Captain Falcon: A Gentleman's Guide to Serving Justice (NEW UPDATE 6/7/15: FRAME ADVANTAGE DATA)

[Gawain]

Gawain submitted a new guide:

Captain Falcon: A Gentleman's Guide to Serving Justice - Basic to Advanced Strategies for the People's Champ

CAPTAIN FALCON
F ZERO RACER # 7

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Intro: Character Attributes​

Captain Falcon has always been known as one of the fastest characters in the entire Smash series, to such a degree that he was, and often...

Read more about this guide...

 

[Z3N1TH]

Wow, great guide and I loved the video. Thanks for posting.

 

[Rad]

Its a stupid little thing but falling u-air into knee hasn't been getting as much publicity as down throw - knee. And it's something obvious I neglected till I saw it here... Even though I've been doing falling u-air u-air knee a lot. So thanks!

Also falling uair utilt gentleman is sexy.

And is falling u-air grab not a combo? Those extra few % could be important.

 

[Soshii]

Can falling u-airs be shield grabbed? I always avoided it thinking that it could, I may start incorporating it into my game seeing as how successful it is.

 

[philipawalker]

Can falling u-airs be shield grabbed? I always avoided it thinking that it could, I may start incorporating it into my game seeing as how successful it is.

They can be, but they're difficult to shield grab. Out of all of falcon's aerials, U-Air as the smallest lag time after landing (and it is VERY small, seems to be 3 frames)

Perhaps if the U-Air is performed as close to the ground as possible, it will be much harder to shield grab. I'll test this out a bit.

 

[Gawain]

Glad you guys like the guide. I just thought it'd be good to compile all my thoughts in one place.

Its a stupid little thing but falling u-air into knee hasn't been getting as much publicity as down throw - knee. And it's something obvious I neglected till I saw it here... Even though I've been doing falling u-air u-air knee a lot. So thanks!

Also falling uair utilt gentleman is sexy.

And is falling u-air grab not a combo? Those extra few % could be important.

Falling uairs do combo into grabs sometimes. For some reason this does not register as a true combo in the game though. Same with Falcon Dive. You can do uair ---> uair ----> falcon dive to look like the baddest dude around, and even though they're in hitstun it seems to reset your combo counter. It appears to be a common thing for all grab moves. I'm not sure what this means in the long run but it might be something worth noting.

Can falling u-airs be shield grabbed? I always avoided it thinking that it could, I may start incorporating it into my game seeing as how successful it is.

They can be but it's not an easy task if you space it right and not every character can do it. The landing lag is super low so you can usually just throw out your jab as a stuff when you're shielded and that'll do. Often times as well the shield push on it will keep you safe outright. To do this right, you really need to hit with just the part of the attack where Falcon's feet are in front of him. You can easily tell when you're doing it right, you can see the maximum frontal range of the attack.

 

[Soshii]

Thanks for the info! I was just practicing the timing in training. At 40-50% on medium characters, you can string a falling u-air > sh u-air > knee as a true combo and kill with really strict timing. You can also d-air instead of the knee for the spike high. Definitely gotta start incorporating this.

 

[rugioh]

I'm not getting anywhere with the falling u-airs. How are you supposed to space them out at real game speed? I'm getting out prioritized by dash attacks and other character's nairs every time I try to come in with it late. Can't get a good idea to place it when people are dodging around too.

 

[KingBAMF]

how do you even dash dance grab in this game? great guide btw really helpful

 

[Gawain]

I'm not getting anywhere with the falling u-airs. How are you supposed to space them out at real game speed? I'm getting out prioritized by dash attacks and other character's nairs every time I try to come in with it late. Can't get a good idea to place it when people are dodging around too.

It's really just something you gotta practice. You find out what moves of what characters can be easily punished by it. Oftentimes, if you have the finger dexterity for it, you can do the uairs "instantly" as you short hop and then fast fall to speed up your punish game. It's really more of a mindgaming tool. Shorthopping towards someone without immediately doing something forces them do respond and they don't know what you are planning.

how do you even dash dance grab in this game? great guide btw really helpful

I explain the dash dancing somewhat in another video. You simply input
--->, ----><----, <--- ---->,....
ad infinitum or until you want to stop. The timing between the double direction inputs varies per character, but suffice to say that you need to perform both directional inputs in the same time frame as you would input the next "trot" in that characters foxtrot. This is very difficult to explain in text, but I do it from time to time in my videos. When you wanna grab out of it, you simply just stop dash dancing when you see your chance and move in for a dashing grab or a dash attack cancelled grab.

 

[KingBAMF]

would love to see the video on that if you have it

edit: saw the vid, its really difficult to dash dance with the 3ds o_O

 

[Gawain]

would love to see the video on that if you have it

edit: saw the vid, its really difficult to dash dance with the 3ds o_O

Yeah, it depends on the character. I can reliably do Marth/Lucina, Captain Falcon, Little Mac (easiest character), and a handful of others without lag or with minimal lag. Some are just impossible to do though. Fox and ZSS especially. The timing is just way too strict for that slide pad. You should learn how to at least reliably turn around quickly during a foxtrot though (the very first turn around in the dash dance). That way you can bait stuff out and at least punish with bairs or side b's. You can also do effective retreating dash attacks with this.

 

[victra♥]

oo this is cool, i should take advantage of the guide system on smashboards also

 

[Gawain]

oo this is cool, i should take advantage of the guide system on smashboards also

Yeah you should, you oughta convert your other thread into a guide.

 

[Gawain]

Heads up, I updated the guide with some new videos. Check it out sometime!

 

[abit_rusty]

Nice videos and very nice knee timing. The person I play most never falls for it anymore though, always a timely DI or airdodge, but it helps me learn how to frame trap better. Bonus marth match was a fun watch too.

 

[Rosso]

I'm impressed by the guide, I can't understand how this character knowledge got transcripted into words this well. Thanks a lot

 

[tygar]

Hey guys im new to falcon and had a few questions im having a lot of issues with dthrow follow ups that aren't just dthrow to 1 or 2 upairs.
After reading the guide by Gawain i took a ZSS put her at 75% and started practicing dthrow to knee and after about an hour i can
definitely feel the DI whenever she DIs up i hit the knee everytime, but when she DIs away i only get weak knees is this how its supposed to work?

 

[BigLord]

I can't say much other that you have to be reaaaaaly precise. I haven't mastered the d-throw -> knee followup either :\

Don't forget that things are slightly different in training mode! You should practice on a buddy, if possible.

 

[phoopes]

Any tips for the short-hop -> Nair thing you were talking about? I'm having trouble shorthopping to being with, and when I do end up doing it, I rarely get a nair, only the failed knee because I'm so close to the ground.

Great guide by the way, I've been practicing the throw combos a bunch.

 

[ArchmageMC]

Aye, practice on lvl 9 cpus instead of stuff in training mode. You'll come to find a lot of your combos wont work on them like they will most players.

Also, whats the easiest way to do the short hop Uair combo starter? shorthop ff uair, or just shorthop and uair when you get close to them? And will you see the white wave that indicates the Uair's hitbox or not when done right?

 

[BigLord]

Fastfall uAir, no doubt. You'll BARELY see the white wave, iirc.

 

[1PixelGaming]

Im having trouble getting my falling upairs in on opponents. I always get punished going for them. Is there an ideal time to use it and if anyone is willing to train with me im down to learn more Falcon. NNID: 1PixelGamer

 

[Jebus244]

Aye, practice on lvl 9 cpus instead of stuff in training mode. You'll come to find a lot of your combos wont work on them like they will most players.

Also, whats the easiest way to do the short hop Uair combo starter? shorthop ff uair, or just shorthop and uair when you get close to them? And will you see the white wave that indicates the Uair's hitbox or not when done right?

Im having trouble getting my falling upairs in on opponents. I always get punished going for them. Is there an ideal time to use it and if anyone is willing to train with me im down to learn more Falcon. NNID: 1PixelGamer

I think the easiest way to perform a SHFFUair is to press the C-stick up in practically the same moment you press the joystick down. You have to look for opportunities to land it. If the opponent has range, they can stuff your approach, so learn your match-ups and what to look for when trying to land it. If they shield it, you have almost no landing lag and can transition into a gentleman, a roll, shield, grab, etc.

 

[1PixelGaming]

I think the easiest way to perform a SHFFUair is to press the C-stick up in practically the same moment you press the joystick down. You have to look for opportunities to land it. If the opponent has range, they can stuff your approach, so learn your match-ups and what to look for when trying to land it. If they shield it, you have almost no landing lag and can transition into a gentleman, a roll, shield, grab, etc.

Great tip. Thanks man!

 

[Drew English]

Sweet guide! I haven't really messed with SHFFuair but I definitely will now! Hopefully I can start getting those knees with it too.

 

[B4ttleCat]

Nice guide, bud. I learnt a lot, it's just a pity I still doesn't stand a chance because the lag online is so chronic. :S Timing is all rooted and I miss everything. It's like I'm still playing in 2014 and my opponent is in 2015.

 

[AmishWolverine]

I forget on what types of characters and at what percents, but f-throw to dash attack is a nice setup if I remember correctly. It's a neat little mixup if you'd like to take a break from d-throws. Wonderful guide.

 

[BigLord]

fThrow to dash attack is (almost?) guaranteed on low percents against a lot of characters, yeah. Mostly the heavy ones. I think it's actually safer to start a match with a fThrow -> dash attack to a string of uAirs than with a dThrow.

 

[Maître Luigi]

eF-Throw -> Tackle (1) IS hit confirmed at low percents on all characters (except Jigglypuff) at low percents.

In other words, if you're doing a dash grab, which you almost certainly will be, you can get guaranteed follow-up into the first hitbox of your dash attack on anyone but Jigglepuff.

 

[Jebus244]

Not sure if the Falcons here have been paying attention to the Frame cancel thread in the competitive section, but I was testing out Dair combos with it... Well... the one that matters. You can true combo Dair to Fair on characters around 60%. You have to use Cstick to Fair, but it links for a 33% combo.

 

[Maître Luigi]

I can confirm that so far there is nothing that can't be done without a c-stick. The c-stick is just a convenience in Sm4sh.

 

[Gawain]

Not sure if the Falcons here have been paying attention to the Frame cancel thread in the competitive section, but I was testing out Dair combos with it... Well... the one that matters. You can true combo Dair to Fair on characters around 60%. You have to use Cstick to Fair, but it links for a 33% combo.

I've been playing around with it. Too bad it doesn't help falcon as much in this game since stomps are so much harder to land due to rolls being so fast

 

[Zabuu]

Great guide, surely helped me a lot!

I was playing around in training mode vs bowser and it seems you can get a true combo out of: 'weak hit' of Uair -> Dtilt... the percentage I did it at was 60%, but it's probably possible at a lot of different percentages and characters. The way to weak hit the Uair is to let the kick come out first and then fastfall into bowser using the center of your body to hit him with. I think (not at home atm, so can't test it) it does the same dmg as a strong hit, just with severely less knockback. This should mean you can use it to true combo at relatively high percents. If I remember correctly it also worked on sheik at 20% (although she's almost impossible to hit with that weak Uair). Vs Diddy it seemed nigh impossible to pull off. I guess the bigger characters are easier to hit with the weak Uair.
Great thing about the combo is that it's easy to pull off once you get the weak Uair in. You just hold down after initiating fastfall and press A.

A useful variation could be weak Uair -> gentleman (about the same dmg as weak Uair -> Dtilt). You could ofcourse also only jab twice and grab.

 

[euphzji]

Are part of the grab game section mission?

 

[Gawain]

A little redundant since I made a thread on it already, but for posterity's sake, I have updated the guide with a section about footstool combos for those who haven't seen my newer video, or if you're unfamiliar with the uses of footstooling in this game (hint: they're pretty awesome and you look amazingly stylish for doing these). Check it out!

 

[Hottokeeki]

Huge fan of this guide; loving the FC Knee into grab combo, it's totally sick. The expression on my friend's face when I pulled it off was a mixture of awe and horror.

 

[Blitzern]

Is the footstool guaranteed at low perfects out of down throw or can they jump/airdodge out if there fast enough?

 

[Gawain]

Is the footstool guaranteed at low perfects out of down throw or can they jump/airdodge out if there fast enough?

This depends on character and percent. At super low percents, not really. You'll have to bait out and read an air dodge. At higher percents it is guaranteed. You are more guaranteed your footstool from a weak nair(on lights) or uair(lights or mediums) at low percents. Personally I think Falcon wrecks floaties with weak hit nair into footstool setups. If you get good at doing them you can get some crazy stuff going.

 

[Gawain]

Gawain updated Captain Falcon: A Gentleman's Guide to Serving Justice (NEW UPDATE 6/7/15: FRAME ADVANTAGE DATA) with a new update entry:

On-Shield Frame Data: A Start

Added a small section detailing the frame disadvantage of Falcon's moves. Cross reference this to the frame data of other characters to find out what's safe on who. (hint: not a lot is safe haha)

Read the rest of this update entry...