I've played him a few times before, but wasn't too sure as it was a FFA with items set at high so it was kinda hard to tell apart myself from the others(All Falcos at the time).
But yesterday, I got to finally play a tourney-ruled match with my brother(Falco vs. Pit), and I can no positively say, Falco is almost a wholy new character. There's barely a single move for him that didn't change or get a new property.
I'm gonna go over them one by one and my impressions about them:
Grabs: As of old habits, I didn't really use throws other than down alot, but I can tell that it no longer prepares for a smash afterwards, it throws the opponent sideways just when it was supposed to leave them on the ground in melee, although it no longer lets you combo a smash, it seemed to me as of pretty big combo potential, at least for this game, you can most probably chaingrab from it(Untested), but you can easily follow it up with a nice short hopped aeriel combo, of it least 3 moves if done correctly.
Tilts: Let's go from least changed to most changed here;
Side tilt- exactly the same, didn't see any changes at all, from the while I've been playing.
Down tilt- this one is mostly the same, however, I have noticed it sends you in a more of diagonal line, and for shorter distance overall than in melee, this might be a pretty good thing actually, it works alot like Fox's S64 dtilt worked, that one in there was probably Fox's best combo move, each time he pulled it off, he could easily combo the opponent all the way to the other side of the stage, and usually out, however, as good as this might have been, it would seem that the new physics engine, and the other changes of Falco from the S64 Fox, prevent this from happening, so overally, I would have to say this move is neigther buffed or nerfed, but just changed, it has new combo potential, but last kill preparing potential.
Up tilt- this one was changed alot, it seems to blow you a bit farther this time, but, and I'm not really sure about this, it seems to take a few more frames and if you miss the first hit, the second one is a lot weaker, it does look cool and all, but it barely has combo potential at all, and just leaves you open for attacks for while, which is a bad thing if used on low precentages, the up tilt was supposed to be one of Fox's/Falco's best low precent moves in melee, this isn't really good.
3 hit combo: Falco's 3 hit combo actually looks alot better, the range is a little shorter, but it seems to do a bit more damage in less time, it's also harder to escape from this one than the old one, but a skilled player should have no problem with this, also if you get caught doing it when the opponent already fled, this one is alot faster to finish than the old one, a great buff for Falco.
Smashes: Up smash- same range, a bit different properties, it knocks sideways more, which makes it a bad finisher now, however, it's near-miss hitbox was improved, now it's alot easier to catch people in the near-miss zone than it was before, it does less damage, but let's admit it, it's better that way than missing, however I would still have to say this was nerfed, just a little bit.
Down smash- basiclly the exact same, however, it seems to knock the opponent a little farther this time, but I haven't tried it enough to be sure.
Side smash- this is a moajor buff for Falco, this attack has a huge hitbox for physical smash, it hits right to the tip of his fingers, however weak, but still strong enough for flying the opponent a bit, I'll explain it this way, me and my brother pulled off Falco's Ssmash, and Marth's Ssmash aiming for a tipper, at the same time, Falco's hit first, it goes far and fast, however for speed, I would have to say that's this move's only nerf, it's alot slower now, you can easily feel how slower it is than Fox's Ssmash.
Aerials: Mostly buffed, but with some exceptions.
Nair- Actually, I forgot what this one did, I didn't use it much for some reason =\
Uair- At first I thought it was buffed, because it's a lot easier to land this time, but after a few tries I realized this move just isn't as good, you need even more of a specific timing for it to send the opponent flying upwards, even if both hits connect this time, it doesn't always do a proper knockback.
Bair- Seems unchanged from what I've seen, still his best aerial killing move.
Fair- This one is just great, it's alot faster, gets alot of hits and barely moves the opponent, if I'd have to compare it to anything, it's alot like Sonic's Fair and Pikachu's Melee Fair(Haven't tried him in Brawl much so can't tell), it's not bad as it was before, when it kicked the opponent for some knock back, but one that was barely enough for a kill at 220%, this one doesn't move the opponent at all, yet does about 18% damage, it's a great move not for it's knockback, but for it's combo potential, right after it you can link it with an Uair, which would than have alot higher rate for success for knock back, or jump while doing a Bair, Dair will not connect most of the time though, great combo move, bad for knockback though.
Dair- I was really dissappointed with this move actually, it used to be great in melee, in Brawl it's just pretty lame... it lasts for a lot shorter time, with a longer startup animation, so it's alot harder to connect, and if that's not enough, it almost always knocks the opponent straight down instead of an angled shot, so it's not nearly as useful now for edge guarding, even when hitting someone on the ground they barely flinch, and at the times they do move(On atleast 70%) they get sent sideways, wrecking the move's aerial combo almost completely, I just hate thie move now, most nerfed move for Falco I would have to say.
Specials: nothing much here.
UpB- works the same, same range, only change is that the startup fire hits the opponent just like Fox's does, and I'm not sure, but it seems to be a bit weaker when hitting this time.
SideB- Does less knockback and damage, and by what I could tell, air spike is alot less effective, however, it seems to have gained a lot of length, it goes alot farther now.
NeutralB- Just faster nothing else, but it's alot faster, I haven't tried this, but I've seen some videos that managed to pull off a SHDL off the ground and actually a Quardruple Laser shot normally.
DownB- The shine.... well, this haven't been tested enough, and I haven't used it that much either(I really don't like it as of now), but I would probably call this a nerf for now, it stops Falco's movement completely until it returns or he is being hit, so if it misses there's no doubt he'll get hit, might even be smashed, if the opponent is fast enough, it doesn't knock the opponent upwards, in fact, it doesn't knock them AT ALL, just flinches them and makes them fall, so it's not good for combos anymore, as they can get up before the shine even gets to return, it only does that when being sent, when returning it won't hit all, you can't hold it down, and it takes a while to activate, so it's barely good for reflecting anymore either, it's just really bad.
Final Smash- Just like Fox's, nothing to say here, slow, can fly, can fly your opponent off screen or run them over, and can kill yourself off the side if not careful, nothing different =\
Characteristics:
Speed- Falco seems alot slower on the feet this time, but that might just be because Brawl is alot slower, however comparing him with Fox, his running does seem slower than the difference between Fox and Falco in Melee.
Jumping and dropping- nothing changed, jumps higher than Fox, falls a bit slower though.
SH- His Short Hop seems to be alot higher this time, this is really not good, combo-wise, but it does allow for him to SHDL
Overally, Falco is just a completely different character, both from Fox, and his melee counterpart, a fool would be the one to call him a clone once more, however, this is not neccesarily a good thing, alot of Falco's Melee techniques have been wiped out due to the changing of the DownB and the Dair, but alot of new ones are now available thanks to moves like his Fair and Dthrow, his fall speed is slower this time, so he's alot thougher on pulling combos with now, but I still can't completely determine if he's better or not.
Let the new techniques found daily determine that in the long run, for now, however, I'm going with Sonic for a new main and dropping my favorite Parot Pilot.
*NOTE* I'm sorry if alot of this is inaccurate, but I haven't gotten to play him alot, so these are just impressions from the short while I had with him, so please, no flaming.
But yesterday, I got to finally play a tourney-ruled match with my brother(Falco vs. Pit), and I can no positively say, Falco is almost a wholy new character. There's barely a single move for him that didn't change or get a new property.
I'm gonna go over them one by one and my impressions about them:
Grabs: As of old habits, I didn't really use throws other than down alot, but I can tell that it no longer prepares for a smash afterwards, it throws the opponent sideways just when it was supposed to leave them on the ground in melee, although it no longer lets you combo a smash, it seemed to me as of pretty big combo potential, at least for this game, you can most probably chaingrab from it(Untested), but you can easily follow it up with a nice short hopped aeriel combo, of it least 3 moves if done correctly.
Tilts: Let's go from least changed to most changed here;
Side tilt- exactly the same, didn't see any changes at all, from the while I've been playing.
Down tilt- this one is mostly the same, however, I have noticed it sends you in a more of diagonal line, and for shorter distance overall than in melee, this might be a pretty good thing actually, it works alot like Fox's S64 dtilt worked, that one in there was probably Fox's best combo move, each time he pulled it off, he could easily combo the opponent all the way to the other side of the stage, and usually out, however, as good as this might have been, it would seem that the new physics engine, and the other changes of Falco from the S64 Fox, prevent this from happening, so overally, I would have to say this move is neigther buffed or nerfed, but just changed, it has new combo potential, but last kill preparing potential.
Up tilt- this one was changed alot, it seems to blow you a bit farther this time, but, and I'm not really sure about this, it seems to take a few more frames and if you miss the first hit, the second one is a lot weaker, it does look cool and all, but it barely has combo potential at all, and just leaves you open for attacks for while, which is a bad thing if used on low precentages, the up tilt was supposed to be one of Fox's/Falco's best low precent moves in melee, this isn't really good.
3 hit combo: Falco's 3 hit combo actually looks alot better, the range is a little shorter, but it seems to do a bit more damage in less time, it's also harder to escape from this one than the old one, but a skilled player should have no problem with this, also if you get caught doing it when the opponent already fled, this one is alot faster to finish than the old one, a great buff for Falco.
Smashes: Up smash- same range, a bit different properties, it knocks sideways more, which makes it a bad finisher now, however, it's near-miss hitbox was improved, now it's alot easier to catch people in the near-miss zone than it was before, it does less damage, but let's admit it, it's better that way than missing, however I would still have to say this was nerfed, just a little bit.
Down smash- basiclly the exact same, however, it seems to knock the opponent a little farther this time, but I haven't tried it enough to be sure.
Side smash- this is a moajor buff for Falco, this attack has a huge hitbox for physical smash, it hits right to the tip of his fingers, however weak, but still strong enough for flying the opponent a bit, I'll explain it this way, me and my brother pulled off Falco's Ssmash, and Marth's Ssmash aiming for a tipper, at the same time, Falco's hit first, it goes far and fast, however for speed, I would have to say that's this move's only nerf, it's alot slower now, you can easily feel how slower it is than Fox's Ssmash.
Aerials: Mostly buffed, but with some exceptions.
Nair- Actually, I forgot what this one did, I didn't use it much for some reason =\
Uair- At first I thought it was buffed, because it's a lot easier to land this time, but after a few tries I realized this move just isn't as good, you need even more of a specific timing for it to send the opponent flying upwards, even if both hits connect this time, it doesn't always do a proper knockback.
Bair- Seems unchanged from what I've seen, still his best aerial killing move.
Fair- This one is just great, it's alot faster, gets alot of hits and barely moves the opponent, if I'd have to compare it to anything, it's alot like Sonic's Fair and Pikachu's Melee Fair(Haven't tried him in Brawl much so can't tell), it's not bad as it was before, when it kicked the opponent for some knock back, but one that was barely enough for a kill at 220%, this one doesn't move the opponent at all, yet does about 18% damage, it's a great move not for it's knockback, but for it's combo potential, right after it you can link it with an Uair, which would than have alot higher rate for success for knock back, or jump while doing a Bair, Dair will not connect most of the time though, great combo move, bad for knockback though.
Dair- I was really dissappointed with this move actually, it used to be great in melee, in Brawl it's just pretty lame... it lasts for a lot shorter time, with a longer startup animation, so it's alot harder to connect, and if that's not enough, it almost always knocks the opponent straight down instead of an angled shot, so it's not nearly as useful now for edge guarding, even when hitting someone on the ground they barely flinch, and at the times they do move(On atleast 70%) they get sent sideways, wrecking the move's aerial combo almost completely, I just hate thie move now, most nerfed move for Falco I would have to say.
Specials: nothing much here.
UpB- works the same, same range, only change is that the startup fire hits the opponent just like Fox's does, and I'm not sure, but it seems to be a bit weaker when hitting this time.
SideB- Does less knockback and damage, and by what I could tell, air spike is alot less effective, however, it seems to have gained a lot of length, it goes alot farther now.
NeutralB- Just faster nothing else, but it's alot faster, I haven't tried this, but I've seen some videos that managed to pull off a SHDL off the ground and actually a Quardruple Laser shot normally.
DownB- The shine.... well, this haven't been tested enough, and I haven't used it that much either(I really don't like it as of now), but I would probably call this a nerf for now, it stops Falco's movement completely until it returns or he is being hit, so if it misses there's no doubt he'll get hit, might even be smashed, if the opponent is fast enough, it doesn't knock the opponent upwards, in fact, it doesn't knock them AT ALL, just flinches them and makes them fall, so it's not good for combos anymore, as they can get up before the shine even gets to return, it only does that when being sent, when returning it won't hit all, you can't hold it down, and it takes a while to activate, so it's barely good for reflecting anymore either, it's just really bad.
Final Smash- Just like Fox's, nothing to say here, slow, can fly, can fly your opponent off screen or run them over, and can kill yourself off the side if not careful, nothing different =\
Characteristics:
Speed- Falco seems alot slower on the feet this time, but that might just be because Brawl is alot slower, however comparing him with Fox, his running does seem slower than the difference between Fox and Falco in Melee.
Jumping and dropping- nothing changed, jumps higher than Fox, falls a bit slower though.
SH- His Short Hop seems to be alot higher this time, this is really not good, combo-wise, but it does allow for him to SHDL
Overally, Falco is just a completely different character, both from Fox, and his melee counterpart, a fool would be the one to call him a clone once more, however, this is not neccesarily a good thing, alot of Falco's Melee techniques have been wiped out due to the changing of the DownB and the Dair, but alot of new ones are now available thanks to moves like his Fair and Dthrow, his fall speed is slower this time, so he's alot thougher on pulling combos with now, but I still can't completely determine if he's better or not.
Let the new techniques found daily determine that in the long run, for now, however, I'm going with Sonic for a new main and dropping my favorite Parot Pilot.
*NOTE* I'm sorry if alot of this is inaccurate, but I haven't gotten to play him alot, so these are just impressions from the short while I had with him, so please, no flaming.
I was actually pretty good with him. But not any more xD.