gallax
Smash Hero
Donkey Kong
General Discussion
Pikachu and DK are polar opposites. Pikachu is a lightweight with some good killing power while DK is a heavyweight with some good speed. Pikachu has a small frame while DK has a huge one. Now DK has one of the best killing power in the game. As Pikachu, it is your utmost duty to be as evasive as you can against DK. Slipping up will equal death. Thanks for Pikachu’s speed you should be living up till 130% where DK’s ftilt and back throw will start killing you. DK will normally be living till 140-150% unless you land an fsmash near the ledge or thunder2. Usmash > thunder starts working easily once DK is 130%, but can be started earlier dependant on DK’s DI.
Pika's Advantages
1) Agile and hard to hit
2) Easy to hit target
3) Projectile
4) Great combo game
5) CG to 60% with fthrow, and one to 50% on the ledge with dthrow
6) Faster in all but one aspect
7) Exceptional recovery
Pika's Disadvantages
1) Kill Power
2) Faster aerial mobility
3) Higher damaging moves
4) Range
5) Reliable SAFs in UpB and nB
6) 3 Spikes
7) Sakurai Combo
8) CSS is hard to tech with Pikachu [Player skill advantage]
Strategy for Winning
The Start of the Match:
99% of the time, the first thing that will happen:
Pikachu uses tjolt and DK charges DK punch till the tjolt reaches him.
I guarantee you that’s how it will start. Anyways, run up with your tjolt or fire anyone then go after DK. You do not want DK to keep a fully charged punch as it rain on your parade with his SAF and net a kill at 80-90%. Of course be wary of the 9-punch which will kill Pikachu at 65% with great DI. Some DKs tend to keep a 9-punch charged up then make a fully charged one once you get to fully charged kill range.
Also, you have a CG that works from 0-60% with fthrow and to 50% with dthrow on the ledge (in case you catch DK after an fthrow at the ledge) And the Dthrow tends to have DK panic and jump/UpB which is GREAT to punish. BUT remember! DO NOT GO FOR THE CG. Only do it if you are given the chance to. If you manage to grab DK, great! CG away. But don’t make it like “OMG I MUST CG BEFORE I COMBO HIM” crap. If you play like that, DK will have you ready to die before you can even land the CG.
Now then, you will have to keep DK pressured with tjolts and speed. Hit and run is what Pikachu is great for. You have many things that work on DK
Pika's Pressure Game:
You have a faster move set than DK by a few frames. You have to abuse this speed against DK. Hit him before he can hit you. DK is a big target so you have more combos than normal. Like dtilt > dtilt is a true combo at low %’s since DK is a big target and heavy he can even be hit THREE times in a row if he was in your face at 0% (lol unlikely though)
You want to pressure DK with SPEED. That means tilts, aerials and grabs. QAC can also work, but don’t abuse QAC. It’s a great mind game to throw out but it can be punished harshly since there is like a frame of hitstun so they can easily shield before you do anything else. However, QAC > rising aerial is great when they don’t react fast enough.
I like to juggle DK since his dair is slow enough that you can stop before it hits you if you are being smart about it. So I tend to utilt > uair juggle > nair to finish it then tech chase with more uairs. If DK lands on a platform, its uair pressuring time.
Punish DK with smashes. He's a heavyweight still so he still has punishable post lag. Fsmash deals a hefty 21% damage when sweetspotted. It’s great for punishing DK’s Up B landing on the stage. Usmash is good in case fsmash is too slow to punish. Don’t use dsmash though.
Also, DK’s moves extend his hurtbox, so if DK isn’t spacing his tilts/smashes you can easily shield grab his arms (not his hands).
Lastly, shield pressure works well on DK. Just be careful not to get shield grabbed as DK has good grab range (as much as DDD). DK’s shield is weak, so after a short while, you can easily shield stab it. You want to land behind DK with fair though to avoid being shield grabbed by him. He has a beastly grab game.
DK’s Pressure Game:
Of course you can’t like waltz in and smack DK around. He has a range advantage for a reason. All of Dk’s tilts are pretty devastating and save DK from having a big disadvantage against Pikachu.
Utilt has some good range so approaching from above tends to get negated by this move. One thing to note, if you happen to get utilt’d at low %’s quickly nair/uair (no lag on landing if uair) to interrupt his utilt > utilt combo.
Dtilt will combo into itself and if it trips to down B. that’s 30% right there, which is bad for a feather weight.
Ftilt does a great job at spacing. DK is gonna pimp slap your ***.
DK has a good grab game, he has 7 throws in total since fthrow gives him 4 new throws. Cargo Dthrow does great mind games when off stage. But since Pikachu is great at recovering, it doesn’t do much to him. Do be wary about what DK does after that since you have to recover still, which means DK is in the way to the stage. He can dthrow > ftilt at 0% and that’s about it.
Lastly, DK has grounded UpB to pressure you. It will put some heavy damage to a shield if all hits hit and DK can usually get away with it. You have to really be wary of it since it will do some damage if you aren’t prepared for it. If you manage to avoid it, you can easily punish it. If you happen to be behind him then just wait behind him as he can’t go backwards. Don’t jolt, it will cancel it out, instead run after him because he will most likely go away from you at least, then grab him. Another thing is you can attack it from above. But the biggest problem with UpB is the SAF frames. DK can turn the momentum around with this move if he catches you with its SAFs.
When in the air, DK’s bair will stop anything Pikachu has. It has more range than any aerial Pikachu has so be warned.
Killing:
Pikachu’s best moves to kill are fsmash, thunder, and nair. Usmash is good for killing but with a thunder follow up, you don’t get many usmash kills unless you usmash DK the first time when he is at usmash killing %.
Thunder is too easy to land on DK when you are pro at thundering. When you are good at thundering characters like Kirby, DK is like a walk in a park thanks to his big size. The only problem is that it takes more % to get him into thunder position.
Nair does a good job at killing once DK gets to 140%. Near the edge, nair will kill DK at that percent.
You have to be careful when trying to kill cause DK has SAFs and he isn’t afraid to eat your moves to kill you. DK Punch starts its SAFs at frame 18, so fsmash gets risky if he predicts it.
Ftilt him if all else fails.
Gimping:
Pikachu has two ways to attempt to gimp DK. A simple nair DK away and thunder. Attempting to nair DK away will end up with your eating his invincible (frame 4-6 however) Up B. But since nair is frame 3, you can hit him before it so I mention it. Or you could always bait the UpB and hit him out of it.
Thunder can work better since DK’s recovery is a straight horizontal line so all you have to do is wait till DK HAS to jump/UpB towards the stage and form a thunder wall a bit away from the ledge that he HAS to eat thunder. It tacks more damage and if you are bold you could wave bounce with thunder and try to net an early kill with T2.
You can also just keep tjolting DK. With good aim you can knock DK away, or tack like 20%+ with many tjolts.
DK’s Kill Game:
First and foremost, DK has the ever so famous, SAKURAI combo. It’s a side B to DK punch for those who don’t know. It’s pretty ridiculous, but how long you are stuck in ground depends on % and your button mashing ability. But if you get hit by side B at 50% and he has a 9 punch ready, kiss that stock goodbye. DK has fsmash and fully charged DK Punch to also kill you early. They kill you at 90%, but…
Pikachu is nimble enough to not get hit by side B, fsmash, and DK Punch, so DK has to use other means to kill Pikachu normally. But don’t get cocky; you HAVE to be trying to avoiding those moves because your life depends on it. Do not get intimidated either. Be wary of it, but don’t panic.
Now DK has two more smash attacks left. Usmash and Dsmash. Dsmash kills 105% sweet spotted. Usmash kills like 80% but it’s requires Pikachu to be above DK. DK will land it only if he is thinking ahead of you. Dsmash ,however, hits at frame 11, (10 if you were in the air) and well, that’s pretty fast. However, it is completely unsafe on block. You can fsmash him easily after wards.
DK’s uair is the next move on KO power. It kills Pikachu at 110% near the ground, but since it’s usually when you are in the air, it can kill as early as 100% It comes out in 6 frames so its hard to avoid without knowing its coming. And it will literally come out of nowhere.
Next, if you are good at avoiding uair, bthrow will kill at 130%, if you “don’t get grabbed” then ftilt will kill by 135%. Course if it’s stale then it’ll kill later.
Bair will also kill, but that will only hit Pikachu if he’s in the air.
If you didn’t catch on, DK’s best way of killing Pikachu is when he’s in the air. So keep that in mind.
Oh and the CSS is a ***** to tech on FD, but on SV and BF it’s easier and you won’t die if you fail to tech until 60%
[COLOR="Brown[SIZE="3"][/SIZE]"]DK’s Spikes:[/COLOR]
DK has 3 spikes, but you shouldn’t get spiked normally, being as small and agile as you are. But, you have to know how to avoid DK’s spikes first.
Dair: The basic aerial attack that just sends downwards. It’s slow and easy to see coming. Just watch DK and don’t be under him when he does it.
Fair: No.. you need some extreme mind games to hit pikachu with this.
Side B: Probably the easily spike to pull off as DK, as it has great mind game potential. First off, it levitates DK till after his headbutt. It’s a great spike to get people with when they are trying to gimp DK. So, if you try to gimp DK, keep an eye out for it, because if you don’t see it coming, you’ll be wishing you did.
So outside of spikes, you should recover just fine. If you side B carelessly, you WILL get spiked.
So yea, in the end it comes down to how well Pikachu can avoid DK and how well DK can keep up with Pikachu.
Stages:
Counterpicks: Frigate Orpheon, CS, FD (warning about CSS, use SV if you can’t tech it well/get caught by it a lot)
Ban: Luigi’s Manion, Brinstar, and Pirate Ship
Stage striking: BF and YI
Helpful Video's
??????????????????????????????????????????????????
Overall Matchup
55:45 Pikachu
General Discussion
Pikachu and DK are polar opposites. Pikachu is a lightweight with some good killing power while DK is a heavyweight with some good speed. Pikachu has a small frame while DK has a huge one. Now DK has one of the best killing power in the game. As Pikachu, it is your utmost duty to be as evasive as you can against DK. Slipping up will equal death. Thanks for Pikachu’s speed you should be living up till 130% where DK’s ftilt and back throw will start killing you. DK will normally be living till 140-150% unless you land an fsmash near the ledge or thunder2. Usmash > thunder starts working easily once DK is 130%, but can be started earlier dependant on DK’s DI.
Pika's Advantages
1) Agile and hard to hit
2) Easy to hit target
3) Projectile
4) Great combo game
5) CG to 60% with fthrow, and one to 50% on the ledge with dthrow
6) Faster in all but one aspect
7) Exceptional recovery
Pika's Disadvantages
1) Kill Power
2) Faster aerial mobility
3) Higher damaging moves
4) Range
5) Reliable SAFs in UpB and nB
6) 3 Spikes
7) Sakurai Combo
8) CSS is hard to tech with Pikachu [Player skill advantage]
Strategy for Winning
The Start of the Match:
99% of the time, the first thing that will happen:
Pikachu uses tjolt and DK charges DK punch till the tjolt reaches him.
I guarantee you that’s how it will start. Anyways, run up with your tjolt or fire anyone then go after DK. You do not want DK to keep a fully charged punch as it rain on your parade with his SAF and net a kill at 80-90%. Of course be wary of the 9-punch which will kill Pikachu at 65% with great DI. Some DKs tend to keep a 9-punch charged up then make a fully charged one once you get to fully charged kill range.
Also, you have a CG that works from 0-60% with fthrow and to 50% with dthrow on the ledge (in case you catch DK after an fthrow at the ledge) And the Dthrow tends to have DK panic and jump/UpB which is GREAT to punish. BUT remember! DO NOT GO FOR THE CG. Only do it if you are given the chance to. If you manage to grab DK, great! CG away. But don’t make it like “OMG I MUST CG BEFORE I COMBO HIM” crap. If you play like that, DK will have you ready to die before you can even land the CG.
Now then, you will have to keep DK pressured with tjolts and speed. Hit and run is what Pikachu is great for. You have many things that work on DK
Pika's Pressure Game:
You have a faster move set than DK by a few frames. You have to abuse this speed against DK. Hit him before he can hit you. DK is a big target so you have more combos than normal. Like dtilt > dtilt is a true combo at low %’s since DK is a big target and heavy he can even be hit THREE times in a row if he was in your face at 0% (lol unlikely though)
You want to pressure DK with SPEED. That means tilts, aerials and grabs. QAC can also work, but don’t abuse QAC. It’s a great mind game to throw out but it can be punished harshly since there is like a frame of hitstun so they can easily shield before you do anything else. However, QAC > rising aerial is great when they don’t react fast enough.
I like to juggle DK since his dair is slow enough that you can stop before it hits you if you are being smart about it. So I tend to utilt > uair juggle > nair to finish it then tech chase with more uairs. If DK lands on a platform, its uair pressuring time.
Punish DK with smashes. He's a heavyweight still so he still has punishable post lag. Fsmash deals a hefty 21% damage when sweetspotted. It’s great for punishing DK’s Up B landing on the stage. Usmash is good in case fsmash is too slow to punish. Don’t use dsmash though.
Also, DK’s moves extend his hurtbox, so if DK isn’t spacing his tilts/smashes you can easily shield grab his arms (not his hands).
Lastly, shield pressure works well on DK. Just be careful not to get shield grabbed as DK has good grab range (as much as DDD). DK’s shield is weak, so after a short while, you can easily shield stab it. You want to land behind DK with fair though to avoid being shield grabbed by him. He has a beastly grab game.
DK’s Pressure Game:
Of course you can’t like waltz in and smack DK around. He has a range advantage for a reason. All of Dk’s tilts are pretty devastating and save DK from having a big disadvantage against Pikachu.
Utilt has some good range so approaching from above tends to get negated by this move. One thing to note, if you happen to get utilt’d at low %’s quickly nair/uair (no lag on landing if uair) to interrupt his utilt > utilt combo.
Dtilt will combo into itself and if it trips to down B. that’s 30% right there, which is bad for a feather weight.
Ftilt does a great job at spacing. DK is gonna pimp slap your ***.
DK has a good grab game, he has 7 throws in total since fthrow gives him 4 new throws. Cargo Dthrow does great mind games when off stage. But since Pikachu is great at recovering, it doesn’t do much to him. Do be wary about what DK does after that since you have to recover still, which means DK is in the way to the stage. He can dthrow > ftilt at 0% and that’s about it.
Lastly, DK has grounded UpB to pressure you. It will put some heavy damage to a shield if all hits hit and DK can usually get away with it. You have to really be wary of it since it will do some damage if you aren’t prepared for it. If you manage to avoid it, you can easily punish it. If you happen to be behind him then just wait behind him as he can’t go backwards. Don’t jolt, it will cancel it out, instead run after him because he will most likely go away from you at least, then grab him. Another thing is you can attack it from above. But the biggest problem with UpB is the SAF frames. DK can turn the momentum around with this move if he catches you with its SAFs.
When in the air, DK’s bair will stop anything Pikachu has. It has more range than any aerial Pikachu has so be warned.
Killing:
Pikachu’s best moves to kill are fsmash, thunder, and nair. Usmash is good for killing but with a thunder follow up, you don’t get many usmash kills unless you usmash DK the first time when he is at usmash killing %.
Thunder is too easy to land on DK when you are pro at thundering. When you are good at thundering characters like Kirby, DK is like a walk in a park thanks to his big size. The only problem is that it takes more % to get him into thunder position.
Nair does a good job at killing once DK gets to 140%. Near the edge, nair will kill DK at that percent.
You have to be careful when trying to kill cause DK has SAFs and he isn’t afraid to eat your moves to kill you. DK Punch starts its SAFs at frame 18, so fsmash gets risky if he predicts it.
Ftilt him if all else fails.
Gimping:
Pikachu has two ways to attempt to gimp DK. A simple nair DK away and thunder. Attempting to nair DK away will end up with your eating his invincible (frame 4-6 however) Up B. But since nair is frame 3, you can hit him before it so I mention it. Or you could always bait the UpB and hit him out of it.
Thunder can work better since DK’s recovery is a straight horizontal line so all you have to do is wait till DK HAS to jump/UpB towards the stage and form a thunder wall a bit away from the ledge that he HAS to eat thunder. It tacks more damage and if you are bold you could wave bounce with thunder and try to net an early kill with T2.
You can also just keep tjolting DK. With good aim you can knock DK away, or tack like 20%+ with many tjolts.
DK’s Kill Game:
First and foremost, DK has the ever so famous, SAKURAI combo. It’s a side B to DK punch for those who don’t know. It’s pretty ridiculous, but how long you are stuck in ground depends on % and your button mashing ability. But if you get hit by side B at 50% and he has a 9 punch ready, kiss that stock goodbye. DK has fsmash and fully charged DK Punch to also kill you early. They kill you at 90%, but…
Pikachu is nimble enough to not get hit by side B, fsmash, and DK Punch, so DK has to use other means to kill Pikachu normally. But don’t get cocky; you HAVE to be trying to avoiding those moves because your life depends on it. Do not get intimidated either. Be wary of it, but don’t panic.
Now DK has two more smash attacks left. Usmash and Dsmash. Dsmash kills 105% sweet spotted. Usmash kills like 80% but it’s requires Pikachu to be above DK. DK will land it only if he is thinking ahead of you. Dsmash ,however, hits at frame 11, (10 if you were in the air) and well, that’s pretty fast. However, it is completely unsafe on block. You can fsmash him easily after wards.
DK’s uair is the next move on KO power. It kills Pikachu at 110% near the ground, but since it’s usually when you are in the air, it can kill as early as 100% It comes out in 6 frames so its hard to avoid without knowing its coming. And it will literally come out of nowhere.
Next, if you are good at avoiding uair, bthrow will kill at 130%, if you “don’t get grabbed” then ftilt will kill by 135%. Course if it’s stale then it’ll kill later.
Bair will also kill, but that will only hit Pikachu if he’s in the air.
If you didn’t catch on, DK’s best way of killing Pikachu is when he’s in the air. So keep that in mind.
Oh and the CSS is a ***** to tech on FD, but on SV and BF it’s easier and you won’t die if you fail to tech until 60%
[COLOR="Brown[SIZE="3"][/SIZE]"]DK’s Spikes:[/COLOR]
DK has 3 spikes, but you shouldn’t get spiked normally, being as small and agile as you are. But, you have to know how to avoid DK’s spikes first.
Dair: The basic aerial attack that just sends downwards. It’s slow and easy to see coming. Just watch DK and don’t be under him when he does it.
Fair: No.. you need some extreme mind games to hit pikachu with this.
Side B: Probably the easily spike to pull off as DK, as it has great mind game potential. First off, it levitates DK till after his headbutt. It’s a great spike to get people with when they are trying to gimp DK. So, if you try to gimp DK, keep an eye out for it, because if you don’t see it coming, you’ll be wishing you did.
So outside of spikes, you should recover just fine. If you side B carelessly, you WILL get spiked.
So yea, in the end it comes down to how well Pikachu can avoid DK and how well DK can keep up with Pikachu.
Stages:
Counterpicks: Frigate Orpheon, CS, FD (warning about CSS, use SV if you can’t tech it well/get caught by it a lot)
Ban: Luigi’s Manion, Brinstar, and Pirate Ship
Stage striking: BF and YI
Helpful Video's
??????????????????????????????????????????????????
Overall Matchup
55:45 Pikachu
