Pikachu in depth guide, by pictish freak

[Electricmouse]

Just click on somebodies name to see their file list. Once that comes up you can browse thru their vids. If you find something you like just click it and it should start downloading. To view your vids just open the file where you downloaded them to. If you don't feel like searching a lot for pika vids I have a whole folder of pika vids that you can download.

 

[JayJay]

Hey nice guide pictish, it covered a lot. It's good to see people taking pikachu to torny level play.

Good Job! :D

 

[Rainy Day Toast]

Originally posted by UmbreonMow
Pikachu feels too slow for me. And I play Zelda and Mewtwo well, so that says something.

It says that you don't know how to play Pika fast. : )

 

[JayJay]

UmbreonMow, I don't know what to say. Pika is a lot faster then Mewtwo, and if you're complaining about Pika's speed...

Oh well, that doesn't make sence to me.

 

[pikaBS]

wow, i just wanna say thanks to all you guys for the great pika info. I just went to my first tourny yesterday where I, sadly enough, JUST learned about wave dashing, L-cancel, and all that other stuff. Ive been a pika fan ever since ssb debut, so seeing this little guide is QUITE helpful.....if i knew anything cool that you should add i would tell you......but i dont

thanks for the help

 

[JayJay]

Ya, everyone was a noob at first. Not like you are born knowing all the ssbm terms.

Pictish did a good job with this guide. He is a well known pikachu player. I'm glad it helped you out. :D

 

[Melee Warrioir]

great guide pictish dude. u covered a lot and a found out some new things. i hope to face ya someday (pikachu vs. pikachu) umm im gonna go play and find something out to add to ur guide lol so until then hang tight.

 

[pictish freak]

I'd love a match. But you'll have to come fly out to Scotland ^^ I'm poor.

 

[JayJay]

Look on the bright side, when the next ssbm comes out, if they have online play, you can face him.

 

[Neophos]

look on the brighther side, im going to glasgow and gonna Pichu ditto him, and win because i used TEH GOOGLES!!

 

[Melee Warrioir]

actually about what u just said about the online thing, my friend said he had a magazine that says nintendo might make melee go online but that was like ages ago he told me about it and i never saw the magazine. and guys, please dont relate me to awdball seriously, it may not sound like it but i know tons about this game its just not that easy to explain for me!!
Scotland? where the heck is that? lol just kidding.............(looking at globe)

 

[stilettotrap]

Eh. Melee's not going online...

 

[Melee Warrioir]

yea the magazine now that i think about it must be like many years old lol.

 

[phillybilly]

i don't know if it was mentioned somewhere already but...

pika's forward tilt has alot of priority...

spaced it can cancel ganons warlock punch

it can cancel out each of marth's ground attacks...even his dash A and forward smash...

a frustrated marth that keeps getting his ground moves cancelled won't hesitate to take to the air...
which is a little better for pika to counter after they whiff and land...the hard part is getting them to whiff from the air...

I think you can even kick needles...i don't remember I have to get back to you on that one...but I know you can kick link's bombs without them exploding on you if you do it right....

I use it at the edge kinda like wes uses the up+a at the ledge with samus...

if you aim it down spaced a little bit away from the ledge characters like fox or falco that are below the ledge will have more than a problem trying to recover through it..
in fact as long as it comes out slightly b4 their up+b it will always outprioritize it...it even exchanges or goes through certain air attacks depending on the timing...a certain pink ******* comes to mind...

pretty good for a forward tilt...

 

[demoncaterpie]

Happy to see that the Pika guide is back where it belongs. Thanks Pictish Freak for bringing it back.

 

[Melee Warrioir]

i just found out something when i was playing pikachu today. u see, ive been training with falco and since he is a very fast jumper and faller, u need to watch the screen carefully and time everything precisely. well what i suggest doing is train with falco and your awareness with pikachu will get much better, as well as short hop practicing

 

[pictish freak]

I can already shuffle and have made myself of my Pikachu game by playing Pika. Feh. I don't se how using Falco will help Pika.. other than it perhaps being easier to short hop while you're getting used to it, and getting less frustrated?

Bleh.

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by pictish freak
I can already shuffle and have made myself of my Pikachu game by playing Pika. Feh. I don't se how using Falco will help Pika.. other than it perhaps being easier to short hop while you're getting used to it, and getting less frustrated?

Bleh.

I think what Melee Warrior's trying to say is that if you play with other characters, you will get a better understanding of other characters so the next time you fight another character with Pika, you'll know exactly how to defeat them.

Practicing with other characters helps.

 

[pictish freak]

Rubbish. An understanding of another characters game is important, but I'd sustain that until you fight someone who specialises in that character, you can't be prepared to fight them. I understand Marth's game, but that makes Pikachu no better against him. Instead I have to try and mindgame F-smash out and punish it along with other tricks that are mainly dependant on the player.

Characters matter, and it's important to know that fox is gonna U-air jugle you, for example.. but what's even more important s knowing how to make them go for a grab and punishing it...

Meh. Rant. Whatever.

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by pictish freak
Rubbish. An understanding of another characters game is important, but I'd sustain that until you fight someone who specialises in that character, you can't be prepared to fight them. I understand Marth's game, but that makes Pikachu no better against him. Instead I have to try and mindgame F-smash out and punish it along with other tricks that are mainly dependant on the player.

Characters matter, and it's important to know that fox is gonna U-air jugle you, for example.. but what's even more important s knowing how to make them go for a grab and punishing it...

Meh. Rant. Whatever.

Okay... How about this?

Get a friend who's really good with Pika and play against him with another character. As you lose, you start to realize what moves work well with Pika. As you win, you figure out what his weak points are. And your friend becomes a better Pika player because of it.

Everyone wins

 

[pictish freak]

That's all well and good, but it's an awful bother when you could just go to a tournament, huh? ^^

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by pictish freak
That's all well and good, but it's an awful bother when you could just go to a tournament, huh? ^^

Tournaments aren't on a daily basis. It's good to practice at least thrity minutes a day. When you practise these 30 minutes, then you can use the training tips I just described.

 

[Melee Warrioir]

pictish understand that there are more than just the obvious ways to train. a lot of them we are not even conscious about...

also like i said im not able to go to tournaments due to the lack of interest in tournaments that have to do with SSBM where i live so its a lot harder for me to train and i have to work with the alternatives

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by Melee Warrioir
pictish understand that there are more than just the obvious ways to train. a lot of them we are not even conscious about...

also like i said im not able to go to tournaments due to the lack of interest in tournaments that have to do with SSBM where i live so its a lot harder for me to train and i have to work with the alternatives

I know what you mean. You'd think living in Malibu would have rich kids spotting mythical 1000 dollar bills for Video Game Tournaments, since that's all they do every day.

No, no. My mistake. Their too busy putting the finishing touches on their giant stone statues and yauts.

 

[Melee Warrioir]

ooooooooh so thats how u spell yaut ive always wanted to know but too lazy to ask

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by Melee Warrioir
ooooooooh so thats how u spell yaut ive always wanted to know but too lazy to ask

I think I spelled it wrong myself

 

[Rainy Day Toast]

yacht.

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by Rainy Day Toast
yacht.

Thanks, Toast. I'm really starting to look less Malibuian because of my lingo.

(I can't even spell yacht right).

 

[Red Dragon]

Pictish Freak:

I been playing Pikachu in a competitive level since SSB64 came out, and i still compete with him as my main character in melee. I would like to congratulate you for an awesome Pikachu guide, you pointed out very good facts. I was going to do a guide of my own, but there's no need for that anymore, maybe in the future i will do one. Good job bro, very useful information for Pikachu players out there. I only read half of your guide though :D.

Oh and btw, playing characters like Falco will help your Pikachu game a lot. After a bit of Fox or Falco training you will have more than an average Pika on your hands, more like a speed demon. Pikachu is a very technichal character, so using other technichal characters like Fox or Falco will help you improve. Oh, and if you didn't do this before, you should start, make sure you fast fall everyone of Pikachu's aerials. You should concentrate on Pikachu's advantages rather than trying to fight against his disadvantages, and Pikachu's speed is one of his big advantages, so fast falling all aerials will tune up any of your characters in speed, not just Pikachu. But you may allready know that.


Peace

-Red

 

[pictish freak]

Heh, cheers Red. I do appreciate your input and all that ^^

Sadly the guide has some big mistakes I'd like to fix, but I'm trying to work out how to go about it due to problems with my formatter never being online and stuff >.<

Ah well. It was mainly aimed from total newb to intermediate Pika's anyway, it's on GameFAQS to teach. It's just a basic foundation at the moment.

I do agree with what you say about Fox and Falco. I played a very fast fox at my last tournament and it forced my game up to a level I didn't play on before. I believe wavedashing is essential with Pikachu, and constantly dashing and wavedashing back was the only way to make my movement erratic enough to not be constantly grabbed. Part of it was the fact the guy would spot dodge any follow up I made form a spot dodge of my own... *sigh*.

But yeah, Pikachu can certainly be played fast ^^ Playing against Fox helps a lot, and fighting Falco seemed to make me use my jolt a lot more which has helped my game.

Now to quit it before I ramble. More.

 

[Red Dragon]

I cannot use my jolt against the level of Falco's that i play, they would just laser and reflector combo me to oblivion if i even thought of spamming them with jolts. The jolts have very low priority as well, so i only use them in stages like Corneria, Peach's castle, and my trump stage, Fourside. Final Destination and Battle field are a no for Jolts.

Falco is a character that has more priority than Pikachu, so you cannot rush recklessly into an attack. During a battle with Falco is mostly uphill, you can't get far away from him because he lasers you to ****, and you can't stay close to him because of his reflector, so you have to position your self and wait for a right moment to attack, but when you do attack, it has to be effective, making sure it links into other combo's. Keeping falco off the stage is the key to killing him, a good edge guarding Pika won't have much trouble against Falco, but it will still be an uphill battle. It depends on the kind of Falco you're playing though.

And yes, wavedash is a MUST for Pikachu, his positioning is done mainly by wavedashing. Wavedash link's combo's so well with Pika. Considering his short range, wavedash positions him in the correct distance for an attack, i mostly use wavedash offensively during a combo. Everything with Pikachu has to be done instanctly, you can't give the opponent time to breathe.


Your guide its not perfect, i did see some flaws, but you pointed out the things that needed to be said. Instead of putting aside some of Pikachu's attacks and saying they are useless, like a lot of Pikachu player's do, you actually pointed out the uses for those attacks, but i do agree with you that Pikachu's forward throw is mediocre, i personally never us it unless im trying to throw someone off the stage.

If you are trying to correct something or you want to add something to the guide, i would be glad to assist you in finishing this guide, maybe i could help you add a combo section and discuss Pikachu tactics, if you are interested in discussing Pikachu's so we can learn something from each other's Pika, feel free to AIM me at RedEternalDragon.

 

[Melee Warrioir]

ok first of all pictish did u not say something like how playing with ppl like falco will not help with ur pika game? wats the sudden change now? anyways i agree everything with pika does have to be quick or else it will lead to disaster. and u red, did i not say the same thing to u a looooong time back? how we can help each other.......? i remember it perfectly actually... dont know why ppl are so fickle.... is it that you guys believe im a noob? fine suit yourselves...

 

[Red Dragon]

Originally posted by Melee Warrioir
ok first of all pictish did u not say something like how playing with ppl like falco will not help with ur pika game? wats the sudden change now? anyways i agree everything with pika does have to be quick or else it will lead to disaster. and u red, did i not say the same thing to u a looooong time back? how we can help each other.......? i remember it perfectly actually... dont know why ppl are so fickle.... is it that you guys believe im a noob? fine suit yourselves...

Sorry bro, i dont think i remember you --_--.

It must have been a long time ago, back when i made that Pikachu topic on this board or something.

And what i was trying to tell Pictish is that Pikachu is a technichal character, and to improve Pikachu's game, you have to play with other technichal characters, like Falco.

I don't believe you're a noob ^^, i varely remember you.

 

[Rainy Day Toast]

Falco is just a problem character for Pikachu. Period.

Pikachu is not terribly technical beyond needing to perfect a few situational jump cancels within 3 frames (mainly shield > usmash, and init. dash anim. > usmash). WD, jump-canceled grabs, shuffling, and all the other basics go without saying.

and improving Pika's game is a matter of competing with speed, not technique. You will never be as fast as Fox because you don't have the run-speed, the fall-speed, or the moves and cancels.

why am i posting this

off to work with me.

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by Red Dragon
Sorry bro, i dont think i remember you --_--.

It must have been a long time ago, back when i made that Pikachu topic on this board or something.

And what i was trying to tell Pictish is that Pikachu is a technichal character, and to improve Pikachu's game, you have to play with other technichal characters, like Falco.

I don't believe you're a noob ^^, i varely remember you.

It was when me and Melee were trying to convince Pictish about how important playing as other characters is. Glad you made him see the light, Dragon.

 

[pictish freak]

I never said playing other characters helped. I don't think that at all. In fact, I find playing other character detracts from my Pikachu game.

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by pictish freak
I never said playing other characters helped. I don't think that at all. In fact, I find playing other character detracts from my Pikachu game.

(*On further analysis, I have come to the conclusion that pictish freak is right. He did not say that playing as Falco or Fox would improve his game. He said playing against them would improve your game. I apologize for this mix up and promise to read posts more closely in the future.*)

Sorry, pictish, for the mix up.

 

[Melee Warrioir]

agreed i think im still being treated like a child though, at least by pictish oh well . anyways go ahead whoever wants to play as falco or whatever go ahead it helps me and thats all that matters.. i dont need to prove it.

 

[pictish freak]

HEh, no problem DC, everyone misreads stuff ^^

As for MW, good good, think as you will, but anything you could learn from playing another character quickly would help more if you instead poured the efforts into Pika, IMO.

 

[demoncaterpie]

Originally posted by pictish freak
HEh, no problem DC, everyone misreads stuff ^^

As for MW, good good, think as you will, but anything you could learn from playing another character quickly would help more if you instead poured the efforts into Pika, IMO.

Now that everything's ok, back on topic.

I posted this on thunder jolt versatility, but in case you didn't get it, I'll post it here (since this is the better thread for it).

When are you going to update your guide for advanced Pika play? I just saw the movie on Jack's website with Pika and I was blown away. Could you teach us some of that stuff in your next update?