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

[dettadeus]

Got 3rd at my region's first WiiU tournament, and took 1st in the 3DS tournament, pretty much all Pika with a few ROB matches and two games as Lucario in the WiiU losers finals.

http://challonge.com/OGS3DS
http://challonge.com/OGSW

SOAPy plays Yoshi. What do we do against Yoshi? It feels really close to even except he completely and utterly outcamps us... and his stuff is super safe on shield.

Also I think you can do some frame-perfect run off bair that puts you back on stage after a single hit that spikes people, kinda like how wario in brawl could run off aerial and float back onstage. In 3DS grands I went for pummel release > run off bair at the edge (the guy was playing lucina) and he immediately upb'd but got spiked and i was still onstage in the bair landing animation. I think someone saved the replay, I'll post a video if I can get my hands on it.

 

[BellaLunaWolf]

What? we won... didn't we? I thought we won. huh.

Ah I see... I had only checked the 3DS version, assuming the results would be collective of both system versions. "Team Greninja" won on 3DS and "Team Charizard" won on Wii U. It shoulda been called "Team Pikachu," heh..

 

[infomon]

Ahh that explains it. thanks!

 

[KuroKitt10]

Hello everyone! I used to be a pretty active part of the Pika community about 4 years or so. Life happened, and between my Masters and Work, I had to drop out of the Smash scene. My life has really calmed down now, and with the release of Smash 4, I'm excited to return to the community! You pikas are some of the coolest people out there =) I have no idea if any of the old folks I remember from those days are still around, but I'm itching to get to know all of you better.

Expect to see me around more often, doing my part to help contribute in whatever ways I can. Brawl was my first Smash game I took truly competitively, but I always felt like both Brawl and Melee were lacking in different, but significant ways. I'm excited about the news I've heard for Smash 4, and I have my hopes up it'll turn out to be a superior competitive experience. I can't wait to start sinking my teeth into this one from the start.

Meow =3

 

[PF9]

Well, watched the Macy's Parade until the Pika float came, and the new float looks pretty good. How does it feel to have the only Smasher with their own float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as your main?

 

[BellaLunaWolf]

Well, watched the Macy's Parade until the Pika float came, and the new float looks pretty good. How does it feel to have the only Smasher with their own float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as your main?

I liked the holiday spin Pikachu had this year. ^_^
Didn't Sonic have a balloon in last year's parade? Not this time, though.

 

[LunarWingCloud]

I think he did. Macy's Parades tend to avoid using game characters so to have Pikachu as a permanent member of the parade is so nice!

 

[Ieven]

This question has surely been already ask, but there is still some follow up with the Quick Attack ? I find that frustrating to not use that move anymore, Quick Attack was really cool in Brawl

 

[DavidAgile]

So is anyone else finding that Pikachu has a much easier time in certain match-ups by simply approaching and going crazy in people's faces? I personally found match ups like Diddy Kong and Shulk to be a bit more manageable once I just used Quick Attacks and aerials to get in.

 

[LunarWingCloud]

This question has surely been already ask, but there is still some follow up with the Quick Attack ? I find that frustrating to not use that move anymore, Quick Attack was really cool in Brawl

It has plenty of potential still and is easily one of Pikachu's best moves. Work around the lost of Quick Attack Cancel and you'll be more than capable of using QA for amazing things.

So is anyone else finding that Pikachu has a much easier time in certain match-ups by simply approaching and going crazy in people's faces? I personally found match ups like Diddy Kong and Shulk to be a bit more manageable once I just used Quick Attacks and aerials to get in.

Definitely. You do not wanna let the opponent have the tempo of the match and for Pikachu to have tempo control, you gotta go in.

 

[SyncNatsyu]

So I've been practicing going off-stage to thunder spike as my opponent tries recovering but I'm having trouble finding ways to stop my momentum 'less I Thunder while descending into the kill zone below. The best I got is to use a jump...anyone know other ways to? Maybe I should just be more careful pressing down b.

 

[Youngster Joey]

ive been playing pika for a very short time. and in that short time i realized pika seems like a very strong character. just one problem. how do you go about reliably landing a kill? my most reliable kills came from landing a hit with neutral b and comboing into u smash. i dont wanna rely on that since it doesnt seem like it'll be consistent in the long run

 

[SyncNatsyu]

ive been playing pika for a very short time. and in that short time i realized pika seems like a very strong character. just one problem. how do you go about reliably landing a kill? my most reliable kills came from landing a hit with neutral b and comboing into u smash. i dont wanna rely on that since it doesnt seem like it'll be consistent in the long run

Our main method is by tossing/launching people off-stage and gimping them with our aerials, stealing jumps with QA, and edgeguard with thunder spike. On-stage we can try reading a roll to land an upsmash, Fsmash, dash attack or just up throw them if they are high enough in %.

I'm sure someone else can elaborate more.

 

[Caranthire]

I see here on Smashboards is a Move Analy. for Pika. But my question is can someone Show me The Frame how long the attack stay out and start ? like easy Do it for the Brawl Pikachu Thread ?????

Sry my english sucks

 

[Angiance]

I see here on Smashboards is a Move Analy. for Pika. But my question is can someone Show me The Frame how long the attack stay out and start ? like easy Do it for the Brawl Pikachu Thread ?????

Sry my english sucks

http://smashboards.com/threads/pikachu-moveset-data-wip.381156/

 

[Caranthire]

Ohh nvm Ty

 

[ChaosQualm]

Can Pikachu still go under the stage all the way to the other side like in Brawl? Thanks.

 

[Soul.]

Can Pikachu still go under the stage all the way to the other side like in Brawl? Thanks.

Yes, it still can. Just use Side B and then Up B.

 

[Mocha]

Smash 4 Invitational:

Esam (Pikachu) vs Nairo (Zelda): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOuGA00U0HY
Esam (Pikachu) vs Mr. R (Sheik): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiRun9rQsww


Discuss (:

 

[Firzy]

Hi Guys
I'm a french Pikachu , and I'm really looking forward to be good with that char in this game.
I wanted to know some things ,may I ask for your help?
When Fthrowing someone ,it happens that they don't tech a lot at low %,which can lead to a jab lock. But whenever I tried , i only managed to do 2 hits,then the character stood up. Is it now impossible to lock more than 2 times?
Besides,I wanted to know ,what where the best options when you grab someone at low % . Dthrow I guess, but to Uair? Nair? I find the autocancel Dair really usefull but I can't link to a grab like esam always does x)
kiss from france !

 

[Arc Quilava]

Hi Guys
I'm a french Pikachu , and I'm really looking forward to be good with that char in this game.
I wanted to know some things ,may I ask for your help?
When Fthrowing someone ,it happens that they don't tech a lot at low %,which can lead to a jab lock. But whenever I tried , i only managed to do 2 hits,then the character stood up. Is it now impossible to lock more than 2 times?
Besides,I wanted to know ,what where the best options when you grab someone at low % . Dthrow I guess, but to Uair? Nair? I find the autocancel Dair really usefull but I can't link to a grab like esam always does x)
kiss from france !

I believe it has always/still is only two jabs, unless that changed for some reason on the Wii U.

Anyways, hey there everyone! I felt I've kind of been neglecting Pikachu for a while. He's been my main until Lucario, and even now he remains my secondary. Mostly been on the Lucario boards, so I wanted to drop in and say hi. I absolutely love playing Pika, I just feel very in sync with him, and he has always been my fallback character if nothing else. Sounds like these boards are not nearly as busy, but all the same I look forward to getting to know you all! Call me Arc or Quil or whatever else you like.

 

[SyncNatsyu]

I believe it has always/still is only two jabs, unless that changed for some reason on the Wii U.

Anyways, hey there everyone! I felt I've kind of been neglecting Pikachu for a while. He's been my main until Lucario, and even now he remains my secondary. Mostly been on the Lucario boards, so I wanted to drop in and say hi. I absolutely love playing Pika, I just feel very in sync with him, and he has always been my fallback character if nothing else. Sounds like these boards are not nearly as busy, but all the same I look forward to getting to know you all! Call me Arc or Quil or whatever else you like.

Unless something changed isnt it 3 hits to force stand? last time I jab locked someone it was 3 hits with the third forcing get-up. Of course d-tilt, f-tilt, or fsmash is better than the 3rd jab unless you wanna try to re-grab

 

[Laggalot101]

I'd like to ask for some advice on Pikachu. I can play him pretty competently right now (relatively), but there's still a couple things I'm wondering about, mostly some of Pikachu's moves.

First of all is Quick Attack. Wonderful recovery, obviously, but I'm not sure how to make it useful for actual combat. It feels like the 'Oh yeah, I have this move I usually forget about, not sure what it's really good for in this situation, but it's pretty safe so let's use it anyway to mix things up' sort of move. Now, I did watch the video's up there to which Mocha linked and this is giving me a little bit of an idea (like what I'm pretty sure is called edge-cancelling -- I am terrible with advanced terminology, please bear with me) but I'm still a bit in doubt.

Then there's Pikachu's Nair. By the end of Brawl, I got into playing Pikachu and absolutely abused this move. Now, though, I find myself having trouble landing it, so I'm not sure how to make it useful. Once again, the aforementioned video's give me the idea that using the move out of shield is viable, but Pikachu has many options. What makes Nair useful compared to other moves in similar situations?

And finally... did I just see Thunder aid recovery? Is this something like Zelda's recovery where apparently the move carries your (ideally upwards) momentum, improving recovery that way?

Think that's about it for now. I really want to improve with Pikachu as to have him be my major speed character (considering my alternative characters aren't particularly fast). I'm really feeling his playstyle.

 

[Firzy]

The questions of laggalot are kinda good questions , if anyone could answer them that would help me too,thanks x)
For the nair though, I think indeed that it's best use resides in the oos option ,as it deals less damage that Bair (I think so) and doesn't push as far as Fair (which makes this last move better to edgeguard[then again ,I think]

By the way,there's something I don't understand. How does the "thunder getting through the stage/plateforms"mechanic works?
The other day i've been trying on Bf, it can't get through the lower plateforms,but it can go through the upper one and the stage itself. I've been trying to jump and to stay in the ground,but it didn't change anything o:

 

[Soul.]

Jab locks can only be done 3 times in this game. Don't see any use of it at all unless you feel like setting up a jab lock 3x to FSmash.
FAir is the better move when edgeguarding. It has more range than NAir and probably BAir. Although you can also edgeguard with Thunder Jolt.

I'd like to ask for some advice on Pikachu. I can play him pretty competently right now (relatively), but there's still a couple things I'm wondering about, mostly some of Pikachu's moves.

First of all is Quick Attack. Wonderful recovery, obviously, but I'm not sure how to make it useful for actual combat. It feels like the 'Oh yeah, I have this move I usually forget about, not sure what it's really good for in this situation, but it's pretty safe so let's use it anyway to mix things up' sort of move. Now, I did watch the video's up there to which Mocha linked and this is giving me a little bit of an idea (like what I'm pretty sure is called edge-cancelling -- I am terrible with advanced terminology, please bear with me) but I'm still a bit in doubt.

Then there's Pikachu's Nair. By the end of Brawl, I got into playing Pikachu and absolutely abused this move. Now, though, I find myself having trouble landing it, so I'm not sure how to make it useful. Once again, the aforementioned video's give me the idea that using the move out of shield is viable, but Pikachu has many options. What makes Nair useful compared to other moves in similar situations?

And finally... did I just see Thunder aid recovery? Is this something like Zelda's recovery where apparently the move carries your (ideally upwards) momentum, improving recovery that way?

Think that's about it for now. I really want to improve with Pikachu as to have him be my major speed character (considering my alternative characters aren't particularly fast). I'm really feeling his playstyle.

Quick Attack on the ground is a useful approach. The second hit has hitstun so you can follow up with another attack, like up tilt or up air.
NAir is still a good "get-off me" move. It's used as a combo finisher or an out of shield option at low percents. If you're going to use out of shield at higher percents I suggest you use up smash since that will KO. NAir has 0 chance of KOing until like 200% (I could be wrong).

 

[Arc Quilava]

Unless something changed isnt it 3 hits to force stand? last time I jab locked someone it was 3 hits with the third forcing get-up. Of course d-tilt, f-tilt, or fsmash is better than the 3rd jab unless you wanna try to re-grab

Oh, my bad then. I guess I haven't done a whole lot of playing, that's just what everyone else has been doing that I saw. Like you said, followed by something else on the third time.

 

[FlipFlopMist]

Pikachu is so much fun to play as in this game, all of his matchup's are fairly even, cept the ones where he stomps(Little Mac*cough cough*), but I played something so beautiful today...
A mirror match with another Pikachu player, against someone who was about my skill level. We danced through the air and our moves were constantly in-synch, it was so beautiful and memorable. <3

 

[CURRY]

Is QALC useful in this game? How much should I use it?
of course, QALC leads into other QALCS, but I found that it leads to grounded dair as well? That instant hitbox is nice, albeit, very punishable. I still haven't mastered my Quick Attack yet, so will it become more viable with that?

 

[Soul.]

I dunno, QALC is situational on this game. It takes out your second jump for edgeguarding when you can just catch the opponent with offstage FAirs or Thunder Jolts. I suppose you could use it for mix ups on the ground with stages that have platforms?
Either way, Quick Attack is viable enough to be used without QALC. Just my opinion, so yeah.

Edit: Wait, no. QALC doesn't take out your second jump.

 

[CURRY]

I dunno, QALC is situational on this game. It takes out your second jump for edgeguarding when you can just catch the opponent with offstage FAirs or Thunder Jolts. I suppose you could use it for mix ups on the ground with stages that have platforms?
Either way, Quick Attack is viable enough to be used without QALC. Just my opinion, so yeah.

Edit: Wait, no. QALC doesn't take out your second jump.

How is QA viable besides as a recovery, though?
I remember that you can use it to have some breathing room between you and your opponent. Are those the main two applications? Retreating and recoveries?
I read somewhere... just yesterday actually, on this forum... that you can take away double jumps with QA offstage. I assume that that's super situational?

 

[SyncNatsyu]

How is QA viable besides as a recovery, though?
I remember that you can use it to have some breathing room between you and your opponent. Are those the main two applications? Retreating and recoveries?
I read somewhere... just yesterday actually, on this forum... that you can take away double jumps with QA offstage. I assume that that's super situational?

You may have read my post. QAs can be used to retreat, recover, and get-in.(darn missed the alliterative appeal) QAs can be used to steal jumps much like any other attack(by which it can stun the foes attempt to jump, which means they stay in hitstun long enough to fall down abit, means more space to recover)

 

[Soul.]

How is QA viable besides as a recovery, though?
I remember that you can use it to have some breathing room between you and your opponent. Are those the main two applications? Retreating and recoveries?
I read somewhere... just yesterday actually, on this forum... that you can take away double jumps with QA offstage. I assume that that's super situational?

You can use QA to approach. The second hit lets Pika follow up with another move because of the increased hitstun. You can also use it to retreat on the ground because of the reduced lag and recover (this one is obvious).
Well, if you're talking about gimping with Quick Attack then yeah, that's pretty situational.

 

[LunarWingCloud]

Dude QA is one of Pika's most versatile, flat out best moves. You can use it for basically anything you can think of,

 

[ExZero]

I've been playing Pikachu for a while now and after watching some video's I've been noticing some Pikachu's manage to preform Down Aerial without having the severe landing lag by slamming into the ground. Can you somehow cancel that move or am I just seeing things?

An example can be found at the 3:18 mark in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOuGA00U0HY

 

[Firzy]

I've been playing Pikachu for a while now and after watching some video's I've been noticing some Pikachu's manage to preform Down Aerial without having the severe landing lag by slamming into the ground. Can you somehow cancel that move or am I just seeing things?

An example can be found at the 3:18 mark in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOuGA00U0HY

Yes,of course you can. It was already possible in Brawl btw. In order to do that,it's "simple",juste make a short hop,and then IMMEDIATELY after,input the Dair . If you manage to do it fast enough , it will autocancel,resulting in no lag at all,making it a good follow up (as esam does). Since hitstun was increased since Brawl,it's great for Pikachu's ground game,according to me . Just try a lot of time to master it,once you understand how it works you'll quickly get the hand of it . However, if you still have trouble, you have to know that it's easier to do with tap jump on , as you just have to hold one stick up and the cstick down quickly .

By the way guys ,as I asked before,do you know how Thunder plateform mechanics works? Sometimes a plateform stops it,but some others don't affect it,as thunder goes through the plateform(the stage itself usually,but also the upper platform of BF.)

 

[infomon]

You know how the thunderbolt has different parts? Like if Villager pockets the thunderbolt, he only gets one part of it, it's different hitboxes. I think the top bolt has a hitbox that can go through platforms, and the bottom bolt does not go through platforms. Just a thought.

 

[ExZero]

Yes,of course you can. It was already possible in Brawl btw. In order to do that,it's "simple",juste make a short hop,and then IMMEDIATELY after,input the Dair . If you manage to do it fast enough , it will autocancel,resulting in no lag at all,making it a good follow up (as esam does). Since hitstun was increased since Brawl,it's great for Pikachu's ground game,according to me . Just try a lot of time to master it,once you understand how it works you'll quickly get the hand of it . However, if you still have trouble, you have to know that it's easier to do with tap jump on , as you just have to hold one stick up and the cstick down quickly .

By the way guys ,as I asked before,do you know how Thunder plateform mechanics works? Sometimes a plateform stops it,but some others don't affect it,as thunder goes through the plateform(the stage itself usually,but also the upper platform of BF.)

Much appreciated, going to start practicing it ^^

 

[SyncNatsyu]

You know how the thunderbolt has different parts? Like if Villager pockets the thunderbolt, he only gets one part of it, it's different hitboxes. I think the top bolt has a hitbox that can go through platforms, and the bottom bolt does not go through platforms. Just a thought.

That'll be abit odd since our thunder goes through platforms as long as the bolt hasn't been fully released yet and that it leads with the bottom hitbox. Of course getting a Vil to pocket a specific section of thunder and know it will pass through the floor is unlikely even if it works.

 

[CURRY]

I've been noticing some "staple things" that I've been doing while messing around in Training Mode. Can you guys tell me if they're good or what's wrong/unsafe about them? These were all against CPUs, which is a large reason why I ask.

• Although this isn't a CPU thing, I feel that against characters with fast dashes: spamming dtilt in the neutral game to bait, punishing with a DA on reaction to a bum-rush. So pretty much +, then + on reaction. DA reaches significantly farther than dtilt. Definitely can't use this too much, since DA overall is just really punishable. Seems like a nice mixup, though. My main concern with this is that Pika's DA probably doesn't have very much priority.
• Double jumping back to the stage with a Thunder. It always worked in Brawl, and I don't know, it feels weird in this game with thunder's "wall" being nerfed.
• Double jumping in place offstage and doing Thunder. I sweetspot with this sometimes, albeit, against CPUs.
• Dash -> Fullhop nair as an approach. On block, I double jump away. It seems like against a bum-rusher, you may be able to land a retreating fair, because a retreating double jump + dat slow airspeed looks like a nice opportunity to punish Pika. But yeah, seems really punishable. Is fullhop nair a good option for Pika overall? His slow airspeed makes it seem not as safe for him as it is for other characters. It's nice though, since it's a lot harder to get shieldgrabbed with FH nair.
• FF fair -> any smash attack. Seems like it shouldn't be able to work, but it worked against the CPUs...

Yep. Tell me everything that's wrong about these things.

 

[Cubonebonebone]

Hey guys, I've been trying out pikachu recently and I really enjoy him. I had a question specifically regarding his back air. Does it just randomly send people flying in different directions? I tried to test it and got mixed results. Sometimes I sent people forward and other times they flew behind me. I really like using it to stage spike so it would be really helpful to know how to control where I send people.