YOU vs PIKACHU – Could You Defeat and Survive the Most Famous Pokémon

Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:

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You can’t escape from Pikachu—the electric mouse Pokémon is everywhere. From video game and movie appearances to even our own human genome, with the retinal protein Pikachurin being named after the famous creature’s “lightning-fast moves.” Everywhere you turn, there’s Pikachu. Usually, the mascot of the world’s most commercial franchise is a friendly face, but beneath those sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks lies the thunderous might of a veteran combatant. So what would happen if Pikachu went rogue and came after you? What would you do, and how would you survive? Today, we’re here to help you answer those questions and give you a fighting chance against one of the most well-known mice in entertainment.

Every move Pikachu will make, we’ll predict it. Every precaution you can take, we’ll suggest it. And if there’s a way for an ordinary human being to walk away from a scrap with Game Freak’s golden boy, be prepared to expect it. It’s you vs. Pikachu! Who will win?

You’ll likely be aware that Pikachu has a history of battling other beings within highly competitive environments. In Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Pikachu is considered a top-tier fighter, beating out video game powerhouses. Though, strictly speaking, the Smash Brothers Franchise is meant to be a speculative crossover and thus is not an accurate reflection of Pikachu’s overall combat strength. For that, we’ll have to assess Pikachu’s performance in his native series against his fellow Pocket Monsters. At the time of this video’s release, there were over one thousand Pokémon that Pikachu could have battled against in order to gain experience.

And before you leave a comment telling us which Pokémon could beat Pikachu, we regret to inform you that it won’t help you survive. Yes, you were probably hoping that we’d magically grant you a Pokémon partner of your own to help in your battle against the electric-type menace, but sadly, that is beyond the scope of our power. We’re only human too, after all.

In order to stand toe to toe with the very best battlers the Pokémon world has to offer, Pikachu has been given several advantages in the form of items and unique transformations. The light ball, for example, doubles Pikachu’s attacking stats—making both its physical and special moves far more lethal. If at all possible, you’ll want to keep Pikachu away from a light ball, knocking it out of the Pokémon’s cute little hands if you must.

It’s also paramount that you prevent Pikachu from teaming up with any human who shares the Pokémon’s same goal of defeating you. When it shares a strong bond with a Pokémon trainer, Pikachu gains access to a variety of exclusive and powerful abilities that are fueled by the power of friendship. Pika Papow is a blast of electrical energy that never misses its target and grows in strength the more that Pikachu loves its human helper. If the trainer in question also possesses a device for focusing the mystical force known as Z-energy, they can perform a special Z-move in tandem with Pikachu, which is usually even stronger than Pika Papow and also hits with total accuracy.

We’ll touch on the effects of individual Z-moves throughout our discussion of Pikachu’s moves, but what you should take away from our mentioning of them here is that it’s not recommended to face off against a Pikachu that has a close connection with a human. You should also stay away from the regions of the world where Z-energy is in abundance just to be safe. Consult your local travel agency for the best ways to avoid such places.

Even without the light ball or the assistance of a trainer, Pikachu boasts a wide variety of moves for battle and will use all of them against you if it’s angered. You could try to calm Pikachu down by offering it some delicious berries, but if that doesn’t work and it’s really out to get you, you should be ready to avoid the following shocking attacks.

Thunderbolt is a powerful electric-type move that is used by many Pokémon and, according to the game lore, contains a significant amount of electricity. In tests of ballistic gel, which is often used as a substitute for human flesh in laboratory experiments, it only took a fraction of that electricity to cause severe damage. There is a high chance that you would be in serious trouble if you were hit with even a single thunderbolt from Pikachu. The same applies for moves like charge beam, electro ball, spark, discharge, thundershock, and thunder.

There is a Z-move variant of Thunderbolt called 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, which is precisely as dangerous as it sounds and reinforces what we were saying earlier about you not wanting to go up against a Pikachu with a trainer.

Since every form of Pikachu, including the other members of its evolutionary line, is able to use electric moves, shutting those down greatly increases your chance of survival. The most obvious solution would be to stand within a Faraday cage. Named after the English inventor Michael Faraday, the mesh enclosure of a Faraday cage is made from conductive material all the way through, allowing it to distribute electrical discharges along the outer surface without causing harm to anyone inside. If there are no gaps or breaks in the material, a Faraday cage can shield you from even lightning bolts.

Pikachu’s ranged electric strikes would not be able to make it through, and even without a formal Faraday cage, you can utilize the principles behind a Faraday cage to divert electricity away from your body. Being inside a motor vehicle, for example, will cause the thunderbolt to travel along the metal outer shell without any electricity entering the interior. Just remember not to roll down the windows.

If you really want to take your chances, wearing a suit of chainmail armor over multiple layers of rubber could turn you into a mobile Faraday shield. In the best-case scenario, all that metal will divert the electricity harmlessly into the ground beneath your feet. This is far less likely to happen as the voltage increases, however, and one small slip-up could mean receiving a shock that would be very dangerous.

An alternative method of avoiding Pikachu’s shocks would be cleverly placing lightning rods around you. Lightning rods are designed to arrest electrical currents and guide them harmlessly away from the structures they’re attached to. They are most often used to protect tall buildings and monuments, but other variations have been devised to keep flying aircraft safe during storms.

A short-lived fashion trend in eighteenth-century France was the lightning umbrella, which was equipped with a lightning rod and a small metal chain. Could either of these lightning rod fashion statements protect you from a Pikachu’s thunderbolt? Probably not, but you would certainly look fancy wearing them.

With all that in mind, you might be thinking that the smartest way to deal with Pikachu is to find the fastest sports car on the market and try to ram into it at full speed. This could work if you manage to catch the electric mouse by surprise, but if Pikachu is able to sense the vehicle coming, its high-speed stat will give it a strong possibility of dodging. Pikachu ranks within the top 300 among all Pokémon in terms of speed and can even keep up with some legendary Pokémon.

Pikachu can also use the status move Agility to raise its speed even higher or the move Double Team to boost its evasion stat by creating illusory duplicates of itself. Both of these techniques require Pikachu to spend a turn in battle, so make sure to take advantage of the head start this would give you if you plan on running away to hide. Trust us, you’ll need it.

Another application of Pikachu’s incredible speed is its Quick Attack, which always strikes first regardless of the speed of the opposing Pokémon. The only silver lining is that the quick attack is on the weaker side when it comes to Pikachu’s physical moves. There are, of course, others that you would need to worry about. In the Pokémon anime, the iconic Pikachu belonging to Ash Ketchum often uses Iron Tail—a steel-type move that allows Pikachu to use its lightning bolt-shaped tail as a powerful bludgeon capable of smashing through solid rock.

Getting hit with Pikachu’s Iron Tail would likely cause significantly more damage to you than taking a full-force swing from a major league baseball player’s bat. So unless you want to suffer multiple broken bones, stay far away when Pikachu’s tail begins to glow white. Fortunately, Iron Tail is unlikely to penetrate any material as hard as steel on the first attempt, meaning that most cars could withstand a few hits before Pikachu was able to break through.

There are only two other physical moves that Pikachu has that are stronger than Iron Tail, and fortunately for you, both of them have noticeable drawbacks. The moves Volt Tackle and Skull Bash are somewhat similar in execution: headlong charges that allow Pikachu to cover a great deal of distance before slamming into the opponent with terrible force. Both of these attacks hit with significant power, but if you are able to prepare the right countermeasures, both could prove the key to turning the tables.

Skull Bash requires Pikachu to spend an entire round of battle lowering its head before unleashing damage the next turn, leaving it vulnerable to whatever its opponent is able to do in that time. If you have a ranged weapon, now would be the time to use it. Since Pikachu will be unable to dodge, you might be able to deal enough damage to stop the creature before it headbutts you.

Volt Tackle, on the other hand, is a lot faster to use but trades caution for recklessness as it causes Pikachu to receive some damage. If you are able to take cover behind a thick barrier of metal or concrete that would bear the brunt of the attack, Pikachu may end up fainting from the recoil of just a couple of Volt Tackles.

Though, as you might have feared, there is a Z-move version of Volt Tackle that removes this limitation entirely—the dreaded Catastropika attack, which hits with almost double the force of a standard Volt Tackle. Catastropika is further proof that you’re just better off trying to reason with Pikachu’s hypothetical trainer through human communication than risk having to be subject to even one Z-move.

Going back to the idea of using a Faraday cage, it would be possible to make one sturdy enough to keep out Pikachu’s physical attacks while negating its special electrical ones. The logical extension of this strategy would be to gain access to a modern battle tank. Once you are securely inside that dedicated war machine, the battle against a regular Pikachu is as good as over. The heavy metal armor will deflect any and all physical blows as well as shield you from the electric attacks, while the gun of the tank will provide ample firepower to defeat Pikachu if you manage to find an opening.

While Pikachu’s speed and evasion would still make for a tense encounter, you really can’t lose against the creature if you’re inside a tank. So does this mean you’re completely in the clear as long as you’ve got access to a military base? Yes, but actually no.

Remember when we mentioned that Pikachu has a whole host of other forms and evolutions? Well, not all of those would be beaten by simply utilizing a tank. In almost three decades of the Pokémon franchise’s history, Pikachu has shown time and time again that raw mutable potential can be as much a strength as any baseline power level. Take, for instance, Pikachu’s evolutionary relatives—Pichu and Raichu—both of which boast their own set of unique abilities.

While Pichu is generally understood to be the baby form of Pikachu and therefore much weaker in terms of stats, it can inherit Volt Tackle from its parent Pikachu and is able to use the powerful move as soon as it is hatched from a Pokémon egg. Additionally, Pichu is actually considered a more viable meta-character in some versions of Super Smash Brothers. This is because its electric attacks, which are less stable than Pikachu’s to the point of damaging Pichu each time they are used, come out faster and actually hit harder. Despite these minor differences, Pichu is overall less dangerous than Pikachu, and every tactic suggested so far in this video would apply equally, if not more so, against a wild Pichu.

It’s when we look at Raichu—Pikachu’s evolved form—that the differences between the evolutions start to become more worrisome. Raichu is often underestimated due to the notable lack of favoritism from Nintendo. It cannot use the Pikachu-exclusive Z-moves or benefit from holding the light ball, but what it lacks in versatility, it makes up for in raw statistics. Raichu is both faster than Pikachu and stronger in the attack department, and with its higher hit points and defenses, it can take far more damage as well.

In the earlier Pokémon games, the Pokédex states that the amount of electricity that Raichu can output is so great that it can cause serious harm if carelessly touched. This puts into perspective just how dangerous an encounter with an angry Raichu would be. If you’re watching this, chances are that you’re not an elephant—meaning that the results of being struck with Raichu’s electricity would cause effects more severe than mere unconsciousness.

The Alola Region variant of Raichu, apart from coming from a region known for its usage of Z-energy and Z-moves, is capable of using psychokinetic energy in its special attacks. You should be prepared to break out the classic tinfoil hat if ever faced with an Alolan Raichu, as ordinary armor may not be able to protect you from its mentally-enhanced electrical currents. Of course, you’re better off saying goodbye to Alola as the native Raichu can use their own exclusive Z-move, which can overwhelm opponents with electrical power.

Speaking of surfing, did you know that it isn’t that uncommon for a Pikachu to know how to carve some waves? Ever since the first generation, there have been Pikachu who have an affinity for the ocean. Where this becomes a danger to you is that these Pikachu can use the water-type move Surf, a powerful special attack that can manifest a tidal wave to splash down on anything in its path. That means that the battle tank, which had been the dominant strategy up until now, wouldn’t cut it if it was hit with enough running water to flood it or, worse, flip it over.

The truly dangerous thing about encountering one of these surfing Pikachus is that they often look completely identical to any other Pikachu. Additionally, with the changes made to move-teaching technical machines and hidden machines over the generations, a Pikachu with the power to conjure waves is much less rare than it once was. Therefore, you should always keep a close eye on the terrain where your showdown with Pikachu is taking place. That way, you can drive your military vehicle to higher ground as soon as you see the mass of water coming your way.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, there is another kind of Pikachu that can use variant abilities while also looking uniquely stylish. The Cosplay Pikachu, as seen in the games, is a female Pikachu with a distinct black heart shape at the end of her tail. Cosplay Pikachu has all the same abilities as any ordinary member of her Pokémon species until she dons one of five colorful costumes. Each costume has a recognizable theme and a move associated with it, so it is important to familiarize yourself with their capabilities. That way, you’ll be ready for a battle with Cosplay Pikachu in whatever outfit she chooses.

Pikachu Rock Star can use the move Meteor Mash—a potent steel-type punch that has a chance to raise her attack stat after use. It may look flashy, but the offensive power of the Meteor Mash falls just shy of a standard Iron Tail. As such, anything that would protect you against Iron Tail would work against Meteor Mash as well.

Pikachu Belle can really make you flinch when the frosty bite of her icicle crash attack makes contact. It shouldn’t be an issue if you’re inside your vehicle, but it’s worth knowing so you don’t wind up taking this chilling belle lightly. Pikachu Pop Star can steal your hit points to replenish her own with a fairy-type draining kiss attack. It hasn’t been mentioned up until now, but be wary of any Pikachu’s ability to weaponize its world-famous cuteness factor. Pikachu’s standard move set contains Charm—a status move that severely hinders the attack stat of the enemy.

And whatever you do, don’t try to match wits with the exceptionally clever Pikachu Ph.D.—a Pokémon graduate who can use her electric terrain move to boost the power of all her electric-type attacks. As a scientist herself, Pikachu Ph.D. likely knows that you’re planning on using a Faraday Cage, so exercise great caution when attempting to outplay this intelligent mouse.

The fifth Cosplay Pikachu costume is a real tough contender, making her fighting game debut as a starting character in the roster of Pokken Tournament. With her signature move, the Flying Press, Pikachu Libre can soar across the ring and deliver a powerful attack. You definitely don’t want to face this version of Cosplay Pikachu in a hand-to-hand showdown—as she has regularly tangled with powerful opponents.

In Pokken, she also makes use of another obscure move from Pikachu’s move list—Electro Web. This move creates solid strands of webbing charged with electrical current that can slow down anyone or anything that makes contact with them. Pikachu Libre and, by extension, any other Pikachu who knows the move, can hold an opponent in place with an electro web and leave them wide open for a vicious onslaught of moves.

As fierce as the many faces of Cosplay Pikachu are, there remains one true titan among Pikachu forms that would be an insurmountable challenge even from the inside of the finest combat tank you could get your hands on. In certain places where space is distorted and unstable, any regular-sized Pikachu that was hatched with the elusive Gigantamax Factor has a chance of undergoing a sudden transformation into a towering Gigantamax Pikachu.

Once in Gigantamax form, the Pikachu is able to endure unbelievable amounts of damage. It can also shield itself from any one attack by using its Max Guard move or deal widespread destruction with its aptly named Max Moves. Iron Tail also becomes Max Steelspike, which covers a huge area of ground with sharp metal spikes. Likewise, a suped-up surf attack from a Gigantamax Pikachu would become Max Geyser—a powerful water attack.

Perhaps the most threatening move that Gigantamax Pikachu can deploy is one exclusive to it alone: G-Max Volt Crash. Not only does a hit from G-Max Volt Crash flood the target with enough electricity to be extremely dangerous, but every other living thing that Gigantamax Pikachu considers an enemy is instantly paralyzed.

There is only one way to save yourself from Gigantamax Pikachu, short of making sure you’re never around a power spot to begin with. If you are able to wait out the limited duration of the Gigantamax transformation, the attacking Pikachu will return to its original size and become far more manageable. To increase your chances, hiding in an underground bunker or within a sturdy building that