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. Visually, Pikachu has barely changed at all from its Melee design, only being larger and touched up slightly. It has all of its moves from the first two games. It is in the High Tier and holds 12th position overall, making it much closer to its original Top Tier status in Super Smash Bros. (#1) as opposed to its Low Tier status in Melee (#18). However, Pikachu now has a higher staning in brawl than in melee.

Attributes
Pikachu is a good character with fast running speed. All of Pikachu's tilts are very quick and easy to execute. Pikachu's smashes are great, Up Smash is very quick but is average in the knockback department-it's about even with his Forward Smash. Down Smash has almost no start up lag, sucks opponents in for multiple hits, has very high priority-greater than a fully charged Rollout from Jigglypuff (SSBB)-a deceptively large hitbox, and average knockback. Pikachu's Forward Smash has a very long range with a disjointed hitbox. Be aware though, Pikachu's Forward Smash may be powerful, but it has the highest start-up lag out of all his smashes. Pikachu also has great specials, like its down special which is incredibly powerful-but be cautious, as opponents like Zelda can reflect Thunder with Nayru's Love, causing a lot of knockback to Pikachu. Thunder Jolt, Pikachu's neutral special move, is a decent groundhugging projectile thats is fast and spammable. Skull Bash and Quick Attack are good recovery options and when combined, leave Pikachu a high chance of making it back to the stage. Pikachu's aerial arsenal is great as well, Pikachu's Up Aerial can semi-spike and gimp some characters recoveries. And when done out of a short hop, Forward Aerial and Neutral Aerial can be a big threat. But be aware, most of Pikachu's Aerials are laggy when completed. It is considered to be the ultimate counter to Fox, having a 0-80% chaingrab on the lupine.

Pikachu has the ability to Crawl as well as Wall Jump. A problem, though, is that Pikachu is the 4th lightest of all the characters, as well as having a small shield size and very poor grab range. Also, Pikachu can be prone to degenerate into spamming Thunder, which can get predictable and punishable. But if a Pikachu user can avoid those problems, then Pikachu will be a very big threat.

Normal

 * Neutral Attack - Attacks with its head. 2% damage
 * Dash Attack - Tackles. Laggy in completion. 7% damage
 * Strong Side - Nicknamed "Mega Kick". Sticks both feet forward. 9% damage
 * Strong Up - Swings tail in an arc above itself. 7% damage
 * Strong Down - Does a quick tail swipe. Can attack twice first tripping and then knocking away if you press it fast enough. 7% damage

Smash Attacks

 * Side Smash- Releases a ball of electricity, connected to Pikachu by electrical wires. 20% uncharged but does 28% if charged
 * Up Smash - Flips very fast. 13% uncharged, 19% charged.
 * Down Smash - Spins on the floor and releases electricity. 15% uncharged, 21% charged.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Air - Spins in a ball. Still has hitboxes while on the ground. 12% damage
 * Forward Air - An electric drill-like move forward. Lags on the ground. 8% if all 4 hits make contact.
 * Back Air - Spins like a disc and hits multiple times. Lags on the ground. 11% damage if all hits connect.
 * Up Air - Swings tail while flipping forward. Certain tail frames send opponent away at an angle. 6% damage
 * Down Air - An electric drill-like move downward. Has hitboxes while on the ground. 12% damage

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

Taunts
Up:Pikachu creates rings of electricity around him.

Side:Waves each paw and says "Pika,Pika!"

Down:Pikachu "break dances".

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 revealed 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.

Costumes
Normal: The yellow mouse Pokémon we all know and love.

Green Team: Pikachu wears a green bandanna with a Pokémon symbol on the front. His skin has a shade of green in it.

Red Team: Pikachu puts on a red hat somewhat like ash's hat from the T.V. shows. His skin gets a little bit darker then normal.

Blue Team: Pikachu wears some blue-rimmed goggles. His skin becomes slightly lighter than normal.

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 (or, in Wario's case, twelve).
 * In Brawl, Pikachu is heavier than Squirtle, but in the Pokémon universe, Squirtle is heavier.
 * Skull Bash can be used as a recovery move, if used at the right time.
 * Pikachu holds the world record for Co-op Target Smash!! Level 3 with Fox (completed in 4.58 seconds), and Level 4 with Yoshi (completed in 4.81 seconds).
 * If the player lands on the ground whilst Pikachu is still performing the tail-flicking portion of his Uair (the portion where the hitbox is still out), the laggy pose he takes looks strikingly similar to his neutral aerial sex kick from the original Super Smash Bros.