My rant on Falco

[Dusk]

Disclaimer In no way am I trying to bash the character but rather explain the things this character can do. Alot comes from playing as/against said character. If it sparks arguments awesome but I'm writing the pros/cons of said character. Even though its a rant I will try to reduce bias and provide information on the characters I'm speaking about. All feedback is appreciated and encouraged .

Hey guys Dusk here with a new series I like calling the Rantening, today I bring you Falco. The reason I'm starting with Falco is because the minus team wants to use him as the pinnacle of balance, so I feel like its necessary to talk about this crazy bird. I feel like Falco was one character that should've been touched in the latest patch. He has a lot of safe options off stage and provides little to no risk. For example he has 3 midair jumps because he's a bird..., joke was funny the first time but now it seems like a ridiculous excuse. Now I know what you're thinking, "but Dusk having 3 midair jumps isn't that bad especially since they're 'shortened'." Well I wouldn't have an issue with this if he didn't have a great side B and a great upB. Also because he has alot of midair jumps he has crazy amounts of aerial drift and follow up options. So pretty much what I'm getting at is that he has hands down the greatest recovery and can mix them all together.

So besides his recovery options why would I be making this rant? Well lets get to the gritty, his offense. Falco has an insane amount of options he can do offensively. Every single one of his aerials are incredible. His dair is a great knockup/K.O. tool and it can be used in combos if you know your opponent isn't a techer or if you want to tech chase. If you sourspot dair offstage no big deal go for another one, his recovery is so incredible he could go to the bottom of any blastzone and come back up. His bair is a pretty good follow up tool which can kill fairly well at high percents. Also at low percents you could jump and follow up with another bair depending on DI. His nair has insanely low landing lag and ending lag, because of this you could follow up with uptilt which leads to pillaring or with a smash which feels almost guaranteed. SDI/DI in general may help get out of it but its so good it can feel nonescapable. His fair is a great offstage option I'm pretty sure its escapable with SDI and DI has a huge factor on whether or not you're letting Falco land another or not but the last hit has a good amount of knockback and Falco can easily go to the blastzone and back. His Upair is easily his worst aerial, its so mediocre and theres other options but even then it can kill if landed properly. His aerials provide a good chunk of his offensive options.

Aerials aren't the only Falco has, he still has a bunch of stuff I haven't covered. I personally like using side B offensively because it has an incredible meteor linked to it. Most of it is a DI read but you could side b onto ledge to put out the hitbox and gimp some recoveries all while being safe. What's ridiculous is that its a recovery option but it does so much more. Side B can be used on stage and jump cancelled into an aerial, itself, or into short hop b reversed double lasers. Which also leads into lasers, which are nice as they can ease pressure or force it upon your opponent. Also he has slow lasers which are great for walling but at least in the netplay community on the Discord nobody uses them. In comparison to other spacies(ness and lucas included) his "retractor/shine" is pretty bad. It has its niches but overall its not that great. I can't really speak much on his sidetilt because I don't use it much or see it used much but I guess it's a good tool for creating space in the neutral where needed(?). His Dtilt is an interesting kill confirm(may have been reduced because of new vertical blastzones" or another knockup tool he has. I like using it for mixup options or follow ups on nair. I don't really get into much detail on his combo game because I personally always try to change it up.

If you're still reading this mad props, now here's a Fsmash. Speaking of Fsmashes this is probably Falco's best smash. It's definitely the one you'd be using to convert most kills because its knockback is really potent. Also it has a windbox that interestingly enough does 9% damage and can gimp a good amount of recoveries. Other then that his other smashes aren't as ludacrious. His Dsmash and Usmash both have good knockback but aren't as great as Fsmash. I personally feel that in any situation I could Dsmash or Usmash it would've probably been better to Fsmash. His smashes aren't the greatest in the world and you could definitely go a match without using one of them because Falco prefers the air.

Falco overall has high reward and little risk if that's what the Minus team is going for in terms of balance then cool, if not then they should definitely start by reducing Falco's recovery. I do not mind Falco much as a character but right now I feel like he has a great argument for best character if not he's definitely top 5. If you read all this then I'm glad you did and if you feel like I left out anything or feel like something I said was incorrect feel free to discuss it. Most of my information of Falco comes from playing against Joeybeta or from playing the bird himself. Also I have faced a fair amount of Falcos as he may be one of the more popular characters. Thank you for reading this and keep on breaking limits. (My apologies if anything is grammatically incorrect I'm not much of a proofreader so sorry.)

 

[Joeybeta]

Well you see... um... we do this if we don't use Falco.

But in all seriousness, recovery is one thing I've always considered when playing Falco and not so much any other character cause of lack of recovery creativity. Lucario is the only other character I play and he has an okay recovery, but I play him to dominate the neutral over my opponent to begin with in compensation for having lower level recovery.
The way I put that scenario is, do I want hyper recovery, or aggro neutral?​

 

[Dusk]

I personally think they should just reduce his recovery and keep his aggro neutral because aggro neutral is cool.

 

[Thor]

Disclaimer In no way am I trying to bash the character but rather explain the things this character can do. Alot comes from playing as/against said character. If it sparks arguments awesome but I'm writing the pros/cons of said character. Even though its a rant I will try to reduce bias and provide information on the characters I'm speaking about. All feedback is appreciated and encouraged .

Okay...

Hey guys Dusk here with a new series I like calling the Rantening, today I bring you Falco. The reason I'm starting with Falco is because the minus team wants to use him as the pinnacle of balance,

I'm sorry what? When did the dev team ever say that???

so I feel like its necessary to talk about this crazy bird. I feel like Falco was one character that should've been touched in the latest patch. He has a lot of safe options off stage and provides little to no risk. For example he has 3 midair jumps because he's a bird..., joke was funny the first time but now it seems like a ridiculous excuse.

It's not an excuse... he's meant to be a multi-jump character and designed around that. And having jumps isn't an option, unless you mean a recovery option, which is hardly how that term is used [options would refer to Fox having a frame 1 jab, frame (something small) utilt, frame 6 grab, frame 1 shine, and 4 frame jumpsquat [formerly 3] that allowed him super fast nair and dair.

Now I know what you're thinking, "but Dusk having 3 midair jumps isn't that bad especially since they're 'shortened'." Well I wouldn't have an issue with this if he didn't have a great side B and a great upB. Also because he has alot of midair jumps he has crazy amounts of aerial drift and follow up options. So pretty much what I'm getting at is that he has hands down the greatest recovery and can mix them all together.

I think Meta Knight probably has better recovery, because he's never stuck in place, has more jumps, and can always use all his options [shuttle loop, mash nado, side+b, dimensional cape should get him back from... literally anywhere? and that's without jumps]. Falco falls too low and he has to up+b. Falco also has *awful* airspeed, his airspeed reminds me of Smash 4 Ganondorf when he is out of jumps [except up+b and side+B are better for getting back].

So besides his recovery options why would I be making this rant? Well lets get to the gritty, his offense. Falco has an insane amount of options he can do offensively. Every single one of his aerials are incredible. His dair is a great knockup/K.O. tool and it can be used in combos if you know your opponent isn't a techer or if you want to tech chase.

Falco can try tech chasing but he's quite slow. He also lacks a solid nair like most characters [something that walls out ala Fox nair, Sheik nair, etc.], so this kinda fills in.

If you sourspot dair offstage no big deal go for another one, his recovery is so incredible he could go to the bottom of any blastzone and come back up.

Except his dair doesn't really sourspot, it just meteors most to a KO anyway [unless it's Meta Knight or a few other characters... since Meta Knight can immediate meteor cancel up+b then use 3 other specials heh].

His bair is a pretty good follow up tool which can kill fairly well at high percents.

Bair is frankly an average to medicore KO move. It finishes combos fine, but against the very heavy Minus cast, expect to KO around 150% or later with this move.

Also at low percents you could jump and follow up with another bair depending on DI. His nair has insanely low landing lag and ending lag, because of this you could follow up with uptilt which leads to pillaring or with a smash which feels almost guaranteed.

They wanted to bring back Melee vertical combos without bringing back Melee shine, and this nair/utilt are the solution they tried. He's meant to combo like that... Fsmash is very likely not guaranteed [you can tech the last hit of nair so they have to fastfall or something], dsmash is probably guaranteed but it's not super strong, not sure about usmash. And it's not an amazing KO confirm anyway [see Falcon any move -> knee, Fox anything -> usmash/uair/bair, etc.]

SDI/DI in general may help get out of it but its so good it can feel nonescapable.

This is a huge flaw it has over standard shine dair combos - more SDIable.

His fair is a great offstage option I'm pretty sure its escapable with SDI and DI has a huge factor on whether or not you're letting Falco land another or not but the last hit has a good amount of knockback and Falco can easily go to the blastzone and back. His Upair is easily his worst aerial, its so mediocre and theres other options but even then it can kill if landed properly. His aerials provide a good chunk of his offensive options.

So far you've said Falco has one whacky aerial [lol fair], three good aerials [dair, bair, nair], and a medicore aerial [uair]. As compared to characters like Yoshi, Snake, Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, and Pikachu with 4+ good aerials... not impressed.

Aerials aren't the only Falco has, he still has a bunch of stuff I haven't covered. I personally like using side B offensively because it has an incredible meteor linked to it. Most of it is a DI read but you could side b onto ledge to put out the hitbox and gimp some recoveries all while being safe.

That's a classic Melee trick that almost never works. Yet you somehow neglected to mention it is ineffective usually, but still pretty safe since it has a walljump cancel. Lol.

What's ridiculous is that its a recovery option but it does so much more. Side B can be used on stage and jump cancelled into an aerial, itself, or into short hop b reversed double lasers.

Cancel was added to make it not inferior to other spacie side+bs. It's fine as an aggro tool but can be stuffed, and the camping I pointed out a while ago and it hasn't been touched because if you're doing it to put distance from you, you're quite possibly in a spot to just get hit away anyway [I think]. I find side+b kinda dubious but how to nerf it is an awkward question because there's not much space to do so.

Which also leads into lasers, which are nice as they can ease pressure or force it upon your opponent. Also he has slow lasers which are great for walling but at least in the netplay community on the Discord nobody uses them.

Slow lasers generally lock down slow characters, but I don't think they're that great against fast characters because many can fly right over them, while fast lasers do a better job locking them down. Not sure though, I might just not use them correctly [quite possible].

In comparison to other spacies(ness and lucas included) his "retractor/shine" is pretty bad. It has its niches but overall its not that great. I can't really speak much on his sidetilt because I don't use it much or see it used much but I guess it's a good tool for creating space in the neutral where needed(?). His Dtilt is an interesting kill confirm(may have been reduced because of new vertical blastzones" or another knockup tool he has. I like using it for mixup options or follow ups on nair. I don't really get into much detail on his combo game because I personally always try to change it up.

Shine sucks in for followups but with cancel removal it's like a full second commitment [Falcon Punch it lol]. Ftilt's a poke but I think it's basically negative on hit at low percents, it's better at high percents to knock people offstage.

If you're still reading this mad props, now here's a Fsmash. Speaking of Fsmashes this is probably Falco's best smash. It's definitely the one you'd be using to convert most kills because its knockback is really potent. Also it has a windbox that interestingly enough does 9% damage and can gimp a good amount of recoveries. Other then that his other smashes aren't as ludacrious. His Dsmash and Usmash both have good knockback but aren't as great as Fsmash. I personally feel that in any situation I could Dsmash or Usmash it would've probably been better to Fsmash. His smashes aren't the greatest in the world and you could definitely go a match without using one of them because Falco prefers the air.

Fsmash seems to be Falco's only Minus KO move besides dair, since he otherwise just seems to lack KO power [part of his design]. Fsmash is much slower than dsmash and slower than dsmash, which means they're used based on speed considerations [you can also usmash out of a grounded side+B]. But it feels very average for a Minus fsmash compared to what most others do.

Falco overall has high reward and little risk if that's what the Minus team is going for in terms of balance then cool, if not then they should definitely start by reducing Falco's recovery. I do not mind Falco much as a character but right now I feel like he has a great argument for best character if not he's definitely top 5. If you read all this then I'm glad you did and if you feel like I left out anything or feel like something I said was incorrect feel free to discuss it. Most of my information of Falco comes from playing against Joeybeta or from playing the bird himself. Also I have faced a fair amount of Falcos as he may be one of the more popular characters. Thank you for reading this and keep on breaking limits. (My apologies if anything is grammatically incorrect I'm not much of a proofreader so sorry.)

Someone has to be a good character... as for his recovery, don't ever play 3.3-3.Q, I got it nerfed from those patches ini 4.0B despite being the only Falco at the time because it was even better [although maybe by design, don't clip the bird's wings?]

Parts of this feel like you're overbilling Falco, as it seems lots of people don't even have him top 5 [IIRC BC didn't until I said something, and neither did LB]. His lasers are amazing but they don't do a lot of damage and his lackluster KO power in some ways reminds me of pre-patch Smash 4 Sheik - some amazing neutral tools and the ability to deal with anyone in the cast, but some lackluster KO power outside of offstage, and unlike Smash 4 Sheik, he seems shut down harder by shields [his grab game is less rewarding].

 

[Dusk]

Omg you actually read it .

I'm sorry what? When did the dev team ever say that???

Multiple times over discord actually.

It's not an excuse... he's meant to be a multi-jump character and designed around that. And having jumps isn't an option, unless you mean a recovery option, which is hardly how that term is used [options would refer to Fox having a frame 1 jab, frame (something small) utilt, frame 6 grab, frame 1 shine, and 4 frame jumpsquat [formerly 3] that allowed him super fast nair and dair.

I am referring to his recovery options.

Falco can try tech chasing but he's quite slow. He also lacks a solid nair like most characters [something that walls out ala Fox nair, Sheik nair, etc.], so this kinda fills in.

He doesn't really need to tech chase he has the horizontal speed to catch up with side b or can suppress the opponents options with lasers if they don't follow up.

Bair is frankly an average to medicore KO move. It finishes combos fine, but against the very heavy Minus cast, expect to KO around 150% or later with this move.

Give or take all depends on stage positioning but you could argue that with anyone haha.

They wanted to bring back Melee vertical combos without bringing back Melee shine, and this nair/utilt are the solution they tried. He's meant to combo like that... Fsmash is very likely not guaranteed [you can tech the last hit of nair so they have to fastfall or something], dsmash is probably guaranteed but it's not super strong, not sure about usmash. And it's not an amazing KO confirm anyway [see Falcon any move -> knee, Fox anything -> usmash/uair/bair, etc.]

Realistically alot of things are escapable in this game but people don't realize it. I personally prefer dair uptilt but I feel like nair fair would be more consistent idk I haven't touched 4.0bc falco much.

That's a classic Melee trick that almost never works. Yet you somehow neglected to mention it is ineffective usually, but still pretty safe since it has a walljump cancel. Lol.

I swear I thought I mentioned it lol but alot of people aren't that great so you could get away with side b shenanigans.

Cancel was added to make it not inferior to other spacie side+bs. It's fine as an aggro tool but can be stuffed, and the camping I pointed out a while ago and it hasn't been touched because if you're doing it to put distance from you, you're quite possibly in a spot to just get hit away anyway [I think]. I find side+b kinda dubious but how to nerf it is an awkward question because there's not much space to do so.

The only proper way to nerf it would probably be the range if anything, it's a good aggro tool no need to get rid of aggro in this game, if anything we should have more of it.

Slow lasers generally lock down slow characters, but I don't think they're that great against fast characters because many can fly right over them, while fast lasers do a better job locking them down. Not sure though, I might just not use them correctly [quite possible].

Quite possibly but realistically I feel like fast lasers are better in most situations.

Shine sucks in for followups but with cancel removal it's like a full second commitment [Falcon Punch it lol]. Ftilt's a poke but I think it's basically negative on hit at low percents, it's better at high percents to knock people offstage.

Definitely agree his shine is pretty bad because of the time it takes to come out, the only decent thing I've seen from it is using it after a full jab commit and they sdi away and still don't react.

So far you've said Falco has one whacky aerial [lol fair], three good aerials [dair, bair, nair], and a medicore aerial [uair]. As compared to characters like Yoshi, Snake, Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, and Pikachu with 4+ good aerials... not impressed.

not sure if I quoted this already like stated earlier I'm not much of a proofreader. Anyways I wasn't trying to say fair was whacky just good. Was going for the vibe of 4 good aerials 1 mediocre. Also I disagree with 4+ good aerials on a good amount of those characters. Snakes good ones are nair upair dair bair, fair is good but its issue is its startup, which makes sense. Pika's bair nair dair upair(issue with this one obviously intentional is its lack of damage thankfully because its a really good damage for racking up damage ironically because of its lack of much knockup) his fair is aight. Yoshi and Falcon I can't really speak much on I dont know how to play Falcon well(probably the only person in the world ) and Yoshi I just try to Yoshi foot when I play him haha.

Fsmash seems to be Falco's only Minus KO move besides dair, since he otherwise just seems to lack KO power [part of his design]. Fsmash is much slower than dsmash and slower than dsmash, which means they're used based on speed considerations [you can also usmash out of a grounded side+B]. But it feels very average for a Minus fsmash compared to what most others do.

His smashes are definitely average but most of his kill comes from hard commits off of fair chains, combos that lead to bair finishers, dair finishers, double dipping, probably more I can't think of right now.

Someone has to be a good character... as for his recovery, don't ever play 3.3-3.Q, I got it nerfed from those patches ini 4.0B despite being the only Falco at the time because it was even better [although maybe by design, don't clip the bird's wings?]

Parts of this feel like you're overbilling Falco, as it seems lots of people don't even have him top 5 [IIRC BC didn't until I said something, and neither did LB]. His lasers are amazing but they don't do a lot of damage and his lackluster KO power in some ways reminds me of pre-patch Smash 4 Sheik - some amazing neutral tools and the ability to deal with anyone in the cast, but some lackluster KO power outside of offstage, and unlike Smash 4 Sheik, he seems shut down harder by shields [his grab game is less rewarding].

The issue overall with falco is that he's an offstage beast and can be super safe about because of his recovery options. I don't mean to diss BC & LB but I don't think they faced much Falcos especially in low lag like netplay or offline(obviously an assumption i don't know them personally and only they can confirm such). Also everyone would probably tell you a different top 5/10/15... because everyone has faced different opponents in different situations and what not so they have different opinions on each character. I think Falco's top 5 because I've always considered him a better spacie right now. You could make arguments that Fox and Wolf are better once mechanically tuned but I don't feel like anybody has gotten to that point yet so I'm taking into consideration the current situation of the game. I definitely have seen some shit from Wolf but I haven't seen anything spectacular from Fox. Especially with the Fox nerfs, I feel like a good portion of his nerfs except shine where unjust. I do consider Falco top 5 in the current state of the game because before he was already pretty proficient and on the cusp of it if not already top 5 and most of the characters around him got nerfed, so you could definitely make the argument that he's up there.
Also thank you for responding glad you read my rant, I wish I had written a conclusion paragraph saying how I would fix up Falco but I felt like I already wrote alot and just posted.

 

[Darxmarx]

Also thank you for responding glad you read my rant, I wish I had written a conclusion paragraph saying how I would fix up Falco but I felt like I already wrote alot and just posted.

While I'm not a Falco player, it's definitely interesting to see how exactly people view Falco's shenanigans differently. I'd be interested in reading a conclusion covering all of your preferred changes for Falco, and I'm sure others would as well!

 

[Neville]

Parts of this feel like you're overbilling Falco, as it seems lots of people don't even have him top 5 [IIRC BC didn't until I said something, and neither did LB].

After seeing the netplay folks I'd still put Falco in top 10 (although I haven't yet played Joeybeta, the best Falco afaik) I do still think he's over-hyped like Wario because I seem to be able to play around the netplay Falcos I have played.

 

[Thor]

After seeing the netplay folks I'd still put Falco in top 10 (although I haven't yet played Joeybeta, the best Falco afaik) I do still think he's over-hyped like Wario because I seem to be able to play around the netplay Falcos I have played.

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea of how mine stacks up, or is Wi-Fi different enough from Netplay to make a comparison pointless?

EDIT: Dusk one other issue is that sure Falco's recovery is great, but he's so fragile he often just gets combo'd to a KO outright [due to somewhat high fallspeed and low weight]... Falcon can often just double knee him at like 50% for a KO [lol], or other things like that in a lot of MUs. If he's not KO'd he gets back, but he gets KO'd a lot.

 

[Neville]

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea of how mine stacks up, or is Wi-Fi different enough from Netplay to make a comparison pointless?

It's too hard to tell but there are really tools and setups the netplay folks use you never did use although idk if they're harder on wifi or you've never seen/discovered them before.

 

[Thor]

It's too hard to tell but there are really tools and setups the netplay folks use you never did use although idk if they're harder on wifi or you've never seen/discovered them before.

I meant like neutral-wise lol. I never tried that hard to push characters and break them, it was more something that was just for fun to be honest... like I know I landed stupid fair chains on people and managed to get that nerfed, and I'm sure there are other ways to use cancels and maybe even stuff I'm missing...

Good to be aware of though.

 

[Neville]

I meant like neutral-wise lol. I never tried that hard to push characters and break them, it was more something that was just for fun to be honest... like I know I landed stupid fair chains on people and managed to get that nerfed, and I'm sure there are other ways to use cancels and maybe even stuff I'm missing...

Good to be aware of though.

Your neutral is better but wifi neutral is more hard read based because you can't really react to anything. Consistant combo/follow-up game is more important and easier to do in netplay so again, it's hard to judge.

 

[Dusk]

EDIT: Dusk one other issue is that sure Falco's recovery is great, but he's so fragile he often just gets combo'd to a KO outright [due to somewhat high fallspeed and low weight]... Falcon can often just double knee him at like 50% for a KO [lol], or other things like that in a lot of MUs. If he's not KO'd he gets back, but he gets KO'd a lot.

I feel like thats a mediocre argument alot of people can KO easy with edgeguarding but I see what you mean I win a good majority of my matches against Falco due to such. Obviously Falco has his flaws, no doubt about it but he has so much in his toolkit that it overshadows alot of his flaws. He's definitely a fun character to play as/against but he just feels so safe offstage compared to alot of folks. His insane amount of safety seems to be the only issue in terms of balance with him. I would say just get rid of a good chunk of height on up b because it is actually absurd or reduce his amounts of jumps.
I can probably vouch for LB on the neutral thing you guys probably have better neutral I wouldn't be surprised. I played BC a few times and he had great control of center stage.

 

[666DAMAGE]

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea of how mine stacks up, or is Wi-Fi different enough from Netplay to make a comparison pointless?

Wifi is bad and is basically a totally different game. Netplay isn't bad and is pretty close to offline play.

 

[Fox Lombardi]

Shine sucks in for followups but with cancel removal it's like a full second commitment [Falcon Punch it lol]. Ftilt's a poke but I think it's basically negative on hit at low percents, it's better at high percents to knock people offstage.

When I use his down+b it only sucks in about a third of the time. Is this intentional?

 

[Thor]

When I use his down+b it only sucks in about a third of the time. Is this intentional?

It only sucks in as it comes back to Falco, not as it goes out.

Unless it literally doesn't even suck in people as it's coming back to you, then IDK what to tell you... should probably try to get video footage of what's going on so devs can assess the problem.

 

[Ludacario]

Falco's reflector is actually pretty busted. The portion that pulls opponents in is only on the latter, retracting part of the move. It's not the easiest to land at first, but I promise you can get the hang of it. As for the purpose of the first half, its basically a "ha wtf you can't do anything to this move." It's not a combo tool (the beginning part) but it's insanely good at stopping your opponent whatever they trying to do.

 

[EpicNonBread]

It's not a combo tool (the beginning part) but it's insanely good at stopping your opponent whatever they trying to do

This.
Falco's reflector is an amazing wall-out tool on reaction for approaches such as Meta Knight's side B, Peach's side B, Mario's fireball etc. Pretty sure the only thing it can't handle is armored moves.

 

[Ludacario]

This.
Falco's reflector is an amazing wall-out tool on reaction for approaches such as Meta Knight's side B, Peach's side B, Mario's fireball etc. Pretty sure the only thing it can't handle is armored moves.

It's just slow and doesn't lead into combos so I don't like it... but trust me it's busted.

 

[memahalo]

Just a random thought, but why do people prefer to use the fast lasers?
To me at least, there amazing and fun as heck. If falco sits on the ground and spams slow lasers, the entire stage floor is literally covered with a line of lasers. Also, if people are offstage and recovering after being hit high, falco can create a wall of lasers with short hop double laser

Not to much experience with matchups with faster characters, but couldn't you use the slow one to safely move/approach? Also seems like a good conditioning tool

 

[Ludacario]

Just a random thought, but why do people prefer to use the fast lasers?
To me at least, there amazing and fun as heck. If falco sits on the ground and spams slow lasers, the entire stage floor is literally covered with a line of lasers. Also, if people are offstage and recovering after being hit high, falco can create a wall of lasers with short hop double laser

Not to much experience with matchups with faster characters, but couldn't you use the slow one to safely move/approach? Also seems like a good conditioning tool

Well it's all just a preference thing, they each have their own uses. Fast lasers are helpful for that instant pressure. Slow lasers are better for more slow, trap-like pressure. Each have their own uses for stage control / pressure etc. I personally just use fast lasers because they fit my fast-paced aggro style better. I'm just one guy though, everyone has their bird.

(Also that whole "stand still and fire slow lasers" is reeeeealllllly bad, try SHDL'ing around so falco doesn't get stuck being still)

 

[Bent 00]

I don't like slow lasers because they encourage laser spam -- which is not fun to play against if your fighter has problems with projectiles -- and because slow lasers just don't make sense. The words "slow" and "laser" shouldn't even be in the same sentence, ha... Seriously.

The taunt-switch animation doesn't make sense, either. How does Falco kicking his Reflector around make his Blaster switch to firing at a different speed? You should be given some idea of what a well-done taunt-switch is changing, simply by watching the taunt animation.

I also do not like that Falco is the only character in the whole game to get a taunt-switch.
If Falco can have a taunt-switch, other fighters should have them too. Sword Mode Ganondorf, for example.

Just my two cents. I don't play Falco, and I don't like fighting him either. Only Lucario and his ExtremeCheese annoys me more.

 

[EpicNonBread]

I don't like slow lasers because they encourage laser spam -- which is not fun to play against if your fighter has problems with projectiles -- and because slow lasers just don't make sense. The words "slow" and "laser" shouldn't even be in the same sentence, ha... Seriously.

I don't see how slow lasers promote spam any more than regular lasers do.

The taunt-switch animation doesn't make sense, either. How does Falco kicking his Reflector around make his Blaster switch to firing at a different speed?

Possibly not having enough animators on the team or the team just trying to get by with sub par work is my guess.

I also do not like that Falco is the only character in the whole game to get a taunt-switch.
If Falco can have a taunt-switch, other fighters should have them too. Sword Mode Ganondorf, for example

I think a better application for this would be having Luigi switch between his Minus fireball and Brawl fireball. The Sword Mode Ganondrof would be an entire new kit, not just a minor preference change.

 

[Bent 00]

I don't see how slow lasers promote spam any more than regular lasers do.

You can't clog up the stage with fast lasers like you can with slow lasers.

I think a better application for this would be having Luigi switch between his Minus fireball and Brawl fireball. The Sword Mode Ganondrof would be an entire new kit, not just a minor preference change.

A Sword Mode for 'Dorf wouldn't have to be an entirely new kit. It could change only his Smashes, only his Tilts, or even just ONE move.

Plus, we have permission to use anything from BronzeGreekGod's Project Ganondorf...
I know it's been Rejected already, but the potential is still there.

 

[EpicNonBread]

A Sword Mode for 'Dorf wouldn't have to be an entirely new kit. It could change only his Smashes, only his Tilts, or even just ONE move.

True

You can't clog up the stage with fast lasers like you can with slow lasers.

No, but you can suffocate their movement, attacks, and positioning from a safe distance while scoring free percent. I'd say while both are useful in different ways, they both equally promote camping for free damage/pressure.

 

[Thor]

Permanent taunt-switching is currently exclusive to Falco, but temporary taunt-switches do exist... fast Falcon Punch is one such example.

Slow lasers are amazing vs slower characters, but if you try to use slow lasers vs Falcon and he just running full jumps, you're now in a world of hurt. Fast lasers let you apply pressure from farther away and make it easier to respond to what Falcon is doing, although you have much less sustained pressure.

Reflector used to be really really amazing, now it's somewhat risky because jump-in approaches tend to seem pretty strong and it's awful at stopping those, and it's really low reward if you don't get the drag-in. It is a hilarious edgeguarding option in some situations though, since you can drag people back away from the stage or just nudge them out a little bit farther as a good way to take a jump.