Pikachu (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Unlike many other characters, however, these opinions remained relatively the same following the release of the game and throughout the majority of the game's competitive lifespan. Pikachu was small and could pancake (crouch under) a lot of moves, had an extremely strong recovery, and had good zoning options as well as some of the best [[zero-to-death combo|zero-to-death combos]] in the game. Its strong matchups across the vast majority of the cast also enabled it to match up extremely well against the majority of the cast (a rarity for most characters), and its ability to still do well against potentially unfavorable matchups such as {{SSBU|Mr. Game & Watch}} or {{SSBU|Ness}} led many to consider Pikachu as one of the best characters in the game. This outlook only grew following nerfs to the early metagame's best characters such as {{SSBU|Pichu}}, {{SSBU|Wolf}}, {{SSBU|Olimar}}, and {{SSBU|Peach}} and {{SSBU|Daisy}}, with Pikachu remaining untouched by comparison. However, this outlook has waned somewhat, due to the strengthening of players and Pikachu not matching up well with the new metagame standards. It does not particularly lose to {{SSBU|Steve}} and {{SSBU|Kazyua}}, but their explosive power and Pikachu's demanding nature make it difficult for Pikachu to succeed in modern tournament brackets.  

Pikachu noticeably lacked the results other contenders for best in the game had. Pikachu's early metagame results were largely spearheaded by only one player - {{Sm|ESAM}} - who despite seeing high highs were often brought down by mediocre results. Even after the online metagame, ESAM's consistency continued to be rather wobbly, as he saw a career-defining victory over {{Sm|MkLeo}} at {{Trn|Glitch 8.5 - Konami Code}} but largely underperformed most of his other majors. Around this time, other notable Pikachu players such as {{Sm|H4DS}}, {{Sm|Neeroz}}, and {{Sm|ShinyMark}} began making their mark on the metagame, with ShinyMark especially having a breakout tournament at {{Trn|Smash Factor 9}}. These results, however, were often countered with the players' inconsistency or a lack of out-of-region results. As it stands, many players still consider Pikachu to be a top 3 character alongside {{SSBU|Joker}} and {{SSBU|Pyra}} & {{SSBU|Mythra}}, however many others such as {{Sm|Dabuz}} have argued that the character is overrated due to having mediocre representation compared to other top tiers.