Pikachu, all our most hated annoying yellow mouse from Pokémon… Who doesn’t know him?
Pikachu goes from being useless junk of a Pokémon to being one of the most overpowered characters in SSB64!

Pikachu was initially the annoying yellow mouse who stole the title of Pokémon’s mascot from Clefairy. Unlike Clefairy however, Pikachu is completely useless in the Pokémon games. He is fast, but all other stats are low. His “Pika-Pikaaah!” was cute the first season of the Anime, then just became a nuisance.

Before i unlocked Captain Falcon, i always used Pikachu. Pikapain(which is what I’ll call him from now on, since that’s what James from the Pokémon Anime calls him) is fast, just like in the Pokémon games, but unlike there he’s actually powerful. He has an incredibly fast running speed and aerial movement, few dead angles, and is small and hard to hit.

Pikachu is this game’s absolute aerial god. All his aerial attacks can knock enemies away, and some of them can even paralyze enemies, allowing him to follow up with other attacks. His combo effectiveness isn’t as good as Captain Falcon though. Pikapain also has access to the cheapest trick in the game, which also happens to be one of the most powerful combos as well: Thunderspike! Throw someone up in the air, then use his Down Special to throw them even higher while charging the Smash Gauge about 20%, chain this and you’ll KO most characters in no time at all. This is especially useful on stages with a low Upper Smash Limit(the maximum height possible without getting automatically KO’d).

PIkapain has a great Recovery, the Pokémon Move “Quick Attack”, which allow him to go invincible and perform a long two-stage jump. Because he is light, he will be KO’d pretty fast if you throw him, but will also fall slowly. However, his ability to dodge quickly can make up for his lack of defense.

SCORES:
Ranged Combat: 03 – He only has one projectile, a jolt of electricity that bounces when it hits something and briefly paralyzes on impact, but it travels diagonally downwards, making it hard to aim.
Close Combat: 08 – He’s fairly strong, though lacking in the Defense Department
Ground Effectiveness: 07 – He’s awesome, but better in the air
Aerial Effectiveness: 10 – Beats even Captain Falcon, due to his better Aerial Mobility and Jumping
Combos: 05 – He’s not that good at combos…
Survival: 07 – He can jump well, but can be knocked away easily. As i said, he’s lacking in the defense department…
Coolness: 00 – He’s not one bit cool
Speed: 10 – He’s insanely fast!