Falco Lombardi

is a character and a primary protagonist of Nintendo's _Star Fox_ series. He is an anthropomorphic avian created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. He was introduced as a teammate and non-playable character in the original 1993 video game _Star Fox_. From each game, to varying extents depending on the entry, the player usually can’t control Falco in his Arwing. He is the cocky and self-assured ace pilot of the Star Fox Team, but deep down he cares deeply for his teammates.

Falco is a protagonist of several _Star Fox_ games, comics, and other media. He has been featured in several other game franchises, including as a playable character in every installment of the _Super Smash Bros._ series, with the exception of the original Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64. Falco has received a positive critical response, though his portrayal in the _Super Smash Bros._ series divided critics.

## Design

Falco Lombardi is an anthropomorphic avian with blue feathers, with bright red dots around his eyes, he has a sharp blue tail, which, much like Fox, appears to be very short in _Star Fox 64_ and _Command_. His eyes are consistently shown to be green. He will occasionally wear large tanker boots over his legs when fighting on the ground. Takaya Imamura from the Star Fox development team noted that the anthropomorphic styling was to help players feel empathy towards the characters in Star Fox. Falco’s outfit has changed in every game he appears in, but generally includes an orange or red jumpsuit under a pale gray flight jacket or combat vest and a headset. Nintendo has never officially cited Falco’s age or height in a game manual, but _Nintendo Power_ released a card featuring Falco, which stated that during _Star Fox 64_ he is 19 years old, his height is 1.88 SM and his weight is 74.84 SK. The SNES _Star Fox_ soundtrack booklet stated that Falco’s height is  and his weight is . Falco would be 27 in _Adventures_ (as _Adventures_ takes place just 8 years after the events of _Star Fox 64_), 28 in _Assault_ (the game manual stated 1 year had passed since the conclusion of _Adventures_), and 30 to 31 in _Command_ (exactly three years right after the conclusion of _Assault_).

Unlike the voice actor consistency with other Nintendo characters, such as Mario, several different individuals have contributed their vocals for Falco. He was first voiced by Daniel Owsen in Star Fox, in both the English and Japanese versions of the game. His most consistent English voice actor has been Bill Johns, who first portrayed the character in the localized release of _Star Fox 64 and Star Fox 64 3D._ He has since then consistently voiced Fox, supplying the character with his voice for _Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS_ and _Wii U_, _Star Fox Zero_, _Starlink: Battle for Atlas_, and _Super Smash Bros. Ultimate_. In both the Japanese release of _Star Fox 64_ and _Super Smash Bros. Melee_, Falco was voiced by Hisao Egawa.

### In _Star Fox_ series

Falco first appears in _Star Fox_ for the Super NES as the ace pilot of Team Star Fox, alongside Fox, Slippy, and Peppy. He and his allies face off against Andross and his empire. They also appear in _Star Fox 2_, a cancelled games released decades later. He and his allies later appear in _Star Fox 64_, fighting against Andross as well as Star Wolf, consisting of Wolf O'Donnell and notably Falco’s rival, Leon Powalski. In the game _Star Fox Adventures_, Falco is absent throughout most of the game, allegedly leaving to pursue being a freelance pilot. During the final boss against Andross, Falco comes back to assist Fox by shooting down Andross with Smart Bombs.

In _Star Fox: Assault_, Falco and his allies are hired to defeat Andross' nephew, Andrew Oikonny, who started a rebellion. They also face off against the Aparoid race, led by the Aparoid Queen, with assistance from Star Wolf.

### In other media

Outside of _Star Fox_ series. Falco Lombardi has appeared in four of the five _Super Smash Bros._ games as an unlockable playable character. In _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, he is light and has the best jumping height in the game, surpassing Luigi and Zero Suit Samus, and has fairly weak attacks that allow for a number of combos. His attacks include a blaster, a dash attack, a hexagonal reflector (informally called the "shine"), the "Falco Phantasm” attack, and the Landmaster tank as a "Final Smash". Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell, also from the _Star Fox_ series, have similar movesets. In competitive _Super Smash Bros. Melee_, Falco is considered to be one of the best characters in the game, utilized by a lot of top players, such as Joseph "Mango" Marquez, although his slower movements compared to Fox make him a little tricky to handle without practice. Falco also re-appears alongside the rest of the _Super Smash Bros._ cast in _Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U_ and _Super Smash Bros. Ultimate_, and is based on his _Star Fox Zero_ design. Unlike in _Brawl_, Falco’s "Final Smash" makes use of the Arwing vehicle instead. He also makes a playable appearance in the Nintendo Switch version of _Starlink: Battle for Atlas_.

## Reception

Since the release of the original _Star Fox_, Falco Lombardi has received generally mixed reception.  While being a fan-favorite character for most Star Fox fans, however most critics weren’t a fan of his “douchebag” personality, but critics did think he was a more useful character than Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad, and thought his appearance was a little bit stale compared to the others. However, he was praised by critics for being far less annoying than most other Star Fox characters, such as Slippy Toad, as well as IGN praising Falco for being a “cool character” in that game.

His appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee was also met with mixed reception, with a bunch of critics stating that he is “way too similar” to Fox in terms of how they play.

## Infobox (character)

- **name**: Falco Lombardi
- thumb
- JPEG of Falco
- **caption**: Artwork of Falco in Star Fox Zero
- **series**: Star Fox
- **firstgame**: _Star Fox (1993 video game), Star Fox_ (1993)
- **creator**: Shigeru Miyamoto
- **designer**: Takaya Imamura
- **species**: Avian
- **occupation**: Ace pilot
- **affiliation**: Cornerian Army
Cornerian Defense Force
Free-As-A-Bird
Star Falco
- **weapon**: Blaster
- **home**: Corneria