Captain Falcon

is a fictional character and the protagonist in the racing video game series F-Zero by Nintendo. Within the series, he is a mysterious racer who is among the best on the circuit, as well as a renowned bounty hunter. A different version of the character serves as the protagonist of the F-Zero: GP Legend anime series. In addition to appearances in spin-offs in the F-Zero series, he has appeared in other Nintendo properties such as the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, which are the source of his "Falcon Punch" technique. Despite the dormancy of the F-Zero series, Falcon remains one of the most recognizable and well-received Nintendo characters. He has received mostly positive reviews from critics, especially for his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Creation and characteristics Being apparently inspired by Speed Racer, Max Rockatansky, and mainly Judge Dredd; Nintendo originally meant Captain Falcon to be the flagship character of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but this never eventuated and Falcon was rarely seen nor recognized in Nintendo media compared to Star Fox's Fox McCloud. He is described as an accomplished F-Zero pilot and renowned bounty hunter. In F-Zero X, it is rumored that his title of Captain came about because he was once an officer on the Internova Police Force. By the age of 36, Captain Falcon had built a reputation as one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy, one that has earned him many enemies. This constant danger forces him to live in a sanctuary on a chain of islands off the coast of Port Town, where he spends most of his time. His desire for solitude is such that even after winning a race, he takes his award and quickly dashes to his home. Each of his home islands contains a different racetrack, allowing him to keep his racing skills at their peak while remaining relatively safe. In 2017, an interview with Akinori Sao F-Zero artist Takaya Imamura revealed that Captain Falcon was almost the ambassador of the SNES. "Captain Falcon was originally the mascot character for Super NES. Even most people at Nintendo don't know that. When development of F-ZERO was almost complete, I was doing a bunch of illustrations and someone expressed a desire to make a mascot character for Super NES, with a name like Captain Something.