Where do I start with Captain Falcon?

[Mmega]

I am just learning to play and my advanced techniques are a bit weak, however I have never had more fun playing any other character and want to learn how to play our lord and savior. Where do I start? What advanced techniques should I prioritize and any tips on how to learn?

 

[Alexo30]

Learning how to control your character is what you need to prioritize. Dash dancing, short hopping, and L-cancelling would be the three main points when you are starting out, in my opinion. Start out with a technique, get consistent at it, move on to the next technique. I started out learning to short hop. Then I started to move on to SH(short hop)->knee(Fair), stomp(Dair), Neutral air(Nair), Up air(Uair), and Back air(Bair). After I was consistent with that technique, I began trying to L-cancel my aerials. The list goes on and on, with many more techniques, you get the picture. I hope this was helpful.

 

[SixSaw]

Yeah, being able to short hop consistently is probably the most essential thing you can learn for Falcon. I remember starting out it seemed impossible because my fingers were too slow lol, but with practice your fingers will get faster and it's really satisfying. Then you want to learn to L-cancel everything. After that the most important thing you can do is just become intimately familiar with how the character behaves. This includes various more advanced techniques such as wavedashing, wavelanding, dash cancel grabbing, moonwalking, etc. The goal is to reach the point where you no longer need to think about execution: you simply think something and Falcon does it.

A nice thing about learning Falcon in general is that a lot of his most essential techniques aren't character-specific things. He's a very 'no frills' character and playing him is all about the basics: Short hopping, L-canceling, SHFFLing, dash dancing, spacing, having vision for openings/ combos, reading your opponent, etc. Getting good with Falcon demands that you develop a good understanding of the core fundamentals of the game, which transfers well to any other character, should you decide to switch.

 

[Zujx]

^^Listen to them they are smart^^

I just wanted to stress how important I feel SHFFLing is on the falcon don't slack off on that technique it makes an entire world of difference
The falcons a challenging character to learn in my opinion but, it really pays off he's really fun!

 

[ToTs]

What everyone ^^^ said. But I'm emphasizing NAIR as the most important ariel, it will probably be done the most. Nairing in directions and from ledge hops are harder than any directional ariels, so get your Nair game solid. I guess in my opinion, lol I Nair a lot.

 

[PeoN]

The first two posts have it down pretty well, but one thing I would like to add as well is falcon's 'tech chase'. On certain characters his down throw will cause them to hit the ground at early percentages, falcon's dash speed is so fast that he is able to run and chase the opponent's recovery from a knockdown(back roll, forward roll, stand, get up attack, and nothing(no recovery)), regardless of whether or not they tech(instantly recover) the knockdown hence the name 'tech chase,' which is usually followed up by Down-Air, DAir almost always leads into a free knee. This technique is mainly used for capitalizing on grabs but can still be applied when you land hits that will put people on their back.

So in short, you can capitalize on knocking people down by using his raw speed to space around their body when they're down and hit em right when they get up. Try down throwing your friends and then stomping them as they stand to get use to the concept. Oh and like the others said, L Cancel everything.

 

[Zhea]

If I could learn it all again:

1. Dash Dance
2. Jump Cancel Grab
3. SHFFL
4. Bread and butter combos
5. Ledgehop
6. Wavedashing
7. Wavelands
8. Shielddrop
9. Isai drop
10. Hax Dash

 

[Drodeka]

Assuming you're passed the basics, SHFFL-ing is by far his best go to option for both putting on pressure and racking up damage.
You'll want to learn to space your shffls mostly to not get counter-attacked, making sure that the majority of your N-airs and D-airs will either put you behind the opponent a decent amount, or just out of their reach in front of them.
You should always be trying to notice your opponents mistakes no matter who you're playing, but Falcon does his observations from the frontline, if you catch my drift. Often times (especially against ranged opponents), a well-spaced SHFFL game will let you keep a close eye on your opponent while not only noticing mistakes, but actually causing your opponent to make them.
However, DO NOT make the mistake of constantly trying to land hits. A decent rule of thumb with Falcon is to assume your opponent is always going to shield your attacks, unless you have reason to believe they will do otherwise (they have been hitting you out of SHFFLs or grabbing you by leading your movements). A wonderful thing about Falcon is that every time an attack lands, if you're watching, you'll almost always be able to follow up, except at low percentages or against certain characters.

And remember, for offensive maneuvers, getting your opponent into the air is priority number one. If their percentage is around 40-60 and you land a launcher, the rest is history.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and make sure you are good at sprinting the moment you're available to do so after an L-cancel, this is where most of Falcon's natural movement comes from.

 

[Fortress]

Unorthodox mixups can net you janky freebies if you don't get habitual with it. My go-to blindside is SH Falcon Kick out of shield when under pressure. Get a launch, and at higher percents can get aerial followups. At lower ones, tech chasing with one or even two more Falcon Kicks can put your opponent into the far scopes off of the sides of the stage. It's stylish, stupid, and something that shouldn't ever work, which is why it will once in a blue moon. While Falcon is all about solid fundamentals, don't forget that he's got his own tricks up his sleeve.

 

[Drodeka]

Unorthodox mixups can net you janky freebies if you don't get habitual with it. My go-to blindside is SH Falcon Kick out of shield when under pressure. Get a launch, and at higher percents can get aerial followups. At lower ones, tech chasing with one or even two more Falcon Kicks can put your opponent into the far scopes off of the sides of the stage. It's stylish, stupid, and something that shouldn't ever work, which is why it will once in a blue moon. While Falcon is all about solid fundamentals, don't forget that he's got his own tricks up his sleeve.

Oh Em Gee, I love to throw out Raptor Boost when I'm running from my opponent and B-Reverse it. It shouldn't ever work but it almost always does. Sometimes I tech chase with it, but that's pathetically ineffective compared to just throwing it while they think they're going to hit me (squirtle).

 

[Fortress]

Never be afraid to think outside of the box. Or forget where the box is.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

What should I know about Captain Falcon's basic combos?

 

[-Fatality-]

What should I know about Captain Falcon's basic combos?

Try to get in the habit of choosing followups on reaction to their DI, rather than just assuming that certain things do or don't work.

 

[Reizoko]

I literally copy-pasted my own post from another thread, cuz I really don't want to type all of this up again, but here's some tips:

Bread and butter combos. Try approaching with SHFFL'd N-Airs -> Gentleman, but you have to know when to go for it and when to hold your ground or back off. Dash dancing is of utmost important, but that's the case for just about any character. Try mixing up dash dancing with moonwalking and wavedashing. It's very important to have high mobility and to have control over falcon as he is very fast, so put one of his best assets to use. U-Air is your other best friend, but use it more sparingly than your N-Air. U-Air is an excellent follow-up when initiating combos (i.e : Grab -> U-Throw -> U-Air [This simple combo varies on the character matchup as well as the enemy's percentage]). Grab -> D-Throw is also a great way to start up a combo on the characters that you shouldn't U-Throw. Try following those with N-Airs or U-Airs and finish with a knee when possible. A good way to understand Captain Falcon's combo game is to write all the names of his moves on pieces of paper and mix them up, throw them in a hat, and pull out a couple of them and put them in order, and there's your combo.
The knee is your most powerful killing move by far, but the B-Air is also pretty strong. U-Air can also be used to kill at very high percentages. Make sure you D-Air punish when possible and follow up with a knee for the kill, but do so sparingly and only when you know you can land it, otherwise you're going to be punished hard for your mistake. Also, Grab -> F-Throw -> Knee/D-Air works in certain situations, though not always, but has proved effective in my matches. Use Side-B very sparingly as it's rather slow and easy to get punished. The way I use it is to retreat and then suddenly Side-B towards them. Tends to catch them off guard if they're hellbent on chasing you. Always follow up Side-B with a N-Air, U-Air, or the knee (Which one you choose depends on their damage). Falcon kick is a random, but effective move to use, but only when it's not predictable from a mile away. As I said, use it randomly on an overly aggressive opponent or even as a tech chase in some situations to catch them off guard. Hell, I've even used it to kill going from on-stage to offstage when they are directly horizontal with the ledge and at a high percentage.
Falcon Punch? Never use it unless you are 100% sure you're going to win the match and have a massive lead, or if you want to go for an epic kill off-screen (Highly unrecommended, but funny if you can pull it off, but will result in suicide 99% of the time). Last but not least don't forget to cover your *** with B-Air when an opponent gets behind you or when retreating. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. There's more advanced techniques but those are really the essentials. Hope this helps, and best of luck
Oh one last tip. If you're offstage and the opponent is offstage with you and below you, you can use Side-B to spike them and bounce off them to grab the ledge. Be careful with this move, however, because if you miss, there's no coming back.

 

[Reizoko]

Also, what Drodeka said about assuming an opponent will shield is extremely important. If you get your N-Air shielded, you're in a bad position and will get grabbed and punished for it 99% of the time. Even if you N-Aired right through them as they were shielding, you may still be in a bad position with your back to them and are likely to get hit. Situations like that are the reason why you have to learn to space very carefully and pick your fights wisely with Falcon.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

I literally copy-pasted my own post from another thread, cuz I really don't want to type all of this up again, but here's some tips:

Bread and butter combos. Try approaching with SHFFL'd N-Airs -> Gentleman, but you have to know when to go for it and when to hold your ground or back off. Dash dancing is of utmost important, but that's the case for just about any character. Try mixing up dash dancing with moonwalking and wavedashing. It's very important to have high mobility and to have control over falcon as he is very fast, so put one of his best assets to use. U-Air is your other best friend, but use it more sparingly than your N-Air. U-Air is an excellent follow-up when initiating combos (i.e : Grab -> U-Throw -> U-Air [This simple combo varies on the character matchup as well as the enemy's percentage]). Grab -> D-Throw is also a great way to start up a combo on the characters that you shouldn't U-Throw. Try following those with N-Airs or U-Airs and finish with a knee when possible. A good way to understand Captain Falcon's combo game is to write all the names of his moves on pieces of paper and mix them up, throw them in a hat, and pull out a couple of them and put them in order, and there's your combo.
The knee is your most powerful killing move by far, but the B-Air is also pretty strong. U-Air can also be used to kill at very high percentages. Make sure you D-Air punish when possible and follow up with a knee for the kill, but do so sparingly and only when you know you can land it, otherwise you're going to be punished hard for your mistake. Also, Grab -> F-Throw -> Knee/D-Air works in certain situations, though not always, but has proved effective in my matches. Use Side-B very sparingly as it's rather slow and easy to get punished. The way I use it is to retreat and then suddenly Side-B towards them. Tends to catch them off guard if they're hellbent on chasing you. Always follow up Side-B with a N-Air, U-Air, or the knee (Which one you choose depends on their damage). Falcon kick is a random, but effective move to use, but only when it's not predictable from a mile away. As I said, use it randomly on an overly aggressive opponent or even as a tech chase in some situations to catch them off guard. Hell, I've even used it to kill going from on-stage to offstage when they are directly horizontal with the ledge and at a high percentage.
Falcon Punch? Never use it unless you are 100% sure you're going to win the match and have a massive lead, or if you want to go for an epic kill off-screen (Highly unrecommended, but funny if you can pull it off, but will result in suicide 99% of the time). Last but not least don't forget to cover your *** with B-Air when an opponent gets behind you or when retreating. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. There's more advanced techniques but those are really the essentials. Hope this helps, and best of luck
Oh one last tip. If you're offstage and the opponent is offstage with you and below you, you can use Side-B to spike them and bounce off them to grab the ledge. Be careful with this move, however, because if you miss, there's no coming back.

 

[shadowcontroller]

Very useful info! Thanks... better start practicing then !