Pikachu VS Falcon

[Pika Smash]

Hey everyone, this is my first post!

I used to play Smash all the time back in High School and College and have had somewhat of a 5 year hiatus. Started playing more recently as my friends have as well and have a question for the more experienced players...

In 4 player matches (both FFA and 2 V 2), I win 90-95% of the time. When playing more difficult opponents, I main Pikachu but also use Ness/Puff regularly.

However, there is one friend that always gets tired of losing to me when we play 4 player FFA or when I beat him in 2's and he asks to play me heads up 1 v 1. He is always Falcon and I am Pikachu. In 1 v 1 I tend to only win 50-55% of the time. It's hard to understand as he can't beat me in 4 player or in doubles and I always have at least 10-12 kills (7 player stocks) while he sits around 5-7 kills. He is the only one I have trouble with in 1 V 1.

Does Falcon have a distinct advantage 1 V 1 vs Pikachu or do I just need to learn how to play him better? Are there character match ups that match up better against Falcon? I'm open to learning new players.

Thanks guys!

 

[Earthward Bound]

Do you play with items and which stages do you play on?

To put it bluntly 4player ffa is more of a fun party mode and can't be used as a mode that you can gauge who the best player is. 2v2 would be a more accurate representation but 1v1 is where your true colors show because you can't rely on the jank in FFA, or to be potentially carried by a teamate. Its only you out there so you need to know how to win neutral ( an important skill that is not required in 4player FFA) as well as take the stock all on your own.

Falcon is said to have an advantage over pika. I wouldn't be too worried about this though, theres far wose matchups in the game and pikachu definately has the tools to win. You could try using kirby to counterpick his falcon and see if that made it better for you, its definately worth a try anyways. To counterpick your kirby he would have to choose pika and round' you go.

 

[Pika Smash]

I appreciate the response! We play with all items excluding heart/tomato/star/hammer on medium spawn rate. We usually play Hyrule (I know, I know.)

If I select Kirby, he will not stray from Falcon. He has tried Pika and others but is far superior with Falcon over any of his other characters. I just hate to play as Kirby as he is regarded as a "noob character" around my circle because he is so easy to play with.

Does Puff/Fox/Yoshi match up well with Falcon or just Kirby. I have noticed Falcon has a distinct advantage over Pika when it comes to speed of rushing to grab and that's his main adv. over me.

 

[Saltsizzle]

It is debated whether falcon has an advantage over Pikachu. Pikachu can easily grab and gimp falcon and falcon can chase down pika's recovery and more easily zero to death pika than other characters. Here is a recent high level set of pika vs falcon where the pika knows the matchup well and takes advantage of falcon's shortfalls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7gKHiHbipU

Y'all need to switch to no items and dreamland if you want to be taken seriously though.

 

[Earthward Bound]

Theres nothing wrong with playing with items if thats how you and your friends enjoy playing. But right away it destroys alot of core competitive aspects of the game and if you choose to play this way you can't be too concerned with your win rate and just have fun as your basically playing mario party.

Unfortunately you and your friends have sort of a skewed opinion on kirby. Some characters are less technical than others no doubt but there are no "noob" characters in this game. If that were to apply to anyone the closest candidate would probably be pikachu infact.

Puff/fox/yoshi are all characters that can't just be picked up and played as easily as almost the rest of the cast. You would need to invest quite a bit of time into any of these characters to see any return. Puff and fox are probably ok vs falcon but your better off sticking it out with pika.

This game is all about the gradual increase of knowledge and implementation of said knowledge. In 1v1 try to keep track of how often you get the first hit from nuetral. What worked? What didn't? Were you able to follow up on your hit? What made a successful edgegaurd? What didn't? ect, ect, ect, ect.

Theres nothing wrong in questioning the matchup or counterpicking characters whatsoever but to get better in this game its best to assume all responsibility when you lose and identify and work on your weaknesses - you know... If your playing in a competitive atmosphere to begin with.

You guys should really try turning items off as it seems your past (or getting past) the point of casual players and at least you show a very competitive drive. Even if its too much shock to your friends to immediately go to dreamland no items at least try to suggest games on hyrule with no items to start.

 

[Pika Smash]

Two great responses. Still going to stick with Hyrule for now but going to try and implement no items to make it more of a competitive setting. Thanks for the video, I noticed a few things he did as Pika that I will start trying out.

Earthward - Puff is actually my most 2nd most used character. Most of my friends no longer wanted me to play as it wasn't any fun for them so I started letting them pick my character(Puff). It only took me a few rounds to figure out her powerful skillset. Gotta say, can't get a much better feeling then juggle into her rest knockout. Still not even close to great with her but learning and I actually have more fun using her than Pika. Just not ready to make her my main as she gets KO'd rather quickly if you take a lot of damage.

This is a neat website by the way. Didn't know Smash 64 was still so prevalent.