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

[gallax]

i dont care how smart the pika is thunder is NOT supposed to **** snake. its supposed to help edgeguard and keep him weary of recovering high. what is does do is set the pika up for nairs/dairs off the edge. but, i would rather get hit by a nair then by a thunder as snake. if you ask esam or anther they would both agree with me that is it hard to get a thunder kill off the edge simply by jumping and just hitting with a thunder.

 

[IxxI]

I was talking about if he's recovering high, and the Snake doesn't know the matchup.

 

[SuSa]

Not knowing the matchup?

You're theorycrafting wrong.

Thunder doesn't own Snake, it owns noobs.

 

[IxxI]

Not knowing the matchup?

You're theorycrafting wrong.

Thunder doesn't own Snake, it owns noobs.

That's just what I was getting at.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

Thunder doesn't own Snake, it owns noobs.

Lol. Yea. What gallax said is generally true too (tho i'd still try my luck and stealth will probably do the same ^_^). The smarter snakes will most likely go lower and even take a thunder (rod) to the face (since snake is that heavy) and airdodge through the rest back onto the stage

I normally use thunder (other than edgeguarding and air guarding) to hit snake (blue blast part) whenever i seize one of snake's landing oppurtuniities onstage and near the ledge. Sort of at a point where if snake wavebounces, he'll drift off so he'll have to throw the nade (which may lead to grab/shieldgrab cypher/snake>possible gimp ^_^) and if he doesn't wavebounce (or doesn't know how... lol) he'll get owned in the face.

 

[SuSa]

I do something called "time my airdodge", and if I'm going to be hit by the blue part, I hit the Pika and take the bolt damage.

Also if I need to B-reverse, hopefully I haven't laid my C4. It's safer then B-reversing a grenade in that scenario.

Also uair has been a lifesafer for just barely avoiding thunder.

 

[Kenrawr]

Also uair has been a lifesafer for just barely avoiding thunder.

Elaborate.

 

[altairian]

I'm guessing that it makes snake's hitbox thinner?

 

[IxxI]

I'm guessing that it makes snake's hitbox thinner?

This I'm guessing.

 

[Kenrawr]

I was kind of assuming that but it sounded pretty ridiculous. Thunder's animation is pretty long so I'd think doing a uair would only help you near the end of it. At which point you might as well air-dodge anyway.

 

[altairian]

Or at the very beginning while you're moving to the side. But I suppose you could air dodge that as well

 

[KayLo!]

we can dthrow CG fox to over 100% and there's a couple kill followups to it if they DI wrong. Even without the CG it's a little in our favor so yeah >_>

(Snake convo people ignore this post.)

Not true at all. Without the CG, Fox is pretty **** tough for Pika.... or if the Fox knows how to not get grabbed (it's possible, just not very likely -- works best on stages with lots of platforms, obviously).

He's generally as fast as us, we fall fast enough to get semi-***** by his dair combo bull****, he has a good reflector and projectile, and his usmash kills at retardedly low percentages.

His smashes aren't the greatest, speed-wise (they're pretty easy to block), but he has some decent setups, while it can be tough for us to land a kill move on him as long as he doesn't get in a position where he needs to up b. And again: Fox's usmash kills SO ****ING EARLY. x.x Especially since he can refresh it with lasers.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

(Snake convo people ignore this post.)

Not true at all. Without the CG, Fox is pretty **** tough for Pika.... or if the Fox knows how to not get grabbed (it's possible, just not very likely -- works best on stages with lots of platforms, obviously).

He's generally as fast as us, we fall fast enough to get semi-***** by his dair combo bull****, he has a good reflector and projectile, and his usmash kills at retardedly low percentages.

His smashes aren't the greatest, speed-wise (they're pretty easy to block), but he has some decent setups, while it can be tough for us to land a kill move on him as long as he doesn't get in a position where he needs to up b. And again: Fox's usmash kills SO ****ING EARLY. x.x Especially since he can refresh it with lasers.

*could he really refresh with lasers?* I was under the impression that he couldn't refresh with either of his pummel, continous jab, or lasers (i think i heard it from a fox sometime ago) which made refreshing somewhat counter intuitive/harder for fox. I could be mistaken....

REgardless, u-smash kills anyone at like 91% fresh, tack on 10-12% more if you have crazy DI.

Another tip (cuz we have a top PR who is fox (apparently we never meet in same bracket ever... lol): if you see an up-smash coming (and you are like 90%), take it with a shield, then if you can avoid getting hit by his other kill moves, RUSH HIM. Taking that one u-smash alone could extend your life by a few 20% or until fox fully refreshes it again. That REALLY helps if you are prone to usmash.

 

[gallax]

you can use snakes uair for momentum shifts too. if going up on the cypher too soon and the pika thunders one of your choices may be to uair to get off the cypher to avoid the thunder. even though this should only be done close to the stage(which the snake should now anyways).

 

[KayLo!]

*could he really refresh with lasers?* I was under the impression that he couldn't refresh with either of his pummel, continous jab, or lasers (i think i heard it from a fox sometime ago) which made refreshing somewhat counter intuitive/harder for fox. I could be mistaken....

Umm.... research that if you want (I'm far too lazy/don't care enough), but I'm pretty sure Fox works like every other character in the game. In that every move refreshes his other moves.

Not sure about his rapid jab, but I'm almost certain his pummel and lasers work like other moves. It wouldn't really make sense for just Fox to work differently, but who knows.

 

[Pikabunz]

He can refresh with pummel and lasers.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

He can refresh with pummel and lasers.

Alright, its settled then ^_^. As always, i'll take k-primes word for it :D.

 

[Anther]

What's up with snakes starting to think the matchup's even???

 

[bigman40]

What's up with snakes starting to think the matchup's even???

They doubtin yo skillz and PikPik's as Snake killers.

 

[gallax]

its not even. its in snakes favor. id say 55:45.

 

[KayLo!]

What's up with snakes starting to think the matchup's even???

Lol, Anther, you gotta give em the business, they gettin too cocky.

 

[Pikabunz]

I think Anther means that the match up should be in Snake's favor.

 

[Kenrawr]

Chaingrab hype!

 

[KayLo!]

I think Anther means that the match up should be in Snake's favor.

Well, ain't that a *****. Way to disappoint me, Anther. ;-;

 

[PUNK9]

I think it should be in Snake favor too,
Pika already has trobles killing, and snake is a heavy person
he can pretty much just get out of our chain grab with the genades,
so i think it really should be like 55-45 snake favor.

 

[Anther]

Nono, I mean the opposite of what Kprime thought =9

 

[Pikabunz]

Liar!!! You always complain about that match up!!

 

[KayLo!]

Nono, I mean the opposite of what Kprime thought =9

AWW YEAH, I knew Anther wouldn't let me down!!!

 

[Zee725]

i think snake players are figuring out that they can blow themselves up to avoid a chaingrab =X

lmfao

 

[altairian]

i think snake players are figuring out that they can blow themselves up to avoid a chaingrab =X

lmfao

You'd certainly hope so considering the buffered cg video says that! lol

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

I always thought snakes were okay.... I mean, I like the matchup regardless of what it truly is. I feel that i can get under most snake's skin after a good set.

Ever since IveJihadIt (Ali?) retired from brawl in NC, i've never had a good snake to fight against 1v1 to really benchmark my skill--not enough snakes in NC (too many olimars and marths). Anyways, its still fun to own snake whenever they set themselves up for the ledge chaingrab (or whenever they walk into thunder... lol). I can't wait until another interstate tourney in NC happens.

 

[KayLo!]

The Snake MU is my favorite one..... with Pika and with Zelda. It's hard (especially with Princess Garbgarb) but not wtfimpossible.

Personally, I feel like the Pika:Snake MU is even. But that's just from my experience..... I haven't played any ranked Snakes, so who knows.

 

[Anther]

F the chaingrab, just beat them up >=0

 

[Zee725]

yeah doode, snake's aren't that hard to kick the crap out of, lol snake is the character i can do the most trixies on =P

 

[Kenrawr]

F the chaingrab, just beat them up >=0

Typical Anther advice. ;_;

 

[gallax]

oh how i really wish i could play everyone of you with my snake irl. the only ones who get a taste are sparky and razec. ya'll would see how a snake is able to avoid your tricksies. especially since i know pika's weaknesses. snake has everything to beat pika. nades. tilts. a pivot grab. srsly. if you beat a snake its because the snake doesnt know how to camp a pikachu or (in anthers case lol) beat a smarter player.

i will say this though. me and raz play this matchup like a billion times a week. sparky not nearly as much. i taught razec and he learned the MU extremely well. against hrnut and radiX he can get them last stock high percentages and it comes down to the kill move. but, at tourney's, hes wrecked like every snake hardcore. and by hardcore, i mean like super hardcore. 3/2 stock everytime. so i can see how not knowing the matchup well will just beat the snake to a pulp and could be considered even.

but on the other hand lets go through me, radiX and hrnut. we know the matchup and usually win. candy comes down and plays the pikas in orlando. he wins cuz he jsut knows how to camp effectively. at higher levels of play snake has the advantage. snake never has to approach pika. ever. we can jump over jolts and lay c4's and use nades to force anything. if you run in we have a pivot grab. we can cook the nades. if you mess up its 20% damage from tilts or grabs.

not to mention that all pikas kill moves are easily seen coming. running usmash, nair, thunder, fsmash. all easy to watch out for. the only one that can be surprising is the ftilt when snake is at around 165-170%.

 

[Pikabunz]

Gallax, why do you always get a ***** every time someone mentions Snake? You always act like the MU is impossible for Pika. The people you mentioned, for both Snake and Pika, aren't really top level players. Play better Pikas. >>

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

I guess, i can sorta see gallax's point (tho i still like the snake matchups ^_^). But there's also pika's who don't know how good snakes play--once those pika's learn the matchups better, then sometimes it changes things. New regions, different regions, slightly different pika metagames/playstyles. I've seen HRNUT's snake and marth in action whenever he came to NC. It was fun watching and playing against him. ^_^ .

 

[PUNK9]

I agree, the snake match- up should be 55 45, snakes favor......

 

[Van Jones]

Gallax, why do you always get a ***** every time someone mentions Snake? You always act like the MU is impossible for Pika. The people you mentioned, for both Snake and Pika, aren't really top level players. Play better Pikas. >>

Qft. Mm me at winterfest. Dun dun dun