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Pika Pikaa~aa! (a.k.a. Taunting) [PKAA]

 

 Now that we've gone over the keys to Pikachu success, there's only one thing left to explore in detail, and that's how to taunt properly. With the techniques outlined in this guide, you're officially guaranteed to pwn your opponents, but no victory is complete without the perfect taunt -- it's the icing on the cake of a stage spike, a sweetspotted thunder KO, a 0-death combo, or whatever other amazing shiz your Pika is sure to pull off at one point or another. Failing to taunt after a good kill is like catching a fully charged Ike fsmash to the face.... it's just wrong.

Like any character, Pika has three taunts assigned to the d-pad buttons. All of them are good, but for the most part, sidetaunt and dtaunt are superior to utaunt. (Utaunt is the most bada** of the bunch, however, so if your Pika fits that description, utaunt might be best for his personality.) In particular, dtaunt is one of the best taunts in the game, and it has the added bonus of changing Pika's hurtbox in a way similar to ducking or crawling. If someone aims a projectile or an attack at Pika's head and you dtaunt, you can actually dodge it -- just by taunting!

 

 Those three are great and all, but for exceptionally good kills, you want to be a little more creative and a little more subtle. Using the game's standard taunts is just so.... obvious. One way to really make it clear that you're taunting without actually taunting is to slow walk. That's it, just slow walk across the stage. Pika transforms into a mini t-rex, adorably waddling along at his own casual pace, and it really sends the message to your opponent that you don't give a crap what they do because you're dominating them anyway. Crawling achieves the same effect, especially if you crawl backward or forward against the ledge so that Pika crawls in place.

 

QAC is also a great taunt, but you have to make sure that you can do it well.... messing up your QAC while trying to taunt with it is pretty tacky. If you're not too confident in your skills, just QAC in place -- easy, but it'll still look flashy and tauntish. If you're a master at the technique, however, feel free to zip around the stage at a variety of angles, showing off your fancy, unique AT that, despite being easily countered, makes the opponent look inferior.

 

 Though risky, breaking your shield at the ledge is possibly one of the most annoying/insulting taunts for you opponent to endure. Make sure you break it at the very edge so that you fall off and sweetspot the ledge; if you land on the stage, you'll be helpless and probably eat a fully charged smash, Warlock Punch, etc. Then they'll be taunting you.

 

Flashing is something Pika can do easily, and it's the very definition of flashy -- minimally technical, useless, looks cool.... in other words, absolutely perfect for taunting! When fair hits the ground in its beginning frames (frames 1-9), it autocancels, but the sparks from the move's animation still come out. If you're quick enough with your fingers, you can string these autocanceled fairs together, creating sparks around Pikachu as he moves across the stage but produces no hitbox.

Other options for taunting are dash dancing, standing on the edge in Pika's "I'm tipping over!" animation, multiple dsmashes in place, dtilting back and forth, or short hop > FF repeatedly. Pikachu has a lot of flashy moves, so pretty much anything you use several times in a row will look like a taunt... play around with his moveset and come up with something unique! That way, when someone sees that particular taunt, they'll think, "Da*n, I just got pwned by ______."