Pichu (SSBU)

Pichu (, Pichu) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was confirmed alongside and the rest of the returning roster on June 12th, 2018 during E3 2018. While Pichu remains a close clone of, it is not classified as an Echo Fighter. As such, Pichu is classified as Fighter #19.

, Pichu's voice actress from the Pokémon anime and Super Smash Bros. Melee, reprises her role with new voice clips. In addition, the 'spiky-eared' variant of Pichu (who appears as a playable character in Ultimate via Pichu's alternate costumes) is also voiced by Kōrogi rather than, who originally voiced the aforementioned 'spiky-eared' variant in the Pokémon anime's twelfth movie, Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

Pichu is ranked 55th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing it in the B- tier. This is a significant improvement over its low tier placement in Melee, where it was ranked 22nd out of 26. Pichu boasts good combo ability and great KO power, with its fast falling speed aiding in its combo potential. It is also very hard to hit due to its small hurtbox and good mobility.

However, Pichu is hindered by critical flaws. Its biggest flaw is being the lightest character in the game. This combined with it taking recoil damage when using electric moves makes Pichu a "glass cannon" and can be KO'd earlier than any other character. Its fast falling speed makes it more susceptible to combos despite being so light.

Pichu's representation in tournaments has changed throughout Ultimate's metagame. At launch, Pichu was often seen as a contender of the best character in the game thanks to the drastic buffs it received, such as greatly reduced recoil damage and a fast forward tilt that can KO opponents around 100%, which led to a large playerbase spearheaded by and. However, update 3.1.0 gave Pichu major nerfs, making it more of a high-risk, high-reward character and leading many to deem it inferior to Pikachu. Despite this, Pichu continues to see moderate success from dedicated mains, most notably.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: With the exception of the third method, Pichu must then be defeated on Pokémon Stadium 2. In World of Light, it is fought on the Ω form of Prism Tower.
 * Play VS. matches, with Pichu being the 34th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in its unlock tree, being the last character unlocked after.
 * Have Pichu join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Pichu is a character of extremes. As a clone of Pikachu, many of its attributes are similar, such as its even smaller size and quick mobility, though with a few noticeable differences. Pichu is the lightest character in the game, has fast walking and above average dashing speeds with average traction, above average jumping force, average air speed but being tied for the ninth highest air acceleration, and fast falling speed while being tied for the fifth highest gravity. However, it has the lowest fast fall multiplier in the game, causing its fast-falling speed to be average. Overall, these attributes give Pichu a slightly slower grounded approach than Pikachu, make its aerials not autocancel as easily and makes it more vulnerable to combos, but also gives it a much faster ground-to-air and air-to-ground approach, making its mobility as reliable as Pikachu's own.

The primary difference between Pichu and Pikachu is the former's recoil damage on its electricity-based attacks. All of Pichu's attacks with an electric effect (forward tilt, forward and down smash attacks, forward, back and down aerials, forward throw, and all special moves except if the lightning bolt doesn't strike Pichu) deal recoil damage to itself, which makes it less feasible for Pichu to overuse these attacks. To compensate for this, many of Pichu's electric attacks have either increased damage, knockback (in some cases both), or versatility. This makes it less feasible for Pichu to overuse these attacks in situations that would require their use for best results, as it could put it in a spot where the opponent may even KO Pichu with a strong enough move. Conversely, it increases the reward Pichu would receive if it can land said moves, and due to these moves increasing Pichu's percentage, this means Pichu can make effective use of rage to KO an opponent with more ease, provided it can survive long enough.

Much like Pikachu, all of Pichu's moveset aspects are solid overall, possessing very fast frame data overall and great utility throughout its moveset. An example of this is its incredibly capable aerial game. Neutral aerial is Pichu's fastest out of shield option, on top of not having much ending or landing lag, making it a viable edgeguarding option. Forward aerial deals the highest damage of Pichu's aerials and has very strong combo potential, while only having decent recoil damage. Up aerial, while being Pichu's least damaging aerial, also retains very strong vertical combo capabilities. Down aerial is Pichu's main move to meteor smash, and the late hit also lasts for a long while, making it another great edgeguarding tool, while also having only decent recoil damage. Finally, back aerial deals less damage than forward aerial, but is also Pichu's strongest aerial, a very good edgeguarding tool, only has decent recoil damage like its forward and down aerials, and plays a major component on Pichu's looping combos; by repeatedly performing a full jump while using a back aerial and comboing into a tilt attack (most notably up tilt) to repeat the process, Pichu can zero-to-death combo the opponent, though the timing for each move is very strict.

Pichu's main (but not sole) ways to set up the opponent into its strong aerial game consist of its up and down tilts, and up and down throws: both tilts are excellent combo starters, with down tilt even comboing into aerials at very high percentages, while up and down throw allow Pichu to pummel the opponent for more damage due to them being followed up from a grab; up throw is also infamous for comboing into Thunder for a reliable KO set-up. This gives Pichu a strong combo game, with many ways to start, extend or end combos much like Pikachu, though due to its moves' nature, Pichu's combo game is usually shorter-lived in exchange for raw damage.

Aside from its up and down tilts, in regards to its grounded game, it also has some interesting and useful options: forward tilt trips opponents at low percentages, can 2-frame, and has above average power at high percentages, making it a very useful set-up tool. Forward smash has the highest power of its standard moveset, lasts for a long while and, due to its multi-hit nature, can KO at an even lower percentage. Up smash is a decent anti-air that leaves Pichu's ears intangible, though it lacks in power. On the other hand, Pichu's neutral attack is mainly used for locking opponents due to its very weak knockback, and dash attack's is mostly used as a fast punish option and its low power can actually allow it to combo, though it can be risky. Its grab game is also decent - while its grabs are short-ranged, they are very fast and have the lowest ending lag in the game. As mentioned above, up and down throws have useful combo potential, with down throw usually reserved for horizontal combos, whereas up throw leads into vertical combos and can lead into Thunder as a KO set-up. Meanwhile, forward throw is Pichu's strongest throw, barely KOing at realistic percentages near the edge, which makes it a passable kill throw.

Pichu's special moveset is also varied and versatile. Thunder Jolt is a useful projectile that can reliably pressure an opponent's shield, on top of dealing low knockback and high damage (especially if started in the air). Its low ending lag also allows it to set-up into Pichu's moves if it lands during its last frames of activity. Thunder is Pichu's other projectile, though the lightning bolt itself doesn't deal much damage. As such, its primary purpose is to use the cloud's meteor smash properties to combo opponents into the shockwave part of the move when the bolt strikes Pichu - this deals the most damage to Pichu out of all its moves if this happens, so it should be used sparingly. Skull Bash and Agility serve as Pichu's recovery moves, and give it an amazing, long-distanced and unpredictable recovery - of the two, Agility deals high recoil damage if both dashes are used, but nevertheless travels an incredibly long distance and is very unpredictable due to each dash being able to be inputted in multiple directions, potentially making Pichu very hard to properly edgeguard or 2-frame. Skull Bash, on the other hand, is mostly used to extend Pichu's recovery, but it also ties in as part of Pichu's "glass cannon" playstyle as it can be charged; unlike Pikachu's own version, Pichu's fully charged Skull Bash deals immense knockback when fully charged, this being Pichu's strongest option out of a shield break.

Thanks to Pichu's attributes, one of its key strengths is its playstyle versatility - depending on the situation, it can make use of its moveset to adapt and play accordingly. Pichu's great mobility, compact size and useful projectile give it an impressive neutral game and make it slippery, allowing it to play defensively, by virtue of using a bait-and-punish oriented playstyle that allows it to avoid the opponent's attacks and gradually poke at them or outright break through their offense. However, if the situation arises, Pichu can nevertheless play very aggressively, as it also has one of the best advantage states in the game by virtue of its raw damage, excellent frame data and impressive combo ability, allowing it to pressure the opponent into commiting and retaliating accordingly, and almost all of its aerials have some sort of edgeguarding potential, which can quickly lead into a lost stock.

In spite of these strengths, Pichu still has a myriad of critical flaws, some of which are shared with Pikachu, but much more pronounced; the most notable of these is its immense frailty. While its offstage survivability is incredible thanks to its recovery's long distance and unpredictability, it has an awful survivability overall due to its ludicrously low weight, resulting in it being very easily KO'd off of a stray hit as long as the move is decently strong, and the existence of rage further pronounces this issue. Its very fast falling speed and gravity also leave it pretty vulnerable to combos (although its neutral air can remedy this issue), meaning that Pichu can also be easily put in KO percentage from one or two combos. Adding insult to injury, the recoil damage Pichu suffers from using its electric attacks can rack up very quickly if it overuses said moves, which is a flaw no other character has at the level of Pichu (some characters have only one move that can deal recoil damage), and can potentially throw it into a much more devastating position if it happens. As a result of all these issues, in spite of its excellent recovery and great mobility, Pichu's disadvantage state is poor, and if Pichu isn't able to KO the opponent, they can easily turn the tables on it, which can easily and quickly lead to a lost stock just as Pichu can potentially and quickly end one.

Another of Pichu's most notable flaws is that while its very small size results in it being slippery, it also results it in having deceptively short range (much shorter than Pikachu), requiring it to be pretty close to the opponent in order to rack up damage, which can be risky. Pichu's mobility, very quick frame data and useful projectile in Thunder Jolt can help remedy this, but the prevalence of many characters with faster mobility and/or disjoints can still give it trouble at approaching, and Thunder Jolt's recoil damage makes it unfeasible for Pichu to keep the opponent away for too much, forcing it to approach and further exacerbating its range issues, despite its reliable moveset. Furthermore, despite its moveset's higher consistency in regards to power, Pichu's range issues mean it can often have difficulty landing its otherwise powerful KO moves and set-ups, as the former aren't disjointed (with the sole exception, forward smash, still having short range), and the latter are very limited, possessing only up throw to Thunder at mid-high and high percentages, and down tilt to down aerial near the edge at mid-percentages. Pichu's edgeguarding ability, while respectable, pales in comparison to Pikachu's due to its attributes resulting in Pichu not having as much air time as Pikachu can, though this is slightly mitigated by its moves' stronger knockback.

Lastly, although its moveset is versatile, a few of Pichu's attacks still lack some notable kind of utility. Down smash, although covering on both sides of Pichu, has unremarkable range, deals recoil damage and unlike Pikachu, sends at a disappointing angle for KOing, with its higher power compared to Pikachu failing to compensate. Forward throw can have difficulty at KOing the opponent at realistic percentages due to the fact Pichu will usually find itself using it to set-up an edgeguard, whereas back throw's sole purpose is shared with forward throw.

Overall, like Pikachu, Pichu is best described as a quintessential glass cannon but sacrifices weight and attack range for more power and speed. While Pikachu can control the neutral game more aggressively and has more flexibility in its combos, Pichu is able to function in a variety of playstyles that range from a defensive, bait-and-punish oriented playstyle to a more aggressive, rushdown oriented one whenever it is needed. However, Pichu's atrocious endurance and recoil damage means that an aware opponent can dominate Pichu just as easily as it can also dominate the opponent. While both characters have similar playstyles, they differ significantly in execution, as Pichu's recoil damage requires the player to make very mindful use of their resources at hand. Regardless, Pichu's pros notably outweigh its cons, and even after the nerfs it received in game updates, Pichu is considered a very solid character in competitive play, with a dedicated playerbase consisting of players such as, , , , and , and it has amassed some strong tournament results in tournament play.

Differences from
As in Melee, the primary difference between Pichu and Pikachu is the former's electric attacks all inflict recoil damage. Many of Pichu's attributes, such as its mobility and significantly lighter weight, differ from those of Pikachu. In addition, most of Pichu's attack and non-attack animations were given slight adjustments and overhauls in order to differentiate them from Pikachu's; for example, all of Pichu's smash attack charging animations are now completely different from Pikachu's. Almost all of Pichu's moves are also functionally different, such as down tilt or neutral aerial, making it even more unique. However, unlike previous clones, Pichu was not given many new unique moves to differentiate it from Pikachu, as the only fully unique moves it has are its forward tilt, up smash, neutral aerial, and edge attack.

All of these differences give Pichu more pronounced strengths and weaknesses when compared to Pikachu.

Pichu is capable of killing more reliably than Pikachu at earlier percentages. Some of its attacks also deal more damage than Pikachu's, but the only ones with a significant difference are its back aerial and the aerial version of Thunder Jolt. Otherwise, the damage output between the two is largely the same or with only a 1–2% difference, while some of Pikachu's attacks, like its dash attack, up aerial, and, are stronger than Pichu's. Regardless, this makes Pichu's KOing ability and damage-racking game superior to Pikachu's overall, despite the latter being shorter-lived compared to Pikachu's.

Pichu's frame data is also better on average, with its biggest advantages being on its forward tilt, down smash, and Thunder. However, there are some attacks like back aerial and Skull Bash where Pichu's frame data is worse, and only Pichu's up and down aerials autocancel in a short hop, whereas all of Pikachu's aerials can do so. Additionally, with the exception of neutral aerial, almost every other attack in Pichu's moveset has inferior range to Pikachu's equivalent attacks, including all of its tilts and smash attacks, its up aerial and Thunder.

Pikachu and Pichu's combo games are very different, with Pikachu's being much more diverse, but Pichu's being shorter lived in exchange for more damage. Pichu does not have access to Pikachu's neutral aerial, which is an incredible combo tool, and Pichu cannot chain four back aerials into each other at low percents to immediately start an edgeguard. Pichu's down throw has less advantage and stops being a combo tool earlier, and its forward aerial has less advantage and hits two times less, making it worse for dragdown combos. It also lacks Quick Attack as a combo starter and its up aerial does not have the weak hit that Pikachu's does, making it impossible to perform up aerial bridges that can carry opponents to the blast line with Pichu. Both Pikachu and Pichu have loops that use their neutral or back aerials respectively, but Pikachu's version works on more characters, is more resilient to SDI and is less situational, whereas the only advantage Pichu's version has is that it can rarely transition into a KO immediately. It also deals more damage per loop, but this is not very important as Pikachu can do more loops than Pichu in a row, making the total damage output roughly the same. However, there are some upsides to Pichu's combo game over Pikachu's: its up tilt and up aerial combo for longer, and it has more combos into Thunder to take stocks. Down tilt is also a significantly better combo starter due to its frame data and launch angle, but it has mediocre range, making it difficult to use.

Finally, Pichu is extremely light and is a fast-faller with high gravity, which notoriously makes it much easier to combo and KO. Its recoil damage, while slightly toned down compared to Melee, further exacerbates Pichu's already bad survivability.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Down aerial:
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):
 * Comparison of Pichu's loops (with back aerial) and Pikachu's loops (with neutral aerial):

Throws and other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:

Special moves

 * Thunder Jolt:
 * Skull Bash:
 * Agility:
 * Cloud:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Skull Bash:
 * Agility:
 * Cloud:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Agility:
 * Cloud:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Agility:
 * Cloud:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Cloud:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Cloud:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Lightning Bolt:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Discharge:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Volt Tackle:
 * Volt Tackle:

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Since its absence from previous installments, Pichu was infamous for being by far the worst clone character in Melee due to its status as an intentional "joke character", largely due to its very low weight, recoil damage and vulnerability to chain grabbing, giving it among the worst matchups in the game and leading to its bottom-tier placement and low tournament representation. Most likely as a result of this, Pichu has been significantly buffed in its transition to Ultimate, making it the most buffed among all characters transitioning from Melee.

Pichu's recoil damage has been somewhat toned down from Melee, making its electrical attacks less of a detriment to use. Its mobility has overall improved as well, as its walking, dashing and air speeds have increased, and its air acceleration has increased substantially. It can also crawl now, enabling Pichu to approach more easily while being able to dodge certain projectiles. Pichu also benefits from the weakening of SDI, as its multi-hit attacks are much more reliable. On another note, while its endurance is still the worst in the game as it is lighter than even, its weight was nevertheless increased, allowing it to survive a little bit longer.

The changes to the engine's mechanics help Pichu as well. The weakening of SDI makes its multi-hit moves harder to escape and thus much more consistent, and the changes to air dodges make it safer to use one to escape combos and give it one of the fastest in the game. The implementation of rage, coupled with its small stature, allows Pichu to make use of it thanks to its electric moves' high knockback, in addition to said attacks' recoil damage indirectly putting it out of range of KO setups it would've otherwise suffered from.

Despite the many buffs it received, Pichu also received a few nerfs. Some of its strongest kill options, such as its forward and up smashes, have been significantly weakened in terms of knockback, while its neutral aerial, previously considered by many to be its best move, has also been weakened in both its damage output and knockback. Pichu can also no longer chaingrab with its up throw, greatly reducing its damage-racking potential against fast-fallers. Its grounded attacks are also less effective for edgeguarding, as its down tilt, down smash and dash attack now send opponents at a much higher angle.

Additionally, more of Pichu's moves (most notably its forward tilt and back aerial) use electricity, meaning that more of its moves cause recoil damage; while this allows Pichu to build up rage more easily compared to other fighters, it allows Pichu to be KOed even more quickly, which is further compounded by its atrocious weight and fast-falling speed making it vulnerable to combos, despite its small hurtbox. Lastly, despite the benefits it gains from rage, the introduction of the mechanic causes Pichu's survivability to be ironically slightly worse than before, as characters can make use of it to turn the tables on Pichu should it fail to KO the foe at a relatively low percentage.

Overall, Pichu is no longer an intentional "joke character" like in Melee; instead, it is now a very polarized glass cannon, akin to a min-maxed version of. It has a stronger punish and edgeguarding game, but less range on average, a less reliable recovery and more committal options; moreover, none of its buffs have alleviated some of its glaring weaknesses, with the biggest being its fragility. Game updates have also slightly nerfed Pichu overall, and optimizations to several characters have resulted in it not performing as well as on release. Nevertheless, Pichu's buffs greatly outweigh its nerfs, and it has drastically improved compared to Melee, being one of the most buffed characters in the transition to Ultimate.

Update history
Possibly due to its dominating status in competitive play during the early metagame of Ultimate, Pichu was noticeably nerfed in game updates. Although its pummel was slightly buffed in update, it received several nerfs in update. Pichu's hurtbox is larger, forward smash has more ending lag, its infamously strong forward tilt has less knockback scaling, and almost all of its recoil-inducing attacks deal more recoil damage, noticeably worsening its already abysmal endurance.

Update reversed some of these nerfs, changing the amount of self damage Pichu does with some of the attacks that were affected in 3.1.0. On top of that, its ear hurtboxes received intangibility during the strong hit of its neutral aerial, making it a slightly safer option in the air.

Overall, Pichu fares considerably worse than it did when Ultimate launched. While Pichu is still far stronger than its Melee iteration, the nerfs it received has led to its tournament representation and results to noticeably decline and Pichu is now generally considered to be a mid-tier character at best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Pichu's hitboxes, see here.
 * Pichu can crawl.
 * Pichu can wall jump.

On-screen appearance

 * Jumps out from a Poké Ball and waves both hands in the air with joy before landing, saying "Pichu!" in the process (the same voice clip used for its side taunt).

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Charges up with electricity, similar to 's up taunt, but falls back dazed at the end.
 * Side taunt: Jumps up and waves at the camera, saying "Pichu!" This was its left-facing taunt in Melee.
 * Down taunt: Squirms around on the ground, saying "Pichu!" This was its right-facing taunt in Melee.

Idle poses

 * Turns and looks at its tail, twitching it.
 * Looks around itself excitedly.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Cheers twice (facing to the right first and the left second), jumps thrice while spinning, and poses with its left hand raised, chanting "Pichu, Pichu!"
 * Up: Jumps three times, with the third jump, which is done while spinning, being higher than the first two. While in midair, Pichu waves both of its arms. After landing, Pichu raises both of its arms and arches towards its left side. During the pose, Pichu says "Pi-Pi-Pichu!" in sync with each jump.
 * Right: Charges electricity, making itself fall over, then stands up and winks while scratching its head.

Tier placement and history
In contrast to its Melee counterpart, where it is considered one of the worst characters in the game, Pichu was commonly viewed as one of, if not, the best characters in the game in the early metagame. This is due to its small size and powerful KO moves, which included back air,, and its infamous forward tilt. These strengths allowed Pichu to have a strong player base, with players such as, , , and performing spectacularly on a national level.

However, patch increased its size and nerfed the power of its forward tilt, while increasing the amount of recoil on some of its moves. In addition to more people learning how to play the matchup, many players considered Pichu to be inferior to, and as a result its results declined, with several of its best players either dropping the character (Captain L) or relegating it to either a co-main or secondary (VoiD). Although future patches reverted some of the nerfs, it failed to change most player's opinions on the character; with continuously declining results both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, most people currently view Pichu as a mid-tier character, ranking 55th on the first and current tier list. Nevertheless, Pichu is considered significantly more viable than its previous iteration.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Pichu players (SSBU)


 * - One of the best Pichu players in Canada but has since also picked up and . Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , 9th at , 17th at , and 25th at . Ranked 5th on the Smash Canada Rankings Ultimate.
 * - One of the best Pichu players in Japan. Placed 4th at, 7th at , 13th at both and , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Currently the best Pichu player in the world. Placed 7th at, 9th at both and , 13th at , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Pichu players in the world during the early metagame. Placed 7th at, 13th at , 17th at , and 33rd at both and . Ranked 26th on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
 * - Formerly the best Pichu player in the world. Placed 1st at, 3rd at , 9th at both and , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 27th on the Fall 2019 PGRU.
 * - One of the best Pichu players in the United States during the early metagame. Placed 3rd at, 7th at , 17th at , and 25th at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 45th on the Fall 2019 PGRU.
 * - Placed 5th at both and, 13th at , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 3rd on the Tampa Power Rankings.
 * - The best Pichu player in the world during the early metagame but has since relegated the character to a secondary. Placed 1st at and, 2nd at , and 9th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked as high as 9th on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
 * - The best Pichu player in Europe during the early metagame. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , 5th at , 9th at , and 13th at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked being ranked 25th on the European Smash Rankings.
 * - One of the best Pichu players in Japan; now using it as a secondary to his . Placed 4th at, 9th at , 13th at , 25th at , and 33rd at.

: Lightweight Fracas
Pichu fights against opponents that are lightweights like itself, on stages that take place in the sky.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Pichu has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Although Pichu has been absent from the World of Light opening cutscene, it was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

To access Pichu, the player must enter the Power Plant sub-area and reach it on a platform with the use of two Zapfish, where it can then be challenged and recruited.

Spirit
Pichu's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Pichu has been unlocked. Unlocking Pichu in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Its Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with its artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * Pichu and share the longest gap between playable appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series, with seventeen years between Melee and Ultimate. This has been noted by both of their Super Smash Bros. blog's "Today's Fighter" descriptions.
 * Pichu,, and Young Link are the only non-Echo Fighters who are full clones.
 * One of the poses Pichu strikes in its new taunt resembles its trophy from.
 * Pichu can also be seen with a similar pose in the panoramic artwork.
 * Pichu is the only veteran absent from SSB4 to be absent from the full group artwork version of the box cover.
 * Pichu is the only veteran who is unaffected by the new universal 3-frame jumpsquat; in Melee, its jumpsquat animation also took three frames to complete.
 * Pichu's fast fall provides the smallest change to its falling speed when compared to any other fighter. It increases its fall speed by only 31.579%, compared to the usual 60%.
 * One of Pichu's alternate costumes is the from Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Being one of a kind, the Spiky-eared Pichu is female, making it the only one of Pichu's alternate costumes with an implicit gender.
 * Ultimate also marks the first 3D appearance of Spiky-eared Pichu.
 * For unknown reasons, unlike other characters represented through alternate costumes, such as Alph, the Koopalings, and even Pikachu Libre, Spiky-eared Pichu does not have an obtainable Fighter Spirit of her own.
 * Similar to, who, among the Original 12, is the only one to technically be considered a completely different character via two of its alternate costumes, Pichu is also the only character among Melee's newcomers that can be considered a completely different character via one of its costumes (That being the spiky-eared variant, which is confirmed to be female).
 * As of Ultimate, Pichu is the only character in any game who takes damage while using their Final Smash (excluding characters that can move around freely and be attacked during their Final Smash such as and ).
 * In a Stamina match, Pichu cannot be KO'd by its Final Smash, as its HP will never go below 0.1 while the Final Smash is active.
 * Because of this, Pichu is the only character that can take damage from all of its special moves, in both Melee and Ultimate.
 * Spiky-eared Pichu's damage meter portrait protrudes to the right the most out of every fighter.
 * Pichu is the only Pokémon character absent in 's Classic Mode route.
 * Despite fighting lightweight characters,, , and  do not appear in Pichu's Classic Mode route.
 * Discounting fighters who do not appear in any spirit battles, Pichu,, and are the only fighters who do not possess an Ace or Legend-type spirit in spirit battles.
 * Interestingly, Pichu's Ultimate artwork is used for the Junior tab on the Pokémon TV app.