Captain Falcon

The Bounty Hunter with a Mysterious Past
Captain Falcon
Real Name	Douglas Jay Falcon
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Age	37
Relatives	Blood Falcon (Clone) Kent Akechi (Supposed son) Jody Summer (Sister; GP Legend only)
Voiced by	Ryo Horikawa
Debut	F-Zero

Captain Falcon is a champion F-Zero racer and a bounty hunter who appears as the main character of the F-Zero series. No one knows how many criminals Captain Falcon has captured, but it's a large amount. In between races and bounty hunting, Captain Falcon spends his time practicing on his private tracks on islands off of Port Town. His full name is Captain Douglas Jay Falcon. Captain Falcon's rivals include Samurai Goroh, Zoda, Michael Chain, Blood Falcon, Black Shadow, Deathborn, Dai Goroh, and Don Genie.

Background

Main Series

Not much is known about Captain Falcon before his F-Zero career. The only known fact is that he's from Port Town. Rumors say that he used to be a captain of the Internova Police. When not racing he is an accomplished bounty hunter who has butted heads with multiple targets and few have escaped his grasp. With the amount of money he earned from his dual professions, he purchased his own chain of islands off the coast of Port Town. He uses the different islands to practice his racing skills.

Captain Falcon competed in the first F-Zero race in 2560. Competing against Pico, Dr. Stewart, and Samurai Goroh, Captain Falcon emerged victorious.

Captain Falcon continued racing in the F-Zero Grand Prix until the Horrific Grand Finale. During the Horrific Grand Finale, Captain Falcon was injured and hospitalized. Though he made a full recovery, some of his DNA was stolen. The DNA was used to create his clone, Blood Falcon. Several years after the accident, F-Zero racing was reinstated with new rules. The new tournament was called F-Zero X. Captain Falcon has gone on to win the F-Zero X Grand Prix several times, while thwarting his various rivals.

In the year 2571, he thwarted the plans of Black Shadow and Deathborn from rigging the Grand Prix by eliminating all the other skilled pilots as shown in the Story Mode of F-Zero GX. After winning the champion's belt, he then raced and defeated Deathborn in the underground circuit to win the champion's belt for the underground races. The two champion's belts then combined to release these mysterious beings called the Creators, who claimed to have created the world and planned to extract Captain Falcon's soul . However, Captain Falcon was able to defeat the Creators in a race, seemingly destroying them.

Within Captain Falcon's F-Zero GX bonus movie, Close Call! Captain Falcon, Captain Falcon is shown saving Mrs. Arrow's baby in a stroller from being hit by a train but rips the back of his pants at the same time and then leaves while trying to hide his polka-dotted underwear. He is also seen on a date with Jody Summer in John Tanaka's bonus movie, although the canonical status of these bonus movies is in dispute.

GP Legend

In the anime-inspired games F-Zero: GP Legend and Climax, little is known about Captain Falcon beyond his popularity in the Grand Prix. His machine is so popular that it is virtually the symbol of the F-Zero races. His true identity is Bart Lemming who often gives advice to Rick Wheeler and his friends.

He has his own story path in GP Legend. He was originally hired by an old friend to escort Dr. Clash in Mute City. However, he then encountered Zoda, who captured Dr. Clash, and began to pursue him with the help of Rick Wheeler, whom he met for the first time and was confused by his claims of having known Zoda for centuries, but they wound up accidentally capturing a decoy instead. He then encountered Samurai Goroh in Red Canyon while attempting to continue his pursuit, but Goroh accused Falcon of poisoning him and raced him. Goroh ran off afterwards.

Captain Falcon returned to Port Town empty-handed, only to be confronted by Blood Falcon. He beat Blood Falcon in a race, but his racer broke down afterwards. Lisa Brilliant then offered her help to him, and whether or not Blood Falcon was beaten on the first try, he either accepted her help and then defeated Blood Falcon in a race with Jody Summer's help in the Sand Ocean, or he refused her help and decided to fix his machine with a boost blast, realizing that he had only one lead left. Afterwards, Captain Falcon made his way to Lightning and raced Black Shadow, whom Falcon knew had captured Clash due to his being Blood Falcon's master. After defeating Black Shadow, Jody was able to save Dr. Clash and thanked Captain Falcon for the evil he prevented Black Shadow from unleashing. But Captain Falcon insisted he was only doing the job he was hired for and resumed his anonymous career as a bounty hunter.

In F-Zero Climax, Captain Falcon's alias Berserker is unlockable. After Bart passes down the mantle of Captain Falcon to Rick Wheeler (along with the Blue Falcon), he takes on a previously-used alias known as the Berserker and races in the Red Bull.

Blue Falcon

• Number: 07
• Creator: Unknown
• Engine: BF2003x4
• Weight: 1260kg
• Body: B
• Boost: C
• Grip: B

Captain Falcon has raced in the Blue Falcon since his first F-Zero race. It's easily one of the most recognizable machines on the track. Captain Falcon hopes to upgrade to the Neo Blue Falcon soon.

Abilities

Within the F-Zero world, Captain Falcon is known as a great F-Zero racer and bounty hunter, although there is uncertainty regarding his physical abilities due to Captain Falcon never being shown in action in the games barring action in the Blue Falcon.

The Smash Bros. games show Captain Falcon as a very speedy character, and being capable of several powerful attacks which surround parts of his body with a flaming aura. It is unknown if these abilities are canon in the main F-Zero continuity, although the Falcon Punch is mentioned in the lyrics of the song played over the credits of F-Zero GX's Story Mode.

Captain Falcon has the following special moves in the Super Smash Bros. games:

• Standard Special Move: Falcon Punch- Captain Falcon will briefly charge up this attack and then punch forward. It is a powerful punch surrounded by flames which take on the shape of a falcon.
• Up Special Move: Falcon Dive- Captain Falcon will flip into the air. If he meets up with a character in the air, he will grab the character and then release an explosion before tossing Falcon back. This move can be repeated indefinitely as long as Captain Falcon as targets to grab.
• Down Special Move: Falcon Kick- Captain Falcon releases a flaming kick, either sliding along the ground or coming down to ground if used in midair.
• Side Special Move: Raptor Boost- Captain Falcon rushes forward and released a flaming uppercut.
• Final Smash: Blue Falcon- Appearing only in Brawl. Captain Falcon summons the Blue Falcon and initiates a sequence of Captain Falcon using the Blue Falcon to hit the closest player on a generic racetrack, automatically knocking out the opponent.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• The Blue Falcon has made appearances as a toy in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, as a furniture item in Animal Crossing: Wild World and as kart that could be used in Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• In the Great Cave Offensive of Kirby Super Star, Falcon's Helmet appeared as a treasure.
• In Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi design based on Captain Falcon's appearance could be unlocked by scanning his amiibo.
• In Super Mario Maker, an 8-bit version of Captain Falcon appeared as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes that Mario could transform into. His costume could be gained as random prize for completing a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or harder, or by scanning his amiibo.

Super Smash Bros.

Captain Falcon has appeared as playable fighter in every game of the Super Smash Bros. series, appearing in Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Due to F-Zero being a racing series, Captain Falcon did not have fighting abilities to draw upon, the Smash Bros. develops invented his moveset from scratch. From Melee onwards, one of his alternate costumes is based on Blood Falcon, and the character Ganondorf has a moveset that is based on a clone of his.

In the original Super Smash Bros., he was unlocked by beating the game on 1-P Mode in under twenty minutes. In Brawl, Captain Falcon is unlocked by playing 70 brawls, beating Classic Mode on Normal or greater in under twelve minutes or by getting him to join the party in "The Subspace Emissary". In all other games, he is part of the starting roster. In Ultimate, he could be unlocked through the game's variable-based system of unlocking characters, or by awakening him in Adventure Mode. The even-numbered games (Melee and the 3DS/Wii U Super Smash Bros.) are the only games where he is part of the starting roster.

In the 3DS/Wii U game and Ultimate, Captain Falcon's helmet and outfit have also been made available as a costumes for Mii Brawlers.

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

Captain Falcon has also been represented by three unlockable trophies in Melee, two trophies (one depicting his Final Smash) and three stickers (from F-Zero, F-Zero X and F-Zero GX) in Brawl, two trophies (plus a trophy of his Final Smash in the Wii U game) in the 3DS/Wii U game and a Fighter Spirit in Ultimate.

Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

Within the story of Brawl's Adventure Mode, "The Subspace Emissary", Captain Falcon first appeared on the Island of the Ancients to help Olimar fight a giant R.O.B.. After arriving in the Blue Falcon, he leaped out and took out the R.O.B. in a single punch, but he accidentally killed many Pikmin as he landed. Captain Falcon then explored the island with the more fretful Olimar. They arrived at the edge of the island and witnessed Diddy Kong saving Donkey Kong and fighting off Subspace enemies atop the Smash Skiff that was heading for the island. Captain Falcon seemed impressed and then leaped onto the Smash Skiff with a reluctant Olimar to help them. This eventually took them into the Subspace Bomb Factory. After Ganondorf set off all the Subspace Bombs in the factory, Captain Falcon led the evacuation of the heroes and called in the Falcon Flyer as their escape craft. After escaping the island's destruction, they united with the main party of the game to go into Subspace and take on Tabuu.

Ultimate: Classic and Adventure Modes

In Ultimate, his Classic Mode route is called "Up Close and Personal" and is themed around Captain Falcon fighting close-range combatants. In Adventure Mode, Captain Falcon appeared in the opening cutscene for "World of Light". He was shown among the fighters assembled to face Galeem and his Master Hand army. Once Galeem fired the beams of light, Captain Falcon was seen attempting to leap into the Blue Falcon, only to be hit by a beam of light in midair. He could later be found and awakened within the racetrack area found in the eastern part of the Light Realm's western continent.

In Other Media

• Captain Falcon was featured in a four-page comic that was included in the F-Zero instruction manual (thus making it likely canon). He is shown collecting several bounties before going to compete at the F-Zero racetrack and uses a small laser pistol which is not shown in the games.
• 

  Bart Lemming in the anime
  Captain Falcon was a recurring character in the F-Zero GP Legend anime who fought against Black Shadow and the forces of the Dark Million organization. His alterego is Bart Lemming, but it is later revealed that he is actually Jody Summer's brother Andy who was believed dead after saving Jody from a missile fired by Zoda. He also assumes the identity of Berserker to infiltrate the F-Zero Committee and stop the Dark Million's plans. He had his Falcon Punch from the Smash Bros. games. In this series, Captain Falcon is a title passed down by the defenders of the light, and in the final episode Captain Falcon supposedly dies in an explosion, sacrificing himself by using a Falcon Punch to prevent Black Shadow from escaping the explosion. Afterwards Rick Wheeler, his friend and rival as well as the anime's main character, becomes the new Captain Falcon. He appears as Berserker in the game F-Zero Climax, which means he may have survived his supposed death.