Where we are now - Examining the progression of Pika's metagame - Idea!

[Peregrinus Falconidae]

So I recently had an idea to write a monthly article delving into how much further Pikachu's metagame has moved forward every month, to be like progress markers of a sort which could let us examine everything we have achieved so far, and where we could go further.

This article would feature sections on Pikachu's overall brawl performance, potential, achievement, techniques, community, popularity, discoveries and tournament leaders among other things. It would also feature opinions and input from other people, if time permitted me to add more to an issue.
Obviously the first issue would be a very large one as it would contain everything that has happened since brawl's release, but later issues would be, as I mentioned earlier, simple progress markers and goal setting tools, which hopefully would benefit the community and bring us to a higher level of play.

I must hasten to add that as of the moment this is simply an idea, and I would like to see what the rest of the community has to think and say about it, and whether or not they think it is viable. It will be based on this response and encouragement that I decide whether or not to bring this idea to life, leave it alone, or pass it on to another to carry the flame. So please contribute, and all opinions and ideas are welcome.

 

[dekushrub]

It's a good idea but I feel that eventually the articles would be come stale because development of metagame cannot continue forever and will certainly slow down in growth over time.

 

[K 2]

Not a bad idea. It would be nice to have a centralized thread on the pika boards with all the stuff a pika user would every need. This could be a pseudo guide for pika, but without all the boring stuff (damage, etc.) There is a really nice thread with (15?) AT's for pika right now, so be sure to include a link to that or something. I think you should stick with it and see what happens.

 

[Zylar]

I think it would be a good idea for the history of Pika's metagame (SSB, SSBM, SSBB). But to review every month the metagame of pika would become like dekushrub said, stale over time. It's like writing down history as it happens, except it isn't an exact event you're writting down. Hard.
However, I would love to know the history and progression of Pika's metagame, I actually think that would be more helpful.
Things I personally want to know are the discovery/development of the QAC.

 

[Muhznit]

Not a bad idea. It would be nice to have a centralized thread on the pika boards with all the stuff a pika user would every need. This could be a pseudo guide for pika, but without all the boring stuff (damage, etc.) There is a really nice thread with (15?) AT's for pika right now, so be sure to include a link to that or something. I think you should stick with it and see what happens.

15 "Advanced Techniques"? More like random **** with Pikachu that would have your opponent giving you a weird look.

I pulled off the "Fast-Falled Thunder Cancel". Want to know what happened? WOLF DOWN SMASHES AND NEARLY KILLS ME. On the bright side, however, he didn't see my FULLY-CHARGED SKULL BASH coming.

 

[Peregrinus Falconidae]

A lot of those fifteen things to do are just random things that have odd effects, maybe 2 or 3 of them are actually useful very situationally, and the rest are just friggin' random, not worth your time.

 

[plasmid]

I think this would have been a much better idea when Brawl first came out. Would have been much more interesting. But that's not to say it's not still a good idea, it just might be shorter some months, and I can't see it lasting for very long. Maybe if you take all the existing techniques and cover one each month, along with a brief summary of what happened that month, then when done with that start on just the summaries.

 

[JPOBS]

what i think the forum really needs is a revamp of the official threads.

they are all pretty bad to new pikachu users. I want to pick up pikachu really badly and i've read all the guides but none of them give a GOOD explanation of how to QAC which is really wierd. the threads dont make it clear enough.

also, theres not enough discussion on lag times, situational usages of attacks etc. I guess im unfairly comparinging these threads to melee threads too much. By the end of melee, you had MASSIVE threads with great details on every attack. I understand that brawl is new so you wont have as much but the little you do have isnt explained very well already.

coming from a new pika users, those are just my thoughts on the forum and i hope that if you were to do this metagame progression thread series, it would be more indepth and helpful than the current "guides".

 

[Clear171]

The metagame mostly consist of normal moves, ATs, and character matchups (how to attack).

If you want to measure popularity/tourney results go to ankoku's tourney thread. http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165954

You have been talking about the metagame all along.

 

[supermario27mx]

what i think the forum really needs is a revamp of the official threads.

they are all pretty bad to new pikachu users. I want to pick up pikachu really badly and i've read all the guides but none of them give a GOOD explanation of how to QAC which is really wierd. the threads dont make it clear enough.

yes pikachu board revolution!
i learned ATs by myself because the pikachu boards are a joke compared to most of the other character boards here on smashboards
i posted in the matchup thread where everyone posts common knowledge over and over (at least post personal matchup problems/experiences) and it hasnt moved for over a week or so same thing with other threads on this section
we need
electric chair cinemas (video thread)
matchup percentages thread (marth65 pika35 that type of thing)
other boards take on pikachu (what do the lucarios think about pika? what about the falcos)
pikachu finder (FC location and that stuff)
advanced guide (framerates lag hitboxes timing all that stuff)
pikachu has so much potential

 

[plasmid]

what i think the forum really needs is a revamp of the official threads.

they are all pretty bad to new pikachu users. I want to pick up pikachu really badly and i've read all the guides but none of them give a GOOD explanation of how to QAC which is really wierd. the threads dont make it clear enough.

also, theres not enough discussion on lag times, situational usages of attacks etc. I guess im unfairly comparinging these threads to melee threads too much. By the end of melee, you had MASSIVE threads with great details on every attack. I understand that brawl is new so you wont have as much but the little you do have isnt explained very well already.

coming from a new pika users, those are just my thoughts on the forum and i hope that if you were to do this metagame progression thread series, it would be more indepth and helpful than the current "guides".

How to QAC

1. Quick Attack into the ground. Either straight down or at an angle, as long as you hit the ground you're fine.
2. Press Jump. Whatever button you use to jump is fine.

If you've done this correctly then Pika should have jumped immediately at the end of the Quick Attack, no lag whatsoever.
What you do from there is personal preference/situationally influenced.

Hope that helps. If not you can PM me you're questions.

 

[M15t3R E]

In addition to supermario27mx's superb ideas, we need a collaborated effort to make an in-depth guide of the ideal way to play Pikachu.
It must be well-organized and contain helpful tips for each character match-up.

Approaching, Spacing, Mindgames, Punishing, Comboing, Edgeguarding/Ledgehogging, etc.

It's an arduous task to undergo, but we can all learn from each other and become even greater Pikachu mainers.

 

[K 2]

15 "Advanced Techniques"? More like random **** with Pikachu that would have your opponent giving you a weird look.

I pulled off the "Fast-Falled Thunder Cancel". Want to know what happened? WOLF DOWN SMASHES AND NEARLY KILLS ME. On the bright side, however, he didn't see my FULLY-CHARGED SKULL BASH coming.

True. Most if it is random and useless stuff, but its nice to brag that pika has 15 different AT's. It sounds really fancy and makes us look good =0

 

[Muhznit]

We just lack a decent amount of devoted Pika players to pull all that stuff off.

As far as moves go, I've gotten a little bit of the range info for the ground ones through my own testing.... but it's really just for a handful of his ground moves. The other ones are too variable and difficult to measure with my methods. I haven't the slightest CLUE as how to go about collecting frame data.

Kuro's done an amazing job on his Pikachu Guide at AllisBrawl, but what do we have here? A damage guide, and one person's views on them who never updates?

In addition, no one but me seems to care about Subspace Emissary enough to learn what elements Pikachu's attacks fall into (Fun fact: Energy Attack Stickers are useless on him. Who knew?)

Too few SWF'ers play with items on, so not many would know that Gooey Bombs can be attached with QACs or that one of Pikachu's best items is the Beam Sword. What about the Trampoline-Assisted Thunder Cancel, though? Or the Timer-Assisted Infinite F-Smash? I can go on for a while about these...

We are pretty **** lacking in Pikachu info. Isn't Smashboards supposed to be one of the best Smash Bros. Resources? Come on, step it up!

 

[Peregrinus Falconidae]

Well to Mister_E, I have made a guide on Pika's mindgames and psychological aspects and it is still in progression. I have not bothered with ones on lag, frames and so forth as I have neither the resources no the time to do so. I can only contribute my part. Would you guys like to help me make a guide on things such as approaching, spacing and punishing (some of which are already in my guide)?

Muhznit, I do play with items tactics too as my frineds and I really enjoy the randomness of brawl when we're not playing seriously. Would you like to work together sometime to create a joint guide on Pikachu's gameply tactics with items on?

 

[Muhznit]

Well to Mister_E, I have made a guide on Pika's mindgames and psychological aspects and it is still in progression. I have not bothered with ones on lag, frames and so forth as I have neither the resources no the time to do so. I can only contribute my part. Would you guys like to help me make a guide on things such as approaching, spacing and punishing (some of which are already in my guide)?

Muhznit, I do play with items tactics too as my frineds and I really enjoy the randomness of brawl when we're not playing seriously. Would you like to work together sometime to create a joint guide on Pikachu's gameply tactics with items on?

Sure. I think we could use something like that. If possible, I'd like a little help with the moveset analysis guide I just started as well. I need multiple thoughts on Pika's moves and tips on how to format the thing.
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=197330

 

[Peregrinus Falconidae]

From a very disgruntled contributor

JPOBS and supermario27mx, I know that those things you write in your posts are what you want, but you are being quite impertinent. Sure some of the topics there are old, but some people, like myself and muhznit, are actively trying to contribute. The reason why I find your statements so irritating is that you are EXPECTING people to write these for you. If you want them so much, why don't YOU write them? Now if you're response is something like "I have a life", or "I don't have time", or "I can't be bothered" or 'I don't know how", have you considered that perhaps most of the people here would have the SAME answer? You must remember that as there are few people playing as Pika, there will naturally be few who are actually here to contribute. If you would like to know, you CAN always post in the forums asking how to perform certain techniques, that is how I learned since the end of July when I joined and I would say that I am now a decent Pika player (by the way, I also encountered many discussions on when to use moves and lag, spacing etc., try posting in the High Voltage clan topic asking about it, or even better, actually LOOKING at some of the topics on previous pages. There are explanations of QAC and the other things you wanted back there, as people have ASKED before and got ANSWERS). I am also quite offended about your opinion on my own mindgaming guide. If it is based on mindgames, do you EXPECT it to cover the basics? A mindgaming guide is for those who have the basic foundations of a good Pika game and want to improve from there. So while there may be little in the way of guides which, to quote myself, provide "foundations of a good Pika game", I apologise for that but there is sadly nothing I can do about it as I have neither the time nor the inclination to write a longwinded guide on move damages, range, spacing or etc. So please, think before you post, do not assume people here are going to pamper your every needs just because you ordered.

And supermario27mx, please don't post in that horrendous colour again as it is not kind on the eyes. There is no need for such attention seeking tactics; most people read other posts. And IF you are going to use such font to attract attention, could you not have the decency to actually punctuate it a little? It would make it less of an eyesore at least.

 

[supermario27mx]

I (almost) always post in color!!!

sorry about irritating you but we do need some things mentioned. they dont have to be done right away if thats how made it sound but if we can get them up eventually that would be nice for many new people playing pikachu that have no idea where to start besides Dsmash. if you need another player to contribute i am more than glad to help since im the only pika in my region (so cal / northern baja) im sure we play different oponents consistantly and they play their characters diferently as well, plus i know my pikachu matchups, techs and all that stuff.
i never came in here w/ the intention of offending anyone just so we are clear on that
(english is my 2nd language btw so if anything is wrong gramatically or not making sense just tell me or something)

 

[Peregrinus Falconidae]

supermario, I thank you for your apology, and promise that from now on on the Pika boards at least you need not post in colour; most of us will read what you write no matter what. I also guess that if English isn't your first language I will let you go and apologise for criticising it then. By the by, though, I never really spoke English much until about grade 5 at school, and a few years have improved my English drastically!

 

[Peregrinus Falconidae]

So it seems the general consensus is that it would be best to examine a technique or skill of Pikachu's every month along with a bit on how much Pika in SSBB has changed during the month.

I'm trying to think about how this would work for the moment, but would anyone here like to take the idea and build on it from this point?