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Pika Pika PIKACHU!

Pika Pika PIKACHU!

Game Versions
Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
The character that is going to be on the spotlight is none other than the most famous Pokemon of all time, he's yellow and is known for traveling with Ash in the Pokemon anime, his main words are Pika Pika, Yes if you haven't guessed it, it is none other than Pikachu!!!





Pikachu is a light character in the game and has been high ranked since the original Super Smash Bros on N64. He is very fast and has some really powerful attacks and grabs. he has a lot of safe approaches as well, which assist him in getting close into the opponent and then attacking them.





Moves (Credit to SSBWIKI)

NameDamageDescription
Neutral attack1.4% (tip), 1.2% (mid), 1% (base)
Forward tilt↗10%
→9%
↘8%
Up tilt5%
Down tilt6%
Dash attack10% (clean), 6% (late) Very laggy and easily punished if whiffed, but has high knockback, allowing it to KO near the edge at very high percentages.
Forward smash15% (early), 18%(clean), 12% (late)
Up smash13% (clean tail), 14%(clean body), 11%(mid), 7% (late). This move is slightly stronger when hit close during startup.
Down smash2% (hits 1-5), 3% (hit 6). A multi-hit move with decent power but punishable ending lag.
Neutral aerial8.5% (clean), 5.5% (late). Extremely fast startup with good horizontal knockback, making it a good aerial finisher or a useful edgeguarding move. Can be auto-cancelled when performed alongside a non fast-fell short hop, otherwise high landing lag.
Forward aerial1.7% (hits 1-4), 3% (hit 5) The move consists of multiple hits, with the final one dealing decent horizontal knockback. The first few hits have little landing lag, which can potentially set up into a grounded move or grab.
Back aerial0.8% (hits 1-7), 3% (hit 8), 4% (landing) The move consists of multiple hits, with the final one dealing decent knockback. Has high ending lag and very high landing lag if not used alongside a full hop.
Up aerial5%/4% (clean), 4% (late) Extremely quick with low knockback, this move can combo into itself or set up into a neutral aerial. Can be auto-cancelled when performed alongside a non fast-fell short hop, otherwise some landing lag.
Down aerial12% (attack), 4% (landing. A lingering single hit with decent horizontal knockback, this move can be auto cancelled in a short hop. If Pikachu lands during the attack's duration it causes a small shockwave to appear around him, which deals little damage at the cost of high landing lag.
Grab—A quick, short-ranged grab.
Pummel1.9%Zaps the opponent. A quick pummel.
Forward throw2% (hits 1-4), 2% (throw)Places the opponent on its back and shocks them, sending them forward. A multi-hit move. Can set up running up smashes and neutral aerials at very low percentages.
Back throw9%Does backwards somersaults with the opponent, then flings them behind itself. Best used near the edge to put the opponent into an edgeguarding situation.
Up throw1% (hit 1), 3% (throw)Places the opponent on its head, then headbutts them upward. Does not have many followup options and does low damage, with a down throw usually being a better option.
Down throw3% (hit 1), 5% (throw)Places the opponent on the ground, then jumps on them. Consists of multiple hits. Can set up neutral and up aerials at very low percentages.
Floor attack (front)7%
Floor attack (back)7%
Floor attack (trip)5%
Edge attack7%
Neutral specialDefaultThunder Jolt4.8% (ball), 6%/5% (wave clean), 5%/4% (wave mid), 4%/3% (wave late)Fires a jolt of electricity forward. Pikachu's main projectile, and a very useful move for keeping onstage opponents at bay and threatening offstage recoveries. Travels forward whilst bouncing along the ground, and can also travel up walls, below the edge, and along ceilings. If used in the air, it will travel diagonally down instead. Disappears after about 3 seconds.
Custom 1Thunder Wave3%/1% (ball), 3%/1% (wave clean), 2% (wave late)Very similar to the basic version. It is weaker, but can paralyze grounded targets.
Custom 2Thunder Shock3% (ball), 10% (explosion)Fires a ball of electricity almost horizontally, which disappears upon hitting the ground and does not bounce.
Side specialDefaultSkull Bash6% (uncharged), 22% (fully charged)Charges and, when the B button is released, fires itself forward like a missile. When fully charged or close to fully charged, it has KO power. Primarily used as a recovery move, as it gains a lot of horizontal distance (especially when charged) and does not leave Pikachu helpless. On the ground, it has high landing lag and is very punishable.
Custom 1Shocking Skull Bash1.2% (loop), 3% (last)Hits multiple times at it moves forwards.
Custom 2Heavy Skull Bash15%/10%/5%/2% (uncharged), 32%/21%/10%/4% (fully-charged), 6%-0% (running)Less travel distance but more damage near the start. If used (uncharged) to cancel reeling from an attack's knockback, the distance traveled nearly doubles, and Pikachu retains some forward momentum while falling after the move.
Up special-DefaultQuick Attack2% per warpMoves at warp speed in two directions that can be selected via the control stick. Pikachu's main recovery move, and a quick, unpredictable move at that. The second warp is optional, but if used, the direction must be 45 degrees different than the first direction to work. Leaves Pikachu helpless when used in the air.
Custom 1Meteor Quick Attack?%
Custom 2Quick Feet?%
Down specialDefaultThunder6% (bolt meteor), 8% (bolt non-meteor), 15% (blast)Causes a large thunderbolt to come down on itself. The move is laggy in general, though the shockwave around Pikachu does very high damage and knockback. The bolt itself does moderate vertical knockback, allowing the Thunderspike technique, though this is very difficult to land. The move also has a meteor smash hitbox near the thundercloud that sends opponents straight down, allowing potential combos, though landing it in a favourable position for this is difficult.
Custom 1Thunder Burst2% (early), 15%/12% (clean)Creates an electrical blast around Pikachu as if the normal move had struck.
Custom 2Distant Thunder13%/9%/5% (bolt), 6% (blast)The thundercloud starts higher up and does more damage.
Final SmashVolt Tackle1% (collision), 8% (spark)


Pros and Cons of Using Pikachu.


Pros


P. Has a lot of powerful moves and smashes.
P. Also good at dealing a lot of damage to your opponent.
P. Fast as well, so it's advised you use mind games against your opponent.
P. The electric has the ability to stun for a small time, so this could help you to get close to your opponent.
P. Grabs are really good, all of them are easy to combo from and get easy kills.
P. The Thunder cloud in the move thunder now has a meteor effect and that can help get some kills as well.
P. Keep him in the air, he has a lot of combos in his aerials
P. He's so adorable as well!!
P. Up+ Special (quick attack) can be used to give out damage and go to a safe place quickly so you are unable to get punished.
P. Down tilt can trip opponents.
P. Can duck under projectiles and can crawl *bonus*.

Cons


C. Light, so can be easy to kill
C. Doesn't have a jab combo and his jab is easy to get out of.
C. Skull bash can be predictable and can be easily intercepted by anything even though it's powerful.
C. His Recovery even though it's goes really high, it is still very hard to aim with because one mistake, and that's it.



What you want to do early in the match. (neutral)


  • Firstly get a up throw and then use Thunder, this combo gets around 20%-25% from the get go.​
  • Also approach with Thunder Jolt, This will only stun your opponent for a short while, so it gives you a small window of time to get in and deal some damage or get a grab.​
  • Use his front grab as well cause this can do some damage as well and can give around 5% as well.​
  • His Up tilt can help to damage opponents as well a bit.​
In the middle of the match. (where you give out damage)
  • Use the power of Thunder and use his Quick attack to deal damage​
  • Use his down smash as well, as this deals a lot of damage as well​
  • Use your aerials as well as they will help to give out some damage and they do give some knock-back as well so they will be a safe distance away as well.​
  • You can wall with your Thunder Jolts as well.​
When you want to get the kill
  • Dash Attack can kill in certain percentages​
  • You can combo with Up-grab to Thunder, if done correctly, it will spike with the cloud and will go directly to you and that will cause some serious knock-back and will kill in certain cases as well.​
  • Up- Smash can kill.​
  • Side Smashes can kill.​
  • Back Throw can kill as well​

Some of Pikachu's Costumes

Overall Pikachu is a great character, with lots of ways to dish out the pain and also ways to kill as well. However the thing about Pikachu is that he can be taken out by heavy characters like Bowser and Gannondorf because they don't suffer a lot of knock-back and can deal a lot of damage so be careful against those opponents. Also Falco and Fox and any charcter that can absorb your attacks e.g Ness and Mr Game and Watch.

Pikachu has a small learning curve and it is easy to learn, he is my secondary now (I wanted a Pokemon representative on my team). Anyway good luck with the electric rodent.


Till Next time! This is SoopahGamer signing off.

Check out my blog where I do simple analysis on characters.
manga4geeks.blogspot.co.uk




Author
SoopahGamer
Views
1,044
First release
Last update
Rating
4.42 star(s) 12 ratings

Latest reviews

Very good and informative guide of how to play Pikachu in super smash bros 4.
Good guide, would like some more info on combos/lower percentages. Thanks!
Definitely a nice guide, I appreciate it c: If there's something I'd add it would be that at lower percents it's usually better to forward throw people into a jablock. After that you could use a smash attack or another throw combo to get them straight to mid percents. You also didn't talk much about spacing, but other than that I do think this is a useful guide!
Percentage data is helpful. But lacks elsewhere...
Very informative. I needed to improve my neutral game with Pikachu and this helped!
I'm going to have to study this later. This was very good, but I'd like to add a few things.

1.) If your timing is right, Pikachu can DASH under certain uncharged projectiles (Fox/falco blaster, uncharged lucario/mewtwo/samus/zss/Wii-fit trainer neutrals, some charged shots.) I have done this on accident a lot, and it's part luck, but it's definitely possible.
2.) It is REALLY easy to get out of combos as Pikachu. (and can be fun, leading into combos as well.)
3.) Turn->grab, turn->tilt, turn->smash. All three of these require different timing to execute properly, without any lag from stopping and/or the turning animation. I'll admit I don't really use them a whole lot, but they are still rather useful.

All that said, I liked this guide a lot. Learned a few things for sure :P
Nice! Very in depth
Very good. Nice work :D!
SoopahGamer
SoopahGamer
Thanks, I am thinking about making a new one later
Very informative
thanks
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