Pikachu (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


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

Unveiled at E3 2006, Pikachu (, Pikachū) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Graphically, Pikachu appears to be slightly furrier, lighter, bigger, and softer than it was in Melee, which reflect changes made in the 3rd Generation of Pokemon.

Event Matches

 * Event 8 :Go! Trinity!- You play as Pikachu on Pokemon Stadium 2. You are pitted against a Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. No trainers are present, so no switching occurs.
 * Event 10: All Star Regulars- Choose your character and take on the "original 8" fighters, two at a time.
 * Event 12: Sleeping in the Egg- The player controls Yoshi and has to use Egg Lay on Kirby and Pikachu simultaneously.

Co-Op Event Matches

 * Event 2: Master the Pokemon Tag Battle- Pokemon Trainer and Pikachu vs Pokemon Trainer and Pikachu on Pokemon Stadium 2.
 * Event 21: The Real All Star Battle- Select your character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Role In the Subspace Emissary
Pikachu was trapped in a Subspace lab, having its electric powers drained by a machine. Luckily, Zero Suit Samus rescues Pikachu. 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 shadowbug 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 Captain Olimar find another entrance to the room there 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 Faclon 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
 * 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
 * Pikachu can now wall-jump, much like Pichu could in Melee.

Pros:

 * High 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
 * Decent, groundhugging Projectile
 * Small target
 * Good Recovery move
 * Can Crawl
 * Thunder is great for aiding off the top kills, comes out quickly and has little downtime upon completion and can KO at relatively low percentages
 * Can Wall-jump
 * Down B has a good wavebounce

Cons:

 * Most aerials on the weak side, and a little laggy in completing
 * Forward Smash is best horizontal killer, but is rather slow coming out
 * Light weight
 * Pikachu's light weight medium falling speed, and startup lag on Up B allow it to be juggled fairly easily
 * Low range on most of its attacks, including grabs.
 * Limited approach
 * Recovery can be difficult to use

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)

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.

Strategy

 * When playing Pikachu, you have 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 Bat coupled with a fair chunk of damage. It's uses are fairly situational, but it's not a move to totally forget.
 * Your Dsmash 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 you are good in the air, the one cardinal sin of Pikachu is to use your back aerial. NEVER use it. Your Nair is much better and nowhere near as laggy.
 * Your short hop is one of the smallest and hardest to use. However, once mastered, Nairs and Fairs become incredible dangerous. Keep on the lookout for frontal attacks too, and quickly dodge roll and short hop Nair.
 * Try to build damage with Short Hopped Nairs, regular A attacks, or Thunder Jolt. Juggling is your friend, with two possibilities to kill juggled opponents. Another good combo is to do an up throw, Usmash, then Thunder to finish.
 * Overall, you are slightly better on the ground than the air, so keep that in mind. As a general rule, edgeguarding works best for you with your 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 you 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 you some problems.
 * Your throws are all good, but Up and Back throws easily combo into edgeguarding or juggling.
 * Remember you can use wall jumps and the Footstool jump to increase your aerial possibilites, as well as make up for a lack of meteor smashes.
 * Wavebouncing is a fairly new trick, but you will grow to love it! First of all, Auto-RAR had no appeal for you, as your Bair is horrible. However, sliding up specials, and wavebounced neutral, side, or down specials are amazing.
 * Sliding Up Special: Your ability to get all over the stage, fairly fast, as well as behind other wavebouncers. Think of the mind games possible: You slide Up Special up, leading your 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 neigh unstoppable with wavebounced PK Fire. However, with your own wavebounces, you can disrupt him severely.
 * Wavebounced Down Special is an incredible gift from Sakurai for Pikachu. You now have a whole new layer of possible mind games to contemplate. Short hopped Nairs along with dash attacks and regular attacks build damage to allow a quick KO with a wavebounced Thunder.

Trivia

 * Pichu, in Melee, was able to jump off of walls. With Pichu being removed, 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 4 costumes, while other characters have 5 or 6. Gold's goggles and Brendan's headband are two of these (Gold and Brendan are the male playable characters in Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal and Emerald, respectively).