Q&A Pikachu Q&A Thread (Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer)

[Sonic94]

Compititive smash 4 lol

Edit:
I learned to edit.

 

[M15t3R E]

Compititive smash 4 lol

Edit:
I learned to edit.

Something funny?
Edit: Good job learning to edit!

 

[Megamang]

You guys have any new technology or ideas for the Diddy or Shiek MU? I keep getting knocked out of bracket by these characters. Specifically the Diddy was JJROCKETS very aggressive diddy that gave me the most trouble. I play a shield oriented pika, lots of sliding shield into nairs, QA, and autocanceled dairs when I need to trade. Recently ive added more tjolting when unsure, but that definitely isn't enough cause JJ bopped me.


Any Quick Attack tricks for bananas? I think I can QA it in the air to make it go away, but then he gets another... id rather hold onto it and just abuse specials and zdrop into instant aerials, but he kept the banana at these weird spots and was really aggressive with fair and bair. Basically the banana just shut down my roll, and my grounded QA because I was afraid.

 

[Lange]

Anyone give me some help on the up throw thunder spike? I never seem to be able to land it, and trying to follow DI is just too slow. I feel like if I could be better at kill options with pika would help my game tremendously, my opponents often seem to live to about 150 or so to the point either have to use a dash attack or such. Much appreciated

 

[Megamang]

It isn't guaranteed, and if you spike someone to death outside of a uthrow they messed up, not you pulling it off.


RAR will expand how far you can dash thunder and get hit, thats about it for thunder tech.

 

[iVoltage]

Hey guys I've been practicing hard but I'm having trouble approaching. I try sh fair but I get sheild grabbed and dash grab isn't exactly stellar. Any tips?

 

[Coro_]

Hey guys I've been practicing hard but I'm having trouble approaching. I try sh fair but I get sheild grabbed and dash grab isn't exactly stellar. Any tips?

when that fails I try walk-up dtilt, it catches quite a few people off and it ducks under quite a lot of stuff
If not, just hang back and zone with tjolt until the opponent decides to stop shielding and come over, at which point go punish them~

 

[Angiance]

@ iVoltage
A lot of what Pikachu does is fundamental. You're going to want to approach by using empty sh's into D.Tilt/U.Tilt, walking forward and shielding, walking forward and using the momentum from your walk to extend the range of D.Tilt since you'll slide forward a but; you can empty sh backwards into U.Tilt or whatever and...well, yeah, that should help you out - w -

 

[Megamang]

@ iVoltage Additionally to what Angiance said, I would learn perfect pivoting. You can perfect pivot into a utilt and it comes out really really fast because it starts at your back. This tactic can even stuff shiek fairs if they are using them towards the end of their jump, which they have to because of pika's height.

Also, make sure you are using full hop thunderjolts. If you haven't learned these, they are really simple and are great. They allow you to run with your thunderjolt, which really helps your approach. Depending on who you are approaching, this opens a variety of options. Be creative. For example, if they are hitting your tjolt and you at the same time, run with the tjolt and powershield their hit and grab them.

Once you have that down, move onto B-reversing. When i need breathing room, run away into b reverse tjolt allows me to first generate distance between me and my opponent, and then suddenly close that distance with a tjolt covering my approach.

 

[iVoltage]

Thanks guys I'll be implementing these into my game. My pika actually is coming together I'm just working on proper spacing and my offstage game. Pretty hype to see if I can not lose round one Saturday.

 

[Angiance]

Actually, I say sh T.Jolt is the strongest variation since the jolt is able to travel along the ground much quicker and you also have the ability to move through the air; after all, the main purpose of T.Jolt is to control the stage with the grounded jolt, and using sh T.Jolt allows you to put them out quicker and lure them to your range

 

[M15t3R E]

So it's been awhile since I played but I was training 1 on 1 with my sparring partner yesterday and did something interesting multiple times. I have no video of this currently so I'll be descriptive. I killed him sometimes using a SH fair while immediately moving backwards to prevent the ending hitbox of fair from connecting and inducing the knockback. As soon as I moved backwards I did FF and the hitstun on him from the fair string was still on him so from here I was able to do f-smash, u-smash and even DA for the kill. I'm hesitant to call this a kill confirm but he told me that he still had hitstun and couldn't even react with shield. Anybody else try this?

 

[Lomogoto]

So it's been awhile since I played but I was training 1 on 1 with my sparring partner yesterday and did something interesting multiple times. I have no video of this currently so I'll be descriptive. I killed him sometimes using a SH fair while immediately moving backwards to prevent the ending hitbox of fair from connecting and inducing the knockback. As soon as I moved backwards I did FF and the hitstun on him from the fair string was still on him so from here I was able to do f-smash, u-smash and even DA for the kill. I'm hesitant to call this a kill confirm but he told me that he still had hitstun and couldn't even react with shield. Anybody else try this?

Are you auto canceling fair for this?

 

[M15t3R E]

Are you auto canceling fair for this?

Yes and try as I may I don't really see other Pikachus doing this on video even though it's not exactly a complex maneuver.
Edit: Also, you can FF fair without dragging the opponent down quickly if you do not space it in the air allowing you to drop below the opponent and u-smash before they can get off an airdodge.
I really do not believe I have discovered anything new but I am wondering why these kill setups are hardly utilized by anyone.

 

[Soul.]

I think most people aren't aware of them existing. Us having a kill confirm is a dream....but don't let your dreams be dreams
That being said, though, that's interesting. Perhaps with the replay upload feature on YouTube you could show us the thing.

 

[kanbaru]

Is there any chance someone could give me an input run down of how to quick attack across the stage? I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble with it but I can only get it 1/5 times and I've never had so much trouble trying to do reps.

My understanding of it was control stick 90 degrees then around 145 degrees but I just can't seem to get it down so maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

 

[Megamang]

Actually, I say sh T.Jolt is the strongest variation since the jolt is able to travel along the ground much quicker and you also have the ability to move through the air; after all, the main purpose of T.Jolt is to control the stage with the grounded jolt, and using sh T.Jolt allows you to put them out quicker and lure them to your range

This may be your playstyle, but I have other uses for my Tjolt. I like controlling diagonal space and pressuring safely from pretty close, Full Hop Tjolts are better for this.

Grounded and short hop tjolts control space horizontally and are better for that, but sometimes you wanna put a hitbox out diagonally, you know? =D

 

[Angiance]

Have fun losing all of your matches~

 

[Megamang]

Thanks man, im sure your pikachu is optimal. Have any results, even locally? How about a video?

EDIT: so my post isn't all feeding the troll, im gonna fire up my wii in 1/4th speed and see if I can make the fair set up work/ test if some button presses makes it guaranteed, such as an airdodge or nair. What character were you playing M15t3R E

 

[Angiance]

I'm not that known yet, but I'm well aware that your playing is probably abysmal

 

[Megamang]

Lol, im glad I left TN. Why don't you go focus on getting known instead of being an internet tough guy on smashboards.

Yes and try as I may I don't really see other Pikachus doing this on video even though it's not exactly a complex maneuver.
Edit: Also, you can FF fair without dragging the opponent down quickly if you do not space it in the air allowing you to drop below the opponent and u-smash before they can get off an airdodge.
I really do not believe I have discovered anything new but I am wondering why these kill setups are hardly utilized by anyone.

I can't get this to link without them having a few frames to shield, when did you fast fall, what percentage range, and against what character?

 

[Angiance]

I'll say the same thing to you directly in your face: "you are low rank"

And refer to me as female, ty

 

[Coro_]

Is there any chance someone could give me an input run down of how to quick attack across the stage? I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble with it but I can only get it 1/5 times and I've never had so much trouble trying to do reps.

My understanding of it was control stick 90 degrees then around 145 degrees but I just can't seem to get it down so maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

Are you referring to going forward twice? If so, taking the right to be 0 degrees and increasing clockwise, it would be 0, 45 for the easiest way, the second warp will slide you along the ground, yep~

 

[Emuchu]

Is there any chance someone could give me an input run down of how to quick attack across the stage? I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble with it but I can only get it 1/5 times and I've never had so much trouble trying to do reps.
My understanding of it was control stick 90 degrees then around 145 degrees but I just can't seem to get it down so maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

Are you referring to going forward twice? If so, taking the right to be 0 degrees and increasing clockwise, it would be 0, 45 for the easiest way, the second warp will slide you along the ground, yep~

It could also be a timing issue. You can actually input the move too quickly, but lemme see if I can recall all the ways to do this move wrong:

• Watch the timing. Assuming you're facing right, the input should look something like: UpB > (Pikachu flashes) > Immediately hold right > (Pikachu zips to the right) > hold down-right as Pikachu is going from super-stretchy to snapping back to normal Pika-portions. Pikachu doesn't choose the direction he will travel in until right as he begins to move, so make sure you're not buffering the direction super-early and then letting go before Pika actually moves.
• Check your directions. You want to input this as either Up-Right > Down-Right or Right > Down-Right. If Pika ever performs a QA into the ground, he will end the move, even if it's your first motion. Some players using non-gated control sticks (i.e., WiiU GamePad, WiiU Pro Controller, any 3DS) find it difficult to "feel out" where pure left and right are, so it's possible you're doing this without realizing.
• Change directions. I don't recall the exact number, but as of Melee, Pika's two QA directions have to differ by at least around 38 degrees, or he'll just ignore you. Make sure there's a large enough change in your directions. This is easier to do consistently with a gated control stick (i.e., Wii Classic Controller, GameCube Controller), since they naturally snap your inputs into 45 degree angles, but longstanding Pika players probably don't even remember this as an issue.

 

[The Legendary Big Boss]

Hello all, I have a question.

How do you handle fighting Yoshi's, and what do you think the match-up looks like?
I have checked both boards and cannot find a match-up thread for tips.

Thanks in advance for any useful input.

 

[Uncle Honey]

Can anybody tell me specifically their various setups and methods of reading airdodges to kill off the top with thunder? Why is there not a thread dedicated to this kill method?

 

[Hades64]

Well, I am a ROB player and now i'm thinking about pick Pikachu to be my new main, or maybe secondary

what should I prioritize to get started with Pika? I'm a defensive player, like to spam Bs and try to read approaches to get punishs, grabs and setups, but I don't feel that my neutral game is solid yet. Any tips about what should I do?

And when I face someone that i'm forced to be aggressive, I start to do a lot of mistakes. Maybe because I'm used to be aggressive with Pikachu in 64, but things are a lot different here.

 

[Megamang]

Well, I am a ROB player and now i'm thinking about pick Pikachu to be my new main, or maybe secondary

what should I prioritize to get started with Pika? I'm a defensive player, like to spam Bs and try to read approaches to get punishs, grabs and setups, but I don't feel that my neutral game is solid yet. Any tips about what should I do?

And when I face someone that i'm forced to be aggressive, I start to do a lot of mistakes. Maybe because I'm used to be aggressive with Pikachu in 64, but things are a lot different here.

Pika has strong neutral tools in his tilts. I like to use kuroganehammer.com for speed data, and take all of that into account. So, for example, if your walk is faster than their aerial speed, i realize I can set up nasty landing traps from a walk (since all my options are available during a walk, especially instant powershielding their landing aerial, into grab their landing... what can they do if they can't outspeed you?). If not, horizontal spacing with d-tilt is often good for setting up offstage game, where pika accels against many characters. Due to the nature of pika having a lot of great moves with limited range instead of one abusive tool like shiek's swipe, its very MU dependent. But experiment with your tilts! We know they're good, but we're still optimizing.

 

[Koiba]

Hey I have a question for y'all~

What are the uses of QA?

I use it for recovery (obviously) and is rusty on my QAC but that's really it :/

Is there any other situations I can use QA in and use it to my advantage?

 

[Soul.]

Approaching, resetting back to neutral, getting a follow up by virtue of the second hit (at high percents), getting out of really stupid situations, etc.

QA has lots of uses but those are the only ones I can think of atm.

 

[Emuchu]

Hey I have a question for y'all~

What are the uses of QA?

I use it for recovery (obviously) and is rusty on my QAC but that's really it :/

Is there any other situations I can use QA in and use it to my advantage?

Dood... you're missing out! Hitting people with the end of the second motion gives Pikachu at least a frame advantage, unless you're hitting Shiek or Fox at 0%, and at higher percents, say around 35-ish, will pop them into the air for combos. You can use this in all kinds of ways, such as approaching and maneuvering around projectile camping (you can't projectile camp Pikachu for this reason). This eventually develops into a sick mind game of "will he, won't he?" where your opponent REALLY WANTS TO SHIELD PUNISH Quick Attack, but maybe you're just going to land close-ish and Fsmash their Ftilt or grab attempt.

This is just the basic-est of basic, though, I haven't even gone into the shenanigans you can pull with ledge cancels. I've heard it said that you can tell how experienced a Pikachu is by how well they use their Quick Attack--it's that important.

 

[Kaladin]

Hey I have a question for y'all~

What are the uses of QA?

I use it for recovery (obviously) and is rusty on my QAC but that's really it :/

Is there any other situations I can use QA in and use it to my advantage?

Outside of what others have said, it's great for continuing juggles. After your dthrow up air back air or whatever, you can QA back to the ground and either jump back up and hit them, or simply catch their landing.

Also, when dthrow/uthrow don't combo but uthrow thunder doesn't work, I usually fthrow, QA up to them, and punish their reaction.

 

[Caranthire]

Hey.

I have a question. Can someone give me some basic tipps agains a Wii Fit Trainer??
I know the playstyle is very campy and offstage focust but should i go offtage with him and fight him or stay i back and Spam Jolts or wait for him to come back on stage . What you guys think of this Mu or what are Basic Tipps you can give me

Hope you can Help me fast i need to play him at saturday hope the awnser will be come quick ty guys.

Greez Caran

 

[Megamang]

As far as quick attack goes, I'd like to add that it is a great OOS punish in a few matchups. The only one coming to mind as very important is ZSS. I don't want to go into detail about all her hitboxes, but she is uniquely ill-equiped to deal with quick attack OOS. She can't outspace it, it starts combos, she has no lingering hitboxes, she has to be coming down to hit pika with an aerial if he's grounded...

It's also insane shield pressure. Mix up single and double quick attacks! Think of it from your opponent's POV. If you go across their shield once, you could do any of the following:

a) zip back across the shield. If they hope to punish this, they must stay in shield for the second hit. This option existing is great because it can pin them in their shield if you show you aren't afraid to QA it a bunch.

b) zip away. If they hope to punish this, they have to drop shield right after the first hits and start chasing you. This is obviously risky because option (a) will hit them if they choose to punish (b)

c) just land. begin doing pika things. You don't have a frame advantage on paper, but the mixup situation means you are usually a little ahead of your opponent's thoughts because you knew where you were going and they didnt!

d) meh option usually, but you can also QA straight down and get a little hitbox to come out while you stay there. Can sometimes hit people going for the zipping away, though i would say going back towards them is stronger. If you space such that you are doing this right behind the shield you can mixup going diagonal or straight down to cross each side of the shield, but I believe this is punishable on reaction if they just stay in shield.

Hey.

I have a question. Can someone give me some basic tipps agains a Wii Fit Trainer??
I know the playstyle is very campy and offstage focust but should i go offtage with him and fight him or stay i back and Spam Jolts or wait for him to come back on stage . What you guys think of this Mu or what are Basic Tipps you can give me

Hope you can Help me fast i need to play him at saturday hope the awnser will be come quick ty guys.

Greez Caran

Her nasty comboing aerials are pretty damn hard to land on pika, abuse your short stature with crawling d-tilts for spacing.

She now heals 2% from full charged SS, so don't let her sit back and charge them. I like to stay on a platform out of their burst range and rain diagonal Tjolts down on them. From there I play their reaction.


When she activates deep breathing, just... don't fight her. You will die stupid early to a tilt or something, so just take your time. Even if you are behind, don't throw the game with a reckless approach and die to rage fit trainer deep breathing BS tilt time.

I'd suggest opening up smash with 2 controllers and holding down on one, and seeing how good pika is at avoiding this character's stuff. I can't explain it too well but you need to be good at avoiding her hitboxes.

Don't get baited by her dodges, they are excellent and harder to punish than you would think.

I usually try and tjolt their fingers if they go for a ledge regrab, and then dair them offstage and chain aerials. Even if you don't kill her, getting her offstage on pika's terms/advantage is a pretty good place because her up-b isn't exactly scary.


Don't get soccer ball spiked. Actually in general don't spend too much time chasing her. I mean you need to approach, but play your game and spacing. Don't just swing at her dodges and get frustrated. A calm mind is important in this MU.

 

[Uncle Honey]

Dtilt vs Ftilt?

 

[Caranthire]

Megamang
Thx for the fast awnser and ty for the Tipps

 

[M15t3R E]

Lol, im glad I left TN. Why don't you go focus on getting known instead of being an internet tough guy on smashboards.





I can't get this to link without them having a few frames to shield, when did you fast fall, what percentage range, and against what character?

Yeah, scratch that. They do have time to shield. But it serves as a mix-up if nothing else.

 

[Soul.]

I rarely find myself using forward tilt. Feel like we have better options instead of that; if I use the move I probably input the wrong moves. It has its uses, but eh, down tilt is one of our better ones.

Can forward tilt do something on the ledge?

 

[Megamang]

I like f-tilt as a killer at the ledge when they have really high percent. There is some set with ESAM where he gets like all his kills with f-tilt and the casters are joking about it, but im pretty sure its legit for how amazingly safe it is. Seriously, you can win those razer thin games with this, easy, with a tilt on a ledge getup. Its less likely to get powershielded or outtimed than f-smash, though obviously less powerfull. For this reason, I try and keep it totally fresh, although I do use the occasional Hip Check (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7m0NHkmSDc) if they are adamant about hiding in shield and OOSing me.

 

[Soul.]

Huh, I thought forward tilt wasn't safe. Is it safe on hit but not on shield, or just safe in general?

I do think I've heard about the Hip Check thing but I'll lab it out regardless