Pichu (SSBU)

Pichu; in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
	;
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearance	in Melee; ; ;
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Volt Tackle

This article is about Pichu's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the character in other contexts, see Pichu.

“	Pichu is back after 17 years! Pichu's electric attacks have greater range and do more damage than its other attack types – but they also damage Pichu.	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Pichu (ピチュー, Pichu) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Pichu is classified as fighter #19.

Pichu's voice actress from Melee and the Pokémon anime, Satomi Kōrogi, reprises her role with new voice clips.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

Play VS. matches, with Pichu being the 34th character to be unlocked.
Clear Classic Mode with Pikachu or any character in its unlock tree, being the seventh character unlocked after Mr. Game & Watch.
Have Pichu join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Pichu must then be defeated on Pokémon Stadium 2.

Differences from Pikachu

Despite not being an Echo Fighter, Pichu is still almost a full clone moveset-wise of Pikachu. As in Melee, Pichu is significantly lighter than Pikachu, and all of its electric attacks inflict recoil damage. Many of Pichu's attributes, such as its run speed, air speed, fall speed, etc. are now different when compared to Pikachu. In addition, most of Pichu's animations have been given slight adjustments and overhauls in order to differentiate them from Pikachu's; for example, all of Pichu's smash attack charging animations are now completely different from Pikachu's. Almost all of Pichu's moves are also functionally different, such as down tilt or neutral air, making it even more unique. However, unlike previous clones, Pichu was not given many new unique moves to differentiate it from Pikachu, as the only unique moves it has are its forward tilt, up smash, neutral aerial, and edge attack.

These changes give Pichu some new strengths, but also a lot of weaknesses when compared to Pikachu.

Overall, Pichu can kill more reliably than Pikachu and at earlier percentages, which is largely due to its forward tilt being extremely strong. Some of its attacks also deal more damage than Pikachu's, but the only ones with a significant difference are its back aerial and the aerial version of Thunder Jolt. Otherwise, the damage output between the two is largely the same or with only a 1–2% difference, while some some of Pikachu's attacks, like its dash attack, up aerial and Thunder, are stronger than Pichu's.

Pichu's frame data is also better on average, with its biggest advantages being on its forward tilt, down smash and Thunder. However, there are some attacks like back aerial and Skull Bash where Pichu's frame data is worse and only Pichu's up and down aerials auto-cancel in a short hop, whereas all of Pikachu's aerials can auto-cancel in a short hop. Additionally, with the exception of its grab and neutral aerial, almost every other attack in Pichu's moveset has inferior range to Pikachu's equivalent attacks, including all of its tilts and smash attacks, its up aerial and Thunder.

Pichu is extremely light and has a high falling speed, which makes it easier to combo and KO. The recoil damage gimmick, while toned down compared to Melee, still makes Pichu's already bad survivability even worse. Pichu is also forced to play very aggressively and cannot camp as well as Pikachu can due to its recoil damage. It also does not have access to Quick Attack either, removing a vital approach and burst option from its arsenal.

Lastly, Pikachu and Pichu's combo games are very different, with Pikachu's being much more diverse. For instance, Pichu does not have access to Pikachu's neutral aerial, which is an incredible combo tool, and Pichu cannot chain four back aerials into each other at low percents to immediately start an edgeguard. Pichu's down throw has less advantage and stops being a combo tool earlier and its forward air has less advantage and hits less often, making it worse for dragdown combos. Pichu also lacks Quick Attack as a combo starter and its up air does not have the weak hit Pikachu's does, making it impossible to perform up air bridges that carry opponents to the blastzone with Pichu. Both Pikachu and Pichu have loops that use their neutral air or back air respectively. Even there, Pikachu's version is likely better, because it works on more characters, is more resilient to SDI and is less situational, whereas the only advantage Pichu's version has is that it can rarely transition into a KO immediately. It also deals more damage every loop, but this is not very important, because Pikachu can do more loops than Pichu in a row, making the total damage output roughly the same.

However, there are some upsides to Pichu's combo game over Pikachu's: Its up tilt and up aerial combo for longer and it has more combos into Thunder to take stocks. Down tilt is also a better combo starter, but it has very low range, making it hard to use.

All in all, both characters have many up- and downsides compared to the other. Pichu being the significantly easier character to play of the two caused it to have better results so far, but there are a lot of arguments that point to either one of them being the better character. Both are good picks in the meta game and are capable of great results, with the one that is the better character only being very slightly better, whoever it is.

Aesthetics

Pichu's idle animations, taunts and victory poses are all different from Pikachu's.
In general, most of Pichu's animations are either slightly or completely different than Pikachu's. This includes Pichu's attacking and non-attacking animations.
- Common animations such as air dodge, back roll, and backflip are all different.
- Other arbitrary animations (such as Home-Run Bat swing, sleeping, stunned, using shooting items, etc) are also different.

Attributes

All of Pichu's electrical attacks inflict recoil damage.
Pichu runs slower than Pikachu (2.039 → 1.892).
Pichu's traction is lower than Pikachu's (0.132 → 0.11), making it harder for Pichu to punish out of shield.
Pichu's rolls travel less distance than Pikachu's.
Pichu's wall jump grants much less height than Pikachu's, going from 3rd best to 6th worst.
Pichu's air speed is faster than Pikachu's (0.957 → 1.029).
Pichu falls much faster than Pikachu (1.55 → 1.9). However, its fast falling speed is only very slightly faster (2.48 → 2.5).
- The difference between Pichu's falling speed and fast falling speed is much lower than Pikachu's (increase: 60% → 31.579%), which makes it more predictable when landing and gives it less options in the air.
Pichu's gravity is much higher then Pikachu's (0.095 → 0.14).
Pichu is significantly lighter than Pikachu (79 → 62). Combined with its high falling speed and high gravity, this makes Pichu easier to both combo and KO than Pikachu.
Pichu has a slightly smaller hurtbox than Pikachu overall.
- However, because Pichu's ears have a larger hurtbox than Pikachu's, the vertical size of Pichu's hurtbox is larger than Pikachu's, making it slightly easier to hit a standing Pichu than a standing Pikachu. ^[1]
- Pichu is also taller than Pikachu when crouching and crawling. This means Pichu can't crouch under some projectiles and attacks, like Wolf's Blaster, whereas Pikachu can.
Due to Pichu's higher falling speed and gravity, its air dodges have less ending lag than Pikachu's (neutral: FAF 51 → 43; directional: FAF 85 → 71 (side), 110 → 89 (up), 70 → 60 (down)).

Ground attacks

Neutral attack:
- Neutral attack does not have a sweetspot or a sourspot, which means it deals less damage when close to the opponent, but more damage when farther away from the opponent (1.4%/1.2%/1% → 1.2%).
- Neutral attack deals more knockback, which causes it to hit less often before being pushed out of range or pushing the opponent off an edge.
- Neutral attack has less range.
Dash attack:
- Dash attack deals less knockback, which grants it combo potential at low percents, but also greatly reduces its KO potential.
- Dash attack's clean hit deals less damage (11% → 8%).
Forward tilt:
- Forward tilt deals more knockback.
- Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 25).
- Forward tilt has a significantly longer duration (frames 6-8 → 5-12).
- Forward tilt always causes the opponent to trip at low percents.
- Forward tilt cannot be angled, making it near impossible to hit enemies in the air.
- Forward tilt deals less damage (10%/9%/8% → 8%).
- Forward tilt causes recoil damage (0.7%).
- Forward tilt has less horizontal range.
Up tilt:
- Up tilt deals less knockback, making it able to combo for longer.
- Up tilt has less horizontal and vertical range.
Down tilt:
- Down tilt deals vertical knockback, whereas Pikachu's deals horizontal knockback, which makes it a significantly better combo starter.
- Down tilt has more range below Pichu, making it easier to hit enemies at the ledge.
- Down tilt cannot cause the opponent to trip.
- Down tilt has less horizontal range.
Forward smash:
- Forward smash strikes multiple times instead of once. This causes it to deal less damage (12% → 8%) but more knockback if the opponent gets hit by the attack late.
- Forward smash has less ending lag (FAF 54 → 50).
- Forward smash does not have a sourspot.
- Forward smash's final hit deals more knockback, killing about 10% earlier than the sweetspot of Pikachu's version.
- Forward smash has slightly more startup lag (frame 15 → 16).
- Forward smash causes recoil damage (1.5%).
- Forward smash has significantly less horizontal range.
Up smash:
- Up smash is an upward headbutt, whereas Pikachu's is a tail flip. This means that the hitbox starts behind Pichu and moves forwards, whereas Pikachu's starts in front and moves backwards.
- Up smash does not have a sourspot.
- Pichu's ears are intangible during the three frames its up smash is active.
- Up smash deals less knockback.
- Up smash has less range.
- Up smash has a significantly shorter duration (frames 10-17 → 9-11), which also causes it to have more ending lag despite the earlier FAF (FAF 45 → 41).
Down smash:
- Pichu moves slightly forward and then backward while using its whole body to attack during its down smash, unlike Pikachu, who stays in place and uses its tail.
- Pichu's down smash has diagonal knockback, unlike Pikachu's horizontal knockback.
  - This causes it to KO earlier from center stage and across the stage, but later from near the edge.
  - The angle is less desirable for edgeguarding.
- Down smash deals slightly more damage if all hits connect (13% → 14%) and the last hit deals slightly more knockback.
- Down smash has much less ending lag (FAF 66 → 51).
- Pichu is invulnerable for 4 frames starting 1 frame before down smash becomes active.
- Down smash causes recoil damage (0.8%).
- Down smash hits one time less with the same duration, which means the rehit rate is slower.
  - This makes it easier to escape the attack by using DI to go down and teching on the ground. ^[2]
- Down smash takes longer to hit enemies behind Pichu than those who are in front of it, whereas Pikachu has better range in both directions that is always completely covered.
- Down smash has less range below Pichu, making it harder to hit enemies at the ledge, even with the final hit.

Aerial attacks

Neutral aerial:
- Neutral aerial is a somersault in the air, whereas Pikachu's is an electrical charge. It does not have an electric hitbox and only hits once.
- Neutral aerial deals more knockback.
- Neutral aerial has slightly more range.
- Neutral aerial has a longer duration (frames 3-22 → 3-9 (clean), 10-27 (late)).
- Neutral aerial cannot be used to perform the dragdown combos, loops and kill setups that Pikachu can do with its neutral aerial.
- Neutral aerial deals less damage (8.9% → 7% (clean), 5% (late)).
- Neutral aerial has slightly more ending lag (FAF 39 → 40).
- Neutral aerial does not auto-cancel in a short hop, making it slightly less safe despite the lower landing lag (9 frames → 7).
Forward aerial:
- Every hit of forward aerial deals the same damage, whereas Pikachu deals less damage with the first hits, but more with the last hit.
- Forward aerial's hits connect more reliably.
- Forward aerial deals more damage if all hits connect (11.8% → 14%).
  - Forward aerial deals less damage if only the last hit connects (4.8% → 3.5%).
- Forward aerial hits 2 times less with the same duration, which means the rehit rate is slower and dragging opponents down with it is harder.
- Forward aerial causes recoil damage (1%).
- Forward aerial's last hit deals less knockback, reducing its KO potential.
- Forward aerial does not auto-cancel in a short hop, reducing its combo potential and safety.
Back aerial:
- Back aerial's last hit deals more knockback, which increases its KO potential, but removes its combo potential.
- Back aerial deals more damage if all hits connect (8.6% → 12.5%).
  - Back aerial deals less damage if only the last hit connects (3.6% → 2.5%).
- Back aerial can drag opponents down more easily for edgeguarding and combos.
- Back aerial has a longer duration (frames 4-25 → 5-31).
  - However, the attack hits as often as Pikachu's version, which means the rehit rate is slower. This makes escaping the attack easier.
- Back aerial has an electric hitbox and therefore causes recoil damage (1%).
- Back aerial has more startup (frame 4 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 44 → 55).
- Back aerial deals more hitlag, making it easier to SDI out of. ^[3]
- Back aerial does not have a landing hitbox.
- Back aerial does not auto-cancel in a short hop or a full hop, reducing its combo potential and safety.
Up aerial:
- Up aerial deals less knockback, which increases its combo potential, but reduces its KO potential.
- Up aerial sends at a more vertical angle, making it easier to combo into Thunder, but also removing the up air bridges Pikachu can do at mid percents.
- Up aerial has slightly less landing lag (14 frames → 11). However, because both Pichu's and Pikachu's up aerials auto-cancel in a short hop, this difference rarely matters.
- Up aerial deals consistent damage instead of having a clean and a late hit, but also deals less damage (6% (clean), 4% (late) → 4%).
- Up aerial always puts the opponent into tumble, meaning it can always be DI'd, reducing its combo potential.
- Up aerial has less range.
Down aerial:
- Pichu's ears are intangible during the first 4 frames down aerial is active.
- Down aerial causes recoil damage (1.5%).
Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
- In rare situations, Pichu is able to immediately KO the opponent after ending the loops by moving next to the stage and using down aerial, whereas Pikachu's loops cannot lead into a KO directly. It also deals more damage per loop.
- Pichu's loops are more situational, because they can only be started in a full hop and are completely impossible near platforms, whereas Pikachu can start them in a short hop and guarantee them after a grab or up tilt, while still being able to do a few loops even with platforms nearby.
- SDI has a bigger effect on Pichu's back aerial than on Pikachu's neutral aerial, which makes it much easier to escape Pichu's loops than Pikachu's. This also means Pikachu can do more loops in a row than Pichu without the opponent falling out.

Throws and other attacks

Grabs:
- All grabs have less startup (frame 7/10/11 (standing/dash/pivot) → 6/8/9) and ending lag (FAF 37/45/40 → 32/40/37).
- Standing grab has slightly more range.
Pummel:
- Pummel deals more damage (1% → 1.4%).
- Pummel has more hitlag (12 frames → 14), increasing its duration.
- Pummel causes recoil damage (0.1%).
Forward throw:
- Forward throw deals more damage (10% → 12%) and knockback, causing it to KO at high percents.
- Forward throw, Pichu's throw with the highest knockback, kills later than Pikachu's throw with the highest knockback (up throw), unless Pichu is standing at the ledge.
- Forward throw causes recoil damage (0.5%).
Back throw:
- Back throw deals less knockback, reducing its KO potential while still not being a useful combo tool.
Up throw:
- Up throw has less knockback growth, allowing it to combo into Thunder at very high percents much better, but also removing its KO potential by itself.
- Up throw deals more damage (8% → 10%).
- Up throw deals more base knockback, reducing its combo potential at low percents.
Down throw:
- Down throw deals more damage (5% → 8%).
- Down throw releases the opponent much earlier (frame 38 → 26) and has comparatively more ending lag (FAF 52 → 47). This makes it harder to react to, but also noticeably reduces its combo potential.
Edge attack:
- Edge attack has slightly less vertical range.

Special moves

Thunder Jolt:
- Thunder Jolts deal more damage (Ground/Air: 6%/4.8% → 7%/10%).
- Thunder Jolts travel slightly farther.
- Aerial Thunder Jolts cause more hitstun.
- Thunder Jolts are smaller.
- Thunder Jolts cause recoil damage (0.4%).
- Aerial Thunder Jolts deal more knockback, which makes them better for edgeguarding, but reduces their combo potential.
- Grounded Thunder Jolts travel faster, which makes them harder to avoid, but also makes it harder to follow behind them for added pressure.
- Grounded Thunder Jolts bounce closer to the ground, which makes it impossible to crouch beneath them, but also reduces their vertical range, which makes jumping above them less of a commitment.
Skull Bash:
- Skull Bash travels a longer distance. While this makes it better for recovery and allows it to hit opponents from further away, it also makes edgeguarding with it much riskier, as Pichu is more likely to self-destruct if it misses.
- Skull Bash deals much more damage when fully charged (21.4% → 33%).
- Skull Bash needs to be charged for a significantly longer time for a full charge.
- Skull Bash has more ending lag in the air (FAF 75 → 87) and on hit (FAF 22 → 26).
- Skull Bash deals less damage when uncharged (6.2% → 4%) and when the smash input is used (10% → 7.8%).
- Skull Bash causes recoil damage (1.5%).
- Skull Bash sometimes pushes opponents a little before dealing the damage when uncharged. ^[4]
Agility:
- Agility travels a longer distance.
- Agility does not have a hitbox and therefore inflicts neither damage nor knockback, removing a burst option and combo starter from Pichu's arsenal and making its recovery less safe.
- Agility causes recoil damage (2%).
Thunder:
- Cloud:
  - Thunder's cloud has less startup lag (frame 13 → 9).
- Lightning Bolt:
  - Thunder's lightning bolt has less startup lag (frame 13 → 9).
  - Thunder's lightning bolt deals less damage (8% → 4%) and knockback.
  - Thunder's lightning bolt causes recoil damage if it hits Pichu (3%).
  - Thunder's lightning bolt travels faster.
    - It is harder to react to the lightning bolt.
    - If the lightning bolt hits Pichu, its hitbox has a shorter duration.
    - If the lightning bolt misses Pichu, the bolt will disappear on the ground more quickly, giving it more ending lag, despite the FAF being identical.
    - Creating a wall with the lightning bolt for edgeguarding is less effective.
- Discharge:
  - Thunder's discharge has less startup lag (frame 34 → 26) with identical ending lag, shortening its duration (FAF 75 → 67).
  - Thunder's discharge deals slightly less damage (15% → 14%).
  - Thunder's discharge has slightly less range in all directions. This also makes it harder to hit enemies at the ledge with it.
  - Thunder's discharge has more base knockback, but lower knockback growth, which causes it to KO earlier from near the edge, but later from center stage and across the stage. Pikachu's Thunder starts dealing more knockback than Pichu's at 75%.
  - Thunder's discharge always sends the opponent in the direction Pichu is facing. This makes it more reliable, but also means using DI correctly to survive longer against it is easier.
Volt Tackle:
- Volt Tackle deals more damage (1.5% → 1.6% (loop), 20% → 21% (final)) and knockback.
- Volt Tackle causes massive recoil damage (3.2% (startup), 0.2% (loop), 3.5% (final)).

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

Since its absence from previous installments, Pichu was infamous of being by far the worst (clone) character in Melee due to its having the worst matchups in the series and often having players label it a “joke character”, especially taking into consideration its bottom tier place. Possibly as a result of this, Pichu has been exponentially buffed in its transition to Ultimate.

Pichu benefits slightly from the implementation of rage, as its electrical attacks can now slowly increase its knockback with the recoil damage it receives from them, and can potentially allow it to escape certain kill confirms that would otherwise KO it. Pichu's recoil damage itself has been toned down from Melee, making its electrical attacks less of a detriment to use. Its mobility has overall improved as well, as its walking, dashing and air speeds have increased, and its air acceleration has increased substantially. It can also crawl now, allowing Pichu to approach more easily while being able to dodge certain projectiles. Pichu also benefits from the weakening of SDI, as its multi-hit attacks are much more reliable. On another note, while its endurance is still the worst in the game as it is lighter than even Jigglypuff, its weight was nevertheless increased, allowing it to survive a little bit longer.

Despite the many buffs it received, Pichu also received a few nerfs. Some of Pichu's strongest kill options such as its forward smash and up smash have been significantly weakened in terms of knockback, while its neutral aerial has also been weakened in both its damage output and knockback. Pichu can also no longer chain grab with its up throw, greatly reducing its damage-racking potential against fast-fallers. Pichu's own falling speed has not changed since Melee while its gravity has been increased, making it a fast-faller. Pichu's grounded attacks are also less effective for edgeguarding, as its down tilt, down smash and dash attack now send opponents at a much higher angle. Lastly, more of Pichu's moves (most notably its forward tilt and back aerial) use electricity, meaning that more of its moves cause recoil damage. Additionally, unlike other characters, its jumpsquat animation remains the same, while all other characters are now on par with its jumpsquat animation time of 3 frames.

Overall, Pichu's buffs greatly outweigh its nerfs. It is no longer an intentional "joke character" like in Melee; instead, it is now a very polarized glass cannon, akin to a min-maxed version of Pikachu with a better punish and edgeguarding game, but significantly worse survivability, considerably less range on average, a less reliable recovery due to Skull Bash having more ending lag and Agility dealing no damage (thus rendering it completely useless as an attack unlike Quick Attack, which also removes an approach and burst tool) and less non-committal options (due to most aerials not auto-canceling in a short hop and most grounded attacks having way less range). Although Pichu is easier to play than Pikachu, it still has a fairly high learning curve and has amassed good results in tournaments despite that, which will likely place it in either top or high in Ultimate in the long run.