Pikachu

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH

Pikachu leans forward, releasing electricity from its cheeks.

DOWN SMASH

Pikachu spins on the ground, hitting opponents with its tail and electricity.

UP SMASH

Pikachu uses its tail in this jumping flipkick attack.

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack

Pikachu looks down and rapidly rams its head into the opponent.

Forward Tilt

Pikachu stands on its hands and kicks out with its legs. This can be aimed up or down.

Up Tilt

Pikachu’s whips its tail over its body to hit the ground in front of it.

Down Tilt

Trip the opponent using Pikachu’s tail.

Dash Attack

Pikachu pounces at your opponent and attacks with a headbutt.

Edge Attack

Pikachu flips itself back on-stage, attacking with its tail.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack

Pikachu spins forward in the air, using its tail to attack while spinning.

Up Air Attack

Pikachu flips in the air to strike upward with its tail.

Down Air Attack

Pikachu spirals down toward the ground with electricity shooting out of its cheeks. This attack can hit multiple times.

Forward Air Attack

Pikachu spirals forward with electricity shooting out of its cheeks. This attack can hit multiple times.

Back Air Attack

Pikachu spins multiple times in reverse to strike opponents with its tail. This attack can hit multiple times.

Special Attacks

Thunder Jolt (Neutral Special)

Shoot off a bouncing ball of electricity. This follows the contour of a stage, even over edges.

Skull Bash (Side Special)

Pikachu blasts forward, spiraling headfirst. Charge this move longer to increase its range and damage.

Quick Attack (Up Special)

This two-part attack allows Pikachu to dash attack in any two directions. After inputting the Up Special, immediately hit the control stick in the two directions you want Pikachu to travel. If the first one hits, you have to slightly delay your input for the second directional attack.

Thunder (Down Special)

Pikachu calls down a bolt of lightning that has a huge meteor effect. Combo into this from your Up Throw. If the bolt hits you as well, it does even more damage to your opponent.

Final Smash

Volt Tackle

Pikachu transforms into a giant ball of electricity you can control around the stage, even through platforms. Bumping into opponents deals a little bit of damage but doesn’t cause much knockback. Hitting the Attack button makes the electricity ball pulse. Hitting an opponent with that pulse grants much more damage and knockback. Each time you use the pulse, though, there’s a short cool-down time where the ball becomes darker and smaller before you can use it again. The ball regains its original size when the pulse is ready to be used again. This is great for stages with multiple platforms and multiple opponents. Use it to juggle opponents through the air to guide them off-stage!

Strategy

Pikachu is a quick, lightweight character that relies on its speed to rack up damage on opponents before going for KOs. Increasing its mobility options, Pikachu can also crawl and wall jump. In the air, mobility isn’t Pikachu’s strong point, but Thunder helps with its tall vertical hitbox. Pikachu can also surprise opponents from a distance with Skull Bash and Quick Attack. Pikachu’s main weaknesses are its light weight, short range, and aerial attacks. Use your Thunder Jolt to harass opponents, and keep the pressure on with your speed, throws, and multi-hitting aerials like Forward, Back, and Down Air. Note that Back Air and Down Air have an extra hit upon landing, so practice using these from the right height to maximize damage. Because your aerials have short range, consider fighting from higher platforms.

Pikachu’s main projectile attack is Thunder Jolt. This ball of electricity is affected by gravity, so if you throw it from the air, it continues downward at an angle. Once it connects with the stage, it continues to bounce along the ground and over the edges of the stage. This makes it particularly useful for edge-guarding on certain stages. To attack opponents from great distance, charge up Skull Bash to blast Pikachu toward them. This move doesn’t leave you in a fall state, so you can use it to edge-guard while still having your Quick Attack available to recover. Quick Attack is very versatile—you can use it in two directions. You can use it to quickly run away from an opponent or you can use it to attack opponents. If platforms are nearby, Quick Attack gives you even more options. Generally, though, this is your best recovery option. Thunder comes down at the location where Pikachu calls it, and it has a meteor effect. If you use it while moving forward, it actually arrives behind you, which can be useful when opponents are chasing you. If the bolt hits Pikachu, it deals even more damage to anyone around. In free-for-all modes, use Thunder and Thunder Jolt as much as possible, but watch out for opponents who have a reflect ability!

For KOs, Pikachu’s best options are Side Smash, Up Smash, and Neutral Air. Down Smash can be useful to rack up damage and refresh other attacks while having decent vertical knockback. Because Pikachu isn’t the strongest in this area, edge-guarding can help you get KOs earlier. Use Skull Bash to connect with opponents off-stage. Other good off-stage options are Thunder, Down Air, and Forward Air. If you’re on the stage defending, use Side Tilt and Down Tilt to prevent opponents from grabbing onto the edge.

Recovery

Pikachu has some of the best recovery tools in the game. Horizontally, you have Skull Bash, which can be charged to take Pikachu even farther horizontally. While this is a great recovery tool, it pales in comparison to Pikachu’s other recovery tool, Quick Attack. This attack lets you quickly dash in two separate directions for recovery! Practice the timing to get both dashes in. Because Skull Bash doesn’t leave you in a fall state, you can easily combine these two Specials to travel fully under Final Destination and back up! Just jump off, charge Skull Bash, use your double jump, then Quick Attack back to the opposite ledge.