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Q&A Ask about Pikachu! Hosted by Axe and N64! feat. dkuo!
- Thread starter N64
- Start date
~Tac~
One day at a time.
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
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- Knightdale/Raleigh, NC
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The game won't allow you to use your jump until it's completely over, and also doesn't have any IASA frames.
(edit:No aerial sideB available)
SideB is laggggy. A common thing I see in sideB SDs is jumping a little before it's really over, having it not register, and then mess up the spacing/timing you had for UpB. Or not jumping at all due to derp moment thinking you already pressed it.
The other side of that, I suppose if you pressed away at an upward angle in an attempt to upB, then sideB, you could use the DJ by accident and not even see the DJ lines behind sideB's smoke. Immediately leading to a jumpless, under the stage Pikachu. Those are my guesses, Cap'n~
(edit:No aerial sideB available)
SideB is laggggy. A common thing I see in sideB SDs is jumping a little before it's really over, having it not register, and then mess up the spacing/timing you had for UpB. Or not jumping at all due to derp moment thinking you already pressed it.
The other side of that, I suppose if you pressed away at an upward angle in an attempt to upB, then sideB, you could use the DJ by accident and not even see the DJ lines behind sideB's smoke. Immediately leading to a jumpless, under the stage Pikachu. Those are my guesses, Cap'n~
soju
SD God
I went to bootcamp which is mad unhype :D now I'm in medic school which really messes up my time to smash ;3; DON'T WORRY MY TIME TO RISE SHALL COME YET AGAIN MY PIKA PIIII'SSSSSSS, now to study some more ;3;
DerfMidWest
Fresh ******
soooooojuuuuuu <3
chillest man in the world.
chillest man in the world.
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
How much does it go up? And do I just need to register for the venue to avoid price increase? Or is it everything...?
soju
SD God
medic school as in being a field medic in the military(but in airplanes >:3) ;3; at least im a trained EMT on the outside world now >:3 so me being in a cave for the past few months, any news in the melee world? specifically pika? :3
Shadocat
Smash Ace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjlrTsCIKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JppcVfRZ4Mw First Match
I DID WUT I COOD!!!
HAAAALP!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JppcVfRZ4Mw First Match
I DID WUT I COOD!!!
HAAAALP!!!
Krynxe
I can't pronounce it either
Looks like a lot of brawl habits. I'm not a pikachu main, but I can offer some advice
- Pikachu is an extremely agile character, utilize that more. Dash-dancing and having the speed for reacting are just some of pikachu's perks. You rely a bit too heavily on reads (a lot of smash attacks) and not enough on responding to what your opponent does and reacting/punishing. Just work on speeding up your game, and being a little less predictable and in one place.
- Really work on converting, especially versus spacies. You have to utilize and take full advantage of combo setups and ledgeguards if you want to win this MU.
- Uair WAY MORE. Uair is crucial in this matchup! It's like an anti-air that sets you up for chases and combos, and locks down the spacie player heavily.
- When playing neutral game with falco, move around more and make it difficult to approach you. Uair a lot to cover their movement options, and if they're coming in on you just shield their dair/shine nonsense and either catch them with a nair/uair while they try to jump away or just make sure you get away as safely as possible.
- Nair usage could be worked on. Cross-up nairs and rising uairs behind their shield are important as well, and quite safe if done right and can lead to great thing sif converted properly. In general, work on doing more safe things.
- Same goes for all pikachu mains, it's important to work on up+b skill to optimize recovery
- Pikachu is an extremely agile character, utilize that more. Dash-dancing and having the speed for reacting are just some of pikachu's perks. You rely a bit too heavily on reads (a lot of smash attacks) and not enough on responding to what your opponent does and reacting/punishing. Just work on speeding up your game, and being a little less predictable and in one place.
- Really work on converting, especially versus spacies. You have to utilize and take full advantage of combo setups and ledgeguards if you want to win this MU.
- Uair WAY MORE. Uair is crucial in this matchup! It's like an anti-air that sets you up for chases and combos, and locks down the spacie player heavily.
- When playing neutral game with falco, move around more and make it difficult to approach you. Uair a lot to cover their movement options, and if they're coming in on you just shield their dair/shine nonsense and either catch them with a nair/uair while they try to jump away or just make sure you get away as safely as possible.
- Nair usage could be worked on. Cross-up nairs and rising uairs behind their shield are important as well, and quite safe if done right and can lead to great thing sif converted properly. In general, work on doing more safe things.
- Same goes for all pikachu mains, it's important to work on up+b skill to optimize recovery
oukd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,464
@soju
axe got 3rd at melee fc but other than that i cant think of anything lol
@shadocat
krynxe already covered a lot of good stuff
vs falco:
what krynxe said about converting is good, but the main problem thats holding you back from doing so is that you give falco a lot of time and space to think whenever you get him into a pressured position. for example very early on during the 1st game you sh shielded at him to (i assume) bait a getup attack which was alright, but the moment he picks another option (in this case he rolled) you should have wdoos/jumped/dropped shield/etc asap to keep up your pressure by enabling more options on your part and closing space, especially since falco is still very much pressured in this scenario. even though pika is a hit-and-run character by design he can lay down some sick combos vs fastfallers and usually has the speed to stick close to most opponents for pressure.
speaking of shields you approach with shield a lot, and trying to punish falco's pressure oos on every encounter will be a winning game for falco. next to that you try to predict too often with far-away dsmashes and fsmashes which can lead to easy punishes for falco once he catches on. you can't put up preemptive attacks and shields to punish with on every encounter vs falco - in this matchup you're forced to play the neutral game with approaches and spacing if you want to win.
another tidbit is that a lot of times you try shieldgrabbing him during pressure which generally does not work out well. looking for holes in his pressure to uair oos or wd oos is key to escaping shield pressure for pika.
as krynxe already pointed out don't let falco lock you down with lasers and pressure. either learn powershielding or weave around them with crouching, jumping, and platforms. take advantage of your horizontal mobility over falco so that he doesn't connect with anything solid, but don't let him corner you. also make your nairs less obvious and throw them out to catch falco doing something unsafe rather than only when you feel like you finally have the opportunity to throw one out (which is what your mindset looks like here imo).
some smaller things
on your fd match you should space your fh jolts so that you arrive right in front of his shield with your jolt. if you don't ff or cross him up it should be a free grab if he stays in shield. a staple in axe's play from back around '09~'10 i think. also you gotta cg on fd man
work on your edgeguarding too, dsmash vs sweetspot trades most of the times but doesn't always kill. low ftilt works well vs sweetspot. during your match on fd you just walked away from the edge at one point - don't do this. (even though you got the usmash ko in that specific instance it's possible to guard vs sweetspot and cover onstage recovery lag too)
vs peach:
first thing's first, dont cc dsmash T_T
you can nair through her turnips but this usually is more effective if you know one is coming at you. i say this because you sh into her turnips a lot this match. on the subject of turnips you get barraged by turnips this match. stick close to her and put on pressure to prevent her from pulling turnips.
don't be afraid to go offstage for edgeguards vs peach, she isn't a huge threat there and it's pretty hard for her to reset even if you mess up. just don't get hit by some random aerial from her float and you should be good
don't cp with yl he's dumb and pika's cooler i know axe might disagree but whaattevverr maaann
generally same advice as vs falco though.
overall, those in-place smash attack predictions/overuse of shieldbaiting are costing you a lot, and you have to put in more pressure or neutral spacing with dd or some combination of the two. work on recognizing when you have momentum/your opponent is pressured and taking advantage of it, rather than giving it up and running away. you have some pretty cool reads in those matches though which were mad impressive
hm i typed a lot more than i planned
since we're both mdva if i see you at an event you should say hi to me (im the ridiculously tall asian) and we can play pika matchups all day :D yeeeee
edit: collapsed a lot of stuff to make this post smaller
axe got 3rd at melee fc but other than that i cant think of anything lol
@shadocat
krynxe already covered a lot of good stuff
vs falco:
what krynxe said about converting is good, but the main problem thats holding you back from doing so is that you give falco a lot of time and space to think whenever you get him into a pressured position. for example very early on during the 1st game you sh shielded at him to (i assume) bait a getup attack which was alright, but the moment he picks another option (in this case he rolled) you should have wdoos/jumped/dropped shield/etc asap to keep up your pressure by enabling more options on your part and closing space, especially since falco is still very much pressured in this scenario. even though pika is a hit-and-run character by design he can lay down some sick combos vs fastfallers and usually has the speed to stick close to most opponents for pressure.
speaking of shields you approach with shield a lot, and trying to punish falco's pressure oos on every encounter will be a winning game for falco. next to that you try to predict too often with far-away dsmashes and fsmashes which can lead to easy punishes for falco once he catches on. you can't put up preemptive attacks and shields to punish with on every encounter vs falco - in this matchup you're forced to play the neutral game with approaches and spacing if you want to win.
another tidbit is that a lot of times you try shieldgrabbing him during pressure which generally does not work out well. looking for holes in his pressure to uair oos or wd oos is key to escaping shield pressure for pika.
as krynxe already pointed out don't let falco lock you down with lasers and pressure. either learn powershielding or weave around them with crouching, jumping, and platforms. take advantage of your horizontal mobility over falco so that he doesn't connect with anything solid, but don't let him corner you. also make your nairs less obvious and throw them out to catch falco doing something unsafe rather than only when you feel like you finally have the opportunity to throw one out (which is what your mindset looks like here imo).
some smaller things
on your fd match you should space your fh jolts so that you arrive right in front of his shield with your jolt. if you don't ff or cross him up it should be a free grab if he stays in shield. a staple in axe's play from back around '09~'10 i think. also you gotta cg on fd man
work on your edgeguarding too, dsmash vs sweetspot trades most of the times but doesn't always kill. low ftilt works well vs sweetspot. during your match on fd you just walked away from the edge at one point - don't do this. (even though you got the usmash ko in that specific instance it's possible to guard vs sweetspot and cover onstage recovery lag too)
vs peach:
first thing's first, dont cc dsmash T_T
you can nair through her turnips but this usually is more effective if you know one is coming at you. i say this because you sh into her turnips a lot this match. on the subject of turnips you get barraged by turnips this match. stick close to her and put on pressure to prevent her from pulling turnips.
don't be afraid to go offstage for edgeguards vs peach, she isn't a huge threat there and it's pretty hard for her to reset even if you mess up. just don't get hit by some random aerial from her float and you should be good
don't cp with yl he's dumb and pika's cooler
i know axe might disagree but whaattevverr maaanngenerally same advice as vs falco though.
overall, those in-place smash attack predictions/overuse of shieldbaiting are costing you a lot, and you have to put in more pressure or neutral spacing with dd or some combination of the two. work on recognizing when you have momentum/your opponent is pressured and taking advantage of it, rather than giving it up and running away. you have some pretty cool reads in those matches though which were mad impressive
hm i typed a lot more than i planned
since we're both mdva if i see you at an event you should say hi to me (im the ridiculously tall asian) and we can play pika matchups all day :D yeeeee
edit: collapsed a lot of stuff to make this post smaller
N.A.G.A.C.E
Smash Champion
Never mind
DerfMidWest
Fresh ******
Shffl'd nair.
DD grab.
Jolt sometimes.
DD grab.
Jolt sometimes.
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
I was wondering of any pikas out there use the claw. I'm thinking about switching to it because Im incredibly more consistent with running/pivot up smashes while using it for some reason. So does anyone else use it?
oukd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,464
i know spyro does but he hasnt posted here in a while
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RphJyv6Zpc
it doesnt help me at all lol, but if you think it makes you play better than by all means do it
but wait until after rom5 imo lol
itll take way too long to get used to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RphJyv6Zpc
it doesnt help me at all lol, but if you think it makes you play better than by all means do it
but wait until after rom5 imo lol
itll take way too long to get used to
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
Interesting... Well I'm gonna use a slightly varied version I think which shouldn't take too long. I just started breaking In a new controller, may as well break in a new style in less than two weeks as well, lol
Spyro
Smash Ace
/Lurkmodedisengaged/
I think it took me a little over a month before I got use to holding it like that but I couldn't imagine going back, it's a lot easier doing technical stuff (especially with Fox and Falco) and rapid jabbing with Pikachu is a lot easier too. But you should probably wait till after rom5 if you want to try something like this.
Bing
Smash Master
Oh hai der Pikachu's
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
Axe you were freakin amazing at Kings of Cali! Gettin 3rd is solid as hell and your performance against shroomed and peepee was incredible. Can't wait to see how well you do at apex (and to play friendlies with you there) and I'm sure you'll crack the top guys really soon.
Edit:
Also, that comeback in the first match against sfat was spectacular. The stuff you do is inspiring, man.
Edit:
Also, that comeback in the first match against sfat was spectacular. The stuff you do is inspiring, man.
Divinokage
Smash Legend
He already can, he just needs to be even more precise and not miss any punish at all.
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
For sure man :D. I really gotta put in work with pika this week though lol. I dunno why, but all of a sudden I'm playing way better with falco again. Gotta seriously think about what I'm gonna do. I really wanna play almost all pika, but at this rate I'd have a much better shot as falco .
Edit:
@Kage
I totally agree that he is already capable, but by being more precise and not missing punishes, that pretty much just means that he has to be better. So while he's capable for sure, he just needs to get a tad better (by doing what you said) and then he'll be pretty much equal with them, in my opinion at least.
.Edit:
@Kage
I totally agree that he is already capable, but by being more precise and not missing punishes, that pretty much just means that he has to be better. So while he's capable for sure, he just needs to get a tad better (by doing what you said) and then he'll be pretty much equal with them, in my opinion at least.
oukd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,464
haha don't worry about it man, give yourself time to decide.
i don't want to worry about who i'll do better as anymore so i just pick one character and run through a tournament with him - im not really for changing characters during the tournament, but that's just me. still going falco for apex, but i decided on pika for rom.
from my own experience you'll improve as a player overall regardless of who you decide to stick with more, so your other characters will just 'randomly do better' the more you play in general.
i don't want to worry about who i'll do better as anymore so i just pick one character and run through a tournament with him - im not really for changing characters during the tournament, but that's just me. still going falco for apex, but i decided on pika for rom.
from my own experience you'll improve as a player overall regardless of who you decide to stick with more, so your other characters will just 'randomly do better' the more you play in general.
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
Well, honestly the reason I decided to really main pikachu instead of falco is because I hate falco and feel bad when I play other people with him (you should feel bad, falco mains), but he's just so much better lol. I feel like I have to play a lot better to win as pikachu whereas against most people I play (obviously not people a lot better than me) I can pretty much just autopilot as falco and things work out well some way or another. But I guess I'll just have to wait and see how I'm feelin come next saturday.
oukd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,464
lol really? i dont feel bad at all but i see where you're coming from...although spacies are the absolute funnest characters in the game imo so that might factor into my opinion. i don't have the capacity to hate spacies lol
i want to say you shouldn't feel bad for stuff like that, but to each his own i guess. or play people much better than you on a regular basis and you'll quickly change your opinion haha
i want to say you shouldn't feel bad for stuff like that, but to each his own i guess. or play people much better than you on a regular basis and you'll quickly change your opinion haha
Captain Smuckers
Smash Journeyman
I'm like semi-joking lol, I understand that (especially falco) spacies are glass cannons and not so overpowered to the point where they can't be beaten. In fact I don't think they're unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination. I guess I just don't like the idea of using a character that is universally seen as being amazing because I don't want to use that as a crutch, and also well, everyone plays spacies lol. With that said though, I freakin love playing as them. I play fox and falco like crazy in friendlies, I definitely agree that they're among the most fun characters to play as. So yeah, I don't actually feel bad exactly lol.
Spyro
Smash Ace
Spacies are fun to play and sometimes to play against (depending on the match-up), combos for days.
O yeah, Axe too good <3
O yeah, Axe too good <3
RoanYagyu
Smash Journeyman
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2010
- Messages
- 223
Hola all. I semi recently started to pick up Melee more seriously due to finding other players nearby to practice with (started doing so around mid summer I guess) I decided a couple months ago to main Pika since he felt most natural to me, up till then I was told to focus on Falco (cause the group i play with seem to enjoy facing falco , plus hes also really good) so Ive decided on using him as a secondary. I try to practice the game for at least a hour or two a day so I was wondering outside of the general stuff (ATs, spacing, movement control, recovery etc.) what other stuff should I focus on when I practice on my own? Also any tips on what to do against Marth?
Btw Congrats to Axe on getting 3rd at KoC, really nice stuff.
Btw Congrats to Axe on getting 3rd at KoC, really nice stuff.
oukd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,464
when it comes to practice i always link to pp's post here
http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=14739329&postcount=17539
for pika-specific stuff practice your upB angles for edgehogging from stage/for recovery, cgs on fastfallers, etc. there might be more i cant think of atm
focus primarily on movement for general practice. when you have a specific action/series of actions that you can't seem to get during friendlies, keep it in mind and practice it at home until you get it consistent. simple example being some people having difficulty with running usmash/pivot usmash - repeat it until you get it perfect
get used to your attacks to the point where you know exactly when the hitboxes appear/disappear/startup+ending lag/etc.
i would give marth advice but turns out im really bad at the MU and I don't feel qualified to give advice on it anymore so for now i'll just say watch axe's videos vs marth lol
welcome to pika boards btw
http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=14739329&postcount=17539
for pika-specific stuff practice your upB angles for edgehogging from stage/for recovery, cgs on fastfallers, etc. there might be more i cant think of atm
focus primarily on movement for general practice. when you have a specific action/series of actions that you can't seem to get during friendlies, keep it in mind and practice it at home until you get it consistent. simple example being some people having difficulty with running usmash/pivot usmash - repeat it until you get it perfect
get used to your attacks to the point where you know exactly when the hitboxes appear/disappear/startup+ending lag/etc.
i would give marth advice but turns out im really bad at the MU and I don't feel qualified to give advice on it anymore
so for now i'll just say watch axe's videos vs marth lolwelcome to pika boards btw
KirbyKaze
Smash Legend
I saw someone say "conversions vs. spacies" in this thread.
One of Axe's BNB combos vs them seems to be something like...
Rising uair (not sure if SH or FJ) > nair near the bottom of the jump > dash JC grab (if they don't get knocked over) / tech chase u-smash (if they do get knocked over).
I swear he does that setup (that one, specifically) at least twice vs every space animal he plays ever. Haven't really watched other Pikas and I think you can just uair > grab / u-smash too at certain trajectories & heights but I think the nair is useful as a positional tool in some situations to prevent them from being tossed onto the platform when you throw them (so you can combo the u-smash) or to get them closer to the edge for gimping in some circumstances. And other stuff. I think repeat tech chases are kind of strong with this guy in general.
One of Axe's BNB combos vs them seems to be something like...
Rising uair (not sure if SH or FJ) > nair near the bottom of the jump > dash JC grab (if they don't get knocked over) / tech chase u-smash (if they do get knocked over).
I swear he does that setup (that one, specifically) at least twice vs every space animal he plays ever. Haven't really watched other Pikas and I think you can just uair > grab / u-smash too at certain trajectories & heights but I think the nair is useful as a positional tool in some situations to prevent them from being tossed onto the platform when you throw them (so you can combo the u-smash) or to get them closer to the edge for gimping in some circumstances. And other stuff. I think repeat tech chases are kind of strong with this guy in general.
oukd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,464
the specific bnb you mentioned is off fj rising uair, sh rising uair puts them above you while you just land so you can't really come down with a nair. grab/usmash/etc works pretty well off sh rising uair though. or fj rising uair onto platform into grab/usmash/etc. at high enough %'s.
on a side note, kk you've been posting like everywhere in the last few days lol
on a side note, kk you've been posting like everywhere in the last few days lol
AXE 09
Smash Master
I just have to say:
Thank you all so so so much for the congrats and everything. It really means a lot to me. This weekend was so amazing
I've been training so hard and I'm so glad it's all paying off.
Thank you all so so so much for the congrats and everything. It really means a lot to me. This weekend was so amazing
I've been training so hard and I'm so glad it's all paying off.