Captain Falcon: Show Me Your Moves

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The Most Falcon of Punches

To start off, let’s look at Captain Falcon’s fighting style.  Let’s get one thing out of the way: it isn’t that practical, and there aren’t many real world analogues that we could compare it to.  He’s got a little bit of kickboxing, and a little bit of karate…on the whole, he’s kind of like a really flashy, flippy MMA fighter, minus the ground game.  I would liken him to maybe someone like Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, famous for his “Showtime kick.”  Sound kind of familiar?

Of course, Captain Falcon’s most signature move is, without a doubt, the Falcon Punch.  This is a massive, lunging cross-punch delivered after charging energy up in his fist.  When he connects, fire explodes out of his arm and fist in the shape of a falcon.  While we may not be able to make fire shoot out of your hand (and I don’t think you’d want that anyway,) you can definitely learn how to deliver a powerful punch.

Punching hard is one part strength, and three parts technique.  No matter what level of fitness you’re at, you’ve got the ability to deliver a punch with some serious force behind it if you follow proper technique.  For a lunging cross, you want to lead with the leg opposite your power arm (left leg if you’re a righty, right leg if you’re a lefty.)  Take a good size step, keeping the front knee bent, and begin firing with the opposite arm.  Rotate your shoulders, then your hips rapidly, as you push off the ground hard with your rear leg (don’t let it come forward, just push off the ground with it.)  Finally, you fire your fist through, rotating it to a 45 degree angle (palm down) as you do.  Think about driving forward with your elbow, not your fist, and smashing through your target.

Feel free to shout a signature phrase as necessary.

If you want more info on powering up your punches, make sure you check out The Skills of Little Mac where we go into building punching power in depth!

Aerobatic Ace

If you’ve played as Captain Falcon in any of the Smash Bros. series, you’ll know that basically any time he leaves the ground or dodges he’s performing some kind of flipping maneuver.  Typically on the ground it’s a back or front handspring, or a dive roll.  In the air, it’s a back or front tuck (often with a bicycle kick thrown in for good measure.)

So, let’s take a look at some good how to videos!

How to Do a Front Handspring

The front handspring is probably the first flip trick you should start with.  I would recommend practicing this (and all flips) in a gymnastics gym with proper padding and possibly instructors to assist you.  Lots of gymnasiums have open nights or open hours where you can come and use the floor for a mat fee of some sort.  They also usually have a helpful instructor or two hanging around as well!

How to Do a Back Handspring

You can move to the back handspring after getting the hand of the front handspring, or you can move to the front tuck next.  Either way, I’d recommend getting the back handspring down before attempting the back tuck, so you get accustomed to the sensation of going upside down and backwards at speed, while still having your hands on the ground to give you a boost of confidence and safety.

How to Do a Front Tuck

The front tuck is pretty much what it sounds like.  You jump in the air, tuck into a ball, and flip forward, landing back on your feet again.  I’d recommend starting with the front handspring before the front tuck, so you can get used to the sensation of inverting while still having your hands on the ground as a confidence booster.

How to Do a Standing Back Tuck

The back tuck can be a pretty intimidating trick to pick up, to be sure.  Inverting yourself is disconcerting to begin with, and to do it without any hands on the ground to brace yourself with, while going backwards can be downright frightening.  It’s not as hard as it seems, however.  I’d definitely recommend you start with the back handspring and front tuck, first, but know that the back tuck is completely within your grasp.  I do recommend working with a spotting partner in an actual gymnastics gym when first starting out, though.

How to  Become a Professional Racer

So obviously F-Zero style vehicles don’t really exist (yet.)  However, the concept and thrill behind them has its roots in Formula 1 racing, which does exist and is quite exciting.  Now, be forewarned: While becoming a Formula 1 driver is entirely possible, and you can do it, it is a long, difficult, and expensive proposition.  Then again, almost anything worth doing usually is!

A lot of Formula 1 racers actually get their start in high end “Karting” (the cool professional term for go-kart racing.)  Now, don’t think this is like the go-kart rides you go on at the amusement park for five bucks a person!  These are expensive, high-end machines, often costing upwards of $8000.  Most provide their own kart, but you may be able to find an existing karting team that shares kart costs among members, and join up with them.

For awesome in-depth info on getting started in carting, check out this site:

How to Get Started in Kart Racing

From there, your best bet is to be in as many races as you can, and perform as well as you can at each one.  Seek to perpetually improve your skills and your standings, and soon you may be noticed by higher caliber teams and sponsors.  You won’t jump straight to the F1 circuit from karting, of course, but getting exceptional at karting will open a lot of doors for you in the open track racing world.

For a more detailed write-up with some great examples of professional racers and their paths to success, check out this article:

How to Become an F1 Driver

Show Me Your Moves!

That’s it for our overall skill coverage for Captain Falcon, but I’m going to leave you with a short lead-in to Thursday’s upcoming post as a final word.  Captain Falcon is, above all else, a high-end competitor.  He is constantly improving himself, and constantly outdoing others.  Competition and the desire to be the best drives him, and he always wants to see the best challenge that his opponents can offer him.  Adopt this attitude, and you’ll be well on your way.

Live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome!

Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace