Editing Pichu (SSBM)
From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then publish the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
Pichu is voiced by Satomi Kōrogi, who also voiced one of the {{s|bulbapedia|Pichu Brothers}} in the ''Pokémon'' anime. | Pichu is voiced by Satomi Kōrogi, who also voiced one of the {{s|bulbapedia|Pichu Brothers}} in the ''Pokémon'' anime. | ||
Pichu is currently ranked 22nd in the D tier. Pichu has solid overall movement, complemented with some very quick attacks and an excellent neutral air. It also possesses a surprising amount of power for its weight class, with good [[chaingrab]]bing ability and a handful of strong finishers. However, all of Pichu's strengths are severely outweighed by its weaknesses. It has abysmal range and very poor endurance due to its light weight, and is unusually prone to chaingrabs itself despite its small size, due to the unusually high amounts of hitstun it sustains as a result of being the game's lightest character. It also takes [[recoil damage]] from its electric-based moves, including its own recovery move [[Agility]], further hampering its defensive game. As a result, Pichu suffers from abysmal matchups- with nearly the entire cast taking advantage of its fragility and poor range. Historically, Pichu was considered to have the worst matchup spread in the game, with no universally agreed upon winning matchups. However, its perception has mildly improved over time due to developments in the metagame | Pichu is currently ranked 22nd in the D tier. Pichu has solid overall movement, complemented with some very quick attacks and an excellent neutral air. It also possesses a surprising amount of power for its weight class, with good [[chaingrab]]bing ability and a handful of strong finishers, some even more powerful than those of its counterpart, Pikachu. However, all of Pichu's strengths are severely outweighed by its weaknesses. It has abysmal range and very poor endurance due to its light weight, and is unusually prone to chaingrabs itself despite its small size, due to the unusually high amounts of hitstun it sustains as a result of being the game's lightest character. It also takes [[recoil damage]] from its electric-based moves, including its own recovery move [[Agility]], further hampering its defensive game. As a result, Pichu suffers from abysmal matchups- with nearly the entire cast taking advantage of its fragility and poor range. Historically, Pichu was considered to have the worst matchup spread in the game, with no universally agreed upon winning matchups. However, its perception has mildly improved over time due to developments in the metagame. | ||
Although no longer considered a contender for the worst character competitively, Pichu was intended to be a sub-par character in general, with its trophy descriptions mentioning Pichu as "''top of the class in weakness''" and "''best suited for handicapped matches.''" This was confirmed in a development news update, shortly after the game's release.<ref>''[http://sourcegaming.info/2015/09/24/meleepichusite/ News Flash! Smash Bros. Dojo: Pichu]'' (translated 2015-09-24; [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/1211/index.html original] posted 2001-12-11)</ref> | Although no longer considered a contender for the worst character competitively, Pichu was intended to be a sub-par character in general, with its trophy descriptions mentioning Pichu as "''top of the class in weakness''" and "''best suited for handicapped matches.''" This was confirmed in a development news update, shortly after the game's release.<ref>''[http://sourcegaming.info/2015/09/24/meleepichusite/ News Flash! Smash Bros. Dojo: Pichu]'' (translated 2015-09-24; [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/1211/index.html original] posted 2001-12-11)</ref> | ||
Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
One of Pichu's main advantages is its perhaps surprising power. While its moveset generally consists of attacks that deal less knockback than its clone {{SSBM|Pikachu}} or most other characters in the cast, the few strong moves it possesses can be deadly if utilized properly. Pichu's smashes are all of short range, but all are unusually powerful; its up smash and forward smash contain incredible power, being able to KO characters reliably at as little as 70 to 80 percent, while its down smash semi-spikes opponents and has invincibility frames. Pichu also has decent throws; its forward and back throws can knock opponents off stage or set up combos, while its up and down throws can chain throw fastfallers and tech chase characters respectively. | One of Pichu's main advantages is its perhaps surprising power. While its moveset generally consists of attacks that deal less knockback than its clone {{SSBM|Pikachu}} or most other characters in the cast, the few strong moves it possesses can be deadly if utilized properly. Pichu's smashes are all of short range, but all are unusually powerful; its up smash and forward smash contain incredible power, being able to KO characters reliably at as little as 70 to 80 percent, while its down smash semi-spikes opponents and has invincibility frames. Pichu also has decent throws; its forward and back throws can knock opponents off stage or set up combos, while its up and down throws can chain throw fastfallers and tech chase characters respectively. | ||
Pichu's best tool is its neutral aerial, becoming active in just three frames and has minimal landing lag, especially when L-canceled. This move serves as a viable [[approach]] option, can rack up respectable damage with long strings of just itself, and can create a pseudo-[[wall of pain]] if the player | Pichu's best tool is its neutral aerial, becoming active in just three frames and has minimal landing lag, especially when L-canceled. This move serves as a viable [[approach]] option, can rack up respectable damage with long strings of just itself, and can create a pseudo-[[wall of pain]] if the player is allowed to continue the strings off-stage. Pichu's up aerial complements neutral aerial's utility, allowing it to juggle enemies into the air. Most of its other aerials are situational in use, but these two moves alone give Pichu quite a force in the air. | ||
Pichu also boasts an excellent recovery. Its up special, [[Agility]], can travel in many different directions and cover very large distances; while Pikachu's [[Quick Attack]] is superior in speed and distance, Agility is still a solid recovery tool in its own right. Pichu's [[Skull Bash]] also further aids its horizontal recovery, with surprising power and distance when charged; at full power, it deals a massive 39% damage and guarantees KOs at very low percentages. With Agility being able to seamlessly mix up edgeguarders, and Skull Bash's potential strength serving as a direct deterrent to attempted edgeguards, Pichu has one of the best recoveries in the game. | Pichu also boasts an excellent recovery. Its up special, [[Agility]], can travel in many different directions and cover very large distances; while Pikachu's [[Quick Attack]] is superior in speed and distance, Agility is still a solid recovery tool in its own right. Pichu's [[Skull Bash]] also further aids its horizontal recovery, with surprising power and distance when charged; at full power, it deals a massive 39% damage and guarantees KOs at very low percentages. With Agility being able to seamlessly mix up edgeguarders, and Skull Bash's potential strength serving as a direct deterrent to attempted edgeguards, Pichu has one of the best recoveries in the game. | ||
Line 43: | Line 43: | ||
Finally, Pichu suffers from the infamous recoil damage it receives while using almost any move involving electrical hitboxes. Several of Pichu's moves, especially those that involve electricity, add at least one percent of damage to the user. For example, using both segments of Agility to recover adds four percent to Pichu each time it is used. While most of Pichu's best moves do not use electricity, making this less of a problem at higher levels of play, the threat of recoil damage reduces the utility of its electric-based attacks, and there is no way for Pichu to avoid recoil when recovering. If players are not careful with balancing Pichu's electrical and non-electrical attacks, the recoil damage can add up quickly, which can be especially crippling to Pichu. With the lowest weight in the game (being lighter than ''Jigglypuff'') and average falling speed, Pichu's survivability is already among the worst in the game, even without recoil damage. Additionally, the extra damage taken also reduces how long it can utilize [[crouch cancel]]ling. | Finally, Pichu suffers from the infamous recoil damage it receives while using almost any move involving electrical hitboxes. Several of Pichu's moves, especially those that involve electricity, add at least one percent of damage to the user. For example, using both segments of Agility to recover adds four percent to Pichu each time it is used. While most of Pichu's best moves do not use electricity, making this less of a problem at higher levels of play, the threat of recoil damage reduces the utility of its electric-based attacks, and there is no way for Pichu to avoid recoil when recovering. If players are not careful with balancing Pichu's electrical and non-electrical attacks, the recoil damage can add up quickly, which can be especially crippling to Pichu. With the lowest weight in the game (being lighter than ''Jigglypuff'') and average falling speed, Pichu's survivability is already among the worst in the game, even without recoil damage. Additionally, the extra damage taken also reduces how long it can utilize [[crouch cancel]]ling. | ||
Overall, Pichu is a very poor character at all levels of play, with its advantages being thoroughly outweighed by its numerous deficiencies. While Pichu | Overall, Pichu is a very poor character at all levels of play, with its few advantages being thoroughly outweighed by its numerous deficiencies. While Pichu has the potential to pose a threat to the opponent with its speed and power, it simply lacks the tools to put those positive traits to consistent use against competent opponents. The vast majority of the ''Melee'' cast can easily outrange and out-punish Pichu in nearly every instance, regardless of whatever trickery the Pichu player may attempt. As such, Pichu is almost never seen at any level of play. | ||
==Differences from {{SSBM|Pikachu}}== | ==Differences from {{SSBM|Pikachu}}== | ||
Pichu not only performs significantly worse than Pikachu, but is considered a low-tiered character and sometimes even referred to as a joke character. Pichu inherits Pikachu's range issues, but has very few positive traits to compensate for such problems, and it is generally outclassed in most areas by Pikachu otherwise. The raw power increase on a few of its finishers is not enough to outweigh not only the overall power and utility loss across its entire moveset, but also the added [[recoil damage]] on several of its moves that automatically make such moves riskier than Pikachu's. Perhaps the single most negatively impactful change is Pichu's lack of a semi-spike hitbox on its up aerial, which makes it vastly inferior to Pikachu in terms of [[edgeguard]]ing. Pichu's loss of such an integral edgeguarding tool harms its viability significantly, as edgeguarding is considered one of Pikachu's biggest strengths, and one of the main reasons that it can stand up to the top ''Melee'' characters at the highest levels of play. | |||
Pichu performs significantly worse than Pikachu, | |||
Pichu's | |||
As a result of its major flaws, it is arguably the worst clone in the game, and overall one of the worst clones in the series. | As a result of its major flaws, it is arguably the worst clone in the game, and overall one of the worst clones in the series. | ||
Line 156: | Line 149: | ||
|dashname=Running Headbutt ({{ja|ジャンプずつき|Janpu Zutsuki}}, ''Jump Headbutt'') | |dashname=Running Headbutt ({{ja|ジャンプずつき|Janpu Zutsuki}}, ''Jump Headbutt'') | ||
|dashdmg=8% | |dashdmg=8% | ||
|dashdesc=Jumps and headbutts forward. | |dashdesc=Jumps and headbutts forward. Has some noticeable endlag. | ||
|fsmashname=Thundershock ({{ja|ショートでんげき|Shōto Dengeki}}, ''Electrical Short'') | |fsmashname=Thundershock ({{ja|ショートでんげき|Shōto Dengeki}}, ''Electrical Short'') | ||
|fsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|2}} (hits 1-5), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|6}} (hit 6), 2% recoil | |fsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|2}} (hits 1-5), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|6}} (hit 6), 2% recoil | ||
Line 260: | Line 253: | ||
|djump = 29.44 | |djump = 29.44 | ||
|rdjump = 6-7 | |rdjump = 6-7 | ||
}} | }} | ||
Line 299: | Line 290: | ||
|djump = 29.44 | |djump = 29.44 | ||
|rdjump = 6-7 | |rdjump = 6-7 | ||
}} | }} | ||
Line 344: | Line 333: | ||
:''See also: [[:Category:Pichu players (SSBM)]]'' | :''See also: [[:Category:Pichu players (SSBM)]]'' | ||
*{{Sm|Codeman|USA}} - Has taken sets off players such as {{Sm|Wes}}, {{Sm|MacD}}, {{Sm|Excel Zero}}, and {{Sm|Rikzz}}. Has also taken games off players such as | *{{Sm|Codeman|USA}} - Considered to be the best Pichu player of all-time and the only solo Pichu player that has achieved success at top-level play. Has taken sets off players such as {{Sm|Wes}}, {{Sm|MacD}}, {{Sm|Excel Zero}}, and {{Sm|Rikzz}}. Has also taken games off players such as {{Sm|Panda|p=Florida}}, {{Sm|2saint}}, {{Sm|S2J}}, and {{Sm|Kalvar}}. Currently considered the best active solo main of the character, and among the very few to reach genuine competitive notability with the character. Placed 33rd at {{Trn|Wavelength 2024}}, 49th at {{Trn|Shine 2022}}, and 65th at {{Trn|Get On My Level 2018}} and {{Trn|Get On My Level X}}; the former is the best result of any [[major]] achieved by a Pichu player. | ||
===Tier placement and history=== | ===Tier placement and history=== | ||
Pichu was developed as an intentional joke character, and has historically been seen as such by the competitive ''Melee'' community. From the start, many noted that it was completely outclassed by {{SSBM|Pikachu}}, who was already considered a below-average character at the time. With its poor [[approach]] coupled with many attacks that damaged itself, including its own [[recovery]], as well as its terrible overall [[reach]], extremely light [[weight]], and difficulty in putting [[pressure]] on the opponent, many professionals doubted that Pichu could ever develop a deep metagame or gain any notable professional players. Because of this, Pichu has been almost never seen outside of sandbagging or low-tier exhibitions. Pichu's initial placements on each [[tier list]] reflected its stance, typically shifting between 25th and 26th for over a decade of ''Melee''{{'}}s lifespan, competing with characters such as {{SSBM|Bowser}}, {{SSBM|Kirby}}, and {{SSBM|Mewtwo}} for the lowest placement on the tier list, before placing 24th on the twelfth tier list in 2015. | Pichu was developed as an intentional joke character, and has historically been seen as such by the competitive ''Melee'' community. From the start, many noted that it was completely outclassed by {{SSBM|Pikachu}}, who was already considered a below-average character at the time. With its poor [[approach]] coupled with many attacks that damaged itself, including its own [[recovery]], as well as its terrible overall [[reach]], extremely light [[weight]], and difficulty in putting [[pressure]] on the opponent, many professionals doubted that Pichu could ever develop a deep metagame or gain any notable professional players. Because of this, Pichu has been almost never seen outside of sandbagging or low-tier exhibitions. Pichu's initial placements on each [[tier list]] reflected its stance, typically shifting between 25th and 26th for over a decade of ''Melee''{{'}}s lifespan, competing with characters such as {{SSBM|Bowser}}, {{SSBM|Kirby}}, and {{SSBM|Mewtwo}} for the lowest placement on the tier list, before placing 24th on the twelfth tier list in 2015. | ||
While still considered to be an awful character and unused outside of [[sandbagging]], players began to recognize Pichu's strengths, namely its agility and decent set of normals. Several professionals, such as {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Armada}}, believe that while Pichu is still unviable, they believe that other characters, like {{SSBM|Kirby}}, {{SSBM|Zelda}}, and {{SSBM|Bowser}}, are even worse than it, [http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/may/02/kirby-and-zelda-are-two-worst-characters-melee-pichu-highly-underrated-mew2king-discusses-his-super-smash-bros-tier-list-pt-1/ ranking it 19th] and [https://youtu.be/17n7Tcjrifg?t=264 22nd], respectively. Pikachu's rise in the competitive scene also helped Pichu's ascent out of the bottom tier, with players noting that Pichu shared a few of the tools that ultimately made Pikachu a | While still considered to be an awful character and unused outside of [[sandbagging]], players began to recognize Pichu's strengths, namely its agility and decent set of normals. Several professionals, such as {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Armada}}, believe that while Pichu is still unviable, they believe that other characters, like {{SSBM|Kirby}}, {{SSBM|Zelda}}, and {{SSBM|Bowser}}, are even worse than it, [http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/may/02/kirby-and-zelda-are-two-worst-characters-melee-pichu-highly-underrated-mew2king-discusses-his-super-smash-bros-tier-list-pt-1/ ranking it 19th] and [https://youtu.be/17n7Tcjrifg?t=264 22nd], respectively. Pikachu's rise in the competitive scene also helped Pichu's ascent out of the bottom tier, with players noting that Pichu shared a few of the tools that ultimately made Pikachu a solid pick. Despite Pichu's theoretically worse matchup spread and barren results, most players believed that the former was attributed to a different metagame and the latter has other bottom-tier characters that have also failed to achieve significant results. | ||
With its strengths being recognized better, it is currently ranked 22nd on the current tier list. While universally not considered a contender for the worst character in the game, Pichu is still widely considered to be a non-viable choice in the metagame with a terrible matchup spread, with its playerbase and results only marginally improving compared to the early metagame. | With its strengths being recognized better, it is currently ranked 22nd on the current tier list. While universally not considered a contender for the worst character in the game, Pichu is still widely considered to be a non-viable choice in the metagame with a terrible matchup spread, with its playerbase and results only marginally improving compared to the early metagame. | ||
Line 368: | Line 357: | ||
*'''[[Event 49: All-Star Match Deluxe]]''': Pichu is the third opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles it on the [[Pokémon Stadium]] stage with a stock of 2 while Pichu has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat it and the other five characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: {{SSBM|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSBM|Falco}}, {{SSBM|Young Link}}, {{SSBM|Roy}} and {{SSBM|Ganondorf}}. | *'''[[Event 49: All-Star Match Deluxe]]''': Pichu is the third opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles it on the [[Pokémon Stadium]] stage with a stock of 2 while Pichu has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat it and the other five characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: {{SSBM|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSBM|Falco}}, {{SSBM|Young Link}}, {{SSBM|Roy}} and {{SSBM|Ganondorf}}. | ||
=== | ===Ending images=== | ||
<center><gallery> | <center><gallery> | ||
PichuClassicMode.jpg|Classic Mode | PichuClassicMode.jpg|Classic Mode. | ||
PichuAdventureMode.jpg|Adventure Mode | PichuAdventureMode.jpg|Adventure Mode. | ||
PichuAllStarMode.jpg|All-Star Mode | PichuAllStarMode.jpg|All-Star Mode. | ||
</gallery></center> | </gallery></center> | ||
==[[Trophies]]== | ==[[Trophies]]== | ||
In addition to the normal trophy about Pichu as a character | In addition to the normal trophy about Pichu as a character, there are two trophies about it as a fighter, unlocked by completing the [[Adventure Mode|Adventure]] and [[All-Star Mode]]s respectively with Pichu on any difficulty: | ||
{{Trophy/Fighter | {{Trophy/Fighter | ||
Line 443: | Line 432: | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=98282 Pichu Video List] | *[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=98282 Pichu Video List] | ||
*[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=96978 Pichu Player List] | *[http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=96978 Pichu Player List] |