Pikachu's Contest History

Who is Pikachu?
Whether you love or hate Pokémon and Pikachu or not, it's difficult to deny that Pikachu is only a step or two below Mario when it comes to icons in the gaming world. At the very worst, he's top five.

And oddly enough, Pikachu was just another of the Pokémon in Red/Blue. Pikachu's role as becoming the mascot of the series comes from his role in the animated TV show in which he and his trainer Ash went on their journey to improve one another's skills. Pikachu became adored by the Pokémon fanbase, so much so that an entire game (Pokémon Yellow) was made just so that Pikachu's fans could have a Red/Blue style game with the feel of the TV show.

Pikachu, together with Pokémon R/B/Y helped launch Pokémon to insane stardom around the world, with Japan and America highlighting the craze. This simple little formula of catching pocket monsters and training them for battle seems simple on the outside, but gamers have been addicted to it for years. Aside from television and games, Pokémon has also made several movies, a card game and has been advertised on everything from lunch boxes to book bags.

For the longest time, Pikachu was in the middle of all of this. He's somewhat fallen out of the limelight as the series has progressed, but he has by no means disappeared and the legacy of his series still continues onward.

"Pikaaaaa.....CHUUUUU!" - Pikachu

Pikachu's Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 4-3

Summer 2002 Contest - North Division - 7 Seed
 * Northern Round 1 --- Defeated (10)PaRappa the Rapper, 30711 [54.41%] - 25736 [45.59%]
 * Northern Quarterfinal --- Lost to (2) Cloud, 15445 [20.49%] - 59926 [79.51%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 39th Place [15.32%]

Summer 2003 Contest - North Division - 8 Seed
 * Northern Round 1 --- Lost to (9) Fox McCloud, 30962 [31.33%] - 67856 [68.67%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 60th Place [10.99%]

Though the "anti-voting" factor is one of literally hundreds of factors that amount to precisely dick once the board vote passes, Pokémon hate is one of the rare exceptions to the rule. Though Pokémon as a series is beloved, it went through a long period of being hated on as well. And though the hate for Pokémon seems to have mostly passed, even some of the most diehard Pokénuts loathe Pikachu; he easily receives the most hate of any Pokémon out there, for reasons unknown to myself.

In contest terms, this means that Pikachu has a very difficult road to climb to win matches. Not only does he have to worry about the innate strength of opponent, but he has a mound of anti-voting to get past as well. Translated, this means that his one contest victory was a squeaker against PaRappa the Rapper in a battle that came down to who people hated less.

He then went on to badly lose to Cloud in Summer 2002 before getting blown out by Fox in a Summer 2003 was that "supposed" to be hard to call. Pikachu hasn't sniffed the field since, and given all of the hate he endures it's unlikely that he'll make the field any time soon.

Come to think of it, Pikachu is the only Pokémon to have ever made the field at all. Either Pikachu or Pokémon in general has had issues with getting the fans to rally behind one character. Mewtwo would likely be the best choice should they form such a union, because it's fairly obvious that Pikachu will likely never cause damage in a bracket.

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 6 - Third Group
 * Division 6 Round 1 --- 1st place, 44717 [36.62%] - Tidus, 38881 [31.84%] - Isaac, 21496 [17.60%] - Serge, 17009 [13.93%]
 * Division 6 Round 2 --- 2nd place, 30533 [24.14%] - Leon Kennedy, 42128 [33.31%] - Vivi Orunitia, 27480 [21.73%] - Tidus, 26327 [20.82%]
 * Division 6 Finals --- 1st place, 44304 [33.79%] - Dante, 39904 [30.43%] - Leon Kennedy, 31279 [23.85%] - Amaterasu, 15644 [11.93%]
 * Contest Quarterfinals --- 4th place, 25420 [18.22%] - Master Chief, 44799 [32.12%] - Dante, 37086 [26.59%] - Luigi, 32179 [23.07%]

Pokemon as a whole has come a long way since 2004. Few franchises benefited from this format more than Pokemon, and no character was more opportunistic than Pikachu this year. Pokemon characters have developed a rabid support group on GameFAQs, and it showed throughout the contest. All along the way, Pikachu took advantage of SFF and LFF to keep advancing. He used potential Tidus/Serge LFF to get a first place finish in round one. He used Vivi/Tidus LFF to take second place in round two and keep going. He used Dante/Leon LFF to get first place in the divisional finals in one of the more surprising results of the contest. In the contest quarterfinals, it was just too much, but he used that very same LFF to hold down Luigi and potentially cost him a shot at the semifinals.

In sum, Pikachu sucks.