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

[Ussi]

Can pikachu airdodge through Ike's eruption, or does it last too long?

It lasts too long if he hits something (CS's statue, Brinstar's blobs, etc)

 

[Stealth Raptor]

esam and tag covered what i would say pretty well, definitely my favorite stage before it got banned, cpd it against everything including Game and Watch, and still won. dont think i ever lost on that stage in tourney

 

[WindMajor]

Sounds like Pikachu is **** tier on this level compared to all the other characters....

Spoiler

Huzzah! =P

Okay so from what I gather, the stage is not only good for Pikachu, but it's easily one of his best stages, if not, the best. His regular mobility + his UpB allows him to traverse the stage quickly and recover in unpredictable ways. Pikachu's thunder jolts help him control platforms + ledges near him since they wrap all the way around the platforms, forcing approaches. Enemies that approach would either have to do so aerially or from the ledge, both which Pikachu can punish with a variety of moves. He also has some cool tricks on the stage such as thundering near lava walls to control space that make him very well rounded in terms of strategies.

Against other players, he does very well (arguably better than before), with the exception of Game and Watch, but even then, it's not bad at all. Pikachu also loses some advantages against characters who can get chaingrabbed by Pikachu, since the platforms shorten the distance of the FThrow chaingrab.


Is this right? Is there anything worth adding on?

 

[Fera]

The low celling helps pikachu kills (that are almost all vertical), also his defensive game is unbeatable there so if you lose your stock first, you lost the game - and since pikachu kills so well there, that's really prone to happen.


So, a friend is starting to play pika, and asked me for tips, but i really don't know how i started play pika ._. I just went and the character felt natural for me.
So, asking you guys, what should a new pika player prioritize when in a fresh start?

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

The character has nothing to do with it. S/he should learn the basics of the game, and master them relatively well. Spacing, recovering, move choice, punishing, mobility, unpredictability. There are character specific techs with pikachu (Like the unimportant QACing, the very important F-throw CG, and the more important bD-throw CGs/D-throw combos), but the basics are more important than any other character-specific tech.

 

[Takumaru]

A few questions: What are the safest moves when hitting someone's shield? What are good ways to set up kills? Do you guys think having tap jump on makes it easier to control your movement with pikachu? Thanks!

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Safest shield moves would be...d-tilt and u-tilt (front)

 

[Volt_Storm_7]

On the subject of tap jump. I prefer off because it`s annoying for me to jump when I do want to and not be able to uptilt correctly. Both sides have their benefits. An example would be it`s easier to dacus with tap on. Just depends on what you like. QAC ,I believe, isnt affected by it.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

DACUS? You mean Hyphen Smash? It's the same thing with tap jump on or off in this game since you can literally run and c-stick it.

 

[infiniteV115]

Esam, I noticed you said that 2 of Pikachu's better stages are FD and RC, which is generally a weird (and pretty much contrasting) combination of stages to be good on, but obviously he's a versatile character so it makes sense. I figured he does well on FD because of CGs and a layout that helps T jolts, and RC because there are T jolt and Thunder shenanigans, and he gets more chances to edgeguard while he can recover safely because he is ****ing awesome. I was just wondering if there was more to it than this, cause this really seems like a simplistic overview of how these stages benefit him.

And on a completely unrelated note, are you and Nick Riddle brothers? o.o

 

[Stealth Raptor]

its more like you cant hide from pikachu on FD, he just does a lot better in open space, and RC we have a bunch of stupid shenanigans

and yes they are brothers

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

FD is good because Pikachu is one of the best characters on slopes due to his CGs and T-jolts and versatile locks, which platforms can interrupt.

RC is good for several reasons. 1, the boat has slants so it helps us CG people we ordinarily couldn't. 2, The boat has a wall so we can CG/d-tilt lock on it. 3, we can attack people from pretty much anywhere on the rising part. If they are way above us, we can hit them with thunder. If they are way below us, we can wrap T-jolts around platforms and make it difficult to jump up. If they are next to us, we can obviously just fight without being scared of getting gimped since Pikachu has one of the best recoveries. The top scrolls right, which means that if we grab somebody and throw them left, we can get walkoff CGs we normally couldn't on other stages (Like MK). We also have a 0-death on everybody if we grab them right before the stage starts to transform back to the boat (D-throw CG them to u-throw). If they know about this and try to stay to the up and left, we can shoot T-jolts at them. When it starts to transform, if they run to the right and try to fall off, we can normally wall them with thunder, which can lead to early kills.

 

[infiniteV115]

Cool, thanks. I like how you just stopped counting everything XD

 

[NETOmx]

Hi guys!

I need your opinions...
I want to study for 6 months in USA at the beggining of 2012 but I am searching for a state where there are a lot of local and national/international (the national tournamets always are international because of ally) brawl tournaments.

The propose of my visit in USA is because I want to improve my English

If you have suggestions please tell me because I need to decide a state and apply for the universities available in that state throught the my university that right now I'm studying.

Thnaks for your time!!!!

 

[Roller]

Well if you'd be here RIGHT at the beginning of the year. Then definitely try for New York/New Jersey. APEX could be the biggest smash tourney of all time. I'd highly recommend coming to it. But it's like the first weekend of January. So you'd have to move out here right away.

There are a lot of good schools in this (NJ/NY) area though. Princeton, Columbia, NYU, etc. Where are you from?

Also, NY/NJ is arguably the best smash scene in the country. So there's that.

 

[KayLo!]

+1 for Mid-Atlantic area (NY/NJ/PA). Speaking from PA's perspective, the scene is slowly coming back to life, but regardless: you're definitely close enough to easily/cheaply travel to NY or NJ whenever. And the schools in any of the three states are amazing. NJ carries most of the Brawl activity tho.

 

[Phoenix Lord']

NJ is the best, or so I've heard. I am not biased.

 

[Ussi]

North Jersey~ south jersey suuuucks

 

[Célja]

I was thinking about picking up Pikachu and I was wondering about some tips and tricks I should know.

 

[Roller]

Read the pika guide.

 

[NETOmx]

Hi guys!
I'm from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. This summer I went to Montreal and played versus people from Montreal but I couldn't play versus Ally and Holy Nightmare That was my first international experience.

I really appreciate your opinions so I think that NJ and NY are the best options. Thank you very much for your time. I will announce when I arrive in USA but it is not sure yet.

Can you tell when university classes begin? Because I'm really interested in Apex 2012.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

It would probably be either the monday after Apex is done, or the one AFTER that.

 

[Roller]

Depends where you go. I know schools that start the week of Apex, I also know schools that don't start until February. Odds are you'll start ~the 15th give or take a few days.

 

[Prawn]

Could anyone give me a breakdown on guaranteed combos out of grabs vs mk and/or pseudo combos and things to do if I read di correcty?

Edit: basically your best tricks in the mk matchup. Anything specific would be great

 

[Roller]

@Prawn: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=288334

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

These are all fresh, btw...
F-throw U-smash useful from 1-15%
D-throw CG 16-19% (3 D-throws to follow-up)
D-throw CG 20-24% (2 D-throws to follow-up)
25-53% (D-throw to follow-up)
Uair footstool: 20-75%ish (I think...)
D-throw uair footstool 35-53% (I believe)

 

[Prawn]

:D thanks esam

 

[Cassio]

Im pretty sure you can dthrow -> dash -> nair to pretty much the entire cast for a large range of percents.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

He was talking about MK only.

 

[NETOmx]

+1 for Mid-Atlantic area (NY/NJ/PA). Speaking from PA's perspective, the scene is slowly coming back to life, but regardless: you're definitely close enough to easily/cheaply travel to NY or NJ whenever. And the schools in any of the three states are amazing. NJ carries most of the Brawl activity tho.

Kaylo I have some questions for you...
How often do you do tournaments? How often do you play in a house with your friends?

Do you usually go to tounaments in NJ? How much cost a ticket from Philadelphia to New Brunswick, NJ? And from Philadelphia to New York city?

I hope you honestly answer those questions. Sorry for a lot of questions.

 

[PZ]

Klo!? Tournaments? I wanna laugh but I also wanna know...

 

[KayLo!]

Klo!? Tournaments? I wanna laugh but I also wanna know...

Hush, lol. I might be retired, but I still keep an eye on the community in case I ever wanna come back.

How often do you do tournaments? How often do you play in a house with your friends?

When I was at my most active, I used to do (either attend or enter) tournaments every 3 weeks or so. But between NY and NJ, there's usually a tourney somewhere every weekend. It might not be big or easy to get to, but NY/NJ is the best you're gonna get in the mid-atlantic. And again, there's usually a decent one every few weeks or so.

I don't play anymore, but my crewmates play all the time nowadays. (They stopped for a while, but activity is picking up again.) There's almost always someone willing to practice for a few hours, so once you get to know the players in the area, it's not hard to find people to hang out and Brawl with. Usually the biggest problem is finding somewhere everyone can congregate since most people still live with their parents, lol.

Do you usually go to tounaments in NJ? How much cost a ticket from Philadelphia to New Brunswick, NJ? And from Philadelphia to New York city?

We used to have regular tournies in Philly, but not anymore. So yeah, it'll mostly be traveling to NJ.

My crewmates usually have one or two cars going to the major NJ tournies from Philly and/or south NJ. They typically charge $10-12 for gas. Public transportation-wise, it costs ~$20 round trip to get to NYC and around the same for New Brunswick if you take the train. It depends exactly where you live tho.

I hope you honestly answer those questions. Sorry for a lot of questions.

No problem! Honestly, if Brawl is that important to you, I'd suggest moving closer to NYC or northern NJ. But if you find a school you really like in PA, we definitely have our pockets of activity in Philly and State College (around Penn State University). And the traveling's not too bad, but it does add up after a while.

 

[Jimmyfosho]

I disagree , PA's scene is pretty dead 2-3 tournaments a year

/pittsburgh

 

[KayLo!]

That's because you live in the boonies. Come over to the good side.

 

[_umbra_]

I never could figure out why pittsburgh had no brawl scene, when there was always a lot of players in scranton, state college, and allentown... you would think a city that much bigger would have more than a handful of players

 

[Jimmyfosho]

cause only brawl TO in pittsburgh is Mav and he is only at his house for like what summer and winter break? Other than that hes at college or some shiz

 

[JRDD]

OK I need help on the fthrow chaingrab. I know it sounds stupid, but I "get" the dthrow one, but whenever I try to do the fthrow I don't get there fast enough and my brother hits me with a jab. Do I have to buffer a dash and when and how do I do so?

 

[Pikabunz]

What character are you cg'ing? I'm guessing Falco.

Buffering a dash would help. To buffer it, you flick the stick foward when Pika is throwing them off his back/after the sparks stop.

 

[JRDD]

Actually, its Ike. But same idea?

 

[Pikabunz]

Yeah, same idea. If you're still not getting it then try grabbing earlier. You don't need to run much to re-grab him.