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

[Kantō]

id play ya but my online sux,

you have only been playing for a month and a half? of course your not gunna master your character in that amount of time. the only way to get good in this game , is to not lose hope and play good people. play really good people even though you will lose u will pick up things slowly, but surely. it takes time to get good at this game. im still learning things all the time that i try to incorparate into my game.

what im trying to say is, dont give up. try to see if there are people around u that play or mabye if there are tourneys around you. they are excellent practice. if there is no one around that you know of , create the scene yourself, reach out to the community and find players, they are around. you just have to look.

 

[KayLo!]

You also have to keep in mind that Pikachu has a high learning curve. He's not easy to play at a competitive level..... you really need to know your matchups, stay focused, and most importantly, stay unpredictable.

I can wifi next week once I get back from Pound.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

And also...fighting AGAINST pikachus doesn't really do much. Getting exp against more commonly played characters would be better. But yeah, general stuff like watch vids, read the matchup threads and the guide if you haven't. Just get used to it and develop your mind (most important thing)

 

[gallax]

watch A LOT of videos and make sure to understand every move and why they did it and how they reacted.

also playing with other chars is not a bad thing. its actually good so that can understand what that characters weaknesses are.

 

[mercy]

I've started watching videos of Anther, hope it helps.

 

[Kantō]

watch other players too, yes anther is the best, but watch vids of different styles as well to expand your playstyle and think outside the box.

 

[mercy]

Anyone else find it really difficult to do a lagless SH Dair?

 

[Zajice]

It's really not that hard. You just gotta get used to the timing for it. You're supposed to d-air pretty much the instant you jump.

 

[Kantō]

its not that hard, i like doing QAC into them too its fun when you get that extra shockwave from hitting the ground!

 

[Kantō]

is there a good 0 to death combo on snake, or a significant CG that works well?

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

is there a good 0 to death combo on snake, or a significant CG that works well?

If u F-throw him to the edge (Make sure you aren't at the very very edge where pika will be tipping over) you can D-throw him to somewhere around 100% if you get him to the edge up to like 35%

 

[Kantō]

thats way too situational, im looking for somthing more realistic....i guess there isnt one?

 

[Zatchiel]

I dont know many with pikachu, i only know that 0-death chaingrab on fox....
But i still rock picachu....

 

[Kantō]

I dont know many with pikachu, i only know that 0-death chaingrab on fox....
But i still rock picachu....

yea everyone knows bout that, im having trouuble with snake though, i try to camp him with TJ's but then he'll just hold A, im trying to CG him, but then he lets a grenade loose and ****s my **** up. what is a solid snake stratedy?

 

[Zatchiel]

Try not to get far away, he has range, not to close, he has power over a small pikachu, this is normal, its why he is top tier. i hope you didnt expect it to be easy?
Anyway, Mindgame, Thats the only way to beat a good snake player....

 

[Kantō]

hmmm not so good advice, but thanks for giving some anyways...

 

[gallax]

thats way too situational, im looking for somthing more realistic....i guess there isnt one?

bry, the fthrow>dthrow cg at the ledge isnt situational at all. as long as you get a grab in you can fthrow cg then immediately change it to a dthrow cg once u get to 35% i believe. the only thing situational is that you have to grab snake below like 50% to get the dthrow to work consistently. snake should be afraid of the cg as long as he is at 90% or lower, which is about half his life.

EDIT: i just realized that because you need the cg to beat snake then you really dont know the MU as well as you should. when i practice agaist snakes i just grab>combo(eg. nair) then continue on from there. in tourney id do the cg but in friendlies no. why? because cg's dont help you get smarter.

 

[Kantō]

bry, the fthrow>dthrow cg at the ledge isnt situational at all. as long as you get a grab in you can fthrow cg then immediately change it to a dthrow cg once u get to 35% i believe. the only thing situational is that you have to grab snake below like 50% to get the dthrow to work consistently. snake should be afraid of the cg as long as he is at 90% or lower, which is about half his life.

EDIT: i just realized that because you need the cg to beat snake then you really dont know the MU as well as you should. when i practice agaist snakes i just grab>combo(eg. nair) then continue on from there. in tourney id do the cg but in friendlies no. why? because cg's dont help you get smarter.

now here is the advice i was looking for thanks much.

 

[Zatchiel]

Nice Save Gallax, and i hope you whoop that snake player Bry...

 

[Kantō]

hahaha i will, gotta get good a the frienlies b4 the tourney when i have to lay a snake ugh.

 

[gallax]

hey bry. something that you may want to be aware of when you play snakes is that if you run up and shield>spotdodge his ftilt(both hits) the snake will move closer each time you spotdodge the ftilt, giving you a chance to either grab or dtilt or dsmash(but i wouldnt dmsash).

 

[Zatchiel]

Nice, Dude, you main pikachu, nice, i used to, i still use him, but im startin to like my olimar better....

 

[Kantō]

hey bry. something that you may want to be aware of when you play snakes is that if you run up and shield>spotdodge his ftilt(both hits) the snake will move closer each time you spotdodge the ftilt, giving you a chance to either grab or dtilt or dsmash(but i wouldnt dmsash).

i like to try and stay away from the front of him. those tilts always get the best of me and usually end up killing me.

 

[gallax]

i like to try and stay away from the front of him. those tilts always get the best of me and usually end up killing me.

thats fine dude. but if snake ever does get close to you remember to shield the first then spotdodge the second. if you dont think you can punish after tht spotdodge two more times asap. if he jabs then SDI away and shield when he tries to jab combo or jab>ftilt

 

[Kantō]

thanks for the info gallax,

sheild 1st, then spotdoge.....good to know, really good to know.

 

[Kantō]

hey gallax i was wondering if you could critique my vids, i have 2 of them facing snake, one is cut off (the one that i win of course) ad one i lose, the last vid in the set the kid didnt upload for sum reason but i lost it ha.
here is the link:

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=224342&page=34

 

[gallax]

yeah ima definately go critique it for ya

 

[Kantō]

what do i do against ness's ?!?! i have a new found hate for the matchup. playing an actual good ness sucks... how should i go about this?

 

[Kenrawr]

Go snake.

Spoiler

Or ask Z. He plays with FOW

 

[Kantō]

Go snake.

Spoiler

Or ask Z. He plays with FOW

no! i wanna know what to do with pikachu lol.
plus i cant play snake to save my life.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Use T-jolts wisely and stay on the ground. You beat him there and watch out for SH fairs and weird SH Double aerial mixups. They are a pain in the balls >_> THe matchup is very winnable since he really has no option when you are juggling him since all of his aerials are pretty predictable and his nair doesn't really have much of a vertical hitbox.

Shaky practice.

 

[Kenrawr]

no! i wanna know what to do with pikachu lol.
plus i cant play snake to save my life.

you were supposed to highlight the spoiler censor o=

 

[KayLo!]

The only thing Ness has that's extremely annoying is fair spam. Otherwise, just play patiently and don't get overly aggressive.... and get him off-stage if possible. A good Ness won't let himself get gimped that easily, but he's still not comfortable out there, and it's a good place to rack up damage.

When you're at high percentages, play a REALLY safe keepaway game. Ness's grab range is pretty garbage, but if you **** up, you can kiss your stock goodbye to his bthrow.

Don't get PK Fired..... you can SDI it, but you'll probably get combo'd. Perfect shield it + punish.

If you hit his shield, expect bair or nair OOS and DI it. His bair's not super strong, but a fresh one can still kill you near the edge.

PKT1 (the ball part)..... is deceptively annoying. I usually try to jump/QA away rather than airdodge, because if you airdodge, he can just wrap it around and hit you as you come out of your invincibility frames..... the tail of it lasts a while. Make sure to DI it correctly if you get hit, because some parts of it have ******** knockback and can kill you if you're close to the blastline and not DI'ing right. Shouldn't happen, but I've seen it.

Another thing about PKT: be careful about airdodging the first part and landing on the ground. That's a great way to set yourself up for getting PKT2'd.

Dtilt trip combos are annoying.

Watch for yo-yo mindgames. Dsmash/usmash kind of look alike when they're being charged (or maybe I'm just dumb), and weak hits set you up for followups.

Imo, he beats us in the air..... ESAM's right: utilize your ground game. Uair is good too if you're underneath him (his dair is pretty slow), but his double jump is ****ing weird and mindgame-y, so if he has his second jump left..... sometimes it's better to just wait for him to touch the ground again.

Otherwise, what everyone else said. Ness has some annoyingly good stuff on Pika, but a lot of his moves are predictable/punishable, so if you play patiently and defensively, it's not too bad of a MU. Definitely not easy, though.

EDIT: Also: don't be afraid to tjolt. He has his magnet, but as long as you're not straight up spamming, you can still camp to some degree. Also, remember that if you utilt/usmash, he'll be in hitstun for too long to absorb an immediate thunder. Don't let the absorb bull**** scare you!

 

[Kantō]

The only thing Ness has that's extremely annoying is fair spam. Otherwise, just play patiently and don't get overly aggressive.... and get him off-stage if possible. A good Ness won't let himself get gimped that easily, but he's still not comfortable out there, and it's a good place to rack up damage.

When you're at high percentages, play a REALLY safe keepaway game. Ness's grab range is pretty garbage, but if you **** up, you can kiss your stock goodbye to his bthrow.

Don't get PK Fired..... you can SDI it, but you'll probably get combo'd. Perfect shield it + punish.

If you hit his shield, expect bair or nair OOS and DI it. His bair's not super strong, but a fresh one can still kill you near the edge.

PKT1 (the ball part)..... is deceptively annoying. I usually try to jump/QA away rather than airdodge, because if you airdodge, he can just wrap it around and hit you as you come out of your invincibility frames..... the tail of it lasts a while. Make sure to DI it correctly if you get hit, because some parts of it have ******** knockback and can kill you if you're close to the blastline and not DI'ing right. Shouldn't happen, but I've seen it.

Another thing about PKT: be careful about airdodging the first part and landing on the ground. That's a great way to set yourself up for getting PKT2'd.

Dtilt trip combos are annoying.

Watch for yo-yo mindgames. Dsmash/usmash kind of look alike when they're being charged (or maybe I'm just dumb), and weak hits set you up for followups.

Imo, he beats us in the air..... ESAM's right: utilize your ground game. Uair is good too if you're underneath him (his dair is pretty slow), but his double jump is ****ing weird and mindgame-y, so if he has his second jump left..... sometimes it's better to just wait for him to touch the ground again.

Otherwise, what everyone else said. Ness has some annoyingly good stuff on Pika, but a lot of his moves are predictable/punishable, so if you play patiently and defensively, it's not too bad of a MU. Definitely not easy, though.

EDIT: Also: don't be afraid to tjolt. He has his magnet, but as long as you're not straight up spamming, you can still camp to some degree. Also, remember that if you utilt/usmash, he'll be in hitstun for too long to absorb an immediate thunder. Don't let the absorb bull**** scare you!

thanks man this is great information. ill be playing him on friday so i hope this discusion will help my game out.

 

[Kenrawr]

thanks man

I need to appease teh 10 char gods but I can't think of anything longer than "lol" or "*dies*" ><!

 

[mercy]

Tap jump on?

C-stick for aerials?

Basically I'm learning to play Melee and Brawl at the same time and I think having the same control scheme for both games would be beneficial for me.

 

[Pikabunz]

To answer your tap jump question:

Q. Which is better: tap jump on or tap jump off?
For Pikachu, it's pretty much entirely player preference whether you have tap jump on or off. There are pros and cons to each, but all of Pikachu's important techniques are possible using either control setup.

With tap jump on (default settings), QAC out of shield and jumping out of QAC are slightly easier, which can make certain techniques -- like Quick Attack Locking or simply multiple QACs in a row -- less difficult. Rising uairs, especially out of shield, are also easier with tap jump.

However, tap jump off prevents accidental jumping when you're trying to utilt/uair. This can be a big relief for people who aren't used to having tap jump from Melee.

If it matters to you, most pros use tap jump on -- whether or not this is because most of them come from playing Melee, who knows. Just use whatever works best for you.

Same applies to c-stick aerials. Use whatever feels most comfortable to you. I personally switch between A and C-stick for aerials.

 

[Zee725]

I'm planning on going to Apex2010. I hope to have the money to fly out there for the tourney, there will also be some other vegas players going, anybody want to MM?

 

[KayLo!]

Zelda vs. Pika, $5.

Let's goooooo~

 

[altairian]

Dsmash/usmash kind of look alike when they're being charged

The side the yo-yo is on is different. usmash it's in front of him, dsmash it's behind him.

(super late I know, haven't been reading much lately )