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Weekly Character Discussion: Pikachu

Anther

Anther

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 5, 2005
Messages
2,386
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
Fsmash Fsmash... Use it when you know your opponent has to land somewhere. Can't block that stuff..

Also, replace a lot of the moments you want to fsmash with Ftilt... that might be a personal problem of mine, but ftilt is just so much more of a life saver.

GW doesn't have a significant advantage over pika. In fact, as long as bair isn't ******, I think it's very in pika's favor. Smart fair approaching, fthrows to usmash or regrab, uair is just good... Never get tempted to bolt him from a distance. Mid distance at medium to high percents, and only thunder if you know it's gonna hit before they can pull the bucket out. GW has a really hard time landing his kill moves on pika if you don't run into his ****.
My personal rule is one bucket'ed attack per stock, preferably starting on the second stock XD.

Watch the turtle when he attacks with it, when it falls asleep before it bites either nair out of shield, usmash, or dsmash'em.

A2ZOMG said:
Also, Pikachu's air game IMO is hindered significantly due to bad landing lag time.
Click to expand...
You rarely ever should need to be landing any aerials besides fair anyway. Plus his air game is crazy good, better than most chars in the game.

I'd make sure all this made some sort of sense but I haven't slept in a very long time...
 
krehz

krehz

Smash Ace
Joined
Feb 10, 2008
Messages
618
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MI, USA
lol ya pretty much every time i play a GW i win for one, GW is easy to kill with QAC thunder because it takes him a couple frames to pull the bucket out..., just dont make it too predictable.......or u will face the dreaded bucket dump :p
 
Amazing Ampharos

Amazing Ampharos

Balanced Brawl Designer
Writing Team
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Pikachu vs Mr. Game & Watch is actually a matchup I know fairly well from the Mr. Game & Watch side, and it's definitely a good matchup for Mr. Game & Watch. One thing I think a lot of people aren't realizing is that you can't really just use the electric moves from "close" and avoid the bucket; any smart Mr. Game & Watch player will happily take the hit to get a charge in his bucket (Thunder is probably 2-3 charges so it's especially unsafe). I mean, let's say I take 30% filling my bucket; that's a huge win for me since I can kill you from 0%. I lose maybe 1/5 of a stock for your whole stock; I'll take that! Pikachu has nothing that can really pressure Mr. Game & Watch in a way that prevents him from landing Oil Panic either. It sounds like a lot of you guys who are having easy times are just running into Mr. Game & Watch players who try to use the bucket when they shouldn't. A good Mr. Game & Watch knows the timing of the bucket very well and won't be failing to pull it out often nor will he be so zealous with the bucket that he'll be taking many hits without getting a charge as compensation.

The bucket aside (since, yeah, a smart Pikachu will just stop using electric moves entirely once you have 2 charges and will never, ever use Thunder when you are really close to it), Mr. Game & Watch really scares Pikachu with his range and power. The turtle and the key beat out every move Pikachu has easily, and again thanks to the bucket, Pikachu somehow has to figure out how to handle approaching that wall of priority without projectiles. Mr. Game & Watch also hits way harder than Pikachu so trading blows isn't an option; Pikachu has to be landing more hits than Mr. Game & Watch to win.

The last problem for Pikachu is the grab game. Usually, Pikachu likes the way grab games go because he has two great chainthrows and is too light for most characters to chain. However, Mr. Game & Watch laughs it off by being even lighter (so Pikachu can't chain) and by having that amazing tech chase which is more effective against Pikachu than against the entire rest of the cast (to my knowledge) due to Pikachu's horrible, short tech roll. More than one kill move follows from this as well; Mr. Game & Watch really doesn't have trouble landing them against Pikachu.

Basically, Mr. Game & Watch just turns Pikachu's advantages on their head. Pikachu is good because he has a great mix of speed and power with a strong ability to fight both close range and long range. Against Mr. Game & Watch, Pikachu is the character with the inferior speed/power ratio and discovers his long range game completely gone while his short range game loses one of its best tools so thoroughly that the same type of gameplay is his foe's greatest tool. I don't know how Pikachu's other matchups go with him maybe having a worse one, but there's just no way that Mr. Game & Watch doesn't hold the advantage here. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's unwinnable or anything (I've had a lot of good, close fights against StealthRaptor's Pikachu), but there's a very good reason that absolutely no Mr. Game & Watch players ever list Pikachu as a bad matchup.
 
Stealth Raptor

Stealth Raptor

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Apr 18, 2006
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15,088
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Lol dont forget Ampharos i am the pikachu you have your experience from, and i have recently been giving you a lot of trouble, not winning every one, but winning a few here and there. it is definitly not the uber bad matchup that i once though (that now belongs to mk) but it certainly isnt hopeless. :p
 
gallax

gallax

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Joined
Apr 2, 2008
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Orlando(UCF), Fl
the marth made you cry? the pika was supposed to be a beast. it made me cry. good thing he won or else i would have been like...not a fan of that vid.
 
MiraiGen

MiraiGen

Smash Ace
Joined
Sep 23, 2006
Messages
710
It isn't that impressive because the Marth hardly even fought back. He just kind of stood there and waited for you to come to him.

Which I can't even begin to explain why is so stupid against Pikachu because he's so fast.
 
Terios the Hedgehog

Terios the Hedgehog

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Jun 25, 2006
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A lot of people don't feel like chasing down Sonic cause of his speed. Same reason probably. Sonic and Pika are fast enough to capitalize on any approach mistakes. They both thrive on controlling approaches. Especially Sonic.
 
5ive

5ive

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Mar 13, 2008
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lul k. Why is everyone so serious?

I know the Marth wasn`t the best you`ve seen, but trust me, it was a bad game on his end. And beast was an over statement. Sorry.
 
gallax

gallax

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Apr 2, 2008
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omg, i dont know where people find these pics. were serious because this is a stickied thread that talks about pika and the meta game. we discuss what makes pika good and bad here.
 
S

spacemanspiff

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
249
hmmm lots of mod/director discussion here. I'm a Kirby mainer and i've been trying to pick up Pika as a sub. i dunno if i just suck or something but i'm finding that the only way i succeed with my Pika is to camp. i'd love to be able to play an offensive Pika but his approach is so punishable (from my experience). i find myself spacing a bit outside my opponent's hitbox and just spamming N specials and punishing rushed entries with aerials/D smash/grab/ the odd thunder bolt. once i've got a 'combo' started i'm pretty ok since Pika has a pretty wicked tech chase but getting to that point takes a lot of work for me. thoughts?
 
M

mimic_king

Smash Lord
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
1,002
Pikachu is okay. He is definitely better than in melee, but nowhere near as good as in Smash 64.

His up b can now stun enemies for a second or 2. His down b can be spammed for a good 100-150%, but it can also leave you vulnerable if you stand on the ground. However, if you are on the ground when you do this move, you get a secondary attack. Pikachu will also shock himself and deal more damage to enemies next to him. If you do it in the air, you won't get the extra attack, but you will be less vulnerable. His forward smash does 20% the first time it hits. Not many characters have that ability. His b move can be used as an edgeguard, but it's not too effective. His side b can be used for recovery and can deal a lot of damage. His attacks are quick and you can follow up with a powerful attack.

Pikachu isn't a very good character, but he definitely isn't bad.
 
M

mimic_king

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Messages
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after reading all of the replies to my summaries, im going to go ahead and say that that means you disagree. en means in and contraire im guessing means contradict. Im taking French, but im only in French II.
 
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spacemanspiff

Smash Journeyman
Joined
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Messages
249
mimic_king said:
after Reading All Of The Replies To My Summaries, Im Going To Go Ahead And Say That That Means You Disagree. En Means In And Contraire Im Guessing Means Contradict. Im Taking French, But Im Only In French Ii.
Click to expand...
.......wooooooooow
 
S

spacemanspiff

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Nov 19, 2007
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hahaha if you have to explain to yourself what en contraire means then i hope you haven't graduated yet. YES i was being sarcastic... ooooh the suspense of my coming fate... LOL
 
M

mimic_king

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okay, yeah well im not that good at French. And too bad if I let your hopes down by saying this, but I will graduate, but not for another 3 years(4 counting this year). And once ive been recognized as class valedictorian i will laugh at you (though that may not happen)
 
S

spacemanspiff

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Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
249
...you can continue to laugh... and i still wont care... i got a 51 in grade 9 french back in the day... en contraire is SO close to english hahahha ooooh kiddies these days. anywho this is super off topic so its the last thing i'll say on it. i'll start posting again when someone says something about our little mouse friend
 
M

mimic_king

Smash Lord
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Messages
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pikachu's down b can be reflected by falco's reflector, but everybody knows this, unless you are stupid
 
Muhznit

Muhznit

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Apr 10, 2008
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404...
You're all wrong. Pikachu's a Beaver. A cute yellow Beaver.

Remember not to leave your Beaver exposed! ;D
 
M

mimic_king

Smash Lord
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
1,002
wow. you guys think you deserve to call yourselves pikachu players and you don't know what animal he is. tsk tsk.

everyone knows that pikachu is a pokemon.
 
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