Pika Q&A/FAQ Thread: Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer!

[TheGrunyan]

Okay, guess I'll just have to practice-practice-practice (sadly I don't have that kind of time, but I will do what I can). And I already use tap jump on (since it's default) (considering turning it off to make SDI out of certain things without losing my jump on accident), should I leave it on to make QAC easier or should it not matter?

And by a semi-circle, do you mean down+b and roll it over to the side? Or like, [EDIT: assuming I'm facing left] right to down[+b] to right?

And thanks.

Start the semi circle away from the stage, then move it towards, and you'll go towards the stage.

 

[Angiance]

Tap jump off actually makes, well, everything easier.

 

[TheGrunyan]

Tap jump off actually makes, well, everything easier.

QA lock is much easier with tap jump. Short hop dair is easier with tap jump on.

 

[Angiance]

And accidently jumping is also easier with tap jump...

 

[Reth92]

does attacking oli's pikmin actually stale your moves?

 

[Ookami Hajime]

Short version: Advice for QAC repeatedly and b-reversed thunders (to be used in edgeguards)?

The way I mastered QAC is actually by jumping (no tap jump) before I QA again. Pika doesn't actually jump when I do it, but that's just how I memorized the timing. Practice QAC back and forth diagonal-down until you get the hang of it. Eventually you'll have no trouble with it at all (by the way, that particular pattern is a common directional pattern for the QA lock so once you master that, you'll have a much easier time mastering the lock. Two birds with one stone~)

Tap jump off actually makes, well, everything easier.

I agree with this completely =o It's a preference thing again, but I believe tap jump messes with virtually everything I do with Pika =I

 

[TheGrunyan]

does attacking oli's pikmin actually stale your moves?

Yup. You can also extend hitboxes on them.

 

[Player -0]

And accidently jumping is also easier with tap jump...

You guys accidently Tap Jump? I guess if you accidentally try to mash out of something.

 

[Thor]

You guys accidently Tap Jump? I guess if you accidentally try to mash out of something.

That's actually exactly the issue I have (also when I try to SDI Kirby's combos my jump is often accidentally used which makes it much more annoying to land and try to counter-attack). And I've been practicing just QAC back and forth with a diagonal down on the way back, but it's good to know I'm not doing it wrong.

Probably more of an opinion thing, but when my opponent's at like 80% and I uair them, should I just take the nair anyway (even though it's then staler and might be harder to KO with when I might need it soon), or do I take some other option, and if so, what should I use (dair, uair, bair, or fair, and fast-falled or not)?

EDIT: I usually use Olimar's Pikmin to refresh moves (usually jab them or if he's far away and I have like 3 on me and a purple nearby I'll dsmash them sometimes since if he approaches and messes up he's down to like 2 pikmin [and down a purple]). But yes they do stale moves, so I try to avoid nairing or fsmashing them.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Or you could just learn the buffer window for QA and just input up-b during it~ I have tap jump off and I don't EVER input jump while QACing back and forth. I definitely do rotate the control stick though from like down-left through up (which is when I'll press up-b) and then down to down-right.

 

[Angiance]

@Thor: what is done after U-Air is dependent on the spacing and what part of U-Air hit; back hit in-close = N-Air, back hit tipped = B-Air/fast fall, upper hit = fast fall, front-diagonal tipped = fast fall, front tipped = N-Air/grab. Fast falling after U-Air allows us to set ground traps like charging F-Smash, or we can U-Air > Fast fall Thunder (more of a mindgame though), we can also attempt to dash grab the landing

 

[hell-dew]

you can SDI using your Cstick via the duel stick method if your worried about losing your jump. IMO tap jump is way better for pika then having it off. it makes reacting out of QAC far easier you your left hand now has something to actually do. and random thing if your having way to much trouble using Up tilt cause i see people messing this up all the time you can try SH then air dodge into the floor hold up and you will not jump then you can uptilt easily. I sometimes do it in bracket when my nerves get kinda shot so i know im not gonna mess up the Up tilt.

Random question when you guys are buffering do you try to buffer everything you do thus your thinking like a couple moves ahead then react according to situations as they happen or do you instead buffer certain strings/certain moves that buffer fairly well together and kinda keep em in mind. and if its more the latter what do you normally buffer together. when when dont you buffer

also whats our best answear to marths Nair. Ive learn how to deal with this characters many quirks at this point but yeah his Nair just throws me off. does it hit you twice in the front or is it one upper hit box and one lower one. does it auto cancel? is it punishable on block/PS or not. cause having fight different marths i get conflicting punishes where sometimes i get screwed and other times i get a grab or something out of it.

 

[Angiance]

Marth's N-Air hits low, so I would assume our F-Air and D-Air would go over it, PSing it gives us a dash grab. Although Marth's N-Air only has 10 or so frames of landing lag, they'll probably AC it still for extra safety (2 or 4 frames of lag is far better than 10 after all)

 

[Thor]

you can SDI using your Cstick via the duel stick method if your worried about losing your jump. IMO tap jump is way better for pika then having it off. it makes reacting out of QAC far easier you your left hand now has something to actually do. and random thing if your having way to much trouble using Up tilt cause i see people messing this up all the time you can try SH then air dodge into the floor hold up and you will not jump then you can uptilt easily. I sometimes do it in bracket when my nerves get kinda shot so i know im not gonna mess up the Up tilt.

No offense, but that sounds like an (I'll give an example) charged MK d-smash waiting to happen - yeah SHADing works once or twice but if that's how you land more than like, 3 utilts, people will probably start punishing, and with smashes if they're making harder reads. And not that it doesn't work, but unless it's like last-stock stuff, it might just get you burned. I'm probably just gonna learn it with tap jump off/not rely on tap jump to do much. And I do try double stick DI, should I only use c-stick and just slide through side to down and back on the analog stick (normally I try to SDI up and out, not down and out, of most stuff, is that a bad idea or not better than down and out)?

And be careful around Marth - stupid ******* frame one invincibility on Dolphin Slash means we have to be precise. Not that you can't punish, but if you do PS nair, be decisive (it also means sometimes a punish option might be run up shield if you think they're Dolphin Slash happy - you might be able to shield it and get a free fsmash or usmash from their haste).

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

you can SDI using your Cstick via the duel stick method if your worried about losing your jump. IMO tap jump is way better for pika then having it off. it makes reacting out of QAC far easier you your left hand now has something to actually do. and random thing if your having way to much trouble using Up tilt cause i see people messing this up all the time you can try SH then air dodge into the floor hold up and you will not jump then you can uptilt easily. I sometimes do it in bracket when my nerves get kinda shot so i know im not gonna mess up the Up tilt.

Random question when you guys are buffering do you try to buffer everything you do thus your thinking like a couple moves ahead then react according to situations as they happen or do you instead buffer certain strings/certain moves that buffer fairly well together and kinda keep em in mind. and if its more the latter what do you normally buffer together. when when dont you buffer

also whats our best answear to marths Nair. Ive learn how to deal with this characters many quirks at this point but yeah his Nair just throws me off. does it hit you twice in the front or is it one upper hit box and one lower one. does it auto cancel? is it punishable on block/PS or not. cause having fight different marths i get conflicting punishes where sometimes i get screwed and other times i get a grab or something out of it.

1. Tap jump off is inferior in pretty much every way for every character. Tap jump off allows for WAY more control in pretty much every aspect because you can move the control stick freely without having to worry about accidentally jumping. With tap jump off you don't have to worry about accidentally pressing buttons unless you seriously **** up.

2. Buffering matters a lot, but only in certain situations. In neutral game it is pretty much meaningless outside of post-shield options (Like making your nair OOS quicker or buffering a d-smash out of sidestep or something along those lines). For strings or for quick changes in mobility buffering is awesome, and obviously for CGs and combos.

3. F-tilt angled up is really good.

Marth's N-Air hits low, so I would assume our F-Air and D-Air would go over it, PSing it gives us a dash grab. Although Marth's N-Air only has 10 or so frames of landing lag, they'll probably AC it still for extra safety (2 or 4 frames of lag is far better than 10 after all)

You won't be able to dash grab it more than likely due to up-b. It creates a guessing game but it's better to not even deal with it unless you are on FD and at low %

 

[Angiance]

Ironically, I love Dolphin Slash (cause it's a free punish for us)

 

[Thor]

1. Tap jump off is inferior in pretty much every way for every character. Tap jump off allows for WAY more control in pretty much every aspect because you can move the control stick freely without having to worry about accidentally jumping. With tap jump off you don't have to worry about accidentally pressing buttons unless you seriously **** up.

Eh, should I recheck the dictionary? I thought "inferior" meant "worse", and that whole point seemed to make the case for tap jump off. Also, I was of the opinion that when I want to play MK (which is not often), I can use tap jump on to try to juggle off the top by just holding the analog stick up and mashing A, and I know M2K doesn't use alternate names (most of the time) [although I assume it's not for making juggling easier], but I guess that shows what I know.

Also I remember someone telling me needing tap jump off just showed I wasn't gentle enough on my control stick. But somehow I doubt people are all delicate at top speed (maybe they are which just shows me how far I have to go).

Also I need to use way more ftilt, and learn to angle it up [consistently]. Also maybe I'm the only one ever KO'd by Dolphin Slash, but it's a free punish for me a lot less than it (probably) should be.

 

[Angiance]

He meant tap jump on. As MK, rapidly jumping U-Air may lead to it just missing. Yes, players with tap jump off are "delicate" with the analog since their are so many tiny inputs being made in quick succession; for example: D-Tilt on a thin platform requires quickly tilting the analog barely down, elsewise we'd drop through or D-Smash, and it's the same for slowfalling D-Air offstage.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

Tap jump accidental jumps is literally the only reason I don't use it, not counting all the other annoying inputs people tend to get from it. It's just annoying =o
I can't really say anything about Dolphin Slash because every Marth I've ever played didn't really utilize the move too much.
Go practice forward tilt, haha

 

[Ookami Hajime]

I have no idea why that was there twice, sorry

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Yeah i meant tap jump on is inferior, my bad.

Also, you can be gentle with the control stick when you have tap jump off, but you can also not care...like to buffer dash uair out of d-throw you have to be gentle to make sure you don't u-smash, but it is still easier than with tap jump on.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

Hey, do you guys think that the Pika-MK match up is accurate?

 

[Angiance]

It felt uneven originally, but then I discovered methods for shrinking the gaps in between Pikachu's actions; Pikachu in the right hands is FAST and I mean FAST. MK vs Pika, I would say 45-55 in MK's favor (just because MK DOES have less frames on his attacks)

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Still even IMO~

 

[Ookami Hajime]

I also think that it's very close to even =o

 

[Angiance]

I only say 45-55 because of the technical things (mainly frame data), but it's opinionated I guess

 

[Ookami Hajime]

No, I think what you said is pretty accurate =o
There are certain things that MK has over us which is why I said almost even but yes, tis indeed close~

 

[Angiance]

OMG DON'T START A MU WAR IT'S OPINION LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT

 

[Ookami Hajime]

There is no war :I
I agreed with what you said. No exploding! =o

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Lol yeah angiance he is saying "close to even" which does not mean "even" so he is agreeing with you. Don't get your knickers in a twist~

 

[Zee725]

WAR, even. For real though; Against Olimar and Diddy, what approach options have you guys found to be most effective?

I understand it's generally a bad idea to just approach, BUT i'm just curious if there is something that's consistently better than another option.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

WAR, even. For real though; Against Olimar and Diddy, what approach options have you guys found to be most effective?

I understand it's generally a bad idea to just approach, BUT i'm just curious if there is something that's consistently better than another option.

My brother mains diddy and I play him every single day. If he doesn't have bananas out, go in on him. If he has one in hand or they're both out, you need to bait him to throw it and then power shield, dodge, whatever; just take a defensive option. Then, again, go in on him. Just don't QA, like, ever XD
I've never had an issue with Olimar, but I've probably never played a good one to be honest, haha

 

[MrHakuchu]

Hey Smashboard. I´m Haku a Pikachu Mainer from Germany.

I need help at DIing with Pikachu. Are there any tricks to survive? Or just basic DI? I thought that I could use a SideB after the Momentum Cancel. Is that a good idea or should I forget this idea? I hope you help me and I´m looking forward to some answers. Now I´m outta here^^
Bye
Haku

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

For Diddy Kong, SH fair is amazing. T-jolts help your way in because he either jumps or shields, but then when you are close fair beats banana toss (you'll catch it in start-up) and it's slightly disjointed. Mix that up with d-tilts and you should be good.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

For Diddy Kong, SH fair is amazing. T-jolts help your way in because he either jumps or shields, but then when you are close fair beats banana toss (you'll catch it in start-up) and it's slightly disjointed. Mix that up with d-tilts and you should be good.

ESAM, how do you particularly deal with Olimar?

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

I go Ice Climbers~

I have EXTREMELY limited Olimar experience and I'm still figuring out basic things about the MU when I play it.

 

[sirchadakiss18]

Oli is semi Easy for me as Pika, I beat Denti a few times on Wifi, I can say my main tool is rushing him and forgetting the latching Pikmin and grab him alot and keep him in the air and juggle.

 

[Thor]

WAR, even. For real though; Against Olimar and Diddy, what approach options have you guys found to be most effective?

I understand it's generally a bad idea to just approach, BUT i'm just curious if there is something that's consistently better than another option.

Olimar's annoying to approach because his grab range is better than ours (unless he's only got purples but that's a MUCH bigger problem), but not approaching means you're stuck t-jolting or trying to bait while he can just side+b you to slow death. It really depends on the Olimar - I haven't seen high-level Olimar footage but the only Olimar I play (made his own style and pretty bad but w/e) uses a lot of dsmash and grabs (I have been shielding more and trying shield grabs which even then hadn't worked well...), so if the Olimar does that, approach with fair and maybe some dair, but then usmash could **** you up good... I don't know how usmash interacts with dair (maybe they clank which would be awesome!) but if the Olimar is smart you just have to be pretty clever - run up and spot-doge is not a very good idea in this MU (usmash and dsmash are SO fast), run-up and shield can get you grabbed (which is usually only a problem for blue pikmin though)... aerials I already explained it's begging for a usmash, but... mix it up? Definitely t-jolt a lot against campy Olimars - if they are determined not to approach t-jolt still outranges them on bigger stages (or hits Pikmin so you could look to lower their Pikmin count by 1 or 2 and try to juggle off-stage and gimp since they can't tether as easily...), and if they're aggro, w/e. I do not know if f-smash outranges grab, but I'm 99% sure a properly timed d-smash stops all non-yellow grabs (someone fact check me here). If they camp on Smashville platform, approach from directly below him with uair - should be safe unless he drops through but you still likely connect and you can get nair or fair too then.

Follow what ESAM said for Diddy... if you can get a banana Pikachu can glide-toss which helps some (glide-tossing while aggressing moves us more, but it moves us less than it moves Diddy Kong). Catching stuff then makes this MU more manageable for approaching independently of being able to not have to dodge stuff (also catch peanuts).

Hey Smashboard. I´m Haku a Pikachu Mainer from Germany.

I need help at DIing with Pikachu. Are there any tricks to survive? Or just basic DI? I thought that I could use a SideB after the Momentum Cancel. Is that a good idea or should I forget this idea? I hope you help me and I´m looking forward to some answers. Now I´m outta here^^
Bye
Haku

When you are sent flying at percent that would be lethal, do DI (toward the upper corners of the blast-zone |- or -|) because that will take you more distance to die. So, for horizontal blows, DI up (or up but slightly diagonally to avoid going too far up if it hits you at like a 35 degree angle when you have no DI), use up-air to end hitstun early (you *can* practice with airdodging but every frame counts when momentum cancelling - note that only Snake and Ike benefit from using an air dodge over a specific aerial) and use skull bash IMMEDIATELY after using up-air (as fast as possible) and DO NOT charge the skull bash - the moment the skull bash fires off (the moment you release the charge), all horizontal knockback is cancelled - this will give you maximum horizontal survivability (charging can result in crossing a blast-line before the momentum is cancelled, which is bad). When you are launched vertically (ex: Fox upsmash), DI straight right or left (there might be specific times to do each but that would be too many examples to list), then you want to use any aerial and fast-fall during the aerial - I slap the c-stick down repeatedly because using the c-stick for a down aerial automatically fast-falls you, and I hit it more than once because I want to buffer it/get the fast-fall started as soon as possible. For very strong blows, it is advisable to use an up-air and try to fast-fall the up-air, and immediately skull-bash.

For non-lethal blows that knock you offstage (say Meta Knight down-smash at 80% from the middle of FD), it's still advisable to DI (un-DI'd, Meta Knight down smash is sometimes deadly at 80% near the edges) and use up-air or air dodge to end hitstun, but you may not wish to skull bash because the lag might put you in a dangerous spot - in this case it's sometimes a good idea to jump - this will still reduce knockback momentum, but not as much as skull bash does (and it leaves you jumpless). For every purpose, immediately skull-bashing is better than jumping or jump-skull-bash, but jumping is better than doing nothing for cancelling horizontal knockback.

Also note if you play other characters that many of them don't have specific options to momentum cancel, so they will use an aerial and then jump (ex: Falco Phantasm is not a momentum cancel for Falco, so for him to MC he must jump. I think green missile is also not a momentum cancel (it might be if it misfires?) for Luigi, but I am not sure). Slapping the c-stick down doesn't work for characters with down aerials that travel downward rapidly [stall-then-fall down airs] - examples are Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, and Ice Climbers.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[MrHakuchu]

Thank You^^ That will help me. And I´m happy that the idea with Skullbash is not bad. Now I can practice to survive a Tipper FSmash from Marth.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

I go Ice Climbers~

I have EXTREMELY limited Olimar experience and I'm still figuring out basic things about the MU when I play it.

Smart man :I
I will do this as well XD