A lot of Pikachu characters boast movesets inspired by the electric mouse's appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, and while this version is no exception, it also throws some of Pikachu's techniques from Pokkén into the mix. Pikachu is very agile in both its movement and attacks, and can hit surprisingly hard for something so little, but its shocking 800 Life stat can potentially dampen the voltage of this live wire.
Pikachu is a four-button character that uses Ⓧ, Ⓨ and Ⓩ as regular Normals of varying strength (with Ⓐ and Ⓑ functioning as shortcuts for and +Ⓒ, respectively, to alleviate issues with keyboard ghosting) and Ⓒ as a multi-purpose button that functions as a launcher while standing, an OTG while crouching and a meteor attack in midair that either knocks the opponent down or sends them flying downwards depending on whether they are grounded or airborne; Ⓒ is also used in conjunction with to activate Charge, which is used to fill up the character's integral Charge Meter. Pressing Ⓨ+Ⓩ (or Ⓑ) activates a grab that hits multiple times before launching the opponent in the direction Pikachu is facing, though can be held while activating the grab in order to throw the opponent behind Pikachu. Pikachu adopts the glass cannon archetype, featuring agile movement, quick attacks and damaging combos while being very frail to counterbalance such positives, sporting only 800 Life as opposed to the average 1000.
Pikachu's most notable mechanic is its Charge Meter, which contains "Charges" that are used to activate Pikachu's EX Specials and some the character's regular Specials, with these attacks being unavailable should an insufficient number of Charges be available; EX Specials consume two Charges, while Thunder Jolt, Electro Ball, Thunder and Discharge only consume a single Charge, with Discharge seeing an increase in range and damage when more Charges are stored. The Charge Meter can store up a maximum of six Charges that are gained automatically over time, though this can be sped up by using Charge, Nuzzle or Lightning Rod, the latter of which also allowing Pikachu's Hypers to be used without consuming power, at the cost of ending the mode prematurely; in addition, having Lightning Rod active, a full six Charges and 1000 Power to spare when activating Wild Charge changes to move into Volt Shock Fist, which deals a large amount of damage, but completely empties the Charge Meter. As with Charizard and Heracross, Pikachu features Chain Comboing that allows it to combo its Normals into stronger variants and Ⓒ, allowing it to transition from a ground combo into an air combo, as well as being able to combo its Normals into certain Specials and Hypers to deal significant damage to the opponent, though its built-in damage dampener prevents its combos from dealing too much damage, even if its overall damage output is higher than average to begin with to compensate for its reduced Life stat.
Pikachu is far smaller than the average character and can typically avoid an opponent's standing attacks without even needing to crouch, often requiring the opponent to resort to crouching attacks and thus limit their moveset while Pikachu is free to use the entirety of its own; Pikachu's hurtboxes are further reduced in height while running, allowing it to hastily approach the opponent while still remaining difficult to hit, though its hurtboxes are subsequently wider. Pikachu's gameplay is heavily centralised around the Charge Meter and making sure to stock up on Charges, with a fair portion of Pikachu's moveset otherwise becoming unavailable should the Charge Meter be empty; Pikachu starts the match with two Charges, giving it immediate access to either two Charge-consuming Specials or a single EX Special, though the natural rate at which Charges are gained being somewhat slow means that Pikachu must make use of Charge and Nuzzle should it wish to have continued access to most of its moveset. Pikachu's low Life stat forces it to be careful and evasive of the opponent's attacks, though this is troubled by the character's aggressive and combo-heavy nature that requires it to get in close to deal any real damage to the opponent, putting it at risk of taking heavy damage itself; fortunately, Pikachu's attacks feature high priority and are very safe to use to offset this, which often allows it to counter an opponent's attacks without getting hit while remaining at a frame advantage even if the opponent should happen to block.
Pikachu does not feature custom A.I., instead using the M.U.G.E.N default. The A.I. will typically jump, walk, crouch or run when away from the opponent and guard when attacked, generally only ever attacking when up-close, though it may randomly pull off a small combo when it does attack. Its low Life stat puts it at a sizeable disadvantage against more aggressive opponents and its inability to make use of the character's advantages leave it wide open for potentially massive damage.
Stats[]
Life
800
Power
3000
Attack
100
Defence
100
Movelist[]
Hovering the mouse cursor over the Command Input icons will display text that refers to the inputs set in M.U.G.E.N's Key Config.
Icons encased in square brackets [ ] require the respective button(s) to be held down. Hovering the mouse cursor over the icon displays the hold duration if applicable.
Pikachu has victory quotes against characters that do not exist, though it is likely a case of futureproofing rather than hints at potential characters that either Gladiacloud or Solarflared plan to make.
Edits[]
This character has been edited. For a full list of edits, see Edits.