Pichu (SSF2)

Pichu is a veteran starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was revealed on the fourth day of Super Smash Con 2017, and officially added to the game the following year, in Version 1.1. Pichu's sprites are completely custom and are based loosely on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Pichu's current voice clips are taken from Super Smash Bros Ultimate, though earlier versions of the game used his Melee samples instead. While originally a hidden character in his debut version, Pichu was made a starter in Version 1.2.

Pichu is ranked 27th in the tier list for Version 1.3.1.2 of the game. Pichu is one of the fastest and smallest characters in the game, making him very hard to hit. Compounding on this is his great frame data, making him hard to avoid in return. He also has high damage-racking capabilities, strong KO power, and a special Discharge state that gives him access to even more powerful attacks, allowing him to take opponent's stocks very quickly if they're not careful. His recovery is also one of the best in the game due to the very long travel distance and omnidirectional characteristics of Agility combined with the overwhelming horizontal distance of discharged Skull Bash.

Despite these strengths, Pichu still has some notable flaws. He is the second lightest character in the game and has a relatively low falling speed, giving him terrible survivability overall. Not helping matters is his recoil mechanic, where he takes damage from using any of his electric attacks, especially as these tend to be his most powerful moves and include both of his recoveries. His moves also suffer from a general range problem, making it especially difficult to fight against the swordsmen and giving him a weak grab game.

Pichu's strengths generally compare with his weaknesses, leaving him somewhat in the middle of the pack.

How to unlock (v1.1 only)
Play a match in any game mode except for Training Mode and accumulate at least 172% damage on a single stock as. After the match, the player must then win against Pichu in a 1-stock match on Pokémon Colosseum.

Attributes
Pichu has one of the fastest dash speeds in the game and one of the fastest ground to air speeds, giving him lateral movement almost on par with. His vertical movement, however, leaves much to be desired, as his jump height and falling speed are on the lower side and his fast fall is one of the slowest, giving a weird floatiness to him. His tiny hurtboxes synergize with his high movement speed, making him rather difficult to hit. In addition, several animations shrink his hurtboxes even further, allowing him to low-profile underneath attacks. This small size also gives him lower range than most characters, forcing him to get uncomfortably close to his opponents and hampering his otherwise solid neutral game.

His attacks are quite fast and lend themselves well to combos, with his electricity-based attacks in particular also packing a surprising amount of power behind them, giving him many tools to rack up damage quickly. His forward smash, down air, and Thunder are all notable KO moves. When Pichu's damage exceeds 50%, he enters the Discharge state, which makes his forward smash and all of his special moves significantly more powerful, with discharged Agility being capable of securing particularly cheesy early KOs off the top of the screen.

Pichu's defense leaves a lot to be desired. He has a unique recoil mechanic where any electric attack he uses also causes damage to himself. This includes forward smash, forward air, down air, grab pummel, forward throw, neutral special, side special, up special, down special, and Final Smash, as well as any discharged versions of the above attacks. This combined with his very low weight and low falling speed makes Pichu's survivability among the worst in the game. His ear also clips out of his shield when it shrinks slightly, leaving him prone to getting shield poked from the front.

Overall, Pichu can best be described as an extreme form of Glass Cannon, with ludicrous speed and attack power in exchange for virtually nonexistent defense. He can be hard to hit and can get janky KOs if his opponent isn't careful, but he can be KO'd just as quickly, causing all of his fights to be quite unpredictable with heavy swings in momentum off of even a single conversion.