Smashpedia
Register
Advertisement

Thunder Jolt (でんげき Dengeki?, lit. "Electric Attack") is Pikachu and Pichu's Neutral Special Move. Thunder Jolt is fairly unique for a projectile attack in that it hugs the ground it travels on, bouncing up and down as it moves forward (often over obstacles). When used in the air, a ball of electricity is launched that falls diagonally until it hits a solid object, where it assumes the normal arc form. Like its other specials, Thunder Jolt damages Pichu upon use, inflicting 1% damage each time.

This move is also good for spamming heavy characters and fast falling ones like Ike and Fox.

Gallery

Pikachu's Special Moves
64 Melee Brawl 3DS/Wii U Ultimate
Standard Special Thunder Jolt
Side Special Skull Bash
Up Special Quick Attack
Down Special Thunder
Final Smash Volt Tackle

Pichu's Special Moves
Melee Ultimate
Standard Special Thunder Jolt
Side Special Skull Bash
Up Special Agility
Down Special Thunder
Final Smash Volt Tackle

Custom Variations

In Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U, Thunder Jolt can be customized into Thunder Wave or Thunder Shock.

Thunder Wave

Thunder Wave will paralyze opponents that it hits, but does less damage.

Thunder Shock

Thunder Shock will travel strictly horizontally, but will trigger a small blast as it disappears.

Pikachu's Custom Special Moves
Custom 1 Custom 2
Standard Special Thunder Wave Thunder Shock
Side Special Shocking Skull Bash Heavy Skull Bash
Up Special Meteor Quick Attack Quick Feet
Down Special Thunder Burst Distant Thunder

Origin

Unlike most other attacks Pokémon use in the Super Smash Bros. games, there has never been an attack named Thunder Jolt in any Pokémon video game. Thunder Jolt was, however, present on the original Pikachu card as one of the many moves invented for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The name of the move in the Smash Bros. games likely arose either from the popularity of the trading cards at the time of Super Smash Bros. or from a mistranslation of "Thunderbolt," the name of a standard Pikachu move in the RPGs.

The name itself does specifically come from the TCG. The move itself, however, originated in the old anime episode, "The Problem with Paras", where Satoshi(Japanese Anime) tells Pikachu to use a "Weak Thundershock", using this exact move itself. This later on inspired the move known as Thunder Jolt in Smash. Unlike a regular Thundershock, this does a very tiny bit of damage(but due to Pikachu being very powerful in the Anime itself, it still knocks out Paras, who is very weak in that episode).

Trivia

  • This attack does more damage when Pikachu or Pichu curls up.
Advertisement