Mindset of a Falcon

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

Hey, this may be a strange question, but I'd appreciate any reply at all. In my past few months of learning Falcon I've practice many many hours and watched many many hours of gameplay from top Falcons. They are ruthless in their approach, but still somehow cautious and patient in their play. Falcon, If I've learned anything, succeeds through wicked punishes that lead in to devastating combos, usually started through a grab or launcher. Whenever I play, however, I've noticed that I can't stay on top of my opponents like the top Falcons can, and drop combos quite frequently such as the wheel of fortune or combos on characters that should be easy to carry across the stage like Ganon or Sheik. I've noticed I play him, by and large, slow and unfocused, which are two things no Falcon should be. Think of how a Ganon plays, like how they get three or four hits and they're happy. That's sort of like me. Now for the question. Whenever you play Falcon, what mindset do you get yourself into that makes you really FEEL Falcon, that makes you feel the combos before they happen and the aggressive and focused movement and gameplay? There have been days where it just kind of...happens and I can't explain it, but I want to be able to play reliably all the time. So how do you become Falcon, how do you personally think about the match while it's happening, and control the fastest, most unwieldy double edged sword in melee? Like I said, any and all replies are welcome.

 

[タオー]

This is a great question, and as a Falcon main I wish this was something i had asked myself early on. While I'm not sure of how others feel about it, here's what I have to say on the matter.

YOU ARE NOT FALCON. It's great to watch the pro's with crazy sick combos, but as far as I see it, that's not how you learn to control the tumultuous power that is Falcon. The first thing that you need to learn to master the Falcon is

ALL OF HIS AMAZING MOVEMENT OPTIONS. Falcon's biggest advantage is his MOBILITY, so don't squander it. There are so many, but some that I find very useful are his Dash Dance, his Foxtrot->WD in, and his Moonwalk. These alone give you so many options for grabs, approaches, baits and edgeguarding. Don't let Falcon intimidate you, instead, let him intimidate your opponents. And don't forget, listen to Isai and

"DON'T GET HIT." The higher stages of play in Melee often breaks down to positioning and spacing, and these two variables dictate your characters options. A huge part of Falcon's game that is rarely talked about in detail is his ability to move around the stage forcing opponents to commit, or at least to bait them into committing to a move. Once you've made an opening

COMBO COMBO COMBO. Stomps usually a good start, or a grab, I'm not gonna belabor you with the finer points of it, but make sure you don't miss your setups, with all the guaranteed combo finishers that Falcon brings to the table, you really shouldn't be letting him down. Practice on some lvl 1 cpu's or some noobs. And finally

KNOW THE MATCH UPS. This is so important, I spent around a month familiarizing myself with all of Falcon's best options against every character. I find it helpful for devising strategy, as I couldn't help but pick up on all of my opponents best strategies against Falcon as well. This is especially important for a Falcon main as a vast majority of opening that you will be able to capitalize on will be from knowing how your opponent plans to approach you.

Captain Falcon in my opinion is one of the most rewarding characters to play, due to the nature of his game. What you must understand as a Falcon main (and never tell anyone else) is that most of his neutral game consists of avoiding attacks and waiting for or creating an opening. Then once you get your opportunity, don't let them out. A lot of my combo's I just make up on the fly and chain together hits that I know will connect after all the hours I spent grinding my tech skill.

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

This is a great question, and as a Falcon main I wish this was something i had asked myself early on. While I'm not sure of how others feel about it, here's what I have to say on the matter.

YOU ARE NOT FALCON. It's great to watch the pro's with crazy sick combos, but as far as I see it, that's not how you learn to control the tumultuous power that is Falcon. The first thing that you need to learn to master the Falcon is

ALL OF HIS AMAZING MOVEMENT OPTIONS. Falcon's biggest advantage is his MOBILITY, so don't squander it. There are so many, but some that I find very useful are his Dash Dance, his Foxtrot->WD in, and his Moonwalk. These alone give you so many options for grabs, approaches, baits and edgeguarding. Don't let Falcon intimidate you, instead, let him intimidate your opponents. And don't forget, listen to Isai and

"DON'T GET HIT." The higher stages of play in Melee often breaks down to positioning and spacing, and these two variables dictate your characters options. A huge part of Falcon's game that is rarely talked about in detail is his ability to move around the stage forcing opponents to commit, or at least to bait them into committing to a move. Once you've made an opening

COMBO COMBO COMBO. Stomps usually a good start, or a grab, I'm not gonna belabor you with the finer points of it, but make sure you don't miss your setups, with all the guaranteed combo finishers that Falcon brings to the table, you really shouldn't be letting him down. Practice on some lvl 1 cpu's or some noobs. And finally

KNOW THE MATCH UPS. This is so important, I spent around a month familiarizing myself with all of Falcon's best options against every character. I find it helpful for devising strategy, as I couldn't help but pick up on all of my opponents best strategies against Falcon as well. This is especially important for a Falcon main as a vast majority of opening that you will be able to capitalize on will be from knowing how your opponent plans to approach you.

Captain Falcon in my opinion is one of the most rewarding characters to play, due to the nature of his game. What you must understand as a Falcon main (and never tell anyone else) is that most of his neutral game consists of avoiding attacks and waiting for or creating an opening. Then once you get your opportunity, don't let them out. A lot of my combo's I just make up on the fly and chain together hits that I know will connect after all the hours I spent grinding my tech skill.

Thanks man, this is super helpful. Funny, I always had Falcon figured for a Firebender.
Who would have known he played more like an Eathbender.

 

[タオー]

Haha... I like the reference. Yea, most people tend to think that way about Falcon because his punish game is so brutal, but for the most part from neutral you're just trying to intimidate your opponent to making a commitment. Then with your superior speed and agility you can punish them. The key to really maximizing Falcon's game lies in your ability to move around the stage quickly while keeping your path ambiguous, and to punish your opponent with seriously debilitating combos.

While Falcon isn't the best of the best, he has all the tools needed to win against every member of the cast. Shiek and Falco can give you some trouble, but if you stick to those two aspects of Falcon's play (and study those match ups, seriously) you can achieve some of the best wins you'll ever experience as a Falcon main. Aside dittos of course.

 

[Spak]

Just a quick note: Unless you are REALLY good with your reverse up B sweet spot, make sure to never get stuck under the stage against Falco. His Dair spikes you down and out, making for an easy gimp because you can't ledge-tech it. I'm a Falcon secondary (possibly becoming a Falcon main soon) and a Falco main, so I know the matchup fairly well.

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

Just a quick note: Unless you are REALLY good with your reverse up B sweet spot, make sure to never get stuck under the stage against Falco. His Dair spikes you down and out, making for an easy gimp because you can't ledge-tech it. I'm a Falcon secondary (possibly becoming a Falcon main soon) and a Falco main, so I know the matchup fairly well.

Is that where you grab ledge like it's Brawl or whatever in the turnaround of Falcon's Up B? I think I've done it once or twice but further explanation would be very handy. My practice partner is a Falco AND a Sheik, I'd love to give him a nasty surprise.

 

[Spak]

Is that where you grab ledge like it's Brawl or whatever in the turnaround of Falcon's Up B? I think I've done it once or twice but further explanation would be very handy. My practice partner is a Falco AND a Sheik, I'd love to give him a nasty surprise.

You need to be at the exact peak of the Up-B and facing the opposite direction to pull it off. The reason that Falcon can do that is because he is one of the few characters in Melee that can grab the ledge behind him for a little bit after his up-B, but it is really hard to get the sweetspot perfect.

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

You need to be at the exact peak of the Up-B and facing the opposite direction to pull it off. The reason that Falcon can do that is because he is one of the few characters in Melee that can grab the ledge behind him for a little bit after his up-B, but it is really hard to get the sweetspot perfect.

Gotcha. So that'd come out of like a walljump or whatever, right? Or just like a super crisp backwards Up B recovering low, huh?

 

[Spak]

Gotcha. So that'd come out of like a walljump or whatever, right? Or just like a super crisp backwards Up B recovering low, huh?

It's a normal Up-B, but you are facing away from the ledge. Also, if I remember correctly, it is really close to a sweetspot but I don't think it is a true sweetspot. The only true sweetspot Falcon has is the auto-sweetspot on Battlefield, which is near frame-perfect (shown in this video). By the way, happy Thanksgiving!

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

It's a normal Up-B, but you are facing away from the ledge. Also, if I remember correctly, it is really close to a sweetspot but I don't think it is a true sweetspot. The only true sweetspot Falcon has is the auto-sweetspot on Battlefield, which is near frame-perfect (shown in this video). By the way, happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks man, I always appreciate more knowledge on the character, even if it's gross frame data and stuff. Didn't know that was his only true sweetspot. So why is it that you can recover this way to combat Falco's Dair and not the normal way? Just because it doesn't expose you? And happy Thanksgiving to you too!

 

[Spak]

Thanks man, I always appreciate more knowledge on the character, even if it's gross frame data and stuff. Didn't know that was his only true sweetspot. So why is it that you can recover this way to combat Falco's Dair and not the normal way? Just because it doesn't expose you? And happy Thanksgiving to you too!

That is correct. You are not as exposed whenever you up-B and it prevents some edgeguaring options from working against you (like the Spacies' downsmash), but you are not protected by everything (Falco can still get you with a well-timed Dair). What I've seen from a lot from Scar is using the up-B really high because after frame 22 or 23, he has the fastest fall, so the falling momentum combined with his great horizontal areal speed makes him harder to hit.

P.S. Credit to Kadano for the amazing chart

 

[Clint Jaguar]

I'm no Falcon expert but I love the character and I find him extremely rewarding to master. The mindset I'm in whenever I play Falcon is simply "Have fun". Just go nuts and if you fail, at least you'll learn something. You'll learn which combos work in which situation and how to avoid being punished if your combo fails. Every match that I play with Falcon, I'm constantly trying to find new ways of exploiting the grab, short hop and Knee smash, three actions that are deadly if you know how to use them.

Also don't forget edge guarding. Don't be afraid to leap off the stage and risk self destruction just to pull off an aerial. If your opponent is close to the stage and their recovery leaves them open to attack, try doing a dair to meteor smash them. If you miss, just use this as an opportunity to practice your recoveries. When you are doing a crazy "leap of the stage" move, remember to not use your double jump until you need it. And if you do die, well at least you know that what you did either doesn't work or needs improvement.

Just don't fear failure because you will improve if you enjoy playing as the character.

 

[Morbellix]

This is a great question, and as a Falcon main I wish this was something i had asked myself early on. While I'm not sure of how others feel about it, here's what I have to say on the matter.

YOU ARE NOT FALCON. It's great to watch the pro's with crazy sick combos, but as far as I see it, that's not how you learn to control the tumultuous power that is Falcon. The first thing that you need to learn to master the Falcon is

ALL OF HIS AMAZING MOVEMENT OPTIONS. Falcon's biggest advantage is his MOBILITY, so don't squander it. There are so many, but some that I find very useful are his Dash Dance, his Foxtrot->WD in, and his Moonwalk. These alone give you so many options for grabs, approaches, baits and edgeguarding. Don't let Falcon intimidate you, instead, let him intimidate your opponents. And don't forget, listen to Isai and

"DON'T GET HIT." The higher stages of play in Melee often breaks down to positioning and spacing, and these two variables dictate your characters options. A huge part of Falcon's game that is rarely talked about in detail is his ability to move around the stage forcing opponents to commit, or at least to bait them into committing to a move. Once you've made an opening

COMBO COMBO COMBO. Stomps usually a good start, or a grab, I'm not gonna belabor you with the finer points of it, but make sure you don't miss your setups, with all the guaranteed combo finishers that Falcon brings to the table, you really shouldn't be letting him down. Practice on some lvl 1 cpu's or some noobs. And finally

KNOW THE MATCH UPS. This is so important, I spent around a month familiarizing myself with all of Falcon's best options against every character. I find it helpful for devising strategy, as I couldn't help but pick up on all of my opponents best strategies against Falcon as well. This is especially important for a Falcon main as a vast majority of opening that you will be able to capitalize on will be from knowing how your opponent plans to approach you.

Captain Falcon in my opinion is one of the most rewarding characters to play, due to the nature of his game. What you must understand as a Falcon main (and never tell anyone else) is that most of his neutral game consists of avoiding attacks and waiting for or creating an opening. Then once you get your opportunity, don't let them out. A lot of my combo's I just make up on the fly and chain together hits that I know will connect after all the hours I spent grinding my tech skill.

This is literally one of the best post's I've seen about Falcon in all of 2014. I really wish this was posted like 3 months ago when I started playing falcon seriously. All of this is great information to get better and one of the things that can help you even more is for you to get the 20xx hack pack. Once you have that you can practice your tech chases and combo's on computers with random di and tech's which really helps and wont give you the bad habits that comboing a regular computer will.

You really have to really put in a lot of work when it comes to edgegaurding with Falcon. I've watched some really impressive sets with Darkrain or possibly SilentSpectre where they would be able to get someone off stage at 40 or 50% and successfully edgeguard them for the stock all 4 stocks. You have a lot of options while on the ledge once you refresh invincibility and more options still when you are on stage.

 

[Twinkles]

Patience and control

It's fine to be aggro, but you gotta be in control of yourself. Don't be nairing with the exact same spacing 300x in a row or you're going to get whooped. Recognize when it's okay to approach and when you gotta step back and watch your opponent. Don't get worked up just because nothing's happening or you'll get rocked hella hard by smarter players.

That said, once you get your opportunities, go crazy, be creative. Think about ways to maximize your punish game as much as possible. Make that death-touch combo stuff of dreams **** a reality.

 

[Morbellix]

^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlD9JYP8u5E

 

[Bobojack]

To learning combos: Play more. Play more. Play more. Even though I played for 5 months at this time, I never got a true uair into knee against anyone, never, not even against 20XX CPUs after training my combo games on and on. Then, 1 week later, I attended a local smashfest and The first real combo I did was Dair to late Uair to uair to knee against a Marth. Despite feeling like the most badass player in the whole house, I quickly understood how I got it. And I got it because I tried it so many times already but after all this time I finally got it and now, 5 months later, I do these in every match. I still dont do the sick combos but Im reeaaly sure they will just come. One of the great things of Melee. You can feel yourself improving after every match, every stock. You going to do things that will be punished. You will be punished over and over again. You try something different and voilá, you improved. This is my mindset: "I may have lost but now I know why, I wont be loosing again."

 

[Stark]

Falcon is such a finesse character. You have to be playing well to actually get results. Hardest thing for me was being okay with getting gimped/keeping my cool when I'm getting bodied. You can have all the tech skill in the world, but a hot head can end it all for ya. A lot of people have said it already, but just keep going regardless of what happens. Practice everything (movement, punish game, neutral game, edge guarding, etc.), and be like Jeapie!

Also, don't forget that Smash is probably the funnest game you'll probably play, so have fun too! Makes it easier to get better.

 

[タオー]

I just got the 20XX 3.2 update and let me just say, the color overlays, l cancel options and 'Roll forces death' options are some crazy good training tools. In 1 day I have seen my Falcon get much more frame tight, and my movement become so much more deliberate. Get 20XX, the possibilities are insane.

 

[Bobojack]

I just got the 20XX 3.2 update and let me just say, the color overlays, l cancel options and 'Roll forces death' options are some crazy good training tools. In 1 day I have seen my Falcon get much more frame tight, and my movement become so much more deliberate. Get 20XX, the possibilities are insane.

What do you mean with the color overlays?

 

[タオー]

What do you mean with the color overlays?

there is an option to have color overlays dependent for certain states (standing, falling, shield stun, ect) and they're really good visual cues for when you can act out of states into others. For instance, the standing overlay is great for increasing your speed. The idea behind it is you want to keep moving without ever seeing the green overlay pop over your character. If it does, you can instantly see where you need to act faster and can adjust in kind. These overlays also can give you a much stronger understanding of your characters movement and the states they enter as they move around the stage. Also, the stun overlays show you with precision the moment you can act out of shield stun/hit stun. They're things that a seasoned player will recognize from familiarity to their character, but this takes out the learning curve.

 

[MudkipUniverse]

Mindset of your average bad falcon: Dthrow, Knee, and stomp are the only things I need to use
Mindset of a good falcon: knows that Uair is a move, can correctly use a throw that isn't Dthrow, can close out stocks good, etc.


btw, only little boys need a mod to get good

 

[Spak]

btw, only little boys need a mod to get good

Amen.

 

[Bobojack]

I mean, if I get an awesome mod that will help me improve faster when Im alone, why not use it?

@ タオー thanks

 

[タオー]

Mindset of your average bad falcon: Dthrow, Knee, and stomp are the only things I need to use
Mindset of a good falcon: knows that Uair is a move, can correctly use a throw that isn't Dthrow, can close out stocks good, etc.


btw, only little boys need a mod to get good

I'm definitely not saying you need 20XX to get good, but it gives you way more options for practicing good tech when you don't have access to other players to play against all the time. The tools it has can give you an idea of where you need to improve, and provides many other tools to grind out those skills. The hack pack is very helpful for players just starting with this game and seasoned characters alike. If you don't want to use it go ahead, but don't be surprised when you start seeing a higher concentration of 'tech savey' nobodies. For example, Falco used to shut me out every time with his laser approaches, until I learned to consistently perfect shield them back at him, all thanks to practicing against the action spam of short hop lasers.

I mean, if I get an awesome mod that will help me improve faster when Im alone, why not use it?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Twinkles]

btw, only little boys need a mod to get good

awful mindset imo
there is no reason for any player to limit their growth for dumb and arbitrary reasons like this

 

[MudkipUniverse]

It was just a joke.

 

[NotLightningRunner]

My mindset: do cool stuff do cool stuff do cool stuff and don't miss the dair when they are off stage