ChivalRuse
Smash Hero
Author introduction:
I have wanted to write a Melee guide since I started playing in 2007. I did not feel comfortable starting something like this for quite some time because I lacked the knowhow. But now that I have twelve years of experience playing this game (tournaments, fests, netplay) I think I have cleared the necessary preparation to bring you my favorite character: Pichu.
Pichu’s stigma in the competitive scene:
Something about the baby form of Pikachu seems to not sit well with a large portion of the player base. Whether it’s the common misconception that Pichu was designed as a “joke character” by the Melee devs or simply the fact that he is placed rather low on most people’s tier lists, the fact remains that Pichu is a character that people either think isn’t worth their time or leads to the assumption by them that you think THEY aren’t worth your time (for picking Pichu: the insolence!).
Clarification:
In my view, Pichu is actually one of the more underrated characters in terms of his placement on Melee’s tier list. He is often touted as the third worst character above Bowser and Kirby. But I believe the slot for third worst belongs to Roy. Pichu could (in my humble opinion) rise up the tier list as much as five spots, passing Game and Watch, Mewtwo, Zelda, and Ness. If you pick Pichu online, I have gotten used to my opponent instantly disconnecting, switching to a similarly ranked character (or a secondary that they regard as bad), or typing something about how we must be transitioning from serious practice to fooling around. When playing against people on LAN, the face-to-face aspect usually prevents things from getting too toxic. But I commonly still get remarks from bystanders about it being a “disrespect” or something of that nature. A lot of times I’ve had people ask me “Why Pichu?” To that I usually respond that I want to “push the character’s meta”; and they’re usually satisfied with that answer.
The upside:
Pichu is a character with glaring flaws. And the flaws tend to be what people focus on. But Pichu possesses some very unique and powerful strengths. Naturally, that’s the point of this guide, to help you channel those strengths. But here is the TLDR of Pichu’s pros:
* 2 frames of landing lag, 2 frames less than the rest of the cast.
* Very good recovery. Able to come back from almost anywhere if you have a double jump. Up-b has extremely low landing frames as well.
* Great movement. Has a 3 frame jumpsquat. Has a fast dash. Retains a ton of horizontal momentum when he jumps out of a run.
* Good grab game. Up-throw combos on many characters.
* Good edgeguard game. Can jump very far offstage to hit people with n-air and d-air.
* Good vertical KO power (up-smash).
* Small character. Hard/annoying to hit and combo.
* Top tier ledgedash. Tied with Fox’s ledgedash for the most frames of actionable intangibility (15).
* Good shield (hurtbox coverage wise) and good options out of shield (n-air out of shield, wavedash out of shield, very long forward and back rolls, and good spotdodge).
Pichu’s moves {Disclaimer: I don’t want to steal others’ content, so I will not link the animated GIFs for the hitboxes and frame data in this guide; but if you want them for reference, go check them out under the Melee Pichu section of Smashboards!}:
A, [A], AAA… (“Jab”):
A subpar jab as far as jabs are concerned. Unlike many other characters, you cannot pseudo confirm jab into a move, except for another jab. But this will push the opponent back pretty quickly without doing much damage. You can trap the enemy against a wall and keep them there for “infinite” damage on a stage like Pokemon Stadium. Nowadays, most players are wary of this setup and will play around it.
A common neutral situation when jab/rapid jab is useful is when you hit someone’s shield with an aerial and are very minus. You can mash out jab if you aren’t feeling like using spotdodge. Still, this is fairly uncomfortable because the moment you stop jabbing, the opponent can usually hit you with a counter attack. So it’s better to keep slapping them with the jabs until they are close to the max reach, giving you a chance to get away unscathed.
Pichu’s jab works as an excellent jab reset tool. Oftentimes you can catch the opponent’s missed tech with a multiple jab reset to tack on extra damage, then connect an up-smash when they get up from the “forced stand”.
Pichu’s multi jabs can push the opponent off the level, if you have them pinned in the corner. If you hit them with the jabs while you are teetering on the edge, or close to teeter distance, the opponent will not be able to fall and grab the edge. They’ll be forced below stage where you have access to numerous edgeguard options, including the famed run off dair that Axe uses effectively with Pichu’s higher tiered brethren. Fox and Falco’s side-b can be caught with the multi jab if they attempt a sweetspot or do not sail cleanly over Pichu’s head, leading to the aforementioned setup.
→ A (“Forward tilt”):
One of the only forward tilts in the game that is pretty much never safe on shield. There’s no reason to use this move in neutral. It just isn’t impactful, even if it hits. It can easily be crouch cancelled. Can easily be jumped over with a Falcon SH stomp or Fox FH bair, which is what they’re looking for anyway… The one niche role that f-tilt fills is edgeguarding Fox and Falco’s side-b. Because it comes out fast (frame 5) and stays out for a while, you can use it to react to space animal recovery. The f-tilt can sometimes outright kill them depending on their DI and percentage. But otherwise it sets up for an edgeguard continuation from a better position.
↓ A (“Down tilt”):
This move isn’t as good as its Super Smash Bros. Ultimate incarnation, but it’s still pretty good in Melee. Has the most horizontal range out of Pichu’s directional tilts, and the least frame recovery. The full move takes 19 frames to complete, so you can feel pretty safe throwing this out in neutral, as the opponent can’t react to it in time to punish. Occasionally you can crouch cancel d-tilt Marth’s up-b recovery if he fails the sweetspot. This move is mostly used to push the opponent back into the corner of the stage. It is weak to crouch cancel, so it’s typically not worth using against Samus for example, as she will just down smash you and win the trade by a landslide. Down-tilt’s usefulness is mainly derived from the fact that it is a grounded move that has some range, which allows you to hold position sometimes when holding position is valuable. By holding position occasionally, you represent a stationary threat whose potential the opponent is forced to deal with or at least consider. The more the opponent has to factor in your standing threats, the more you open up opportunities to dash dance. Therefore, finding more ways to work down tilt into your play will improve your mixup game.
↑ A (“Up tilt”):
Think of this move as a budget Sheik forward tilt. You can wavedash back up-tilt and it hits about a body length in front of you, which can catch opponents’ landings very nicely. Against fast fallers, this move does NOT combo into itself at very low percents, because the move starts in the back and then swings forward; the hitbox on the front part of the arc hits around frame 13-14, so usually they can buffer shield in time. However, you can consistently up-tilt to grab, and this is very hard for the enemy to escape because the slight pop-up from the move removes their access to options like spotdodge. The takeaway is that up-tilt to grab is essentially a true combo on fast fallers, as long as they do not crouch cancel. Against floaties, you have to be careful, as they (e.g., Luigi, Peach) can sometimes n-air in between your up-tilt and subsequent option; you can rising u-air to play it safe, or you can bait out their n-air by dash dance grabbing it.
In my rating, up-tilt is Pichu’s third best tool in neutral; the other two better ones are n-air and dash dance grab. I recently played a somewhat extended session against a Falco player who was slightly above my skill level; and in those matches, up-tilt was the move that had the highest success rate of either hitting my opponent or whiffing without punishment. A bit of an overlooked advantage to up-tilt is that it has enough reach to outrange and beat jabs. If spaced intelligently, it also can counterhit some tilts that extend the opponent’s hurtbox, such as Sheik’s f-tilt.
Up-tilt is also wonky in that ikneedata.com calculates the threshold for up-tilt to break ASDI down (on Falco) as 93%, but I have logged an instance where it breaks ASDI down at 47% here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfjUiae3UU8#t=0m30s
How you will want to use this move:
This is a good move to use in conjunction with a wavedash. It also allows for some combo extensions that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, but I will put those in the combo section of this guide.
→ + A or → + [A] or → C-stick (“Forward smash”):
This move is incredibly disjointed in front and below Pichu, and the hitbox is persistent, making it a ridiculous edgeguard tool. A common setup against space animals is to n-air or b-air them offstage so they fall below the level, then intercept their up-b wall ride with a meaty f-smash as seen in this example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjWMS0X1Vjc#t=3m18s
Although the last strong hit of f-smash can be counterplayed by the spacey (they have to ASDI down so that they fall out of the move before the strong hit connects), Pichu can “rinse and repeat” until the Fox/Falco eventually messes up the DI, or until they reach high enough percents that you can grab ledge and do an invincible ledgehopped n-air to send them to their grave.
You can also throw this move out as a read if you think the opponent will try to refresh their ledge invincibility, but I wouldn’t approach opponent on the edge too often, since you can always just throw out a neutral-b jolt to execution test their ledgedash game.
You can jab reset into f-smash, which could give you an edgeguard setup. Using f-smash on stage is always just an execution test for your opponent, though, as they can SDI out of the strong hit.
How to use f-smash:
Pichu’s f-smash falls in the category of moves that you could potentially just toss out at random, and it could win, due to the long reach and duration of the hitbox (the others moves that have this potential are u-tilt, u-air, n-air, and b-air), still I do not recommend using this move in neutral, as it does not protect you if the opponent simply jumps over, which they are probably doing most of the time anyway. Stick to using f-smash as an edgeguard tool.
↓ + A or ↓ + [A] or ↓ C-stick (“Down smash”):
This move has a horrendous recovery time to it. Use at your own risk, for if you whiff, you will almost certainly eat a punish. A cheesy setup is to spotdodge your opponent’s grab (or any miscellaneous approach by them) into an immediate down-smash by the edge to hurl your opponent offstage. Not only is this move bad if it misses, it’s bad even if it hits sometimes; for some reason, it is very easy to crouch cancel this move too. This is one of those moves that you can just delete out of the game and you wouldn’t hardly notice the difference.
↑ + A or ↑ + [A] or ↑ C-stick (“Up smash”):
Much slower than Fox and Pikachu’s up-smashes. This move comes out on frame 9 and the hitbox is only out for 3 frames. The range is also pretty pitiful because Pichu is so short. Nevertheless, it’s an important move to have in floaty matchups. It gives you at least a way to KO them at semi-reasonable percents.
Lesser Peach and Samus players for some reason like to dash attack at a Pichu. However, this is a good enough opportunity to end their high percent stocks with up-smash out of shield. Competent floaty players are unlikely to give you as many chances, so you sometimes have to go fishing a bit for the up-smash connection.
Up-smash is also a critical component of Pichu’s combo game on fast fallers. Falling u-air, up-throw, and even up-tilt can all confirm into an up-smash with quick reactions. Up-smash should combo into a guaranteed up-tilt at lower percents and u-air at mid percents.
A or Z in mid-air (“Neutral air”):
Neutral air is frequently referred to as “Pichu’s only move”. And with good reason: coupled with Pichu’s ability to use his running momentum when jumping, n-air allows Pichu to cover a lot of ground for a character who is relatively challenged in the range department. Pichu’s n-air can KO outright, combo into itself, set up tech chases, and be used to edgeguard offstage. Pichu’s n-air is (as much as) +1 on shield (that’s better than just safe), can dodge crouch cancel and ASDI down in multiple ways, and can be used to aerial interrupt. This move just about does it all.
Do’s and don’t’s of Pichu n-air:
Do … late n-air on shield to maximize frame advantage.
Do … cross-up shields with n-air to stay safe.
Do … n-air into immediate shield to play around CC d-smash/d-tilt/etc.
Do … n-air out of dash dance as a reaction whiff punish.
Don’t … n-air if it will put you in the corner (with some exceptions).
Don’t … spam rising n-air (it’s both weaker to shield grabbing and crouch cancelling).
Don’t … n-air for the sake of n-airing. (Instead: have a purpose, whether to fight for stage, shield pressure, catch the opponent’s jump, etc.).
Don’t … try to n-air people who are platform camping (Instead: wait for them to commit to a position that is vulnerable or attack them from the most favorable position possible).
→ + A or → + Z or → C-stick in mid-air (“Forward air”):
Like f-tilt, f-air is a niche move. You can’t afford to spam it because it does 4% to the opponent (if it hits) and 4% to you (regardless). And the move has no knockback. I use this move more by accident than intentionally. Still, you can sometimes use it to drag down opponents who are recovering.
→ {away} A or → {away} Z or → {away} C-stick in mid-air (“Back air”):
Pichu’s back air is one of the most underrated moves in the game. Compared with Pikachu’s bair, which has similar knockback and properties, the landing lag is only 9 frames (Pikachu’s has 15 frames of landing lag). Pichu’s b-air hits at a Sakurai angle, which means that it cannot be effectively crouch cancelled in many instances. Attempting to crouch cancel Pichu’s b-air will result in the crouch canceller “sliding” back a slight distance and putting themselves into a locked state comparable to hitstun. This locked state is only for a few frames, but it effectively sabotages any crouch cancel counter plans they might have been cooking up.
Pichu’s bair also has a unique property in that using the move warps Pichu’s environmental collision box, hurtbox, AND by extension his hitboxes. In other words, if you b-air and drift toward the opponent, you will actually be able to cover a lot of stage without the necessity of dash momentum. So you can do things like b-air out of shield and still threaten a large part of the stage. Furthermore, b-air is not a sex kick, which means that even if the move is out for a long time, the knockback does not get reduced. This makes b-air a very useful tool for holding position and especially keeping the opponent pinned into a corner.
How you will want to use this move:
Shield stop b-airs are very strong, to hold position and deny the enemy from moving toward center stage. From full hop height, bair is also one of the better moves to land on the opponent with (albeit still spacing the move so it hits with the edge of the move), because of its anti-CC properties.
↓ A or ↓ Z or ↓ C-stick in mid-air (“Down air”):
This move has mostly threefold purpose. The first and most obvious one is for running and jumping offstage to edgeguard. You can decide whether you need to short hop or full hop, fast fall or not fast fall, depending on the opponent’s drift and resources coming back. Sometimes just falling offstage with d-air can be good against low recoveries (it is particularly potent against spacies’ up-b, given the long charge-up time).
The second purpose of d-air is as a combo ender. Primarily the fastfallers are susceptible to combos such as u-air -> double jump d-air. D-air has a noticeably higher base knockback and more horizontal knockback angle than n-air for example, making it your ideal hard hit to get the enemy offstage and give you an opportunity to read and punish their recovery.
The third purpose of d-air is the most controversial: using it in neutral. There is a school of thought that believes d-air is an option worth considering in neutral due to its “quake” hitbox that occurs when you land while the hitbox is active. This secondary hitbox becomes active during an awkward time for the person defending against it; if they try to crouch cancel or shield it, they are forced to wait a longer duration for the quake hitbox to resolve, thereby enabling Pichu to avoid certain punishes. Personally, I’m not a big advocate of using d-air often, because it does have more landing lag than his other aerials, opening you up to getting whiff punished in a lot of ways.
How to use d-air: Use it to end your u-air combos or to edgeguard offstage.
↑ A or ↑ Z or ↑ C-stick (“Up air”):
Up-air is Pichu’s reverse flash kick. It has enough disjoint to beat out a lot of moves depending on the angle. If you are looking at the hitboxes, you will notice that the move reaches behind Pichu’s body a little, and in front of him a lot. The hitbox in front of him is particularly useful when performing falling u-airs. You can actually space the u-air so that it hits the opponent’s shield, but is outside of shield grab range, due to the extension of the hitbox in front. Falling u-air is actually one of Pichu’s best combo starters on fast fallers (and in general), though it is also one of his more telegraphed openers. I recommend going for it when it’s less reactable, such as out of a dash dance -> short hop uair … or even as a whiff punish on laggier moves.
Another very significant perk of this move is that it can’t be crouch cancelled after 35%! So this is your perfect answer to crouch cancel spammers. If you read their crouch cancel, that’s your opportunity for a falling u-air which will knock them down.
B or B in midair or → {away, tap and release} B in midair (“Neutral B”, a.k.a. “Thunder Jolt”):
Deals 1% to you, deals 7% to the opponent (for the grounded version) and 10% to the opponent (for the mid-air version). Dealing 10% to the opponent is A Big Deal, so I tend to not care that I’m taking a few points of damage if the opponent blocks or knocks away a few of my jolts. The trade-off is almost always worth it. Throwing jolt while double jumping back from the ledge can also be a good mixup if the opponent is frequently spacing themselves a bit further away from you. The jolt’s slow travel time along the ground can buy you valuable time to reassess the opponent’s positioning and hopefully extricate yourself out of the corner.
Jolt is also an amazing edgeguard and gimp tool. Back-throw to running aerial jolt covers a very large heat map, and a jolt sniping the opponent’s double jump usually sets up for a double jump n-air which can end stocks at very low percents, particularly on fast fallers. Of course, you should not always go for jolt following a back-throw; but it is essentially a 50-50 scenario, and you always want to keep your opponent guessing after putting them in a disadvantageous situation.
↓ B or ↓ B or in mid-air (“Down B”, a.k.a. “Thunder”):
If the lightning hits you, you take 3% of recoil damage. Otherwise you do not take damage. This is a very high risk move to throw out, with medium reward. There are two main hitboxes: the bolt itself, and the blast where it impacts (if it hits Pichu). The impact deals quite a fair amount of damage (17%) and has heavy knockback. There are no reliable setups for this however, and thus the impact part of the move is effectively useless. The bolt part of the move can hit opponents who have been launched, typically by up-smash; and it can easily true combo. But you have to be wary of jumping horizontally before casting Thunder, as the momentum will often carry you offstage, and you will be stuck in the animation for some time, potentially leading to your self-destruction. If you jump straight up as you cast Thunder, the impact on yourself is guaranteed, and Pichu will not fall lower while he is being struck by the blast.
You can sometimes throw out Thunder from under a platform if you have a hard read that the opponent will try to jump on or over the platform. But this is more of a one-time gimmick that you should not rely on. Depending on how they DI when you hit them with the bolt, you can potentially combo or juggle them out of the knockback.
How to use Pichu’s Thunder:
Use early but not often. You can make this move relatively safe by “walling” with it (i.e., jumping away from the opponent while casting it). This way, for the opponent to punish it, they have to wait for the bolt to dissipate, which may not even give them sufficient time to get to you, or do something extremely heads-up, like rolling through the hitbox.
↑ B or ↑ B in mid-air {then} control stick angle {any} {then: opt} control stick angle {any} (“Up B”, a.k.a. “Agility”):
This move is self-explanatory. You can snap to edge by doing any downward angle, provided you line up the geometry. You also have extremely low landing lag (normal landing lag, not special fall) if the move ends when you are not touching the ground. This enables you to make it back to stage in a lot of situations without a guaranteed punish for your opponent.
How to use Agility:
Ledge snapping is pretty strong, especially coupled with your invincible ledgedash. Mixup where you go with Agility to avoid the opponent predicting you and punishing hard.
→ B or → or → B in mid-air or → in mid-air (“Side B”, a.k.a. “Skull bash”):
Gives you a horizontal boost on your recovery.
There’s a world where you can try to tech chase or edgeguard with this, but that world is not this world currently.
L + A or R + A or Z or [→] Z (“Grab”):
Jump cancelling is always better! Just press X and Z or Y and Z almost simultaneously. Falling u-air, up tilt, and up-smash can combo into grab, so keep that in mind in matchups where these work.
A or Z while grappling (“Pummel”):
Not the worst thing to do when chain grabbing. When I know there’s no chain grab opportunity, I usually throw as fast as I possibly can, to give the opponent less time to formulate their DI.
→ While grappling (“Forward-throw”):
Notably deals 1% recoil damage to Pichu. F-throw never loops into regrab, so don’t even think about trying that. You want to use forward-throw when it will put the opponent offstage pretty much.
→ {Away} while grappling (“Back-throw”):
La crème de la crème. Ah, the Ken Masters toss that Pichu needed, but didn’t deserve. This will be your main method of securing gimps on some characters. Your best victims to back-throw are fast fallers typically; but some characters like Ness who have really bad recoveries can be abused by this as well. After a back-throw, the main thing you are looking for is to n-air them out of their double jump. F-tilt and jab at the very precipice can be contenders for knocking the opponent below the level where they will become even more vulnerable. The other big option you can go for is Thunder Jolt. You can do a running mid-air Jolt, a mid-air stationary Jolt, or even a grounded Jolt if you want the electricity to crawl down the side of the stage.
Note about back-throw: it is probably the only move that Pichu has that can be called “cheap” or “polarizing”. Yeah, it’s that good.
↓ While grappling (“Down-throw”):
Does a clean 10% total. Can be used to tech chase characters with bad tech rolls, like Falcon or another Pichu.
↑ While grappling (“Up-throw”):
Also deals 10% on its own, which is honestly a lot for a throw. Up-throw combos into n-air and u-air on “most of the cast”. It’s a heavily DIable throw though, so react to DI accordingly.
You can chain grab Falcon at 0% with this. Fox and Falco can DI away at lower percents to not get comboed, but you can still tech chase them if you have good reactions.
Most of the time, if you want damage, up-throw is your go-to choice from a grab.
How to use up-throw:
I can’t teach you much here. It’s something that really has to be labbed until you get the hang of comboing with up-throw. Dashing as soon as you are actionable out of the throw animation is very important!
Pichu’s combos:
Falling u-air -> up-smash or grab. (Only works on fast fallers)
Up-tilt -> grab. (Universal. More effective against fast fallers, who won't get popped up as high)
Up-smash -> up-tilt -> up-smash. (Fast fallers)
N-air -> n-air. (Universal, but more likely to connect on midweights and floaties)
N-air -> opponent misses tech -> jab reset -> up-smash/grab/f-smash. (More effective on midweights and fast fallers, but can work on floaties once in a blue moon)
Rising u-air -> n-air/b-air/d-air. (Universal. Less consistent against super floaties like Puff)
Up-throw -> re-grab. (Fast fallers)
Up-throw -> u-air -> n-air. (Universal. Probably doesn't work against some floaties)
Rising u-air -> land on platform -> up-smash/grab. (Fast fallers and midweights)
Falling u-air -> opponent knocked down because they tried to crouch cancel -> jab reset -> up-smash/grab/f-smash. (Universal)
Pichu’s important matchup-specific information:
Vs Fox:
He has too many easy ways to kill Pichu. Jab -> up-smash, up-throw -> u-air, random up-tilt, random b-air. His dash attack and down-tilt are also potential launchers that can lead to your demise in the form of a Fox u-air. This matchup is extremely hard, and the only way to win is by punishing very hard. Falling u-air to up-smash is your friend. Dash dance grab to back-throw can create miracles. It’s critical that you play around his crouch cancel almost all the time, as he can crouch cancel up-smash and end your stocks very early if you are not aware that it’s his aim.
Fox’s full jump b-air is oppressive. It is very hard to outspace it or even challenge it at all. The important thing is to not commit to any particular move or angle of attack, but to react to how he chooses to drift and whether or not he is likely to utilize his double jump, and reposition yourself accordingly. Then you will increase your chances of landing a dash dance grab/rising n-air/u-air to get something started. Spacing up-tilt can also put pressure on Fox to be careful with his landings, but don’t over-rely on up-tilt, as Fox has the ability to bait it out and dash attack or grab you for it.
If the Fox is dash dance grabbing your n-airs a lot, you can try doing a running short hop but wavelanding backwards, to elicit a response from him. You can also try empty land -> down-tilt, depending on how he times his “whiff punish”.
Vs Falco:
This matchup is easier than fighting Fox if the Falco doesn’t know Pichu’s limitations well. If the Falco does know enough about Pichu, then the matchup becomes harder than Fox. Falco’s up-tilt will always win if you’re falling down on him. His auto cancelled SH b-air is also a wall that is hard to deal with.
You can approach with spaced up-tilt to have a reasonable chance of catching the Falco landing from a SH b-air, but if he drifts away, be cautious of him tossing out a surprise f-smash or dash attack to catch you unawares. Up-tilt in neutral is often paired well with dashing back. By doing this, you create several fronts on which the opponent has to fight you, which gives them more chances to crack and do something impatient that you can capitalize on.
Falco can also use retreating d-air and retreating n-air to keep you out. If you notice that he has a tendency to opt for walling rather than lasers, you can throw out a few Thunder Jolts to change up the tempo and make him deal with it. By him retreating, he also gives you SOME stage, which can be helpful depending on if he has you smothered in the corner.
Laser f-tilt is also a menace for Pichu to deal with. It’s both hard to predict and impossible to react to. Taking lasers into dash can sometimes give you a reaction window to grab his whiffed f-tilt, but it can be hard to make a judgment call on how much time you have. If you think he will put his shield up, shield pressuring him with n-air can be an option. He might also ASDI down, which could make n-air a weaker option, depending on how you place it.
As with Fox, comboing Falco and following him on platforms with regrabs, and pushing him off with n-airs is your road to success. Back-throwing Falco can also lead to early stocks. Falco is definitely a character who will push you to the limit of your execution both in terms of movement and punish game.
Vs Marth:
Marth’s power against Pichu lies in his ability to threaten grab at all times. His f-throw and down-throw can put you in a bad spot; with poor DI you can get tippered. Even with good DI, he can tech chase you still, or corner you with d-tilt. He can also up-throw you and juggle you. Marth has easily the best kit for keeping Pichu in the air for extended periods of time. Mostly his u-air, up-tilt, f-air, and b-air disjoints are the enablers here.
Winning against Marth is not simple, but it will come through carrying out a “simple” gameplan, while understanding the complex interactions that Marth can force you into. Dash dance grabbing Marth into up-throw -> n-air is your primary party starter. N-air in neutral is what you want at mid to high percents to push Marth offstage where you can potentially snipe his recovery with another running n-air. If you can get under Marth, u-air can also do work, as Marth is also relatively weak when put above his opponent. In summary, your neutral against Marth revolves around grab, n-air, and u-air. Tilts almost never get you any mileage because he can CC grab or shield grab them consistently. He is also superior to you in the poking department with his d-tilt. Victory against Marth will come through a strong knowledge base of what Marth wants to do, and also understanding your tools for playing around him and using them to the fullest.
Vs Sheik:
There are two things that make this matchup almost unbearable: Sheik’s grab and Sheik’s needles. Sheik can constantly charge needles to put pressure on you, then platform camp you with her b-air. Her f-tilt is extremely hard to work around, and often requires you to hard read it to have a chance to punish. Her grab deals significant damage to you at all percents and combos into her finishers.
To beat Sheik, you will have to be keen to her grab setups and avoid them narrowly, while also finding grabs on her yourself. Up-throw to n-air is a solid damage dealer to her, and gives potential for you to put additional positional pressure on her afterwards. Your edgeguard flowchart on her is complex, as you lack a strong aerial to put her back offstage if she recovers to a platform. Of course, you will have an up-smash waiting for her if she lands on the ground with her poof. Tilts are weak against Sheik for the same reason that they are weak against Marth. However, you may find more crouch cancel opportunities against her, as her own tilts and aerials can occasionally be susceptible to holding down. If you do successfully crouch cancel something, you can grab at lower percents, and down-smash at higher ones.
Vs Falcon:
Falcon is very strong at tech chasing, so you will probably lose the majority of your stocks from getting tech chased into a stomp or knee. Falcon struggles at knocking Pichu down, though, as long as you stay out of his grabs. You will see him dash dance grabbing a lot, as well as walling you with retreating b-air and retreating n-air. You might be tempted to throw Jolts, but I wouldn’t recommend depending on them. Just dash dance at a distance that threatens him, and wait for him to whiff an aerial. His aerials are harder to dash dance grab than most characters, so I usually dash dance n-air to whiff punish him, or at least to shield pressure him. Falcon’s like to stomp out of shield, so keep that in mind and play around it by making him whiff his stomps when you read them, and go for grabs. Most of the time when you kill Falcon, it will be through n-airing him offstage into an edgeguard.
Falcon is one of the easiest characters in the game to edgeguard, but Pichu lacks strong moves to seal out the stock. Falcon can also vary his drift on high recoveries to keep you guessing. A lot of the time, edgeguarding Falcon will come down to 50-50s on where Falcon will drift. D-air is the ideal move to connect on a Falcon who is drifting back to stage, as it has a good knockback angle, making it good for closing. If you can cover multiple options, you certainly should. Sometimes you can cover him going for edge, and still get to him in time if he lands on stage. Jolt can also cut off certain recovery paths for him, giving you less things to worry about.
You can chain grab Falcon with repeated up-throws, reacting to his DI. A lot of times the extra damage from chain grabs is needed to tip the odds in your favor. You can end the chain grab with the finisher of your choice, but n-air or even u-air -> nair is usually good enough.
I have wanted to write a Melee guide since I started playing in 2007. I did not feel comfortable starting something like this for quite some time because I lacked the knowhow. But now that I have twelve years of experience playing this game (tournaments, fests, netplay) I think I have cleared the necessary preparation to bring you my favorite character: Pichu.
Pichu’s stigma in the competitive scene:
Something about the baby form of Pikachu seems to not sit well with a large portion of the player base. Whether it’s the common misconception that Pichu was designed as a “joke character” by the Melee devs or simply the fact that he is placed rather low on most people’s tier lists, the fact remains that Pichu is a character that people either think isn’t worth their time or leads to the assumption by them that you think THEY aren’t worth your time (for picking Pichu: the insolence!).
Clarification:
In my view, Pichu is actually one of the more underrated characters in terms of his placement on Melee’s tier list. He is often touted as the third worst character above Bowser and Kirby. But I believe the slot for third worst belongs to Roy. Pichu could (in my humble opinion) rise up the tier list as much as five spots, passing Game and Watch, Mewtwo, Zelda, and Ness. If you pick Pichu online, I have gotten used to my opponent instantly disconnecting, switching to a similarly ranked character (or a secondary that they regard as bad), or typing something about how we must be transitioning from serious practice to fooling around. When playing against people on LAN, the face-to-face aspect usually prevents things from getting too toxic. But I commonly still get remarks from bystanders about it being a “disrespect” or something of that nature. A lot of times I’ve had people ask me “Why Pichu?” To that I usually respond that I want to “push the character’s meta”; and they’re usually satisfied with that answer.
The upside:
Pichu is a character with glaring flaws. And the flaws tend to be what people focus on. But Pichu possesses some very unique and powerful strengths. Naturally, that’s the point of this guide, to help you channel those strengths. But here is the TLDR of Pichu’s pros:
* 2 frames of landing lag, 2 frames less than the rest of the cast.
* Very good recovery. Able to come back from almost anywhere if you have a double jump. Up-b has extremely low landing frames as well.
* Great movement. Has a 3 frame jumpsquat. Has a fast dash. Retains a ton of horizontal momentum when he jumps out of a run.
* Good grab game. Up-throw combos on many characters.
* Good edgeguard game. Can jump very far offstage to hit people with n-air and d-air.
* Good vertical KO power (up-smash).
* Small character. Hard/annoying to hit and combo.
* Top tier ledgedash. Tied with Fox’s ledgedash for the most frames of actionable intangibility (15).
* Good shield (hurtbox coverage wise) and good options out of shield (n-air out of shield, wavedash out of shield, very long forward and back rolls, and good spotdodge).
Pichu’s moves {Disclaimer: I don’t want to steal others’ content, so I will not link the animated GIFs for the hitboxes and frame data in this guide; but if you want them for reference, go check them out under the Melee Pichu section of Smashboards!}:
A, [A], AAA… (“Jab”):
A subpar jab as far as jabs are concerned. Unlike many other characters, you cannot pseudo confirm jab into a move, except for another jab. But this will push the opponent back pretty quickly without doing much damage. You can trap the enemy against a wall and keep them there for “infinite” damage on a stage like Pokemon Stadium. Nowadays, most players are wary of this setup and will play around it.
A common neutral situation when jab/rapid jab is useful is when you hit someone’s shield with an aerial and are very minus. You can mash out jab if you aren’t feeling like using spotdodge. Still, this is fairly uncomfortable because the moment you stop jabbing, the opponent can usually hit you with a counter attack. So it’s better to keep slapping them with the jabs until they are close to the max reach, giving you a chance to get away unscathed.
Pichu’s jab works as an excellent jab reset tool. Oftentimes you can catch the opponent’s missed tech with a multiple jab reset to tack on extra damage, then connect an up-smash when they get up from the “forced stand”.
Pichu’s multi jabs can push the opponent off the level, if you have them pinned in the corner. If you hit them with the jabs while you are teetering on the edge, or close to teeter distance, the opponent will not be able to fall and grab the edge. They’ll be forced below stage where you have access to numerous edgeguard options, including the famed run off dair that Axe uses effectively with Pichu’s higher tiered brethren. Fox and Falco’s side-b can be caught with the multi jab if they attempt a sweetspot or do not sail cleanly over Pichu’s head, leading to the aforementioned setup.
→ A (“Forward tilt”):
One of the only forward tilts in the game that is pretty much never safe on shield. There’s no reason to use this move in neutral. It just isn’t impactful, even if it hits. It can easily be crouch cancelled. Can easily be jumped over with a Falcon SH stomp or Fox FH bair, which is what they’re looking for anyway… The one niche role that f-tilt fills is edgeguarding Fox and Falco’s side-b. Because it comes out fast (frame 5) and stays out for a while, you can use it to react to space animal recovery. The f-tilt can sometimes outright kill them depending on their DI and percentage. But otherwise it sets up for an edgeguard continuation from a better position.
↓ A (“Down tilt”):
This move isn’t as good as its Super Smash Bros. Ultimate incarnation, but it’s still pretty good in Melee. Has the most horizontal range out of Pichu’s directional tilts, and the least frame recovery. The full move takes 19 frames to complete, so you can feel pretty safe throwing this out in neutral, as the opponent can’t react to it in time to punish. Occasionally you can crouch cancel d-tilt Marth’s up-b recovery if he fails the sweetspot. This move is mostly used to push the opponent back into the corner of the stage. It is weak to crouch cancel, so it’s typically not worth using against Samus for example, as she will just down smash you and win the trade by a landslide. Down-tilt’s usefulness is mainly derived from the fact that it is a grounded move that has some range, which allows you to hold position sometimes when holding position is valuable. By holding position occasionally, you represent a stationary threat whose potential the opponent is forced to deal with or at least consider. The more the opponent has to factor in your standing threats, the more you open up opportunities to dash dance. Therefore, finding more ways to work down tilt into your play will improve your mixup game.
↑ A (“Up tilt”):
Think of this move as a budget Sheik forward tilt. You can wavedash back up-tilt and it hits about a body length in front of you, which can catch opponents’ landings very nicely. Against fast fallers, this move does NOT combo into itself at very low percents, because the move starts in the back and then swings forward; the hitbox on the front part of the arc hits around frame 13-14, so usually they can buffer shield in time. However, you can consistently up-tilt to grab, and this is very hard for the enemy to escape because the slight pop-up from the move removes their access to options like spotdodge. The takeaway is that up-tilt to grab is essentially a true combo on fast fallers, as long as they do not crouch cancel. Against floaties, you have to be careful, as they (e.g., Luigi, Peach) can sometimes n-air in between your up-tilt and subsequent option; you can rising u-air to play it safe, or you can bait out their n-air by dash dance grabbing it.
In my rating, up-tilt is Pichu’s third best tool in neutral; the other two better ones are n-air and dash dance grab. I recently played a somewhat extended session against a Falco player who was slightly above my skill level; and in those matches, up-tilt was the move that had the highest success rate of either hitting my opponent or whiffing without punishment. A bit of an overlooked advantage to up-tilt is that it has enough reach to outrange and beat jabs. If spaced intelligently, it also can counterhit some tilts that extend the opponent’s hurtbox, such as Sheik’s f-tilt.
Up-tilt is also wonky in that ikneedata.com calculates the threshold for up-tilt to break ASDI down (on Falco) as 93%, but I have logged an instance where it breaks ASDI down at 47% here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfjUiae3UU8#t=0m30s
How you will want to use this move:
This is a good move to use in conjunction with a wavedash. It also allows for some combo extensions that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, but I will put those in the combo section of this guide.
→ + A or → + [A] or → C-stick (“Forward smash”):
This move is incredibly disjointed in front and below Pichu, and the hitbox is persistent, making it a ridiculous edgeguard tool. A common setup against space animals is to n-air or b-air them offstage so they fall below the level, then intercept their up-b wall ride with a meaty f-smash as seen in this example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjWMS0X1Vjc#t=3m18s
Although the last strong hit of f-smash can be counterplayed by the spacey (they have to ASDI down so that they fall out of the move before the strong hit connects), Pichu can “rinse and repeat” until the Fox/Falco eventually messes up the DI, or until they reach high enough percents that you can grab ledge and do an invincible ledgehopped n-air to send them to their grave.
You can also throw this move out as a read if you think the opponent will try to refresh their ledge invincibility, but I wouldn’t approach opponent on the edge too often, since you can always just throw out a neutral-b jolt to execution test their ledgedash game.
You can jab reset into f-smash, which could give you an edgeguard setup. Using f-smash on stage is always just an execution test for your opponent, though, as they can SDI out of the strong hit.
How to use f-smash:
Pichu’s f-smash falls in the category of moves that you could potentially just toss out at random, and it could win, due to the long reach and duration of the hitbox (the others moves that have this potential are u-tilt, u-air, n-air, and b-air), still I do not recommend using this move in neutral, as it does not protect you if the opponent simply jumps over, which they are probably doing most of the time anyway. Stick to using f-smash as an edgeguard tool.
↓ + A or ↓ + [A] or ↓ C-stick (“Down smash”):
This move has a horrendous recovery time to it. Use at your own risk, for if you whiff, you will almost certainly eat a punish. A cheesy setup is to spotdodge your opponent’s grab (or any miscellaneous approach by them) into an immediate down-smash by the edge to hurl your opponent offstage. Not only is this move bad if it misses, it’s bad even if it hits sometimes; for some reason, it is very easy to crouch cancel this move too. This is one of those moves that you can just delete out of the game and you wouldn’t hardly notice the difference.
↑ + A or ↑ + [A] or ↑ C-stick (“Up smash”):
Much slower than Fox and Pikachu’s up-smashes. This move comes out on frame 9 and the hitbox is only out for 3 frames. The range is also pretty pitiful because Pichu is so short. Nevertheless, it’s an important move to have in floaty matchups. It gives you at least a way to KO them at semi-reasonable percents.
Lesser Peach and Samus players for some reason like to dash attack at a Pichu. However, this is a good enough opportunity to end their high percent stocks with up-smash out of shield. Competent floaty players are unlikely to give you as many chances, so you sometimes have to go fishing a bit for the up-smash connection.
Up-smash is also a critical component of Pichu’s combo game on fast fallers. Falling u-air, up-throw, and even up-tilt can all confirm into an up-smash with quick reactions. Up-smash should combo into a guaranteed up-tilt at lower percents and u-air at mid percents.
A or Z in mid-air (“Neutral air”):
Neutral air is frequently referred to as “Pichu’s only move”. And with good reason: coupled with Pichu’s ability to use his running momentum when jumping, n-air allows Pichu to cover a lot of ground for a character who is relatively challenged in the range department. Pichu’s n-air can KO outright, combo into itself, set up tech chases, and be used to edgeguard offstage. Pichu’s n-air is (as much as) +1 on shield (that’s better than just safe), can dodge crouch cancel and ASDI down in multiple ways, and can be used to aerial interrupt. This move just about does it all.
Do’s and don’t’s of Pichu n-air:
Do … late n-air on shield to maximize frame advantage.
Do … cross-up shields with n-air to stay safe.
Do … n-air into immediate shield to play around CC d-smash/d-tilt/etc.
Do … n-air out of dash dance as a reaction whiff punish.
Don’t … n-air if it will put you in the corner (with some exceptions).
Don’t … spam rising n-air (it’s both weaker to shield grabbing and crouch cancelling).
Don’t … n-air for the sake of n-airing. (Instead: have a purpose, whether to fight for stage, shield pressure, catch the opponent’s jump, etc.).
Don’t … try to n-air people who are platform camping (Instead: wait for them to commit to a position that is vulnerable or attack them from the most favorable position possible).
→ + A or → + Z or → C-stick in mid-air (“Forward air”):
Like f-tilt, f-air is a niche move. You can’t afford to spam it because it does 4% to the opponent (if it hits) and 4% to you (regardless). And the move has no knockback. I use this move more by accident than intentionally. Still, you can sometimes use it to drag down opponents who are recovering.
→ {away} A or → {away} Z or → {away} C-stick in mid-air (“Back air”):
Pichu’s back air is one of the most underrated moves in the game. Compared with Pikachu’s bair, which has similar knockback and properties, the landing lag is only 9 frames (Pikachu’s has 15 frames of landing lag). Pichu’s b-air hits at a Sakurai angle, which means that it cannot be effectively crouch cancelled in many instances. Attempting to crouch cancel Pichu’s b-air will result in the crouch canceller “sliding” back a slight distance and putting themselves into a locked state comparable to hitstun. This locked state is only for a few frames, but it effectively sabotages any crouch cancel counter plans they might have been cooking up.
Pichu’s bair also has a unique property in that using the move warps Pichu’s environmental collision box, hurtbox, AND by extension his hitboxes. In other words, if you b-air and drift toward the opponent, you will actually be able to cover a lot of stage without the necessity of dash momentum. So you can do things like b-air out of shield and still threaten a large part of the stage. Furthermore, b-air is not a sex kick, which means that even if the move is out for a long time, the knockback does not get reduced. This makes b-air a very useful tool for holding position and especially keeping the opponent pinned into a corner.
How you will want to use this move:
Shield stop b-airs are very strong, to hold position and deny the enemy from moving toward center stage. From full hop height, bair is also one of the better moves to land on the opponent with (albeit still spacing the move so it hits with the edge of the move), because of its anti-CC properties.
↓ A or ↓ Z or ↓ C-stick in mid-air (“Down air”):
This move has mostly threefold purpose. The first and most obvious one is for running and jumping offstage to edgeguard. You can decide whether you need to short hop or full hop, fast fall or not fast fall, depending on the opponent’s drift and resources coming back. Sometimes just falling offstage with d-air can be good against low recoveries (it is particularly potent against spacies’ up-b, given the long charge-up time).
The second purpose of d-air is as a combo ender. Primarily the fastfallers are susceptible to combos such as u-air -> double jump d-air. D-air has a noticeably higher base knockback and more horizontal knockback angle than n-air for example, making it your ideal hard hit to get the enemy offstage and give you an opportunity to read and punish their recovery.
The third purpose of d-air is the most controversial: using it in neutral. There is a school of thought that believes d-air is an option worth considering in neutral due to its “quake” hitbox that occurs when you land while the hitbox is active. This secondary hitbox becomes active during an awkward time for the person defending against it; if they try to crouch cancel or shield it, they are forced to wait a longer duration for the quake hitbox to resolve, thereby enabling Pichu to avoid certain punishes. Personally, I’m not a big advocate of using d-air often, because it does have more landing lag than his other aerials, opening you up to getting whiff punished in a lot of ways.
How to use d-air: Use it to end your u-air combos or to edgeguard offstage.
↑ A or ↑ Z or ↑ C-stick (“Up air”):
Up-air is Pichu’s reverse flash kick. It has enough disjoint to beat out a lot of moves depending on the angle. If you are looking at the hitboxes, you will notice that the move reaches behind Pichu’s body a little, and in front of him a lot. The hitbox in front of him is particularly useful when performing falling u-airs. You can actually space the u-air so that it hits the opponent’s shield, but is outside of shield grab range, due to the extension of the hitbox in front. Falling u-air is actually one of Pichu’s best combo starters on fast fallers (and in general), though it is also one of his more telegraphed openers. I recommend going for it when it’s less reactable, such as out of a dash dance -> short hop uair … or even as a whiff punish on laggier moves.
Another very significant perk of this move is that it can’t be crouch cancelled after 35%! So this is your perfect answer to crouch cancel spammers. If you read their crouch cancel, that’s your opportunity for a falling u-air which will knock them down.
B or B in midair or → {away, tap and release} B in midair (“Neutral B”, a.k.a. “Thunder Jolt”):
Deals 1% to you, deals 7% to the opponent (for the grounded version) and 10% to the opponent (for the mid-air version). Dealing 10% to the opponent is A Big Deal, so I tend to not care that I’m taking a few points of damage if the opponent blocks or knocks away a few of my jolts. The trade-off is almost always worth it. Throwing jolt while double jumping back from the ledge can also be a good mixup if the opponent is frequently spacing themselves a bit further away from you. The jolt’s slow travel time along the ground can buy you valuable time to reassess the opponent’s positioning and hopefully extricate yourself out of the corner.
Jolt is also an amazing edgeguard and gimp tool. Back-throw to running aerial jolt covers a very large heat map, and a jolt sniping the opponent’s double jump usually sets up for a double jump n-air which can end stocks at very low percents, particularly on fast fallers. Of course, you should not always go for jolt following a back-throw; but it is essentially a 50-50 scenario, and you always want to keep your opponent guessing after putting them in a disadvantageous situation.
↓ B or ↓ B or in mid-air (“Down B”, a.k.a. “Thunder”):
If the lightning hits you, you take 3% of recoil damage. Otherwise you do not take damage. This is a very high risk move to throw out, with medium reward. There are two main hitboxes: the bolt itself, and the blast where it impacts (if it hits Pichu). The impact deals quite a fair amount of damage (17%) and has heavy knockback. There are no reliable setups for this however, and thus the impact part of the move is effectively useless. The bolt part of the move can hit opponents who have been launched, typically by up-smash; and it can easily true combo. But you have to be wary of jumping horizontally before casting Thunder, as the momentum will often carry you offstage, and you will be stuck in the animation for some time, potentially leading to your self-destruction. If you jump straight up as you cast Thunder, the impact on yourself is guaranteed, and Pichu will not fall lower while he is being struck by the blast.
You can sometimes throw out Thunder from under a platform if you have a hard read that the opponent will try to jump on or over the platform. But this is more of a one-time gimmick that you should not rely on. Depending on how they DI when you hit them with the bolt, you can potentially combo or juggle them out of the knockback.
How to use Pichu’s Thunder:
Use early but not often. You can make this move relatively safe by “walling” with it (i.e., jumping away from the opponent while casting it). This way, for the opponent to punish it, they have to wait for the bolt to dissipate, which may not even give them sufficient time to get to you, or do something extremely heads-up, like rolling through the hitbox.
↑ B or ↑ B in mid-air {then} control stick angle {any} {then: opt} control stick angle {any} (“Up B”, a.k.a. “Agility”):
This move is self-explanatory. You can snap to edge by doing any downward angle, provided you line up the geometry. You also have extremely low landing lag (normal landing lag, not special fall) if the move ends when you are not touching the ground. This enables you to make it back to stage in a lot of situations without a guaranteed punish for your opponent.
How to use Agility:
Ledge snapping is pretty strong, especially coupled with your invincible ledgedash. Mixup where you go with Agility to avoid the opponent predicting you and punishing hard.
→ B or → or → B in mid-air or → in mid-air (“Side B”, a.k.a. “Skull bash”):
Gives you a horizontal boost on your recovery.
There’s a world where you can try to tech chase or edgeguard with this, but that world is not this world currently.
L + A or R + A or Z or [→] Z (“Grab”):
Jump cancelling is always better! Just press X and Z or Y and Z almost simultaneously. Falling u-air, up tilt, and up-smash can combo into grab, so keep that in mind in matchups where these work.
A or Z while grappling (“Pummel”):
Not the worst thing to do when chain grabbing. When I know there’s no chain grab opportunity, I usually throw as fast as I possibly can, to give the opponent less time to formulate their DI.
→ While grappling (“Forward-throw”):
Notably deals 1% recoil damage to Pichu. F-throw never loops into regrab, so don’t even think about trying that. You want to use forward-throw when it will put the opponent offstage pretty much.
→ {Away} while grappling (“Back-throw”):
La crème de la crème. Ah, the Ken Masters toss that Pichu needed, but didn’t deserve. This will be your main method of securing gimps on some characters. Your best victims to back-throw are fast fallers typically; but some characters like Ness who have really bad recoveries can be abused by this as well. After a back-throw, the main thing you are looking for is to n-air them out of their double jump. F-tilt and jab at the very precipice can be contenders for knocking the opponent below the level where they will become even more vulnerable. The other big option you can go for is Thunder Jolt. You can do a running mid-air Jolt, a mid-air stationary Jolt, or even a grounded Jolt if you want the electricity to crawl down the side of the stage.
Note about back-throw: it is probably the only move that Pichu has that can be called “cheap” or “polarizing”. Yeah, it’s that good.
↓ While grappling (“Down-throw”):
Does a clean 10% total. Can be used to tech chase characters with bad tech rolls, like Falcon or another Pichu.
↑ While grappling (“Up-throw”):
Also deals 10% on its own, which is honestly a lot for a throw. Up-throw combos into n-air and u-air on “most of the cast”. It’s a heavily DIable throw though, so react to DI accordingly.
You can chain grab Falcon at 0% with this. Fox and Falco can DI away at lower percents to not get comboed, but you can still tech chase them if you have good reactions.
Most of the time, if you want damage, up-throw is your go-to choice from a grab.
How to use up-throw:
I can’t teach you much here. It’s something that really has to be labbed until you get the hang of comboing with up-throw. Dashing as soon as you are actionable out of the throw animation is very important!
Pichu’s combos:
Falling u-air -> up-smash or grab. (Only works on fast fallers)
Up-tilt -> grab. (Universal. More effective against fast fallers, who won't get popped up as high)
Up-smash -> up-tilt -> up-smash. (Fast fallers)
N-air -> n-air. (Universal, but more likely to connect on midweights and floaties)
N-air -> opponent misses tech -> jab reset -> up-smash/grab/f-smash. (More effective on midweights and fast fallers, but can work on floaties once in a blue moon)
Rising u-air -> n-air/b-air/d-air. (Universal. Less consistent against super floaties like Puff)
Up-throw -> re-grab. (Fast fallers)
Up-throw -> u-air -> n-air. (Universal. Probably doesn't work against some floaties)
Rising u-air -> land on platform -> up-smash/grab. (Fast fallers and midweights)
Falling u-air -> opponent knocked down because they tried to crouch cancel -> jab reset -> up-smash/grab/f-smash. (Universal)
Pichu’s important matchup-specific information:
Vs Fox:
He has too many easy ways to kill Pichu. Jab -> up-smash, up-throw -> u-air, random up-tilt, random b-air. His dash attack and down-tilt are also potential launchers that can lead to your demise in the form of a Fox u-air. This matchup is extremely hard, and the only way to win is by punishing very hard. Falling u-air to up-smash is your friend. Dash dance grab to back-throw can create miracles. It’s critical that you play around his crouch cancel almost all the time, as he can crouch cancel up-smash and end your stocks very early if you are not aware that it’s his aim.
Fox’s full jump b-air is oppressive. It is very hard to outspace it or even challenge it at all. The important thing is to not commit to any particular move or angle of attack, but to react to how he chooses to drift and whether or not he is likely to utilize his double jump, and reposition yourself accordingly. Then you will increase your chances of landing a dash dance grab/rising n-air/u-air to get something started. Spacing up-tilt can also put pressure on Fox to be careful with his landings, but don’t over-rely on up-tilt, as Fox has the ability to bait it out and dash attack or grab you for it.
If the Fox is dash dance grabbing your n-airs a lot, you can try doing a running short hop but wavelanding backwards, to elicit a response from him. You can also try empty land -> down-tilt, depending on how he times his “whiff punish”.
Vs Falco:
This matchup is easier than fighting Fox if the Falco doesn’t know Pichu’s limitations well. If the Falco does know enough about Pichu, then the matchup becomes harder than Fox. Falco’s up-tilt will always win if you’re falling down on him. His auto cancelled SH b-air is also a wall that is hard to deal with.
You can approach with spaced up-tilt to have a reasonable chance of catching the Falco landing from a SH b-air, but if he drifts away, be cautious of him tossing out a surprise f-smash or dash attack to catch you unawares. Up-tilt in neutral is often paired well with dashing back. By doing this, you create several fronts on which the opponent has to fight you, which gives them more chances to crack and do something impatient that you can capitalize on.
Falco can also use retreating d-air and retreating n-air to keep you out. If you notice that he has a tendency to opt for walling rather than lasers, you can throw out a few Thunder Jolts to change up the tempo and make him deal with it. By him retreating, he also gives you SOME stage, which can be helpful depending on if he has you smothered in the corner.
Laser f-tilt is also a menace for Pichu to deal with. It’s both hard to predict and impossible to react to. Taking lasers into dash can sometimes give you a reaction window to grab his whiffed f-tilt, but it can be hard to make a judgment call on how much time you have. If you think he will put his shield up, shield pressuring him with n-air can be an option. He might also ASDI down, which could make n-air a weaker option, depending on how you place it.
As with Fox, comboing Falco and following him on platforms with regrabs, and pushing him off with n-airs is your road to success. Back-throwing Falco can also lead to early stocks. Falco is definitely a character who will push you to the limit of your execution both in terms of movement and punish game.
Vs Marth:
Marth’s power against Pichu lies in his ability to threaten grab at all times. His f-throw and down-throw can put you in a bad spot; with poor DI you can get tippered. Even with good DI, he can tech chase you still, or corner you with d-tilt. He can also up-throw you and juggle you. Marth has easily the best kit for keeping Pichu in the air for extended periods of time. Mostly his u-air, up-tilt, f-air, and b-air disjoints are the enablers here.
Winning against Marth is not simple, but it will come through carrying out a “simple” gameplan, while understanding the complex interactions that Marth can force you into. Dash dance grabbing Marth into up-throw -> n-air is your primary party starter. N-air in neutral is what you want at mid to high percents to push Marth offstage where you can potentially snipe his recovery with another running n-air. If you can get under Marth, u-air can also do work, as Marth is also relatively weak when put above his opponent. In summary, your neutral against Marth revolves around grab, n-air, and u-air. Tilts almost never get you any mileage because he can CC grab or shield grab them consistently. He is also superior to you in the poking department with his d-tilt. Victory against Marth will come through a strong knowledge base of what Marth wants to do, and also understanding your tools for playing around him and using them to the fullest.
Vs Sheik:
There are two things that make this matchup almost unbearable: Sheik’s grab and Sheik’s needles. Sheik can constantly charge needles to put pressure on you, then platform camp you with her b-air. Her f-tilt is extremely hard to work around, and often requires you to hard read it to have a chance to punish. Her grab deals significant damage to you at all percents and combos into her finishers.
To beat Sheik, you will have to be keen to her grab setups and avoid them narrowly, while also finding grabs on her yourself. Up-throw to n-air is a solid damage dealer to her, and gives potential for you to put additional positional pressure on her afterwards. Your edgeguard flowchart on her is complex, as you lack a strong aerial to put her back offstage if she recovers to a platform. Of course, you will have an up-smash waiting for her if she lands on the ground with her poof. Tilts are weak against Sheik for the same reason that they are weak against Marth. However, you may find more crouch cancel opportunities against her, as her own tilts and aerials can occasionally be susceptible to holding down. If you do successfully crouch cancel something, you can grab at lower percents, and down-smash at higher ones.
Vs Falcon:
Falcon is very strong at tech chasing, so you will probably lose the majority of your stocks from getting tech chased into a stomp or knee. Falcon struggles at knocking Pichu down, though, as long as you stay out of his grabs. You will see him dash dance grabbing a lot, as well as walling you with retreating b-air and retreating n-air. You might be tempted to throw Jolts, but I wouldn’t recommend depending on them. Just dash dance at a distance that threatens him, and wait for him to whiff an aerial. His aerials are harder to dash dance grab than most characters, so I usually dash dance n-air to whiff punish him, or at least to shield pressure him. Falcon’s like to stomp out of shield, so keep that in mind and play around it by making him whiff his stomps when you read them, and go for grabs. Most of the time when you kill Falcon, it will be through n-airing him offstage into an edgeguard.
Falcon is one of the easiest characters in the game to edgeguard, but Pichu lacks strong moves to seal out the stock. Falcon can also vary his drift on high recoveries to keep you guessing. A lot of the time, edgeguarding Falcon will come down to 50-50s on where Falcon will drift. D-air is the ideal move to connect on a Falcon who is drifting back to stage, as it has a good knockback angle, making it good for closing. If you can cover multiple options, you certainly should. Sometimes you can cover him going for edge, and still get to him in time if he lands on stage. Jolt can also cut off certain recovery paths for him, giving you less things to worry about.
You can chain grab Falcon with repeated up-throws, reacting to his DI. A lot of times the extra damage from chain grabs is needed to tip the odds in your favor. You can end the chain grab with the finisher of your choice, but n-air or even u-air -> nair is usually good enough.
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