Pikachu in depth guide, by pictish freak

[EnigmaticCam]

Oh, I didn't realize how old they were. And Pika is much more capable than that?! Wish I could get my hands on some vids of that.

I'm still trying to get down some of Pika's advanced tactics. I can make about 75% of my wavedash attempts now, but haven't completely made much use of it yet. I can do it, but I don't know what to do with it. And per my individual post, that N-air I'm having still having difficulty with. I always end up doing an F-air. heh. Just need to practice, I guess. But N-air makes sense to me; I can understand its importance.

I was wondering though, I'm sure someone else asked this (if that's the case, just give me a link), but how do you practice stuff like that without competitive human players? I find myself developing bad habits playing a level 9 computer (like always starting a charge move and expecting the opponent to just walk into it. Computer will always do that)?

 

[pictish freak]

I'm no expert in practising without human competition. I found it excrutiating, and so simply didn't and found people that also had interest in competitive smash. However, if you want to practise something like wavedashing or shuffling n-airs, may as well go to training. If you wanna practise stuff that requires the c-stick then just fight a level 1 computer. You should just be trying to get your game as technically fluent without a human player, and work on integrating them all when actually fighting human competition.

Wavedashing... I use an obscene amount. I wavedash constantly, but in a very specific way. It's about having erratic movement with Pika. If he's not approaching with a jolt beside him, he can't just rush in and sometimes the range means you can't use jolt for some help. Dashing in, wding back twice, small dash, wd back, dash, short hop fast fall into a wd back... I mean, when you're doing this Pikachu looks very jerky and hard to follow, which is great. Means they don't see the sudden n-air coming so easily. And if they approach while you're twitching all over the place, you simply have to be able to react. If you can't react, er, well sorry but that's just something I can do ^^;

Of course, when you start fighting Falco and Samus, this become hard to do. Stupid projectiles. Marth too in fact, but that's a range thing >.< For Falco and Samus you basically wanna use jolt and approach from platforms. Pikachu can't fight Falco head on like on FD or something. It's horrible.

By the way, if you're interested in a recent vid of mine, then I'll post here when it gets released. There's a set of my Pikachu against the best Yoshi in Europe Svampen. It's a great couple of matches =D Mind you, it'll be awhile cause it's on Bach's tape and the poor guy has a ton of work to get through, and it's not nice to hassle people that busy. But when it is done, I'll post here, if there's a demand for it...

Sadly, none of my matches on corneria were taped. I'll have to do that at some point. Pikachu is broken on corneria ^^ It's almost as bad as Pika vs Marth on Yoshi's island.

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Yes! I am very interested in some vids. As I mentioned earlier, I had no idea those vids on ssbm.it were very old, and to see even more advanced play, I think I would learn a lot from it.

If it's not obvious by now, I'm very new to the "online world" of SSBM. I've been playing it since the 64 version first came out (I still think I'm unbeatable with pika on the 64 , but the new SSBM I've still haven't come to complete terms with, and only just recently discovered how much there really is to it (e.g. your FAQ).

It's funny you mention Falco on FD, because I have a friend of mine who plays Falco pretty well, and FD is our favorite level to play on! We've definitely determined it's not my level (because he sometimes wins and I sometimes win, whereas other levels I almost always win). But nonetheless, it's a challenge. Especially since he's a F-Smash/B-Smash abuser.

You mentioned "Dashing in, wding back twice, small dash, wd back, dash, short hop fast fall into a wd back", all of which I can just practice against a level 1 player, right? I'm really hoping to get my game going and maybe attend a tournament sometime. I hope you don't mind me asking all these questions Maybe if you think it might be better for me to just email you occasionally, that would be fine with me.

 

[pictish freak]

I'd be tmepted to say to PM me, but feh. Perhaps in me helping you, if you're asking lots of qustions, other people can help contribute or learn from what I tell you.

Yeah, what I was describing is just a short example of y'know, erratic movement. Obviously you don't just follow a set pattern of moves or movements, but just generally make it really random, stay out of range, but keep close enough so that should you decide, you'll be at them with a shuffled nair before they know what's going on ^^

This is why it doesn't work very well on Falco. He simply SHL's at you, interrupting your motion and letting Falco have his way with you. Avoiding this requires very awkward different approaches compared to normal, like full jump with thunderjolt into god knows what (depends on player/level/range you land at) and or getting onto a platform and baiting Falco onto platforms with jolt. Should he simply shine the jolt, or has some other set reaction, learn what it is and punish him. For the shine example - there's lag upon hitting with the jolt. If you can wait till you're prety sure the shine has been committed too, you can dash in (make sure the jolt hits him from above so it goes back up and away, as opposed to, y'know, into you) and up smash or whatever else suits you fancy. From there you do what you will. Up smash can lead to more up smash, or a n-air or any other number of fast faller abuse. Just a small example. There's clearly much more that can happen, I'm simply trying to open up ideas on basic scenario's...

 

[EnigmaticCam]

When I read about doing all kinds of things to make your movement erratic, I can do each one if I think about it, and spend time on it. But the thought of doing three or four advanced moves fluently and almost immediately after one another is still a little overwhelming. I can see where I need to practice

Thanks for the help! I actually discovered your FAQ on GameFAQs a long time ago, and only until recently it was my only source of advanced SSBM play (pikachu or not). So it's kinda nice to talk to the guy behind it.

 

[nitro-blazer]

From what i expirienced, attackcs that stay out lke Sex kicks, the Chair, spin attack, etc. Screw over the Quick attack a bit more. Its harder to hit the spin attack, so i generally try to make it hit me.

Just something i thought i'd throw out there. Great guide, Now i need to learn Yoshi, Pikachu, DK, Ness, Bowser, Luigi and Samus. >_>

 

[EnigmaticCam]

PictishFreak, when are you going to be able to get those vids up? I'm very interested to see how you play. I think I can learn a lot from it.

By the way, nice job defending camping on the main boards. Score one for us pika players

 

[pictish freak]

Sadly, the vids seem to be likely postponed for a bit. BACH's very busy, so it might be a while yet before he gets round to RoS2. I doubt people are as in demand of those vids as they are the GS2 and FC3 ones. Hey hum, they'll come about eventually.

And thanks, though some people still don't seem to get it.

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Gah! I'm pining for some vids :-D Just came back from a tournament. Let's just say I was little to no competition, and it wasn't even that big of a tourney. Finding vids elsewhere is proving to be difficult. I know you're a busy guy, but let me know how it's going with those vids you mentioned. Thanks!

 

[pictish freak]

I have no control over the pace of the vids. When they come out, I'll post. Bach's a busy guy.

 

[Melee Warrioir]

speaking of bach, im BACH wahahaha ok. tomorrow is a tourney and finally i can dish out more than anyone can chew with my pika. im real proud of myself how long ive come along and with the help of everyone, er back then at least lol. hey i got no human competition; no friends to play SSBM with but im still amazing when it comes to training with computers. all u gotta do is adjust your game so that u try to make it fair for the computers. example, no edgeguarding of any kind, and i even run off the stage just to u-air someone to get them back on after i knock them off haha. and when link uses his grappling hook, i always dodge it, but i permit myself from counterrattacking. things like that make computer training more worthwhile definatly.

 

[pictish freak]

There is no such thing as combat training without humans. Fighting with computers is for tech skill. Without a human, you can never train your ability to predict and deceive. Without this, training is futile barring technical improvement.

Any improvement that can be made against the computer can be made against a training dummy or level 1 CPU. Anything further is needless, as the computer will interfere with the technical feats you are trying to learn.

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Aye. And I especially hate how you can't use the C-Stick in training. E.g., I've been trying to get my fingers quick enough to do a short-hop n-air l-cancel and immediately do an up-smash after landing back on the ground. Can't really get it down in training, and even using a level 1 CPU gets in the way as it slowly walks towards you and will slap you around every few seconds. So I just stick in a second controller and use a motionless human player instead of a CPU to practice stuff like that.

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Hey Pictish, can you help me out on this one? On the vids from ssbm.it, I noticed how they can come flying at full speed directly out of a wavedash. Is that just a matter of quick fingers, or is there some trick to it?

 

[pictish freak]

Get on DC++ and I or Qwester (at the moment, more will become available, since we're both being uploaded from) have vids of my Pika vs Qwester, who uses Fox, Marth, and a little Doc/Y.Link in the vids.

Enjoy.

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Sweet! I'll check it out when I get home. Thanks!

Edit: Hey, I found the videos. Nice! Thanks for providing them. I think I'll learn a lot from watching them a few times. How recent are they?

 

[Coen]

Pictish Freak, I'm starting on a Pichu Guide and I was wondering, could I use a nearly same lay-out as your guide? Thanks in advance.

 

[pictish freak]

Enigmatic - They're brand new.

Pichu guide writer - Sure thing, I just ripped off Decadent One's FAQ anyway =P Good luck with the guide ^_^

 

[Coen]

Thanks, and oh...thanks

 

[Hewryu]

Well, as an avid Pikachu user, the neutral A attack is most certainly a gret move despite what pictish freak says n the main post. If I can get someone caught against a wall and start up the attack, I'm able to zip out 60+% of damage! It's one of my favorite attacks. And Thunder is great on the Temple stage; just get on the lower stage, and the thundercloud hovers right over the ground!Huzzah!

 

[N64]

Neutral a is only useful in trapping an opponent against a wall, which is difficult to set up on most tournament stages. Additionally, the person getting attacked can get out of it fairly quickly by DIing towards you enough to move you slightly away from the wall, and then away towards the space he's created. At that point, he'll probably grab or smash pika in the slight lag from the repetative neutral a. It's not a bad tactic for pika, just not an especially good one, and not a useful one in much of tournament play.

And hyrule is banned in tournament play, so the statement of thunder being useful there is meaningless. Disregard this entire post if you're commenting on the usefulness of pika's moves in random ffa matches with friends, but pictish's guide was made for the purpose of showing basic pika strats for tournament play.

 

[Tope]

And what a great guide it was.

 

[NJzFinest]

amazing guide

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Hey Pictish, regarding those vids, I didn't realize there were a bunch more with Q as fox. I downloaded and watched those as well. Very nice! That kind of play really makes you appreciate the player behind Pikachu. Here you are fighting against Marth and Fox, both top tier characters, yet you still manage to win more rounds. I noticed espesically with Fox how you focused primarily on his weakness - his recovery. Your entire focus was getting him off the edge so you can backwards tail-spike him. That is something for me to keep in mind.

The one character I have problems against is peach. As it says in your guide, every freakin' attack of hers out-prioritizes any of mine. It's the most annoying thing! I know the up-smash is the key to beating her, espeically an up-smash out of a shield, but it's rare for me to pull something off like that. I was just curious if you had any other suggestions for fighting against her. Thanks

 

[pictish freak]

Like Fox, I like to abuse Peach's recovery.

Say you get her off the edge with anything - her recovery is at least somewhat predictable. You can dive out and go for the tailspike if Peach dedicates to her ^b, and if she floats, well yeah, generally edgeguarding stuff.

So, she starts airdodging back on the stage to avoid the repeated tailspike/d-air attempts. That's when prediction/baiting etc gets important.

If you can fake her into air dodging back, you get a free up smash. If she stops airdodging, you get to edgeguard.

As for dealing with her in general... yeah, Peach sucks. I can't think of general stuff for some reason ^^;

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Her recovery?! I certainly wasn't expecting that, but now that I think about it, I see your point. My friend who plays Peach always floats back, and I think I try too hard trying to catch him in my downB, or rush up to try to tailspike him. Perhaps it's better to be patient, as he eventually has to come back

I've been trying some different setups to get peach in an up-smash. A down-grab to an up-smash seems to work well. At higher percentages, you could even down-grab>up-tilt>^b. I've also tried running straight towards her and crouch-cancelling and up-smash. Of course, you gotta fake her out before you can do that, but I think it might work.

Anyways, thanks for the help. Much appreciated!

 

[Tope]

Pictish freak is my hero.

The world shall experiance the might of Pikachu.

One quick thing though. When smacked off the side of the stage, by Falco's F-smash, it's best to DI up then to DI in the opposite direction, in your guide you mentioned DI away from the direction you got smacked, sadly however its not as effective. You should always DI up expect, when it leads to you getting comboed, or if you get punted upwards, then you need to DI to the left or right, such as an uthrow from fox.

Just wanting to clarify.

You're still my hero.

 

[Coen]

Pictish freak is my hero.

The world shall experiance the might of Pikachu.

And soon the might of Pichu ^_^

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Pictish freak is my hero.

Yes, the life and blood of the Pikachu realm, you are our savior lol!

 

[Coen]

Pictish, this was supposed to be a PM, but it says your inbox is full and you can't recieve any more PM's.....

Aye,

Pictish, as you already know (I PM'd you before), I'm working on a Pichu Guide. But what I wanted to ask you: You divided your guide into 6 posts, but how long after each other did you post the parts?

Did you post it right after each other in multiple posts when you had already finished the guide, or was there a little time between each part? I mean, did you post a part while you were already finished with that part but had not started the next part yet?

I know, I know, I'm asking the same thing about 3 times, but w/e

-NGCXX

I hope to recieve an answer soon.

 

[gtothe3338]

not bad at all of a pika guide.Covers amost all detail down to the brown zigzag tail. A liitle more info on the character specific vs. section, but i will manage with this golden info for now.

 

[Final Star]

Ok, You Guys Noobs or not I really need some Hard advice here, AI only have about a month or so To prepare for a nearby Tournament And I'm trying to combine Ness And Pikachu As a perfect team. They seem to be complete opposites Power/Speed And Defense And Evasion - You would think They Would be Prepared For anyone But there's a problem ,There seems to be a weakness Though They are outranged by Chracaters like Marth And Capt.Falcon, now Here's my Question What can we do about our limited range?

 

[pictish freak]

I finished my guide entirely, sure I was done with every part and had said everything I wanted to say.

The guide was then split into 6 posts as to seperate one or two segments of the guide into each post, as I'm almost sure that otherwise it would have exceeded the character limit.

So yeah, the time between topic creation and the final part of my guide being posts was pretty much nil.

 

[Coen]

Thanks for the information btw, you posted 6 times in a row, spammer just kdding....

btw, I think I'm not going to use your lay-out, Pictish. It doesn't really fit how I wanna write the stuff about Pichu.

 

[EvilOreo22]

I love pikachu so much. This guide helped me a lot as far as strategy goes. I know so much more and just wanted to thank you so , THANK YOU!

 

[Master WGS]

Freakin' awesome guide, man! I've been wanting some tips on handling Pika, and this has helped me tremendously! Thank you so much!

 

[NJzFinest]

@topic
if pichu doesnt suck, then y does he have trouble with almost every char? if not, every char.

 

[mood4food77]

i don't know if this is good but i have used it in tournaments, a uair after a juggle of anytype into a forward b slightly charged, if done right, hte opponent can still tech and you will hit, (unless against mewtwo teching backwards)

 

[Echoist]

Good guide 4 Pikachu players, tought. ^.^

 

[soap]

does jump cancelling the dash grab really give more range than a dash grab? I have been using the dash grab knowing about the extra lag, but i thought i was getting more grabbing range? If not what about the boost grab (where you press A just before R) i dont know if it applies to pika, but i do it with sheik and it seems to make a difference.
Basically, whats better, Jump cancelled dash grab, or the boost grab?