Falco Lombardi is a member of an avian race and the ace pilot of the Star Fox team. Although exact details on Falco's past are unknown, he himself was once the leader of a gang of space runaways. He is a longtime friend and friendly rival to Fox McCloud, and was specially hired by him to be an expert member of his mercenaries-for-hire team, and flown in almost every mission they have made, usually retaining his brash, cool, and collected attitude. Being the ace pilot and seen air combat as his second nature, Falco's Arwing skills rivals if not surpasses even that of Fox's, and he specializes in flying rings around his foes. Despite this, however, his rebellious, brash and stubborn personality, taken from his time being the former leader of a gang of space hot rodders, causes Falco to instinctively take more daring chances than most other pilots of the team and consequently pays dearly for his brashness, getting at times caught in deadly situations in which even he cannot escape, and must rely on Fox for assistance, often to his chagrin, as seen in Star Fox and Star Fox 64. While Falco is not keen on discipline and authority, his loyalty to the Star Fox creed of justice and freedom has himself never let his team down, always using his natural hunting instincts to keep looking for shortcuts and alternate routes to get to the action much quicker. Falco debuted in Star Fox and appears in all Star Fox series games to date (although he was mostly absent in Star Fox Adventures), as well as the comics and the Star Fox Zero promotional anime, as a supporting protagonist. He also appears as a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. games starting with Melee. His Star Wolf team counterpart is Leon Powalski.