Pikachu vs. Swordfighters

[Sneak Sneaks]

Hello Pikachu mains, I would like to know your opinion on Pikachu vs. Sword users like Marth, how can you approach them? I was on a tourney this weekend and I couldnt approach my opponent at the grand finals (he was playing marth), my sh dair, fair werent really effective since he easily could do long range attacks as nair, fair, ftilt... so I would like to know your opinion on how to approach on this MUs

 

[hell-dew]

run up and shield. TBH i find it way way harder to deal with palus fair then marths. Marth can swing then has to deal with lag palu is a mutiple part equation she can fair you then she lands and you have to pick beteewn dealing with her grab or her jab which lead into different flowchars (usually grab is gonna be Downthrow fair reset back to neutral) where as jab is really dangerious and if you pick a defensive option and it gets read you die form upsmash lol

with marth his fair is only a anti space tool he cant swing it for free pressure like palu or brawl marth could due to the lag on it. marth doesnt enjoy hitting shields much with pika you need to focus on using your speed getting past his wall and beating him up cause up close we decimate him. honestly I only fair/Dair if i im actively trying to ruin his spacing cause dair changing your hurt box can mess up tippers when your microspacing. obviously you gotta play a bit of a mix up game tho also marth extends his hurt boxes when he swings and im fairly certain you can gimp him off stage although ive never tested it to any length

that said im going ot recommend you watch this. This is a brawl vid of marth of pika the reason why im telling you to watch this is because the MU surprisingly is similar in terms of how you wall break just marths options in brawl are literally faster with less lag but less reward on tippers its obviously not a 1-1 conversion but if you look at Esams usage of stuff like Dtiltes and his various tools how he tries to get in and if you look at the different matches its not always consistent. IMO playing this MU in brawl made this MU way less hard on 4 tho lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEe-bS4_wig

but yeah you have to play the MU closer to how brawl chu had to deal with marth then rely on Smash 4s chu where you can do things like use fair/dair way more you gotta not do that stuff as much

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

As an Ike main, Esam really got me mainly through gimping. He was able to instantly react to my recovery to unleash the proper gimping tool to end a stock early.

In the neutral, Pikachu's Fair is really useful against anyone trying to approach, and he seems to grab freely after many attacks. Furthermore, his Uair and UTilt are great "keep off" attacks if they're behind you since both attacks are ranged.

 

[lmntolp]

I like the Brawl Marth but easier comparison. Pika vs. Marth is like a fencing match, where both characters have to be very selective about when they try to approach and are constantly watching their spacing. Marth doesn't have a good way to force approaches while Pika at least has a projectile, so there's no need to rush him down. It's very important to learn when Marth is punishable, because his moves do have a decent amount of landing lag/endlag even though it looks like he puts up a wall. Shield is good because Marth can't get much off a grab and he can't SH double fair like in Brawl. Spacing with fsmash is also good, as it's the only move that can contest Marth's range, and even beat it. It's even better than in brawl because the sweetspot is farther away.

 

[Shaymin slicker]

Normally I would use approach with F-air or auto cancel D-air. If that fails then I would go for T-Jolt or Quick Attack. I use quick attack a little more, but I don't use it that much, mainly so I won't be too predictable. Well at least that goes for Marth anyways...