Kefit
Smash Journeyman
While I consider myself to be a very good Pikachu player, there may nonetheless be aspects of his play that I am not aware of, don't bother with, or simply use incorrectly. Furthermore, playing this game is largely intuitive for me at this point, so my mental recollection of various moves and their uses may not be 100% accurate. Thus there may be errors, omissions, or things you disagree with. Whatever the case, please chime in and let me know, so I can modify the guide appropriately.
Credit goes to http://sho.s1.xrea.com/html/tuyokunaru_sho_hp/shonotuyokusimasyou.htm for the images that I have shamelessly stolen.
Introduction
Pikachu’s awesome. He’s fast, has the best Up B in the game, and has incredible combo options. He’s widely heralded as the best character in the game, and I don’t disagree with this ranking. But none of this is why I use him. I use Pikachu simply because he is the most fun character to use in the game. Nothing else in SSB64 is as rewarding as carrying an opponent across an entire stage with a long, improvised Pika combo.
Pros:
Quick and agile. Pikachu can run circles around most of the cast.
Powerful, versatile combo chains.
Uair is among the most versatile moves in the game, and leads into easy combo chains.
Crazy hitbox disjoints on tail attacks.
The extended double teleport is the best comeback in the game. Period.
Good throw to edge guard gimps.
Cons:
Lightweight and easily killed off the top of the screen.
Easily combo'd.
Crappy tech options.
Pikachu generally plays in one of two main styles, although good players will utilize aspects of both:
Defensive Gimper:
This Pikachu player hangs back, making careful, reserved approaches. His goal is to wait for his opponent to make some sort of mistake – leave some sort of opening - and then to utilize Pika's quickness to punish his opponent, usually with a throw. It only takes a couple of throws to get the opponent off the edge and vulnerable to an easy edge guard, and in some cases it only takes one throw to lead to an immediate gimp.
Offensive Overwhelmer:
As the name suggests, this style of player attempts to overwhelm his opponent with a hyperoffensive approach. The goal is to force your opponent into a mistake, or to pressure him into a vulnerable position. Although this playstyle leaves Pika more vulnerable than the defensive style, it will probably be more effective against high level players who aren't likely to make mistakes against your defensive game. It's also a whole hell of a lot more fun to play this way, for both yourself and the opponent
Moveset
The comboability and general synergy of Pika’s moveset is well known, probably largely thanks to Isai match videos. However, while Pika’s simple combos are fairly easy to perform, taking full advantage of his combo potential requires considerable skill and familiarity with each of his moves.
B Moves
Neutral B
Pikachu fires a little ball of electricity at about a 45 degree angle downward. This isn't a terribly useful move. It moves slowly, is easily dodged, doesn't stun much, and has a long startup and cool down that leave Pikachu vulnerable and prevent spamming the move. Still, it's the closest thing to a projectile that Pikachu has, and even in its crappiness it has a couple of uses. First, it can be used as a random poke to try and throw off an opponent's camping game. Second, it can sometimes be useful during edge guarding, although Pikachu has better, more aggressive edge guarding options.
Down B
Pikachu calls a vertical line of lightning down from the sky. Mostly used as a follow-up to an Up Smash to kill at lower percentages. Although some people use this move to edge guard, Pikachu almost always has more effective options at his disposal - either aerials if the opponent is low enough to hit with them, or pressuring the opponent's landing if he is coming in too high to make use of aerials.
If the lightning strikes Pikachu then his body will radiate a powerful cloud of electricity with very strong knock-back. It can occasionally be fun to try and mind-game an opponent into this, but it leaves Pikachu too vulnerable to consider it a serious weapon in his arsenal. However, it can be used as a combo finisher after Up Smashes or utilts. I'm not very good at this, and generally prefer to combo with aerials, so any input for ending combos with this move would be appreciated.
Up B
Pikachu teleports in the direction held on the control stick after the brief start-up period. Although Up B has to be used to start the move, the control stick can be moved to any direction before the teleport actually takes place. With proper timing, a separate direction can be input on the stick at the end of the first teleport to make a second teleport take place in the second direction. The second direction must be offset from the first direction by at least 45 degrees, or the second teleport simply won't happen (while this isn't entirely true, for all practical purposes it essentially is).
These aren't actually teleports, and Pikachu retains his hitbox during the entirety of both movements. He moves very fast during the dashes, but an opponent can still predict the path that he will take and hit him out of the middle of a dash.
If the control stick is returned to neutral at the end of either dash, then Pikachu gets an extra burst of momentum at the end of the movement. This extra burst is significant, and I'll be referring to this as the extended quick attack.
Pikachu will lag after landing on the ground from this move. The lag is more severe if one of the dashes causes Pika to actually impact with the ground. It's usually best to have the second dash be horizontal and finishing just above the surface on which you plan to land.
There are two main strategies for using this move as a come-back. The first is to simply fly over your opponent with an extended double quick attack, attempting to get as close to the middle of the stage (and far away from the edge guarding opponent) as possible. It's important to keep two things in mind when doing this. First, you want to land on a different platform than your opponent is standing on. The second is that you want to land as soon as possible after the second (usually horizontal) dash movement is completed. Failure to do either of these things will probably lead to an easy dash throw for your opponent.
The second main strategy is to try and sweet-spot the edge. Direct contact with the edge during either dash will cancel the move and leave Pika hanging from the ledge with zero recovery time. Hanging from the ledge leaves Pika with many options, and the cancelation of all recovery time keeps Pika from becoming vulnerable. However, lining up for the edge is tricky, and a keen opponent can often tell when you are going for the sweet-spot, predict your movement, and hit you out of the dash.
As I have mentioned before, the opponent can hit Pikachu at any time during his movement. Thus, it is important to change up your strategy from time to time. If the opponent concentrates on trying to block Pika's path through the air, then consider doing a single extended quick attack to land beneath him. If you usually go diagonal and then horizontal to get back to the ledge from a distance, then try going horizontal first from time to time. If Pika is close to the ledge then there are a wide variety of angles and paths open to you, so don't be afraid to experiment with odd angles and unusual paths.
This move has an important secondary use. During the startup period, before Pika begins the first dash, he is granted invincibility frames. Thus, Pika can use this move to escape combos and grabs that other characters would have no way of avoiding. If experience has taught you that jumping, rolling or DI'ing won't be enough to get you away from the situation, then try mashing Up B. Often you will be able to escape. Just be sure to quickly plan out a teleport path that won't leave Pikachu vulnerable at the end.
Smashes
Up Smash
Pikachu swings his tail in front and then above him, sending any opponent hit by this move upwards.
This move is very powerful in what it can accomplish. It's Pikachu's best combo starter at low percentages, since it sets most characters up perfectly for Pika's aerial combo chains. At high percentages it is effective for kills off the top of the screen when paired with Pika's Down B.
Unfortunately, this powerful attack is very difficult to take advantage of at high levels of play. Like most smashes, it comes out relatively slowly and has a laggy recovery time. An opponent who is skilled at spacing will probably never be hit with this unless Pika combos into it, and the laggy recovery makes it too risky to use the move in the simple hope that your opponent messes up.
And unlike other characters with effective Up Smashes (Fox, Mario, etc), comboing into the Up Smash is an area in which Pika is lacking. The only practical non-situational combo that leads into the move is an fair canceled on the ground into the Up Smash. However, this will rarely work on a skilled opponent, since Pika's fair is one of the easiest moves in the game to effectively DI against. Other aerials close to the ground can sometimes be followed-up by an Up Smash, but this isn't terribly common.
However, there are a number of important situational combos to be familiar with using this move. For example, at low percentages Pika can throw an opponent so that he falls just past a ledge, then dash to the edge and Up Smash before the opponent can recover (followed by an aerial chain). This happens a lot on the ground level of Dreamland.
A variation of this is seen in Hyrule. A forward throw to the left from the middle of the stage will send the opponent over and past the little step on the left side of the stage. Pika can follow-up the throw with a dash, run off the step with a uair, and then Up Smash before the opponent can ever hit the ground. These aren't the only situational combos into Up Smash, but they are probably the most common.
Finally, Up Smash can be used as a decent defensive move against overly aggressive opponents. The move has high priority, and it sweeps a substantial area in front of Pika. This creates a powerful wall of sorts that defeats many jump-in attacks. A high-level opponent probably won't walk into this, but it can be useful if you notice that your opponent is being overly aggressive and/or not spacing well.
Forward Smash
Pika sends out a ball of electricity a short distance in front of him. This move has a long start-up and a laggy cool-down. However, the ball of electricity has a powerful knockback, nearly infinite priority, and is completely disjointed from Pika's own hitbox.
The main use of this move is in edge guarding. Simply stand at the edge (or a few steps back if you want to be safe) and use the forward smash as your opponent gets close to the edge. Unless your opponent sweetspots the edge from below, they will get hit. You don't even need to time this particularly well since the attack has such a long duration.
But beware - high level players can and will sweet spot the ledge from below nearly every time with their comebacks. Against these players you will want to consider other edge guarding strategies, which I will discuss later. Furthermore, this move allows for really silly DI sometimes. Don't be surprised if your opponent manages to DI into the ledge and bounces straight up. Experienced players will also see it coming, and will try to avoid it. Since the move has such a laggy cool down, avoiding it once is usually enough for the opponent to make it back to the edge.
Forward Smash is typically too slow and laggy to use for anything but edge guarding. Even if you can hit an opponent with it in other uses, Pika has no good follow-ups thanks to the laggy cool-down.
Down Smash
Pika spins around on the ground, hitting opponents on both sides of him. I have not found an effective use for this move. The range is small, Pikachu's own hitbox is very vulnerable throughout the move, and there are no good follow-ups. Pika simply has better options, whether it be Forward Smash for edge guarding, short hop aerials for close attacks, or Up Smash as a continuation of fair and situational combos.
Tilts
Up Tilt
Pikachu quickly swishes his tail behind him and above his head. Although the tail swishes behind Pikachu, the tip of the tail extends in front of Pikachu at the end of the attack. Like all of Pika's tail attacks, the tail hitbox is disjointed. Thus, this move puts a disjointed hitbox on three sides of a grounded Pikachu player. An opponent hit by the move will be popped up vertically, regardless of which part of the attack's hitbox hits him.
This is a versatile move with important offensive and defensive uses. It comes out and finishes quickly, so using it won't leave Pikachu overly vulnerable. It also gives Pikachu a means to quickly hit opponents standing behind him while grounded, which can be very useful. However, this is by no means Kirby's utilt. It's not nearly as fast, nor does it have as much priority. I don't suggest spamming it with the hopes that your opponent jumps into it.
Offensively, the main goal of this attack is to put the opponent at the proper height in the air to be vulnerable to one of Pika's aerial combo chains. This height is generally achieved when a utilt is landed at mid percents. However, at lower percents a utilt can be followed up by another utilt, and sometimes another after that. Ideally the second or third utilt will send the opponent to the proper aerial chain height. Be careful though, as a good opponent can and will DI away after two or three hits.
Aerial chains are not the only offensive follow-up to this move. A utilt landed at low percentages can often be combo'd into a grab. Just wait for the opponent to fall close to the ground, then grab. Non-floaties generally can't recover in time to avoid this. This can be useful for **** tent combos (more on those later) or when Pika is close to the edge of a stage and you feel like going for a throw to edge-guard gimp rather than a flashy aerial combo.
Defensively, this move is usually used as a counter to jump-ins from above. Although a well-timed utilt will beat many jump-in attacks, I would not recommend using it to challenge high priority attacks such as Link's dair. The move cannot be spammed effectively, so you need to time it very carefully - you've only got one chance against any jump in attack.
This move will often be shielded by the opponent, and it's important to know how to follow-up on this. If the opponent is in front of Pikachu and utilt hits their shield, then they will generally be shield stunned long enough to follow-up with a grab. If the opponent is behind and facing away from Pika then there aren't any particularly effective follow-ups, but Pika won't be vulnerable to a shield grab. If the opponent is behind and facing Pika, then Pika will be vulnerable to a shield grab. In this case use another utilt or two to increase shield stun and push the opponent away, then jump or quick attack away from grab range.
Finally, this attack is not effective against an opponent at very low percents. It will stun for less time than Pika takes to recover from using the move, and he will be open for punishment.
Forward Tilt
Pikachu reaches out in front of him with a kick. Can be angled up, down, and forward. I haven't found much use for this move outside of situational combos. Although it is very fast, the range isn't great and Pikachu's hitbox remains vulnerable. It's almost always better to go with the disjointed hitboxes of Pikachu's tail moves, or with the speed and maneuverability of his aerials. Feel free to chime in if you have a differing opinion - I've simply never used this attack much, so I could be missing out on its potential.
Down Tilt
Pikachu does a low tail swipe in front of him. Low priority and power, and the attack isn't particularly fast. However, it has an impressive range and the tail hitbox is disjointed. Not a terribly useful move. The first instinct is to make use of this in edge guarding, but it's too weak and slow to be effective in that realm. The unique range of the move makes it occasionally useful as a poking or pressuring tool when the spacing is just right, but generally Pikachu has better options available (dash to throw, aerials, etc).
Other Ground Moves
Tap A Jab
Pikachu does a quick head butt. The move is very weak, with little to no stun even at high percentages, and the recovery time is significant. A single jab can be combo'd into a grab, although the grab input has to be entered extremely quickly after A is tapped for the jab. I find simply grabbing to be more effective than jab grabbing in nearly every situation. I primarily use this attack for canceling out fireballs. Aside from these the move has no practical uses that I know of.
Repeating Tap A Jabs
Pikachu does repeated head butts. Like most repeated jabs this is fairly useless unless you have an opponent trapped by a wall, but even then the opponent should be able to DI out of it quickly enough to avoid receiving a lot of damage.
Grab and Throw
Pikachu has one of the best grabs in the game. It's got a longer than usual range, Pikachu is quick enough to have a good dash grab game, and the actual throws are also very powerful. The back throw is one of Pikachu's best killing moves, while the forward throw often combos into a dash throw or ledge run-off aerial gimping at low percents. But while this grab is very good, Pikachu cannot over-rely on it at high levels of play. High level opponents can and will space properly to avoid the grab.
Landing the grab at high levels usually requires a bit of finesse. The following are the most common ways it happens: dash dancing to avoid an opponent's attack and then countering with a dash grab; shield grabbing when the opponent makes a mistake in their shield pressuring; canceling an fair into a grab or dash grab (unlike canceling into the Up Smash, this often works even if the opponent DIs well); trapping the opponent in shield stun with aerials or utilt and then grabbing; or simply using a quick dash grab to punish an opponent's mistake (failed z-cancel, etc). Furthermore, Pika's dash-grab is quick enough that even high level players can sometimes be caught with vanilla, unexpected dash-grabs. Just don't rely on them.
At mid percents and higher, you generally want to throw your opponent in the direction that will get him closest to the edge of the level. This isn't quite as simple as throwing in the direction of the closest edge, since Pika's back throw is significantly more powerful than his forward throw. Pretty obvious stuff.
At low percents you will want to either forward throw into another throw or a combo (more on forward throw follow-up combos later), or throw off the ledge and immediately take chase with aggressive edge guarding for a nice gimpy kill.
Aerials
Pikachu is far more mobile in the air than he is on the ground, and his aerial moveset is much, much better than his ground moveset. While his ground moves have powerful situation uses, they either have limited use (Forward Smash) or are primarily defensive moves with good offensive follow-up options (Up Smash, utilt). The aerials, on the other hand, are all powerful offensive options when mixed with Pika's aerial mobility.
Spacing is king on these moves. They form the basis of Pika's offensive approach, but have fewer situational uses than most of the ground moves. Their effective use comes mostly from becoming intimately familiar with the hitbox, range, and priority of each attack when combined with Pika's aerial mobility and movement options.
nair
Pikachu kicks one foot out on front of him. This is a sex kick, so it has a long duration but is significantly more powerful at the beginning of the attack than it is at the end. The attack hitbox extends from the tip of Pikachu's outstretched leg and across his butt to the back of his character model. Thus the attack can be effective even if Pika is not facing your opponent. However, there is no attack hitbox on the upper parts of Pika's character model.
At first glance this move does not appear to be anything special. The range is short, and the attack hitbox is small compared to Pika's defense hitbox. However, the tip of Pika's outstretched leg has very good priority and surprisingly good knock-back. Well spaced use of this attack can create a difficult to breach wall of priority during Pika's approach game. The attack also comes out faster than any of Pika's other aerials, making it a good pressuring or defensive move on a short hop when close to and facing your opponent.
This attack is important in aerial combo chains. At low percents it functions as a stronger knock-back uair, and at high percentages it functions as a good combo finisher when you don't have enough time to hit with bair. The attack's knock-back has a significant vertical component to it, which allows it to function as a combo starter even against grounded opponents at the right percentages.
fair
Pika does an electric barrel roll that functions as a drill, hitting the opponent several times. Pikachu's entire body functions as an attack hitbox throughout the duration of the move.
Although this move has low priority, it has a surprising range that extends a bit past the tip of Pikachu's head. The full body hitbox also makes the move useable in a wide range of approach angles. It's still not an ideal approach move, but its powerful combo follow-ups and near complete lack of aerial recovery time after the final hit of the drill make it worthwhile to intelligently mix this in with Pika's more powerful aerials when approaching.
The main combo follow-ups with this attack come from canceling it on the ground into an Up Smash, grab, or dash grab. A rising fair used in an aerial chain can also be followed up almost immediately with a uair or an nair, although I typically only have to do this when I mess up and end up using fair by mistake.
A note on DI - this attack is one of the most easily DI'd against in the game, substantially more so than even other drills. You need to pay attention to your opponent's DI when trying to cancel this into a ground follow-up, as it is very possible that he will DI out of the range of Up Smash. In this case be sure to follow-up with a dash grab instead. However, a savvy opponent will sometimes DI through the attack to end up behind Pikachu, in which case Pika is vulnerable to punishment while he finishes out the drill. Try to avoid this by making sure you start the drill from the tip of Pika's head, and by trying to control horizontal movement during the attack.
dair
Pika does a vertical electric spin. Like fair, Pika's entire body becomes his attack hitbox for the duration of the move. Unlike fair, this is not a drill. It hits once, with significant knockback.
This is Pika's one situational aerial. Its low priority and range make it ineffective for offensive approaches. However, it still has effective uses due to its long duration and the fact that its hitbox extends below Pika's own vertical position (none of the other aerials do this).
First, this attack will place an attack hitbox lower to the ground when used immediately after a short hop than any of Pikachu's other aerials will. Thus, this attack can sometimes continue combos against an opponent flying low to the ground when nothing else in Pikachu's arsenal will. dair's low hitbox and fast speed coming out also make it a useful pressuring and tech chasing tool, but always keep in mind that it is easily beaten in priority by many attacks.
The second use is to abuse the attack's long duration and large hitbox in situations that don't call for high priority but do call for good timing and position. Examples of this include hitting an opponent pulling themselves up a ledge and interrupting a quick attacking Pikachu in the middle of one of his dashes.
bair
Pikachu extends one of this legs behind him in a powerful kick. The attack hitbox extends from the tip of Pika's outstretched leg to about where Pika's other leg hangs down from his torso. The front third or so of Pika's character model has no attack hitbox.
This is Pika's most powerful aerial in terms of priority and knock-back. It's similar to nair in terms of its ability to function as a wall of priority if spaced well. However, in exchange for increased power and priority comes a slower start-up for the attack. While Pika has enough time to effectively uair and nair in the same short hop, he cannot effectively use bair on the same short hop with any other aerial. Otherwise bair is similar to nair in offensive and approach uses, albeit on opponents who are behind Pikachu rather than opponents in front.
In combos this move typically functions as a finisher. At lower percents it can combo into another bair in some situations, although this is fairly uncommon and shouldn't be counted on. It also functions as situational combo starter in some cases. I'll cover this later in the combos section.
Finally, this attack is one of Pika's best killers at percentages that are high enough for combos to be ineffective. A stray hit with a single bair, or a utilt followed up by a bair are fairly common ways for killing a high percentage opponent.
uair
Pikachu does a somersault, swishing his tail in an arc as he does so. The tail starts diagonally down and behind Pikachu, moves over his head, and ends more or less horizontally in front of him. The entire tail carries an attack hitbox throughout the course of the attack. Like all of Pikachu's tail attacks, the tail hitbox is disjointed from Pika's defense hitbox. Pika's main body carries no attack hitbox.
This is the single best move in Pikachu's moveset. As the diagram above shows, it places an arc of disjointed tail hitbox around much of Pikachu's body. It doesn't have a huge amount of knock-back, but that aspect just makes the attack perfectly suited for comboing. However, the priority of the tail is fairly low; this attack is not suitable for creating priority walls like described with nair and bair. Fortunately, the arcing nature of the tail swish means that uair will sometimes simply go around an opponent's attack hitbox to make contact with a defense hitbox.
The attack has a deceptively large range both in front and in back of Pikachu, which can be hard to grasp due to how quickly the tail moves. The range in front is especially impressive, but the tail is only fully extended in the front for a few frames. Playing Pikachu requires becoming intimately familiar with the timing range of each part of the tail's movement, as using uair requires different timing and spacing depending on which part of the tail arc you want to hit the opponent.
The move also comes out and finishes very quickly, allowing two full uairs (or uair followed by an nair) to be used on a single short hop if you can move your fingers quickly enough. This won’t always place a uair where you need it though, so don’t mindlessly spam short hop double uairs. In addition to being quick, this attack never has any landing lag and thus never needs to be z-canceled.
Outside of combos, this move is primarily used for offensive approaches and poking. The large arc of the tail makes uair appropriate for both backwards and forwards approaches, usually mixed with either bair or nair. Both forwards and backwards uairs can be timed to hit even the shortest grounded opponents, and a successful hit can often be followed up with a grab even if the opponent shields.
And last but certainly not least, uair is the single most important move used in Pika's aerial combo chains. uair often combos into another uair, and sometimes a third and a forth! And those are just the simple combos. Mixing it up with nairs and utilts can often produce truly disgusting results. In addition, uair is key in several situational gimping combos. I'll get into all this more in the combos section.
A note on uair's knock-back: the direction the opponent is knocked back changes substantially depending on what part of the tail arc hits. If the pink part of the arc illustrated in the diagram hits the opponent, then there will be more vertical and less horizontal knock-back. However, an opponent hit by the blue part of the arc will primarily be sent forwards, away from Pikachu. Both of these types of knock-back have important uses in Pika's aerial combos, and the combo chains can typically function whether Pika is moving forwards or backwards. However, it is important to comprehend this difference in knock-back, as it can substantially change the details of the combo that you end up chaining together.
Coming soon(?): Combos and Matchups!
Credit goes to http://sho.s1.xrea.com/html/tuyokunaru_sho_hp/shonotuyokusimasyou.htm for the images that I have shamelessly stolen.
Introduction
Pikachu’s awesome. He’s fast, has the best Up B in the game, and has incredible combo options. He’s widely heralded as the best character in the game, and I don’t disagree with this ranking. But none of this is why I use him. I use Pikachu simply because he is the most fun character to use in the game. Nothing else in SSB64 is as rewarding as carrying an opponent across an entire stage with a long, improvised Pika combo.
Pros:
Quick and agile. Pikachu can run circles around most of the cast.
Powerful, versatile combo chains.
Uair is among the most versatile moves in the game, and leads into easy combo chains.
Crazy hitbox disjoints on tail attacks.
The extended double teleport is the best comeback in the game. Period.
Good throw to edge guard gimps.
Cons:
Lightweight and easily killed off the top of the screen.
Easily combo'd.
Crappy tech options.
Pikachu generally plays in one of two main styles, although good players will utilize aspects of both:
Defensive Gimper:
This Pikachu player hangs back, making careful, reserved approaches. His goal is to wait for his opponent to make some sort of mistake – leave some sort of opening - and then to utilize Pika's quickness to punish his opponent, usually with a throw. It only takes a couple of throws to get the opponent off the edge and vulnerable to an easy edge guard, and in some cases it only takes one throw to lead to an immediate gimp.
Offensive Overwhelmer:
As the name suggests, this style of player attempts to overwhelm his opponent with a hyperoffensive approach. The goal is to force your opponent into a mistake, or to pressure him into a vulnerable position. Although this playstyle leaves Pika more vulnerable than the defensive style, it will probably be more effective against high level players who aren't likely to make mistakes against your defensive game. It's also a whole hell of a lot more fun to play this way, for both yourself and the opponent
Moveset
The comboability and general synergy of Pika’s moveset is well known, probably largely thanks to Isai match videos. However, while Pika’s simple combos are fairly easy to perform, taking full advantage of his combo potential requires considerable skill and familiarity with each of his moves.
B Moves
Neutral B
Pikachu fires a little ball of electricity at about a 45 degree angle downward. This isn't a terribly useful move. It moves slowly, is easily dodged, doesn't stun much, and has a long startup and cool down that leave Pikachu vulnerable and prevent spamming the move. Still, it's the closest thing to a projectile that Pikachu has, and even in its crappiness it has a couple of uses. First, it can be used as a random poke to try and throw off an opponent's camping game. Second, it can sometimes be useful during edge guarding, although Pikachu has better, more aggressive edge guarding options.
Down B
Pikachu calls a vertical line of lightning down from the sky. Mostly used as a follow-up to an Up Smash to kill at lower percentages. Although some people use this move to edge guard, Pikachu almost always has more effective options at his disposal - either aerials if the opponent is low enough to hit with them, or pressuring the opponent's landing if he is coming in too high to make use of aerials.
If the lightning strikes Pikachu then his body will radiate a powerful cloud of electricity with very strong knock-back. It can occasionally be fun to try and mind-game an opponent into this, but it leaves Pikachu too vulnerable to consider it a serious weapon in his arsenal. However, it can be used as a combo finisher after Up Smashes or utilts. I'm not very good at this, and generally prefer to combo with aerials, so any input for ending combos with this move would be appreciated.
Up B
Pikachu teleports in the direction held on the control stick after the brief start-up period. Although Up B has to be used to start the move, the control stick can be moved to any direction before the teleport actually takes place. With proper timing, a separate direction can be input on the stick at the end of the first teleport to make a second teleport take place in the second direction. The second direction must be offset from the first direction by at least 45 degrees, or the second teleport simply won't happen (while this isn't entirely true, for all practical purposes it essentially is).
These aren't actually teleports, and Pikachu retains his hitbox during the entirety of both movements. He moves very fast during the dashes, but an opponent can still predict the path that he will take and hit him out of the middle of a dash.
If the control stick is returned to neutral at the end of either dash, then Pikachu gets an extra burst of momentum at the end of the movement. This extra burst is significant, and I'll be referring to this as the extended quick attack.
Pikachu will lag after landing on the ground from this move. The lag is more severe if one of the dashes causes Pika to actually impact with the ground. It's usually best to have the second dash be horizontal and finishing just above the surface on which you plan to land.
There are two main strategies for using this move as a come-back. The first is to simply fly over your opponent with an extended double quick attack, attempting to get as close to the middle of the stage (and far away from the edge guarding opponent) as possible. It's important to keep two things in mind when doing this. First, you want to land on a different platform than your opponent is standing on. The second is that you want to land as soon as possible after the second (usually horizontal) dash movement is completed. Failure to do either of these things will probably lead to an easy dash throw for your opponent.
The second main strategy is to try and sweet-spot the edge. Direct contact with the edge during either dash will cancel the move and leave Pika hanging from the ledge with zero recovery time. Hanging from the ledge leaves Pika with many options, and the cancelation of all recovery time keeps Pika from becoming vulnerable. However, lining up for the edge is tricky, and a keen opponent can often tell when you are going for the sweet-spot, predict your movement, and hit you out of the dash.
As I have mentioned before, the opponent can hit Pikachu at any time during his movement. Thus, it is important to change up your strategy from time to time. If the opponent concentrates on trying to block Pika's path through the air, then consider doing a single extended quick attack to land beneath him. If you usually go diagonal and then horizontal to get back to the ledge from a distance, then try going horizontal first from time to time. If Pika is close to the ledge then there are a wide variety of angles and paths open to you, so don't be afraid to experiment with odd angles and unusual paths.
This move has an important secondary use. During the startup period, before Pika begins the first dash, he is granted invincibility frames. Thus, Pika can use this move to escape combos and grabs that other characters would have no way of avoiding. If experience has taught you that jumping, rolling or DI'ing won't be enough to get you away from the situation, then try mashing Up B. Often you will be able to escape. Just be sure to quickly plan out a teleport path that won't leave Pikachu vulnerable at the end.
Smashes
Up Smash
Pikachu swings his tail in front and then above him, sending any opponent hit by this move upwards.
This move is very powerful in what it can accomplish. It's Pikachu's best combo starter at low percentages, since it sets most characters up perfectly for Pika's aerial combo chains. At high percentages it is effective for kills off the top of the screen when paired with Pika's Down B.
Unfortunately, this powerful attack is very difficult to take advantage of at high levels of play. Like most smashes, it comes out relatively slowly and has a laggy recovery time. An opponent who is skilled at spacing will probably never be hit with this unless Pika combos into it, and the laggy recovery makes it too risky to use the move in the simple hope that your opponent messes up.
And unlike other characters with effective Up Smashes (Fox, Mario, etc), comboing into the Up Smash is an area in which Pika is lacking. The only practical non-situational combo that leads into the move is an fair canceled on the ground into the Up Smash. However, this will rarely work on a skilled opponent, since Pika's fair is one of the easiest moves in the game to effectively DI against. Other aerials close to the ground can sometimes be followed-up by an Up Smash, but this isn't terribly common.
However, there are a number of important situational combos to be familiar with using this move. For example, at low percentages Pika can throw an opponent so that he falls just past a ledge, then dash to the edge and Up Smash before the opponent can recover (followed by an aerial chain). This happens a lot on the ground level of Dreamland.
A variation of this is seen in Hyrule. A forward throw to the left from the middle of the stage will send the opponent over and past the little step on the left side of the stage. Pika can follow-up the throw with a dash, run off the step with a uair, and then Up Smash before the opponent can ever hit the ground. These aren't the only situational combos into Up Smash, but they are probably the most common.
Finally, Up Smash can be used as a decent defensive move against overly aggressive opponents. The move has high priority, and it sweeps a substantial area in front of Pika. This creates a powerful wall of sorts that defeats many jump-in attacks. A high-level opponent probably won't walk into this, but it can be useful if you notice that your opponent is being overly aggressive and/or not spacing well.
Forward Smash
Pika sends out a ball of electricity a short distance in front of him. This move has a long start-up and a laggy cool-down. However, the ball of electricity has a powerful knockback, nearly infinite priority, and is completely disjointed from Pika's own hitbox.
The main use of this move is in edge guarding. Simply stand at the edge (or a few steps back if you want to be safe) and use the forward smash as your opponent gets close to the edge. Unless your opponent sweetspots the edge from below, they will get hit. You don't even need to time this particularly well since the attack has such a long duration.
But beware - high level players can and will sweet spot the ledge from below nearly every time with their comebacks. Against these players you will want to consider other edge guarding strategies, which I will discuss later. Furthermore, this move allows for really silly DI sometimes. Don't be surprised if your opponent manages to DI into the ledge and bounces straight up. Experienced players will also see it coming, and will try to avoid it. Since the move has such a laggy cool down, avoiding it once is usually enough for the opponent to make it back to the edge.
Forward Smash is typically too slow and laggy to use for anything but edge guarding. Even if you can hit an opponent with it in other uses, Pika has no good follow-ups thanks to the laggy cool-down.
Down Smash
Pika spins around on the ground, hitting opponents on both sides of him. I have not found an effective use for this move. The range is small, Pikachu's own hitbox is very vulnerable throughout the move, and there are no good follow-ups. Pika simply has better options, whether it be Forward Smash for edge guarding, short hop aerials for close attacks, or Up Smash as a continuation of fair and situational combos.
Tilts
Up Tilt
Pikachu quickly swishes his tail behind him and above his head. Although the tail swishes behind Pikachu, the tip of the tail extends in front of Pikachu at the end of the attack. Like all of Pika's tail attacks, the tail hitbox is disjointed. Thus, this move puts a disjointed hitbox on three sides of a grounded Pikachu player. An opponent hit by the move will be popped up vertically, regardless of which part of the attack's hitbox hits him.
This is a versatile move with important offensive and defensive uses. It comes out and finishes quickly, so using it won't leave Pikachu overly vulnerable. It also gives Pikachu a means to quickly hit opponents standing behind him while grounded, which can be very useful. However, this is by no means Kirby's utilt. It's not nearly as fast, nor does it have as much priority. I don't suggest spamming it with the hopes that your opponent jumps into it.
Offensively, the main goal of this attack is to put the opponent at the proper height in the air to be vulnerable to one of Pika's aerial combo chains. This height is generally achieved when a utilt is landed at mid percents. However, at lower percents a utilt can be followed up by another utilt, and sometimes another after that. Ideally the second or third utilt will send the opponent to the proper aerial chain height. Be careful though, as a good opponent can and will DI away after two or three hits.
Aerial chains are not the only offensive follow-up to this move. A utilt landed at low percentages can often be combo'd into a grab. Just wait for the opponent to fall close to the ground, then grab. Non-floaties generally can't recover in time to avoid this. This can be useful for **** tent combos (more on those later) or when Pika is close to the edge of a stage and you feel like going for a throw to edge-guard gimp rather than a flashy aerial combo.
Defensively, this move is usually used as a counter to jump-ins from above. Although a well-timed utilt will beat many jump-in attacks, I would not recommend using it to challenge high priority attacks such as Link's dair. The move cannot be spammed effectively, so you need to time it very carefully - you've only got one chance against any jump in attack.
This move will often be shielded by the opponent, and it's important to know how to follow-up on this. If the opponent is in front of Pikachu and utilt hits their shield, then they will generally be shield stunned long enough to follow-up with a grab. If the opponent is behind and facing away from Pika then there aren't any particularly effective follow-ups, but Pika won't be vulnerable to a shield grab. If the opponent is behind and facing Pika, then Pika will be vulnerable to a shield grab. In this case use another utilt or two to increase shield stun and push the opponent away, then jump or quick attack away from grab range.
Finally, this attack is not effective against an opponent at very low percents. It will stun for less time than Pika takes to recover from using the move, and he will be open for punishment.
Forward Tilt
Pikachu reaches out in front of him with a kick. Can be angled up, down, and forward. I haven't found much use for this move outside of situational combos. Although it is very fast, the range isn't great and Pikachu's hitbox remains vulnerable. It's almost always better to go with the disjointed hitboxes of Pikachu's tail moves, or with the speed and maneuverability of his aerials. Feel free to chime in if you have a differing opinion - I've simply never used this attack much, so I could be missing out on its potential.
Down Tilt
Pikachu does a low tail swipe in front of him. Low priority and power, and the attack isn't particularly fast. However, it has an impressive range and the tail hitbox is disjointed. Not a terribly useful move. The first instinct is to make use of this in edge guarding, but it's too weak and slow to be effective in that realm. The unique range of the move makes it occasionally useful as a poking or pressuring tool when the spacing is just right, but generally Pikachu has better options available (dash to throw, aerials, etc).
Other Ground Moves
Tap A Jab
Pikachu does a quick head butt. The move is very weak, with little to no stun even at high percentages, and the recovery time is significant. A single jab can be combo'd into a grab, although the grab input has to be entered extremely quickly after A is tapped for the jab. I find simply grabbing to be more effective than jab grabbing in nearly every situation. I primarily use this attack for canceling out fireballs. Aside from these the move has no practical uses that I know of.
Repeating Tap A Jabs
Pikachu does repeated head butts. Like most repeated jabs this is fairly useless unless you have an opponent trapped by a wall, but even then the opponent should be able to DI out of it quickly enough to avoid receiving a lot of damage.
Grab and Throw
Pikachu has one of the best grabs in the game. It's got a longer than usual range, Pikachu is quick enough to have a good dash grab game, and the actual throws are also very powerful. The back throw is one of Pikachu's best killing moves, while the forward throw often combos into a dash throw or ledge run-off aerial gimping at low percents. But while this grab is very good, Pikachu cannot over-rely on it at high levels of play. High level opponents can and will space properly to avoid the grab.
Landing the grab at high levels usually requires a bit of finesse. The following are the most common ways it happens: dash dancing to avoid an opponent's attack and then countering with a dash grab; shield grabbing when the opponent makes a mistake in their shield pressuring; canceling an fair into a grab or dash grab (unlike canceling into the Up Smash, this often works even if the opponent DIs well); trapping the opponent in shield stun with aerials or utilt and then grabbing; or simply using a quick dash grab to punish an opponent's mistake (failed z-cancel, etc). Furthermore, Pika's dash-grab is quick enough that even high level players can sometimes be caught with vanilla, unexpected dash-grabs. Just don't rely on them.
At mid percents and higher, you generally want to throw your opponent in the direction that will get him closest to the edge of the level. This isn't quite as simple as throwing in the direction of the closest edge, since Pika's back throw is significantly more powerful than his forward throw. Pretty obvious stuff.
At low percents you will want to either forward throw into another throw or a combo (more on forward throw follow-up combos later), or throw off the ledge and immediately take chase with aggressive edge guarding for a nice gimpy kill.
Aerials
Pikachu is far more mobile in the air than he is on the ground, and his aerial moveset is much, much better than his ground moveset. While his ground moves have powerful situation uses, they either have limited use (Forward Smash) or are primarily defensive moves with good offensive follow-up options (Up Smash, utilt). The aerials, on the other hand, are all powerful offensive options when mixed with Pika's aerial mobility.
Spacing is king on these moves. They form the basis of Pika's offensive approach, but have fewer situational uses than most of the ground moves. Their effective use comes mostly from becoming intimately familiar with the hitbox, range, and priority of each attack when combined with Pika's aerial mobility and movement options.
nair
Pikachu kicks one foot out on front of him. This is a sex kick, so it has a long duration but is significantly more powerful at the beginning of the attack than it is at the end. The attack hitbox extends from the tip of Pikachu's outstretched leg and across his butt to the back of his character model. Thus the attack can be effective even if Pika is not facing your opponent. However, there is no attack hitbox on the upper parts of Pika's character model.
At first glance this move does not appear to be anything special. The range is short, and the attack hitbox is small compared to Pika's defense hitbox. However, the tip of Pika's outstretched leg has very good priority and surprisingly good knock-back. Well spaced use of this attack can create a difficult to breach wall of priority during Pika's approach game. The attack also comes out faster than any of Pika's other aerials, making it a good pressuring or defensive move on a short hop when close to and facing your opponent.
This attack is important in aerial combo chains. At low percents it functions as a stronger knock-back uair, and at high percentages it functions as a good combo finisher when you don't have enough time to hit with bair. The attack's knock-back has a significant vertical component to it, which allows it to function as a combo starter even against grounded opponents at the right percentages.
fair
Pika does an electric barrel roll that functions as a drill, hitting the opponent several times. Pikachu's entire body functions as an attack hitbox throughout the duration of the move.
Although this move has low priority, it has a surprising range that extends a bit past the tip of Pikachu's head. The full body hitbox also makes the move useable in a wide range of approach angles. It's still not an ideal approach move, but its powerful combo follow-ups and near complete lack of aerial recovery time after the final hit of the drill make it worthwhile to intelligently mix this in with Pika's more powerful aerials when approaching.
The main combo follow-ups with this attack come from canceling it on the ground into an Up Smash, grab, or dash grab. A rising fair used in an aerial chain can also be followed up almost immediately with a uair or an nair, although I typically only have to do this when I mess up and end up using fair by mistake.
A note on DI - this attack is one of the most easily DI'd against in the game, substantially more so than even other drills. You need to pay attention to your opponent's DI when trying to cancel this into a ground follow-up, as it is very possible that he will DI out of the range of Up Smash. In this case be sure to follow-up with a dash grab instead. However, a savvy opponent will sometimes DI through the attack to end up behind Pikachu, in which case Pika is vulnerable to punishment while he finishes out the drill. Try to avoid this by making sure you start the drill from the tip of Pika's head, and by trying to control horizontal movement during the attack.
dair
Pika does a vertical electric spin. Like fair, Pika's entire body becomes his attack hitbox for the duration of the move. Unlike fair, this is not a drill. It hits once, with significant knockback.
This is Pika's one situational aerial. Its low priority and range make it ineffective for offensive approaches. However, it still has effective uses due to its long duration and the fact that its hitbox extends below Pika's own vertical position (none of the other aerials do this).
First, this attack will place an attack hitbox lower to the ground when used immediately after a short hop than any of Pikachu's other aerials will. Thus, this attack can sometimes continue combos against an opponent flying low to the ground when nothing else in Pikachu's arsenal will. dair's low hitbox and fast speed coming out also make it a useful pressuring and tech chasing tool, but always keep in mind that it is easily beaten in priority by many attacks.
The second use is to abuse the attack's long duration and large hitbox in situations that don't call for high priority but do call for good timing and position. Examples of this include hitting an opponent pulling themselves up a ledge and interrupting a quick attacking Pikachu in the middle of one of his dashes.
bair
Pikachu extends one of this legs behind him in a powerful kick. The attack hitbox extends from the tip of Pika's outstretched leg to about where Pika's other leg hangs down from his torso. The front third or so of Pika's character model has no attack hitbox.
This is Pika's most powerful aerial in terms of priority and knock-back. It's similar to nair in terms of its ability to function as a wall of priority if spaced well. However, in exchange for increased power and priority comes a slower start-up for the attack. While Pika has enough time to effectively uair and nair in the same short hop, he cannot effectively use bair on the same short hop with any other aerial. Otherwise bair is similar to nair in offensive and approach uses, albeit on opponents who are behind Pikachu rather than opponents in front.
In combos this move typically functions as a finisher. At lower percents it can combo into another bair in some situations, although this is fairly uncommon and shouldn't be counted on. It also functions as situational combo starter in some cases. I'll cover this later in the combos section.
Finally, this attack is one of Pika's best killers at percentages that are high enough for combos to be ineffective. A stray hit with a single bair, or a utilt followed up by a bair are fairly common ways for killing a high percentage opponent.
uair
Pikachu does a somersault, swishing his tail in an arc as he does so. The tail starts diagonally down and behind Pikachu, moves over his head, and ends more or less horizontally in front of him. The entire tail carries an attack hitbox throughout the course of the attack. Like all of Pikachu's tail attacks, the tail hitbox is disjointed from Pika's defense hitbox. Pika's main body carries no attack hitbox.
This is the single best move in Pikachu's moveset. As the diagram above shows, it places an arc of disjointed tail hitbox around much of Pikachu's body. It doesn't have a huge amount of knock-back, but that aspect just makes the attack perfectly suited for comboing. However, the priority of the tail is fairly low; this attack is not suitable for creating priority walls like described with nair and bair. Fortunately, the arcing nature of the tail swish means that uair will sometimes simply go around an opponent's attack hitbox to make contact with a defense hitbox.
The attack has a deceptively large range both in front and in back of Pikachu, which can be hard to grasp due to how quickly the tail moves. The range in front is especially impressive, but the tail is only fully extended in the front for a few frames. Playing Pikachu requires becoming intimately familiar with the timing range of each part of the tail's movement, as using uair requires different timing and spacing depending on which part of the tail arc you want to hit the opponent.
The move also comes out and finishes very quickly, allowing two full uairs (or uair followed by an nair) to be used on a single short hop if you can move your fingers quickly enough. This won’t always place a uair where you need it though, so don’t mindlessly spam short hop double uairs. In addition to being quick, this attack never has any landing lag and thus never needs to be z-canceled.
Outside of combos, this move is primarily used for offensive approaches and poking. The large arc of the tail makes uair appropriate for both backwards and forwards approaches, usually mixed with either bair or nair. Both forwards and backwards uairs can be timed to hit even the shortest grounded opponents, and a successful hit can often be followed up with a grab even if the opponent shields.
And last but certainly not least, uair is the single most important move used in Pika's aerial combo chains. uair often combos into another uair, and sometimes a third and a forth! And those are just the simple combos. Mixing it up with nairs and utilts can often produce truly disgusting results. In addition, uair is key in several situational gimping combos. I'll get into all this more in the combos section.
A note on uair's knock-back: the direction the opponent is knocked back changes substantially depending on what part of the tail arc hits. If the pink part of the arc illustrated in the diagram hits the opponent, then there will be more vertical and less horizontal knock-back. However, an opponent hit by the blue part of the arc will primarily be sent forwards, away from Pikachu. Both of these types of knock-back have important uses in Pika's aerial combos, and the combo chains can typically function whether Pika is moving forwards or backwards. However, it is important to comprehend this difference in knock-back, as it can substantially change the details of the combo that you end up chaining together.
Coming soon(?): Combos and Matchups!
