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

[Thor]

Hey, anyone want to discuss grab release options, air and ground? Pretty sure ground is only Lucas/Ness, but do we get usmash, nair, dash attack, ftilt, or what, and for air release on Wario/Squirtle/others (dunno who else has an exploitable grab release... MK if off the ledge?) do we get usmash, nair, up-angled ftilt, reverse utilt, or what?

 

[infiniteV115]

I imagine you don't get anything on MK cause Pikachu's running speed isn't that great - at least, not compared to the other characters who DO get stuff off air release on MK. Obv Pikachu's ground speed in terms of the whole cast is great

I definitely don't see you getting any tilts on MK. Maybe you can get like QAC nair/uair cause that'll get you there faster than running? Dash attack and fair might also work, but I'm not sure

Is Pikachu tall enough to force air releases on any characters? I don't feel like he is
Even if he isn't, I'm pretty sure you get footstool off air release on Wario, so you can probably set that up into the QAC lock. Or you could just uair (cause you get any aerial) or usmash or utilt, I'm sure they all work.

 

[hell-dew]

I need to test stuff on wario we finally have one to practice against

 

[1PokeMastr]

Pikachu isn't tall enough to force anything on Wario.

Wario has to mash jump to air release.

You do get Up Smash though.

 

[hell-dew]

random question what do you do against MKs retreating fairs. i find clamshelling MKs who play defensively take pokes then take stage control by aggressively walling you out to be a pain in the @#@#. im starting to find that MU really annoying.

 

[Thor]

Pikachu isn't tall enough to force anything on Wario.

Wario has to mash jump to air release.

You do get Up Smash though.

I thought one could force air release on Wario IF we grab him at the VERY edge because he'd be dangling offstage and therefore air release, or is this not the case?

Also thanks.

 

[infiniteV115]

Well yeah but everyone can do that to everyone cause it has nothing to do with height. What Poke meant is that Pikachu isn't tall enough to force an air release on Wario onstage

 

[Player -0]

What dictates whether things are forced air releases or forced ground releases? I know if you pummel at the right time it'll always be a ground release but for air release?

 

[infiniteV115]

If the character's legs are dangling off the ground when being grabbed, they can be forced into an air release (ie if the grabber does not pummel an air release is guaranteed). If the grabbed player's legs are dangling off the ground and he/she mashes out during a pummel, they can ground release though I'm pretty sure there are more details to it than that.

So generally if a character is grabbing a significantly shorter character (or if Snake is grabbing anyone), the grabbed player's legs will be dangling off the ground.

 

[1PokeMastr]

Yeah, Snake can air release everyone.

Which is cool.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Snake's air release stuff is why me/MVD have a combo where he grabs, he grab releases, i footstool, and he jab locks to snake F-smash.

 

[1PokeMastr]

Esam you know that's really mean right ?

You could at least give them some hope.

 

[Thor]

Esam you know that's really mean right ?

You could at least give them some hope.

Yeah QAC lock them first.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

I've been finding more and more use for b-air. While I don't believe it is an amazing move, it is not completely useless.

 

[1PokeMastr]

Just don't use it to edgeguard, they'll just SDi on stage.

And Bair on larger characters is hilarious looking.

And probably really annoying to SDi out of, imagine DDD being walloped by a rotating rat.

 

[Ookami Hajime]

Yeah, it's no good for edge guards.
It's great for when you think someone will air dodge past your u-air though. RAR b-air is a surprisingly solid option, though I'm sure someone has stated this before, haha.

Pikacopter scares Dedede

 

[1PokeMastr]

Any multi hit move ruins the big 3 (Bowser, DDD, DK)

The multi hits are literally just nado.
Fox is Nado.
Pit is an infinite ledge gimping nado.
Falco's jab is just stupid.

Personal Nados

 

[Thor]

I recently ran into a Wario and I struggled mightily to fight them. I didn't know CG percents (so a few fthrows to usmash worked, but I don't know if I should be doing more) and it was hard enough just landing a grab, or even a hit... it felt like all Wario's aerials were safe on shield (fade in, fade out) and actually hitting the character was difficult. Though I managed to get him to 80% on his last stock, he KO'd me relatively early all three times (Waft on second stock was early, the others were merely all too much on time). I know I can't shieldgrab his aerials now, but how do I fight Wario/what do I do in this MU? The MU felt really hard, even though the chart says it is even...

 

[Player -0]

You can probably camp and when he goes to approach back off until he makes a mistake and then RAR Up-Air. Or when he jumps to Fair/Dair/etc dash back -> TJolt. Pika's ground speed is better than Wario's airspeed (I think) so whenever he jumps walk back (or crouch/crawl in place) and then chase him down when he retreats and the aerial ends.

 

[Thor]

You can probably camp and when he goes to approach back off until he makes a mistake and then RAR Up-Air. Or when he jumps to Fair/Dair/etc dash back -> TJolt. Pika's ground speed is better than Wario's airspeed (I think) so whenever he jumps walk back (or crouch/crawl in place) and then chase him down when he retreats and the aerial ends.

Punishing Wario's autocancelled dair isn't easy, given his mobility... but I'll be sure to remember this.

Also, I saw a video where a Pikachu seemingly nair'd MK OoS out of Mach Tornado. Is that actually possible? I assume if it is that Pikachu must be frame-perfect, but I would like to know if I actually saw what I thought I saw.

 

[Player -0]

There's a VGBC video about perfect shield -> jab MK OoS. It could be similar to that.

Speaking of which. There's a tournament this Saturday (That I'm hopefully going to) that has Brawl instead of just P:M and Melee (My precious P:M dubz ). So rusty Pika might come out

 

[Thor]

@ Player -0 Show the MKs why lack of MU knowledge is devastating against their worst MU!

For what it is worth, it didn't LOOK like a powershield, but it may have been (it looked like they shielded like 4 hits and shield well up before the nair...) but I have seen the perfect shield video (which also looks sick) and I know one can nair out of perfect shield cancelling to hit MK, so...

Why can't I tag ESAM when I actually need to...?

 

[PedroSmashFan2014]

Why does Pikachu have an even matchup against MK?

 

[Player -0]

ESAM has invoked the demonic power of demons and made it so you can't tag him. He's probably going to be at the tournament if I go. I don't get why he wouldn't. He lives on the campus lel.

About the even MU I'm not 100% sure. Probably has to do with something about Pika's grab combos, early kills off the top, ungimpable recovery.

 

[Thor]

Hey in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mijuVqioX-4) at about 24:05, ESAM seemingly does run into fsmash (run -> fsmash). Does Pikachu have a very short stopping animation and he just properly timed the fsmash, or is there some trick ESAM does to do this (and if there is, how is it done)?

 

[Player -0]

I can't load Youtube where I am. How far does he move? Was it a stutter step?

 

[Thor]

I can't load Youtube where I am. How far does he move? Was it a stutter step?

He runs a decent distance... from the left edge of Lylat's center platform (he's not quite under it) to about the center of underneath the left Lylat platform.

Also I'm not sure what stutter-stepping is - care to explain it and/or the input for it?

 

[Player -0]

Stutter step is just the word for cancelling the dash to F-Smash. You can move forward or back and F-Smash either way. It's pretty much a pivot F-Smash I think.

I'll watch the video a bit later to see if I can figure it out.

 

[「Ocean」]

I've accidentally gotten two thunders right after each other in the middle of the stage, is that common?

Edit: Wrong board - my bad!

 

[Player -0]

I'm not sure what you mean. Reminder that this is the Brawl section in case you're talking about Smash 4.

 

[infiniteV115]

He runs a decent distance... from the left edge of Lylat's center platform (he's not quite under it) to about the center of underneath the left Lylat platform.

Also I'm not sure what stutter-stepping is - care to explain it and/or the input for it?

Foxtrot --> stutter step fsmash

If you don't know what foxtrotting is, it's basically travelling using only your initial dash, so effectively it's done by flicking the analog in the same direction over and over with the right timing. You never enter your run animation

He did 1 foxtrot rep, then started a second but cancelled the beginning of it with a fsmash (in other words, stutter stepped an fsmash)

Every character can do this btw.

 

[Player -0]

Couldn't you do really derpy dash dancing then? It would obviously be slow and you could trip and get wrecked. As long as you do the forward dash then quickly a back dash out of a foxtrot then lol.

I should try it and then trip 20 times.

Edit - I'm pretty sure I've thought of the same thing a couple months ago but I never tried it. I should really try it...

 

[infiniteV115]

Yes, it's something a fair number of players do. Watch Leon, Mr.R, or NAKAT play and you'll see them utilize alternating foxtrots quite a bit (especially the former two, it's really good with Marth)

People also use it a fair bit in smash 4 because there's no risk of tripping

 

[ATATA]

I'm new to Pikachu and have a quick simple question, what are his kill options?

 

[alexthepony]

why would a rosalina want to down b pikas thunder.

 

[UtopianPoyzin]

Will this question get a quick answer?