[MU] Pikachu

[Pocket Freye]

This is the only character that is giving me a lot of trouble. I can play vs any other character and do well but as soon as I fight Pikachu it feels hopeless. Everything he does feels so hard to punish, he's fast enough to keep good spacing and dodge any attacks while also able to keep constantly poking with B so I can't get any projectiles off since it hit stuns you. The exact moment you get in the air you're pretty much a goner as he can easily fight you in the air, and the exact moment I get thrown off the stage I'm pretty screwed because all it requires is him to jump off and Bair you. Are there any tips to fight this menace? Is it ACTUALLY a bad matchup or am I playing it wrong?

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

Pikachu has always been a high tier character. Small hit lengths but easily compensated with speed and aerial game. More importantly his excellent recovery. Buuuut he's a lightweight (maybe even lighter than in the last games it seems). Should be able to KO him at 80% with an f-smash near the ledge.

However, I've notice up smash down smash and n-air are very good against him since they out range his attacks.

Do yourself a favor too... lay off Dash Attack and use it ONLY when you can punish. That move keeeeeps getting me killed since I'm so used to the dash attack from brawl. It's especially bad against pikachu. If you're dashing at a guy and don't know what to do, short hop into a n-air or down air (down air only when it's open cus that also leaves you vulnerable).

 

[Pocket Freye]

Can't they just shield grab the dash n-air? What do you do when he starts playing keep away with his f-air? Everytime I play vs one of the little rats they just kind of run away a bit while spamming rolls until they can use their superior speed to catch me, and if I attempt to pull out a projectile I will eat a neutral b, so there's like a limited distance of being too far and being to close to him, limiting my movements and options I feel.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

I'm just trying to point out pikas weaknesses. Link's a very universal character in the way that he's pretty much able to play a great ground game, range game, and air. Pikachu is all speed and nothing else. He will keep hopping and spamming fast attacks (mostly air attacks and maybe a ground jab once in a while).

 

[_Relapse_]

Feel this is just a bad match up for Link.

 

[Elessar]

Feel this is just a bad match up for Link.

Amazing contribution to the discussion Relapse. Good thing you decided to resurrect this thread to post such a proud insight, lest we all go about thinking that Pikachu is easy.

 

[_Relapse_]

Amazing contribution to the discussion Relapse. Good thing you decided to resurrect this thread to post such a proud insight, lest we all go about thinking that Pikachu is easy.

Thanks Ele! This match up analysis thing is easy. Look out for my next post on the Diddy thread. Preview: Dthrow > Uair = Unhappy Link

It really was more of bump to get some more comments on this match up.

 

[Koby_T]

I guess since this resurfaced I'll attempt something substantial. Pikachu's gimping aerials have a lot of active frames and make it difficult for him to have a persistent edgeguard if he misses the read. With this in mind, we should be as unpredictable as possible in our recovery: specifically with our midair jump. (That's just generally good recovery advice)

I avoid recovering low at almost all costs in this MU. The spin attack has a huge blindspot from the top of Links head to his belt that is an ideal target for Pikachu's Bair. A good player won't miss that gimp opportunity.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

Pikachus actually think this is a tough match up for them as well... Funny.

My best advice would be, stop the thing Pikachus are best at: mobility. The better Pikachus will run circles around Link to get some quick damage in. Best way to stop that is Bombs. Its like the ultimate stop sign for Pikachu. As long as you can stop him from running all over the stage, it will make the match-up a whole lot easier.

 

[SFA_Relic]

Just like phoenix said it's all about controlling the pace. Bombs and boomerangs are like mouse traps here. Don't be afraid to drop some on stage and camp. Since he can crouch under up smash and sometimes even grab D smash is going to be your main kill confirm out of jab 1. Pika is light so we can get some early kills on him. Dash attack should be used very sparingly here. One whiff and your going to get racked for some serious %. Just have to wait for him to unsafely approach after pelting him with projectiles. Some well spaced sh 1st hit bair to jab plays really nicely here as well.

 

[LightswornKing]

Make sure your spacing with zair as well I often like to short hop fair with pika (I main pika and my secondary is link) Zair can often interrupt any aerial approach, try using nair and fair as well as spacing tools as well as your tilts. Also keep in mind that your gab will stop thunder jolts from pika and if he tried to follow up with a grab you will hit him. Also edge guarding with up special isn't that bad either as long as you time it right, since it can interrupt QA and skull bash most of the time. Don't go to far offstage though. Also Just use nair often so that you can stop QA on the ground. Use Nair to break out of combos as well. Use your projectiles as much as possible whenever you have a chance as pika only has thunder jolts to counter them. Try your best to stay on stage and mix up your recovery as much as possible by using zair, your bomb, and up special.

But I will agree pika has an edge in this MU for sure. Make sure to exploit pika's lack of a lot of projectiles and range.

Wow just realized that this thread is like 3 months old 0.0

 

[Elessar]

Make sure your spacing with zair as well I often like to short hop fair with pika (I main pika and my secondary is link) Zair can often interrupt any aerial approach, try using nair and fair as well as spacing tools as well as your tilts. Also keep in mind that your gab will stop thunder jolts from pika and if he tried to follow up with a grab you will hit him. Also edge guarding with up special isn't that bad either as long as you time it right, since it can interrupt QA and skull bash most of the time. Don't go to far offstage though. Also Just use nair often so that you can stop QA on the ground. Use Nair to break out of combos as well. Use your projectiles as much as possible whenever you have a chance as pika only has thunder jolts to counter them. Try your best to stay on stage and mix up your recovery as much as possible by using zair, your bomb, and up special.

But I will agree pika has an edge in this MU for sure. Make sure to exploit pika's lack of a lot of projectiles and range.

Wow just realized that this thread is like 3 months old 0.0

Don't worry about it. This is the official Pikachu MU thread and worthwhile contributions are always welcome no matter how long the thread has been innactive.

 

[Koby_T]

Also keep in mind that your gab will stop thunder jolts from pika and if he tried to follow up with a grab you will hit him. /quote]

Could you expand on that? I'm not quite sure what you meant.

 

[LightswornKing]

Could you expand on that? I'm not quite sure what you meant.

It just stops the move, they "clank" if you will. Because there damage is between 8% of each other so you can block it and be able to put a hitbox in front of you to stop a grab since you can just jab again, its the best way to deal with them. It pretty much stops the annoying thunderjolt to grab or uair juggle. But don't use that as the only way as its easy enough for a Pikachu to just QA behind you to grab you or up tilt you. Just try to stay as unpredictable as possible.

 

[Koby_T]

It just stops the move, they "clank" if you will. Because there damage is between 8% of each other so you can block it and be able to put a hitbox in front of you to stop a grab since you can just jab again, its the best way to deal with them. It pretty much stops the annoying thunderjolt to grab or uair juggle. But don't use that as the only way as its easy enough for a Pikachu to just QA behind you to grab you or up tilt you. Just try to stay as unpredictable as possible.

Sorry, I misread your "gab" as "grab" instead of "jab." Yeah, jab totally makes sense!

 

[LightswornKing]

Sorry, I misread your "gab" as "grab" instead of "jab." Yeah, jab totally makes sense!

O yeah its spelt with a "j"... *Faceplam*. idk why but for some reason my mind treats j and g as the same thing sometimes.

 

[humblepawn]

Link's bombs will eat thunder jolts and keep going np. My biggest issue with Pikachu is quick attack; I just got rocked by someone online who kept nailing me with it-> up tilts-> up airs. I couldn't punish it even when I perfect-shielded because of the crazy low landing lag it has. I don't have consistent access to good Pikachu users to train with so I'd appreciate suggestions for intercepting QA with attacks.

 

[A2ZOMG]

N-air, D-tilt, and D-air are lifesavers in this matchup imo. N-air has a lot of utility since it will eat projectiles and can be spaced in many ways to cover Pikachu's mobility, usually beating QA shenanigans. D-tilt is important given it's safe on block, good for stopping him from running at you with Dashgrab, and pretty rewarding. When you predict Pikachu is going to Up-B, Link is one of the better characters at capitalizing on this as D-air's lingering hitbox can actually be difficult for Pikachu to get around if you place it cleverly.

Also don't be afraid to grab sometimes in neutral. You want Pikachu to not feel safe on the ground because Link does quite well at contesting his aerials with his tilts and N-air. Link's new D-throw is quite threatening against Pikachu as you can chase him with aerials before he can start up QA, which really puts a lot of pressure on his normally solid negative state.

I personally feel projectiles aren't that great in this match outside of some edgeguards because Pikachu's mobility is scary and because he outspams Link, plus he's really short making it kinda hard to accurately hit him sometimes.

I do think this matchup is Pikachu's favor, mostly because his edgeguard game is a little crazy and you can't really outspam him. But it's doable as far as I can tell.

 

[Catana]

just had a session with our scene's best pika and here's what i gathered so far: projectiles arent all that useful in this mu except for beating a pika spamming jolts from a distance; bombs can go through them, set bombs can absorb them and you can also throw your rang against it so that it'll clank which makes the jolt disappear and gives the rang back to you immediately, although be careful as they can be quite easily punished from a distance as well by QA leaving you in a terrible position and open for followups which is devestating here. ftilt, jab, fair are great spacing tools in neutral which you should rely on spacing properly more to try and keep him away from you since they're all relatively safe on shield and beat anything pikachu has; if you predict a QA on stage use nair to beat it easily. zair isnt so great here imo due to it having a small hitbox against pikachu's already small hurtbox, barely any reason to use it over fair. if he sends you offstage you're going to have to be smart and always mix your recovery up greatly; this is where pikachu is going to get his kills most reliably so if you can avoid that you can live up to ~180% each stock. you can technically gimp pikachu i guess since pretty much all our aerials beat his QA and sideb but i wouldnt recommend it at all since if the pikachu has any kind of brains he can easily aim his QA so that he completely avoids it which would leave us offstage and open to be edgeguarded instead which is our worst position in this MU by far. i dont think this matchup is really bad tbh but more to come in the future probably