Just learning falcon (and smash in general)

[Hullmo]

Okay so I've been playing Smash for a long time but just recently started learning the advanced techniques and I don't really use them much yet (probably because the people I play aren't really good enough that they are necessary). Anyways I main Sheik but recently started playing as Captain Falcon and have been have a bit of trouble using him. Oh and I guess that I should add that I can only play against computers since I don't know anyone around here that plays that I can get a hold of.

I read Angelo's guide and have been trying to practice some of that stuff and I now have a couple of questions. Firstly I've been having a lot of trouble landing a good knee. I was wondering if this is normal for someone just starting out as C.F., is expected because it is so different from Sheiks fair or am I just really bad at timing? Next, because of this I am KO'ing comps far more often with the uair then with the knee which seems somewhat odd. My question is, if I play someone who actually knows how to play is this actually a legitmate finisher?

Finally I have a couple of questions about the raptor boost. I'm getting grabbed and hit out of this a lot, is this because I'm starting too far away or is it more a timing issue? Secondly, is this move ever used for recovery or is it too easily edgeguarded? And finally is it a good idea to use this move near an edge, or am I too likely to miss and end up SDing?

Thanks

Edit: I forgot to ask about nair. Same problem/question as with the knee.
Oh and would people prefer if this was split up into multiple threads or spaced out or a bit of time. I kind of prefer getting everything done at once but I'm curious whether or not everyone else feels the same

 

[StarrMan]

I can kind of see why switching from sheik to CF could bring a little bit of difficulty, since most of sheiks combos are usually more ground based, while CF is definitely one of the more aerial characters. In terms of advanced techniques, learn to shffl. A Captain Falcon that can't shffl won't get very far, if anywhere at all. It sucks that you can't play against any real people, but you could probably learn to shffl and all that good stuff with a lvl 1 comp. Though once you can do most the fancy stuff you'll probably hit a road block, as it is rather impossible to anticipate a comp's techs...

In terms of a legitimate finisher, I would say yes. It's all very situational. The knee is really great at getting the KO at lower %s with a lot of characters, but if they're at high %s, take whatever you can get.

In terms of timing, or how to use the fair/nair, just watch tons of videos. Angelo's guide is pretty nice, but have you seen his video? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7522490502417253564

Watch some of the well known Falcon players and try to pick up on some techniques. Like, watch a match of Isai and just pay attention to his spacing, how he uses the nair to create that distance, and what he does with it. That's generally what I do when I'm tring to improve my game.

CF is really not all that easy to learn, though I do think it's helpfull. While I don't usually play falcon, because I invested time in him I think my Gannon has improved, and I was forced to learn how to mindgame with the DD. So good luck, hope I helped somehow.

 

[Hullmo]

Yeah I knew that I needed to work on learning the advanced techniques but I wasn't necessarily having problems with them just not putting the time into learning them. My biggest problem seems to be learning to short hop which seems odd because I would have thought that hitting a button shouldn't be that hard to learn, but its just so inconsistent. I've watched some videos of CF and Angelo's guide but I don't think that thats going to help me all that much right now simply because its me screwing up the timing not necessarily not knowing when to do it.

 

[StarrMan]

Captain Falcon takes time and a bit of frustration to learn from scratch. I used to be able to short hop perfectly with Link, but it took me a while learning with falcon. A lot of that stuff is just annoying practice. Same thing with timing, just a lot of practice. And if you don't have anyone near you you can practice with, get friendly with that lvl 1 computer. That's about all I can think to say.

 

[Afro_Ninja]

The knee is almost always going to be the KO move of choice. I agree, just watch some vids of how people land them. The sweet spot of the knee is almost instantly after you press the A button. Any later is just a wimpy low knockback knee. Uair is a valid KO move too but usually only when you chase your opponent of the stage with it. Unless they're just at a ridculously high percent.

The raptor boost should never be used for recovery. It has short distance and can't directly grab the ledge. Even if you do manage to raptor boost back onto the stage there's so much lag at the end of it that your opponent is going to knock you right back off anyway. Plus if you raptor boost into someone who is chasing you out over the edge you'll spike them but die yourself from getting cut short

Raptor boost is a good combo starter but use it sparingly because as you've seen, it is easily shield grabbed. There's no special timing to it at all. Try following up other moves with the raptor boost where it can't be blocked, like uthrow to rb, dthrow to rb, shffled dair to rb, etc. Using the move near the edge is your call, it's pretty risky though. I've had my fair share of SDs from it : /

nair is one of the more tricky moves to link together, imo. It totally depends on what you want to do with it, what character you're facing, and how much damage they've taken. A fast faller (fox/falco) at a low percent is going to be pretty hard to keeping nairing, but a marth or mario at a mid percent will be easier. Sometimes you have to skip the fast fall with nair if you want to get both hits off.