funny characters

pikachu

pikachu has really huge amount of air manuevrability and they have a bunch of strange moves

a lot of their air combo start or feature back air at some point. this is the flying pancake move. it makes pikachu's hurtbox really small and lingers for a long time so pika can use it as a approach option or a air to air and it can convert into any up air or like fair or itself and poroabbly other things.

the move has a lot of lag but doing it rising with no fastfall makes it end right before pika lands so the way they dont have to wait for the air lag or landing lag. this means the move has relatively specific use case. it's only ever used as a landing option in scrambles and thats after trying to use it in the cancel window.

it isn't particuarly strong like most back airs so it's mostly a combo move. but, because it lingers and sends out its also really good for edgeguarding. pika can also do this offstage 50/50 where they back air in a way where it would knock the opponent into the stage. if someone presses shield when they get knocked into the stage, they can cancel their momentum and recover instantly. if pikachu expects this, they can fastfall the back air so that their opponent falls out of the move early and never connects the finisher, meaning the shield input gives their opponent an airdodge instead. since they never get knocked. this isn't like a true 50/50 if the opponent knows enough about the game. there is a option select where special inputs are read before shield inputs so the opponent can press shield and up special at the same time. if the finisher hits, they're in hitstun so only the shield input gets read and cancel the wall bounce, whereas falling out wont have hitstun so up special will happen instead of air dodge.

pikachu's kit really comes together with their projectile which is the perfect speeds to run behind and also bounces on the ground which makes it tough to avoid. without their projectile they wouldnt be able to contest a lot of matchups. their neutral involves throwing a lot of thunder jolt projectiles to control space and make opponent do something for pikachu. without it pikachu would have to play signficantly more linearly and also be forced to play at point blank range and over extend and commit to things they dont want to. pikachu's hitboxes are really small and relatively specific. back air would probably not be nearly as effective because pikachu would never force their opponent into a position where back air is safe to throw out. and fair and quick attack are just way too awkward and inflexible on hit to use in neutral. pika's only other neutral moves are like, grab which is genuinely quite good, and like, down tilt, which sometimes comboes into a grab (its random i think).

having a projectile lets pikachu play defensively and also force opponents into awkward positions that pikachu can actually deal with. in a lot of matchups being able to control the field with a projectile singlehandledly puts pika in advantage. a really like common thing for pika neutral is to do thunder jolt and run behind it. this puts a disjointed hitbox in front of pikachu while pikachu still has all of their options available. if the opponent gets hit by tjolt, pikachu can convert into a combo, or, because you can grab someone in stun in smash bros, if someone blocks tjolt, pikachu can true blockstring that into a grab, which is very good.

like just being able to true blockstring into one of your best starters is a huge amount of priviledge, or just being able to true blockstring into a throw is very good in fighting games as a concept.

if the opponent tries to jump over the projectile, it opens the oppurtinity for pikachu to use one of their combo starting anti airs, but in general it also gives pikachu stage control. being in the air in smash bros is really good in neutral, but this is more of a disadvantageous position, since there is a rogue hitbox on the field restricting where you are allowed to land without getting hit.

pikachu's up air is a small arcing anti air that can combo. most characters in smash bros that have a tail have like either one third or two thirds of their tail disjointed. This is true for even the big bodies so you get characters like mewtwo who are bad cuz they are jjust too big. unironically the best part of mewtwo being able to slingshot is to get their tail as far away from their opponent as quick as possible.

the front hitbox of pikachu up air sends perfectly for horizontal comboes and the back hit mostly just a anti air that sometimes comboes sometimes kills. it's also a good get off me option because the back hit is fast and slightly disjointed. sometimes pikachu just throws up air out to softly check certain options because its pretty fast and safe to put out just cuz

pikachu is really really small so its really tough to hit them especially while avoiding their openings and projectile.

nair puts a hitbox directly onto pikachu's body and it's really fast and hits multiple times. because of these pikachu can use it to keep opponents next to them for comboes and they can look neutral airs together by putting a launcher between each drag down nair. we're like, slightly sure pikachu has a true 0-death with that if the opponent doesn't SDI to get out, which is a funny mechanic which teleports your character during multi hits. pikachu can nair loop until mid percent and then do dthrow to up air to thunder. it involves reacting to di though and is very frame tight but i am pretty sure it is entirely true if you react fast enough and hit the execution. it's been a long time since we've played pikachu though and we never could do the execution for that.

pikachus moves work in a way where they can basically always pop a nair before landing at most heights just to put a hitbox

rising back air is a fun anti air cuz it just stays out for for forever

thunder is so funny cuz you can anti air people on the other side of the screen. "oh? you wanna jump? word." it's really cool how it does that. no other character has a move like that other than pikachu's clone.

marth

marth nair is so funny against big characters in the corner cuz it lingers forever and characters like krool have no easy option to avoid it. like i swear to god most characters can just timing mixup or hurt box shift and get lucky but like krool literally cant do anything its so fucking funny

ken and ryu

ken and ryue are different but similar characters.

they share a move called Focus attack, which is kinda cool.

focus attack is a rare frame 1 armoured move. it has one hit of armour; any hit after that puts them in hitbox.

ken and ryus use the move to help them get out of scary situations, usually to get back to the ground from a juggle, or to get back on stage.

when someone hits the focus attack armour, it gives them a lot of hitlag that is kinda like stun.

banjo and kazooie

their jab doesnt combo into itself lol. we're pretty sure its possible to gurantee it so you never get hit by the finisher.