Pikachu (PM)

Pikachu is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. For its appearance in Project M, it was mostly reverted to its Melee version, while keeping a few techniques and moves from its Brawl and Smash 64 versions.

Pikachu ranks 23rd out of 41 on the official tier list, close to the bottom of B tier. This is a large drop from its placements in Melee and Brawl where it was 9th out of 26 and 8th out of 38, respectively.

Changes from Melee to PM
Pikachu was buffed in Project M overall, gaining many favorable attributes from Brawl while keeping others from Melee (such as its powerful up smash), along with a few other options being strengthened, giving it additional leverage against top-tiered characters.

Special Moves






Moveset
Up to date as of version 3.6.

Notable tech
Labbing Discord Tech Post

Notable players

 * - The former best Pikachu player in the world, ranked 24th on PMRank 2016.
 * - Strong MD/VA player, recognized as a rising star in the PMRank 2020 shoutouts article.
 * - Ranked 43rd on PMRank 2019.

Project M
Pikachu has received an additional costume where it wears its party hat costume from Melee and Smash 64, but purple instead of blue (It was blue before PM 3.5). It also received a special pirate hat costume, referencing a Japanese promotional card from the Pokémon Trading Card Game in which it appeared as Captain Pikachu (wearing the same hat). It also got an alt where it wears the (Brawl or post-Generation I version of) the Pokémon Trainer hat sideways and had its ears folded down.

Project+


All Costumes:

Default

Red: Wears Red's hat as it appears in the same Generation of Pokémon games it appeared in. Also vaguely resembles a Shiny Pikachu. Fittingly, in Project+, it emits sparkles in its entrance animation.

Green: Wears Brendan's headband as it appears in Pokémon Emerald.

Blue: Wears goggles similar to those worn by the Swimmer Trainer Class. When Brawl was first released, fans made rumors and theories about the costume and the connection to Pichu, who wore similar goggles for its Blue Team costume.

Purple: Wears a party hat similar to the one used for its Blue Team costume in Super Smash Bros.

Brown: Wears a detective hat similar to the titular protagonist of the Detective Pikachu game and film.

Dark Blue: Wears a pirate hat similar to the one worn as part of a special Japanese promotional card for the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Maroon: Wears Red's hat as it appears in Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen, which was the basis for his appearance in Brawl. The hat is turned sideways and causes its ears to be pointed downwards. Also vaguely resembles a Shiny Pikachu.

Dark Green: Wears a Harmony Scarf from Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon.

Orange: Wears the equipment it wore when it was gravely injured in the Pokémon anime episode Pokémon Emergency!. Also vaguely resembles a Shiny Pikachu.

White: Wears Chase's hat from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee!.

Ruby: Wears May's bandana as it appears in Pokémon OmegaRuby & AlphaSapphire.

Lime: Wears a green fedora similar to the one it wore in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Navy: Wears a top hat and bowtie similar to the one it wore in the Pokémon anime episode Go West, Young Meowth, which was the basis for its appearance in the opening of the Pikachu's Jukebox segments of the English dub.

Pink: Wears a pair of headphones similar to the ones worn in the mobile app Pokémon Jukebox.

Z-Secret Costume: Pikachu Libre: Based on Pikachu Libre, a form of the female-only Cosplay Pikachu that can be used in Toughness Contests exclusively in Pokémon OmegaRuby & AlphaSapphire. Like Spiky-Eared Pichu in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver, it cannot be transferred to any future Pokémon games.

R-Secret Costume: Pikachu with green backpack and bandana: Likely based on a similar costume Pichu wore in Melee and inspired by the rumors and fan theories that the Pikachu in Brawl is the evolution of the Pichu in Melee.

Trivia

 * Its Project+ artwork is identical to the pose it strikes at the end of its left victory pose in Brawl itself.
 * The light bulb of its Pokémon Emergency! costume lights up whenever it uses an electrical attack.