so i'm a pretty new player, been at it seriously for probably less than a year
in short, i'm planning to main pikachu. i know pika's one of the best characters in 64
but i'm not really familiar with how to play him. to get to the point, my question for people here would be:
What do I do in the neutral game as pikachu?
i want to know when i should perform neutral airs, fairs, and bairs.
what moves are better to lead with, what kind of approach is best depending on the situation?
at what moment should i fsmash? should i only up+b after i jump,
is down+b a good finishing move, is pika's uptilt useful or not, and things like that.
i also feel like i'm stuck at the same skill level (which is scrub) where i'm not progressing at all, because the learning curve of being a good technical player is too high. i'm still casual tier and i don't know if playing everyday would remedy this.
i know i can potentially get a lot of good tips here,
looking forward to reading all responses.
- SpaceC4se
i'm not the best player or anything but i am a pika main so i can answer a few of your questions. first i'll give u a few general tips then ill answer your questions specifically. First, if you haven't gotten fluid with z canceling yet this is very important. Also short hopping is very very important for the neutral game. once you can do these two things you can begin playing the neutral game in a way that a more experienced player would. there are other advanced tech that you will still need to learn, but knowing just these two techniques will get you very far. the video that combo blaze linked is good but you might not be able to gain much from it until you get more experience first.
I recommend watching videos in order to learn the neutral game. isai videos are always good. pay close attention to how the players space around each other and how they react to each others' movements.
most new players will almost never use pika's uair. It's important to realize just how good this move is. It is without a doubt pika's best aerial. Practice using this move more in battles to get a feel for the knockback of this move. You will notice that at low % the move will have almost no knockback and will be dangerous to use, but at mid-range damage it will give a knockback that is perfect to continue combos if you position yourself correctly. The best thing about uair is it's huge hitbox and the area it covers. you can use this move no matter where your opponent is (except directly underneath you), and it will almost always hit your opponent before your opponent can hit you back.
as for other aerials, bair is a very good move to use for the neutral game when you are facing away from your opponent. it has strong knockback and a big hitbox. It is a bit slow to come out though so beware of trying to use this move if you need a move to come out very quickly
fair is a good move for the neutral game if your opponent doesn't know how to DI. It doesn't have a large or disjointed hitbox but it stays out for a long time so your timing doesn't have to be perfect when attacking your enemy. It also is good for comboing once you are good with z-canceling
nair is good for combos but i wouldn't recommend using it in the neutral game due to its small hitbox
dair is ok in some situations, namely when your opponent is directly underneath you. for instance if your opponent is running up to grab you try using short hop -> dair to fend them off.
so basically uair and bair are pika's best moves for the neutral game (and fair if your opponent doesn't DI)
also pika's grab is super fast and has good range so it's also very good for the neutral game.
Pika's utilt is super useful. It is great for combos. For starters, it can combo into itself. So basically that means you can use uptilt -> uptilt-> uptilt at midrange damages to "juggle" your enemy in the air and deal a lot of damage. Once you get good at that you can do some uptilts followed by an upsmash and then a down-b. so it would be uptilt ->uptilt ->upsmash - >downB. once you have mastered this you can use utilts to start an uair chain (using multiple uairs in a row to carry your opponent across the map) .
Down-b is a good finishing move to use on your opponent after you have landed an upsmash at high damage. so once your opponent is way up in the air you can use down-b on them to send them over the ceiling for a kill. this is called a "thunder spike"
F-smash a a great move for edgegaurding. When your opponent is trying to get beck on stage you can use f-smash near the ledge. It can also be used in the neutral game (pivot fsmash is best) but it is very risky due to the ending lag.
Let me finish by saying you can absolutely ascend past the level of scrub. The learning curve may seem high but after spending some time practicing you will definitely progress in no time. practicing everyday is good but i would say practice at whatever pace you have time for. Even once a week is enough to progress your skills in a reasonable time.
this kinda makes me want to make a tutorial video actually. it's so much easier to show something rather than try to explain it
