Falcon vs. Pikachu?

[Eldiran]

My apologies if a dozen or more of these threads have already been created, but the three pages of the Falcon board didn't seem to reveal any to me. Basically, I'm wondering how one might tackle a moderately defensive Pikachu with Falcon. While I admit I didn't spend many matches against Pikachu with Falcon, the person I went against was not even a Pikachu mainer and he obliterated me. I thought Metaknight was trouble, but... honestly.

I was basically 3-stocked in a pretty miserable display. Is there an approach I'm missing? I managed only to land a few forward smashes and some wayward aerials when my opponent messed up. Is grabbing the key, or something else entirely? Priority-wise, the only move I could get through, really, was forward smash.

 

[Mokai]

You may or may not have seen this already, but Anagram over at GameFAQs has a Captain Falcon FAQ up. Here's what he has to say about Pikachu.

I have two strategies, depending on the Pikachu you face:
- If he's a thunder spammer, laugh at that move's end lag, and
Elbow of Judgment or Double Upper Kick him after air-dodging
or rolling. Don't try to attack from the air.
- If he's a smarter player, beware of Pikachu's A moves: they
have way more range they should have. Especially his down smash:
it will pull you in if you're anywhere near Pikachu and it will
hurt you (don't try sidedodging or rolling behind him, it's a
long smash).
Here are your good moves for electric rat killing: Shoulder Bash,
Falcon Kick, Elbow of Judgment. In the air, Crescent Kick. Don't
bother with Knee of Justice; Pikachu's small size makes it
difficult to connect with properly.

I hope this offers some help. :/

 

[Tenki]

Would a Falcon Punch hit a Pikachu out of thunder?

 

[Ayaz18]

Would a Falcon Punch hit a Pikachu out of thunder?

yep, im pretty **** sure, i know i have done it before

 

[Eldiran]

You may or may not have seen this already, but Anagram over at GameFAQs has a Captain Falcon FAQ up. Here's what he has to say about Pikachu.

I hope this offers some help. :/

Awesome, thanks much... Falcon Kick is certainly a good idea, and sounds viable. I can only assume Crescent Kick refers to up air. Haven't had much luck with shoulder bash so far, honestly, probably because my opponent tends to be pretty grabby. I can only thank my lucky stars he hasn't learnt to chaingrab yet.

 

[flash7]

If he likes to shoot lightning (neutral b) at you, you can hold a and your jab will cancel it. If the shoulder isnt working and hes grabbing I assume hes shield grabbing? In that case mix up your shoulder bash with a dash grab.

I prefer raptor boost over falcon kick at low percentages.

If you're fairly close you can try forward(angled down if needed) and down tilts.

Goodluck .

 

[BananaTrooper]

Hey, I play a pika mainer every now and then.

KÀi!! (Falcon) vs. Unknown (Pikachu) Final Destination
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N5c62K-NgqY

I don't know how much this will help, I think itl depend on how much his and your opponent's pikachus differ in style. Still, here you go. Hope this is of assistance.

 

[KeyKid19]

Well there's actually a fairly extensive Falcon Matchup thread on page 2 of this board I believe. Check that out.

But anyways, I personally find Pikachu to be almost THE WORST Falcon matchup out there. Seriously he is a ***** to fight. Raptor Boost and Falcon Kick are decent options because they can clink his pesky Fsmash at times. As for Thunder I don't know if this works because I haven't tried it but POSSIBLY UpB might break through it. Dunno though. Stay just outside of his Dsmash range unless you have an opening to strike. Other than that just hope they SideB off the stage of something stupid like that. Actually better yet, play at places like Port Town, WarioWare, and Pictochat. Maybe he'll get owned by the level.

 

[Eldiran]

Thanks, everyone, this is all good, sound advice. Watching that video I can really see how Falcon Kick, Raptor Boost, and grabs make approaching actually possible. Not to mention the usefulness of down tilts against so short an opponent. Also, thanks for the reminder about Falcon's turbo-A, I'd forgotten entirely.

Pikachu really does seem to be Falcon's worst opponent. I'll just have to bring him to Falcon's home turf, heh heh heh... that'll be fun.

 

[Piccolo_Z]

There are pro pika players and then the abusers. Not sure about the type of pika you play against, but against the abusers this is my strat.

If you mindgame the opponent into downb or downsmashing your dash approaches, what I do is dash then hit b for the falcon punch, If done correctly you can dash then stop a couple char lengths in front of them and falcon punch them. (When you dash then falcon punch, you stop on the spot, which makes it easy to space.)

Again obviously this is not gonna work all the time.

 

[Eldiran]

Oooh, tricky... I might have to toy with that, if only to make my approach more unpredictable.