Template:SSB4 to SSBU changelist/Pichu

Aesthetics

• Pichu's design and proportions have changed. It has thicker arms, rounder cheek spots, a thinner torso, smaller eyes, and a more oval-shaped head. Its ears are more narrow, and its black portions are thicker. Its feet are less detailed, and its eyes are brown instead of navy blue. Additionally, due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, Pichu's model has a more subdued color scheme. Due to these changes, Pichu matches its appearances in the more recent Pokémon titles.
• Pichu faces the foreground at an angle, instead of facing directly forward. In addition, it always faces the screen regardless of which direction it turns, causing all of its animations to be mirrored.
• All of Pichu's non-attack animations are unique to the character.
• Pichu has a new idle animation where it wobbles left to right, and an idle pose where it looks back to twitch its tail.
• Pichu is much more expressive. Like Pikachu, its eyes become swirls when dazed, a detail derived from the Pokémon anime from when a Pokémon faints. It also looks angry during many of its moves, such as specials or grabbing an opponent. Pichu also has squash and stretch in its animations, giving it a more bouncy feel than in Melee.
• Pichu has been updated with universal features introduced in Brawl and SSB4.
  • Pichu has an on-screen appearance, a Boxing Ring title, a Palutena's Guidance conversation, and an up taunt. Its left-facing taunt from Melee has been moved to its side taunt, and its right-facing taunt has been moved to its down taunt.
    • Pichu only jumps once, and wiggles twice for its side and down taunt, compared to Melee's four, and uses different voice clips for both taunts, akin to other characters.
  • Pichu has received five new alternate costumes, increasing its total to eight. Its blue and red costumes no longer have it wear a scarf, while its green costume has been removed entirely.
    • One of Pichu's alternate costumes features the one-of-a-kind, "spiky-eared" Pichu variant seen in the Pokémon anime's twelfth movie, Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
  • Pichu uses various voice clips for any move between any tilt attack, its dash attack, and any aerial attack. Additionally, it always uses specific clips for each of its smash attacks.
  • Pichu has a secondary KO scream, a voice clip when jumping, and a voice clip when emerging from underwater.
• Like Pikachu, Pichu's cheeks flash white when it uses electric attacks.
• Pichu no longer appears to sleep while crouching, most likely due to its ability to crawl.
• Pichu has a new victory animation where it discharges electricity and briefly faints (similar to its new taunt), then gets up and winks at the camera; this replaces the animation from Melee where it jumps and claps with its feet. Its other two victory animations from Melee are updated with new expressions and ending poses, and Pichu has voice clips for all of its victory animations.
• Pichu now stands on the ground while clapping instead of sitting.

Attributes

• Pichu can crawl, much like Pikachu. This allows for an easier approach while dodging projectiles.
• Pichu walks faster (1.24 → 1.302).
• Pichu runs much faster (1.72 → 1.892), although it is slower relative to the cast, now being the 25th fastest out of 78 characters in Ultimate compared to the 5th fastest out of 26 characters in Melee.
  • Pichu's initial dash is faster (1.8 → 1.98).
• Pichu's traction is slightly higher (0.1 → 0.11).
• Pichu's air speed is higher (0.85 → 1.029).
• Pichu's air acceleration is much higher (0.05 → 0.1), going from being the 12th highest out of 26 characters to the 9th highest out of 78 characters.
• Pichu is heavier (55 → 62), which improves its horizontal survivability, though it still remains the lightest character in the game.
• Pichu's gravity is higher (0.11 → 0.14).
• Due to the introduction of the gravity penalty for knockback, Pichu sustains more knockback especially since it has above average gravity. Additionally, the changes to knockback physics have made Pichu's vertical endurance even worse than it was in Melee despite its increased weight (being the worst in the game).
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 32 → 29).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-14).
• Back roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-15) and has more ending lag (FAF 32 → 34).
• Spot dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 23 → 25).
• Air dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 2), making it better for escaping combos. Due to its altered mechanics, it also no longer causes helplessness, and allows Pichu to sweetspot edges with directional air dodges.
• Air dodge grants less intangibility (frames 4-29 → 2-26 (neutral), 2-19 (directional)), and due to the altered mechanics, directional air dodges have more landing lag (10 frames → 11-19) and are significantly less effective for wavedashing.
• With the implementation of rage, Pichu's self-inflicted damage can gradually increase its launching power, and also keep itself out of kill confirm percentages. Conversely, Pichu's status as the lightest character in the game means it will not be able to survive very well at percentages which allow it to take advantage of rage, and will also die sooner against an opponent who has high rage.
• The removal of chain grabs immensely aids Pichu's endurance and longevity.
  • However, this also removes some chain grabs Pichu was capable of performing on fast-fallers.

Ground attacks

• The increased shieldstun for ground attacks makes Pichu's slightly to moderately safer on shield, especially its tilt attacks.
• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack has less ending lag (FAF 22 → 17) and it can be looped by holding the attack button.
  • It deals less damage (2% → 1.2%).
  • It deals more knockback (7 base/50 scaling → 10/20 base/60 scaling), hindering its ability to chain into itself.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has a different animation, where Pichu kicks in an upward arcing motion rather than straight forward, and electricity comes out of its legs.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 25).
  • It has more range.
  • It always trips opponents at low percents.
  • It deals less base knockback but significantly more knockback scaling (10 base/100 scaling → 5/130), giving it KO potential at high percents.
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 5-14 → 5-12).
  • It has an electric effect and therefore causes recoil damage (1%).
  • It can no longer be angled.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt deals less knockback (20/25 base/120 scaling → 32/105), improving its combo potential but hindering its KO potential.
  • It deals less damage (6% → 5%).
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals less damage (7% → 6%).
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 7-9 → 7-8).
  • It sends opponents at a vertical angle (35° → 80°/100°) and deals less knockback (12 base/100 scaling → 40/50), making it a potent combo starter but removing its edgeguarding and tech chasing potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has noticeably less ending lag (FAF 50 → 35).
  • It deals more knockback (40 base/70 scaling → 60/100 (clean), 60/80 (late)).
  • It has more startup lag and a shorter duration (frames 5-16 → 6-15).
  • The late hit deals less damage (8% → 6%).
  • It sends opponents at a more vertical angle (361° → 70°), reducing its edgeguarding potential, but improving its combo potential combined with the decreased ending lag.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's hits connect more reliably: their angles have been altered (0°/20°/180° → 366°/20°), and they have a reduced hitlag (0.3x) and SDI multiplier (0.5x), on top of the weakened SDI from Melee to Ultimate.
  • The final hit deals more damage (6% → 8%), and the looping hits deal consistent damage due to changes to stale-move negation, increasing the total dealt (14.74% → 18%).
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 51 → 54).
  • The final hit deals less knockback (90 base/140 scaling → 68/123), hindering its KO potential despite its increased damage.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has intangibility on Pichu's ears while its hitboxes are active.
  • It deals less damage (16% → 14%).
  • It deals drastically less knockback (50/40 base/105 scaling → 40/15 base/85 scaling), which alongside its lower damage significantly hinders its KO potential, going from one of the strongest up smashes in Melee to one of the weakest in Ultimate.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash hits multiple times instead of once.
  • It deals more damage (13% → 1.5% (loop hits), 8% (final), 14% (total)) if all hits connect.
  • The final hit deals more knockback (30 base/70 scaling → 45/150), KOing at around 125% from center stage, compared to the single hit in Melee KOing at around 170% under the same circumstances.
  • Pichu moves forward and backwards during the attack and the hitbox is extended, increasing its horizontal range.
  • All hits now have transcendent priority.
  • It has more startup lag (frame 7 → 8).
  • It sends at a more vertical angle (160° → 50°) that is less desirable for edgeguarding, no longer being a semi-spike.
  • It has an electric effect and therefore causes recoil damage (1.3%).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except back aerial have less landing lag (12 frames → 7 (neutral), 15 → 12 (forward), 18 → 11 (up), 26 → 22 (down)). However, due to the removal of L-canceling, their landing lag is not fully compensated.
• The decreased shieldstun for aerial attacks makes Pichu's less safe on shield compared to their L-canceled versions in Melee.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (12%/9% → 7%/5%) without full compensation on knockback (clean: 18 base/100 scaling → 20/112, late: 0/100 → 0/112).
  • It has a slightly shorter duration (frames 3-10/11-28 → 3-9/10-27).
  • It has an altered animation: Pichu performs a frontflipping cartwheel instead of a somersault, and attacks with its head instead of its tail.
  • The hitbox is extended and follows Pichu as it spins around, giving it more range and better coverage around it.
  • Pichu's ears are intangible during the clean hit (frames 3-9).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial causes considerably less recoil damage (4% (1% per hit) → 1%).
  • It deals significantly more damage (2% → 3.5% (per hit); 7.46% → 14% (total)).
  • The first three hits deal less set knockback (30 → 20), use the autolink angle (361° → 366°), and have a lower hitlag multiplier (0.5x), which alongside the weakening of SDI allows them to connect much more reliably.
  • The last hit no longer deals set knockback (30 set/100 scaling → 55 base/140 scaling), making it safer on hit and granting it KO potential at high percents.
  • The last hit has a shorter duration (frames 22-24 → 22-23).
  • The last hit has a different launch angle (361° → 45°).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial hits multiple times instead of once.
    • The loop hits use the autolink angle (367°), allowing them to drag opponents down for combos.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 55).
  • It deals more damage if all hits connect (9% → 2% (hits 1-5), 2.5% (last); 12.5% (total)).
  • The last hit deals more knockback (20 base/100 scaling → 70/160), launches at a lower angle (361° → 42°), and always sends opponents towards Pichu's back, greatly improving its edgeguarding ability.
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 50 → 38).
  • It has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5).
  • It has an electric effect and therefore causes recoil damage (1.5%).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial deals less knockback (100 base/60 scaling → 70/70), improving its combo potential.
  • It has slightly less ending lag (FAF 28 → 27).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has a clean hit that deals more damage (12% → 13%) and meteor smashes opponents (361° → 270°), greatly improving it edgeguarding and onstage combo abilities.
  • Pichu's ears are intangible during the clean hit.
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 38 → 32), doing so at the peak of a short hop.
  • The landing hit no longer deals set knockback (30 set/100 scaling → 50 base/100 scaling).
  • The clean hit deals less knockback (20 base/100 scaling → 16/86), hindering its KO potential onstage.
  • Using the move in the air causes more recoil damage (1% → 1.5%), but landing with it causes less (1% → 0.5%).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing and dash grab have less startup lag (frame 7 → 6 (standing), 11 → 8 (dash)).
  • Standing grab has more range.
  • Dash grab has slightly less ending lag (FAF 41 → 40).
  • Standing grab has slightly more ending lag (FAF 31 → 32).
  • When grabbing, Pichu swipes one hand sideways, instead of grabbing overhead like Pikachu. Pichu also no longer rolls over after performing a dash grab.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals more hitlag (4 frames → 14), but has less startup (frame 3 → 1) and significantly less ending lag (FAF 25 → 6), shortening its duration.
  • It causes significantly less recoil damage (1% → 0.1%).
  • It deals less damage (3% → 1.4%).
• The removal of chain grabbing combined with the changes to knockback significantly hinders forward throw, up throw and down throw's damage racking potential.
• All throws except forward throw no longer have an electric effect.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals more damage (2% → 1.5% (loop hits), 2% → 6% (throw), 9% → 12% (total)) with no compensation on knockback, making it a viable KO option near the edge.
  • It causes less recoil damage (1% → 0.5%).
  • It no longer has any hitlag, executing faster as a result.
  • Its first four hits are slower (frame 10, 14, 18, 22 → 11, 15, 19, 23), and it releases the opponent faster (frame 29 → 27) with its total duration unchanged. This slightly hinders its combo potential.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw releases the opponent faster (frame 30 → 26), with its total duration unchanged. This increases its ending lag and shortens the distance Pichu moves back before throwing, making it less effective for setting up edgeguards, while still giving the opponent enough time to DI.
  • Its speed is no longer weight-dependent.
  • It has a different animation.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw releases the opponent faster (frame 20 → 15) and has less ending lag (FAF 44 → 36), improving its combo potential from low to mid percents.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw releases the opponent faster (frame 20 → 19) and has less ending lag (FAF 48 → 40), improving its combo potential from low to mid percents despite its increased knockback.
  • The first hit has more startup (frame 12 → 14).
  • It deals less damage (5% (hit 1 and throw) → 4%; 10% → 8% total) and has significantly increased knockback scaling (38 → 100), hindering its combo potential at high percents, while still lacking KO potential.
• Floor attacks:
  • Due to the introduction of tripping in Brawl, Pichu has received a floor attack after tripping.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (8% → 9%).

Special moves

• Thunder Jolt:
  • Thunder Jolt has less ending lag (FAF 58 → 52).
  • It causes less recoil damage (1% → 0.7%).
  • The grounded version has increased base knockback (10 → 25 (grounded opponents)/13 (aerial opponents)).
  • Pichu can no longer fast fall or control its trajectory while using the move.
  • The grounded version deals less damage on its later frames (7% → 7% (clean), 6% (mid), 5% (late)).
• Skull Bash:
  • When it hits an opponent, Skull Bash causes Pichu to bounce back in an animation with significantly less lag, making it safer to use.
  • It deals less damage (5%-39% → 4%-33%).
  • It causes more recoil damage (1% → 1.5%).
• Agility:
  • Agility travels a longer distance.
  • It causes less recoil damage (1%/3% → 0.5%/1%).
  • It has less ending lag when used into the ground.
  • It has an angle indicator to telegraph Pichu's trajectory. This may help prevent missed directional inputs, but makes Pichu's movement more predictable.
• Thunder:
  • Thunder meteor smashes targets hit near the cloud (94° → 270°), much like Pikachu's version from Smash 4 onward, dealing more damage (4% → 6%) and leading into the shockwave.
  • The shockwave deals more damage (13% → 14%) and has more knockback scaling (60 → 65), allowing it to KO at around 110% from center stage.
  • If the Thunder hits Pichu, it will rise a bit, helping its recovery.
  • The shockwave causes more recoil damage (3% → 3.5%).
  • The lightning bolt no longer hits multiple times.
  • Thunder passes through the stage. While this lets Pichu use it as a close range attack under platforms and such, it also means Pichu can hurt itself doing so.
  • The lightning bolt has different knockback values (80 base/55 scaling → 74/60).
  • The electricity discharged when the lightning strikes Pichu is yellow rather than blue and has Pichu flash with a dark tint.
• Pichu has a Final Smash, Volt Tackle, which is nearly identical to Pikachu's: it has Pichu dash quickly around the stage at different angles while surrounded in a ball of electricity, then launching opponents with an electric blast at the end of the move as the ball disappears. It also causes massive recoil damage, unlike Pikachu's version of the move.