Super Smash Bros. Melee/Falco

Basic Techniques

Standard Attacks

Button(s)	Description/notes
	A quick punch. 3-4% damage.
	Two quick punches. 3-4% damage each.
+	A series of very fast and weak kicks which you can continue for as long as you wish (minimum five kicks).
Forward +	A basic yet quite effective kick doing about 7% damage. Very little lag, and a decent setup.
Dash +	Falco uses his running momentum to do a jumping kick that hits once for decent damage
+	Falco swishes his tail along the ground. Despite its appearance, this move only hits in front of Falco, not behind him. About 10% damage. Sends the opponent straight up. Surprisingly good, can KO around 90%.
+	Falco defies conventional avian anatomy by kicking the spot directly above his own head somehow. About 9% damage. Extremely useful as a juggle out of an upthrow or another vertical setup.
Smash Forward +	Falco does a little sideways flip forwards and kicks you very, very hard. Similar to Fox's, execpt it's much stronger, KOing at about 90-110%. About 12% damage uncharged, and up to 20% charged. Very strong, with good horizontal knockback and fairly short lag.
Smash +	Falco defies anatomy again by doing the splits impossibly quickly and hitting whoever is on either side of him. This move is best used as a ledge guarding technique, since it sends people downwards and sideways.
Smash +	Falco does a flip kick, like Fox. It's drastically weaker than Fox's. It sends people straight up and is best used for launching foes in the air, but there tend to be better launchers, like up tilt and Reflector. About 16% damage uncharged and 24% charged.
(When lying down)	Falco gets up, punches in front of him then kicks behind him.
(When holding onto a ledge)	Falco combines climbing up from the ledge with a spinning kick attack. Very quick for this type of attack. While it gets good range, Falco finishes with a backflip which places him right next to the edge he climbed up from.

Aerial Attacks

Button(s)	Description/notes
	A kick that stays deployed for a while and continues to do damage for its entire duration (although it gets progressively weaker as it stays out longer). High knockback when it first comes out. Very useful for "sloppy" aerial intercepts and other attacks where short timing windows would be difficult to hit with.
Forward +	Falco kicks five times as he hurtles through the air. Very cool and does decent damage if you can land several kicks. However, you usually can't, making this move mediocre at best. Very dangerous to use off a ledge since it will take forever for the attack to end and you will fall to your death. Due to the amount of kicks, this move lasts a long time.
Back +	Similar to his neutral air, only Falco sticks his foot behind him and slightly up, and the attack gets progressively weaker as it stays out. Probably better than his neutral air, as well, as it has slightly better range and damage.
+	One of the major differences between Falco and Fox is this move, the down air. Falco's variant of this move is a quick and powerful spike. Although Falco's falling speed prevents this from being used off the ledge much, it's still one of the if not the best and most useful spike in the game, and among the most feared moves in the game.
+	This is a decent aerial attack. Falco does a little backflip and kicks the opponent. The move actually hits twice, but the hits are so quick that you'll rarely miss the second hit. The first hit does about the same amount of damage as the second, but has zero knockback. The second is the stronger one. It's weaker than Fox's, however, and is better suited for juggling. If you connect with the center, all 15% damage is instantly done, but there's no knockback.

Special Attacks

Button(s)	Attack	Description/notes
	Blaster	Falco's blaster is a rather useful projectile; it's fast and it stuns, unlike Fox's blaster. Short hop while using it for best results.
+	Fire Bird	Falco engulfs himself in flames and rockets in any direction (which you specify with the control stick). It has a nice big hitbox and is fairly quick, so it's usually a safe way to return to the ledge providing you are coming from above rather than below. Similar to Fox's Fire Fox, but Falco's Up-B travels less distance.
+	Reflector	Known as the shine among smash casuals, Falco's reflector's intended function is to reflect projectile attacks. Be advised that it can actually break like a shield if you abuse it, as it will add power to whatever it reflects. However, it has a few more useful and interesting functions. Falco's reflector sends an opponent straight up; it can be combo'd with the spike for interesting results.
() +	Falco Phantasm	Falco dashes forwards and produces several nifty little blue versions of himself behind him. It's better to use this to get back on the ledge than the + , because it's faster. However, it only goes horizontally. As an attack, it's not too spectacular, though it is a weak spike.

Throws

Button(s)	Description/notes
	Falco throws the opponent down onto the ground and shoots the poor fellow four times with his Blaster. This throw is your best bet against any friends you might have who are unable to tech roll efficiently because you can follow it up with a shine or down smash to rack up some serious damage. However, if your opponent learns to tech roll away from the throw, you're better off with up throw.
Forward	Falco throws the opponent out in front of him with a smack. Can set up edgeguards, but beyond that, it is not very good. However, it is capable of chaingrabing floaty character at low percent.
	Your best bet against people who don't fall for down throw combos; this is a sweet setup, especially against fast-fallers such as Fox (or another Falco). The possibilities are endless, but one of the best things to do is to follow it up with an up smash or some up tilts.
Back	Throws backward and fires three lasers.

Advanced Techniques

Short Hop Blaster

If you jump, pull out your blaster, and land, the blaster is automatically put away, as opposed to the normal half-second or so delay when normally putting away the blaster. Thus, short-hopping while using your blaster is a much safer way of adding damage at a distance.

Chain Throwing

Although Falco is not the first character who comes to mind when you think chain-throwing, he can do it to Fox and other Falcos. Simply upthrow, turn around, catch, upthrow, repeat. Eventually their damage will get too high and they will recover before you can catch them. They might also be able to DI out of it. Still, pretty tricky stuff. Oh, and this isn't a true chain throw. Falco does have a semi-chain throwing option when downthrowing a Fox ONLY. If you're fast, tilt the direction Fox goes and grab, down, repeat. Easy.

Star Fox Easter Egg

While playing on Corneria or Venom in vs. or training mode, tap for no longer than 1 frame (1/60th of a second). Falco will spin around quickly and hunch over with a clenched fist. After holding this position for about ten seconds, a conversation among the other three Star Fox members will trigger. If Falco is hit during the hunch, it will be interrupted. This can be done only once per battle, whether it is fully executed or not. This serves no attack purpose and is simply used for summoning a brief laugh, surprising your friends, and inciting SF64 nostalgia.

Easy K.O.s

Falco has a chain reaction you can use for adding decent damage or can be used to K.O your foe. First, grab your opponent and hold . As soon as Falco finishes blasting, immediately press (since you are already holding ). Then time your double jump, and use your spike ( + ). This can add a good 20% worth of damage if you pull it off right. Do this about 3 times if he has 0-10% damage. Now if you want to K.O your foe then do this on the edge. Be warned that:

• If you are trying to K.O your foe, don't double jump because if you go to the side then you have a jump and your Falco Phantasm ( + ).
• This takes practice to master the strategy.
• Your foe has a slight chance of recover.
• If you pull off your + level with the stage, use / + to get to the side to get there quicker..

Spiking off a ledge is another viable option. When edgehogging (ledgehogging) any character, especially Falco, Fox, Falcon and any other character with an easy recovery, just fall down and jump almost simultaneously, then () or ( + ). If you do it right, you'll do a rising spike, which is more than enough to get you back on the ledge and kill the opponent. Make sure you're fast, or you'll do a falling spike, which ends up as an SD.