Fox and Falco are two of the most commonly played high-tiered characters in Super Smash Bros Melee, and our very own Joey "Lucky" Aldama is one of the best Fox players in the world at playing against Falco. He’s had one of the most famous friendships in the SSBM community with Cloud 9’s Mang0, one of the best Falco players of all time.

Lucky also had a rivalry for a couple years with G2’s Westballz, another SoCal Falco. We’re going to delve deeper into some aspects of the matchup from Lucky’s perspective, and get some insight on what he thinks Fox should do in certain scenarios. You can also check out how to deal with some other common scenarios and situations in this other article, Dealing with Falco Pressure as Fox.

VGBootcamp Vods - The Big House 4 - Westballz (Falco) Vs. Lucky (Fox) - Losers Top 8 - SSBM

Overview for the Matchup

I asked Lucky if he ever went into the Falco matchup with a specific gameplan, or if he plays different for different players or playstyles. Here’s what he had to say:

Lucky: “The matchup is really all about getting in to an uncomfortable space for Falco. I always try to slowly position myself to a range where if he moves forward with a laser I can full hop and land right on top of him with any aerial I want. Falco is all about controlling space as a character and if you can constantly position yourself in an uncomfortable space for him, you are at a huge advantage.

Thankfully most Falcos tend to be molded a lot after the same playstyle which makes things very easy for me. I don't think I change my game plan very much at all aside from maybe deciding how hard I commit after I attack a Falco player. Some can be very abusive with crouch-canceling or asdi and with those Falcos I just try to counter their crouch-cancel or asdi option much more than press on my stray hits.”

Lucky makes a good point that playing against Falco as Fox involves a lot of thinking about your opponent’s next step. Falco has a lot of good answers to Fox’s approaches. When Fox players tend to have a one-dimensional gameplan rather than preparing for their opponent’s next decision, Falco can get the upper hand easily. However, Fox does have the overall advantage especially when thinking about the next step.

Here is a good example Lucky gives of how each character could think one step ahead of each other with a mix-up solution.

Lucky: “That full hop I mentioned earlier is absolutely amazing at destroying Falco's momentum on an approaching laser on shield. Falco players like to go into an up-tilt after this if Fox full hops but they usually do it preemptively instead of reacting to when Fox full hops. So as a Fox you can usually wait until you see the up-tilt before you fast-fall to whiff punish it. If Falco waits though, his up-tilt range can destroy any option Fox chooses to come down with.”

Another difficult aspect for most Fox players can be getting grabs on Falcos. Falco has a strong punish game off of a spotdodge -> shine, which can be a pretty good and common option that Falco will utilize. It is important as a Fox player to keep this trick in mind, as well as thinking about when your opponent will want to spotdodge. When you notice your opponent is spotdodge heavy, just try waiting for a split second before following up your neutral or punish game. I asked Lucky what he thought about getting grabs on Falco and here is what he had to say:

Lucky: “Obviously dash dance grabbing a Falco aerial that doesn't have a laser in front of it is the easiest way to grab him but that doesn't happen often. Earlier I mentioned whiff punishing Falco's crouch-cancel or asdi option and doing this with grab is fantastic. Paying attention to what option Falco uses after being hit is really up to you as a player, though. Being able to distinguish it and actually react with a grab isn't exactly easy but who said top level melee was easy, haha!”

Using your Shield Against Falco

I asked Lucky about how he used shield in the match-up. Falco is known for having some crazy pressure, and I asked Lucky how he felt about holding shield in order to look for a hole in his opponent’s pressure in order to gain an advantage. His response:

Lucky: “Holding shield against Falco can be strong if you really know what you're doing. If you're just holding shield randomly trying to get away from a few lasers then you're going to have a bad time since his laser into grab or aerial mixup is amazing. I personally use running shield a lot to try and approach into that uncomfortable space to provoke an approach from Falco. Even then I won't hold my shield for long since I want my shield at full strength when dealing with Falco's mixup game.

I absolutely love using running shield past that uncomfortable space for Falco to the point where I am literally next to him and then power shielding his laser back at him. If I get this, I always go straight into a neutral-air, depending on the percent can go into a few things after the neutral-air and I think it looks amazing since it happens so fast.”

Gif by Kadano

Here Lucky is saying that he likes to use his shield in an aggressive manner, by using a running shield he is able to block either a laser or a move that a Falco might put out before Lucky is able to reach them. After shielding, he is able to counter-attack appropriately, Lucky’s choice being a neutral-air which can lead into a knockdown, shine, or even a grab at various percents. You can do these options, or even go for something else after block a move. If you powershield a Falco laser when you are right next to the Falco, you can also go for a grab or upsmash instead of an aerial. You want to think about your opponent’s percents before committing to an option in order to either attempt to go for a long combo (starting with a grab or neutral-air, etc.) or a stock finisher (grab -> K.O. move, upsmash).

Utilizing your Movement

Something that a lot of newer and intermediate Fox players don’t realize is how they can move out of shield in order to gain a better position on stage against Falco. I asked Lucky about how he felt wavedash-out-of-shield could be used in order to escape Falco pressure. Here’s what he had to say:

Lucky: “I really don't like wavedash-out-of-shield as a retreating option, since if you mistime it you usually set yourself up in the perfect range for a good Falco to continue pressure. The only time I really like [wavedash-out-of-shield] is when Falco is slightly too close to you and you can wavedash towards him with a shine in the startup lag of a laser or sometimes after the laser. This is heavily spacing-dependent though.”

Here Lucky is also talking about using his shield in order to make a more aggressive play. By waiting for the right moment (which is usually after either a high/poorly spaced aerial on shield or a shine on your shield) Lucky wavedashes forward out of his shield in order to punish a badly spaced or timed laser. You can definitely experiment in friendlies against Falco players to find out when it can be safe to move out of your shield in order to escape shield pressure or go more aggressive on your opponent.

Falco’s Underrated Strength

Falco has a lot of powerful in-game tools, in terms of both frame data and potential for a player to take the character pretty far. When we think about Falco, we also want to think about what Falco can do to a player’s mindset. Falco’s punish game can be incredibly devastating to both a character’s stock as well as the player’s momentum. His dominant neutral game can also be suffocating to inexperienced players. I asked Lucky if there was anything that Falco players do that can put him into a momentarily negative mindset or something that “tilts” him or other players that he notices. He told me:

Lucky: “Falco has a huge bag of tricks that can tilt you as a Fox player. The main one that I see a lot of people fall for is his auto-cancel back-air since he can instantly go into shine or up-tilt. You just need to have the patience to wait for the option that comes after the back-air and remember it's your own fault if you ran into anything they threw out after the back-air. Then make sure you punish that option accordingly instead of punishing the back-air itself the next time.”

Sets to Look For!

I asked Lucky about any specific sets he thinks about when it comes to this match-up. He modestly responded with:

Lucky: “I don't really think many come to mind for me. If you watch any of my recent sets vs Falco you'll see me apply a lot of the running shields and full hops that I have been talking about.”

So go ahead and look for any of Lucky’s recent sets against Falco. He is from the SoCal region, which is pretty heavy in terms of both top Falco players and tournaments (with vods!), some notable choices being Mang0, Westballz, Santiago, and Squid. Here are a couple of recent sets from Lucky against Falco.

MeleeEveryday - SSS #64 - DIG | Lucky (Fox) vs. Squid (Falco) - SSBM - Top 8, Losers Semis

MeleeEveryday - Smash Valley 7 - Dig | Lucky (Fox) vs. Ginger (Falco) - SSBM - Top 8, Losers Eighths

Concluding Thoughts about Falco in 2018 from Lucky

Lucky: “Space animals in general have been going through a weird patch in the current meta. Falco especially has fallen victim to a lot of flowchart game plans that are too one dimensional. If the opponent has a clear understanding of what the Falco is doing, then there is usually a clear counter and having a clear counter for your neutral is pretty bad. Mang0 looks like the only Falco who doesn't do this and hopefully some of the Falco players will follow him on how he approaches the character since I still believe Falco to be top 4 in the game when played at the highest level.”

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