Also note that Pikachu is a LOT better than the general population gives him credit for. The tier list is made in the SBR and is an average of everyone's opinion on where a character stands in the rankings. The EC, WC, and South haven't seen Anther's Pikachu, therefore they still have it in their head that the character is bad. This goes along with that 'hidden potential' stuff that Hilt is talking about. Every once in a while, someone will bust out a low tier and give the character a new feeling (IE BUM with DK in late Melee). It's just a lot more difficult to do so for a couple reasons: one, being that high tier characters are generally EASIER to do well with than others. That is to say that you have a less likelyhood of messing up with a high tier over a low tier. And two is that you have to pretty much create the low tier's play style by yourself. There are no other high play levels of your low tier because pros use high tiers, so you're on your own figuring out how to make that character work.
I used Fox for a really long time. I innovated a lot of stuff with the character (no matter what the fox boards might say). I also innovated a lot of my own stuff with Marth, Peach and Sonic, but in the end Metaknight was just a lot easier for me to use, so I did. you don't HAVE to use MK exactly, but using Snake, Dedede, falco, Marth, GAW, etc. will definitely speed things up for you.
Good luck.