Specific Characters Match-up: Pikachu vs Zero Suit Samus

[Felth]

I know that there's a Matchup Thread. But I don't like that the information is spread among different pages because the discussion can be changed to different characters and that could be a little messy. To avoid this, I suggest the following idea: one post for each character. Following some general points I'll organize all the post in a very simple way.

I propose to study in this post the ZSS MU. If you want to discuss other Matchup and you liked my idea just write a post following this idea. Suggestions of any type are welcome (I'm not an expert of Smash so it's probably that you know more than me about this).

Zero Suit Samus:

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• Neutral Game:

• Stage selection and Ban:

• Specific Situations:
  • Ground - Ground:
  • Ground - Air:
  • Air - Air:
  • Off Stage:
  • Some situation to punish or to look (Situations that are advantageous to pikachu vs this character)
  • Situations to avoid?

Extra information:
​

• I don't want to lose all the information that the community has discovered at this point. Most of this theory it's in the MU Thread.

• You can read the document made by the User Umbreoff which summarizes the previous post. Click here to see the document. I'm transcribing this document into a pdf version with access to new options. If you want to check the progress of this document I'll invite you to see the PDF Online Version.

• With respect to the Killing Section: add Good Set-ups to perform the killing (not just the final attack). Set-ups performed in specific Stages are also welcome.

• With respect to the Stage Selection Section: we should discuss what stages to avoid and what stages are good for Pikachu. The Smash Player Esam made a Depth Analysis on each Stage. Recall that some stages could be good for Pikachu but are even better for other character that's the reason for why we should discuss this kind of things here (one example is Halberd: IMO is good for Pikachu but not against Meta Knight).

• With respect to the Difficulty Section we should discuss how difficult is this MU for Pikachu. If it's possible it would be good to associate a measure to this difficulty. I think that this section should be completed once we developed a lot of theory in the corresponding MU, otherwise is just speculation.

• With respect to the Specific Situations Section we should discuss what to do in both scenarios.

 

[Tyranitarphantom]

ZSS is a matchup that I'm very experienced in, so I can offer a lot of advice on the matchup. I suppose I'll just start with the format you gave:

Approaching:
Standard short hop fair/dair and dtilt pokes work well here, as does Quick Attack. However, ZSS has one of the most devastating OOS moves in the game in Boost Kick, so I cannot stress enough how important proper spacing is! A poorly spaced Fair on shield will get you Boost Kicked, and you'll be dead at 70%. You've got to be really careful about touching her shield. She also has shield drop Utilt to catch you trying to poke the back of her shield, but as long as your autocancels are on point, you shouldn't have to worry about this. ZSS's ground options for shutting down approaches aren't actually very good, so once you get in, she'll just crack under the pressure.

Edeguarding:
ZSS has the best down B in the game in Flip Jump, allowing her a hugely variable recovery that is only really rivaled by Pikachu. She is invincible during the first half of the move (until she reaches the top of the jump, where she is completely upside down), so it can be really hard to snipe the move out. If she recovers on stage with the move, however, she'll suffer from very punishable lag if she lands on the ground without hitting anything. If she comes at you with it, you should roll out of the way right as she is about to land on your head with the kick (which is really strong, don't get hit by it). Once she hits the ground, you can punish with a grab, usmash, or dash attack. If she whiffs the kick, you can even charge the Usmash a little, but if she lands without the kick, there is much less lag to punish. Whatever you do, don't try and challenge the kick, even with Usmash. It will never work, and because getting hit by the kick will be a counterhit, you can die to it very early. If you happen to shield it, just jump and follow with a Uair or whatever to get some sort of punish. Flip Jump will either be used to go high or to go straight to the ledge. If she happens to use it to get closer to the edge without grabbing it, just run out and catch it with a Nair/Fair. She won't be able to use it again until she lands, and her recovery is entirely reliant on Flip Jump to work. If she goes low, standard run off Bair with the mixup of fastfall or not will usually work. Bair is meaty enough to catch her rising to the ledge with her tether, and it will trade a single hit with Boost Kick, after which she won't be able to get high enough to survive. Because of this, always anticipate a high recovery, as it is the most likely way she'll survive.

Recovering:
Going low and recovering right to the ledge is usually the way to go. As any stray hit below the ledge could cause ZSS to self-destruct (including Quick Attack), she won't usually go low to intercept you. However, beware of Bair stage spikes or Flip Jump, as the kick is a very powerful meteor smash. Just be smart and mix up how you QA to the ledge, and you'll be fine pretty much every time.

Gameplan/Neutral: (these are kind of the similar, so they'll be one).
ZSS doesn't have tools to force Pikachu to approach, so most of the time, you won't need to. Smart use of Thunder Jolts will put on the pressure and force her to approach, but as it happens, ZSS has an extremely tough time approaching Pika. She is very tall, and as such, Pikachu actually gets too small to get hit with many of her moves during certain animations (crouching, Fair, etc). ZSS also has a really slow grab that Pikachu can even duck under, meaning that she has very few options against a shielding Pikachu. Though her grab is slow, it stays active for much longer than most grabs, so be aware of that. If you do get grabbed, you'll be taking a Dthrow to Fair/Uair, but thanks to Quick Attack, you won't really have to worry about getting juggled too much. Because she relies on Boost Kick OOS to deal with pressure up-close, baiting it out can get you a big punish, but it also means that she'll be shielding a lot, getting you a lot of grabs. If you get a grab, Dthrow into any aerial is the way to go. To prevent further juggling, ZSS will try to get away with Flip Jump, which, as previously stated, is very punishable. As always, try to get a read on the player's airdodge/Flip Jump habits, and punish accordingly. Juggling smartly is why Pikachu wins this matchup.

Killing Options:
Most of the best ways to get kills were covered in the edgeguarding section: catching Flip Jump or a low recovery with aerials, and punishing Flip Jump with Usmash. As usual, Uthrow to Thunder can work, but if your opponent is good, they'll DI so that they don't get hit by it. ZSS is a very fast character, so much so that even a well spaced Fsmash on shield can be punished, so don't try going for any of those against her.

Overall, ZSS is a tricky character to deal with, and you must play super safe against her. However, Pikachu has all the tools necessary to deal with any of her options. I'll also leave this here. ESAM and NickRiddle go over how to properly DI Boost Kick, ZSS's most threatening move. Definitely good to know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylVAJur_wVs

 

[AncientCode42]

ZSS is a matchup that I'm very experienced in, so I can offer a lot of advice on the matchup. I suppose I'll just start with the format you gave:

Approaching:
Standard short hop fair/dair and dtilt pokes work well here, as does Quick Attack. However, ZSS has one of the most devastating OOS moves in the game in Boost Kick, so I cannot stress enough how important proper spacing is! A poorly spaced Fair on shield will get you Boost Kicked, and you'll be dead at 70%. You've got to be really careful about touching her shield. She also has shield drop Utilt to catch you trying to poke the back of her shield, but as long as your autocancels are on point, you shouldn't have to worry about this. ZSS's ground options for shutting down approaches aren't actually very good, so once you get in, she'll just crack under the pressure.

Edeguarding:
ZSS has the best down B in the game in Flip Jump, allowing her a hugely variable recovery that is only really rivaled by Pikachu. She is invincible during the first half of the move (until she reaches the top of the jump, where she is completely upside down), so it can be really hard to snipe the move out. If she recovers on stage with the move, however, she'll suffer from very punishable lag if she lands on the ground without hitting anything. If she comes at you with it, you should roll out of the way right as she is about to land on your head with the kick (which is really strong, don't get hit by it). Once she hits the ground, you can punish with a grab, usmash, or dash attack. If she whiffs the kick, you can even charge the Usmash a little, but if she lands without the kick, there is much less lag to punish. Whatever you do, don't try and challenge the kick, even with Usmash. It will never work, and because getting hit by the kick will be a counterhit, you can die to it very early. If you happen to shield it, just jump and follow with a Uair or whatever to get some sort of punish. Flip Jump will either be used to go high or to go straight to the ledge. If she happens to use it to get closer to the edge without grabbing it, just run out and catch it with a Nair/Fair. She won't be able to use it again until she lands, and her recovery is entirely reliant on Flip Jump to work. If she goes low, standard run off Bair with the mixup of fastfall or not will usually work. Bair is meaty enough to catch her rising to the ledge with her tether, and it will trade a single hit with Boost Kick, after which she won't be able to get high enough to survive. Because of this, always anticipate a high recovery, as it is the most likely way she'll survive.

Recovering:
Going low and recovering right to the ledge is usually the way to go. As any stray hit below the ledge could cause ZSS to self-destruct (including Quick Attack), she won't usually go low to intercept you. However, beware of Bair stage spikes or Flip Jump, as the kick is a very powerful meteor smash. Just be smart and mix up how you QA to the ledge, and you'll be fine pretty much every time.

Gameplan/Neutral: (these are kind of the similar, so they'll be one).
ZSS doesn't have tools to force Pikachu to approach, so most of the time, you won't need to. Smart use of Thunder Jolts will put on the pressure and force her to approach, but as it happens, ZSS has an extremely tough time approaching Pika. She is very tall, and as such, Pikachu actually gets too small to get hit with many of her moves during certain animations (crouching, Fair, etc). ZSS also has a really slow grab that Pikachu can even duck under, meaning that she has very few options against a shielding Pikachu. Though her grab is slow, it stays active for much longer than most grabs, so be aware of that. If you do get grabbed, you'll be taking a Dthrow to Fair/Uair, but thanks to Quick Attack, you won't really have to worry about getting juggled too much. Because she relies on Boost Kick OOS to deal with pressure up-close, baiting it out can get you a big punish, but it also means that she'll be shielding a lot, getting you a lot of grabs. If you get a grab, Dthrow into any aerial is the way to go. To prevent further juggling, ZSS will try to get away with Flip Jump, which, as previously stated, is very punishable. As always, try to get a read on the player's airdodge/Flip Jump habits, and punish accordingly. Juggling smartly is why Pikachu wins this matchup.

Killing Options:
Most of the best ways to get kills were covered in the edgeguarding section: catching Flip Jump or a low recovery with aerials, and punishing Flip Jump with Usmash. As usual, Uthrow to Thunder can work, but if your opponent is good, they'll DI so that they don't get hit by it. ZSS is a very fast character, so much so that even a well spaced Fsmash on shield can be punished, so don't try going for any of those against her.

Overall, ZSS is a tricky character to deal with, and you must play super safe against her. However, Pikachu has all the tools necessary to deal with any of her options. I'll also leave this here. ESAM and NickRiddle go over how to properly DI Boost Kick, ZSS's most threatening move. Definitely good to know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylVAJur_wVs

As a Pikachu main this is a helpful tip, now I can keep this in mind. I know it was more so directed as a response. But this is helpful.