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

Pikabunz

Smash Hero
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
6,084
Location
San Antonio, TX
NNID
Pikabunz
3DS FC
1134-8730-8374
You can do a lot of things out of ff fair.

Grab
DA
Jab
Ftilt
Utilt
Dtilt
Dsmash
Usmash
Nair
Uair
Bair

:)
 

Legendary Pikachu

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
819
Location
North Carolina
I think that marth is one of pika's hardest match-ups
just camp,
but if the marth has the % lead,
approach cautiously, with FF f-air, and SH d-air,
QaC is also a good choice, but if the marth and predict the Qac, then your ****ed.
also JUGGLE marth, he is soooo easy to juggle its not even funny,
Although not a walk in the park, I really do like the marth matchup. I am in a PR region where the PR 1 is a marth (my goal is to TAKE HIM OUT!). I've faced both kadaj's marth (once) and lost narrowly and HRNUT's marth (lost on pools barely but I won one in a friendly afterwards before brackets were up).

I'd have to say the most fast-falled ANYTHING... never really works in most situations of approaching for me against marth. Marth just dolphins both d-air and ff f-air if you are within kill range or takes it with shield/spotdodge and sword dances which almost always comes out before much anything else. Most of the time, marth is f-airing within that range so rarely will you find yourself above him and be able to fast fall through a zoned marth f-air.

Fast falled stuff work more when juggling, falling through platforms, and when you are defending and counterpunching--not as much when pika is approaching.

On the marth matchup, reading is everything (but then again... it applies to everyone else... lol :p). Marth's can approach with:

1) walk(run)>shield>(sword dance); (all purpose [hit/kill/shieldcripple] move)
2) walk(run)>shield>defensive rising SH f-air (tip lands on victim sheild and marth does not advance further);
3) walk(run)>shield>aggressive SH-f-air (most of the time its a mis-spaced f-air where you rush inwards while shielding more than marth expected... that or you are blocking/dodging/avoiding his defensive f-air real consistantly; this less conservative variant of f-air also arises when marth senses that pika is a spamming jolter and wants to swat both pika and t-jolt in one fell swoop)
4) Walk(run)>pivot/go other way>mindgamed aerial/reverse swordsdance (used against an aggressive shieldgrabbing opponent)
5) Walk(run)>mindgamed grab (used against rushing shielders)

Of course there are infinitely many more options, but its a good start for beginners to wrap their head around, since the other marth options are going to result from mostly mindgame anyways (which you just have to read/expect or get owned).

I would try to jolt until marth is at least 1/3 FD distance away. Once marth passes that imaginary point for me, i'd rush in with shield or jump in place. I'd jump in place if i expect a mindgamed grab/swordance/plainshield from marth and try to punish with another spaced tjolt (on ground in front of marth so he can't powershield as well), fast-fall airdodge behind the marth>pivot(d-smash/u-tilt)>grab(u-air from u-tilt), or fast-fall back to ground retreating back a little and pulling out shield as fast as possible. I'd rush in and pull up my shield if i expected anything else other than a grab from marth.

Upon taking a hit by shield, i'd try to do the following based on what i was hit by:

1) Swordsdance: I'd shield the rest with my shield and punish after (if they do all 4 without hesitation). Against the 4th hit down version, I can take it if i have full shield and marth doesn't hesitate). If he hesitates before the 4th, then I'll jump out of shield>rising n-air or grab or something. I keep a sharp lookout for any slight pauses in swords dance and n-air/grab(if i can) out of shield on the instant of hesitation. From my experience in reading, if the marth is a 'no-big-namer' as in not an expert marth, it's a pause after the 2nd hit to look closely for (since most nubs mess up here when they are nervous). If the marth is GOOD, then watch closely more for a pause after the 3rd hit (unless the marth is going for a freak-random shieldbreaker followup which most of the time follows after hit 2).

2) Defensive f-air: Expect an ff airdodge back to ground or another f-air (stationary or retreating back/fowards slightly) which most of the time is to cripple shield further. There are 3 types of marths (of course they can just change up their timing, but for most marths, they have set tendencies for certain timings--at least for the first few fights.... sort of like the advantage of knowing someone is naturally left-footed in soccer... they could use the right foot, but the odds are... left foot mostly for the shots that count):

2a) Marth 1: After defensive f-air, almost always immediately f-airs afterwards. Slight opening: tends to DI towards where marth 'thinks' you'll be--if you move from that position, you wont get hurt and can retreat safely after shielding or spotdodging. If he advances at that point, punish him out of shield (u-smash for example). Retreat(roll back)/continue_shielding if he does not advance at that point. Most of the time, if you have enough composure to shield through all of it, it's either a toss-up with retreating after that point or rushing in with shield/air if you think marth is not going to buffer anything upon landing (with enough shield to take some swordsdance or aerial space to avoid more f-airs). Rolling behind Marth is possible and can bait a reverse swordsdance which you can counter using the examples outlined for swordsdance (which is what i would probably do if the marth was PURELY just doing defensive retreating/stationary f-airs.

2b) Marth 2: After defensive f-air, almost always waits a split second and DI's accordingly waiting for the victim to do something (at which f-air comes out) or when marth is about to land to use f-air(hitbox barely comes out, still cripples more shield/hits victim, BUT MAINLY to autocancel his landing faster for more buffered f-airs/swordsdance/smash). Slight opening: take the first defensive f-air with shield and do out of shield rising/advancing f-air/aerial immediately. Fast-fall after the last hit connects, rush his landing/juggle/whatever.

2c) Marth 3: Perfect mix of both (like only top 5% of all marths anyway). Up to you and your skills. Conservatively, react like (2a) where you defend/dodge/hopeforluck more which should keep you safe from (2b) also if you succeed. If you are daring (can read better), react like (2b) for a 50% chance for a good juggle or 50% risk of taking 1 tipped f-air otherwise....

disclaimer*** these are general trends... of course marths with change it up if they are constantly getting owned, but the change up most likely (from my experience) happens later in the match (if ever) and it changes their 'mood'--so instead of (2a) react like (2b) for the next couple/few situations and it should be fine. If you face a perfect (2c) as in ITS NOT A MOOD/ STREAK thing... then (tough luck...) get better at reading or flip a coin between games... lol, and choose how to counter beforehand. ^_^. To make it easier in your mind, try to force the "aggressive f-air" situation.

3) Aggressive f-air (continues to DI towards/over you after the first f-air lands): I luv these the most. You see these all the time from scrubier marths. PICK THESE APART! DESTROY THEM! You can ANYTHING out of shield and it'll hit them before a second f-air can come out. If they do even ONE of these at killable damage, learn how to SPOT THESE AGGRESSIVE F-AIRS, REACT, AND CLAIM YOUR EASY KILL.

4) N-air: If the first hitbox hits my shield, then i spotdodge the second hitbox>dashgrab/punish or just jump out of shield and u-air/n-air if he's within range.

5) Ground move: I full hop>t-jolt and either give him residual damage (which is always good in this matchup) or slow him down from following up or crippling a little bit of his shield.

6) Grab....: i guessed i messed up reading marth.... lol :p

So there is my 'general' strategy in approaching most marths. I never approach them if they are standstill. ONLY when they start running or something (that way, if you rush in and shield when they dont expect it, they may accidently over extend their f-air approach [aggressive f-air ^_^] and get hurt).

Hope that helps


EDIT: a spring Grand Finals between me and a PR marth (not the #1 PR but still up there)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFG910thTLw 1 of 5, Set 1 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POBsATO8i8U 2 of 5, Set 1 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U9JdM9g9Oo 3 of 5, Set 1 of 2 ~ LDPK's loss (close ^_^)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBhcJfJPhEk 4 of 5, Set 1 of 2 ~ LDPK's Set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl9Z1fAsvQY 1 of 5, set 2 of 2

Theres the winning vid after that set2of2 marth match as a video respose on youtube if you want to watch it--but he switched to wario finally after deciding marth was too hard against pika at the moment.

He wasn't the BEST of marths, but somewhat decent (and unclucky) and it illustrates a lil of what i mean.
 

PUNK9

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
252
Location
kissimmee
LDPK.....You seriously need to write a book about piakchu xD your mini guides are so good, and detailed,
lol, but yea, marth uses side b(down for sheild poking, up- for killing and normal for just damge.) and they use up b out of sheild ALOT!
 

Legendary Pikachu

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
819
Location
North Carolina
Well... if you want my experiences on wifi... i think its somewhat fun.

Stealth used to (still?) plays a lot of wifi online and did pretty good with QA's, QaC's, and thunders.

I feel that once I get used to how much lag there is, I can input things ahead of time. My real skill is reading my opponent's next 1-2 moves ahead of time. So lag kind of neutralizes my reading, but I still play almost like my usual self--just without as many mindgames. So instead of reading their moves and making my move before they make theirs, I actually read their moves ahead of time just to make my move/counter as they are making their move (because of the lag...)... Lol.


I'm still able to pull off QaC's to n-airs and jolts quite often so long as I read the opponent right.
 

PUNK9

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
252
Location
kissimmee
why do people face people over wifi? its laggy, so you cant reallly tell what your doing wrong,,,when they say no Johns, you actully have one....THE F***ing LAG!
 

Diddyknight

Smash Lord
Joined
May 9, 2008
Messages
1,134
Location
Socal -> FL
I might start using pikachu for certain characters d(^O^)b lol and its been forever since i popped into this thread lol. Im back to pikachu =D
 

Magnezone92

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
18
Hey guys I have a question. In melee and 64 version I was very deadly with Pikachu, but in brawl it is every hard to control volt tackle. Any tips and tricks for the mastery of the final smash.
 

PUNK9

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
252
Location
kissimmee
Hey guys I have a question. In melee and 64 version I was very deadly with Pikachu, but in brawl it is every hard to control volt tackle. Any tips and tricks for the mastery of the final smash.
Well normally, we dont use Final Smashes.
but normally, if im just F'ing around and use the smash ball,
i just moves horizontally across the stage.
 

MidnightAsaph

Smash Lord
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
1,191
Location
Bloomington, MN
Apparently you Pikas aren't nice enough to tell the wolves how to get out of the CG (meanies!) , but that's not why I'm here. I was just here to confirm something about Wolf.

I could have sworn that you needed to use some ******** formula to CG Wolf, like 3xDthrow, fthrow, and then as many dthrows as possible, til around 130 or something like that. Or is it simply dthrow all the way to whatever percentage?

I'm not asking to get out. I just want to know if the CG is ******** or if it's simple.


Nevermind. >.> Some random MOD, feel free to delete this post. I figured it out.
 

PUNK9

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
252
Location
kissimmee
what is the highest damage we can chaingrab wolf till? im thinking around 80-100, (by buffering of course) but yeaaa.
 

SilverSpark

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
282
Location
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
What are some good counterpick stages against Snake for Pikachu?

Also, who's a good counterpick against Game and Watch and Olimar?

I'm considering using Toon Link against both Snake and Game and Watch since I've grown fond of him, lately. I'm thinking Marth would be pretty good against Olimar's crazy Pikmin and grab range.

Olimar, Game and Watch, and Snake are keeping me from placing higher in tournaments, so I'd like to soar past them.
 

Van Jones

Smash Lord
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
1,751
Location
Leander, TX
Marth for G&W and Oli, Pika for Snake. All three mu require a ton of patients and very good spacing.

As for stages agaisnt Snake, kinda iffy. I prefer BF, Delphino, or Frigate. Really, as
long as it's not FD or Halbred, you should be fine.
 

Captain 9wnag3

Smash Cadet
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
42
Location
the bottom of the bottom tier...-_-
Marth for G&W and Oli, Pika for Snake. All three mu require a ton of patients and very good spacing.

As for stages agaisnt Snake, kinda iffy. I prefer BF, Delphino, or Frigate. Really, as
long as it's not FD or Halbred, you should be fine.
Frigate=moving explosives. Not fun:ohwell:edit: (stage flips will destroy C4 :) )
also,correct me if im wrong, i believe that Frigate platforms conceal C4
small stage=hard to TJ camp edit: ( hard to grenade camp too :))
 

KayLo!

Smarter than your average wabbit.
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
15,480
Location
Philadelphia, PA
3DS FC
3497-1590-7447
I like taking Snake to FD, PS1, Frigate, and Delfino. I know FD sounds ******** since he has his grenades and ****, but personally, I like space to run away if I need to, and most other stages feel too cramped for my tastes. Might just be a weird preference for me, though.

My opinion is that we have superior camp game on PS1 as long as you a) keep track of where his explosives go when the stage transforms, and b) don't get caught in windmill shenanigans.

Delfino for the walk-offs, bottom platform that you can QA through, and places where you can abuse thunder (like the part with the three pillars).

People already wrote stuff about Frigate, sooo.... yeah. The stage dips can help, too.

Avoid Halberd, Castle Siege, and BF, imo. (BF might be another personal thing, though..... I'm not a huge fan of that stage, because again, I hate cramped spaces.)
 

4twenty

Smash Rookie
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
6
Location
Vancouver
Yo, maybe somebody's already answered this but-

Can pikachu use his pivot grab in a chain of forward throws to switch direction? Kinda like Falco can.

Thanks.
 

Stealth Raptor

Smash Legend
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
15,088
Location
Kansas City, Kansas
not out of an fthrow. out of a dthrow you can pull a quick wave pivot grab and catch them. this is something that only works if they havent seen it before, cause even fox can footstool you out of it. the characters that i found out it works on the best are wolf and snake. just realise however that all the chars that doing a wave pivot grab has a good chance of working on we have pretty devastating dthrow cgs on, so the wave pivot grab, while flashy when i was using it, was rendered obsolete after the buffered cgs.
 

Stealth Raptor

Smash Legend
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
15,088
Location
Kansas City, Kansas
somwhere that disrupts their spacing. norfair can work, as can luigis mansion. those may not be legal though. try delfino if those arent, that ones constantly shifting platforms can help you fight that spacing battle. i actually got mike haze to the last stock there at genesis (barely lol)

EDIT: another good one is YI, though i personally loathe that stage
 

Stealth Raptor

Smash Legend
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
15,088
Location
Kansas City, Kansas
that platforms arent spaces as obnoxiously as they are on battlefeild. they are a little farther up, so they dont hurt as bad. i personally like it, its more open then battlefeild without changing too much, plus it changes.
 

KayLo!

Smarter than your average wabbit.
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
15,480
Location
Philadelphia, PA
3DS FC
3497-1590-7447
I like taking Marth to Frigate. Dips and the floating platform can disrupt his spacing, and his recovery can leave him super open on the no-ledge side.

Also, there're multiple places to camp him from. A con is that the stage is sort of small, so you can't really run away, but he's pretty fast anyway, so besides FD, it's not like you'll be able to run circles around him anywhere else.

Speaking of FD: If he doesn't ban it, I like FD as well. (Then again, I like FD vs. virtually everyone but Diddy and ICs, lol.)
 

PUNK9

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
252
Location
kissimmee
I used to Main Marth, what i found to be a bad stage for me was BattleField. With the platforms, it messes up his f-air.
 
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