05:
- Added notes to Falco vs Fox-section
- Clarified Pros and Cons-section
- Corrected comments on some moves
- Added to Edgeguarding-section
Update v1.4, 14-08-05:
- Added note to Falco Technique section
- Added to SHL
- Corrected Grabbing
- Corrected minor spelling errors ^_^
Update v1.3, 11-08-05:
- Corrected pillaring
- Corrected Aerial Moves-section
- Corrected Smash attack-section
- Added Shinecombos-subsection
Update v1.2, 11-08-05:
- Added section V - The Falco Technique
- Corrected Common Terms-section
- Corrected Ground Moves-section
- Corrected Falco vs Fox-section
Update v1.1, 10-08-05:
- Finished the TSII section.
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This guide yet exists of seven sections:
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- Who is Falco Lombardi?
.....- About Falco
.....- Falco vs Fox
.....- Pros/Cons
- Technical Stuff I:
.....- Common Terms
- How the bird moves!
.....- Groundplay
.....- Aerial play
- Technical Stuff II:
.....- Shuffling
.....- The SHL
.....- Teching
.....- Grabbing
.....- Edgeguarding
.....- Wavedashing
.....- Final notes on the C-stick
- The Falco Technique
.....-Approachal
.....-The setup
.....-Aerial comboing
.....-Shinecombos
- How the bird plays!
.....-Mindgames
..........-Approachal
..........-Dashdancing
..........-Invincibility
.....-Other tricks
- Character Matchups
.....Marth = teh_edgeguarder
.....Fox = teh_lightning
.....Falco = teh_spiker
.....Peach = teh_dsmasher
.....Jigglypuff = teh_*****
.....Bowser = teh_fortresser
- Closure
.....-Final words
.....-Credits
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I - Considering you are anywhere near the level of a total n00b, I'll start with the basics. Who is Falco Lombardi?
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About Falco - If you clear the 100 Man Melee, and beat your approacher, Falco is yours to play. This will be the first thing to do next time your savedata is lost. Usual tactics are using Fox's shine or even DK's down B move.
Falco Lombardi, member of the Star Fox team, like Fox is (together with Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad). Apart from the Starfox games on SNES and N64, and more recently, Starfox Assault on NGC, he appeared for a short moment in Starfox Adventures (he helps Fox out for a bit, at the end of the game). He's also supposed to play a major part in the later Starfox game for the Gamecube.
Falco is a bird. Obviously. But he can't fly - at least in this game he can't - and he's averagely fast, but it's his jump that really makes us love him. Press the X or Y button, whatever makes you feel comfortable - I wouldn't recommend using the control stick for jumping - and watch him soar through the air! Lovely sight, innit?
Falco is really way up high in the tiers but that's not because he's that good, just because he's awesome.
The official US/J@P Tier list:
Top Tier
Fox
Falco
High Tier
Sheik
Marth
Peach
Middle Tier
Captain Falco
Ice Climbers
Samus
Doctor Mario
Jigglypuff
Mario
Ganondorf
Low Tier
Link
Luigi
Donkey Kong
Roy
Young Link
Pikachu
Bottom Tier
Yoshi
Zelda
Mr. Game and Watch
Ness
Bowser
Kirby
Pichu
Mewtwo
The PAL version of the game has it's own tier list.
1st Tier:
Sheik
Falco
Fox
Marth
Peach
2nd Tier:
Captain Falcon
Ice Climbers
Samus
Jigglypuff
Dr. Mario
Ganondorf
Mario
3rd Tier:
Luigi
Link
Yoshi
Roy
Donkey Kong
Pikachu
4th Tier:
Young Link
Mr. Game & Watch
Zelda
Ness
Bowser
Kirby
Pichu
Mewtwo
Falco has been compared to Fox ever since Starfox on SNES, and once again, Fox appears to be the best of the two - or at least that's what the tiers say. But let's look a bit more into these two, now, shall we?
Falco vs Fox - Fox is obviously faster than Falco is. In everything. And this makes him a lot harder to handle. Try shorthopping with Fox, for instance, you have only two frames - that's one 30th of a second, to push the button. After that, it's another two frames until you're airborne, making a total of four frames - Falco's is six.
Falco jumps a lot higher. Sure, he jumps higher than ANY char, but Fox's jump really isn't much.To make up for this, Fox's Firefox (upB) and Illusion (sideB) go a bit further.
Their A moves differ a bit. Fox's utilt (that would be, upA on the ground) is a good KO move, as are his upsmash, and his uair (his upA aerial). Falco doesn't like these as much except for comboing and maybe killing Peaches/Jigglypuffs. On the ground, his downtilt is a lot more effective (it's a KO move, actually!), and his uair doesn't pack anywhere the knockback Fox's does (it's still a good move, though). Falco's down-aerial spikes (though not always in PAL), Fox's doesn't.
One of the most important differences is the shine (their downB, the reflector). Falco's sends it's foes upwards, Fox's sends them downwards and to the side (or horizontally when on flat ground).
Falco's laser (blaster) packs some knockback, Fox's doesn't - although the latter has beautiful rapid fire. Thus, Falco's blaster you can approach with (using the SHL, for instance, stunning the opponent althewhile), Fox's blaster forces the opponent somewhat to approach you. Considering the offensive nature of both Falco and Fox, the first one is by many preferred.
Fox's waveshine is considered more useful than Falco's (a waveshine is basically wavedashing out of shine) because Fox's can be chained, resulting in an infinite, but pthers favour Falco's waveshine because of insane comboing (especially on fastfallers).
So Fox is faster, has less of a jump, is harder to handle, and some moves differ.
Falco and Fox are two very different characters - they may be clones, they feel almost nothing alike. You should decide for yourself who you want to play with, and - ofcourse - I recommend Falco. I've played them both, quite a bit, and Falco was the best for me. But that's all a matter of taste, and of your style.
Oh, and Falco >>>> all. ^__^
Cons/Pros
Falco is a fastfaller, so he is comboed easily, his recovery is really bad, and he's easily chainthrown (that would be the cons).
He's a good jumper though , his blaster gives him a good projectile, his aerial play is fantastic, his groundplay is ok - he's got a great spike, great sexkicks, a set of good smashes, the pillar technique, he's relatively easy to use, he's got the shine, and he's the perfect character to show off with. So if you play the guitar you might as well play Falco. And he's just awesome. Yeah, these are his pros.
Assuming you really want to go and kick some butt using Falco, I'll take you on a journey into the world of a true bird of prey.
But first, we should look at some technical stuff.
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II - Technical Stuff I
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There are some terms you need to understand, in order to comprehend what the heck I'm talking about. If this is your first time with 'em, I suggest you copy/paste into notepad, or whatever, for referral.
A more (over)complete list can be found in the stickies in the Melee Discussion room (here on smashboards.com).
Aerial: aerial attacks are written as nair, fair, dair, bair, and uair - that would be neutral aerial, forward aerial, downwards, backwards, and upwards. Performed by pressing A + direction on the control stick while airborne.
(N)(F)(B)(U)(D)air Dash: Basically dashing to any shffld aerial. Chaining these pack some serious damage in some situations. If you dash to shffld nair to dash to shffld nair, you are nairdashing. If you chain dashed shffld dairs, you're dairdashing etc.
Air Dodge: When airborne, press either L or R to airdodge. You dive into the third dimension for a short while, allowing anything - attacks, projectiles - to get past you without getting hit. After using this, you'll be unable to do anything until you reach the floor. Use wisely. Note: You can airdodge in all directions by using the control stick.
Chain Throwing: some characters are able to throw their opponent, and catch it again, and throw it again, and so on. Falco can't, so I'll let it be. Also known as chaingrabbing, although supposedly minor differences exist between the two (involving whether or not the opponent touches the ground or not).
CC or Crouch Cancel: If you crouch while getting hit, you'll receive way less knockback, allowing you to counterattack. Don't use it against Peach, her downsmash will kill you.
Dash Cancel: If you dash, and press down on the control stick, you'll stop dashing. Because you're crouching, if you did it right, you can even do perform a downtilt. Neat, eh?
Dash-dance: by tapping the control stick back and forth, you can continuously turn on the spot. What's actually happening: You keep performing a dash to the other side. the startup animation of the dash allows you to turn. Used mainly as a fakeout tactic; some people taunt with it. A lot of Fox players use it to make the opponent sidestep so they can grab you afterwards, for instance. Counter this with jab, it's got more range than you might think and it stopts the Fox in his tracks.
DI: Let's say you're up against Bowser. You hop in there with a shffld nair, and an upsmash, and another upsmash.. If done correctly you will have done a lot of damage. That is, if you're fighting a n00b (his chin would be on the floor and he would be all like ''dude you r teh pownz0rs' and stuff like that). But if you were fighting a pro, you'd be dead by now. Because of DI (directional influence). By pressing either left or right on the control stick, you drift that way while airborne. If you get hit by an attack, DI from the moment you get hit, that way, the DI is the strongest. Great way to escape combos (we'll get to shffling, don't worry).
Dodge: There are two sorts of dodges, the sidestep (spotdodge) and the roll. The sidestep is performed by shielding and pressing down on the control stick. For a moment, you'll dodge into the third dimension. It's kinda like airdodging, but on the ground.
To do a rolling dodge, you should shield (L/R) and press either left or right on the control stick.Note that when performing a rolling dodge, you're still vulnerable to attacks at some points.
Edgeguarding: When you've succeeded in getting your opponent off the edge of the stage, you want to keep him there. Any attempt to do so falls under edgeguarding.
Edgehogging: A form of edgeguarding. Only one character is allowed to hang on an edge at the same time. Thus, if your opponent is off the edge, and he's pretty far from it, you could shorthop backwards, of wavedash backwards (both will be handled later..) in order to grab the ledge. When the opponent comes, and tries to grab the ledge, he'll fall to his doom. Note, that when your opponent's third jump is an offensive one - which is most likely - they can hit you while you're hanging on the edge, and they'll still be able to grab it. To prevent this, press L or R just when you are about to get hit. You'll roll back on the stage, while your enemy still won't grab on to the ledge. Neat!
Fast Falling: When you are at the peak of your jump, pressing downwards will result in falling to the ground faster (in fact this is possible anywhere áfter the peak, but the sonner the faster). With Falco, it's rather important to master this - as it is with most chars - because it really packs some speed in his play.
Grab: If you press Z while standing, or dashing, you will attempt to grab your opponent (pretty confident you have done this before). When grabbed, you can throw your opponent away. Note, that while shielding (holding L or R) you can press A to grab your opponents out of the shield. This is extremely handy, for example against people who like to attack you with an aerial. Just shield it, and press A. You have just turned his attack into one of yours.
Juggling: If you keep attacking your opponent, in such way that he doesn't hit the ground, you're juggling him. Pretty obvious, innit?
Lag: The startup or windup time of an attack. The Falcon punch is an obvious example of startup lag, Link's dair is one of windup lag. 'Lag' refers to the windup lag most of the time.
L-Cancelling: If you perform an aerial, and hit the ground while the animation of the attack isn't done yet (with Falco, that's really often going to happen!) you'll experience a lot of lag (depending on what move you used). By pressing L when you hit the ground, you'll reduce the lag by 1/2. I'll cover this more indepth at Technical Stuff 2.
Powershielding: If you shield exactly when a projectile (or attack) is within the range of your shield, but not yet hitting you, regular shielding will result in a powershield. The projectile will be reflected and sent back where it came from (especially nice on Samus' charged shots!). It's one of the most difficult things to do in the game - if you're able to master it, congrats, you're probably the first one.
Priority: When two attacks hit each other the same time, two things can happen. Either you hear a 'clank' noise, or one of the attacks overpowers the other. In the first case, the priority of the attacks is the same, in the second case, the overpowering attack has higher priority than the other one. Consider the Warlock Punch to have higher priority than a normal A attack.
Sex kick: A sex kick is an attack that lasts for some time, hitting the opponent for as long as it's out. Most characters' nair is one (Falco's is). The sex kicks decreases in strength the longer it is out (except for Dr. Mario's which actually gets stronger).
Shielding: Pressing L or R while on the ground. Z is also possible, but not recommended because of resulting grabbing difficulties.
Shine: The reflector Falco's and Fox's downB holds, is often referred to as the Shine.
Short Hop (SH): If you tap X or Y lightly, you'll jump significantly less high. With some chars this is extremely difficult, Falco's isn't, though. More in the Technical Stuff 2 section. You can also flip the contrl stick up briefly but don't. ^^
Short Hopped Laser (SHL): With Falco, you can short hop, fire your blaster, and fastfall - the fastfall eliminates the lag of the blaster animation when hitting the ground. More in TSII section..
Shffl: A Short hopped, Fast Falled, L-Cancel Aerial attack. Shffling (or shuffling) is a tricky technique, that requires practice. It's basically a way to perform aerial attacks just above the ground and with few lag. More in the TSII section.
Spamming: Using an attack repeatedly, for maximum effect an annoying one. Falco for instance, could really spam his blaster on Final Destination ^_^
Spike: an attack that sends the opponent downwards, basically. Falco's dair is an obvious example, as are Marth's down aerial in NTSC/J@P versions of the game. Not to be confused with Meteor attacks such as Capt. Falcon's down air (dair).
Teching: Pressing L or R when you hit the ground for instant recovery. If you got hit by an attack, and you're tumbling through the air, unable to do anything (except for DI), press L or R right as you hit the ground. You'll jump to you feet instantly. Holding either left or right on the control stick while doing so, will result in a techroll in that direction. Note that if you press L or R too early, you can't use it again for another set amount of frames (hence, when combo'd, sometimes it's better not to attempt to tech the first blow so you can tech the second one.
You can also do this on a wall (wallteching): if you're tumbling through the air, and you hit a wall, press L or R.
Ledgeteching is another form of teching, this will be dealt with later.
Walljumping: Not all characters can do it, but Falco can. Jump towards the wall, and upon contact, hit the control stick away from the wall. You'll jump away without using up a jump. It's neat for recovery (Fourside, anyone?) and mindgames, among other things.
Wavedashing: One of the less easily performed tactics, wavedashing is sidewards airdodging into the ground, resulting in a slide over the ground, with no lag -meaning you could attack whenever you want (except for the first 17 frames, the initial WDing animation). I'll see to this in TSII section.
Got that? Good. Let's get to the real thing.
The Marvellous Guide on Falco Lombardi - by bornfidelity.com (aka BadInfluence aka QF) v4.2
---------------------------------------
All the stuff contained in this guide is copyrighted by me (BF/BadInfluence), not to be copied, or whatever. This guide is only to appear on smashboards.com & ssbbrawl.com.
If you found this guide somewhere else, email me at bornfidelity1@gmail.com, that's the same place your suggestions/feedback should go.
Oh, and if some other site is hosting this, also tell them they are lame n00bs for not deleting/rewriting this part ^_^
Note: for information about pillaring, use your browser's search function on this page. Pillaring is not taken up in the index of this guide.
Another Note: I'm currently updating everything but slowly. Expect the definitive Falco Melee Guide to be finished in a few weeks.
---------------------------------------
Update v4.2, 13-01-08:
- Revised Common Terms section
Update v4.1, 12-01-08:
- Came Back! ^^
- Replaced US/J@P Tier list
- Added PAL Tier List
Update v3.3, 15-03-06:
- Added Falco = teh_spiker to Char. Matchups-section
Update v3.2, 6-03-06:
- Edited section III, How the bird moves!
- Elaborated on teching
- Elaborated on throws
- Elaborated on comboing
- Added lasertricks to How the bird plays!-section
- Edited Marth Matchup
- Edited Fox Matchup
- Edited Peach Matchup
- Edited Jigglypuff Matchup
- Added Bowser = teh_fortresser to Char. Matchups-section
Update v3.1, 2-11-05:
- Added Peach = teh_dsmasher to Char. Matchups-section
- Added Jigglypuff = teh_***** to Char. Matchups-section
- Added Tier list
Update v3.0, 24-10-05:
- Edited the entire guide on all sorts of errors, lackings, and indepthfulness.
- That's a LOT of editing. ^_^
Update v2.1, 20-09-05:
- Added section VII, Character Matchups
- Added Marth = teh_edgeguarder to Char. Matchups-section
- Added Fox = teh_lightning to Char. Matchups-section
Update v2.0, 8-09-05:
- Added section VI, How the bird plays!
- Added section VIII, Closure
Update v1.6, 5-09-05:
- Added to Pillaring section
- Added to SHL section
- Corrected some more spelling errors >_>
- Added added aerial-dash to TSI-Section
Update v1.5, 19-08-05:
- Added notes to Falco vs Fox-section
- Clarified Pros and Cons-section
- Corrected comments on some moves
- Added to Edgeguarding-section
Update v1.4, 14-08-05:
- Added note to Falco Technique section
- Added to SHL
- Corrected Grabbing
- Corrected minor spelling errors ^_^
Update v1.3, 11-08-05:
- Corrected pillaring
- Corrected Aerial Moves-section
- Corrected Smash attack-section
- Added Shinecombos-subsection
Update v1.2, 11-08-05:
- Added section V - The Falco Technique
- Corrected Common Terms-section
- Corrected Ground Moves-section
- Corrected Falco vs Fox-section
Update v1.1, 10-08-05:
- Finished the TSII section.
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This guide yet exists of seven sections:
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- Who is Falco Lombardi?
.....- About Falco
.....- Falco vs Fox
.....- Pros/Cons
- Technical Stuff I:
.....- Common Terms
- How the bird moves!
.....- Groundplay
.....- Aerial play
- Technical Stuff II:
.....- Shuffling
.....- The SHL
.....- Teching
.....- Grabbing
.....- Edgeguarding
.....- Wavedashing
.....- Final notes on the C-stick
- The Falco Technique
.....-Approachal
.....-The setup
.....-Aerial comboing
.....-Shinecombos
- How the bird plays!
.....-Mindgames
..........-Approachal
..........-Dashdancing
..........-Invincibility
.....-Other tricks
- Character Matchups
.....Marth = teh_edgeguarder
.....Fox = teh_lightning
.....Falco = teh_spiker
.....Peach = teh_dsmasher
.....Jigglypuff = teh_*****
.....Bowser = teh_fortresser
- Closure
.....-Final words
.....-Credits
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I - Considering you are anywhere near the level of a total n00b, I'll start with the basics. Who is Falco Lombardi?
---------------------------------------
About Falco - If you clear the 100 Man Melee, and beat your approacher, Falco is yours to play. This will be the first thing to do next time your savedata is lost. Usual tactics are using Fox's shine or even DK's down B move.
Falco Lombardi, member of the Star Fox team, like Fox is (together with Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad). Apart from the Starfox games on SNES and N64, and more recently, Starfox Assault on NGC, he appeared for a short moment in Starfox Adventures (he helps Fox out for a bit, at the end of the game). He's also supposed to play a major part in the later Starfox game for the Gamecube.
Falco is a bird. Obviously. But he can't fly - at least in this game he can't - and he's averagely fast, but it's his jump that really makes us love him. Press the X or Y button, whatever makes you feel comfortable - I wouldn't recommend using the control stick for jumping - and watch him soar through the air! Lovely sight, innit?
Falco is really way up high in the tiers but that's not because he's that good, just because he's awesome.
The official US/J@P Tier list:
Top Tier
Fox
Falco
High Tier
Sheik
Marth
Peach
Middle Tier
Captain Falco
Ice Climbers
Samus
Doctor Mario
Jigglypuff
Mario
Ganondorf
Low Tier
Link
Luigi
Donkey Kong
Roy
Young Link
Pikachu
Bottom Tier
Yoshi
Zelda
Mr. Game and Watch
Ness
Bowser
Kirby
Pichu
Mewtwo
The PAL version of the game has it's own tier list.
1st Tier:
Sheik
Falco
Fox
Marth
Peach
2nd Tier:
Captain Falcon
Ice Climbers
Samus
Jigglypuff
Dr. Mario
Ganondorf
Mario
3rd Tier:
Luigi
Link
Yoshi
Roy
Donkey Kong
Pikachu
4th Tier:
Young Link
Mr. Game & Watch
Zelda
Ness
Bowser
Kirby
Pichu
Mewtwo
Falco has been compared to Fox ever since Starfox on SNES, and once again, Fox appears to be the best of the two - or at least that's what the tiers say. But let's look a bit more into these two, now, shall we?
Falco vs Fox - Fox is obviously faster than Falco is. In everything. And this makes him a lot harder to handle. Try shorthopping with Fox, for instance, you have only two frames - that's one 30th of a second, to push the button. After that, it's another two frames until you're airborne, making a total of four frames - Falco's is six.
Falco jumps a lot higher. Sure, he jumps higher than ANY char, but Fox's jump really isn't much.To make up for this, Fox's Firefox (upB) and Illusion (sideB) go a bit further.
Their A moves differ a bit. Fox's utilt (that would be, upA on the ground) is a good KO move, as are his upsmash, and his uair (his upA aerial). Falco doesn't like these as much except for comboing and maybe killing Peaches/Jigglypuffs. On the ground, his downtilt is a lot more effective (it's a KO move, actually!), and his uair doesn't pack anywhere the knockback Fox's does (it's still a good move, though). Falco's down-aerial spikes (though not always in PAL), Fox's doesn't.
One of the most important differences is the shine (their downB, the reflector). Falco's sends it's foes upwards, Fox's sends them downwards and to the side (or horizontally when on flat ground).
Falco's laser (blaster) packs some knockback, Fox's doesn't - although the latter has beautiful rapid fire. Thus, Falco's blaster you can approach with (using the SHL, for instance, stunning the opponent althewhile), Fox's blaster forces the opponent somewhat to approach you. Considering the offensive nature of both Falco and Fox, the first one is by many preferred.
Fox's waveshine is considered more useful than Falco's (a waveshine is basically wavedashing out of shine) because Fox's can be chained, resulting in an infinite, but pthers favour Falco's waveshine because of insane comboing (especially on fastfallers).
So Fox is faster, has less of a jump, is harder to handle, and some moves differ.
Falco and Fox are two very different characters - they may be clones, they feel almost nothing alike. You should decide for yourself who you want to play with, and - ofcourse - I recommend Falco. I've played them both, quite a bit, and Falco was the best for me. But that's all a matter of taste, and of your style.
Oh, and Falco >>>> all. ^__^
Cons/Pros
Falco is a fastfaller, so he is comboed easily, his recovery is really bad, and he's easily chainthrown (that would be the cons).
He's a good jumper though , his blaster gives him a good projectile, his aerial play is fantastic, his groundplay is ok - he's got a great spike, great sexkicks, a set of good smashes, the pillar technique, he's relatively easy to use, he's got the shine, and he's the perfect character to show off with. So if you play the guitar you might as well play Falco. And he's just awesome. Yeah, these are his pros.
Assuming you really want to go and kick some butt using Falco, I'll take you on a journey into the world of a true bird of prey.
But first, we should look at some technical stuff.
---------------------------------------
II - Technical Stuff I
---------------------------------------
There are some terms you need to understand, in order to comprehend what the heck I'm talking about. If this is your first time with 'em, I suggest you copy/paste into notepad, or whatever, for referral.
A more (over)complete list can be found in the stickies in the Melee Discussion room (here on smashboards.com).
Aerial: aerial attacks are written as nair, fair, dair, bair, and uair - that would be neutral aerial, forward aerial, downwards, backwards, and upwards. Performed by pressing A + direction on the control stick while airborne.
(N)(F)(B)(U)(D)air Dash: Basically dashing to any shffld aerial. Chaining these pack some serious damage in some situations. If you dash to shffld nair to dash to shffld nair, you are nairdashing. If you chain dashed shffld dairs, you're dairdashing etc.
Air Dodge: When airborne, press either L or R to airdodge. You dive into the third dimension for a short while, allowing anything - attacks, projectiles - to get past you without getting hit. After using this, you'll be unable to do anything until you reach the floor. Use wisely. Note: You can airdodge in all directions by using the control stick.
Chain Throwing: some characters are able to throw their opponent, and catch it again, and throw it again, and so on. Falco can't, so I'll let it be. Also known as chaingrabbing, although supposedly minor differences exist between the two (involving whether or not the opponent touches the ground or not).
CC or Crouch Cancel: If you crouch while getting hit, you'll receive way less knockback, allowing you to counterattack. Don't use it against Peach, her downsmash will kill you.
Dash Cancel: If you dash, and press down on the control stick, you'll stop dashing. Because you're crouching, if you did it right, you can even do perform a downtilt. Neat, eh?
Dash-dance: by tapping the control stick back and forth, you can continuously turn on the spot. What's actually happening: You keep performing a dash to the other side. the startup animation of the dash allows you to turn. Used mainly as a fakeout tactic; some people taunt with it. A lot of Fox players use it to make the opponent sidestep so they can grab you afterwards, for instance. Counter this with jab, it's got more range than you might think and it stopts the Fox in his tracks.
DI: Let's say you're up against Bowser. You hop in there with a shffld nair, and an upsmash, and another upsmash.. If done correctly you will have done a lot of damage. That is, if you're fighting a n00b (his chin would be on the floor and he would be all like ''dude you r teh pownz0rs' and stuff like that). But if you were fighting a pro, you'd be dead by now. Because of DI (directional influence). By pressing either left or right on the control stick, you drift that way while airborne. If you get hit by an attack, DI from the moment you get hit, that way, the DI is the strongest. Great way to escape combos (we'll get to shffling, don't worry).
Dodge: There are two sorts of dodges, the sidestep (spotdodge) and the roll. The sidestep is performed by shielding and pressing down on the control stick. For a moment, you'll dodge into the third dimension. It's kinda like airdodging, but on the ground.
To do a rolling dodge, you should shield (L/R) and press either left or right on the control stick.Note that when performing a rolling dodge, you're still vulnerable to attacks at some points.
Edgeguarding: When you've succeeded in getting your opponent off the edge of the stage, you want to keep him there. Any attempt to do so falls under edgeguarding.
Edgehogging: A form of edgeguarding. Only one character is allowed to hang on an edge at the same time. Thus, if your opponent is off the edge, and he's pretty far from it, you could shorthop backwards, of wavedash backwards (both will be handled later..) in order to grab the ledge. When the opponent comes, and tries to grab the ledge, he'll fall to his doom. Note, that when your opponent's third jump is an offensive one - which is most likely - they can hit you while you're hanging on the edge, and they'll still be able to grab it. To prevent this, press L or R just when you are about to get hit. You'll roll back on the stage, while your enemy still won't grab on to the ledge. Neat!
Fast Falling: When you are at the peak of your jump, pressing downwards will result in falling to the ground faster (in fact this is possible anywhere áfter the peak, but the sonner the faster). With Falco, it's rather important to master this - as it is with most chars - because it really packs some speed in his play.
Grab: If you press Z while standing, or dashing, you will attempt to grab your opponent (pretty confident you have done this before). When grabbed, you can throw your opponent away. Note, that while shielding (holding L or R) you can press A to grab your opponents out of the shield. This is extremely handy, for example against people who like to attack you with an aerial. Just shield it, and press A. You have just turned his attack into one of yours.
Juggling: If you keep attacking your opponent, in such way that he doesn't hit the ground, you're juggling him. Pretty obvious, innit?
Lag: The startup or windup time of an attack. The Falcon punch is an obvious example of startup lag, Link's dair is one of windup lag. 'Lag' refers to the windup lag most of the time.
L-Cancelling: If you perform an aerial, and hit the ground while the animation of the attack isn't done yet (with Falco, that's really often going to happen!) you'll experience a lot of lag (depending on what move you used). By pressing L when you hit the ground, you'll reduce the lag by 1/2. I'll cover this more indepth at Technical Stuff 2.
Powershielding: If you shield exactly when a projectile (or attack) is within the range of your shield, but not yet hitting you, regular shielding will result in a powershield. The projectile will be reflected and sent back where it came from (especially nice on Samus' charged shots!). It's one of the most difficult things to do in the game - if you're able to master it, congrats, you're probably the first one.
Priority: When two attacks hit each other the same time, two things can happen. Either you hear a 'clank' noise, or one of the attacks overpowers the other. In the first case, the priority of the attacks is the same, in the second case, the overpowering attack has higher priority than the other one. Consider the Warlock Punch to have higher priority than a normal A attack.
Sex kick: A sex kick is an attack that lasts for some time, hitting the opponent for as long as it's out. Most characters' nair is one (Falco's is). The sex kicks decreases in strength the longer it is out (except for Dr. Mario's which actually gets stronger).
Shielding: Pressing L or R while on the ground. Z is also possible, but not recommended because of resulting grabbing difficulties.
Shine: The reflector Falco's and Fox's downB holds, is often referred to as the Shine.
Short Hop (SH): If you tap X or Y lightly, you'll jump significantly less high. With some chars this is extremely difficult, Falco's isn't, though. More in the Technical Stuff 2 section. You can also flip the contrl stick up briefly but don't. ^^
Short Hopped Laser (SHL): With Falco, you can short hop, fire your blaster, and fastfall - the fastfall eliminates the lag of the blaster animation when hitting the ground. More in TSII section..
Shffl: A Short hopped, Fast Falled, L-Cancel Aerial attack. Shffling (or shuffling) is a tricky technique, that requires practice. It's basically a way to perform aerial attacks just above the ground and with few lag. More in the TSII section.
Spamming: Using an attack repeatedly, for maximum effect an annoying one. Falco for instance, could really spam his blaster on Final Destination ^_^
Spike: an attack that sends the opponent downwards, basically. Falco's dair is an obvious example, as are Marth's down aerial in NTSC/J@P versions of the game. Not to be confused with Meteor attacks such as Capt. Falcon's down air (dair).
Teching: Pressing L or R when you hit the ground for instant recovery. If you got hit by an attack, and you're tumbling through the air, unable to do anything (except for DI), press L or R right as you hit the ground. You'll jump to you feet instantly. Holding either left or right on the control stick while doing so, will result in a techroll in that direction. Note that if you press L or R too early, you can't use it again for another set amount of frames (hence, when combo'd, sometimes it's better not to attempt to tech the first blow so you can tech the second one.
You can also do this on a wall (wallteching): if you're tumbling through the air, and you hit a wall, press L or R.
Ledgeteching is another form of teching, this will be dealt with later.
Walljumping: Not all characters can do it, but Falco can. Jump towards the wall, and upon contact, hit the control stick away from the wall. You'll jump away without using up a jump. It's neat for recovery (Fourside, anyone?) and mindgames, among other things.
Wavedashing: One of the less easily performed tactics, wavedashing is sidewards airdodging into the ground, resulting in a slide over the ground, with no lag -meaning you could attack whenever you want (except for the first 17 frames, the initial WDing animation). I'll see to this in TSII section.
Got that? Good. Let's get to the real thing.