Guide Pika's Matchups

-Chad- · Nov 6, 2006

A Link player I play every now and then likes to downthrow -> dair at killable percents on me, so don't get grabbed if you're the Pika. upthrow -> to a lot of uairs is painful too. As an addon to sniping with jolts you can jump out with an aerial and knock him just out of reach of the wall for his hookshot.

If you're the Link...space well and don't miss a grab, or a charged USmash will be waiting. Pretty much everything N64 already said.

Delphiki · Dec 2, 2006

I have taken the liberty of linking to this guide from Pikachu's Smashwiki page, which can be found here:

http://smashwiki.com/wiki/Pikachu

If their is any additional information you'd like me to include, please let me know via PM. And great job on the guide.

Gimpyfish62 · Dec 14, 2006

hmmmmm

bowser vs pikachu even?

hmmmmm

advantage: Bowser IMO, but not by much
bowser's tilts are to good for pikachu, fortress is to good for pikachu, klaw is too good for pikachu, and uair mindgames are too good for pikachu.

i dont land TO MANY fsmashes, but they kill at like 20% heh

pika can combo **** bowser, but almost never into a kill, which is seriously bad for a bowser opponent. up smash can get bowser is bowser is careless, its a strong move haha

bowser edgeguards pika better than pika edgeguards bowser too

just throwing my 2 cents in

Zig-Zag! · Dec 14, 2006

Gimpyfish62 said:
hmmmmm

bowser vs pikachu even?

hmmmmm

advantage: Bowser IMO, but not by much
bowser's tilts are to good for pikachu, fortress is to good for pikachu, klaw is too good for pikachu, and uair mindgames are too good for pikachu.

i dont land TO MANY fsmashes, but they kill at like 20% heh

pika can combo **** bowser, but almost never into a kill, which is seriously bad for a bowser opponent. up smash can get bowser is bowser is careless, its a strong move haha

bowser edgeguards pika better than pika edgeguards bowser too

just throwing my 2 cents in

Advantage Bowser if they're playing YOU, gimpy.

I think Pika has two big advantages in that projectiles can be spammed and bowsers recovery can be gay'd. Bowser's big advantage comes when he uses his power to kill a pretty light character. But since pika's game is usually to never get caught in the first place, I think its as hard for bowser to use his advantages as much, if not more, than most any other character versus pikachu.

However, the match is far more even than most people might imagine, so if any pika comes up against a good bowser, they'd have to watch out for a lot of silly bowser tricks.

Gimpyfish62 · Dec 14, 2006

silly bowser tricks are my favorite afterall haha

<3's for all you pika mains, i dont really have a strong opinion here i was just kinda posting for the sake of posting

-Chad- · Dec 14, 2006

I haven't played a good Booser since I played TheReflexWonder at INNsomnia 4 =/

N64 · Dec 14, 2006

Whenever I play a bowser, granted I haven't played many supergood bowsers, I tend to just watch out for shield->fortresses, ftilt, his <100% getup attack, and try to not get above him, and I do alright. As soon as I hit him with something, it's bound to lead into 2-3 more aerials. And uair spike, while not that brutal against his recovery as it is against some, usually puts him in the position to get uair'd again, or naired, and bowser rarely has the recovery to survive the second one.

Bowser does have some neat tricks, and so does pika, but I think once you get past those it turns into a pretty even matchup.

Afro Justin · Dec 14, 2006

I occasionally play with Gimpyfish, and his bowser is very good. Atleast as far as bowsers go. You just have to play smart so as to avoid getting fortressed. There's not really any trick to beat bowser with pikachu, that I know of, but moreso things to avoid doing. Don't running upsmash their shield, or neutral shffl right into them. That will get you fortressed. Watch out for the get up attack off of the ledge when below 100%. Stuff like that. The less you get fortressed, the better you do.

Tope · Dec 15, 2006

You can bait fortress sometimes.

Fsmash is good if you hit with the tip.

Remember if they fortress your shield it's an easy Usmash out of shield.

StripesOrBars · Jan 3, 2007

I would think Shiek would be Very hard due to the CG on Pika.

Afro Justin · Jan 3, 2007

You would think right... But not just because of the CG. Because of... Every one of Shiek's moves being a combo starter. AND the CG.

StripesOrBars · Jan 3, 2007

True. Very true.

Tope · Jan 3, 2007

Pika can combo sheik pretty easily, strangely enough.

Also, once sheik is in the air she can't do much against Pika, which is her biggest problem against fox as well.

cablepuff · Jan 3, 2007

so in other words sheik does not **** pika its more like 6 to 4. not 7 to 3?

N64 · Jan 4, 2007

No, it's still a tough matchup for pika. It's just that pika can actually do something in the matchup if he manages to not get grabbed. A lot pika's hard matchups are characters that have a chaingrab on pika (the marios, shiek, ICs). Vs sheik, though, pika can actually pull off some combos if he gets through the tilts and needles. I think it's about right where it is at the moment.

Also, i'm thinking of moving Y. Link up to even. I've played a couple more since I made this, and it's a kind of annoying fight. His projectile is pretty good and pretty much destroys jolt, and if you get close dsmash hurts. His nair seems to beat yours prioritywise (though I could be wrong about this). His uair also rules out most approaches from above.
On the plus side, he's still susceptible to uair, as his recovery isn't quite as good as link's for the situation. He still has versatility in recovery, though, which can make edgeguards more difficult. Also, he's kinda light so usmash->thunder kills him a little quicker.
I just seem to get locked up against y. links that know how to use projectiles well, and the dsmash can be pretty brutal.

Afro Justin · Jan 4, 2007

I agree. Young Link is a pretty hard match-up for me... Though I enjoy it. I actually have a few in my sig... But Young Link's projectiles can totally lock you up if they are good with them. He isn't very heavy, so you can get him with lower % up smashes, though.
His nair seems to hurt me the most, and his down smash, especially as an edge guard.

Omega_Star · Jan 7, 2007

Hmm, perhaps I should try out Pikachu on Jigglypuff, a character who, when the player is good at resting, gives me trouble. Especially since there aren't really any Jigglypuffs in Oklahoma who are particularly good at resting

DaFlameking · Jan 11, 2007

I was playing for about an hour with my friend against his marth which is from decent - good and i noticed the best way to counter attack marth is to crouch cancel most of his attacks (if you do a trial and error scenario and you just cant avoid them fast enough) and put in a couple hits while your getting hit or before he lays another attack on you. This will keep you in range of him sacraficing yourself in the process to lay a couple hits, down-a's or down tilts and then get him by surprise with either a forward tilt or forward smash. It works 60% of the time which isnt a bad chance to risk.

I've also mixed it up with running up to him, air dodging to the ground and hitting him when i have open spaces.

Defensive and counter play works well it seems against marth.

( im not sure if this was posted before =/ )

nublet06 · Jan 24, 2007

hey, luigi main here. i recently played chu dats pikachu in a bunch of money matches and i won nearly all of them. on thing i noticed that you should tell the pika players to watch out for is a grab. luigi's down throw combos very well on pika.

down throw to jab to grab again
down throw to down air which is amazingly strong.
and down throw to jump canceled up smash.

most luigi players suck, and you will only see them in low tier tournaments usually. but its always good to know that you do not want to get grabbed by him. if you do get grabbed by him....DI to the side that his back is facing and you will be a lot more safe.

-Chad- · Jan 24, 2007

I hate fighting Luigi's. Pika can't combo him for anything, and he can combo the hell out of Pika.

Zig-Zag! · Jan 25, 2007

Luigi is one of the tougher low tier characters to face. You have to avoid its multiple air attacks and run it around lots. Try taking Luigi to Jungle Japes type levels and taking advantage of its terrible recovery.

G@BE · Feb 8, 2007

Its funny at A San Antonio tourny a couple weeks ago I managed to 3 stock Zulu one of the best jiggz players in the US.

n-air messes up luigi's that like to wavedash alot.

My Marth just always seemed to get owned by Zulu's jiggs cuz if i would miss a grab it was death.

N64 · Feb 23, 2007

I'm expanding upon a lot of the matchup explanations in hopes of giving people a better idea of how to play certain matchups. I've gotten a little more experience in some matchups since I made this anyways, so hopefully it's more in depth now.

So far I've done all the Very Easy, Easy, and Even matchups. I'll try to do the rest in the next couple of days. Let me know if I got anything wrong.

Additionally, should I move the Luigi matchup up to Hard? I can understand it being a difficult matchup for pikachu, and many people seem to agree. Is it enough to move him up though?

Edit: All matchups except Very Hard finished. I'm also working on a counter stage selection thing, so look forward to that.

D. Disciple · Feb 23, 2007

Nah I say keep Luigi in even, maybe after Captain Falcon so he's just right above the Hard category.

I mean his aerials have some outstanding priority over Pika, but I say if Pika can just stay under him for awhile, flicking him away and popping him up with aerials, and kinda retreating and spamming jolts it can be a pretty even match up.

BooThunder · Feb 23, 2007

awesome matchup hints. this type of thing is more useful than a guide for me and I hope someone decides to do it with every character

-Chad- · Feb 23, 2007

I'm all for Luigi being hard. He can outpriotize every aerial that Pika can do with one of his own, which really hurts Pika because that's a big part of his game. Luigi can wavedash to many smashes/grabs/tilts, and start rediculous combo's on Pika because it seems that his weight is juuust right for them.

Fighting against Luigi, I run and spam jolts, and use hit and run tactics cause you can't combo Luigi...I hate Luigi's.

N64 · Feb 26, 2007

All matchups and a Stage counterpicking section are finished. Give me some input on the stage selection section, any stages I should add or take off, and if/how I should change the layout/descriptions. And, as always, what parts I got right and wrong.

-Chad- · Feb 26, 2007

I would put Dreamland as a good counterpick vs characters who don't have a very good recovery, like Falco or Falcon. You can still get chaingrabs in on them too occasionally and the tall ceiling isn't a problem when you're trying to go for edgeguard kills vs them. As well as Pika surviving to even higher percents due to the big stage and wide walls and ceiling, and platforms to help mix up his recovery (as well as get away from Falco's gimp laser)

Tope · Feb 26, 2007

Against Luigi you have to play very ground based.

All of Pika's smashs are amazing against Lu.

N64 · Feb 27, 2007

I usually get owned if I smash too much. He just shields, wds forward, and dsmashes before I recover from the lag of any of them, except maybe usmash which doesn't have the reach or the duration of the other two. I have enough time to shield on occasion, but he also has the option to grab instead of dsmashing. I usually end up relying on ftilt and jolts a lot to screw up his wd game and coax him into the air, then go for uair spikes and edgeguards.

SheerMadness · Feb 27, 2007

Luigi should definately be put into the Hard category.

-Chad- · Feb 27, 2007

N64 said:
I usually get owned if I smash too much. He just shields, wds forward, and dsmashes before I recover from the lag of any of them, except maybe usmash which doesn't have the reach or the duration of the other two. I have enough time to shield on occasion, but he also has the option to grab instead of dsmashing. I usually end up relying on ftilt and jolts a lot to screw up his wd game and coax him into the air, then go for uair spikes and edgeguards.

Wow you thought like the same exact thing I was thinking when I read Tope's post..

Zig-Zag! · Mar 9, 2007

how the hell is fountain a good pika stage? I hate that stage.

N64 · Mar 9, 2007

Are you kidding? Fountain is my most common pika counterpick. You can crouch below the platforms and upsmash through them. You can dsmash on the platforms and catch most tall characters. There's almost always a low platform to DI to if you're getting chainthrown, and occasionally both platforms drop allowing you to chainthrow fastfallers.

I hate it vs. marths, and a couple other characters since there's little room to maneauver, but the low platforms work so well for me in most other matchups.

-Chad- · Mar 10, 2007

It's a matter of preference I guess. I ban the stage for fear of getting it on random cause I don't like low platforms and I don't like small stages with little room to move around in =X

T Bird · Mar 13, 2007

Hmmm... We have all the tough matchups, so who would be a good charecter to pickup to compliment pikachu?

MuBa · Mar 14, 2007

ROFL nice sig you got there Chad.

But according to the character matchup list it's obvious that IC, Marth, and Sheik gives Pika the worst time.

With Marth, you better either a) choose a different character or b) hope to not have a small, claustrophobic platformed level when fighting against him.

IC...I don't have much experience with them, so counterpick their *** with Peach.

And sheik...good luck fighting her, that ninja is a pain to deal with...

NeeQueoHH · Mar 22, 2007

Omega Ownage · Apr 1, 2007

I love pikachu more than pichu cuse pika can do mostly alot of these hints pichu cant b/c too weak... good 4 me!!!!! =]

PikaPika! · Apr 3, 2007

What in gods name did you just say?

Guide Pika's Matchups

Slackerator

Smash Champion

Banned (62 points)

Smash Lord

Banned (62 points)

Slackerator

Smash Champion

Smash Journeyman

BRoomer

Smash Master

Smash Journeyman

Smash Master

BRoomer

Smash Ace

Smash Champion

Smash Journeyman

Smash Lord

Smash Cadet

Smash Lord

Slackerator

Smash Lord

Smash Lord

Smash Champion

Smash Master

Smash Journeyman

Slackerator

Smash Champion

Slackerator

BRoomer

Smash Champion

Smash Master

Slackerator

Smash Lord

Smash Champion

Slackerator

Smash Apprentice

Smash Lord

Smash Apprentice

Smash Cadet

Smash Ace

Information

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