Falco Lombardi

Falco Lombardi is one of the main characters from the Star Fox games.

Falco is a member of an avian race and ace pilot of the Star Fox team. He is also a good friend and friendly rival to Fox McCloud. Falco has appeared alongside his wingmates in every Star Fox game to date, and usually retains his brash, cool, and collected behavior. Although he's an ace pilot, Falco is sometimes caught in situations in which he cannot escape, and must rely on Fox for assistance, often to his chagrin.

Appearance
Falco is a blue-feathered avian with long blue tail feathers and red patches around his blue eyes. He also has an athletic and slender build, and is shown to be taller than Fox, as seen in the Super Smash Bros. games, and Star Fox: Assault. Falco's name comes from the name of the falcon genus. Although Falco is in appearance a bird, he seems to lack the ability to fly due to his human-like appearance. Falco is the tallest Star Fox team member.

His first name comes from the genus "Falco" for raptors that includes falcons, kestrels and caracaras. Falco himself looks like a red-throated caracara. His name "Falco" is the only English name from the original team which Dylan Culbert of Q-Games did not come up with. Instead, the name came from Imamura, the 2D artist and scenario designer. The original four members of the Star Fox Team are based on the team for the first game. Falco in particular is based on the model designer, Watanabe. Falco's surname is a reference made by Shigeru Miyamoto towards Paul J Lombardi in phrase of his special effect work on the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie.

His regular outfit consists of a usually orange G-suit (except in Star Fox, in which the suit is brown), white flight jacket and white or silver boots. In Star Fox Adventures, he was seen wearing a red bandana.

Personality
Falco is one of the most respected and skilled pilots of the Star Fox Team. His personality is often brash, overconfident and cocky and possesses an uncooperative attitude, though he is devoted to his wingmates. Falco has incredible nerves, and can accurately predict the tide of battle. He also tends to refer to his enemies as "prey," as shown in Star Fox Command, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Star Fox 64. He also prefers flying aircraft to other vehicles, as evidenced in the ending of the Aquas campaign in Star Fox 64, where he states that he would take the sky any day after the Blue-Marine managed to come through Aquas upon destroying Bacoon, as well as his activation quote when activating his Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl , Super Smash Bros. 4, and what he said to Fox in the Titania mission in Star Fox Zero, "Personally, I prefer the air". However, in the latter game during the Sector Alpha mission, if Fox manages to take out all enemies in the first room of phase 2, Falco will comment that the Walker is fine to work with even though it's technically not an aircraft.

Although overall during his career(s) on the Star Fox Team, he was significantly cocky, he has mellowed out over time. In some cases, he also has some degree of wariness regarding anything off. This was especially evident durin the mission to Sector X in Star Fox 64, where upon discovering that the base in the region was wiped out, he continuously voices his suspicions that something is wrong, especially wondering whotook out the base, and even proceeding to warn Fox to look behind him upon spotting the entity responsible for the destruction of the base, which turned out to be Andross's secret weapon Spyborg. As the team's ace pilot, Falco is the best Arwing pilot in the team, making him very handy in battle. However, he has a tendency to not follow advice (he dislikes authority), and also likes to be late and appear at the last minute to save the day (as seen in the end of Adventures, and in several missions in Command). Falco often joins and leaves the Star Fox team throughout the series of games.

After Star Fox 64, Falco leaves the team, returning at the end of Star Fox Adventures. Depending on the path in Star Fox Command, Falco may or may not leave Star Fox after joining, but he stays in the default ending. Ironically, in one of the Star Fox Command endings, Falco is the only original member to stay, even though he left the team several times throughout the story.

Falco's personality is very similar to Han Solo from the Star Wars series, whose starship is coincidently named the Millennium Falcon. The Nintendo Power Official Player's Guide for Star Fox Assault even compared Falco with Solo.

Abilities
Falco possesses a combination of high power, fast attack speed and great combo versatility. His recovery has also been buffed, now being among the longest-distanced. However, the few nerfs he received were enough to make his neutral game one of the weakest in the game. Blaster, formerly a notoriously powerful zoning tool, has been deprived of its high speed and autocancelling capabilities. Down aerial is also much slower, limiting its use in edgeguarding. Back aerial lasts for a shorter amount of time, removing Falco's most reliable spacing option at close range. Finally, the removal of DACUS prevents his up smash from being used in the Gatling Combo or as a finisher. As a result of his infamously weak approach capabilities, Falco has low representation and, with very few exceptions, poor results.

Trivia

 * In Farewell, Beloved Falco, Falco reveals to Katt that he has never been nor will he ever be interested in a relationship, and that he and Katt will never be in love or be a couple. Of course this could be a sign of denial on his part, but it remains uncertain.
 * Katt jests that she and Falco have known each other since kindergarten in the Star Fox 64 manga, and that Falco didn't have the very best behaviour.
 * If there is any mutual affection between Katt and Falco, it is notable as the only example of interspecies romance thus far in the series.
 * Falco is notably the only post-James era Star Fox Member who had ever gotten into a dogfight against Fox (albeit in Farewell, Beloved Falco), and the only of the post-James era Star Fox member to actually dogfight one of their own teammates.
 * In the final panel in "Goodbye, Fox", Falco is wearing boots identical to the ones worn by Captain Falcon. This is a reference to the F-Zero series.
 * In Assault, his preferred weapon is the Homing Launcher.
 * Falco is one of very few characters in the series who never wears gloves.
 * With 123 quotes, Falco is the second most talkative character in Star Fox 64 behind Peppy Hare. The 3DS release added seven new ones.
 * Falco is currently the only member of team Star Fox without any known relatives, hence why he keeps his past life secret and is hinted to find the Star Fox team his family.
 * His first name "Falco" is the genus name for birds of prey that includes falcons, kestrels and caracaras. Falco himself looks like a red-throated caracara.
 * Lombardi is an Italian surname, with origins in the Lombardy region of Italy.