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

[Divinokage]

Ya I was wondering why you went off-stage at 0.. I was like omg...

 

[AXE 09]

I've never beaten Linguini before =O

I lost to him at both Genesis and Pound 4.

*Bows to Chad*

 

[-Chad-]

The 2nd match was kinda unfortunate for you :< I got a few good opportunities and really got ahead. If we ever end up at another tourny together we should def sit down and play a ton of friendlies cause your Ganon is sooo ridic and I really want more practice in the match.

 

[AXE 09]

So I'm finally recovered enough from surgery to go out and play some Melee with others lol. I played with Tai/Taj and a few others yesterday for the first time in like almost 2 months haha. Tai and I recorded a friendly set =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkjvcf3YaDM

This is the first vid of me in a long time lol.

(or at least it feels like it's been a really long time)

 

[Spyro]

@Chad: Wait, Chad still plays melee; that's awesome . Contgratulations on beating Linguini.

@Axe: Watching that set just reminded me how fast your Pikachu is . (<3 that Pikachu)

 

[N64]

grats chad!

I would add extra d's for emphasis on my happiness, but complications arise from that.

 

[iRobinhoood]

So I'm finally recovered enough from surgery to go out and play some Melee with others lol. I played with Tai/Taj and a few others yesterday for the first time in like almost 2 months haha. Tai and I recorded a friendly set =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkjvcf3YaDM

This is the first vid of me in a long time lol.

(or at least it feels like it's been a really long time)

Dear God your a monster. My Pikachu still doesn't obey my moves, you've beaten the elite 4 six times by now.....

I still have to learn the basics, well for me advanced stuff but for you guys in this thread basics lol.

 

[Divinokage]

Dear God your a monster. My Pikachu still doesn't obey my moves, you've beaten the elite 4 six times by now.....

I still have to learn the basics, well for me advanced stuff but for you guys in this thread basics lol.

I'd rather say he's beaten 1 of the elite 5 so far. (Top 5 in the world) To me it's that much more meaningful. =P

 

[iRobinhoood]

I'd rather say he's beaten 1 of the elite 5 so far. (Top 5 in the world) To me it's that much more meaningful. =P

I was referencing Pokemon Yellow lol. I wanna learn but theirs sooooo much.

 

[Spyro]

Everyone has to start somewhere. All of Melee's top players did not just start playing melee competitively and become a top players right away. They were once new players and had a lot to learn to get better as well.

 

[iRobinhoood]

You guys are working on Pika glitches on BF, I'm still learning my smash vocab lol. But yea for now I'm working on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4s5yB7ZkE

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Lols, well you don't have to be a pro to research glitches. I'm nowhere near competitive level but I've had countless Melee hours under my belt from me having played it since I was 8, and always using Pika for everything other than no-choose events. I stopped playing it for a few years, but I got back into it some and moreso from Smashboards. I'm still learning wavedashing and jump cancel grabbing tbh.

 

[iRobinhoood]

Lols, well you don't have to be a pro to research glitches. I'm nowhere near competitive level but I've had countless Melee hours under my belt from me having played it since I was 8, and always using Pika for everything other than no-choose events. I stopped playing it for a few years, but I got back into it some and moreso from Smashboards. I'm still learning wavedashing and jump cancel grabbing tbh.

Wavedashing I actually have down* ok now. It's at the point where I can actually use it now for wdashing to grab someone after a shield from marth's fsmash, to edgeguard quickly, or just moving quickly.Ah the good ol' days of when a wavedash was just "OMG I WAVEDASHED M2K hjerkjaghdskghadkgh" lol

 

[DerfMidWest]

I'm a little embarrassed by how bad I am, but hopefully having some of you critique this will help me to get much better... I have so many bad habits I need to fix xP
I already noticed stuff like get up attacks... and normally I JC all my grabs, but I couldn't when I recorded this for some reason...

uhm yea... its not exactly~ pika, but its close enough
besides, there is nobody on the pichu boards, so who will critique my videos .-.

Falco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMoDeqKcXDA

Falcon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kuj0Bxw0vY

aaaaaand... this... I need the most help with these two... Marth/Sheik:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76hXsgg8Zw


any help is appreciated ^^
sorry for the watermark, I still haven't paid for my recording program....

 

[iRobinhoood]

I don't mean this in a bad way, but I'm glad to know someone along my skill level is on these boards = D Only saying this because you weren't comboing the **** out of falco/falcon at breakneck speed with commentators in the background yelling "The Axe Effect." lol.

As far as critique, I noticed when you nair sometimes you'll tend to land directly into the opponents shield and they just grab out of shield and get you. Whenever I'm attacking an opponent on the ground with a nair or most aerials I always try to pick a point behind their character to land through them. This way I can't be grabbed through shield and at most they'll just dodge away from me. Really annoys players who tried to shield grab alot ; )

EDIT** Just watched the Marth matchup, which scared me off the bat, pika/pichu vs marth is like, dear God help me. I'm not too sure of pichu's play style but it seems like you rely heavily on what looks like is nair. I can't comment further on that because I have no idea about Pichu. Your quick attack recovery, although not quick at all, it looks like you need more practice with sweet-spotting that. A couple of times you fell because of a missed recovery.

I hope I'm giving good advice, someone critique my advice and knowledge of melee lol.

DOUBLE EDIT***

New avy and text color, I like the vibe.

 

[oukd]

@Axe: Man, watching your Pikachu never gets old. That bair guard on Randall was awesome lol. I'm gonna have to practice until I move as fast as you do before Apex...

Something I noticed, you almost always do at least one ledgehop uair before returning to the stage. Like sometimes you'll waveland or QA edgecancel later but not before you try an uair from the edge...is that typically safe?

@Aesir: You should definitely post those on the Pichu boards...Pichu to Pikachu doesn't really translate as well as it sounds like it should. However, here are some general tips...

Spoiler

Overall -

• You gotta get those shffls down pat. I feel like you do a lot of full hop aerials by accident.
• I also see a few dash grabs in your other videos. Make sure you can JC grab consistently.
• You should get more consistent with sweetspotting with QA...actually, you should sweetspot with QA more often in general, I see you QA back on stage 90% of the time and it can be punished once your opponent picks up on it.
• Work on spacing. I feel like some of your wavedashes serve no purpose other than WD'ing for the sake of WD'ing (I used to do this, still do sometimes) since they actually put you in more danger than not. Focus on where your opponent is relative to you, and how he's moving in reaction to your movement.
• You also throw out a lot of risky usmashes that get you punished pretty badly for, sometimes even costing you a whole stock. The usmash does come out fast but has a lot of lag after it, so sometimes it's best to go with a safer option (especially when under pressure). It's not something you want to repeatedly approach with, reserve your shffl aerials for that.
• I see that ICG has been commenting on your videos. Definitely listen to his advice - he might be a bit weird, but he's also very smart about Smash (especially Pichu).

Falco -

• After rising uairs, try to use falling nair instead of uair. I know you want to start a combo but falling uair are harder to land. If you really really want that falling uair try delaying it until you're closer to the floor.
• Don't guard with jolts unless you're relatively far above Falco (try jumping higher), otherwise it won't hit. I imagine that Pichu's ftilt and nair are good against Falco's recovery...maybe dair and dtilt in tricky situations?
• Don't be afraid to throw out a move to trade with Falco if it gets you out of his pressure. However, don't try to beat his move with the same process.

Falcon -

• Falcons hate FoD because it messes with their combo game. Taking advantage of the area under the platforms when they're lowered can be effective in stunting a lot of their approach - just be wary of dair through platform and ground approaches (grab, raptor boost, etc).
• I'm not sure if Pichu's the same as Pikachu, but Pikachu can escape Falcon's dthrow by DI'ing down and away. Pichu seems a little different though so you'll want to consult the Pichu boards.
• For the last stock, don't put yourself on the ledge for the opponent...you're only reducing your options.
• Falcon can get vertical combo'd like crazy by Pikachu, so I imagine Pichu can do the same.

Marth -

• Retreating to platforms on YS is very dangerous. Marth's power location is the center of the stage where he can control all three platforms with ease.
• All of your moves are shorter and have less priority than Marth's so you want to force Marth to give you an opening - that means forcing him to approach and taking advantage of his lag after he misses. Thankfully Pika/Pichu's hitboxes come out fast enough to do that.

Sheik -

• I can't really say much other than don't get grabbed. Lol.

I don't know how much of that is going to be useful, but hope it helps. Ended up being a lot longer than I intended...

 

[Griffard]

Just came here to say that I love playing Pikachu and have resolved to work hard on my pika tech independently so I can better play this character I so enjoy. Pika is so fun, and rewarding to play as.

 

[iRobinhoood]

Tail spike, just so rewarding.

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Uair/Usmash -> Thunder kill, just so rewarding.

 

[iRobinhoood]

Uair/Usmash -> Thunder kill, just so rewarding.

Is this called a Thunderflip?

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Probably, I just hadn't heard that term before. XD

 

[soju]

Got some live stream up from last night, might live stream again later.
We played a bunch of characters but there is a bit of pikachu in there XD

http://www.twitch.tv/mapthesoju/b/301810970

Im 1st player my friend 2nd

 

[DerfMidWest]

sorry about posting the videos here, I know that they belong on the pichu boards... its just that we don't actually have pichu players .-.

its me, ICG (banned, and already watched most of my videos anyways), Grim (who doesn't critique vids), and Klubber (who is my skill level .-. )

ICG suggested I post them here anyways since you guys would probably be able to provide better feedback anyways...

 

[iRobinhoood]

Got some live stream up from last night, might live stream again later.
We played a bunch of characters but there is a bit of pikachu in there XD

http://www.twitch.tv/mapthesoju/b/301810970

Im 1st player my friend 2nd

Nice stream = D I stream also, just not smash atm. http://www.twitch.tv/robinhooodgfx

And as much as I suck, I think I might compete at Apex 2012 just for funs and see how I do

 

[oukd]

^DO IT! Tourney participation is one of the best opportunities (if not the best) to learn how to improve your gameplay. Friendlies with strangers is also helpful, and it's very rare that people from so many places get together to smash at one time. I went to Pound 5 when I was a super scrub and got my face ***** in half, haven't looked back. I didn't even make it out of 1st round of pools T_T I did time out a Peach though lol

@Aesir: You should ask unknown522 for assistance.

 

[iRobinhoood]

I've run into a problem = / I claw my right index finger to jump with "Y". My middle finger runs "Z" and "R". But having only one finger on top, jump canceled grabs are hard. What to do.

 

[soju]

http://www.twitch.tv/mapthesoju streaming for a little bit, gonna try and use quite a bit of pikachu

 

[DerfMidWest]

@Aesir: You should ask unknown522 for assistance.

do i has to? .-.
I dun't think he likes me very much lol.

 

[Spyro]

I've run into a problem = / I claw my right index finger to jump with "Y". My middle finger runs "Z" and "R". But having only one finger on top, jump canceled grabs are hard. What to do.

You just have to get the timing down right.

 

[Griffard]

Tail spike, just so rewarding.

Uair/Usmash -> Thunder kill, just so rewarding.

Comboing into kills with Pika is the best feeling ever. Lately I've been getting super super long combos and chases on the level where my Falcon might combo people. Love Nairs-->Up Smash for kills, and I also really enjoy juggling with Up airs and zipping all over with wavelands chasing and downtilting and such until dead.

 

[McNinja]

Is this called a Thunderflip?

I thought a thunderflip was a Usmash into thunder. Although I'm new-ish to Pika so that could be wrong. Anyways, does anybody know what the hitbox is that actually spikes in Pika's Uair? It seems like its just the tip of his tail or something but through some experimentation, it seems that could be wrong.

 

[iRobinhoood]

I thought a thunderflip was a Usmash into thunder. Although I'm new-ish to Pika so that could be wrong. Anyways, does anybody know what the hitbox is that actually spikes in Pika's Uair? It seems like its just the tip of his tail or something but through some experimentation, it seems that could be wrong.

That is a thunderflip correct. And it's the angle and what part of the uair animation pika's in that determines a spike or not. If your facing fox/falco and happen to knock'm off stage what I do is run off the stage so I'm below them, jump into a uair for a spike.

EDIT** I really wish I was able to put up some pika videos for critique but currently my setup only permits me to capture my Xbox 360 in HD. Don't have long enough wires to reach my wii = /

 

[McNinja]

Ahh awesome. That seems like a meritorious strategy. Ill have to use that. Thanks! I don't suppose anybody has a video or something that diplays the hitbox?

 

[Spyro]

Anyways, does anybody know what the hitbox is that actually spikes in Pika's Uair? It seems like its just the tip of his tail or something but through some experimentation, it seems that could be wrong.

Go to N64's Pikachu guide and scroll down to the part where is says Uair Hitbox Properties, you should get your answer there.

I don't suppose anybody has a video or something that diplays the hitbox?

I don't know of any vids on Pikachu hit boxes .

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

Comboing into kills with Pika is the best feeling ever. Lately I've been getting super super long combos and chases on the level where my Falcon might combo people. Love Nairs-->Up Smash for kills, and I also really enjoy juggling with Up airs and zipping all over with wavelands chasing and downtilting and such until dead.

Some of the reasons why Pika is just so fun to play.

Also, I see you're in NOLA now, you can come to dibbz some and play with the scene a bunch if you like :D I'm not in NOLA right now but I'll be there in January sometime, so we could probably get a match in if you're able to come.

 

[Griffard]

Some of the reasons why Pika is just so fun to play.

Also, I see you're in NOLA now, you can come to dibbz some and play with the scene a bunch if you like :D I'm not in NOLA right now but I'll be there in January sometime, so we could probably get a match in if you're able to come.

Yeah, absolutely. The problem this semester is that my roommate didn't come back down, and he was my main smash partner, and we also would split cabs to Dibbz, and my other suitemates are just getting into the game and probably wouldn't fare well there. I do want to go a lot more in 2012 though. Really excited to head back to Geneva for Winter Break though, haven't had any legit smash in 6 months! I've just been practicing all sorts of stuff by myself and teaching my suitemates.

PS - everytime i've posted in this thread, I've been

Spoiler

hiiiiiiiiiigh

, so I apologize for rambling or just general acting a fool

 

[oukd]

Man, playing badly feels so bad.

 

[iRobinhoood]

Man, playing badly feels so bad.

I couldn't agree more Chris. Don't you just hate it when you know you made a bad move, not a physical error, but a mental error, and you got punished severely for it?

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

It feels bad to be in that great void between a casual player and a competitive player, too

Yeah, absolutely. The problem this semester is that my roommate didn't come back down, and he was my main smash partner, and we also would split cabs to Dibbz, and my other suitemates are just getting into the game and probably wouldn't fare well there. I do want to go a lot more in 2012 though. Really excited to head back to Geneva for Winter Break though, haven't had any legit smash in 6 months! I've just been practicing all sorts of stuff by myself and teaching my suitemates.

PS - everytime i've posted in this thread, I've been

Spoiler

hiiiiiiiiiigh

, so I apologize for rambling or just general acting a fool

I see then. Well, if you're able to come more in January, that would be great. Glad you're getting more smash where you can!

PS- Lol,

Spoiler

getting high

ftw. XD No apologies necessary.

 

[Griffard]

Man, playing badly feels so bad.

yup. practice practice!

It feels bad to be in that great void between a casual player and a competitive player, too


I see then. Well, if you're able to come more in January, that would be great. Glad you're getting more smash where you can!

PS- Lol,

Spoiler

getting high

ftw. XD No apologies necessary.

Yeah man, definitely trying to get out there more, I'm going to try harder at smash than I have in the past. By the way, where are you at in Louisiana?