Pikachu

[Funkermonster]

Simplest combos to pull off? I'm trying to adjust to the game's controls and can only do Utilt into another Utilt or an Aerial.

 

[Leaf.]

Even level 9 CPUs will move too far to the left or right to get Thunder out of uthrow. If you're going to get it, it's another thing that you will have to rarely do to catch people off guard, and do it quickly.

 

[VirusEXE]

Maybe use it as a surprise K.O when your close to the edge. Like conditioning them to think your going to down throw, then get the surprise KO

 

[Soul.]

So I played the demo against a level 9 Mega Man. Sweetspotted forward smash K.O'd him at 117%.
I'm not even kidding.

 

[Leaf.]

What percent were you at? That sounds about right for an Fsmash to kill.

Also, I just learned the Little Mac matchup. It was glorious.

 

[Soul.]

What percent were you at? That sounds about right for an Fsmash to kill.

Also, I just learned the Little Mac matchup. It was glorious.

I was at around 90%. I really don't remember what happened as I K.O'd Mega Man in a hurry.
All I know is that sweetspotted forward smash knocked him out in 117%. How is the Little Mac matchup?

 

[Leaf.]

I wish I saved the replay, it was so funny.
I got him offstage once and fast fell forward air.
And then did it again.

 

[NobleClamtasm]

Simplest combos to pull off? I'm trying to adjust to the game's controls and can only do Utilt into another Utilt or an Aerial.

If you're looking for true unescapable combos, uptilt->uptilt->uair->bair/fair at low percents is probably the most you can get. I think an important thing to understand about Smash4 is that unlike Melee or PM, most followups are not guaranteed. Once it gets to about 50%-60% percent, automatic follow ups are nonexistant (thanks, vectoring) and so reading your opponent's defensive maneuvers is key in maintaining the offensive momentum.

I wish I saved the replay, it was so funny.
I got him offstage once and fast fell forward air.
And then did it again.

I've been testing his other options some more, and it seems like his Bair is even more effective at edgeguarding. It sucks in opponents better, lasts longer, and has a harder finishing hit. You just have to be careful of where you position yourself once the attack ends, because that determines which side the opponent will be launched.

 

[Psyant]

Trapping them with bair offstage and fastfalling actually seems really good if you can pull it off consistently. You can easily take them right to the bottom of the screen.

 

[Leaf.]

It's how most of my gimps go.
Super easy to just fall from the ledge and bair.

Pikachu still feels kinda eh. The lack of kill power is still incredibly obvious, and Fsmash and Usmash are really hard to hit.
I also just saw http://smashboards.com/threads/smash-4-weight-rankings.367479/ this, and it turns out Pikachu is actually REALLY light in this game.

 

[NobleClamtasm]

It's how most of my gimps go.
Super easy to just fall from the ledge and bair.

Pikachu still feels kinda eh. The lack of kill power is still incredibly obvious, and Fsmash and Usmash are really hard to hit.
I also just saw http://smashboards.com/threads/smash-4-weight-rankings.367479/ this, and it turns out Pikachu is actually REALLY light in this game.

The lack of a c-stick may be a factor in your problems. In my experience, I find no trouble finishing off a stock with an usmash. I feel that he has plenty of opportunities to land one since it's quick enough to be used as a punish, can follow up reliably from a grounded fair and is an OoS option. Some things to keep in mind is to save usmash for the final blow to prevent it from getting stale, and that the move is significantly weaker when hitting with the maxed range sourspot.
His fsmash is the same spacing tool he's had in previous games, but now with a more obvious sweetspot. Some things to note about fsmash: it can now be used out of a pivot, and now that shielding is so quick in Smash 4, you can fsmash quickly after dropping shield.

 

[Leaf.]

Yeah. I was playing online, lack of a cstick and minor lag could definitely be contributing to my issues.
We'll see how things play out in time, I'm sure. Even with the issues, I'm looking forward to getting the full version myself.

 

[TL?]

Playing pikachu makes me really want a c stick or a gamecube controller. He seems very solid, but things are hard to execute on the 3ds. His full potential might not be clear until the wii-u version comes out. He still has KO power, but it comes a little later than some other characters. The fact that he has kill moves at all puts him in a good spot. Falling fair to up smash, raw side smash are good enough and you can keep these fresh until you need to kill. He can also go pretty deep on edge guards and drag people down with his multihit moves.

 

[Soul.]

Eh. I can consistently short hop autocancel DAir without the C-Stick. I know that needed the C-Stick to work pretty well, but I can do the thing without it.
Forward throw can be followed up by up smash, but I don't know if it's guaranteed. It should work in extremely low percents. Falling FAir to Up tilt works. It can edgeguard with BAir. Pikachu still has K.O power. As long as its K.O moves don't get stalled, they should start K.O'ing around 110%.

 

[Jmacz]

Found a nice combo, haven't seen in mentioned. I just hit it on Mega man at a really low percent.

Dash attack -> Sliding Up smash -> Forward Smash

It knocked him off stage to so someone better than me could probably do a lot more with it. If there is a name for when you slide when doing a smash while running then I don't know or forgot it lol. I forgot a lot of the lingo.

 

[TL?]

Found a nice combo, haven't seen in mentioned. I just hit it on Mega man at a really low percent.

Dash attack -> Sliding Up smash -> Forward Smash

It knocked him off stage to so someone better than me could probably do a lot more with it. If there is a name for when you slide when doing a smash while running then I don't know or forgot it lol. I forgot a lot of the lingo.

I hate to be that guy, but this really doesn't sound like it combos. Is this more of a string or is there some sort of trick here to do all of these fast enough so they can't air dodge out?

 

[Leaf.]

That's definitely a string. Usmash never seems to combo into Fsmash because they both take too long. And dash attack launches too far to follow up fast enough.

 

[Jmacz]

I hate to be that guy, but this really doesn't sound like it combos. Is this more of a string or is there some sort of trick here to do all of these fast enough so they can't air dodge out?

My mistake, I didn't realize the difference. And I charged the F smash up before it hit, I hit it the two times I attempted it against a level 9 Villager. It was harder to hit it against a level 1 for whatever reason. I may of just gotten lucky, but it isn't really hard to replicate and I just assumed me messing up was because I'm not very good.

 

[Leaf.]

Level 9s always seem to air dodge. Its easy to punish, but a real person can jump just as soon as the CPU can air dodge.
It makes for great reads if it goes off, but if they just jump you're gonna get hit.

 

[SirroMinus1]

Trapping them with bair offstage and fastfalling actually seems really good if you can pull it off consistently. You can easily take them right to the bottom of the screen.

Yea especially if you hit them with a B-air off stage while facing there direction.

 

[Doon]

sorry guys there is so much to read and its hard when you work and live with family to keep up with it all!!

could anyone inform me so far on what the current research is on pikachu being a high tier in smash 4? i loved the demo but i had no one to play it with unfortunately.. how does he compare with other match ups?

 

[ChikoLad]

Aaaand the third thread that needs to see this:

Pikachu players, don't use Down-B against Rosalina. Especially off stage. It's a death wish.

https://vine.co/v/OZEVO0BUAlJ

 

[Leaf.]

That's absolutely hilarious.

 

[ChikoLad]

That's absolutely hilarious.

I was in class (well just finishing up more like, tutor was already gone) when I saw it and actually laughed out loud a little.

 

[Soul.]

Lol. Thunder is a bad choice against Rosalina. Maybe Pikachu players will have to find other ways to beat her in a match, or just play defensively.

 

[Leaf.]

I don't think thunder is going to be that pivotal in matchups anyway, really. It's not that good of a move.

 

[Angiance]

We'll find uses~

 

[Psyant]

Doing alright on For Glory with Pika. Bit hard to get kills but honestly it feels like he has a really strong neutral game compared to most characters, and his combo game is more exceptional among the cast than I thought from playing the demo.

Just sent a Marth player from the ceiling to the bottom blast zone with a thunder spike and it felt sooo good.

 

[Angiance]

^
Keep on shockin pika\/\/

 

[E-ColeWorld]

sooo how yall liking the game overall?

 

[Muhznit]

So I found a thing with Pikachu. I'm not sure if I could call it a combo or anything, but it's a nice way to take someone from 0-30.

http://gfycat.com/CandidUnlinedAfricangoldencat
http://gfycat.com/MindlessHollowFruitbat

Those poor Foxes, thinking we can't chaingrab anymore. :B

 

[Psyant]

^ Looks like it's technically escapable but you could probably land it fairly often.

I'm finding Dtilt > Run forward > Jab (reset) x3 > charged Fmash really cool. Dtilt is fast and at the % where it just begins to knock them down (around 85% on most characters iirc) it sends them to the floor so quickly that many people fail to tech in time. You can also use the jabs knockback to space yourself perfectly for the sweetspot of Fsmash (the middle of the hitbox), which will be very strong with the extra charging time. This string can actually get you an early KO.

Also, I need to find someone to test vectoring with, but Up Throw > Thunder is fairly reliable on very big characters such as Bowser even if they DI left/right somewhat. Take it with a grain of salt but it works the vast majority of the time against the training mode lvl 9s which vector randomly. In Bowser's case, it'll thunder spike him back into the strong hitbox of Thunder and KO if you up throw at around 130-140%.

 

[Angiance]

@ Muhznit
After F-Throw, it *looks* like one has a pretty good opportunity to act.

@ Psyant
D-Tilt has been broken since Brawl, 'n that chain sounds very nasty. Y'find anything else that can be linked from D-Tilt?

 

[Leaf.]

People can jump out of the F-throw generally. It's very rarely possible to hit a dash attack, or even rarer, an upsmash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaAaiWRzsjs
Not worried about Pika in doubles at all. This team should be banned.

 

[Angiance]

It more than likely *will* be banned. Y'know, cause that's exactly what smashers want is 17 second matches

 

[Leaf.]

I've been playing Pika the most out of this game so far.
I'm really not as worried as I was about his flaws. They are there, yes. But he's still feeling pretty solid. Maybe it's just the people I'm playing, but everything feels alright about him.

 

[Choice Scarf]

I wasn't sure at first but after getting used to the controls and the different timings of the moves I feel like Pika is definitely solid. I especially like him in teams.

One cool thing about this game is that you can watch replays of matches specific to characters in the Spectate mode. There isn't a way of finding specific matches beyond that though (so no player search), but if you get lucky you might see some high level play that you normally couldn't see.

Anyway, there was this one For Glory match where a Japanese Pika player (かろえぐ or "karoegu" was the tag) was using short hop Dair to jump over the opponent and punish them dropping their shield. It seems like a great mix-up complementing Fair. If I could just execute it properly instead of Dairing in place or Fairing I could comment more but lol nope not yet

 

[Angiance]

SH D-Air's startup has pika curling up in a ball sorta, and that's actually a very amazing trait Pikachu has with many of his attacks too; they shrink his hurtbox allowing him to slip past hitboxes from the opponent; lookin like a Smooth Criminal

 

[NobleClamtasm]

Pikachu has a pretty strong neutral game in general. In most matchups, he can poke shields with sh fair and thunder jolts at little risk. Quick attack is a really nice mixup, and can really catch your opponent off guard amongst the shield pokes and thunder jolt pressure. Landing the second hit can set up nicely for uptilt or uair combos.

 

[Coq1]

Just got rekt by a pikachu online, got NeutralB spammed then grabbed while I couldn't really figure out how to escape and then Uthrow to DownB to death ( is the follow up always guaranteed ? I couldn't evade it once ).