Pichu (SSBU): Difference between revisions

{{s|wikipedia|Satomi Kōrogi}}, Pichu's voice actress from the ''Pokémon'' anime and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'',  reprises her role with new voice clips. In addition, the 'spiky-eared' variant of Pichu (who appears as a playable character in ''Ultimate'' via Pichu's [[Alternate costume (SSBU)#Pichu|alternate costumes]]) is also voiced by Kōrogi rather than {{s|wikipedia|Shoko Nakagawa}}, who originally voiced the aforementioned 'spiky-eared' variant in the ''Pokémon'' anime's twelfth movie, ''[[bulbapedia:M12|Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life]]''.

Pichu's representation in tournaments has changed throughout ''Ultimate''{{'}}s metagame. At launch, Pichu was often seen as a contender for the best character in the game thanks to the drastic buffs it received, such as greatly reduced recoil damage and a fast [[forward tilt]] that can KO opponents around 100%, which led to a large playerbase spearheaded by {{Sm|VoiD}} and {{Sm|Nietono}}. However, [[List of updates (SSBU)#3.1.0|update 3.1.0]] gave Pichu major nerfs, making it more of a high-risk, high-reward character and leading many to deem it inferior to Pikachu. Despite this, Pichu continues to see moderate success from dedicated mains, most notably {{Sm|NaetorU}}.

Since its absence from previous installments, Pichu was infamous for being by far the worst clone character in ''Melee'' due to its status as an intentional "joke character", largely due to its very low weight, recoil damage and vulnerability to chain grabbing, giving it very poor matchups and leading to its bottom-tier perception. Most likely as a result of this, Pichu has been significantly buffed in its transition from ''Melee'' to ''Ultimate''.

Pichu's recoil damage has seen some noticeable changes. Some of its [[electric]] attacks deal reduced recoil damage ([[forward smash]], [[forward aerial]], [[pummel]], [[Thunder Jolt]] and Agility), making these moves less of a detriment to use; particularly, forward aerial is a less commital attack and its pummel is much more useful for racking up damage. Conversely, [[down aerial]], [[Skull Bash]] and [[Thunder]]'s shockwave hitbox deal more recoil damage (though down aerial's landing hit deals less damage to compensate), making them riskier to use. Additionally, more of Pichu's moves now have an electric effect, namely its [[forward tilt]], [[down smash]] and [[back aerial]]; as a result, both their KO power and risk have been generally increased.. In bulk, Pichu's moves generally deal less recoil damage than in ''Melee'', allowing it to utilize them more frequently, with down aerial's newfound meteor smash hitbox compensating for its higher risk, and it has many more KO options as a result of them receiving an electric effect. However, its higher abundance of electric attacks and dearth of regular moves generally compensates for the lower recoil Pichu's other moves inflict; moreover, Thunder is a riskier KO option, and while a fully charged Skull Bash's extreme power compensates for its recoil, the uncharged version is now more polarizing as a recovery move.

Aside from the changes to SDI, the changes to the engine's mechanics are both benefitial and detrimental to Pichu, but help him overall. The changes to [[stale-move negation]] make its multi-hit moves deal consistent damage as opposed to less damage, which makes its forward smash, forward aerial, back aerial and down smash (the latter two now being multi-hit moves) more reliable for racking up damage and KOing. The removal of [[edgehogging]] in favor of [[ledge trump|ledge trumping]] and the changes to [[air dodge]]s make Pichu much harder to edgeguard and thus improves its survivability, while Pichu can now use an air dodge to escape combos, sporting one of the fastest in the game; however, they also make it slightly harder for Pichu itself to edgeguard opponents, forcing it to KO them through raw power more often. The removal of [[chain grab|chain grabbing]] significantly improves Pichu's endurance at low percentages, no longer being as much of an easy victim to unavoidable damage into a KO, but it also means it can no longer chaingrab with its up throw, hindering its damage-racking potential against fast-fallers (though its improved combo game compensates for this). Finally, the implementation of [[rage]], coupled with its small stature, allows Pichu to make highly effective use of it thanks to its electric moves' high knockback, in addition to said attacks' recoil damage indirectly putting it out of range of KO setups it would've otherwise suffered from, but it also makes its endurance at higher percentages just as atrocious as in ''Melee'' should it fail to KO the opponent.

*Pichu can [[Crawling|crawl]].

*Pichu can [[wall jump]].

|ftiltname=Double-Footed Sweep ({{ja|りょうあしばらい|Ryō Ashibarai}})

|ftiltdesc=Plants itself on its upper paws and kicks with one foot upward in front of itself, and then the other. Very fast (comes out on frame 5) and has very low ending lag, yet it has above average power and can KO at high percents. Can make opponents [[trip]] at low percents. The hitbox last surprisingly long, as Pichu kicks with one foot and then the other, and while the second hitbox is smaller, it doesn't count as a sourspot. Cannot be angled as it could in ''Melee''.

|fsmashname=Thundershock ({{ja|ショートでんげき|Shōto Dengeki}}, ''Electrical Short'')  

|usmashdesc=Does an upward headbutt. Pichu's ears become [[Intangibility|intangible]] on frames 9-11. Comes out on frame 9, making it quick for a smash attack. However, its knockback is rather poor for a smash attack.

|nairdesc=An aerial cartwheel. It is a quick out of shield option and, when compared to Pikachu's, it is more effective for KOing and has more range and less ending lag. Autocancels in a full hop, but is slightly safer when not autocanceled, having 2 less frames of landing lag compared to Pikachu's.

|fairname=Electric Drill ({{ja|でんげきドリル|Dengeki Doriru}})

|bairname=Electric Glider ({{ja|でんげきグライダー|Dengeki Guraidā}})

|uairname=Tail Chop ({{ja|しっぽはたき|Shippo Hitaki}})

|dairname=Electric Screw ({{ja|でんげきスクリュー|Dengeki Sukuryū}})

|pummeldesc=Shocks the opponent. Above average power and moderate speed.

|bthrowdesc=Does a backwards somersaults with the opponent, then flings them behind itself. Pichu's second strongest throw, but it can only KO middleweight late, starting at around 181% at the edge of Final Destination.

|dsdesc=Summons a thundercloud from which a lightning bolt comes down and strikes Pichu. The start of the bolt has a meteor effect and deals more damage than the rest of the bolt. When the bolt hits Pichu, a shockwave is generated than has the potential to KO. Pichu also gains intangibility for 10 frames if it connects, just like Pikachu. Compared to Pikachu's Thunder, Pichu's Thunder has less startup but deals less damage and knockback overall and causes recoil damage. The thunderbolt travels faster than Pikachu's version, giving it both positives and negatives: this makes it easier to land, but Pichu will be more vulnerable.

|{{NTSC}} [[File:Pichu Cheer English NTSC SSBU.ogg|center]] <br> {{PAL}} [[File:Pichu Cheer English PAL SSBU.ogg|center]]||[[File:Pichu Cheer Japanese SSBU.ogg|center]]||[[File:Pichu Cheer Italian SSBU.ogg|center]]||[[File:Pichu Cheer Dutch SSBU.ogg|center]]||{{NTSC}} [[File:Pichu Cheer French NTSC SSBU.ogg|center]] <br> {{PAL}} [[File:Pichu Cheer French PAL SSBU.ogg|center]]

|[[File:Pichu Cheer German SSBU.ogg|center]]||{{NTSC}} [[File:Pichu Cheer Spanish NTSC SSBU.ogg|center]] <br> {{PAL}} [[File:Pichu Cheer Spanish PAL SSBU.ogg|center]]||[[File:Pichu Cheer Russian SSBU.ogg|center]]||[[File:Pichu Cheer Korean SSBU.ogg|center]]

*{{Sm|Blacktwins13|Canada}} - One of the best Pichu players in North America after Pichu's nerfs, although he often played other characters alongside Pichu such as {{SSBU|Roy}} and {{SSBU|Mario}}. During ths time, he most notably placing 2nd at {{Trn|Rising Stars at EGLX 2019}} defeating {{Sm|ESAM}} and 9th at {{Trn|Shine 2019}} defeating {{Sm|Goblin}}. Although he eventually picked up {{SSBU|Pyra}} and {{SSBU|Mythra}}, he remains one of the few players from the early metagame who still played Pichu, placing 25th at {{Trn|Get On My Level 2023}} with primarily Pichu and defeating {{Sm|Riddles}} with Pichu at {{Trn|Gourmet Bash 3}}.

*{{Sm|NaetorU|France}} - The best Pichu player in the world since 2023, first known for placing 7th at {{Trn|COLOSSEL 2022}} defeating {{Sm|Bloom4Eva}}. He has some of the best Pichu performances since the early metagame, including placing 13th at {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2023}} defeating {{Sm|MkLeo}}, 17th at {{Trn|Tera}} defeating {{Sm|Cosmos}}, 25th at {{Trn|Double Down 2022}} defeating {{Sm|Lea}}, and 33rd at {{Trn|GENESIS 9}} defeating {{Sm|Kola}}. He was ranked 89th on the [[UltRank 2022]], the only solo-Pichu player ranked globally in the post-online metagame.

*{{Sm|Nietono|Japan}} - One of the best Pichu players in the early metagame, ranking as high as 27th on the [[Fall 2019 PGRU]]. He is the only Pichu player to win a major, doing so at {{Trn|Umebura SP 3}}, and has also placed 7th at both {{Trn|Umebura SP 6}} and {{Trn|Umebura SP 7}}. He continued to main Pichu in the post-online metagame, notably placing 3rd at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 8}}, but slowly began playing other characters until he dropped Pichu entirely by 2023.

*{{Sm|RFang|USA}} - One of the best Pichu players in the world after Pichu's nerfs, ranking 45th on the [[Fall 2019 PGRU]] and placing 3rd at {{Trn|2GG: Grand Tour - South Carolina}} defeating {{Sm|Kola}}, 4th at {{Trn|Tri-state Showdown: Fall 2019}} defeating {{Sm|Nairo}}, and 7th at {{Trn|The Big House 9}} defeating {{Sm|Light|p=Connecticut}} and {{Sm|WaDi}}. He stopped competing during the online metagame and has only made a few offline appearances since.

*{{Sm|VoiD|USA}} - Pichu's primary representative in the early metagame. He is the only Pichu player ever ranked in the top 10, ranking 9th on the [[Spring 2019 PGRU]] thanks to runs such as 2nd at {{Trn|GENESIS 6}} and 5th at both {{Trn|MomoCon 2019}} and {{Trn|Smash 'N' Splash 5}}. Following Pichu's nerfs, he began playing other characters instead and dropped the character in favor of {{SSBU|Sheik}} right before the pandemic.

Pichu's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing {{SSBU|Classic Mode}}. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Pichu has been unlocked. Unlocking Pichu in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Its Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with its artwork in ''Ultimate''.