Falco

Falco (ファルコ, Falco) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. All Stars. Falco was officially confirmed on August 23, 2014, alongside Ness and Wario, coinciding with the North American and European release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. In Japanese, he is once again voiced by Hisao Egawa via re-recorded voice clips. In English, Mark Lund, Falco's voice actor from Star Fox 64 3D and Star Fox Zero, now voices him, replacing Dex Manley from Brawl.

Falco is currently ranked 50th out of 58th on the tier list, a significant drop from Brawl where he was ranked 7th out of 38, making this his worst placement in the series. The majority of Falco's moves have high speed and very favorable angles, granting him a strong combo game and juggling capabilities. These are further aided by his good grab game and strong jumps, with the latter remaining the highest in the game. His moves that lack speed or reach are also packed with power, giving his moves surprisingly high KO power; for example, his back aerial can reliably KO below 130%. He also boasts an effective grab game and out of shield game, with all of his throws possessing great utility and/or KO power, while the speed of his moves allows him to easily punish opponents out of shield.

However, Falco's neutral game has been drastically weakened, with several of the moves that made him a threat at all ranges being nerfed: his two staple moves, Blaster and down aerial, now being much slower. Both are also incapable of autocancelling in a short hop, eliminating Falco's ability to approach safely, whereas his back aerial has less reach and shorter duration, making it less effective at spacing. Finally, even though Falco benefits from the changes to hitstun cancelling as they make down throw much better for combos, it can no longer lead into the Gatling Combo or rack up damage on its own. In fact, the changes to game mechanics have hindered Falco overall, as the removal of DACUS (and the aforementioned Gatling Combo) and chain grabbing hurt his damage racking capabilities overall, while the introduction of rage makes him more susceptible to KOs, due to his light weight. His recovery, despite being long distanced and buffed overall, is still slow and is easily intercepted, making Falco vulnerable to gimps. In the end, the sheer weakening of the tools that gave him such a powerful neutral game (in some cases in exchange for higher power) and the changes to game mechanics have resulted in his tier drop from Brawl being the single largest, with his presence in this game being almost completely overshadowed by that in the last two games, resulting in extremely poor tournament representation and results in competitive play.