Pichu (SSBM)

Pichu (, Pichu) is a Pokémon character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Pichu is the pre-evolution of , and in Melee, Pichu has a nearly identical moveset, making it a clone.
Pichu is voiced by Satomi Kōrogi, who also voiced one of the in the Pokémon anime.
Pichu is ranked 22nd on the current Melee tier list, placing it in the D tier. Pichu has solid overall movement, complemented with some very quick attacks and an excellent neutral air, along with good chaingrabbing ability. Pichu also boasts an exceptional shield for its size, making Pichu difficult to shield stab - particularly due to its relatively stubby damagable collision bubbles. However, all of Pichu's strengths are severely outweighed by its weaknesses. It has poor range and incredibly poor endurance due to its light weight, and is unusually prone to chaingrabs itself despite its small size, due to the high amount of hitstun it sustains, as a result of being the game's lightest character. It also takes recoil damage from its electric-based moves, including its own recovery move Agility, further hampering its defensive game. As a result, Pichu suffers from poor matchups - with nearly the entire cast taking advantage of its fragility, poor range and somewhat vulnerable recovery overall, although it covers a great distance. Historically, Pichu was considered to have the worst matchup spread in the game, with no universally agreed upon winning matchups. However, its perception has mildly improved over time, due to developments in its metagame partially because its unexpectedly fast frame data was initially undervalued. Regardless, Pichu's survivability remains absolutely atrocious, drastically hampering the effectiveness of any metagame developments.
Pichu has a rather high technical learning curve, compared to many other very low-tier characters, frequently requiring particularly fast reaction time, and takes advantage of small, fringe benefits it has - such as being tied with Fox for having the best ledgedash GALINT (Grounded Actionable Ledge Intangibility) in the game. Pichu's learning curve is further exacerbated by the fact that many of its moves have niche, but noteworthy, applications in specific matchups, alongside underexplored, or situational techniques. For example, Agility's single frame of landing lag can be exploited as a burst movement option, allowing Pichu to traverse the stage more quickly.
Although no longer considered a contender for the worst character competitively, Pichu was intended to be a uniquely bad character in general, with its trophy descriptions mentioning Pichu as "top of the class in weakness" and "best suited for handicapped matches." This was confirmed in a development news update, shortly after the game's release.News Flash! Smash Bros. Dojo: Pichu (translated 2015-09-24; original posted 2001-12-11) While considered an unviable character at the highest level of play, Codeman has ironically demonstrated it is possible for Pichu to place respectably well in a major tournament.
==How to unlock==
Pichu must be defeated in battle before it can be unlocked. There are two ways the player can encounter Pichu:
*One way is to complete Event 37: Legendary Pokémon. If the player fails to defeat Pichu, they can re-fight it by completing the event again.
*Another way is to play 200 VS. matches to completion. If the player fails to defeat Pichu, they can re-fight it by playing another VS. match to completion. If this method is used, fighters with lower VS. match quotas must be unlocked before Pichu can be fought.
Upon meeting either requirement, the player will fight against Pichu on Pokémon Stadium, with "Battle Theme" playing.
==Attributes==
Pichu, as a character, falls under the archetype of being nimble, yet relatively fragile. Due to its high traction and average falling speed, Pichu has a rather short wavedash; additionally, its quick and low-lag aerials also give Pichu a good SHFFL. As such, Pichu can easily maneuver around stages, with very low landing lag, a small frame and a rather fast dash, making Pichu one of the most difficult characters to hit in the game. However, its poor endurance due to its very light weight ensures that opponents will not have to find too many openings against it to secure KOs.
Pichu's smash attacks are all short range, but overall possess good knockback and damage relative to their frame data. Pichu's up smash and forward smash are able to KO characters reliably at as little as 70 percent, while its down smash semi-spikes opponents and has invincibility frames. Pichu also has decent throws; its forward and back throws can knock opponents off stage and help with positioning, while its up and down throws can chain throw fastfallers and lead to tech chases.
Pichu's best tool is its neutral aerial, becoming active in just three frames and has minimal landing lag, especially when L-canceled. This move serves as a viable approach option, can rack up significant damage with long strings of just itself, and can create a pseudo-wall of pain if the player can complete a string of hits off-stage. Pichu's up aerial complements neutral aerial's utility, allowing it to juggle enemies into the air. Most of its other aerials attacks are situational in use, but these two moves alone provide Pichu a decent means to pressure the opponent mid air.
Pichu also boasts an excellent recovery. Its up special, Agility, can travel in many different directions and cover very large distances. Pichu's Skull Bash also further aids its horizontal recovery, with outstanding power and distance when fully charged, dealing a massive 39% damage and guarantees KOs at very low percentages. With Agility being able to seamlessly mix up edgeguarders, and Skull Bash's potential strength serving as a direct deterrent to attempted edgeguards, Pichu has one of the best recoveries in the game.
A key weakness of Pichu is its poor range. Pichu's fastest and most powerful attacks are all close to its body, and its tools to safely approach enemies are limited, making it very difficult for Pichu to KO or even find openings against its opponents (especially against characters with disjointed hitboxes). Its neutral aerial is Pichu's primary attack option, making Pichu's overall neutral game play rather predictable. Pichu's grab game is also heavily hampered by its short range, at the third shortest in the game, making it difficult for players to consistently take advantage of Pichu's decent throws. Many of Pichu's poorest matchups stem from it struggling to deal with some individual moves of characters (such as 's neutral air or a large portion of 's moveset) because it lacks tools that have enough range to counter the attacks.
Pichu's defensive game is also notoriously poor. Although it has a rather large shield for its size, it is saddled with short tech rolls and a slow, short ledge roll, making it very easy for enemies to extend punishes on Pichu with little that the Pichu player can do to escape. Furthermore, despite being a lightweight, Pichu is also quite vulnerable to combos (some of which are either infinite or zero-death, such as 's chain throw) due to its high hitstun and average falling speed. These traits exacerbate Pichu's range issues and its risk-reward in interactions.
Finally, Pichu suffers from the infamous recoil damage it receives while using almost any move involving electrical hitboxes, injuring its survivability in a way that is unlike any other character in the game, aside from Roy's fully charged Flare Blade, as several of Pichu's moves add at least one percent of damage to the user. For example, using both segments of Agility to recover adds four percent to Pichu each time it is used. While most of Pichu's best moves do not use electricity, recoil damage reduces the utility of its electric-based attacks. If players are not careful with balancing Pichu's electrical and non-electrical attacks, the recoil damage can add up quickly. With the lowest weight in the game (being lighter than Jigglypuff) and average falling speed, Pichu's survivability is already among the worst in the game, even without recoil damage.
Overall, Pichu is a high-risk, high-effort character that cannot afford to make mistakes, incorrect guesses, or even trade hits due to its fragility, limited move options, and shorter range compared to more viable characters. This results in Pichu being a poor choice competitively, with its advantages being thoroughly outweighed by its drawbacks. While Pichu could potentially pose a threat to the opponent with its decent frame data, evasion, and chain grabs, its horrific survivability heavily counters any benefits over higher tiered characters. High tiered characters in the Melee cast can outrange and out-punish Pichu in many instances. This is amplified by Pichu's need to sometimes win vastly more neutral interactions than the opponent to be victorious, owed to Pichu being easily comboed and knocked out at low percentiles. As such, Pichu is almost never seen at any level of play, and those who do main Pichu are sometimes not taken seriously by other players.
==Differences from ==
Pichu performs significantly worse than Pikachu, particularly in the singles format, largely due to its reduced weight and garnering recoil damage while using some of its moves. Pichu's added recoil damage on several of its moves results in them being less rewarding to land by mildly punishing the user for choosing the option, regardless of whether or not it connects. Pichu is also smaller than Pikachu, while also having a shield that protects its body more consistently than Pikachu's. Both traits culminate into a character that is significantly harder to hit than its evolved form- although its lighter weight counteracts these benefits.
Asides from some of Pichu's recovery options dealing recoil damage, the movement of Agility is slower and has no attack hitboxes unlike Pikachu's version. However, Pichu's version of Agility can travel in more directions than Pikachu's and has only one frame of landing lag. Pichu also has the ability to wall jump. Due to the situational nature of wall jumping, Pichu's recoil damage, and the reduced movement speed of Agility, Pikachu's recovery is noticeably superior.
One of the key differences across Pichu's moveset is the change of some single-hit moves to multi-hit, and vice versa. The greater presence of multi-hit moves in its moveset is mostly to Pichu's detriment, allowing opponent's to use directional influence to escape the remaining hits. Perhaps most notably, it makes Forward Smash largely unsafe on hit if the opponent is on stage, as the finisher can be escaped. Neutral aerial is the same hitbox wise as its counterpart. However, due to Pichu having significantly smaller damageable collision bubbles than Pikachu, and Pichu's version having three frames less landing lag, the move is vastly better than Pikachu's version. This is possibly the only monumental benefit Pichu has over Pikachu that doesn't come with a significant drawback.
Pichu's up aerial lacks a semi-spike hitbox, largely resulting in Pichu's inferiority to Pikachu in terms of edgeguarding. Up aerial instead launches the opponent upward in a consistent manner, making it better for setting up a follow up attack. Regardless, this loss of an integral edgeguarding tool harms its off stage presence. This is significant as edgeguarding is considered one of Pikachu's biggest strengths, and one of the main reasons that it can stand up to the top Melee characters at the highest levels of play. Due to this, Pichu tends to take stocks via Neutral aerial, with the move being reasonably strong and disjointed. This also as a result of the move being decent frame data wise, whilst not having the drawbacks that usually saddle his moveset (multi hitting attacks or recoil damage). However, as Pichu's neutral air is respectably challenging to contest with and is a solid finisher offstage, Pichu's edgeguarding ability is arguably average among the cast.
Pichu possesses a significantly larger grab range than Pikachu. With its smaller size, this results in Pichu's grab game being mildly safer and harder to punish than Pikachu's. Otherwise, throw follow ups and chain grab opportunities are near identical. Interestingly, Pichu is the only character in Melee who can perform a rear clinch, due to its grab range extending slightly behind the neck. This niche functionality could be compared to a pivot grab, albeit with minuscule range to compensate for significantly easier execution and slightly faster start up.
====Aesthetics====
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====Attributes====
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====Ground attacks====
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*Up tilt:
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*Forward smash:
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*Up smash:
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*Down smash:
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====Aerial attacks====
*Neutral aerial:
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*Forward aerial:
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*Back aerial:
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*Up aerial:
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*Down aerial:
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====Grabs and throws====
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====Special moves====
*Thunder Jolt:
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*Skull Bash:
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*Agility:
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==Moveset==
For a gallery of Pichu's hitboxes, see here.
===Stats===
NTSC
PAL
===Announcer call===
File: Pichu Announcer SSBM.wav
===Taunts===
Note: Just like , Pichu's taunt will be different depending on which side it is facing, but both taunts finish at the same time and have the same IASA frames, like Captain Falcon (as both of his taunts have 60 frames apiece).
===Idle poses===
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (International)	Cheer (Japanese)
Cheer 	 	
Description	Pi - chu! 	Piiii - chu!
===Victory poses===
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
:See also: :Category:Pichu players (SSBM)
* - Has taken sets off players such as , , , and . Has also taken games off players such as , , , , and . Currently considered the best active solo main of the character, and among the very few to reach genuine competitive notability with the character. Placed 33rd at , 49th at , and 65th at and ; the former is the best result of any major achieved by a Pichu player.
===Tier placement and history===
From the start, many noted that it was completely outclassed by , who was already considered a below-average character at the time. Many professionals doubted that Pichu could ever develop a deep metagame or gain any notable professional players. Because of this, Pichu has been almost never seen outside of sandbagging or low-tier exhibitions. Pichu's initial placements on each tier list reflected its stance, typically shifting between 25th and 26th for over a decade of Melees lifespan, competing with characters such as , , and for the lowest placement on the tier list, before placing 24th on the twelfth tier list in 2015.
While still considered to be a low tier character and is nearly unused outside of sandbagging, players began to recognize Pichu's strengths, namely its agility and decent set of normals. Several professionals, such as and , believe that while Pichu is still unviable, they believe that other characters, like , , and , are even worse than it, ranking it 19th and 22nd, respectively. Pikachu's rise in the competitive scene also helped Pichu's ascent out of the bottom tier, with players noting that Pichu shared a few of the tools that ultimately made Pikachu a viable pick. Despite Pichu's barren results, most players believed that the former was attributed to a different metagame and the latter has other bottom-tier characters that have also failed to achieve significant results. 
With its strengths being recognized better and 's notable runs in Melees modern metagame, it is currently ranked 22nd on the current tier list. While Pichu is no longer viewed as a contender for the worst character in the game, Pichu is still widely considered to be a non-viable choice in the metagame with a terrible matchup spread, with its playerbase and results only marginally improving compared to the early metagame.
==In 1-P Mode==
===In ===
In Classic Mode, Pichu can appear as an ordinary fighter in one on one battles, as an ally or as an opponent alongside or Pikachu, as the sole opponent in a multi-character battle or as a metal opponent in the second to last stage. Barring the metal fight, Pichu always appears on Pokémon Stadium, with its alternate music Battle Theme playing; when fought with Kirby it will appear on Fountain of Dreams instead.
===In Adventure Mode===
In Adventure Mode, Pichu can appear in Stage 7 on Pokémon Stadium, appearing alongside a team consisting of Pikachu and, if unlocked, Jigglypuff. Pichu's theme, Battle Theme can also play on the stage.
===In All-Star Mode===
In All-Star Mode, Pichu and its allies are fought on Fourside. Unlike normal gameplay, however, Battle Theme plays here.
===In Event Matches===
Pichu appears in the following Event Matches:
*Event 48: Pikachu and Pichu: In this match, the player must fight against a team of two Pichu and one Pikachu. The goal is for the player to KO the two Pichu in the shortest time possible; Pikachu has infinite stocks, while the player has two and the Pichu have one. The stage used is , making the event the only one in the game to take place on a Past Stage.
*Event 49: All-Star Match Deluxe: Pichu is the third opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles it on the Pokémon Stadium stage with a stock of 2 while Pichu has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat it and the other five characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: , , , and .
===Congratulations Screens===
PichuClassicMode.jpg|Classic Mode
PichuAdventureMode.jpg|Adventure Mode
PichuAllStarMode.jpg|All-Star Mode
==Trophies==
In addition to the normal trophy about Pichu as a character unlocked by completing as Pichu on any difficulty, there are two trophies about it as a fighter, unlocked by completing and All-Star Mode respectively as Pichu on any difficulty. Each of the trophies can also be unlocked by playing 100, 200, and 300 versus matches respectively as Pichu:
==Alternate costumes==
			
			
==Gallery==
SSBMWebsitePichu1.jpg|Idling next to and on Pokémon Stadium.
SSBMWebsitePichu2.jpg|Dashing away from and on Corneria.
SSBMWebsitePichu3.jpg|Crouching next to and on Temple.
Pichu Thunder.jpg|Using near on Onett.
SSBMWebsitePichu5.jpg|Using its down aerial on Fox and on Temple.
SSBMWebsitePichu6.jpg|Multiple Pichus idling on Rainbow Cruise.
==Trivia==
*Pichu falls asleep when it crouches, though this is merely an animation and not an actual effect.
*Pichu, along with , , , and , are the only unlockable characters in Melee seen in the opening movie.
*Pichu's neutral aerial significantly outclassing Pikachu's was likely unintentional. While it shares identical hitboxes, Pichu's version benefits from smaller collision bubbles and three frames less landing lag. It is possible that the move's range was intended to be reduced alongside the landing lag adjustment but was left unchanged, possibly due to time constraints.
*Pichu's textures are higher-resolution versions of its textures in , suggesting that the model from that game was used to make Pichu.
==References==
==External links==
*Pichu's page at Smabura-Ken
*Translation
*Pichu Video List
*Pichu Player List
*Pichu Guide for 2019
Category:Pokémon (SSBM)
 
Category:Trophies (SSBM)
es:Pichu (SSBM)