Well a cg on pit on the second dgrab i can buffer a run and jump and footstool him but im not sure if im testing it right
Dude, high five. I'm right here with you! I play a Pit almost every other day with my Pikachu and I play the level 9 CPUs too. I learned yesterday that lvl 9s aren't good to practice with because of their perfect powershield and shieldgrab timing. I would love to chat it up with you some time about the PikaPit matchup!!!
Wanna pick up Pika for my Falco weakness. I don't know where to start at all though.
Any pointers?
Welcome to one of the most underused top tier main in the SSBB community.
Pro smashers: ESAM [the best] (active), Anther (inactive), Z [not as good as ESAM], Pika Pika [not as good as ESAM].
Getting into it: Pikachu isn't a character you can just pick up and play, and be very skilled. You need to be quick, nimble, in your opponents face, and fearless! Fearless, not cautionless. First, get used to all of Pikachu's moves: Jab, Tilts, Smashes, *Specials*, Shield, Spotdodge, getup attack, etc. etc. Then once you've gotten familiar with the general moveset; start learning the tech: QAC (Quick attack cancel), Reverse thunder, SHACA (Short hop auto-canceled aerials), Proper T-Jolt usage, the two Chain Grabs, U-air dominance, Pikachu's amazing usage of Buffered Reversed Dash Actions, when to use D-Smash, etc. (That's all I can think of right now). After you start learning those tech skills, then start watching Anther and ESAM. ESAM's flow is the smoothest out of all the smashers in the smash community right now (my opinion). When you see him move, you know it's about to down; if he's going to make some sweet string from a great read or a mindgame that pretty much makes the other player kill themselves right there. ESAM is where it's at!!! Go study up on some ESAM videos and I promise you'll start noticing things and it will help you improve on your Pika. Anther- While I think he falls short of ESAM in the technical skill area; he's still one of my favorite smashers (smashers not Pikachus) of all time. He always gets the combos in that rack up a LOT of damage, and he's just all over the place! My first pro smash video I watched was Anther vs. Sparta Kick. That video is your one stop shop against snakes (but you're here to counter Falco so maybe that's not particularly for you). As for countering Falco, I'll see if I can find you a good Pika vs. Falco video, but when it comes to the PikaFalco matchup, I have little to no experience. But I do know this: BAN FINAL DESTINATION. If you're playing Falco on FD there isn't even a reason to use T-jolt. He'll shoot you in the air during the startup lag as well as a T-jolt started on the ground (why anyone would T-jolt on the ground accept for, right off the edge of platforms, and trying to get a quick T-jolt out when Pit is flying under the stage, I have no idea). I do know that you can crawl under his lasers and you can even stop to power shield if he tries to back hop off the stage, shoots so that the laser shoots very low, then hops back on. T-jolt can be a hindrance here since Falco's projectile is much much faster. That doens't mean count T-jolt out though! You can still use it to punish an uncanceled phantasm that's far away, but if that happened I would just QAC right over to him and punish there with the out of QAC options. I'm unaware if Falco can D-throw chaingrab Pikachu, but I don't see why he wouldn't be able to. You shouldn't have too much problems with the laser as long as you close the distance. And that's what you should be doing as a Pika main is playing aggressive. I'm not saying you always have to play aggressive but you're doing yourself an injustice if you play defensively and campy with Pikachu. You'll see what I mean when you watch ESAM and Anther. ESAM does play the camp game when it's needed though (Ice Climbers). Watch Apex 2013 Brawl Crew Battles USA vs. The world when ESAM played 9B. He only lost one stock because there was no time limit and he played patient, and because of that he JV two stocked 9B!! 9B, THE Iceclimbers!
But yeah, taking up Pikachu will be one of the best decisions of your smash career! There is no right way to play Pikachu but there defiantly are wrong ways! Dmash: Although Dmash is the casual player's bread and butter; in the competitive scene it's a whole lot different. Pikachu's Dsmash is considered to be one of easiest moves in the game to SDI out of. I'd stick to using it for a tech chase and roll punishment. And if you read that Falco is about to use DACUS then Dsmash would be a great counter due to its transcendent priority! But using it as a kill move will likely never happen since the hitbox with the hitlag on it is the last one to come out. Also the transcendent priority is a double edged sword. It can cause you to counter mobile attacks like DACUS and dash attacks, but that also means that it's extremely punishable. Let me explain: Transcendent priority means that the hitbox ignores the rules of priority (overlapped hitboxes clanking within 8% of each other) so it can go through any other normal hitbox and hit the player's hurtbox. This also means that disjointed and transcendent hitboxes will go right through and hit Pikachu while it's using Dsmash. So for example: If Pikachu uses Dmash but doesn't catch Ike in it, then Ike can use his sword to punish Pikachu while he's using Dsmash since Ike's sword is a disjointed hitbox. (not connected to the hurtbox) So use Dmash wisely; it's one of the main reasons people hate Pikachu because it's soooo annoying when a noob is just spamming Dsmash and breaking the flow of the game.
Fsmash: It has Transcendent priority as well so it also follows the rules of Dsmash minus the fact that it can't be SDIed out of since it isn't a multihit move. The sweetspot is on Pikachu's cheeks so if you're not using it for spacing then try to land it there. It's a fantastic spacing tool as well because of its long hit box, length wise and time wise. I mainly use it for a kill move, to hit through Pit's Angel Ring, and as an option after following up driving someone to the ground with Fair.
I have to go and don't have the time to elaborate on T jolt and thunder but follow all these tips and you won't regret using Pikachu!
Continuing from where I left off yesterdsay- Tjolt: Tjolt is your best friend. It has sooooooo many uses like: Spacing, getting someone from far away, cutting off crawl options, forcing someone where you want them to go (falls under:spacing) etc. Tjolt is such a good option in any situation because it forces your opponent to react. If it's coming for them on the ground, they'll have to react (powershield, shield, roll, jump, clank); if it's coming for them in the air, they'll have to react(jump, fastfall, airdodge, Recover move, clank); Under the stage they'll have to react!!!!!!!! (lol they're screwed unless they've got some jumps left). T jolt is usful in every situation, but like I said before," There's no right way to do it but there is a wrong way." Unless it's for some odd mindgame then NEVER USE IT GROUNDED! You're really putting yourself at risk if you use it grounded because you're more vulnerable on the ground. When you use it in the air you can actually aim, and then buffer a jump and Tjolt again. Just watch ESAM or Anther (preferably ESAM) and you'll see what I'm talking about.
As for spacing with T-jolt, well that's its primary use (for me) lol. Like I said before, Tjolt will ALWAYS make your opponent have to react. This is one of the reasons that Pikachu is currently ±0 with MK. If they're camping right in front of you but not quite at a range where you can use normals, and every time you try to get in they put up a priority wall or play a solid defense of keeping you out. Then use T-jolt and they'll have do do react, causing you to read them, get in, and go ham. It might take a while to find an opening if DDD is constantly throwing Side B out and stops T jolt with a jab, but keep looking and Tjolt will find your opening. Look at it like this: The play is a QB sneak, Pikachu is the QB and Tjolt is the fullback and Oline, and DDD is the endzone. You want to get that ball in the inzone so you can put some points on the board [You want to get that Pikachu in the DDD so you can put some % on the counter]. The QB [Pikachu] is going to call the play and set the FB into motion [jump and press Neutral B], the FB blocks the defensive player (Linebacker, saftey, whatever position you like) [DDD's hitbox that's currently out] and that opens up a gap for the QB to run past the defensive player [in my case QAC], get in the inzone [QAC right up to DDD], and score a touchdown [Start a string].
Just never use Tjolt grounded and don't spam it grounded. There was nothing wrong with ESAM firing off grounded Tjolts on the moving platform on smashville at 9B during crews, because he was aiming them with the moving platform and he was playing Ice Climbers (looking for an opening with the Tjolts and then exploiting that opening with a quick little string). Firing them off grounded and repetitively is just going to allow your opponent to either powershield his way to you and punish you in the endlag, or jump over you and punish you anytime during the move.
Thunder: I'll try and make this one quick. Don't ever buffer thunder after an Uthrow unless you know that your opponent knows diddly squat about DI (which would be like .1% of the time in the competitive scene). If you absolutely just want to try and connect thunder with Uthrow then try some mind games. Reverse thunder will do you well, but just don't do it. Seriously it makes you look like the Pikachu that 12 year olds that think they know how to play smash play. The good thing about thunder is that since Pikachu isn't a very common character then people will be missing the obvious like remembering to airdodge or reflect thunder. Me and my friend play so much that I can almost never connect thunder but that's only because he plays my Pikachu all the time. I'm not telling you to not do it because it's easily avoidable (which it is), but TO do it because most players don't know how to react.
If you double jump (or jump) back and press DownB at the same time you'll do what I call reverse thunder. That's when you look like your about to thunder because Pikachu says,"PIKA!," but you'll turn around and go up a little bit and thunder will fall right behind you while you're gaining height from the jump and moving towards the stage. It's a fantastic tool for off stage and it gets opponents almost all the time!
Mobile thunder and reverse thunder can be used to put up a wall so the opponent has to use up jumps or wait on the stage. You can aim thunder to hit right off the edge of the stage so it will hit opponents trying to get back on close to the stage or hanging on the stage out of invincibility frames.
If thunder's hitbox touches Pikachu's hurtbox, a big hitbox will cover Pikachu and that hitbox deals a LOT of knockback and damage! This also stops Pikachu on a dime and allows Pika to ignore the laws of physics because it also stops Pika dead in the air. This is a great technique but is only useful in few situations: Edgegame (main use), mindgames, and maybe techchase (I've never tried techchasing with a thunder hit, so I'm not completely sure on that one).
Like T-Jolt; never ever use it grounded unless you are 100% sure that's the best option. I never use it grounded because, like T-Jolt, there's little to no options out of it. If I miraculously hit someone with a grounded thunder; pretty much all of my options that I would get using mobile (where Thunder doesn't touch Pikachu) and/or in the air: (assuming that this imaginary MU is ±0) Examples: If I hit some one with a mobile thunder at low percent in front of me, then the situation will reset unless my opponent got hit pretty close to me so I could follow up with an Uair or something; but you have to be frame perfect fast to pull this off since there's so little hitlag in brawl. If I hit my opponent behind me with a mobile thunder at low percent or high percent then the situation will reset. If hit my opponent off stage with either of these then I can QA(C) to the ledge and do it again or use an aerial if I think I can make one connect. Same thing if I hit my opponent in the air with a touch Thunder. But if I hit my opponent on the ground with a touch thunder then the endlag is going to reset the situation no matter what! My point is: You have options when you use it mobile/touchofftheedge compared to grounded touch thunder in which you have to wait for the thunder to start up, come down, and hit Pikachu, then wait for the super long end lag which puts you on the ground which leaves you with even less options for a follow up since there's no ground game in brawl out of dash except for dash attack, grab, and SH aerials.
Don't use thunder and T-Jolt grounded and be very wise when using touch thunder! Contrary to popular belief, thunder is very punishable if you don't do it right.
Quick Attack: Wrong way: Not using the second QA, recovering with QA ending the move above the stage (causing you to fall), QAing an opponent left to right, overall just not using QAC
QAC (Quick Attack Cancel) is one of Pikachu's most valuable moves and is one of the main reasons Pikachu saw a rise on the tier chart from melee. It's quite simlpe and with practice you'll get it down. Simply QA into the ground. That's it! It cuts off all the landing lag of QA and allows Pikachu to be very very mobile! You can QAC completely across the stage, jump and simultaneously do an aerial (Preferably Uair and Nair) cut off Pit while he's getting back to the stage while he's using his Wings of Icarus, cut off MK trying to recover with shuttle loop, instantly grab the edge, ledge stall, go under the stage, chasing an airborne opponent by QACing right under him and buffering a thunder right after he's been popped in the air. There's so many uses for it, and like I keep saying: There's no right way to do it, but there defiantly are wrong ways.
Skullbash: Use it for recovery and momentum canceling after fastfall Uair. Don't try to connect it, it's not going to happen, it's slow, it doesn't do much damage, and the situation resets because of the end lag.
Hope this has helped, I just wanted to give you some tips and show you the wrong ways of doing things. If you have any questions message me here or on AiB (same account name). Have fun, watch ESAM, and God bless! Go get that Falco!
![[FBC] ESAM](/data/avatars/l/92/92614.jpg?1365783210){kind=avatar}
