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Meta Pikachu Metagame Discussion

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Re: Bowser: Bowser can't land. Like, at all. He doesn't have a single safe option when landing; literally the best thing he can do is land->shield->upB. And that sucks. Dair and DownB are laggy as hell on startup and ending, nair, bair, and fair are punishable on block, getting a falling sideB on a small character is risky to downright impossible... Pikachu is all over landings. Realistically, this matchup should be basically impossible for a good pikachu to lose - just get him in the air once.
 

ZTD | TECHnology

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Recovery against Mario isn't too bad as long as you sweetspot most of the time, but I think that tjolt camping is useable in this matchup because it's still better than fireballs, and if Mario is just going to cape them, then that is a free punish for you because of the cape's lag. Recovery at least isn't that hard to deal with as long as you can sweetspot the ledge, though I think the safest spot is to recover low against Mario.
Its not that easy. Lemme explain why this is erroneous.

In this game,when you grab the ledge, you are actually vulnerable for 1 frame. If Mario knows you're just gonna swetspot the ledge, he can just Dash Attack and most of the time it'll hit you anyway. If you aren't expecting it you get stage spiked. If you are, then once you're popped off the ledge, you now have to deal with Cape and FLUDD. His aerials outrange ours yet his move set is also very fast so he could choose to pressure/frame trap us. On the ledge against Mario is really really bad. **** is annoying.
 
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So... How's link? This matchup just seems bad. A combination of a big fat body, large disjoints, projectiles all over the place, great kill power, and some decent setups (jab->dsmash being the one coming to mind). I feel like I'm getting stuffed on approach a lot due to his jabs, and jumping in on him seems to be begging for an usmash. Anyone got any tips?
 

Emuchu

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So... How's link? This matchup just seems bad. A combination of a big fat body, large disjoints, projectiles all over the place, great kill power, and some decent setups (jab->dsmash being the one coming to mind). I feel like I'm getting stuffed on approach a lot due to his jabs, and jumping in on him seems to be begging for an usmash. Anyone got any tips?
Link has a lot going for him, what with the constant stream of projectiles, his sword, and his great kill power. But his weaknesses are the same as before--his sword attacks tend to have slow recovery, and he has trouble avoiding juggle shenanigans from Pikachu.

The first thing you have to understand about Link is that many of his options are fairly committed. His speed isn't that great, and his big sword attacks all have a windup and a cooldown that you can take advantage of if you can bait his reactions. In contrast, Pikachu's biggest strength, besides his mobility, is his non-committal nature and his ability to whiff punish, and this is what you have to play towards against Link. For instance, say you often approach by falling in with Fair, and you find yourself getting tagged often with that huge Usmash of Link's. Remember that you don't actually have to try to hit anything when you're throwing around attacks as Pikachu. You can do things like short hop (SH) Fair, and then fall backwards so that you land outside of his Fsmash / Ftilt range, just to see what he does. If he does Fsmash / Ftilt, you can land your own tipped Fsmash in response, and if he tries to Usmash you, you can basically do whatever you want (like run-in Usmash into Pika's juggling game). Once you've earned a little respect from Link, then you can go back to falling in with Fair (behind him, preferrably), and proceed to mix up your approaches accordingly.

In spite of Link's vast improvements from Brawl, he's still mostly helpless in the air. His fastest moves are Nair and Dair, but they share a weird diagonal blind spot that you can take advantage of, and his Fair and Bair are too slow to stop the Pika Uair assault. You want to play a patient, punishment game with Link--let him know that he can't mindlessly mash jabs and anti-airs, 'cause Pika's gonna toss him into the air and keep him there forever.
 

Rango the Mercenary

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Pikachu is undoubtedly good against Ike. He's so safe on every one of his moves that it's very hard for him to get punished. Dash-in Fair, Nair, or even a grab or USmash punishes a Nair or Fair from far away, as well as punishing short-hops. And it's very hard to punish with the kill moves, like Bair, Fair, FTilt, etc.

Does Pikachu have any weaknesses against Ike? Pretty sure it's solidly in his favor.
 

Soul.

 
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Pikachu is undoubtedly good against Ike. He's so safe on every one of his moves that it's very hard for him to get punished. Dash-in Fair, Nair, or even a grab or USmash punishes a Nair or Fair from far away, as well as punishing short-hops. And it's very hard to punish with the kill moves, like Bair, Fair, FTilt, etc.

Does Pikachu have any weaknesses against Ike? Pretty sure it's solidly in his favor.
Being a lightweight character, I guess. Pika combos Ike for days (this is typical for the character), racks up damage pretty fast and can edgeguard him with FAir, Thunder meteor smash, and BAir. Pika is faster than Ike too as well as being a small character, so it's going to be hard for him to hit Pika. Thunder Jolt also gives him problems.
Also, since Ike will try to predict where Pika is going, he's most likely going to use smash attacks. Pikachu can just sit there, wait and punish Ike (not sure on this one).
 
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kyxsune

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Pikachu 6-4 over ZSS. Imho. Pikachu has that tiny body that allows him to duck the paralyzer and the flip jump. If he was heavier or had more ko potential it would be heavier in pikachus favor
 

Soul.

 
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Yeah Pika beats ZSS. Her Paralyzer stuff won't work most of the time; if she misses a grab she gets a punish, and Pikachu can just get in and out.
The matchup is pretty similar to the one in Brawl I think.
 

M15t3R E

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Pikachu beats ZSS. The best way to beat her is by matching her speed, and Pikachu can do that handily. He makes her supposed range advantage a moot point in a number of ways. He can duck under everything. He is fast enough to powershield her retreating whips and paralyzer shots and continue closing the distance. He is small enough to easily avoid flip jumps, SH side B's, nairs and zairs. And, like against anyone else, Pikachu doesn't fear getting gimped off-stage.
 

M15t3R E

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(Reposted from this thread)
This game (in general) is still new, so it's going to take a long time for a tier list to show up. And even then, customs will most likely be allowed which would make everyone pretty much viable. Meh.....tier lists are pointless right now.
What we know is that Pikachu is a great character, that's all.
--
I seriously don't know who wins the Pika vs. Sheik MU. Probably even.
It may be slightly on Sheik's favor. Pika needs to work hard to win this matchup. Most likely the point of this MU is to outplay the opponent and punish.
Also yes, we obviously beat heavies.
Okay, this is my area of expertise. I have played the Pika vs. Sheik MU too many times to count. The first thing you need to understand is that the neutral game is dead even. Someone has to approach first and neither character will want to at the start of the game. The needles travel so much faster than thunder-jolts and don't fly over Pikachu's head. This usually prompts me to be the one to approach. If you anticipate the fairs and intermittent barrages of needles, you can approach in multiple ways. First of all, examine how the Sheik likes to try and shut down your approaches. If it's with excessive fairs, don't try challenging it with your aerials but instead move along the ground and close the distance. If it is a mostly grounded Sheik player (possibly zoning back and forth), approach by ground or fairs alternating every so often to mix it up. Approaching with QA is also effective as it is against any character so long as it is not abused. Sheik will space with fair and bair as their bread and butter attacks but this gives you an opening to rush in after you shield it. If the fair or bair is telegraphed, d-smash will work. At first, I was thoroughly intimidated by Sheik's bouncing fish (down B) as a follow-up and as an edgeguarding tool. If shielded, it will bounce Sheik right back to her starting position, too far to punish in most cases. An air dodge gives you the most invincibility frames to avoid it and when it is avoided Sheik is a sitting duck for a couple seconds. Bouncing fish is also surprisingly susceptible to being intercepted by Pikachu's fair and bair, in my experience. When you get the grab use f-throw -> DA at extremely low percents or d-throw -> u-tilt -> uair string at relatively low percents and any damage higher than that do d-throw -> uair string. If Sheik is being predictable while airborne, don't be afraid to get directly below and start a uair string right then and there. She can't do anything if you are directly below. As for tech chasing, Pikachu is adept in covering an opponent's tech roll and Sheik's is no exception. I frequently get the punish when my opponent's Sheik is being too predictable in their tech rolling. It's usually going to be performed in the direction away from Pikachu. Make use of this information and go for the tech chase! Off-stage game is pretty moot because neither character has an easy time gimping the other. Sheik can recover at deceptively far distances with vanish and once they hit Up B there is nothing more you can do to prevent them from grabbing the edge. I like to stand near the edge and predict their get-up by throwing out a thunder wall as I jump forward, putting the thunder between the two of us.
Well, that's all I can remember about that MU right now. It is either a dead even MU, or at worst 55/45 in Sheik's favor. I feel like Sheik does not need to work as hard to keep up but that is a biproduct of Sheik's gameplay- not a result of adapting to Pikachu's playstyle.
 
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Flawed

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Not sure the D3 matchup is as much in Pika's favor as much as I thought.

I main D3, and secondary Pikachu (although I have to spend more time on pikachu tech than D3). I have a friend who is a better pikachu than me.

I was finding my jabs to be effective, and double jab into uptilt,downtilt, grab and downsmash were screwing him up. Then because as a D3 main I hate having my kills take forever, I used my staled out down throw to get an up air at 80, and ... it killed him.
Found that waiting for an airdodge after dthrow can kill pikachu earlier than I feel it should.

Same thing happens online when I fight a Pikachu. They run into my jabs, or quick attack into a jab that I also would think shouldn't be possible to hit them.

Faced a pikachu online (forgot the name, was a female with lots of lag) and I basically Nair'd everthing in slow motion.
 

Soul.

 
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Not sure the D3 matchup is as much in Pika's favor as much as I thought.

I main D3, and secondary Pikachu (although I have to spend more time on pikachu tech than D3). I have a friend who is a better pikachu than me.

I was finding my jabs to be effective, and double jab into uptilt,downtilt, grab and downsmash were screwing him up. Then because as a D3 main I hate having my kills take forever, I used my staled out down throw to get an up air at 80, and ... it killed him.
Found that waiting for an airdodge after dthrow can kill pikachu earlier than I feel it should.

Same thing happens online when I fight a Pikachu. They run into my jabs, or quick attack into a jab that I also would think shouldn't be possible to hit them.

Faced a pikachu online (forgot the name, was a female with lots of lag) and I basically Nair'd everthing in slow motion.
Not so sure about that. Apparently Pikachu wins vs. Dedede, even though the latter can win if the D3 player outplays Pikachu. Pika can just run circles around Dedede and mess him up because it's small, is fast and uh, yeah, it can combo D3 for days due to large frame. Any competent Pikachu player shouldn't be running to Dedede's jab (pretty sure that has priority).

Maybe I'm just wrong...
 

Flawed

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Not so sure about that. Apparently Pikachu wins vs. Dedede, even though the latter can win if the D3 player outplays Pikachu. Pika can just run circles around Dedede and mess him up because it's small, is fast and uh, yeah, it can combo D3 for days due to large frame. Any competent Pikachu player shouldn't be running to Dedede's jab (pretty sure that has priority).

Maybe I'm just wrong...
I still think its Pikachu favor. I thought it was somthing around 30 70 ish, but now it might be something like 40 60. It might be because I am a good D3, and I play pikachu as well. Double jab is really stupid on Pika tho, unless you have the presence of mind to instantly up b...

Its not nessarily that they are "running into my jabs " its more like I inch toward, double jab, repeat, and its kinda rough for a lot of FG pika's.

I as a pikachu never struggle with D3, but no other FG D3 does the inch forward double jab all the time..

Just some input
 

JayWon

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I struggled against Jigglypuffs but then I found out Pikachu's B-air out prioritizes all of Jigglypuff's air options, so now all I do is spam/space full hop B-air and watch Puff players rage quit.

I personally have a hard time dealing with Yoshi, Rosalina, Mario, Sonic, ROB, Samus, and for some reason Greninja.
 
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ZTD | TECHnology

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Does anyone like the Robin match-up? I find it to be an annoying game of cat and mouse and I really don't like it.
We win. It's just Robin has some annoying tools for controlling which distance you stay at. Arcfire is annoying and means you can't be as careless with QA approaches. The Thunder projectiles mean you can't be careless with your aerial approaches and T Jolts. At least we can duck under Thoron.

I tend to camp and poke more in this matchup until Levin Sword or Arcfire is unavailable. Then once you get in on Robin you can do some terrible terrible things to them. Especially if you get them off stage. Robin is somewhat free off stage.

I'll agree its easier said than done getting in but its a big RPS battle. We win it but it seems like you have to be crafty at times to get in a position to overwhelm them.
 
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@ JayWon JayWon : ROB is combo bait. His hurtbox sucks, and he doesn't have great GTFO options. Additionally, while his recovery is huge, it's also very linear, so you can really go out there and rack up a lot of damage just screwing with him - even if he makes it back, he doesn't have great kill options, especially against a small, fast character like Pikachu. If he recovers high, he doesn't fastfall fast enough to make going for thunders particularly risky, and he also has to commit to kill you. The top is obnoxious; maybe try grabbing it and zoning him with jolts and QA. Lastly, I get the impression his landings are problematic - his air mobility is decent but not stellar, and he doesn't have a whole lot of tools to help him land.

Samus... Can't kill you. You can low-profile a lot of her best aerials, Quick Attack beats missiles clean, and you have a lot of ways to make her suffer. I don't think this is a good matchup for Samus. Stay close enough that you can stop her from charging - that's her main option to kill you.
 

A Lucky Person

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What do you guys think about the Sheik matchup?
There's a beautifully written post by @ M15t3R E M15t3R E a few posts above about the Sheik MU.

What I haven't seen is a solid description of the Diddy matchup. This is a character that every tournament-goer will play eventually due to his ease of use, so if anyone has any insight into this MU I'm all ears.
 

DrCoeloCephalo

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can someone test out somethings in the sheik MU a lot of the shieks ive fought in person and online love spaming Ftilt which kinda bodied me last time i fought the main shiek in my region. im curious if we can thunder"counter" out of it. if we could turn her Ftilt into a less safe tool that would make her ground game a lot less annoying.

i found shiek really trouble some in the air to. Fair outspacing our fair is annoying as heck but my knowledge on that MU is super limited.

Bowser

Bowser is far and away the hardest heavy we fight. his jab is fast his damage output is insane and his hits hurt. and just putting this out there Do NOT shield the bowser bomb the shield break allows him to murder us piss early with Fsmash (like 40%) also know that his Dair Spikes he can kill you near the ledge with it so be aware. in terms of his moves QAing into him can be risky he can UpB on reaction so try and bait stuff out if your QA into him or hit him out of greedy/stupid moves. Upair destorys him like all heavies hes still combo food he just has landing options that are pretty easy to react to so punish accordingly. be aware of his Fair which while slow is pretty disjointed and beats out our fair. dont even bother messing with his Bair its not worth trading with. he has to be feeling pretty ballsy to Dair or Down B us cause thunder stops both in their tracks and Upair gives him nightmares from below so exploit these weaknesses. his Upair can hurt off the top to so be wary on Dair landings.

Bowser also falls victim to our insane mobility and huge juggle game grab lots SH Dair him if he spot dodges. also watch out of his platform pressure to he can upsmash through BF platforms on the side Bowser bomb also sets up into it self which kills mad early. you can also resist the bowserside which is % dependent (IIRC its the lower % has more control someone correct me on this if im wrong). also with customs on he can recover after bowserciding. bowser dosent like our shield very much if he fire breaths im pretty sure you can quick attack around it and pop him up to. in general i think this MU is definintly in our favor while we have to do a lot more work to win in terms of hitting him and playing careful if were playing smart he realy has no business winning this. also you can thunder spike his recovery...

for customs Meteor QA decimates him stun jolts make killing him easy and Thunder 1 is most practical and of course skull bash 3 goes with out saying.
This is beautiful knowledge. With Wario and Dedede as my mains, Pikachu is a real pain that I can't seem to be able to beat. Too fast, just about impossible to edgeguard due to Quick Attack and easily being comboed and juggled to heck and back from my weight. I came here seeking knowledge and I found it. Since Bowser is one of my secondaries, I can easily use this to my advantage and finally have a better chance of squashing the the pestering yellow rat. Thank you so much, oh wise teacher.
 

M15t3R E

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This is beautiful knowledge. With Wario and Dedede as my mains, Pikachu is a real pain that I can't seem to be able to beat. Too fast, just about impossible to edgeguard due to Quick Attack and easily being comboed and juggled to heck and back from my weight. I came here seeking knowledge and I found it. Since Bowser is one of my secondaries, I can easily use this to my advantage and finally have a better chance of squashing the the pestering yellow rat. Thank you so much, oh wise teacher.
Oh noes! The enemy knows our secrets!
 

DrCoeloCephalo

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Oh noes! The enemy knows our secrets!

Knowing your enemy is the quickest way to victory. I had a run-in with a really disrespectful Pikachu player (named Ace) who kept taunting with every KO. Even though I taunted before the match started to act like a good sport, all he did was take advantage of my kindness. I came here in hopes I'd at least mature and learn to hate the player and not the game. Studying is my remedy against salt. Since this thread was such a help to me, allow me to contribute something.

Wario

While Wario has great air game, his landing options leave alot to be desired, making him easy to juggle and combo due to his weight, but he still has floaty air speed. Wario can eat the Skull Bash and digest the Thunder Jolt faster than Pikachu can make them, but I'm not sure how important this is. Thunder Jolt can NOT knock him off the Wario Bike (the Jolt just disappears once it hits the bike), but Quick Attack can. You'd have to be REALLY cocky to try and gimp him when he's riding his bike while recovering, so it's a KO that requires alot of residual damage to pull off. However, the Bike can't ignore Thunder, so if he's above you, it'll spike him off his ride. If you want to try and grab him, it's best to do it from behind, otherwise, you might fall into his Chomp's hitbox, which is pretty long below, in front of and slightly above his mouth. Chomp can also catch rolls, too so be careful of that.

I'll have to face more Pikachus (preferably ones that won't make me get all angry like Ace did) and see what else there is to know, but I believe the matchup is more in Pikachu's favor.
 

Soul.

 
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Pikachu beats Wario. We can combo him with moves like FAir, UTilt, UAir strings, BAir; we're fast enough to avoid the Waft and with our speed, and we can get after him. UAir is a good move here because it juggles Wario and keeps him in the air. Usually when you start to combo as Pikachu, you use up tilt and then use UAir.

Down throw → NAir is not bad here since Wario's frame is big enough to be comboed into NAir after the down throw. Of course you'll have to buffer the dash to go into NAir, but then again, practice is key. I've used this combo against a really good Wario online and can confirm it works (this was lag free on 3DS, btw). NAir is much better as an out of shield option or a "leave me alone" move, but again, it's a decent option after a grab.

BAir is good here. It's fast (frame 4), racks up damage easily, and has priority. BAir's main point is to rack up damage and continue comboing at early percents, so use it for situations like this. You can use BAir to stage spike him too.

DAir is great when SHAC'd and is useful when waiting for the opponent to do something. If they get hit by it in early percents, you can start a combo. Also an okay edgeguard option.

Wario's Neutral B is really good at racking up damage so we don't like getting hit by it. What we could do is not get by it and punish. Bike is good at disrupting our game; his Up B is a good OoS option if it it isn't already, as is his USmash. Try to not land where he can use the latter and just avoid the Bike.

Since Pikachu is a camp-based character, I suggest you camp Wario with Thunder Jolts and down tilts, mixing them up will limit Wario's approaching options. If you do get in, start racking up damage and go back to the camping parade. Rinse and repeat. Speaking of down tilt, use it in neutral. It trips, it gives you a free grab, it has a frame advantage, it's fast. There is no reason to not use this move.

Thunder Jolt is a good edgeguard move both in the air and the ground; the latter being more useful if your opponent doesn't have their second jump. As I said before, this move is good for camping purposes. Wario can get in with his Bike, so be prepared. Don't be spamming Thunder Jolts every time as you'll be predictable.

Waft is Waft. We know what to do: Avoid it. We're fast enough to not get KO'd by it. If we get launched, we can recover with Side B or Up B. The former if you're far, far away.

Quick Attack is our main form of approaching, next to dashing. Wario can approach with Bike, so what we can do here is QA before he uses the Bike.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

KO stuff:

Up smash, forward smash and Thunder are good here. Up smash is good as an OoS option, much like NAir, but at least this one KOs earlier. Forward smash is used for spacing purposes; if you can KO when using it, you're good. Either move is fine, just make sure you don't use them often.

FAir is a good KO method when used near the blast zone. Once you start FAiring, take him to the blast zone to get an early KO.

Now, about Thunder. As always, uthrow → Thunder is a good KO option when the opponent doesn't expect it.
And as for it in the air, yeah... I mean, sure, Wario may use his Bike to help him recover but if you can find an opening in the air, that's where you should use Thunder offstage.

TL;DR: Approach with Quick Attack to start combos, mix up Thunder Jolt and down tilt to camp Wario; avoid the Waft and Bike; KO him once you find an opening. Make sure your grabs are unpredictable so that the Wario player doesn't expect Uthrow → Thunder. Offstage Thunder is good as well. KO options in the ground are usmash, fsmash and.... that's pretty much it.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I would really appreciate it if someone proved me wrong on this kind of stuff (as in, "correct me if I'm wrong").
This is just what I think about the matchup, so yeah. I usually don't give my opinion regarding matchups because I think I'll be wrong in something.

Wario can eat the Skull Bash and digest the Thunder Jolt faster than Pikachu can make them, but I'm not sure how important this is.
A competent Pikachu player will not be using Skull Bash against Wario. That's just asking for a nice punish by him lol.
The move is only used for recovery purposes.
 

Meerkat

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xSoul said:
A competent Pikachu player will not be using Skull Bash against Wario.
I think you mean anyone. I can't think of a single situation I'd be using Skull Bash while on stage.
 

Soul.

 
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I think you mean anyone. I can't think of a single situation I'd be using Skull Bash while on stage.
Oh yeah.... that. I was somewhat in a rush while posting the thing. xD
Skull Bash is a recovery move and that's all there is to it. If anyone wanted to use Skull Bash on stage they would use Heavy Skull Bash after a jab lock.
 
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Angiance

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A fullcharge skullbash as that once in a while yolo option onstage is fuuuuuuuuuun, and works sometimes (do not recommend)
 

SirBacon

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Okay so I play ness and little Mac but pikachu is the bane of my existence. This one guy isn't even very good at smash bros but he keeps beating me with the ****ing thunder jolt spam along with forward throw into dash up airs and up throw into thunder any ideas on how to beat it? Anything would help! I have been practicing game and watch lately to counter but idk if he will work.
 

XCounter

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Okay so I play ness and little Mac but pikachu is the bane of my existence. This one guy isn't even very good at smash bros but he keeps beating me with the ****ing thunder jolt spam along with forward throw into dash up airs and up throw into thunder any ideas on how to beat it? Anything would help! I have been practicing game and watch lately to counter but idk if he will work.
Powershielding is probably your best bet to beat Thunder Jolt spamming. With either Ness or Little Mac, just keep moving towards him and if he starts throwing out TJs, hit the shield button just before the move hits you and you'll get a powershield. Powershielding will help you act faster out of a blocked move, so use that opportunity to get closer to him. With Little Mac, if he's mindlessly using them too close to you, you can either use your Slip Counter or you could use a smash attack since Little Mac has super armour. If you're using Ness and he's using them from a distance and not chasing after them, just absorb them and heal up.

As far as I know, forward throw > up air isn't a guaranteed combo so you could air dodge, use a counter or use one of your own aerials before he gets to you. I know down throw > up air is at lower percents, though. As for up throw > Thunder, I believe that can be avoided by using DI, so you can move just outside the range of the bolt.

Ness's back throw is very strong, especially against light characters like Pikachu. Depending on your position and the stage, it can start to KO at around 80%, so keep that in mind. Many of Little Mac's moves have a lot of knockback, so that's an issue for Pikachu. If he gets too close at relatively high percents, a smash attack will probably take the stock. Try to move patiently and draw him towards the middle of the stage.
 
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DrCoeloCephalo

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Pikachu beats Wario. We can combo him with moves like FAir, UTilt, UAir strings, BAir; we're fast enough to avoid the Waft and with our speed, and we can get after him. UAir is a good move here because it juggles Wario and keeps him in the air. Usually when you start to combo as Pikachu, you use up tilt and then use UAir.

Down throw → NAir is not bad here since Wario's frame is big enough to be comboed into NAir after the down throw. Of course you'll have to buffer the dash to go into NAir, but then again, practice is key. I've used this combo against a really good Wario online and can confirm it works (this was lag free on 3DS, btw). NAir is much better as an out of shield option or a "leave me alone" move, but again, it's a decent option after a grab.

BAir is good here. It's fast (frame 4), racks up damage easily, and has priority. BAir's main point is to rack up damage and continue comboing at early percents, so use it for situations like this. You can use BAir to stage spike him too.

DAir is great when SHAC'd and is useful when waiting for the opponent to do something. If they get hit by it in early percents, you can start a combo. Also an okay edgeguard option.

Wario's Neutral B is really good at racking up damage so we don't like getting hit by it. What we could do is not get by it and punish. Bike is good at disrupting our game; his Up B is a good OoS option if it it isn't already, as is his USmash. Try to not land where he can use the latter and just avoid the Bike.

Since Pikachu is a camp-based character, I suggest you camp Wario with Thunder Jolts and down tilts, mixing them up will limit Wario's approaching options. If you do get in, start racking up damage and go back to the camping parade. Rinse and repeat. Speaking of down tilt, use it in neutral. It trips, it gives you a free grab, it has a frame advantage, it's fast. There is no reason to not use this move.

Thunder Jolt is a good edgeguard move both in the air and the ground; the latter being more useful if your opponent doesn't have their second jump. As I said before, this move is good for camping purposes. Wario can get in with his Bike, so be prepared. Don't be spamming Thunder Jolts every time as you'll be predictable.

Waft is Waft. We know what to do: Avoid it. We're fast enough to not get KO'd by it. If we get launched, we can recover with Side B or Up B. The former if you're far, far away.

Quick Attack is our main form of approaching, next to dashing. Wario can approach with Bike, so what we can do here is QA before he uses the Bike.

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KO stuff:

Up smash, forward smash and Thunder are good here. Up smash is good as an OoS option, much like NAir, but at least this one KOs earlier. Forward smash is used for spacing purposes; if you can KO when using it, you're good. Either move is fine, just make sure you don't use them often.

FAir is a good KO method when used near the blast zone. Once you start FAiring, take him to the blast zone to get an early KO.

Now, about Thunder. As always, uthrow → Thunder is a good KO option when the opponent doesn't expect it.
And as for it in the air, yeah... I mean, sure, Wario may use his Bike to help him recover but if you can find an opening in the air, that's where you should use Thunder offstage.

TL;DR: Approach with Quick Attack to start combos, mix up Thunder Jolt and down tilt to camp Wario; avoid the Waft and Bike; KO him once you find an opening. Make sure your grabs are unpredictable so that the Wario player doesn't expect Uthrow → Thunder. Offstage Thunder is good as well. KO options in the ground are usmash, fsmash and.... that's pretty much it.

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I would really appreciate it if someone proved me wrong on this kind of stuff (as in, "correct me if I'm wrong").
This is just what I think about the matchup, so yeah. I usually don't give my opinion regarding matchups because I think I'll be wrong in something.


A competent Pikachu player will not be using Skull Bash against Wario. That's just asking for a nice punish by him lol.
The move is only used for recovery purposes.


Wario's Nair combos into Waft and stays a combo at about 50%, which is within KO range. Knowing that a Pikachu is too fast to throw the attack out there, Wario will wait until they can get this, but Pikachu moves too fast to rely on this. So yeah, Wario loses to Pikachu...
 

Soul.

 
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Wario's Nair combos into Waft and stays a combo at about 50%, which is within KO range. Knowing that a Pikachu is too fast to throw the attack out there, Wario will wait until they can get this, but Pikachu moves too fast to rely on this. So yeah, Wario loses to Pikachu...
Yes, Wario loses to Pika. He's not a bad character; he just struggles with some characters, that's all.
I mean he could win if the Wario player outplays the Pikachu player, but eh.
 

NairWizard

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At this point in time I don't believe that Pikachu has any bad matchups in the game. He goes even with at least the following characters:

:4sheik: :4yoshi: :4mario: :4greninja: :4megaman: :4peach:

These guys all have tools that are effective against what Pikachu does, but Pikachu has tools that are annoying for them, too. Yoshi hates Pikachu's speed and f-air; Mario gets outragned; Greninja has a big body despite his low profile and gets hit by many of Pikachu's moves, and also gets outcamped; Megaman has trouble with juggling; and Peach is susceptible to offstage edgeguarding, despite her great recovery.

Sheik is the only one who doesn't particularly mind what Pikachu does, but strangely Pikachu doesn't really mind what Sheik does, either. They nullify each other's tools onstage and offstage in an interesting way. It's an even MU, but it might lean slightly one way or another. The major selling point for Pikachu here is that he's short, and to hit him with f-air while he's crouching Sheik has to be a little bit unsafe.

The rest of the matchups in the game are probably in Pikachu's favor by a little bit, but time could reveal that many more are even.
 
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Soul.

 
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Pika vs. Sheik is one of the most interesting MUs to me. Top tier matches, stuff, stuff and more stuff..
I don't know if offstage Thunder is good here. Sheik has a good recovery in this game with the new ledge mechanics and Bouncing Fish.

Recovery aside yeah the MU is even. They both have the tools to make it an even matchup.
 
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M15t3R E

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Pika vs. Sheik is one of the most interesting MUs to me. Top tier matches, stuff, stuff and more stuff..
I don't know if offstage Thunder is good here. Sheik has a good recovery in this game with the new ledge mechanics and Bouncing Fish.

Recovery aside yeah the MU is even. They both have the tools to make it an even matchup.
Good luck throwing out an offstage thunder before Sheik's bouncing fish hits you. Yeah, bouncing fish is that fast. That is, if you attempt to hit them with the shockwave while hovering directly in their recovery path. If you merely leap slightly offstage and throw out a thunder wall to halt their advance to the ledge it's safe of course. However, even then with vanish (Sheik's Up B) she can wait out part of it and grab the edge while the thunder is still flying downward and use their invincibility frames to avoid the rest of it. It is difficult to edgeguard Sheik due to her Up B mechanics. You pretty much have to go deep offstage and avoid retaliation.
 

Soul.

 
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Good luck throwing out an offstage thunder before Sheik's bouncing fish hits you. Yeah, bouncing fish is that fast. That is, if you attempt to hit them with the shockwave while hovering directly in their recovery path. If you merely leap slightly offstage and throw out a thunder wall to halt their advance to the ledge it's safe of course. However, even then with vanish (Sheik's Up B) she can wait out part of it and grab the edge while the thunder is still flying downward and use their invincibility frames to avoid the rest of it. It is difficult to edgeguard Sheik due to her Up B mechanics. You pretty much have to go deep offstage and avoid retaliation.
That's what I thought too. You pretty much can't edgeguard Sheik in this game. Her air speed makes it even more difficult.
There is no point in using Thunder offstage. You could like, use it on the ground after an up throw to KO if she doesn't DI.

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Also, Pika vs. Kirby is in Pikachu's favor at best, even at worst. Both are small, both can combo, etc. Thunder Jolt is a problem to Kirby because he doesn't have a projectile outside of Up B but who uses Up B outside of recovering. He has to approach in order to get in and rack up damage. Since Kirby will most likely shield almost every time on this matchup, I think it's best to mix up our camping options. Down tilt if he shields (safe on block); Thunder Jolt if he can't shield.

Pikachu has a decent list of combo starters. Here, though, down throw → uair works best. I honestly don't think you should use it a lot, especially in higher percents because Kirby is floaty. We rack up damage by strings / combos / whatever, that's what we do. Up tilt is also good but if you can follow up with BAir you'll get like ~20% free damage.

DAir is good for disrupting whatever Kirby is doing, especially when used out of shield.

Kirby has DAir → up tilt and FSmash at higher percents. Avoid that. We have Quick Attack for that and shield. His grab game is decent (good if someone corrects me wrong, Kirby mains pls). Our grab game here should be down throw uair strings at early percents, forward throw to gain stage position and up throw → Thunder on the ground to KO.

Offstage game is pretty simple: Pikachu wins here. FAir, BAir and Thunder Jolt (grounded) if Kirby is going deep offstage. Don't use Thunder here because he has multiple jumps, the risk of Stone doesn't help either. All we have to KO offstage is FAir and BAir if you're lucky.... as a stage spike if Kirby has run out of jumps. Well you could also use it to drag the opponent down for a free KO, but I think that would still need Kirby to run out of jumps.

I'll post a video here to give us an idea what is the matchup like. It may not be the best play yet, but still.
Video is not mine. (Video thumbnail shows Mega Man but the first match was vs. a Pikachu)
 
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hell-dew

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K ima restart me actaully posting here cause ive been in the lab on a lot of things leveling up and the like

i was playing Master ravens sheik as well as a few other sheiks at APex i think that MU is a negative 1 or a 40-60 at worst. that said that MU is very not fun but its more then winnable. shieks crap kill moves and our annoying size and mobility make that MU annoying for her plus we have significantly better kill options then sheik does but she beats us in the neutral. hardest thing about that MU is getting in you get in you beat the crap out of her. you will have to use every tool in the book to get in though cause her hit boxes in general beat ours in the head to head IE jolt is really meh in this MU cause needles just win Fair cant challenge her fair like at all (unless the sheik sucks hard at spacing) but you can attack her with it if shes grounded. getting under her is really bad for her and off stage be careful of her up B killing you but you can edge guard sheik i found wave bounced thunders the safest cause they intercept bouncing fish. and dont put you in a heavily committal position. aside from that there is a opening on sheiks up B look around for when you can hit it

off stage in her advantage this is probably one of the most impotent things about the MU IMO. if you skull bash its almost a free bouncing fish for sheik be VERY aware when the hell you use a skull bash otherwise you gonna get slapped also Mr R has a evil needle to BF combo which is a easy snipe to kill for sheik so be smart when recovering be aware of the spacing your at and the laggy ass start up on skull bash

also if you get Down thrown always always jump she cannot follow up on it freely. NEVER airdodge. if you air dodge its a free up B for sheik and that crap hits hella hard plus you in the air meaning closer to blast zone jump retreat find a way down after you jump you have a ton of options use a thunder to wall her out if she over extends quick attack away or into her even skull bash away from her use platforms etc. and know her up air can kill at reasonable high %s shes not worth trying to land on. plus she has the up air let go of the hitbox land and continue combo nonsense which is a bit annoying (i haven't tested to many options against it yet though)

thunder is really godlike for trading with sheiks stupid moves like Ftilt strings and the like dont bother using it on Fair strings cause you get knocked horizontally to far personally if she starts fair stringing me i just accept the fact im gonna get bodied across the stage and work from there cause shes gets bodied by our uptilt stings and up air so W/E (sheiks Dair isnt really good to challenge our upair lol)

in the neutral getting in is weird she has better hit boxes in general and can play safer but does less damage per hit meaning if we play the rock paper scissors with her and roll even we win.however she has slightly more rolls in her favor in general but we need less to win basically we can out space her out right with Fsmash (i like pivot Fsmash so much in this game its godlike) Dtilt is good cause it lowers your hurt box and is a long hit box Ftilt is very situatial il sometimes toss QAs and Wave bounced jolts in the mix. its usually good to not stand to far away also i think in terms of stages i like gimicky Jolt angles to apply pressure so stuff like lylat Halberd are pretty much auto ban for her against us i personally think smash vile is kinda bad against her cause the platform gives her way to many options to recovery and kill us early off the side plus it allows her to pressure us way harder off stage. outside of that FD is easier to focus on her up close while BF is dumb for extending our combos in general and because jolts are dumb BF is excellent for use i haven't messed around much on castle Delphino or other CPs yet though

hopefully i didn't miss to much and some of that's useful
 

Soul.

 
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I don't know the Greninja matchup and its Protean shenanigans so yeah. Probably slight disadvantage for Pikachu.
Also Pika has some problems with Sheik. Both ninjas are a small problem....
 
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