Mr Game and Watch Matchup

Mr. Game and Watch



General Discussion

This matchup is crazy. GaW has been given divine powers compared to his melee form. His shield poking, aggravating, bair combined with powerful smashes and a tech chase that can fool many and the ability to kill pika at 0% makes this matchup crazy. Pika has finess and the ability to combo thoug. Think of it as the patriots vs. the colts during the 2006 playoffs in the NFL.

Pika's Advantages

1.) Speed
2.) The ability to combo
3.) A projectile
4.) Thunder

Pika's Disadvantages

1.) Gaw can absorb the tjolt and thunder
2.) Can get tech chased out of the grab
3.) Less Priority
4.) Spacing issues

Strategy for Winning

Your Tjolt and the Bucket

To start off this guide I would like to talk about the projectile aspect of this match. No matter what stage you start off on you are not going to want to use your tjolt. GaW can use his bucket to absorb you tjolt and thunder. If he absorbs any of them in any order in any way 3 times and hits you with the oil that comes out are dead instantly. No matter what percentage you are at. Some people will argue that 3 tjolts won't kill you, but they are mistaken. It can. When Gaw uses his bucket the tjolt will diasappear, but the thunder will continue to fall. Once the bucket is full. all GaW has to do is hit down+b and it sends out a wave of oil that has the range of about marths ftilt. The startup time for this oil bucket is very little and hard to see coming. Also, when they pull out their bucket, it has significant lag time. This means you can try to bait them to using the bucket to get the occasional usmash in or any attack you feel like doing since their bucket is out and they are vulnerable.

If you do fill up the bucket then here are some things to watch out for. They are going to try and set you up for a for sure kill. This means either dthrow you to a tech chase oil bucket, or wait till you land a move that has horrible lag and then use it. But, they will probably not use it if you have over 90% damge. They will try and save it till your next life. But if you are on your next life then its game time. What you can do now, since their bucket is full, is keep using tjolts and stay away as best you can. They aren't going to absorb your tjolts becasue the bucket is already full!!! Punish that. You can also try and mindgames them into using the bucket. You can dodge or shield it.

So basically what I am trying to say is that when you are using your tjolt to spam moves or the thunder to tech chase or even just to thunder, don't. The only time you use them is when you know that the bucket is not going to be used or when you want them to pull out the bucket so you can punish them.

Thunder

As mentioned before the bucket can absorb your thunder. BUt there are still plenty of mindgames and uses for thunder to win the match. Whenever you hit a gaw into the air you can always go underneath them and make it look like you are going to use your thunder. They will pull out a bucket. Then you can just laugh at them. No but seriously. I can't tell you how many times i've done this and then when they bring the bucket back into hiding I thunder then get a free hit.

Also, just because gaw can absorb any electric attack it doesn't mean you don't use them anymore. It means you now have to learn how to time it properly. Thunder is a powerful killer...especially if you get it to hit near the cloud or near the chu.

GaW's Airiels

Any good gaw will use every airiel efficiently. The uair can keep an enemy in the air and make it harder to land and start an offensive. The fair can kill. Has good priority and good range. The bair shield pokes and has next to 0 ending lag. The dair can poke through platforms and makes it near impossible to juggle in the air sometimes. But lets go into more detail.

The uair. This move, if used directly under an opponent, will push that opponent way back up into the air. GaW can jusggle you this way. It does not cause any damage, but it gets very annoying. My advice against this is to skullbash away and then use your qac to get out of it. The point of it is to get you to land near or off the edge.

The next thing is the fair. Do not challenge this move in the air. It has priority over you. It can kill, and is very effective. When the gaw is using this just back away or airdodge though it. Or, you can get behind them or above them and attack them that way. The landing lag from this move can be devasting for any gaw player so be sure to take advantage in any way of this move's lag.

The bair is by far his best airiel and one of his best approaches. Landing lag is nill. Startup time is great. Priority is very good. And it shield pokes. If a gaw is coming at you with this there is nothing really you can do but to learn how to roll away or shield it. If you decide to shield then you better powershield it. Otherwise you will get hit even though you are shielding. IF can learn how to time it well with the shield then you should be able to grab out of it at times. You could also try to tjolt it but i think the bair cancels the tjolt so sorry. GaW's bair *****.

As for the dair. There's nothing that the thunder can't fix. If thundering doesn't work and he is still landing dair's on you then here are a few tips. One, roll away. Two, spotdodge. If you are getting hit when spotdodging then you need to time it better. Trust me, you can spotdodge this move. In fact I mostly spotdodge it to try and get a free hit on gaw when they miss you and get stuck in the ground. Other than that do not try to fight it with an utilt or usmash or uair. It will wreck you.

Your Airiels

The Pika's airiels are of most importance here in this matchup since this mathchup will more than likely take place mostly in the air. Pika's bread and butter in this one are his fair and uair. Combo with uair>nair. Fair>ground attacks. Use your fair to poke at him to. Fair is your best friend. As for the bair, it is also good to use, but not that much. I personally love the bair. When its working im usually winning. But it has landing lag sometimes and I would rather not take that chance at getting hit by any type of smash or bair. I rarely use dair here. I use it whenever I have jumped out of the way and gaw has used a diar himself and is vulnerable from atop.

Any tips I can give you wouldn't help. As a pika user you must have a basic knowledge of pika's airiels and what you can/can't do with them. I am just telling you which ones are the better in this matchup.

GaW's Smashes

Now in this section I will talk about the smashes. Duh. Not going to go real in depth but you will see.

The usmash. It can kill pika at 80% easy. Usually used as a hyphen smash or a tech chase out of a dthrow by gaw. (will get to that in the next section). Not too much to say about this other than its easy to see coming. When countering this, you can't. Try and space with your fsmash or shield it. Trying to spotdodge will usually result in a miss by you and a hit with the usmash by gaw causing you a lot of unnecessary damage. The timing on the usmash can be changed by the user.

The fsmash. Whenever I try to spotdodge this move it usually results in an epic fail. The hitboxes on this move remain longer than any move I have ever encountered. Not only that it is vey freaking powerful. Not too much range . About as much as our dtilt. So learn how to space against this move. Always shield or roll away. Never spotdodge.

The dsmash. It can kill vertically AND horizontally. Cazy huh. Usually used out of a dthrow by gaw or whenever they want to just use a good move against you. Try not to roll around gaw too much or they will start using their dsmash. Then you will be in trouble. you can spotdodge this move though. But, it has minmal lag so trying to punish will be dificult. I recommend going airiel with a ff fair on this one or a bair. Heck even a dair would work. Just get into the air and you will have the advantage.

Grabbing

When gaw grabs you they will try and tech chase you afterwards. You must learn how to tech the throw. If you hit the R/L trigger before you hit the ground you will be able to tech the throw and roll away. Depending on you gaw will do one of a few things. The first is, if you are bad at teching, he will simply dsmash after dthrowing you. The second is he will try and teech chase you with an usmash and try to kill you. Very effective. This means be unpredictable when rolling away from him. Third is try to jab you and then grab you again. I once saw a gaw chaingrab a snake using this dthrow>jab>grab>dthrow>etc... to about 85% from 30ish%. it was crazy. Thats what happens when you do not tech the throw. Basically what it comes down to is learning how to tech and be unpredictable when rolling. Lots of practice.

Important Note: DI towards gaw's back when he dthrows you

When you grab gaw always try to dthrow>utilt/usmash. You cannot cg gaw . If you do fthrow gaw then chase after him then do a sh nair. It sometimes works. But I mostly try to usmash the gaw. Everyone has their own methods though.

Tilts

Nothing much to say here about hiis tilts. They aren't really anything speacial. They can kill of course. The only really special tilt is his dtilt. Good startup and descent range. The ftilt has terrible ending lag and the ultilt has terrible range. There really isn't any strategy surrounding the tilts. Just try not to get hit by them.

Edgeguarding

When gaw is going to try and edgeguard you he can do a few things. most of the time he will jump out after you and try to use his fair since it has good knockback/priority. He will never use any other airiel. Maybe nair. But no. Never. As for his specials, if he has the bucket then he can use it. If not he can use his hammer to try and get a 9. It has happened before. With these edgeguarding moves you have to space yourself in air air by trying to predict where he is going to be. This shouldn't be a problem since the qa is so versatile and hard to edgeguard.

When he is ledgehogging you he can use his double jump to trick you into hitting a/r/b and making you roll under him. Do not. He will use his dair on you. The best thing for you do do when stalling is to dtop straight down and qac once back onto the ledge. When getting back on, use your qac to go up and/or around gaw and avoid his ledgehogging.

As for you trying to edgeguard, thunder is not an option or tjolt unfortunately. The can be absorbed and his recovery is very good. For those who do not know about his recovery, he can be near the bottom of FD and still use his upb to grab the ledge. Plus it turns into an umbrella afterwards so it has good horizontal range too. So, thais being said, it is nearly impossible to edgeguard gaw. If you get close to him he can hit you with a fair or just go by you and grab the ledge and start edgehogging.

Also, when he is on the ledge and you are sending tjolts at him or trying to hog him, often you will see gaw drop fom the ladge and use their nair. Do not get to close or you will get hit by it. When trying to get back on they will either jump off>sh>bair onto the stage. You can just shield or fsmash him. Or they can hit the jump button and go into the air above you. Let them try and get away or use their dair on you. If they use their dair then perfect. Spotdodge and punish.

A good tip when edgeguarding is try to save your second jump and just go after him with a nair and if it does not work then use your second jump to a qa recovery.

Killing

The best killing move by pika is the thunder. The only way you can use your thunder without it getting absorbed is by tech chasing an usmash/utilt. Those are prbably your best bets at killing too. Gaw is a really light character so killing is not going to be that painstaking. Save your fsamsh since it isn't really needed for spacing. Save it for killing gaw.

When gaw is at high percents, let him come to you. Or wait to use your hyphen smash. Either way, be patient. If he gets to high percentage don't fret. Wait to use your utilt or usmash or fsmash. Preferrably, the fsmash. Most of his ground moves hve lag. Wait till he uses a smash or his utilt/ftilt then attack. Spotdode everything except the fsmash, usmash.

Now as for gaw killing you...its easier for him. He can kill you at 85% no problem with his usmash and fsmash(charged). His 9 hammer and oil bucket kills at 0%. The lesson that one learns is to stay away from gaw when you hit 80%. Time to start spacing him better than you have been. He can tech chase his dthrow into an usmash. His fsmash is so disjointed that you really have to learn how to spotdodge it or shield or you will ge hit by it and die. The good thing about his smashes though are that they are punishable if missed. Also, his kills can easily be spotted. Meaning you know when he is going to use them. They are a little situational. Except for the usmash. Watch out for the hyphen smash.


Helpful Video's

Soon to Come

Overall Matchup

Pika:Gaw
45:55

don't use t-jolt unless you know he will be surprised, same with thunder, only use it when he won't be able to recover enough to use bucket... fair approaching works well, but be prepared for a tech chase when you do get grabbed...GaW's uair really throws off thunder approaches/ uses...like if he pushes you up when you do a running thunder, to edgeguard or something, it can easily lead to a death for the pika. Also, his d-smash kills really early, like in one of my matches against stealth, i got him twice with dsmash sweetspotted for kills at 85%...upsmash is also a good one to look out for, since it has a significant start up lag, and cancels tjolts. turtle approaches are easier to avoid at least a part of due to pika's size, but that certainly does not make them less of a threat. d-tilt can cancel f-mash, f-tilt, and t-jolt that i know of off hand, so watch out for that as a spacing measure...anther said something that i thought was interesting, in that he said his way of avoiding a bucket was to t-jolt once per life, starting with the second, thus avoiding the chance of an instant death that way, just something noteworthy IMO

two words define this matchup- defense and mindgames. if you DARE go on any big offense, prepare to get ***** so hard. this also relies heavily on mindgames. waiting and watching the G&W, figuring out what he does, when he does it, etc. then start baiting and feinting. wait for your opening, then strike, and strike hard. you can SHAD through bair spammers so it isnt to bad. the key can be knocked out by a perfect usmash, and G&W up b can be stopped by fsmash. just dont expect those to always work. dsmash of G&W can be spammed like none other. and if you get the chance, where you think it is helpful, feed a tjolt, then run up and usmash him. do it only late in a match pretty much. watch out for the grab tech chase. pro tip-this is something i learned from a G&W player- it is the tendency (not garaunteed, but seems to work 90% of the time unless they are aware) for a player to tech towards the middle of the stage. BREAK YOUR HABIT IF YOU HAVE ONE. if he grabs, tech either in place or towards the edge. he will miss the first couple, then starts the mindgames. which way are you going to tech? will you tech? this really helps with the aweful tech chase to usmash kill at 70 (WTF????? 70????). also watch out for the fast but still lethal fair. the fsmash lingers for an hour, dont expect to spot dodge or punish it if you are in front of him very easily.

This is a hard matchup for pikachu. Pikas edgeguarding becomes useless since he can bucket thunder, and outrange your nair with his fair. You cannot aproach G&W really, unless you run and shield, because most G&W will bair, but it could shield stab you...which is very irritating. Only time to use T-jolt is when he is in his last stock at mid-high percents so you can pressure him without fear that he will gimp one of your stock if you use t-jolt accidentally by habit. D-smash is VERY VERY spammable, so be alert and roll or QA away. Nothing you have out-prioritizes key (at least to my knowledge) so if he is above you, you have to wait for him. Expect a key or air-dodge and air chase them, so you can get a free hit or grab.

If you are recovering low, watch out for the ambitious G&W that will run off and fair you for a death. It has happened to me before. All of G&W's smashes can kill you -100%, and you can kill him with F-smash at around 100 from the middle of Final D. In this matchup, pikachu THRIVES on getting quick hits and retreating. Rack up all the damage you can and wait for an opening and u-smash or f-smash.

I hope anther can get some new vids of him vs Needle of Juntah, because Needle is supposed to be one of the better G&W and anther is anther.

Well mind games are definently needed, and ALWAYS switch up offense and defense.

QACing into a Dsmash will work if you get behind him, he's can't do anything about it, it pretty much blows his turtle away.

Usmash can outprioritise it. but it must hit perfectly on the uppermost part. ie might as well not do it.

G&W is another character that you have to be careful about QACing into. His down smash is very quick and can punish very well.

for more info here, check that pikachu weekly character thing, there's some good info in there

One of my worst matches. If I can pick any character besides the Ice Climbers I would want to leave Brawl, it would be G&W.

Battle Attributes I Have noticed.

1. G&W grab into a Down Smash or Up Smash is so **** annoying.
2. Most G&W would love more then anything else then to absorb a t-jolt. When a G&W is at a high percentage, bait him with a t-jolt, as it is making its way towards him, QAC or simply run to him and connect with a siding up smash or neutral aerial since the bucket has some ending lag.
3. Don't expect to win a priority war against this character. Stick and move!
4. G&W forward smash had little start up lag. On WFC if you're dodging as soon as the animation starts, you're hit, and hit hard.
5. Only way I can take out a G&W is to get them used to a "fake pattern" of fighting, and then take them out when they try to counter it. For example, charge a G&W and then charge an up-smash, normally the character will spot-dodge or shield anticipating the attack. They will soon notice you haven't attacked, but by then it is normally too late.
6. If a G&W is recovering low to the stage, chase above him with a Down Aerial to anticipate his up-B recovery.

I hope to learn myself some great ways to deal with this two dimensional character.

Os

Always be on the look out for the Dair+Dsmash combo.

...and I know this is a "Ninjas can't catch you if you're on Fire" piece of advice, (cookie if you get the reference) but:
Game & Watch can't defend absorb Thunder if his bucket is full. Also, I managed to survive a bucket of nothing but jolts before.

I noticed that on the guide they have over there on G&Ws bucket that the tjolt was on the killable at 0% with no DI, but that it was possible to avoid with DI. Still hard though.

good stuff people. keep it coming.

if G&W somehow gets a full bucket, spam him like no tomorrow and make him wish he didn't have a full bucket.

Spamming tjolt on his last life is great to do too when he's at high percent. Now you just need to be to that point. G&W is not the fastest thing there is, so you can strike him in his post lag he gets. I like grab first so he can't shield. You lose in the aerial fight. So only use aerials if you know it'll be useful.

one more thing i recently noticed, idk if anyone mentioned it but dont try to punish the usmash right away since it has crazy IASA frames from it, so delay your punishment. hes right about fsmash and usmash having startup lag but their ending lag is small so watch out for both

G&W has some bad lag from fair but that's it for his aerials. If you see bair coming jump over and dair/fair it from above. His 3rd filling up with bucket has little lag unlike the first two. And always be weary about hammer #9 but there is lag after it. Dash attack beats anything you have.

If G&W is bucket happy fake him in bringing his bucket out. Fair to whatever just get damage on him then kill him with fsmash or usmash. I recommend never using fsmash to damage him.

G&W's n air can block t-jolts.In case anybody didnt know.

Yay! G&W! I can finally contribute with my vast knowledge of G&W (my other main, along with pika).

Both characters are relatively light (G&W is second lightest after jigglypuff) with powerful smashes, which means pika and G&W probably won't live past 100%. Pikachu has the speed advantage (duh) so he can just run away to reassess the situtation should things get bad (oh, they will).

Firstly: Spamming

G&W's can bucket both your tjolt and thunder. Any combination of tjolt and thunder will be almost a guaranteed KO at 0% for pika. The bucket does have significant lag time, so if you feel lucky, you can tjolt close to G&W to bait out the bucket and do a running usmash while G&W is suffering from the bucket lag. However, G&W has one of the best projectile defences the in game and he can cancel out tjolt with any aerial, any tilt, any smash, and jab (I think). I prefer to use tilts to cancel out tjolt if my opponent is at close range. One MAJOR thing to note: G&W does not lose his "bucket points" when he loses a stock. So if he has two "bucket points" and you kill him, he will still have two "bucket points" when he respawns. If you do manage to fill up his bucket (which you shouldn't), spam like crazy. Thunder gives G&W two bucket points while tjolt only gives G&W one bucket point.

Secondly: G&W's dthrow into **** combo

Pikachu can NOT buffer a roll to escape the dthrow into **** combo. You HAVE to tech, which screws you over. The key to avoiding the dthrow into usmash that kills you at 70%/ bucket face which kills at 0% / "9" which kills at 20%/dsmash which kills at 85%, is to be unpredictable. Mix up teching in place and tech rolling different ways. As a G&W user, on the first dthrow I get (against someone I've never played before), I always dsmash to see if they can tech, which way they roll, or if they use get-up attacks. One more thing, Pika has relatively small roll length (found on the G&W boards, roll length is relative to the rest of the cast), so G&W can react to which way you roll, rather than have to predict it. I would definantly shield after your roll, since a G&W will attack 90% of the time out of a techchase. If you can powershield whatever attack comes your way (usmash, dash attack, judgement hammer, and in odd cases, dair), you should be able to punish the endlag. If you notice the G&W trying to grab you (since you are shielding his techchase attacks), jump? jab? anything that's really quick.

Thirdly: Aerial Game

G&W has a superb aerial game with lasting, disjointed hitboxes with high priority. Pika has a hard time in the air against G&W and I don't know how to get by it. =( G&W's bair has always been my staple move that I could rely on to plow through any aerial approaches. Bair also eats away at your sheild, and it will almost always shieldpoke if your sheild isn't full. Nair also covers above G&W and I believe it autocancels. If you do an aerial approach (I wouldn't suggest approaching aggressively), try a QAC->aerial and then a QAC to get the hell out of there. G&W's dair will beat your uair.

Fourthly: Edgeguarding

Pika doesn't have much to edgeguard G&W with. If pika does thunders or tjolts, G&W can bucket them. If Pika challenges G&W with an aerial, G&W can defend himself with fair, bair, nair. If not outright killed, G&W will almost always make it back to the stage (just like pika). When being edgeguarded, G&W will usually go for a fair, which has nice knockback and KO potential. Just predict and airdodge. Occasionally they will go for a panspike with Chef (where he throws bits of food at you), but thats rarely used.

Strategy:

I would suggest playing defensive against G&W and punish his mistakes. If you rush gung-ho into G&W, you will be shut down and brutally punished for it. G&W's fair has considerably lag and can be easily punished, however most G&W users use that for off-stage edgeguarding/kill move. More commonly used it dair. When G&W is above you, he will dair 90% of the time. That means shield and punish. Be sure to shield BOTH hits, one has he plunging from the sky and another when he hits the ground. It has some lag that allows pika to grab, tilt, JC usmash, or dsmash. BEWARE of G&W's lasting hitboxes. Almost all of his moves last an absurdly long time. Note: You cannot spot dodge a fsmash. Another note: G&W has an incredible slow roll, so if he tries to roll, QAC beside him and dsmash or whatever.

This match-up will rely on mindgames and such. Use all you tricks to mess with the opponent.

I haven't tested this out yet, but I'm throwing it out there anyways. G&W's up b produces a "puff" of air in the initial frames, so if you are standing beside him, and he uses up b, you will be launched into the air (you will not receive damage however). Why is this important? If you QAC into him and he uses up b, you could be launched into the air in the helpless state/fallspecial. G&W could then proceed to juggle you indefiantly with uair and kill you. This isn't confirmed, but I've used this against other characters before and its worked (Ness uses PKT2 at you and I up b'd with G&W, sending him high into the air while in fall spec.) Justing warning you guys in case a G&W is quick enough to pull it off.

I'm done.

Helpful threads:

Kill Data by Infinity: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=199842
G&W board's discussion about pika:http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=174763

Overall: G&W>Pika, 60:40 tough, but winnable.

i completely agree with all that K_2. absolutely <3 that sig btw.

6/4 or 65/35 G&W.

Pikachu can't anti edgecamp against G&W very well since T-jolt and Thunder can be bucketed. As for on stage camping, he can just D-tilt our hit through it with an aerial.

In terms of sheer power, G&W will own you. You can't take him head on and you must look for openings in his defense. If you have a full shield, you won't get shieldpoked by his aerials. Getting inside his range is critical since you outspeed him. And keep in mind, his Smashes have only ten frames of ending lag and an instant charge release, so punishing them is extremely difficult.

The other problem in this matchup is Pikachu does not have reliable KO moves on him. None of your aerials kill easily, and they are all outprioritized by most of G&W's attacks. F-smash is slow. D-smash is easily SDIed. Thunder is extremely risky. That means you basically have just U-smash on him. Make sure you save that move, or you will regret it.

Stealth Raptor said:

i completely agree with all that K_2. absolutely <3 that sig btw.

Click to expand...

Thanks Stealth! The sig was a response to all the hacks and crap. I'm glad I finally can contribute to the pika boards. I'll try to help out as much as I can.

I hate getting baited into using bucket for thunder/jolt edgeguards.

pikaville said:

I hate getting baited into using bucket for thunder/jolt edgeguards.

Click to expand...

Hate no more:

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=169446

G&W's upb has invincibility frames in the initial frames, so you can use that to plow through tjolt or thunder if you're getting to low, otherwise, throw out an aerial.

Pika vs G&W... I believe K_2 nailed it. I have little Pika vs G&W experience anyways. Ike does better than Pika against G&W.

one more thing: G&W has a psuedo chain grab. He can dthrow to plant you face into the ground and then jab to make you stand up, which allows him to regrab. You might see this as a variant to the dthrow into dsmash combo that's so often used. In order to avoid this techroll the throw OR DI to the other side. Yup, that's right, you can DI the throw (it will make you land behind G&W so he can jab-CG you). You can use this to keep the G&W guessing what you're going to do.

Um...the best option would definitely be to tech...because then, even with pika's really short roll, he has to guess completely right and start moving immediately.

Yes, I would highly recommend teching the dthrow to be safe. Also, I found out the hitbox for G&W's bair doesn't end when he lands on the ground. The hitbox still exists for a few frames after he lands, so be sure to shield just a wee bit longer on his bair (also his dair).

Ok now this one is finished. One more down.

Yay!

btw, you misspelled "aerial" about a million times in the OP =P