Active Pichu users?

[the muted smasher]

Pichu has the smallest sweetspot in the game think like the size of Your f-tilt.

Honestly my best advice to people who Wanta get good as pichu is to quit and come back when You got decent with someone with better options because in truth Pichu is a low tier with an extremely tight window of game play but lower level players get a lot more "free" hits than they really shouldn't (think of a bad marth spamming f smash), but it's harder to see how gimmicky pichu is at lower levels.

But if You use someone with many options better than Pichu You'll build up solid fundmental ly that carry over better than playing Pichu because he basically should die if he doesn't keep hitting a bunch of non sense windows or generally out playing them. Where if they are hit, they are still playing the game.

Idk I leveled up world's switching to ics and somehow that taught me a lot more about Pichu i feel

 

[Blue53]

Thanks for the advice. Do you feel like ICS has anything similar to Pichu tho or is it just a comfort pick of yours?

 

[Comet7]

muted is right. it's why i main fox now.

actual tips against falco, up tilt can beat dair but lasers can make up tilting hard and you're staying still while doing up tilt...so if you will ever hit a falco like that, you have to get a hard read. up air is meh since you're both in the air and it will only hit if falco full jump dairs which is the scrubbiest act of desparation or laziness a falco can do. also play a better character, seriously, if you want to become better.

and you can just grind out ledge snapping. just practice. idk if anything can help you with that aside from picturing what axe does with pika

 

[Blue53]

Thanks guys. Truth is, the first character I played in melee (competitively) IS Fox. I'll try and work on him. But I wont drop Pichu just yet tho, thing with fox for me is I'm not super technical. I have decent movement and fundamentals tho. Which is why I enjoy Pichu the most. Hes fast has a good n-air/up smash and doesn't press that many buttons. But I do understand what you guys mean by building smarts with better characters so I'll work on my Fox. =]

 

[the muted smasher]

All I'm saying is I've been playing since 06 and played only pichu till 2012 and went puff/falcon then stuck with ics and I still use pichu vs marth and sometimes gannon.

It does me well also in match-ups where I need to let them fight me as few games as possible so I can stay tricky with ics, so I'll switch to pichu on their pick so they never get comfortable.

Nair oos is amazing vs falco if You can make it come out frame perfect near everytime.

 

[Jazzasaur]

Always felt the urge to main Pichu and to support the little guy.

He's/She's got some potential to be pretty decent and I'd love to dedicate time to learn the character at some point. Would be hilarious and awesome!

 

[the muted smasher]

Pichu could be high low tier, just the tech skill/spacing/fundmental ceiling is really high. Very few people even hit a point where they aren't gimmicky and getting hits souly on who they are fighting being meh

 

[Plague von Karma]

I'm probably one of the only Pichu mains left.

To be honest, Pichu could be at least mid tier. He's actually pretty good in doubles.

 

[the muted smasher]

Pichu is worthless in Teams and there are a lot of old school pichu players get out of here xD

 

[Jazzasaur]

I'm probably one of the only Pichu mains left.

To be honest, Pichu could be at least mid tier. He's actually pretty good in doubles.

Definitely at least mid tier, with enough effort Pichu is overall pretty decent fighter. Has lots of viable moves and even though he hurts himself, most of the moves that self harm aren't going to be used all that often.

Really not sure where the amount of dislike comes from pichu, I understand in the sense that he's meant to be a younger form of Pikachu and a jokey character and he's seems weaker at face value but he's/shes's fairly decent if you look closely.

Might as well decide to main him, I don't play melee enough so it would be a great incentive to get back in the game haha. Hopefully ill be able get some success with him!

 

[DerfMidWest]

Pichu is not mid tier.
He's better than a lot of the bottom tier characters, but he's not the level of characters like the marios, luigi, yoshi, samus, etc.
He really doesn't even compare to DK or the links (being the top of low tier).
Pichu is just really fast which gives him an advantage over a lot of slower characters.

In top 8, Pichu's best matchup, by far, is jigglypuff.

All the rest of the top 8 mus are abysmal, spacies, falcon, marth, sheik, and peach all obliterate him. We don't even talk about the IC mu.

Falcon and spacies have the illusion of being better mus because you can combo them really easily and gimps are free, but once you start playing better players, cheese isn't as easy or legitimate of a strategy.

 

[the muted smasher]

By cheese he means stuff like at low levels bad marth's walk up and F-smash or a sheik might still to a basic formal wd back tilt/grab mix up and etc.

Very few pichu hit the point where they aren't playing on cheese. Honestly m2k does but he is mostly abusing reads, dd, and general fundmentals so I can't even say he is playing Pichu so much as melee.

I never see Pichu players play a solid shield pressure game, have a total understanding of their dd/nair game, recover in a way so that their starting point had many routes/possible mix ups (like fox where he could ride a wall, go for the edge or go high so it's difficult to hit every option) .

And not even going into the finer details like delayed ff on full jump jolts so it looks like it won't ride a platform or it looks like it will but won't.

I won't see someone with a flawless nair game more than anything and has great shield pressure.

Also is there a trick to pivot d tilts? I can do f tilt or f smash but d tilt is weird

 

[ScienceFriction]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but...

Axe and Mew2King did a Pichu Ditto on FoD/Pokefloats at Smash Summit and it was one of the most entertaining sets i've seen in a while

 

[Comet7]

i hate pichu dittos. they're like less intensive fox dittos and edgeguarding takes an eternity.

 

[Avoin]

Yeah, i wouldn't call pichu mid tier by a long shot. Top of the E tier at very best. Donkey Kong being the gatekeeper, i don't think any E tier will ever pass him, let alone either of the links.

The jump after Donkey Kong is pretty substantial considering DK is pretty bad himself and he shines compared to the rest.

That being said, pichu is probably a bit underrated. Props for maining him haha, somebody has to do it.

 

[Blue53]

Yeah, i wouldn't call pichu mid tier by a long shot. Top of the E tier at very best. Donkey Kong being the gatekeeper, i don't think any E tier will ever pass him, let alone either of the links.

The jump after Donkey Kong is pretty substantial considering DK is pretty bad himself and he shines compared to the rest.

That being said, pichu is probably a bit underrated. Props for maining him haha, somebody has to do it.

Well as of this moment and probably until Pichu doesn't get recoil to neutral b and agility (recovery) and lose trades to falco 24/7 and act as road kill for fox's up smash at 60%(WHICH WE ALL KNOW WONT HAPPEN THX SAKURAI)., I'm most likely keeping Pichu on the side for low tier tourneys which I have in my scene every so often or possibly falcon since enjoy that MU somewhat if my Fox is burnt out.. If u were talking to me that was haha.

 

[the muted smasher]

What does lack of recoil do for making Pichu s punishment game better? You didn't list a single flaw that matters as the bigger picture. Like sheik has a terrible recovery and what if she took recoil from her d throw. It wouldn't change anything about her gameplay at all. Increases risk but nothing about neutral or punishment

 

[Blue53]

I was fairly certain everyone here knows all of Pichu's flaws but yes you state a big point. Pichu's punishgame does lack quite a a lot. Anyone here find yourself lost u-airing spacies but realizing your best follow up is either a n-air or another up air. I'm discussing juggling but I am aware you can up smash when it ends (works best on fd from my experience). Question: how useful is forward air? I often find myself using f-air off stage into a nair but is there more?

 

[Comet7]

down throw tech chase spacies. nobody does it but it's the most optimal thing, and humanly possible for those who doubt me.

fair is sort of useful if you can't hit with much else or you want them to be put in a certain position. you have to be sure you're safe with it though, and if it's even worth it with the damage. recoil generally doesn't matter to pichu, but you should consider whether it's worth it to take 4%. important if you're near a cc % barrier.

 

[the muted smasher]

People who think about the recoil generally don't understand Pichu on the fundmental level.

Fair has niche uses. You need a read on a read for it to work at high level play. Like know he will cc when he misses a tech or they won't shield when You cross them up at high percents for a up smash or they will shield and try to punish when You do a pull back fair on their shield (why not upair/dair instead)

 

[Blue53]

about down throw doesn't marth jump out? EDIT: steal jump w/uair into nair combos sounds cool if this is true

 

[the muted smasher]

Yeah marth can escape for free without any punish but don't let them know

 

[CAUP]

Up throw on marth is actually pretty good. You can follow up with up air or nair. Also, pichu's up throw has interesting properties so you can up throw tech chase on a platform, up throw up, up air or nair.

 

[Comet7]

up throw > up air > nair leaves marth in a really bad position too

 

[the muted smasher]

Shout outs to upair thunder when You know they want jump

 

[Blue53]

Blue here, sorry I haven't posted much its been a fairly busy new year so straight to the point I placed fairly decent at a NC local last weekend Fox only,there was a low tier tournament in which I four stocked a Roy via down throw reaction tech chases to place top 8...only to lose to a G&W and another (but somewhat top player in region) Roy. I also dabble with pikachu to understand between the two pika and pichu but tech chasing seems to work better with pichu than those early gimps pikachu is known for which i'm okay with tbh.. Guess its the feeling of grabbing that fast faller and making him pay funny to me haha. I have one thing to ask however, how to I fight vs fox/falco.I think through experience the best thing sometimes is to have them whiff aerials/smashes sorta like how most mid/lows need to deal with marth or/and just play somewht read based but then go in when they dont expect it. #Nairbois I also love pichu for doubles in training because I can save falcon with an uair without having the fear of killing him

 

[Comet7]

you're basically a really bad spacie so you're also looking to catch approaches / beat them out with your nair or up tilt. lots of moving around. down tilts out of run can be good too. waiting until they do something dumb is also important though that gets less likely to consistently happen as the level of play goes higher.

 

[Tyadran]

So, I only recently started playing Melee semi-seriously. As in, this week, and only in friendlies against a friend of mine. I used to joke about maining Pichu, but now that I actually have been playing...I absolutely adore Pichu's play style and am now completely serious about maining her.
I have three major questions, however, about using her:

1) Is side-b really worth using? I've found it incredibly useful, both in recovery and as a punish option, but I'm not sure whether this is solely based on my sparring partner's inability to consistently predict and react to the move. Also, what is this move's official name? Is it also Skull Bash?
2) Is f-smash a viable option when my opponent is on ledge? I've found myself using it a lot to catch him on the first vulnerable frame, and he seems to have a good deal of trouble SDIng out of it, unlike when used normally. It also appears to be a somewhat reasonable shield pressure option, but it seems pretty unsafe against opponents with any range.
3) Any tips on fighting against Young Link? That's my friend's main, and I struggle a lot with the MU, for a number of reasons I'm sure you're already aware of. Link isn't a problem so much because of his size and weight, but YLink just screws me up a lot. I'm not worried about the top-tiers, because I secondary Marth for those, but I would really like to be able to use our little mouse friend in as many matchups as possible.

Also, advice on read options for Pichu is greatly appreciated - my biggest strength in Smash comes from reads, being a Ganondorf main for a good deal of time in Smash WiiU/3DS and Project M. Solid read options are something I still haven't figured out for Pichu.
Thanks for any advice! I'm looking forward to learning Pichu.

~Tya

 

[Comet7]

yes it's skull bash. it helps recovery a bit. don't use it if the opponent can and/or will punish you during it's end lag. it's also the Puff Slayer.

f smash is alright if you think people will run into it but this becomes more risky once you get to higher level play and when people start SDI'ing out of it.

treat him like a worse marth and don't get grabbed.

 

[Tyadran]

My biggest problem with YLink is actually bomb/boomerang spam. Do we have any good way to get around that kind of projectile camping?
Plus I've always just struggled against projectile spam as a player. >.<

 

[Comet7]

powershield or get close enough to punsih with nair.

 

[Waltz]

Ah Pichu, what a character. I'll admit from the get-go that I'm not a very good Smash player, but whenever I do find the time to play and practice I always use the smaller yellow mouse. Pichu doesn't necessary have a lot of great MUs, in fact he is almost always at a disadvantage in a raw comparison, but I believe he has a lot of potential to move up the Tier List. His moves are weak but his movement is far from it. He's got a lot of options for players who are looking more for an "out think your opponent" play style rather than a percentage for percentage style of play. Do I think he is the best, no, obviously not, but I think Pichu has a lot of potential to shock some people and become a real competitor. That might be complete crap and I'm too stupid to know, but I'm always looking to try and prove my theory and grind it out with Pichu. I highly recommend that you stay active here on the Pichu boards to learn the moves and tactics of Pichu. Good luck!

 

[PsychoSoldier]

Pichu is amazing. Please rest.

While I develop the meta.

 

[tsm2k420XX]

Pichu is definitely the most fun character in the game besides spacies imo. He feels challenging to use(albeit I'm not a good pichu), and he's so rewarding to win with, and I hope his meta develops more this coming year!

 

[Tyadran]

I enjoy Pichu a lot just because she excels at a few things I really enjoy doing, two notable ones being grab strings and edgeguarding. Nothing beats landing a solid nair or f-smash on some poor person trying to recover after f-throwing them across the stage.
Speaking of which, I thought I heard Pichu has an actual chaingrab? On who and how, if anyone could help me out?

 

[tsm2k420XX]

I enjoy Pichu a lot just because she excels at a few things I really enjoy doing, two notable ones being grab strings and edgeguarding. Nothing beats landing a solid nair or f-smash on some poor person trying to recover after f-throwing them across the stage.
Speaking of which, I thought I heard Pichu has an actual chaingrab? On who and how, if anyone could help me out?

It's up throw on fastfallers, idk the % tho

 

[Comet7]

20-80 on spacies

0-60 on falcon

tech chase at 0 with down throw on spacies

 

[PsychoSoldier]

Up throw
10-80 on fox
10-90 on falco (or death if yoshi's)
0- 70 on falcon
0-30 on roy
0-50 0n DK
0-20 on bowser

Down throw
65-90 on marth (to death with up smash)
70-130 on young link
95-120 on Link
80-150 on roy
40-130 on ness
40-100 on ICs
70-180 on ganon (DI doesnt matter after 110. Also may possibly be beyond 180)
0-100 on yoshi*
60-170 0n DK
75-140 on sheik
70-150 on pikachu (70-100 can DI'd out of. the rest doesnt matter)
10-90 on kirby
0-60 on zelda
75-140 on bowser
75-150 on pichu

Unchainable
Mario,Dr.,Luigi,Samus,Peach, Jiggly

*(you MUST use AZ grab since it's not a true chain grab. Yoshi can use an aerial or jump after the throw HOWEVER, due to the nature of yoshi's 2nd jump, if yoshi tries to jump it will still get grabbed. So shield the next move and grab until 50% at this time you may not have to shield grab because of DI. If yoshi DI's away the grab is guaranteed, if not then result to shield grab. There's also no possibilty of the yoshi spot dodging due to tumble animation requiring you to use a move to enable spot dodging in the air) This also applies to Ness at 40-70 %. DK(60-90) and Zelda can escape hitstun soon enough to get out but if DK uses an aerial it will be too slow and he will get grabbed. However he can execute a 5 frame jump>air dodge to get out but that leaves him vulnerable- same for zelda. Zelda is similar but her aerial hitboxes are the problem not the frames. F-air comes out above pichu after d-throw and usually doesnt touch pichu- n-air's hitboxes do not cover zelda's feet so she still gets grabbed. B-air doesnt work because pichus d-throw resets characters to face the opposite direction pichu is facing and if you try to DI behind pichu zelda will be directly above pichu so it wont hit. D-air doesntt work because shield-grab and it's small hitbox doesnt even touch pichu. If zelda attempts to jump she will still be grabbed.

This is all i have for now, but as soon as get a new memory card I'll test G&W and Mewtwo with someone. I'll be back again eventually.

-Strong Normals

 

[Comet7]

that post wrong but also right. i just tested down throw out in 20xx's debug mode, and nair is a true combo out of down throw, at least around 95%. i'm pretty sure it also gets him if he DI's away. up smash never works against marth at least, he can always jump out.

i'm fairly sure most of the down throw CGs fail if people DI away. that's what happens with roy. i think pichu can get him with up tilt around 100% because of its range.

edit: yes, sadly, they're just a frame or two away from connecting... still a good gimmick i guess. up throw on anybody other than spacies and falcon is definitely false too.

 

[Tyadran]

Yeah, I've personally found that I can usually get down throw -> down throw if I catch them off-guard, but after that they'll DI away and escape. Then it's kind of a toss-up. I personally like to go with nairs or side-B, but I know myself that I go for side-B a lot more than is really healthy. I'm sure I'll pay for it someday.

It is probably a chaingrab if they don't DI far enough though. I have limited experience on matchups since I don't own my own copy and thus only fight my friend's characters. It definitely works on Young Link with suboptimal DI.