Q&A Ask about Pikachu! Hosted by Axe and N64! feat. dkuo!

[D. Disciple]

Axe what you think of my commentary in your sets against Hbox/Armada?

 

[Palpi]

I NEED APPROVAL!!

caps

 

[soju]

hoy axe, what kind of strategy is best against peaches?

 

[KirbyKaze]

pika vs sheik is like

b-throw her for a minute, u-smash eventually

if you're not near the edge do u-throw u-smash combos at low percent, and u-throw uair > other aerials / u-throw nair combo at medium or high percents

and then add other stuff that i forgot

i remember being u-smashed a lot

Axe is so clever <3

 

[Radiowar]

does anybody know how this works? (sweet spot up b from below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i_DWaB5LAhg#t=638s

i've done this by accident on yoshis and fd, i assume it has something to do with the wall, but i dont really understand it. is it like...you use the first zip straight into a wall and then angle the second zip up and towards the ledge? would be nice to put the "pikachu cant sweet spot from below" thing to rest.

 

[oukd]

does anybody know how this works? (sweet spot up b from below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i_DWaB5LAhg#t=638s

i've done this by accident on yoshis and fd, i assume it has something to do with the wall, but i dont really understand it. is it like...you use the first zip straight into a wall and then angle the second zip up and towards the ledge? would be nice to put the "pikachu cant sweet spot from below" thing to rest.

You're probably right, it's angled towards the stage like how spacies recover with firefox/bird running against the wall. I don't know if it's an actual sweetspot though - Pika's sweetspot from above is more reliable since he grabs the edge in the middle of the zip, while when you go from below there's a few frames between the end of the recovery and grabbing the edge, which makes you more vulnerable...but I think it's usually good enough to avoid punishes.

 

[N64]

pika vs sheik is like

b-throw her for a minute, u-smash eventually

if you're not near the edge do u-throw u-smash combos at low percent, and u-throw uair > other aerials / u-throw nair combo at medium or high percents

and then add other stuff that i forgot

i remember being u-smashed a lot

Axe is so clever <3

Lies.

It's all wd back fsmash. and dthrow techchase usmash. and approaching bair.
I swear it's true!

 

[AXE 09]

Axe what you think of my commentary in your sets against Hbox/Armada?

I thought your commentary vs Armada was very informative, and I liked it You have a lot of knowledge.

Against Hbox, I'm not sure how I feel about the whole "Nair after she Bairs" thing. I honestly never thought of that at all. I kinda just randomly threw out some nairs hoping they would hit haha.

hoy axe, what kind of strategy is best against peaches?

Lately I've been starting to do a running full jump Fair approach. I don't know why but it's been working out pretty well for me. They always float/jump into it, and even though it doesn't really do much damage, it kinda throws off their flow and lets you get a better positioning on them. I don't know how to explain it haha. Peach might be my worst matchup to be honest.

pika vs sheik is like

b-throw her for a minute, u-smash eventually

if you're not near the edge do u-throw u-smash combos at low percent, and u-throw uair > other aerials / u-throw nair combo at medium or high percents

and then add other stuff that i forgot

i remember being u-smashed a lot

Axe is so clever <3

<3 you man We definitely need to play more lol. I played AZ's best Sheik main in tourney last saturday and went all Pikachu. You guys can check it out if you'd like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOY2vsaOj54

To be honest, I've been having a lot of 2nd thoughts about the Sheik matchup. I really think it's not as bad as many people might assume. Idk, I might be crazy lol. I need more experience in this matchup.

does anybody know how this works? (sweet spot up b from below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i_DWaB5LAhg#t=638s

i've done this by accident on yoshis and fd, i assume it has something to do with the wall, but i dont really understand it. is it like...you use the first zip straight into a wall and then angle the second zip up and towards the ledge? would be nice to put the "pikachu cant sweet spot from below" thing to rest.

Yup, you got it exactly right Pretty useful when you're just slightly too low to grab the edge with just 1 zip horizontally.

And I don't understand when everyone says "Pikachu can't sweetspot from below" like wtf? Isn't it the same for like Fox? Or Luigi? Or most characters? You can, you just gotta go low enough to have your zip end right where the edge is, just like everyone else's up-b's. I don't understand why they point it out with Pikachu.
Yes, it's not a "true" sweetspot because you're not canceling your up-b, but it's the exact same with Fox or Falco. So why don't people say Fox/Falco can't sweetspot from below? I just don't understand why some people make a big deal of Pikachu "not being able to sweetspot from below." It's the same with pretty much all characters =/

Lies.

It's all wd back fsmash. and dthrow techchase usmash. and approaching bair.
I swear it's true!

Seriously? I never do any of those lol. *takes notes*

 

[AceDudeyeah]

How does that up-air work?
Like what trajectories does it send 'em based on what part of it hits?

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Posting this because I'm curious about what Axe will get. XD

Go to your user profile. The first six friends on your friends list are now your team for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. How screwed are you?

Sudai, 제시카, Spin, Project-05, Stealth Raptor, Shadow Swordsman


Modified from the facebook status thing going around. I'd say I'm not screwed at all with my SWF team. ;D

 

[AXE 09]

^I'm getting really sick of that lol. That's being posted EVERYWHERE

EDIT:

How does that up-air work?
Like what trajectories does it send 'em based on what part of it hits?

Uair can send people in 4 different directions. Anyone care to explain?

 

[soju]

Go to your user profile. The first six friends on your friends list are now your team for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. How screwed are you?
[/FONT][/COLOR]

A Rookie, Axe 09, Kira-, 김태연, P*L*U*R*, Insane Carzy Guy( TT~TT)

Not mad with my team but. . . Poor ICG TT.TT



And sounds like a decent plan Axe thanx ^^, I also found that my playstyle is extremely ***** by patient people who space and all that jazz, what do?

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

^I'm getting really sick of that lol. That's being posted EVERYWHERE

x.x Lol, sorry. Didn't mean to annoy ><;

Not mad with my team but. . . Poor ICG TT.TT

Lawl XD

 

[N64]

I'll be dedicated uair explaininator

Hokay. Uair has 4 hitboxes that come out, one at a time, that cover 4 distinct areas around pikachu in an almost complete circle. Each hitbox sends the opponent off at a different trajectory. Here they are first to last.

First hitbox sends them upwards. It comes out first and covers the area directly behind pikachu, starting at about the base of his tail and reaching the height of his head, roughly.

Second hitbox sends them downwards and back behind pikachu. This is commonly referred to as his 'reverse tailspike'. It covers above and behind him, from about where the tip of his tail is when he's standing still, to the area directly above him.

Third hitbox sends them downwards and forward ahead of pikachu. It covers above and in front of him, approx mirroring the second hitbox (except in front of him).

Fourth hitbox sends them a little up and mostly behind pikachu. It covers a small area directly in front of pikachu.

Each of these hitboxes has a use, but the fourth hitbox is probably the least useful (but it can still be tricky and useful!). First hitbox is generally used as a combo starter, you'll mainly hit with it if you're standing near someone but with your back to them and you uair immediately after jumping. You can then follow this with another aerial (or sometimes other stuff depending on char). Spike and reverse spike set up (or accomplish) gimps. The fourth hitbox can be used to catch people offguard and lead to techchases or just awkward positions.

Now the key to hitting with the hitbox you want is a combination of positioning and timing. You want to make sure that the hitbox you want to hit with will cross over your opponent's hurtbox, so if you're flying at them and you want a spike (3rd hitbox), start the uair earlier a little before you reach the opponent than you would if you wanted to pop them up (1st hitbox). Also, of course, make sure you position correctly so the hitbox will in fact overlap their hurtbox.

Best way to practice is probably just playing level 3 comps or something along those lines, and focus on using uair a lot. You can also try like uthrowing lightish chars (zelda, g&w, etc.) at low to mid percents and seeing if you can get a spike or reverse spike off just how you want. Best I can tell you is just use it and practice with it until it 'feels' right.

Edit: oh and Axe, I was half joking heh. I'm sure you play sheiks a lot different than I do, and to better succes. Those are important tools in how I fight sheiks though.
wd back fsmash punishes early dashattacks, dashgrabs, short aerials, dsmashes, basically anything that tries to hit the front of your char model. If you hit with the tip as well, it doesn't matter a whole lot if they shield it because there's enough shieldstun and it creates enough distance that at the right initial distance sheik can't safely punish it. If you whiff though, that's a different story heh.
dthrow is probably my preferred throw against sheik when not near an edge. It sets up an interesting guessing game situation. Maybe I just like making sheiks sweat? heh. Uthrow is cool too, just chasing sheik into the air can be scaryyy.
Bair can dodge sheildgrabs if sheik grabs a little slow, but not tooo slow heh. I like it. Pikachu's hitbox smooshes out so much.

 

[AXE 09]

Lol don't worry man, you're awesome just like your sig says

With those patient/spacing type players, I pretty much always just fake approaches, and try to find little holes in their movements. It's kinda hard to explain lol

EDIT:

Holy crap, awesome job N64. *starts reading*

I'll be dedicated uair explaininator.

Lolol

 

[D. Disciple]

Read all of that and clapped.

Darn it you two, gimme me some critiques in my set!

 

[AXE 09]

BTW if you guys would like, you should check out some of the sets from a tourney I went to last saturday =D Check it out:

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=299206

 

[AceDudeyeah]

Dammn, 4 hitboxes??
I, a Marth main, respect the spacing required to use pikachu's upair. 0.o

 

[AnDaLe]

AceDude, didn't you used to play Captain Falcon in brawl a lot?

 

[AXE 09]

BTW that was a very well explained post N64. Heck yeah *claps*

 

[AceDudeyeah]

lolwut?
You must have me confused as a different "Acedude"
The Dude in my name is capitalized and I'm the one with a "yeah".
I also play just melee. haha

yes, that was very clear n64, thanks!

p.s., I just read the first post. Were those questions answered? (How does up-b work and uses for bair?) If so, are there any wall-of-texts that I should be linked to? haha
Is there anything to the up-B besides picking 2 different directions to change the recovery?
More specifically, anything about the up-b related to grabbing the edge from different angles with a quick attack started both on stage and off? (Axe, how do you pull off all those edge-grabs both when recovering and edge-hogging??!)
And not as importantly: When is bair used? haha

 

[soju]

p.s., I just read the first post. Were those questions answered? (How does up-b work and uses for bair?) If so, are there any wall-of-texts that I should be linked to? haha
Is there anything to the up-B besides picking 2 different directions to change the recovery?
More specifically, anything about the up-b related to grabbing the edge from different angles with a quick attack started both on stage and off? (Axe, how do you pull off all those edge-grabs both when recovering and edge-hogging??!)
And not as importantly: When is bair used? haha

those questions were most likely answered in a lot of detail, but if you want to find it you must do a perilous quest of searching through a cave full of pika shenanigans posted in this thread.

Now Go Young One! Go And Find All The Secrets Here Of The Almighty PikaCHU!!!!!!!

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Lol don't worry man, you're awesome just like your sig says

Lol XD Thanks ^^ That quote wasn't directed towards me, but still, thanks either way. :D

 

[AXE 09]

Lol XD Thanks ^^ That quote wasn't directed towards me, but still, thanks either way. :D

Oh. Well... That quote should be directed towards you lol =D

 

[KirbyKaze]

U-throw U-smash is really really good

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Oh. Well... That quote should be directed towards you lol =D

XD Lol, thanks~ :D You're really sweet. ^.^

 

[AceDudeyeah]

I'm on a master quest!
I want the whole world to see that I pika!!
Gonna be the very best, cause no one else down here plays pikachu!
Poke'mon!

 

[jetfour]

I like using Pika against Axe since he has no Pika experience and I can 2 stock his Falco and stuff.

 

[ANT?]

Q-attack to F-smash... how? haha. is that L canceled?

 

[soju]

well ledge canceled yeah, works wonders but is somewhat difficult to get use to =3= i personally like ledge cancel to nair since its easier and faster :B

 

[unknownforce]

Lol, I think this is my first post in a character specific forum since I joined smashboards.

I'm an old school smash player back from 2003-2004. I'd randomly show up to tournaments on rare occasion and would sometimes do decently but I haven't won a tournament since 04 and haven't played seriously since then. However, since I just got my degree and no longer have school johns to impede my ability to properly play, I'd like to try and get back into smash. Needless to say, I have a lot of ground to make up as everyone has gotten waaaay faster/better than they were in the old days.

Thought I'd post here because I was very impressed with your Pikachu axe. 4th place at a huge tournament against the best players in the world is insane (congrats, btw!) Such a performance has inspired me to start playing Pikachu in tournament. He was my first character and my best low tier, but I never used him in non low-tier tournament play because I was pretty sloppy with him. I've never really looked at character boards because I liked to learn things on my own, but as you guys have a lot of experience with Pikachu already I'm sure I can learn a great deal from these forums without all the trial and error I'd have to go through otherwise haha.

Sorry, I'm too tangential... My only Pikachu question at the moment is if there is a more recent listing of Pikachu character matchups. I feel like I should read those first before I ask any questions, as I don't want to be redundant.

 

[soju]

i remember that a buncha people got together and made a character matchup thingy thing recently, I'm not totally sure what happened to that since I was too lazy to keep up with it and only was with it in the first part =3= someone here should know though, check the call to assembly thread there should be some matchup discussion hiding in there

 

[N64]

http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=11477919&postcount=245

there's a link to a previous post that has links to a few of the pikaconferences we had when we were figuring out how good/bad pika's matchups are. It's a lot of text to wade through (and not all of it is useful) but it's the most recent documented pika matchup discussion. Also, they tend to not deal so much with how pikachu can win matchups, but moreso how he fares in them and why.

 

[D. Disciple]

when is the next pikaconference?

 

[DJ Nintendo]

when is the next pikaconference?

I better be in that conference lol.

 

[N64]

We haven't had one in a long while heh. I can set one up if people want.

Lets do it then. Hardest part is finding an evening that works for everyone. How about next monday, the 28th? Probably start around 6 pacific, 7 mountain, 8 central, 9 eastern. Let me know if you guys want a diff date/time.

And of course, anyone is welcome. We have it over AIM, so let me know your AIM screenname and I'll invite you at pikaconference time.

 

[D. Disciple]

You should have mine still n64.

 

[DJ Nintendo]

My screen name is of course mad easy to remember, DJ Nintendo1.

 

[soju]

whats the pikachat topic gonna be on?

 

[N64]

Okies.

Topic will be whatever. I don't have an agenda for this one really, so whatever you guys want to pikachat about is fine.