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

[JRDD]

I need help beating my brother. He knows even less about this game than I do, but he's Ike and I get impatient and he slams me off the stage. Also, where can I find people to play other than my brother and cousin?

 

[Roller]

1st look up how to chaingrab him. Practice, practice, practice. (shouldn't take long, forward throw chaingrabs are easy)

Against a beginner ike here is your flowchart.
First run away and shoot a jolt. Then if your bro is still far away, shoot another. Continue until he is mid-range. Run up and shield. If he attacks, grab/hit him during the endlag. if he does not attack right away, shield grab. If he is at a low percent chaingrab him to the edge. If he is at a high percent, backthrow him off the stage. Jump off and hit him with an aerial. Then recover. You should be able to recover from anywhere; you have jumps, side b, and up b. All you need to go across the entire bottom of final destination and grab the edge on the other side. Keep in mind the absurdity of your recovery at all times. You can afford to chase offstage and take risks.

As for finding smashers. What state are you in? Are you near/in any major cities? How far can you go? And do you play wifi?

 

[JRDD]

Im in the Kansas City area... and I can play wifi. Thanks for your tips, they really helped already. (So did brawling on Big Blue)

 

[Roller]

There are actually a decent number of smashers in that area. Stealth Raptor for one, who is a solid pikachu player. He'll namesearch his way in here in a bit. He can put you in touch with the local smash scene in your area. I've met a few people from that crew and they're all good guys.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

Im in the Kansas City area... and I can play wifi. Thanks for your tips, they really helped already. (So did brawling on Big Blue)

oh rearry? are you the pikachu lux was telling me about or are you someone different? O.o in any case, we have smashfests on monday, a tourney next week in KCMO i wont be able to attend for the tourney itself but ill be stopping by after work for some friendlies. here is our local thread, feel free to hang out with us :D you can learn where people are playing and stuff, and our monday smashfest location and time are linked in the OP: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=230380

hey to my credit i have this thread subbed, i didnt need to namesearch :x

EDIT: feel free to ask for help. im always open to helping people who use the chu. im gonna die if you are not who lux was telling me about. gonna have my own little crew of chus in KC..... lolol dittos4lyfe

dat reference

 

[DeLux]

Dang, you didn't even refer him to our biweekly series that's starting up

And Pikachu is broken, you heard it here first

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Pikachu for 3rd best son.

 

[DeLux]

Pikachu for 3rd best son.

BRB switching mains

 

[Stealth Raptor]

i figured regular talk in thread would reference the biweeklies ;o i pointed him to the most immediate thing on the plate. if he had mentioned KC a couple days ago i would have mentioned the biweekly lol

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

BRB switching mains

From Lucas? Cool :D

 

[DeLux]

Well I mean, I like light, and the translation for Pikachu kinda appeals to that aspect.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

man if you used pikachu i would mercilessly three stock you till you went back to ics

 

[DeLux]

As bad as I am, I doubt you'd 3 stock me if I put some real effort into learning the character :\

 

[Stealth Raptor]

lol well i would be hoping to beat it out of you before you got to that phase :O

 

[DeLux]

But losing just makes me better :\

It's how I can justify being bad

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Probably. Stealth is ridiculous at the ditto.

 

[JRDD]

Thanks for all that, Stealth. I really look forward to that in the future. But right now I'm a bit of a beginner (I can chaingrab fairly well but I still have a lot to work on). I would really like to play wifi with some people. I would lose, but it would help me get better.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

since you dont have an open wall, we have a smashfest starting in four hours in lenexa, you should really come so we can play in person :O much better then lagfi

 

[JRDD]

I can't drive

 

[Stealth Raptor]

if you live close enough or between the smashfest and someone, we can pick you up. may be too late for today but perhaps next week you can snag a ride.

 

[infiniteV115]

Hi guys. I need a little help making a decision. Any serious input is appreciated.
I'm a ZSS main. She's my favourite character in the game and there's no way anybody else will ever become my main.
Now that that's said, I'm having trouble choosing who my secondary should be. I know I don't HAVE to have a secondary, but it helps. Right now, I'm stuck between Marth and Pika (no particular reason other than they're the most fun out of the rest of the cast, and they're not complete garbage), and they both do well (Pika especially) against Falco (ZSS' worst matchup, really annoying), so having either as a secondary will benefit me greatly in that aspect. I'd like to hear what other reasons you guys may have as to why I should choose Pika over Marth.
And I'd like to hear reasons such as MU coverage, CPing/being CPed to certain stages, pocket characters, how it affects my playstyle, etc. Don't say stupid **** like "PIKACHU IS CUTE HE HAS GOGGLES!" XD

P.S I'm fairly new to the competitive scene, after like 2 weeks I'll have been to 4 tournaments (in my entire life) so any other input (such as how much practice to put into mains/secondaries) is welcome.

 

[Pikabunz]

Pikachu and ZSS make a good couple.

 

[infiniteV115]

A ***** And Her Rat

 

[Pikabunz]

I guess Pika would be a good secondary for ZSS. They do cover each others MU well. If you ever get CP'd to RC, then you have Pika who is very good there.

 

[Ishiey]

Pikachu's CG on Wolf. Does it need a fthrow?

EDIT: apparently it does and I'm just blind lol... nvm X_x

 

[Pikabunz]

Well, you don't need to fthrow. After the first 3 dthrows you can pummel instead, but that can be broken out of.

 

[Ussi]

I guess Pika would be a good secondary for ZSS. They do cover each others MU well. If you ever get CP'd to RC, then you have Pika who is very good there.

ZSS is good on RC :x

 

[infiniteV115]

Yeah but chances are if I'm getting CPed to RC, it's by an MK, and Pika seems to do better against MK than ZSS does

 

[Seagull Joe]

To Cg with , do you need to buffer Dthrow or regular Dthrow? Also, is there anything specific about the Cg to ensure a KO or can I not finish off from a Dthrow.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

it needs to be buffered and no unless you get a cg at the edge to nair where they di wrong or get a cg on a high platform to a usamsh, you cannot kill her straight from it

 

[infiniteV115]

So nair and usmash are both guaranteed out of the cg if timed correctly? (Against Sheik that is)

 

[Stealth Raptor]

as is a reverse utilt. both utilt and usmash can lead to thunder if they dont DI it

 

[Pikabunz]

I believe Sheik was one of the characters you could get a footstool out of the dthrow.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

At one of her last throws (Yes, you have to buffer them), you can buffer a dash footstool (Pretty much buffer the dash and spam jump). She can't get out of this, and you can QA into her (Which locks) and charge an F-smash, or continue QALing her or go into a jab lock.

 

[JRDD]

How do people have black or zebra pikachu's? Do you have to hack your wii for that?

 

[Frio]

Yeah you need the hax0rs

 

[JRDD]

Can pikachu airdodge through Ike's eruption, or does it last too long?

 

[WindMajor]

What's up Pika mains?

I have a couple of questions I want to ask and I'd like you guys to help me answer them. They're all related to Norfair by the way.

1) How does your character fare with just the stage? Does your character benefit from the layout and the numerous hazards or do they normally hinder you?
2) How does your character generally fare on this stage against certain matchups? Does he excel in a lot of them and only has a few bad MUs, or is he generally bad on this stage against a large portion of the cast?
3) What are some general strategies for your character on this stage? Controlling the center? Stalling? Staying mobile?
4) Overall, would you say that this stage is mostly good for your character, mostly bad, or depends?

Thanks in advance!

Spoiler

This mass survey across most of the character boards is admin approved.

 

[Cassio]

1)Pikachu is amazing here and probably has among the strongest benefits of any character
2)His MU's improve against pretty much everyone. While others may disagree I think he even does well against MK here. I think the benefits against projectile absorbers however may be largely negated. Its also probably not best against those we can cg.
3)This stage is basically built for pikas projectiles. Jolts travel at an angle downwards, thunder can knock predictable attempts to cross over pikachu and can combo from the hazards as well as kill fairly early on the higher platforms. Platform pressure is a strong trait for pikachu, and jolts can circle below platforms for those below him. The ledges as well as pikachus quick ledge drop make him extremely mobile and able to escape dangerous situations better than most.

Pikachu really isnt limited to a single good strategy here.

The biggest detriment is against characters that can be chaingrabbed, which potentially would assist them in the MU but would still be a poor stage for them to fight pikachu on.

4)Probably one of pikachus top 3 stages if not the best.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

What's up Pika mains?

I have a couple of questions I want to ask and I'd like you guys to help me answer them. They're all related to Norfair by the way.

1) How does your character fare with just the stage? Does your character benefit from the layout and the numerous hazards or do they normally hinder you?

Pikachu is fantastic on this stage. There are a few that are better (RC, FD, Picto) but it is definitely a great stage for Pikachu. We benefit from the layout because 1) it is easy to camp downwards and 2) it makes our recovery even MORE unpredictable.

The hazards help us because we can pretty much put a wall up forcing our opponent either into the hazard or into thunder. Lava walls + thunder are hilarious, it kills so early.

2) How does your character generally fare on this stage against certain matchups? Does he excel in a lot of them and only has a few bad MUs, or is he generally bad on this stage against a large portion of the cast?

I would say it makes every MU better but G&W. The layout helps G&W survive much longer due to bucket-braking, and we also can't camp very well. As a + though, it is difficult for him to get in if we get the lead and camp the bottom platform. This stage is good against MK as well, which helps. He can't really camp the edges because our T-jolt wraps around the edges and will poke him. Huzzah!

3) What are some general strategies for your character on this stage? Controlling the center? Stalling? Staying mobile?

We play the poke game. Once we get the lead, we should almost always go ot the bottom platform and bait approaches. T-jolts will get to the center platform, and if we have a lead they have to approach us. If they do it slowly, they will get hit by jolts. If they do it quickly, they will probably just attack our shield, so we can punish it. If they choose not to approach and wait until an obstacle comes...we win because we are more mobile than pretty much everybody in the game. Huzzah for adaptability!

4) Overall, would you say that this stage is mostly good for your character, mostly bad, or depends?

Great all the time.