Pika Q&A/FAQ Thread: Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer!

[Stealth Raptor]

thank you hylian, this helps a lot lol. though it wont stop all of it :/

 

[K 2]

Sticky to reduce spam .

w00t! Hylian! Thanks for the sticky! You're my hero, again!

 

[kirbysprite]

Dair to dsmash doens't work. You have just enough time to powershield any smash attack after dair. Proceed to punishing him.

Really, that's how he usually kills me. Should I press shield right when he does Upsmash or should I hold the shield button while he is dair.

Sounds like your biggest problem is that you keep getting Daired. Just remember it's one of Fox's good (yet predictable) approaches, so you should get ready to shield and grab. Also remember that Fox falls really fast, so certain combos should be easy to pull off like up tilt. I usually up tilt after Fox is able to escape Pika's CG.

Good advice. I will be using that.

If hes in the air, he will Dair right? all you have to do is shield grab him, whens about at 50% Utilt then rising Uair then try another one, if you cant do another one then just Fair into Dsmash, if you do do another one, follow it with thunder. Or if hes at high percent, shield Dsmash to stop his Dair. your Fair is kinda like his Dair remember that, if you cant kill him, try to grab him and throw himn up and IMMEDIATELY thunder. These things may take a little practice or a couple tries but just let him approach and punish him

He doesn't do Uair. He just dair to utilt utilt utilt. If I do get caught in that, where should I DI?

I don't think the uthrow to thunder will work, since he knows I will thunder him and he will reflect it.

 

[K 2]

To your first question: I'm not sure when the exact timing is. You might be able to buffer a shield, but I usually press shield as his dair ends. I believe you can block everything he does (utilt, usmash, dsmash, jab) except grab, obviously. If you play against a fox a lot, just experiement. Eventually, you will get the timing down. I can't really describe the timing, but my fingers know how to do it =)

I believe you DI up to escape the lock. He will still get a minimum of 20 something percent on you, even if you DI, but you have a 70% CG that ends with a usmash for 80-85%.

Thunderflipping (uthrow -> thunder, usmash -> Thunder) works really well as long as you aren't predictable with it.

 

[KayLo!]

Here's a question...

Would you guys be interested in a stage discussion thread? Stages are mentioned in the Static-Intense sticky, but it hasn't been updated in a while, and it's very... brief. I was thinking along the lines of a more community-based guide instead.

Some stages, like FD and Smashville, don't really need too much discussion, but for some of the trickier ones (Luigi's Mansion, anyone?), I think it'd be nice....

Opinions?

 

[5ive]

Not needed, because I will be updating the Static Intense thread very soon.

 

[K 2]

How are you going to update it?

I wouldn't mind doing a stage discussion for the pika boards. I already have a bit of experience from my G&W stage discussion. A community-based discussion will keep pika players active. There's really nothing to lose from creating a stage discussion.

 

[5ive]

I'll make a new thread with some major/minor edits on the current guide.

And about the Stage discussion, whatever, but doing that would just add another unnecessary sticky which makes our board look really cluttered <_<.

Although I preferred keeping the stage discussion in one thread along with the updated guide,
I guess making another thread would be much more organized.

It's all up to you guys.

 

[K 2]

Not really, if your guide replaces the current Static Intense Guide, and if we combine the two video threads, we will have 5 stickies. Plus the Stage Discussion, which gives us 6 stickies. Most boards have 5-6 stickies, so its not that unorganized.

Having the stage discussion in the guide would make things really confusing. I'll do a stage discussion for the pika boards if you guys want one...

 

[5ive]

Alright,
So this is what I see happening.

Pikachu info and video thread
&
The Current Pikachu Guide

Should get replaced for:

and Updated Guide,
The stage Discussion,
and the Pikachu Video Guide.

That leaves us with 7 stickies.
Looks good. Hopefully Hylian sees this.

 

[K 2]

Combine: Pikachu info and video thread, Volt Tackle Videos, your guide into one super Video Thread/Video Guide. Your video guide belongs in the video section.

Create an updated pika guide, with a link to your video guide in it.

Leave the Psychology Guide, Mathup thread, and Q&A thread alone.

That leaves us five stickies, plus the stage discussion, 6 stickies.

 

[5ive]

If we're not going to make my thread a sticky, then we should add your thread into the Rewritten Pikachu guide.

A little biased; are we? <_<

 

[K 2]

If you want to do the stage discussion and put it into the rewritten guide, I'm fine with it. Isn't that currently how it is (the guide only has a few stages, I believe)?

Video Guide -> Video Thread.

 

[5ive]

Sure that works fine now.
I'll start the revamped guide and revamped video thread after my exams (tuesday)

 

[KayLo!]

I wouldn't mind doing a stage discussion for the pika boards. I already have a bit of experience from my G&W stage discussion. A community-based discussion will keep pika players active. There's really nothing to lose from creating a stage discussion.

Woah, that's exactly the stage discussion thread I was thinking of when I asked. I didn't even notice you were the mastermind behind it.

But yes, that's more what I had in mind. Depending on how many stages we do, I think putting it in the general guide would make the guide... confusing... but 5ive, I understand what you mean about having too many stickies. I HATE forums that suffer from sticky-overload. Irks my soul.

 

[Khanxay]

Any chance of renaming all stickies so they have a electric theme to them?

Also I think the guides need more pictures in them to advertise how cool Pikachu is. Use some from Smash Dojo... i dunno.

 

[5ive]

Any chance of renaming all stickies so they have a electric theme to them?

Kind of corny, don't you think?

 

[Khanxay]

But it get's attentions does it not? You have to lure the mindless folk in! How else do you convert the heathens?

 

[5ive]

Unless you want to be the laughing stock of character boards, lol, no.

 

[Khanxay]

Spoiler

My Pikachu is sad now. I go make him feel better by beating up on level 1 cpu.

 

[K 2]

Woah, that's exactly the stage discussion thread I was thinking of when I asked. I didn't even notice you were the mastermind behind it.

But yes, that's more what I had in mind. Depending on how many stages we do, I think putting it in the general guide would make the guide... confusing... but 5ive, I understand what you mean about having too many stickies. I HATE forums that suffer from sticky-overload. Irks my soul.

=D

I think it would get confusing if we mashed everything together. Hmm...

 

[5ive]

K2, reply to my visitor message.

 

[K 2]

Can you guys come up with a list of FAQ that I can add to the OP? It doesn't have to be asked already. I need a list of commonly asked questions that new pika users ask so I can put it in the FAQ section. Exams are almost over and I have some free time now. Thanks.

 

[KayLo!]

Can you guys come up with a list of FAQ that I can add to the OP? It doesn't have to be asked already. I need a list of commonly asked questions that new pika users ask so I can put it in the FAQ section. Exams are almost over and I have some free time now. Thanks.

Just off the top of my head....

What's the easiest way to QAC?/Tap jump on or off? (These are usually asked together-ish.)
How do you approach with Pika?
Should you spam thunder/thunderjolt?
Is Pika easy to pick up?
What are good secondary characters for Pika mains?
What are good counterpick stages for Pika?
Where can I find videos of good Pikas?

There's always the "I need help against...." but our matchup thread isn't halfway done yet, so I dunno if you wanna point people there.

Uhh, I'll edit if I come up with some more.

Edit: Real question... if you hit with the bolt part of thunder (T1), does that stale the hitbox around Pika (T2)? I don't use T2 often enough to know.

 

[Luigi player]

Um, in this thread: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=211327 the TC (topic creator) wrote for some stages that have walk offs that Pikachu can chaingrab there.

My question is... Pikachu can chaingrab?! Wtf?

I know Pikachu can chaingrab Fox, but whom else? And he can do it forward/backwards?

 

[K 2]

Copied and Pasted from Static-intense: The pikachu guide

Forward throw:

Bowser - 0%-60%
Captain Falcon - 0%-60%
DeDeDe 0%-60%
Donkey Kong - 0%-60%
Falco - 0%-60%
Fox 0%-50%
Ganondorf - 0%-60%
Ike - 0%-60%
Link - 0%-60%
Sheik - 0%-70%
Snake - 0%-60%
Wolf - 0%-60%

Down throw:

Captain Falcon - 0%-80%
Fox 0%-70%
Sheik - 0%-60%
Wolf - 0%-30%

 

[KayLo!]

Real question... if you hit with the bolt part of thunder (T1), does that stale the hitbox around Pika (T2)? I don't use T2 often enough to know.

In case people missed it...

I'm thinking of doing stale moves for my Killachu list, because some moves (N-air, Dsmash, possibly sweetspotted thunder depending on the answer to my ?) will probably never be fresh when used in a real match...

 

[Stealth Raptor]

he has the dthrow cg, which is only a true cg on a few characters, then he has the fthrow cg which works on a bunch of characters.

 

[Diddy2k8]

Question about pika's chaingrab on snake. How much damage can it do before snake can get out of it? And when im doing it my friend just uses a bomb after the 1st throw and hits me out of it. Is he able to do that or am i doing the chaingrab wrong which is giving him enough time to pull the bomb?

And any tips on recovering on FD after a failed skull bash recovery? Everytime i miss and i get under that ledge i can't seem to get back to the stage. Am i doing it wrong or is that just a angle pika can't make it back from?

 

[Kroova]

If I haven't gone way to far, I usually SB back the way I came and somehow manage to QA back to the ledge, or at least into some dumb space animals.

Though I guess you could try to SB to the other side and QA from there; never tried though.

 

[Zylar]

And any tips on recovering on FD after a failed skull bash recovery? Everytime i miss and i get under that ledge i can't seem to get back to the stage. Am i doing it wrong or is that just a angle pika can't make it back from?

Try to avoid skull bash recoveries alltogether. Pika doesn't really need it.
Unless your sure your opponent will get hit by it (By pretending to go for the ledge) or if you're high above the stage.
Try to use pika's quick attack to grab the edge, if you know its to far (rarely) then skull bash but be careful about it.
If you are in that situation where you're under the stage I'd say Kroova's answer is as good as you're gonna get.

I don't know about your other question though.

 

[KayLo!]

Question about pika's chaingrab on snake. How much damage can it do before snake can get out of it? And when im doing it my friend just uses a bomb after the 1st throw and hits me out of it. Is he able to do that or am i doing the chaingrab wrong which is giving him enough time to pull the bomb?

Snake's 'nades come out on frame 1, so if he times it correctly, he can pull one out in-between throws and the explosion will end your chaingrab. You're not necessarily doing it wrong, he just has good timing. (I didn't know any of you played Snake...)

I don't know how easy it is for him to do, since I've only ever played as Snake once or twice, but I'm assuming it can be done pretty consistently considering how quickly the 'nade comes out....

 

[Diddy2k8]

Snake's 'nades come out on frame 1, so if he times it correctly, he can pull one out in-between throws and the explosion will end your chaingrab. You're not necessarily doing it wrong, he just has good timing. (I didn't know any of you played Snake...)

I don't know how easy it is for him to do, since I've only ever played as Snake once or twice, but I'm assuming it can be done pretty consistently considering how quickly the 'nade comes out....

You didn't know terrance played snake? He really only uses mk in tournaments

But yea thanks for the answer. Im going to avoid the cg on snake altogether.

Try to avoid skull bash recoveries alltogether. Pika doesn't really need it.
Unless your sure your opponent will get hit by it (By pretending to go for the ledge) or if you're high above the stage.
Try to use pika's quick attack to grab the edge, if you know its to far (rarely) then skull bash but be careful about it.
If you are in that situation where you're under the stage I'd say Kroova's answer is as good as you're gonna get.

I don't know about your other question though.

Thanks for this!!!!!!

 

[Mangme]

When is it a good time to QAC?
If I can't practice against people in real life, is playing online okay?

 

[rinoH]

its alot harder online to do go to training mode

 

[!Boom!]

When is it a good time to QAC?
If I can't practice against people in real life, is playing online okay?

Online is totally okay, and also helps with your timing knowing when to jump after the QAC. A good time to QAC, well it depends on the situation and the player. Each player has his or her uses for QACing like recovering without lag when the edge is unsafe, for mindgames, or for retreating. Many many uses.

 

[rinoH]

do you guys ever mess up recovering

 

[!Boom!]

do you guys ever mess up recovering

be more specific. what do you mean by mess up?

 

[rinoH]

like with QA

 

[KayLo!]

do you guys ever mess up recovering

like with QA

I would love to say that I never do, but the truth is.... secretly.... I do, every once in a while.

I'm not sure if I hold my controller funky (I realized the other day that sometimes I tilt it to the left or the right if I'm sitting to one side of the TV... weird), but sometimes I don't angle the second part of the QA enough and end up only getting the first part. Which leads to dying.

But it happens very rarely, and I've actually trained myself out of it by learning to enjoy ledgecamping sometimes during a match. Forcing myself to get better at playing from the ledge made QA'ing properly a necessity.

But ideally, at high-level play, it should never happen. We're only human, but in a tournament, it should just... never happen.