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Sell me Falco

defnotcrz

Smash Rookie
Joined
Sep 5, 2015
Messages
5
Hey, I'm currently a PM Lucario main who can't decide between Fox and Falco for a spacie. My strengths lie in using Lucario's tech skill (animation cancels and aura sphere cancels) and general tech skill, while I have a bit of trouble with neutral and reading. I have a pocket Marth for Lucario's bad MUs as well. I would also play this spacie with Marth in Melee (may become my main, who knows).

That being said, convince me Falco>Fox.
 

Lizalfos

Smash Master
Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
3,483
Location
Greenville, SC
He isn't. Especially in this game. Play him because you like him more / you like the lasers or whatever quirk he has that Fox doesn't and just plays to your strengths.

Or stick with your current main because adding a secondary is pointless. Unless you just don't like Marth/Want to play top tier so you can be super optimal (which is negligible aside from maybe Fox is easier to play at the high level consistently).

There are 0 objective reasons to play any character over the #1 top tier and main him alone unless the game is full of super polarizing MUs and therefore character counter picking is the meta (which it isn't so you only need 1 main). However, there are many subjective reasons to play the #2 or lower character that justify the miniscule difference between the first spot and second spot on the tier list. If you are good at the game you really shouldn't have a problem being best in the world with a character like Marth or Falco who aren't perfect but are really close seconds to being number one in the game, especially if that is what clicks with you.
 
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Wise Multishine

Luminary
Joined
Jul 23, 2014
Messages
961
Location
Central New York
NNID
Omnireader
In Melee you might be able to make an argument that Falco>Fox. However, in PM Falco isn't nearly as dominant as Fox, matchup-wise. He has all the same tools and then some compared to what he has in Melee. But a few characters can be very troublesome for him in PM. Falco's neutral game isn't as "free" in this universe.
 
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Denjinpachi

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Messages
335
Location
Whirl Islands
If you want a character that's just better, than literally you'd just pick fox. But make sure you take the time to decide which character you like, and are more comfortable with progressing with. If you don't actually fit well with Fox, then it'll be rough, and the same with Falco. So, basically, we cant really sell you either of them, as much as you have to decide which fits better. Fox has a lot of faster paced movement and combo options, can get a lot of damage at full-to-mid distance lasers, and has an almost guaranteed follow up with his upthrow on a majority of the cast. Falco, however, can control the horizontal plane, has easier mix-ups to perform while shine pressuring a shield, and requires character weight and percent knowledge to follow up on his combos. That's just a broad comparison of the two characters.
 

Nohbl

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 20, 2017
Messages
357
Location
Chicago, Illinois
I disagree with the views expressed in the thread so far.

I think there is a legitimate case to be made for Falco when someone asks which Star Fox character they should play. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages that doesn't just boil down to suspect matchup charts.

Fox is the fastest of the three. He does not have lasers with hitstun so neutral is not as easy as Fox as it is as Falco and Wolf. However, Fox has far more options in neutral than the other two. Everything Falco or Wolf can do when approaching, Fox can do that and more. He can nair, dash dances, waveland on and off platforms, plus run straight pass the opponent and pivot with a move. He can waveshine, dair multi-shine on shield, laser camp to force approaches, and so on. His up-smash out of dash also has no equal.

Fox doesn't have as extensive a punish game as Falco or Wolf, nor quite as many options in his punish game, but what simple options he does have are terribly effective, like upsmash, upair, or Reflector. Fox also has the longest recovery of the three, I believe. He falls the slowest and is the lightest so he is less resistant to being vertically KO'd himself. Fox gives floaty and slow characters a really hard time because of his vertical killpower and his ability to react to their moves while they are unable to react to his moves.

If you like to look cool in neutral, and you don't care a whole lot about the punish game, then you'd maybe pick Fox.

Wolf, briefly, has just about as long a recovery as Fox, but far more vertical survivability. His neutral game is stupid easy because of waveland blasters which many players have no idea how to deal with, and many characters lack native options to deal with; and so he steamrolls people in neutral. His punish game is also the most extensive and versatile of the three; his Reflector and up-air and Wolf Flash figure greatly into that punish game, and his ability to pull off long flashy combos is part of what draws players to Wolf. But Wolf at his best is highly technically demanding and risky, as many kills by top players are earned via Wolf Flash, sometimes off stage, sometimes on-stage; a miss either spells death or the beginning of a devastating whiff punish.

As for Falco, I'd say he's almost the best of both worlds. You get to have a good number of options in neutral, though not as many as Fox, nor as dominant as Wolf's, and a solid punish game, though not as devastating as Fox's nor as "cool" or damaging as Wolf's. Falco is a balance between the two still with his own strengths that unfortunately go under the radar. He has the highest jump, the most dangerous recovery for the opponent to edgeguard, and, I'd say, Falco is the least technically demanding. SHFFL is not as hard as waveland blaster nor Fox's short hop double laser you can see the CPU perform, and although you can move like Fox does to a certain extent, because of Falco's laser, you aren't exactly obligated to.

Falco has a plethora of powerful and useful moves, though they are tough to follow up into, like fsmash, dtilt, and Fire Bird off the top. His lasers and dair also give Falco a great edgeguarding ability.


There's a lot to be said about the differences between the Star Fox characters but I think ultimately, there are sensible reasons to pick each one of them, and none of them are strictly better than the other.
 
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