Any Fox player knows how dominant Falco players can be in the neutral and their well-refined, devastating punish game. This matchup can feel helpless at times but Fox tends to have an answer for any problem Falco can throw at you. Hopefully this overview can help you start dealing with the two main types of pressure Falco utilizes.

Falco has two powerful threat ranges: directly around him in addition to his laser game. Each of these types of pressure used together generally make up a Falco player's game plan.

Dealing with Lasers

Any player knows how obnoxious Falco’s lasers can be. While they do not do that much damage one at a time, the hitstun they put you in can become quite frustrating! Falco’s lasers are an indisputable strength in the neutral, as they are one of his greatest tools to creating openings for combos. Whenever a mid-to-new level player asks for help against Falco, the most common answer is “just learn to powershield the lasers.” While this is an effective strategy, some players can struggle with landing powershields in the heat of the moment. Here are some alternate strategies to powershielding lasers, along with some of their pros and cons

1. Holding shield into a movement option. Common lower level Falco neutral tends to look something like this: approaching short-hop-laser into approaching short-hop-laser (assuming it hits) into some form of combo starter. This head-on game plan is what Falcos tend to start learning the game by using. If you're struggling to powershield lasers, think about how you can just shield the laser[s], and then use either a roll (higher risk) or a wavedash forward or back out of shield. Rolling actually isn't the worst option, if you don't roll all the time. Rolling can get you out of immediate danger as long as the Falco doesn't expect it. Wavedashing out of shield is usually better as it allows you to not only reposition yourself but also have the time and freedom to setup an appropriate punish. Wavedashing back when a laser hits your shield will allow you to react to whatever move Falco wants to use when they think the laser hits,and should be easy for you to punish. The only real drawbacks are if you do have space to move, you have to offer up space to avoid getting combo’d, and if you mess up your movement there's a possibility you can get caught.

2. Taking-laser. The lasers themselves aren't going to be the part of Falco's strategy that hurt you, his combos are what deal the serious damage. Since lasers can deal 2-3% combined with how slow they really are, over the course of a game you aren't taking that much damage from them. The hitstun that lasers have is also actually pretty small, it just feels like more than it is. You can let yourself get hit by the closer approaching laser into setting up a combo. This strategy is similar to crouch-cancelling at lower percents, but since lasers have so little hitstun you can pretty much always get away with just getting hit by the laser into an upsmash or uptilt, or moving. Using this strategy isn't too difficult. In friendlies, try to practice moving immediately after getting hit with a laser and soon you should be comfortable with the timing.

3. Approaching with shield. If you fancy yourself a more aggressive player or can tell that the Falco has a difficult time dealing with close up aggression, you can run towards them and put your shield up. This strategy is best when you are confident with your powershields, but by running and putting your shield up into a wavedash forward out of shield, you can catch a “campier” Falco by surprise. This allows you to comfortably navigate the stage at your own pace. The Falco can still grab you, so try not to abuse this too much. What I would recommend would to become comfortable moving with your shield naturally. Wavedashing forward and back out of shield while you move about the stage can help you become confident with using your shield and by putting it out for just a couple frames, repositioning, and moving again, you can avoid being caught by any stray moves. Using your shield quickly like this and being able to move in and out at will can greatly help an aspect of your general, all-around neutral.

4. Jumping over Falco's threat range with a move. This option is one of my favorites and can be done with most characters. Falcos will tend to shoot their lasers lower to the ground or at the height of a standing character. If you want to take a slightly higher risk than holding your ground and the Falco tends to be holding their position for at least a laser or two, this strategy can work. This strategy is meant to punish the time commitment that lasers require when Falco wants to use one. While Falco is jumping, shooting the laser, or landing, these time frames are easily punishable by most characters in the cast. If you catch on to your opponent's patterns with lasers, you can predict when they will commit to using a laser and punish it by jumping over the average laser heights (basically Falco's short-hop height), getting in close, and punishing with a move of your choice. I usually find with most characters you want to choose a move based on the situation: range, speed, safety, or any mix of the three. A couple examples for Fox would be (but definitely not limited to) his neutral-air, down-air, shine (in the air or landed), or landing and grabbing. There are two main counters to this strategy you want to watch out for: up-tilts and crouching. If your opponent catches onto what your plan is, they can use turn-around up-tilts to stuff your approaches. They might try crouch cancelling if they're fast enough, leading to scary shine follow-ups. If you notice them crouch-cancelling when you neutral-air, you should down-air/drill more often instead.

Playing Against Falco's Close-Quarters Strengths

Falco's punish game against Fox can feel limitless in terms of possible follow-up punish decision trees and damage/K.O. potential. While Falco has absolutely insane potential when he lands a hit, here are some tips and tricks that may or may not help. Whenever you're fighting someone with crazy speed (character or player), they're aiming to use that speed as an element of pressure if you're not as fast as them. Even if you feel like you can be fast, in the heat of a scuffle it can be hard to comprehend what is actually happening on either end. Your first goal, above all else should be something sweet and simple like this:

1. Slow down,
2. Assess what their plan is,
3. Form an answer in the moment or for the next time a similar situation arises.

You can shortcut this system of questions into "Am I being 'SAFe'?"

There is a chance some of you might think:

‘Slow down? Why would I want to slow down against a fast, combo-heavy character? This guy is pressing buttons and putting out moves like crazy! I definitely need to try and out-speed him.’

Sure, Falco can sometimes move seemingly fast, but if his speed is starting to feel threatening to you, you should try and figure out where the holes are in his pressure.

Anyone who has played SSBM, or really any input-heavy game for that matter, knows how frustrating and obnoxious it can be when the move you want to perform just doesn't come out, and some other move comes out. If you're buffering/inputting a move and get hit with certain moves with a higher priority of any kind, your buffered move can come out as something entirely different.

When any Falco is going crazy on you, your shield, or just flinging out moves it is your responsibility to calm down and look at what they are doing. SSBM is highly dependent on your willingness to take responsibility for yourself in-game. Here are some strategies you can try and use to help deal with his pressure. Keep in mind that for every answer and response you present to your opponent, there is almost always an answer to your response. If you try out a new strategy and your opponent is good/knows the answer to that strategy, just remember you can still use it as a mix-up from time to time.

1. Understanding when you can hold shield. Falcos love hitting your shield more than anything. You’ll know when you’re playing someone you can hold shield against when they aren’t grabbing your shield. It sounds obvious, but as long as they aren’t mixing in grabs that often, you can just continue to hold shield then move or counterattack. If they are mixing in grabs often, then you either should avoid holding shield as much, or learn how to sdi/di the throw follow-ups. Both Falco’s down-throw and up-throw are pretty easy to get out of. You just need to react to the grab animation and hold in the direction Falco is facing. Using sdi on the up-throw lasers is pretty good too if you get hit by any of them. Most follow-ups Falco has on his grabs aren’t that great anyway, he definitely has some options to follow-up some throws, but they’re not nearly as hard hitting as his move-based combos.

2. Shine of out of shield is almost always the best thing you can do. Whenever a Falco touches your shield, shining out of shield almost always wins you the situation. Any move that requires Falco’s hurtbox to come into contact with your shield or even just barely outside of your shield will lose to shine out of shield. This is a really, really, really, important technique to use in this matchup. It works well for two things:

Getting out of any offensive pressure.

Setting up counterattacks. Using shine out of shield offensively is a powerful strategy as well. You can run at the opposing Falco, hold shield to block their move, shine out of shield, get a knockdown if you caught them by surprise, and then perform a techchase/punish accordingly.

3. Using crouch-cancelling correctly. Falco has three options to deal with your crouch-cancel at low percents: shine, grab, and down-air. These three options should beat crouch-cancel, unless something weird occurs (more often than not in SSBM). However there are times when the opposing Falco decides to use a different move than these three. Pretty much any other move can be crouch-cancelled at lower percents, besides down-tilt and up-tilt. If Falco tries to neutral-air out of shield or use pretty much any other close range move (including close range lasers), you should be able to crouch-cancel at lower percents and setup with either an up-smash, dash forward grab, down-tilt, or anything else you can think of. Just remember that while you can crouch-cancel most of Falco’s moves, that after pretty much anything Falco puts out they can follow-up with a shine. So if you do successfully perform a crouch-cancel, just make sure that you’re prepared to follow-up with some sort of plan.

4. Moving. Falco’s hitboxes are powerful, in terms of damage and combo potential. One of Falco’s main exploits is his range. His moves are only going to hurt if they hit and as cheesy as it might sound, basing your game around not getting hit isn't a bad idea. Of course, getting hit is unavoidable, but minimizing the Falco's opportunities in the neutral can lead to you getting more opportunities. Watch the Falco's movement patterns. Ask yourself some simple questions:

- Are they holding position in a particular part of the stage? Can I use my movement to gain an advantage? (Either center stage or pressure them in the corner, which is comfortable for you vs uncomfortable for them?)

- Are they moving vertically? Can I use the platforms to help create an opening? Will being above or below them help my chances more often than not?

- How often are they changing position horizontally? Are they running around covering ground aggressively or keeping to themselves? What does this say about what they are aiming to do?

In my opinion, while the Fox vs Falco matchup can be played character vs character, like most matchups the player habits are incredibly vital. Getting hit just once on either side can lead to crazy, immense punishes. What most people tend to do is think about general habits, like teching patterns or spot-dodging and shining habits. Hopefully, this piece helped you to think about different forms of habits Falcos can establish and what tools you can take advantage of to give yourself an easier time.

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