Official Pikachu Stage Discussion - Rainbow Cruise

[neji32]

Good pika stage. Will add more when have time

 

[upwndbykaiibi]

Nice, I love to play on that stage on brawl with the fans keeping me afloat, It's fun!^^

 

[Pika_Cam]

I know one advantage of this stage is that when fan blows you up, you can Quick Attack back down before your opponent gets there.

 

[Nicholas1024]

The air stage is just begging for thunder kills. Plus, between U-air and QA back to ground, you can keep them in the air until the stage changes!

 

[gallax]

i love this stage. seriously its awesome. the dtilt slide is so good on ice. lol.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Pros

Neutral Transformation:

Flat so CGs are good
Platforms don't really hinder much
Can gimp characters under the lip while not having much problems with it
Basically just a flat level, so do anything you would on PS1

Rock Transformation:

Wall for D-tilt and jab lock
Tjolt goes over that rock formation
For people who have bad games when the opponent is above, the 3 platforms can allow you to camp up there, especially if time is running low

Ice Transformation:

D-tilt slide is very effective
If you F-smash without the C-stick, you will gain a slide, enlarging the hitbox
CG is very easy since the ice makes you move

Air Transformation:

People with bad air games will get wrecked
Although you are floaty, you can QA back to the ground if you are uncomfortable
Thunder can gimp people off the top if they have low air maneuverability

Electric Transformation:

Characters who dont' have a good offstage game get wrecked here
Nifty comboes if you Dash attack off in the same direction a conveyer belt is moving

Cons

Neutral Transformation:

People with good camping games will seldom have to approach
No obstacles to help you against your bad match-ups

Rock Transformation:

People who are really good at camping dairs can abuse the platforms on the right
Many people's locks are way easier to start than pikachu's, so beware
Many people can wall combo better than pikachu, so beware

Ice Transformation:

If you try to stop running, you will be unable to do anything for a while due to the low friction

Air Transformation:

People with better air games will be superior in this part
People with good Vertical kill potential can kill you very early
Slow falling characters can run out time using the wind gusts

Electric transformation

Makes attacking very difficult
Characters who have afterlag on their dash attacks thrive here since they can just run off

Overall
This stage isn't allowed in many tournaments in Florida, so I don't really take it seriously. I dislike this stage a lot because it adds to many variables to be used in competitive play in my opinion. I just don't see many good things in this stage. 4/10

 

[KuroKitt10]

I haven't played this stage much, so I can't really say too much about it. The one thing I have always loved about PSII is the Air Transformation. It's insanely easy to juggle and get Thunder kills in this one. And, as Pika_Cam and others already mentioned, QAC to the ground really allows you to almost completely negate any negatives of the increased "floatyness".

That's about all I can put forth right now, though.

Mew.

 

[K 2]

God, I hate this stage. i just don't like it at all for some reason. My personal bias towards this stage will prevent me from giving any useful information...

 

[KuroKitt10]

I'll try and play on this stage a whole lot both tonight and tomorrow to get a better feel for things. I've started a campus Brawl Club on Saturdays at my school, so I should be able to test this stage out against a couple different characters as well. Hopefully I can be a little more useful by the end of tomorrow =)

Mew.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Official Pikachu Stage Discussion: Castle Siege

Castle Siege​

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Who to take here:

Who not to take here:

I'm reviving these threads, so let's begin!

 

[Pikabunz]

I hate this stage. I guess any character that can be fthrow cg'd should be taken here for the walk off part of the stage. There's also the statues for refreshing kill moves.

 

[gallax]

i picked this stage against a pit and kicked his *** here. then i picked it against a ROB, not a good idea.

if you can cg the character, like snake *wink wink* i would take them here. but watch out for c4's. they hide easily.

truthfull i like the second and third part of the transformation the most. the first part is kool but small. the good thing about it is that you can wrap tjolts around the plats. but, the edges can gimp you if qa'd wrong.

 

[AranOcean]

DDD would be a pretty bad character to bring. (Infinites scare me).

Bring Falcon, Ganon, or Fox to CG off the stage.

 

[Jupz]

... Dedede can't infinite pikachu

 

[AranOcean]

... Dedede can't infinite pikachu

*whew* that's a relief.

 

[Nicholas1024]

I dislike this stage. However....

1) A lot like battlefield, except that you can thunder in the middle. Recoveries sometimes get caught around the lip of the edge. (But not too much of a problem for pika) 6/10
2) Annoying statues, which block our T-jolts (and other projectiles). B-throw kills of the walk-offs. The high platforms can make it easy to get U-smash U-tilt KO's if you keep them up there. I'd stay up high, since those statues can really throw you off. (However, they do the same to your enemy....) 7/10
3) Just like final destination, except it tilts. This is the part of the stage I enjoy. The tilts don't hurt our T-jolts, but badly mess up other projectiles. 9/10

In-between transition phase: No platforms, walk-offs for B-throw kills, I'd give it 8/10.

Overall 7.5/10... but I still don't like it.

Counterpick against:
I'd take (most) campers here. All 3 transformations are bad for normal projectiles.

Don't pick against:
I wouldn't take marth here. Too many platforms, and if you get stuck on a statue, that blade will hurt.

 

[KuroKitt10]

I'm a fan of this stage. Admittedly, I think the first transformation is the worst of the three for Pikachu. I decided to break down my opinion between the three transformations:

1st Transformation
This is, in my opinion, the worst of the three for pikachu. It's tiny, with annoyingly placed platforms - they're just low enough to get in the way of QACing, but just high enough to put anyone standing on them just outside of utilt/usmash/tjolt range. Chain grab options are also limited here because of the stages small size, though, the angled part in the middle of the bottom floor could be used for some slope tricks, if I remember correctly. As Nicholas mentioned, it's possible to Quick Attack wrong, and hit a very small lip on the sides of this transformation, which WILL kill you if you manage this. That said, it's pretty hard to do this as long as you're recovering correctly. Over all, I don't think this is a very favorable transformation for Pikachu.

2nd Transformation
This one is much better for us. I actually find it quite easy to set up thunders here, so long as you're careful enough about when you pull it out - the two sides platforms will often place someone just above you. The two side platforms are also extremely easy to toss someone off of the edge if you can get a grab off. The lowest of the 4 platforms is low enough to get upsmashes off on someone standing on the platform, and you below them. utilt is too short. Additionally, the middle platform is, in my opinion, a great height for aerial chasing. Over all I'd say this one is average for pikachu - I actually find it's a great transformation against snakes, as long as you can keep your eye on his projectiles (a little bit harder here). The statues really **** up a lot of his grenade throwing - a lot more than they screw up our tjolts - and because of the size and awkward layout of this transformation, I find it's much harder for a good snake to set up stage control.

One last little tidbit - the statues cause your front smash to "lag" a bit before it hits full extension. I haven't quite perfected it yet, but I've been playing around with using this as a legit technique. Quite often you can front smash an opponent who is in side, or just beyond the base of one of the statues, and they'll dodge expecting the attack to come out at it's regular pace. What will happen instead, is the fsmash will hit the statue, slow down like light in a blackhole, then continue forward, giving it a few frames of lag before it reaches it's full length. The opponent will dodge, expecting it to hit at one time, and then the fsmash will instead hit them just as they're comming out of their dodge. I've gotten MANY kills doing this while facing towards the closer edge (depending on which statue you're using). Keep in mind though, this can work to your disadvantage if you're not prepared for it.

3rd Transformation
There isn't too much to be said about this one. It's essentially FD, with small upward dip toward the right side of the stage, and it rotates around much like Lylat. I personally think that this transformation is slightly more advantageous for pikachu than FD is. That small upward dip makes it slightly harder to avoid tjolts as it varies their travel time ever so slightly from that of a flat stage, as well as putting the tjolts slightly higher for that small duration, making them harder to SH. In addition, the rotating can also screw with tjolt heights, if an opponent begins to jump when the stage is lower, but the stage rises a tad by the time the tjolt reaches them.

Again, I think this transformation is great against a snake. That bulge messes up his grenades, while not really hindering our tjolts one bit. The rotating nature can often catch a recovering snake UNDER the stage, which spells doom for even the best.

A few things to watch out for on this transformation: the bulge can mess up some chain grabs if you're not careful, so watch out for that. Also, when this stage decides to change back into the 1st transformation, be very careful! This transition really likes to spit people off of the edge, sometime way out of recovery range. This is really a double edged sword. Sometimes I've been able to trick an opponent to fighting me farther and farther out during the transitioning, then Quick Attacked in, leaving them off the stage, and prone to edge guarding; however, the same can be done to you. I believe pikachu's recovery options are generally superior to most, so this can usually be used as an advantage, but if you're not careful, you could easily find yourself losing a stock.

That's my two cents for now.
Mew!

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Bump so i can make an update whenever I am made OP of the other stage discussion thread.

 

[KayLo!]

ESAM, the thread is now yours.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Huzzah! Norfair update happening soon. I need to know where he got the pictures from...

 

[Neb]

Huzzah! Norfair update happening soon. I need to know where he got the pictures from...

I'm pretty sure he got all of them from smashbros.com (click).

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Yeah, i realized lol. I just went to edit it and i saw the site he used for the pics. Thanks anyway!

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

So...that it?

 

[KayLo!]

No. I have stuff to add, but I don't have the time to write it up atm..... although if you don't want to wait for me, that's fine too, hehe. Shouldn't take longer than a day or two for me to make time for it.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

I can wait lol. im adding my points too, but not in this thread. I'll just add it if people miss it. Ill do the review tuesday.

 

[gallax]

if you are playing a campy character such as falco or wolf or pit i would suggest taking them here. its really upsetting to those who spam.

 

[SilverSpark]

You can do a d-smash or u-smash spike if they don't tech certain walls correctly, like on that swinging platform with the falling blocks above it. Basically, if there's any place with falling blocks above you, there's a good chance that you can spike your opponent.

You can gimp people like marth, ICs, olimar, and mario if you grab them while a block is falling, then when they try to recover, the block turns visible again, and they can't get back up :] But we can usually QA or Skullbash through another platform to recover.

Oh, you can wall jump off of that curvy lip under the ship.

It also looks like pika's standing on nothing if you move slightly to the right when you get up the ledge on the right of the ship.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Spark, thanks for contributing, but those are kinda double edged. YOu can do it to other people, but the same thing can happen to you...so i wouldn't edit it into the OP of the actual stage discussion (Btw, i already summed it up)

 

[SilverSpark]

some of those are still character specific, and it's easier for us to recover compared to many other characters...

meh, I think im just going to stick with my trick thread.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Castle siege updated.

 

[KayLo!]

Inb4esamupdates, maybe?

First Transformation (Too Freakin Small Castle Roof):

I agree with Kitt.... this is the worst out of the three for Pika. It's a little too cramped for Pika's tastes, and combined with the small side blastlines, stronger characters who love close-mid range combat will make it hard for you to stay out of their range. The platforms are also a problem, because characters like Marth and MK can harass you from below if you happen to land on one..... it'll be hard to get down without eating considerable damage.

Traditional campers hate this part, though, while Pika doesn't have to worry about his projectile being compromised. The slope in the middle can aid in CGing, and several recoveries have a tendency to get gimped by the almost-invisible lip on either side of the stage. This can hurt Pika as well (think Yoshi's Island), but with stage familiarity and careful aiming, it shouldn't be a problem.

Edgeguarding works well here because of how close the sides are. Nair, dair, and thunder off-stage kill considerably earlier than normal.

While Transforming ("Grey Stage"):

If you've grabbed someone and the stage is in the process of transforming (either to or from the "grey stage"), you'll automatically release them. As far as I've seen, it's always been an air release, but that could just be a coincidence.

Also, characters near the edge of the stage at the moment of transformation tend to die really early even if they're out of hitstun and in the process of recovering. Use this to your advantage, and try not to get hit with a potential KO move right before the stage starts to change.

This part is good for CGing and bthrow shenanigans. It doesn't last long, so you have to be quick about it, but there are walk-offs on either side. Otherwise, it's just flat.

Second Transformation (Statues):

There are walk-offs (two on the bottom, one on each of the two top platforms). Abuse them.

The bottom two platforms are ideally spaced for uairs, so if someone's above you, try to keep them up there for free damage from below. The top platforms are high and good for thunder, but I personally dislike actually going up there since it's hard to see what either character is doing. I do like the fact that the bottom platforms aren't stacked one right over the other..... you can walk off > fair/uair people from the top one to the bottom one, which tends to catch them off-guard. Similar to the first stage, though, be careful of characters who have good platform game; the good thing about this transformation, however, is that you can always move to the bottom and have enough space to get away. These platforms also aren't as low and detrimental to our aerial game.

I think everything's been said about the statues themselves. Jab them to refresh your other moves; they extend hitboxes; tjolts will be eaten by them. Don't waste your time breaking them.... the transformation doesn't last long enough for it to really make a difference, and they don't get in the way besides cutting down on your long-distance camp game.

Third Transformation (Tilting FD):

Shorter FD that tilts. I've had the tilting gimp me as other characters (read: Zelda), but it's never happened with Pika and really shouldn't with our versatile recovery. The only thing that might get you is if it tilts upward and you end up QA'ing against the bottom instead of to the ledge..... you'd have to be pretty careless for this to happen, though.

Dip in the middle can help or hurt you depending on how you use it, but I honestly don't notice it enough for it to make a difference to me.

This part gives you all the benefits of FD with smaller sides, so you can essentially still camp, but killing is made much easier. I really like this part for Pika. As the stage goes back to the first transformation after the "grey stage" following this one, try to knock people near the sides; as Kitt explained earlier, you might get a stage gimp.

Character Picks & Overall Rating:

Characters I'd take here: Snake (possibly -- BEWARE TILT **** ON FIRST TRANSFORMATION & hidden explosives on dark background), DDD, Ness + Lucas (watch out for extended PKT2 on statues), Falco, Wolf, Sonic, Ganon, Pit, possibly Fox

Characters I wouldn't take here: MK, Marth, Kirby, Jigglypuff, Ike, Zelda, Link, Luigi, DK, G&W (if you're blind.... default color is so hard to see here....)

Overall Rating: 7/10. It's pretty good for Pika, but it's not amazing. There are better stages to go to for nearly every character you can bring here.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Kaylo, i disagree on not taking kirby here. I win every time here. THey can't approach except in the first part, and even then we can still do better. I timed the best kirby in florida out easily.

 

[gallax]

esam, you timed them out. not beating them in combat. timed it out. you seem to be the master at timing people out. you could time anyone out , even on yoshi's island.

i also say no to kirby on this stage.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

That was the only match i ever timed somebody out...

 

[gallax]

you timed out afro and hrnut too fool.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

HRNut is the kirby (nobody plays kirby in Florida lol) and i never timed out afro. I flat out beat him.

 

[gallax]

we have at leaast three good kirby's that i play on a regular basis. in which i have beaten by the way.

hrnut, retro , and Dl

theres a new kirby thats up and coming that almost beat CO 18, mohongowart. but he has a lot to learn so dont count him in as a really good kirby,yet. we are still training him.

 

[KayLo!]

So, about that Castle Siege.....

 

[Ussi]

Good for those who like to switch thier playstyle a lot mid match. It's pretty much going from cramped battlefield to spacious walk off with statue guardians to a mid size tilting FD.

I say this is more player oriented as Pilachu doesn't truly suffer badly from all transformations.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

I already updated the index. Stop posting here.