Pikachu (SSBB)

This article is about Pikachu's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Pikachu.

Pikachu
Pikachu
Universe	Pokémon
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Starter

Unveiled at E3 2006, Pikachu (ピカチュウ, Pikachū) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Visually, Pikachu has barely changed at all from its Melee design, only being touched up slightly. It has all of its moves from the first two games.

Event Matches

• Event 8: Go! Triple Finish!- The player controls Pikachu in the Pokémon Stadium 2 stage, pitted against a Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. No trainers are present, so no switching occurs.
• Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars- Choosing any character, the player takes on the "original eight" fighters, two at a time.
• Event 12: Sleeping in the Eggs- The player controls Yoshi and has to use Egg Lay on Kirby and Pikachu simultaneously. [1]

Co-Op Event Matches

• Co-Op Event 2: Master the Pokémon Tag Battle- Pokémon Trainer and Pikachu vs. another Pokémon Trainer and Pikachu on Pokemon Stadium 2.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle- The player chooses any character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Role In The Subspace Emissary

A Pikachu is trapped in a Subspace lab, having its electric powers drained by a machine. Luckily, Zero Suit Samus finds and rescues the Pokémon. From this point onward, Pikachu tags along with Samus throughout the base of the Subspace Army.

When Samus reaches the area with her Power Suit, she and Pikachu are ambushed by two Shadow Bug clones of her Power Suit. After defeating them, Samus regains her Power Suit, and the two continue traveling throughout the base.

Some time later, the duo are confronted by Ridley, who brutally damages Samus by dragging her across the wall. She is only saved by Pikachu's Thunder attack. The two must then fight Ridley. After defeating Ridley, Pikachu and Samus escape from the ruins and find a cave.

Later they are seen running in the Ancient Minister's base, eventually bumping into him and the R.O.B. Squad. They are about to fight him but suddenly notice the Ancient Minister looking down as if he's sad.

As they look at his sorrow, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon and Olimar find another entrance to the room they're in. Suddenly, a hologram of Ganondorf commands the R.O.B. Squad to use the remaning Subspace Bombs and attack the Ancient Minister. Together with the Ancient Minister, who is reveled to be a R.O.B. himself, the six heroes fight the Subspace Army, they escape on the Falcon Flyer and fight Meta-Ridley on it. Pikachu then aids the heroes throughout the rest of the adventure.

Changes From Melee to Brawl

• Forward and Down Smash longer ranged.
• Up Aerial deals more damage. However, the knockback has been nerfed.
• Body size is slightly bigger than before.
• Generally seems more powerful overall, although certain attacks do not seem significantly enhanced either.
• Thunder attack comes down from a higher point than before, also, there is very little (as a matter of fact, almost no) lag. Thunder also can pass through platforms within the first half of its range from the top but not platforms directly above Pikachu.
• Pikachu can now wall-jump, much like Pichu could in Melee.
• Back Air can hit multiple times.
• Blue and Green costumes have changed (Blue is now goggles which was Pichu's blue costume in Melee, and Green is now a headband).
• Quick Attack is faster and longer, but it takes a good timing using it in which Pikachu is going. In Melee, it was easy to use it, also, it has less lag.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Fast running speed.
• Neutral air lasts a long time.
• Tilts very quick.
• Up Aerial can semi-spike.
• Up Smash is one of the quickest and most powerful in the game.
• Down Smash sucks in and has multiple hits.
• Forward Smash has long, disjointed hitbox, and increases in strength the closer the opponent is.
• Can rack up damage and play mind games with an enemy using the Quickstix technique (see Quick Attack)
• Decent, groundhugging Projectile.
• Small target.
• Can Crawl.
• Thunder is great for aiding off the top kills, comes out quickly and has little lag upon completion and can KO at relatively low percentages. It can kill basically anything above Pikachu. The first half of the attack can now travel through terrain, until it exits it. It also has good wavebounce.
• Can Wall-jump.
• Several options for approach include: short-hop N-air, Thunder Jolt, and Dash Attack.
• Great edge-guarding ability due to Thunder's area effect and Thunder Jolt.
• Can chain-throw many characters using down throws and forward throws.
• Very good running grab.

Cons:

• Most aerials on the weak side, and a little laggy in completing.
• Forward Smash is a good horizontal killer, but is rather slow coming out.
• Very light and easily KO'd. (7th lightest)
• Low range on most of its attacks, including grabs.
• Easily juggled.
• Limited approach.
• Shortest grab range in the game.
• Smallest shield size in the game.
• Has a hard time KO'ing heavy-weight characters.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Dash Attack - Tackles. Laggy in completion.
• Neutral Attack - Attacks with his head.
• Forward Tilt - Nicknamed "Mega Kick". Sticks both feet forward.
• Up Tilt - Swings tail in an arc above itself.
• Down Tilt - Does a quick tail swipe. Can attack twice first tripping and then knocking away if you press it fast enough

Smash Attacks

• Forward Smash- releases a ball of electricity.
• Up Smash - Flips very fast.
• Down Smash - Spins on the floor and releases electricity.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Air - Spins in a ball. Still has hitboxes while on the ground.
• Forward Air - An electric drill-like move forward. Lags on the ground.
• Back Air - Spins like a disc. Lags on the ground.
• Up Air - Swings tail while flipping forward. Certain tail frames send opponent away at an angle.
• Down Air - An electric drill-like move downward. Has hitboxes while on the ground.

Grabs & Throws

• Pummel - Shocks opponent.
• Back Throw - Tumbles with opponent back and throws them back.
• Forward Throw - Places opponent on back and electricutes them forward. Can chain throw almost all characters
• Up Throw - Headbutts opponent upward.
• Down Throw - Slams on top of opponent. Can chain throw certain characters

Color Changes

Pikachu's color changes slightly change the tone of its fur, but most noticeably puts a colored object on its head.

• Red (Wears a cap that resembles that of the playable trainer from the original GB Pokémon game)
• Green (Wears a headband resembling that of the male playable trainer from the Emerald version of Pokémon Advance)
• Blue (Wears goggles resembling Pichu's Blue color in Melee)

Special Movements

Taunts

Up: Charge Crouches and emits electricity. May reset forward smash damage unconfirmed.

Side: Waves with one hand, then the other, saying "Pika, Pikaaa!" in each direction (same as in Melee and SSB).

Down: Lies on the floor, yawns a drawn out "Pi-kaaaa" while stretching and stands up.

On-Screen Appearance

Appears from a Poke Ball, and emits electricity from its cheeks.

Victory Pose

Victory Theme: Pokemon Red/Blue Main Theme

• Sleeps
• Ears perk, he scratches his left ear
• Backflip, aerial spin an inch off the ground, and says "Pika Pikaaaaaa!"

Wii Remote Choice

Says "Pikaaa!"

Credits Music

• The Pokémon Center

Strategy

• When playing Pikachu, there are three really good killing moves: Up-Smash, Thunder, and Side-Smash, in order of decreasing strength (Down Smash and Skull Bash can kill in situational uses). These can kill at about 50-70% reliably.
• Skull Bash is rather slow to charge, but has more knockback than a Home-run Bat. Its uses are fairly situational, but it's not a move to totally forget.
• D-smash is interesting. It sucks people in, and does a fair amount of damage, then shoot them away. Think of it as a panic button when facing multiple foes. It is amazing in 4-Player matches, but one-one it can be difficult to use. Still, it can be used to set up juggles if correctly timed.
• While Pikachu is good in the air, the one cardinal sin of Pikachu is to use it's back aerial. Nair is much better and nowhere near as laggy. B-air is so laggy that when using it off an edge, you are fairly likely to SD.
• Pikachu's short hop is one of the smallest and hardest to use. However, once mastered, N-airs and F-airs become incredibly dangerous. Keep on the lookout for frontal attacks too, and quickly dodge roll and short hop Nair.
• Try to build damage with Short Hopped N-airs, regular attacks, or Thunder Jolt. Juggling is useful, with two possibilities to kill juggled opponents. Another good combo is to do an up throw, U-smash, then Thunder to finish.
• Overall, Pikachu is slightly better on the ground than the air, so keep that in mind. As a general rule, edgeguarding works best with its Side smash or Thunder.
• When sent flying, try to DI as much of the knockback away as possible. If you are still far out, use Skull Bash, then Quick Attack to recover.
• In general, techs and good DI make it much more viable.
• Don't write off Thunder Jolt. While it is a bit slow and laggy, it clings to walls. It can be a life saver in edgeguarding scenarios or just used to build damage. It can also be used as an approach attack from the air, although it's lag can cause some problems.
• Pikachu's throws are all amazing. Up and Back throws easily combo into edgeguarding or juggling. Forward and Down allow Pikachu to Chain throw easily. It will take quite a bit of practice but the results are worth it. Down throw is slightly easier to do this with, so try it first.
• Remember to use wall jumps and the Footstool jump to increase aerial possibilities, as well as make up for a lack of meteor smashes.
• Wavebouncing is a fairly new trick, but it will prove highly useful. First of all, Auto-RAR has no appeal for Pikachu, as its B-air is horrible. However, sliding up specials, and wavebounced neutral, side, or down specials are amazing.
• Sliding Up Special: Pikachu's ability to get all over the stage, fairly fast, as well as behind other wavebouncers. Think of the mind games possible: slide Up Special up, leading the opponent into the air, then immediately back down to an Usmash. Or any other of a number of possiblities. It's also a quick escape route through sliding or wavebouncing.
• The side special is once again situational, but can provide some quick knockback.
• Neutral can be used to score a quick hit against projectile users, melee fighters, or other wavebouncers, especially Lucas. Lucas is nigh unstoppable with wavebounced PK Fire. However, with its own wavebounces, it can disrupt him severely.
• Wavebounced Down Special is a wonderful surprise for Pikachu. There is now a whole new layer of possible mind games to contemplate. Short hopped N-airs along with dash attacks and regular attacks build damage to allow a quick KO with a wavebounced Thunder.
• D-Smash can be an excellent edgeguard, it enemies get trapped in and then spewed off the ledge.
• At higher percent, and up-throw can almost always warrant you a free down special.
• Charging the Skull Bash to get back to the stage can be a great surprise and you can make most people back away from the ledge to not get hit. Practice it and you can easily get back while hitting somebody in a free for all.
• A great combo with Pikachu is to downthrow into an up-tilt and then short hop N-air.

Trivia

• Pichu, in Melee, was able to jump off of walls. With Pichu's absence in Brawl, Pikachu can now perform the same feat. One of Pikachu's alternate costumes also features the goggles that were available for Pichu in Melee. In addition, Pikachu can only know Volt Tackle if they learned the move as a Pichu. These coincidences have led to joke theories that the Pikachu in Brawl is the evolved Pichu from Melee.
• Also, Pikachu is the only character in Brawl to have four costumes, while other characters have five or six.

External Links

• Pikachu's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!.