Ah Pikachu, you never cease to be one of my favorite characters in smash. Ever since brawl I spammed your thunder and lighting shock and although your fantastic thunder was nerfed, I still will use you, because you are the very best.
Pikachu's Flaws and Advantages
-Skull Bash is still useless in attack power but it's recovery use has been improved
-All aerials have been improved a bit, mainly back air
-Dash attack deals more damage
-Up Smash has more kill potential!
-Most attacks have been lowered in power (Foward Smash, Uptilt, Back Air)
-Down Tilt and down special are harder to hit with
THE SHEER POWER OF PIKACHU
I had to share that with you... I'm sorry. Anyway, Pikachu can be used in different ways, personally I like to use him as an attacker. Basically you always want to keep your target guessing with Pikachu (like any other character), don't make yourself to predictable and use the same combo all over again. For instance this is some of the combos/strategies I prefer to use...
Beginning the battle
It's usually a good idea to start a battle by keeping a distance from your opponent. Try and use thunder jolt (regular special) from your side of the stage while jumping. If the opponent attempts to do an attack, they will almost always be hit by the thunder jolt before they can even hit you. DO NOT SPAM THIS! It is crucial that you don't always use this strategy, if you are going to start off with this spacing startegy than use it for about 15 seconds. That time frame should be enough to rack up some damage and allow some future follow ups.
(semi) Combos
Heres some common combos that can be used by pikachu...
Combo 1# (easy)
-Up Tilt
-Up Tilt
-Neutral Air(short jump)
Combo 2# (good start up)
-Dash attack
-Front/Back Air
Combo 3# (Decent challenge and almost always locks opponents into tilts or smashes)
-Up Tilt/Uncharged Up Smash(3x)
-Up Smash or down smash
-Up/Front/Back Air
(this combo is decently easy to pull off at the start, but when using the Down smash it is crucial that you do not use the Up air. It makes it harder to pull off this combo so unless you want to have a bit more knockback, I suggest that you don't use Up Air after the down smash)
(semi) Combo 4#
When an opponent is off the stage or near the edge of the screen, you can attempt to pull off a back air or a front air. Both are multi-hit moves and have some decent knockback. By doing so you can have any easy KO within a minute (by giving enough damage and forcing the opponent off the stage).
How to force your opponent off the stage
Pikachu is VERY light, infact that he is almost dead last in the weight (with the lightest poistion going to Jigglypuff). It is vital that he is not hit to much, due to how he cannot survive many hard hitting attacks. You can survive a bit longer by spacing (like mentioned before) or forcing the opponent to go off the stage. To toss an opponent off the stage, I suggest that you use Pikachus back throw, this throw has VERY good knockback and can let you set up with a front air or a back air. Pikachus grabs are decent at best, I suggest using back throw the most to get the best knockback as possible. (Foward throw can also be used with a dash attack, which can set up another combo)
WELL I DID MY BEST
I only began to create these strategies, so forgive me if I did something wrong. Just know that this is not the ONLY way to use Pikachu, you can also use Pikachu in a more defensive way (although this is very hard). SPAM-CHU IS GONE, CHEAP-A-CHU IS HERE.
Pikachu's Flaws and Advantages
-Skull Bash is still useless in attack power but it's recovery use has been improved
-All aerials have been improved a bit, mainly back air
-Dash attack deals more damage
-Up Smash has more kill potential!
-Most attacks have been lowered in power (Foward Smash, Uptilt, Back Air)
-Down Tilt and down special are harder to hit with
THE SHEER POWER OF PIKACHU
I had to share that with you... I'm sorry. Anyway, Pikachu can be used in different ways, personally I like to use him as an attacker. Basically you always want to keep your target guessing with Pikachu (like any other character), don't make yourself to predictable and use the same combo all over again. For instance this is some of the combos/strategies I prefer to use...
Beginning the battle
It's usually a good idea to start a battle by keeping a distance from your opponent. Try and use thunder jolt (regular special) from your side of the stage while jumping. If the opponent attempts to do an attack, they will almost always be hit by the thunder jolt before they can even hit you. DO NOT SPAM THIS! It is crucial that you don't always use this strategy, if you are going to start off with this spacing startegy than use it for about 15 seconds. That time frame should be enough to rack up some damage and allow some future follow ups.
(semi) Combos
Heres some common combos that can be used by pikachu...
Combo 1# (easy)
-Up Tilt
-Up Tilt
-Neutral Air(short jump)
Combo 2# (good start up)
-Dash attack
-Front/Back Air
Combo 3# (Decent challenge and almost always locks opponents into tilts or smashes)
-Up Tilt/Uncharged Up Smash(3x)
-Up Smash or down smash
-Up/Front/Back Air
(this combo is decently easy to pull off at the start, but when using the Down smash it is crucial that you do not use the Up air. It makes it harder to pull off this combo so unless you want to have a bit more knockback, I suggest that you don't use Up Air after the down smash)
(semi) Combo 4#
When an opponent is off the stage or near the edge of the screen, you can attempt to pull off a back air or a front air. Both are multi-hit moves and have some decent knockback. By doing so you can have any easy KO within a minute (by giving enough damage and forcing the opponent off the stage).
How to force your opponent off the stage
Pikachu is VERY light, infact that he is almost dead last in the weight (with the lightest poistion going to Jigglypuff). It is vital that he is not hit to much, due to how he cannot survive many hard hitting attacks. You can survive a bit longer by spacing (like mentioned before) or forcing the opponent to go off the stage. To toss an opponent off the stage, I suggest that you use Pikachus back throw, this throw has VERY good knockback and can let you set up with a front air or a back air. Pikachus grabs are decent at best, I suggest using back throw the most to get the best knockback as possible. (Foward throw can also be used with a dash attack, which can set up another combo)
WELL I DID MY BEST
I only began to create these strategies, so forgive me if I did something wrong. Just know that this is not the ONLY way to use Pikachu, you can also use Pikachu in a more defensive way (although this is very hard). SPAM-CHU IS GONE, CHEAP-A-CHU IS HERE.
