Ness vs Pikachu
There are 132 games that feature Ness vs Pikachu in the SSB World database. Ness wins 65.91% of the games in this matchup. Pikachu wins this matchup 34.09% of the time.
Matchup Tips
Neutral (2)
Pikachu
-Ness has some good close-mid good options to stuff Pika out in Nair, F-air, PK Fire, Dash Attack and Dash Grab. Challenging them is hard so work on your position and whiff punish them.
-You want to play mostly grounded so you can minimize Ness' approach options. All of them are unsafe on shield and can be punished on whiff and on block.
-Try to avoid being in the dash attack / dash grab range to avoid the mixups and overall have a safer neutral.
-Hitting Ness out of the air is a great way to win neutral, bait him with F-air and D-airs outside of his range; once he starts jumping you can punish him with rising B-air, Up Air, and N-air.
-D-air will beat Ness' dash attack. If you hit Ness' shield, remember to mix up your cross ups and fastfalls to maximize safety.
-Only use Thunder Jolt when Ness is at low percent as he can quickly recover HP with PK Magnet and move out of the way without much compromise. A hard read on PK Fire may work if you are getting stuffed out by it too much, but there are better ways to punish PK Fire.
-You can use QA to punish whiffs and landings from long range, take in mind Ness can predict this and start trading with you and potentially giving you RCO lag.
-Switch into passive and aggressive accordingly, switching up both styles can be annoying for Ness.
-You want to play mostly grounded so you can minimize Ness' approach options. All of them are unsafe on shield and can be punished on whiff and on block.
-Try to avoid being in the dash attack / dash grab range to avoid the mixups and overall have a safer neutral.
-Hitting Ness out of the air is a great way to win neutral, bait him with F-air and D-airs outside of his range; once he starts jumping you can punish him with rising B-air, Up Air, and N-air.
-D-air will beat Ness' dash attack. If you hit Ness' shield, remember to mix up your cross ups and fastfalls to maximize safety.
-Only use Thunder Jolt when Ness is at low percent as he can quickly recover HP with PK Magnet and move out of the way without much compromise. A hard read on PK Fire may work if you are getting stuffed out by it too much, but there are better ways to punish PK Fire.
-You can use QA to punish whiffs and landings from long range, take in mind Ness can predict this and start trading with you and potentially giving you RCO lag.
-Switch into passive and aggressive accordingly, switching up both styles can be annoying for Ness.
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Getting off the ledge (2)
Ness
Getting off the ledge is pretty hard against a Pika, try mixing up your options against him
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-Ness can spam Down Smash at the ledge and be scary, try to time accordingly your options and use your i-frames wisely.
-Ness can cover a lot of options with Down Smash, B-air, N-air and Up Air. They all cover different options so remember to mix it up!
-Utilizing platforms and wall jumps at the ledge is a great tool to escape Ness' pressure. Practice your Quick Attack angles and dropping of the ledge and wall jumping to have a better position to recover
-Ness can cover a lot of options with Down Smash, B-air, N-air and Up Air. They all cover different options so remember to mix it up!
-Utilizing platforms and wall jumps at the ledge is a great tool to escape Ness' pressure. Practice your Quick Attack angles and dropping of the ledge and wall jumping to have a better position to recover
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Recovering (2)
Ness
Pika has a much better recovery than you and a better edgeguarding. Whatever you do, do not jump out of the stage. Better time your Smash Attacks in the ledge to prevent Pika from a safe recovery
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-If Ness jumps out to edgeguard you, remember you have the better recovery, just stay awy of his range and then recover safely.
-Ness will probably pester you with PK Thunder 1, it can be annoying to deal with. You can always try to hit it but good Ness players will try to bait that and hit you with the tail first. Using QA1 rebound ability to destroy PKT1 may be helpful. Also remember to always be prepared to tech if you are near the stage.
-Down Smash's back hit can easily hit Pikachu out of QA at really dumb positions if you don't angle properly. Never angle QA2 straight up as that is really easy to hit, if possible avoid aiming for the ledge in this case.
-Using platforms is crucial, QAC can almost always take you out of a bad spot. Practice your angles!
-Ness will probably pester you with PK Thunder 1, it can be annoying to deal with. You can always try to hit it but good Ness players will try to bait that and hit you with the tail first. Using QA1 rebound ability to destroy PKT1 may be helpful. Also remember to always be prepared to tech if you are near the stage.
-Down Smash's back hit can easily hit Pikachu out of QA at really dumb positions if you don't angle properly. Never angle QA2 straight up as that is really easy to hit, if possible avoid aiming for the ledge in this case.
-Using platforms is crucial, QAC can almost always take you out of a bad spot. Practice your angles!
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Landing (2)
Ness
Juggle Pika only when he is at high percents since Pika has a much better neutral than Ness. To juggle at low percents, use PKT1 and if he airdodges down, use Up-Air against him.
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-QAC is probably your best friend. Ness has some trouble juggling besides PKT1, it is still scary so watch out for it and plan accordingly.
-Also, never land into Ness, this also applies for all of the cast.
-Also, never land into Ness, this also applies for all of the cast.
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Ledge trapping (2)
Ness
Ness can cover a lot of Pika's options whild ledgetrapping. Just space yourself from the ledge to avoid getting hit by the Ledge Attack, then try to bait him with a F-Air, Up-Air or B-Air depending on the side you are facing. D-Smash can also be a great option against Pika at ledgetrapping
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-Try not being at the very ledge at ledge trapping, space yourself so a max spaced dtilt can hit a regular get up. This way you have the space and time to react and punish most ledge options.
-Ness like to fall down and jump back with airdodge into the stage, this is a habit you can easily exploit with a lingering hitbox such as b-air. Try to drift towards center stage if you manage to catch Ness so you can put him offstage again and probably without a jump.
-If you reacted late to the airdodge you better respect it, you can get hit by B-air, N-air and Up Air and you will now be in disadvantage.
-Ness like to fall down and jump back with airdodge into the stage, this is a habit you can easily exploit with a lingering hitbox such as b-air. Try to drift towards center stage if you manage to catch Ness so you can put him offstage again and probably without a jump.
-If you reacted late to the airdodge you better respect it, you can get hit by B-air, N-air and Up Air and you will now be in disadvantage.
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Edgeguarding (2)
Ness
Watch out for Pika's Thunderjolts since it has the possibility to kill you at low percents. Try to mix-up your double-jump and airdodge to the ledge if you are close. Never use PK Thunder directly in the Thunderjolt's angle
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-Ness' double jump wont autosnap the ledge until the peak of it, this makes edgeguarding Ness a little bit different than other characters.
-Most Ness will try to save their double jump and land onstage with it. The most common way it so double jump and airdodge just below the ledge into the stage, remember to be patient and punish this option.
-If you force Ness to recover with PK Thunder he is going to probably get gimped. You can jolt harass him, baby sit him and then hit him when he is starting to use PKT1, airdodge through and get hit by PKT1, hit PKT2 to halve the distance with a jolt ow with your own body (be prepared to tech!) and in a bold move, you can abuse Pikachu's massive hurtbox when using QA and do it toward PKT1. Be brave and get creative!
-Also remember Ness is hard to hit from above when he is starting to cast PKT1, best way to hit him is to Nair him from one side.
-Most Ness will try to save their double jump and land onstage with it. The most common way it so double jump and airdodge just below the ledge into the stage, remember to be patient and punish this option.
-If you force Ness to recover with PK Thunder he is going to probably get gimped. You can jolt harass him, baby sit him and then hit him when he is starting to use PKT1, airdodge through and get hit by PKT1, hit PKT2 to halve the distance with a jolt ow with your own body (be prepared to tech!) and in a bold move, you can abuse Pikachu's massive hurtbox when using QA and do it toward PKT1. Be brave and get creative!
-Also remember Ness is hard to hit from above when he is starting to cast PKT1, best way to hit him is to Nair him from one side.
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Juggling (2)
Ness
Most Pika's will try to be patient or use Down-B to keep you in the air. Use PK Magnet to get Down-B out of the way, then airdodge to the stage since most Pika's will try to bait you an Up-Air if you get past their Thunder
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-Ness can land with Nair, Bair, Up Air and stall with PKT and PSI Magnet. the secret to keep him juggled is to be patient. Wait for airdodge, whiff punish or shield his landing aerials. Pikachu Up-Air is disjointed and you can challenge him, but Ness can easily airdodge that and then up air you, if you try to catch him mid-air, remember to drift away from him if you missed the hit.
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Misc. notes (2)
Ness
At 0% try to get a PK Fire as soon as possible since Pika cannot DI out of it at low percents. After that go for a D-Throw and F-Airs. This wilk guarantee you around 40% of advantage against Pika. Your aerials arw much better than those of Pika sinxe your hitboxez will be a lot bigger due to Pika's lack of range. Tey to use this as ab advantage and eatablish a gameplan so you can consistently make options to battle against Pika, the more tou practice this, the better you are in the matchup
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-If Ness grabs you at low percents, you can mix up your DI in and out. He has garaunteed combos from both, but he has to react to punish.
-At mid percent if you get grabbed by Ness, you can DI away to get out of combos, he will probably go for stage control and throw you offstage though.
-Ness gameplan is mostly to trade so he can abuse his raw killing power, try to play as clean as possible and a bait and punish and hit and run gameplan.
-Ness is kinda slow, so you can abuse your mobility and run away from him fairly easy. Use all your movement options to your advantage and remember to keep mixing it up.
-Never approach if you don't have to, camp if necessary.
-Throwing Jolts to aid you in your edgeguard is an easy way to make him burn his double jump or to get info on how he will recover.
-Here you can find about RAR Thunder on Ness and the percents it will work
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18cuJYFSAsserv-yDggpbPv7QFLA62V3kneu86scL6EM/edit#gid=1190401967
-At mid percent if you get grabbed by Ness, you can DI away to get out of combos, he will probably go for stage control and throw you offstage though.
-Ness gameplan is mostly to trade so he can abuse his raw killing power, try to play as clean as possible and a bait and punish and hit and run gameplan.
-Ness is kinda slow, so you can abuse your mobility and run away from him fairly easy. Use all your movement options to your advantage and remember to keep mixing it up.
-Never approach if you don't have to, camp if necessary.
-Throwing Jolts to aid you in your edgeguard is an easy way to make him burn his double jump or to get info on how he will recover.
-Here you can find about RAR Thunder on Ness and the percents it will work
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18cuJYFSAsserv-yDggpbPv7QFLA62V3kneu86scL6EM/edit#gid=1190401967
RAWR! - September 15, 2018Stage choice (2)
Ness
Never go to Lylat Cruise since Ness's recovery is much worse than it is and PK Fire will mostly miss Pika because of his low profile. Always ban this stage first. The other stages are either winning on Ness's favor or neutral
Diego - April 25, 2019Pikachu
-Final Destination is probably the worst stage on here becauue of the lack of platforms it will be easier for Ness to pressure Pikachu and get grabs and trades. Also the disadvantage here for Pikachu is the worst. Ness can be juggled and will struggle to land, but you can pretty much do that by sharking Ness' landings on platforms on the other stages so it isn't a factor that should determine it as a go to stage.
-Battlefield and Dreamland are good stages, Ness can't really abuse the platforms and you have many recovery and landing options. As we want to gimp Ness, Battlefield is the upper choice because you can live longer and gimping isn't really percent dependant.
-Smashville is the most neutral stage in this MU, both of them can con nasty stuff on each other while using the taxi platform. The platform gives Pikachu some easy QAC so it can be considered.
-Town and City is probably on Ness favour as he needs less trades to kill Pikachu, the incoming platforms can sometimes help Ness and it is Final Destination in some transformations. There are still platforms to escape from Ness and it is a pretty long stage so it is still better than Final Destination.
-Lylat Cruise is Pikachu best stage in this MU by far, the tilt will disrupt PK Fire and Ness recovery, also having easy Quick Attack Cancels helps a lot. The stage is small so you can whiff punish Ness from pretty much everywhere. Watch out and don't be predictable and over reliant on QA as Ness can easily catch up and punish you for it,
-Battlefield and Dreamland are good stages, Ness can't really abuse the platforms and you have many recovery and landing options. As we want to gimp Ness, Battlefield is the upper choice because you can live longer and gimping isn't really percent dependant.
-Smashville is the most neutral stage in this MU, both of them can con nasty stuff on each other while using the taxi platform. The platform gives Pikachu some easy QAC so it can be considered.
-Town and City is probably on Ness favour as he needs less trades to kill Pikachu, the incoming platforms can sometimes help Ness and it is Final Destination in some transformations. There are still platforms to escape from Ness and it is a pretty long stage so it is still better than Final Destination.
-Lylat Cruise is Pikachu best stage in this MU by far, the tilt will disrupt PK Fire and Ness recovery, also having easy Quick Attack Cancels helps a lot. The stage is small so you can whiff punish Ness from pretty much everywhere. Watch out and don't be predictable and over reliant on QA as Ness can easily catch up and punish you for it,
RAWR! - September 15, 2018
Ness