Ike (SSBB)

Ike (, Ike) is a newcomer appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was revealed in the Smash Bros. DOJO!! on August 1st, 2007. Ike is voiced by Michihiko Hagi in the Japanese version and by Jason Adkins in the English version, both of whom voiced the character in the respective versions of both Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.

Ike is ranked 23rd on the tier list in mid-tier, making this his best placement in the series. Ike possesses extreme power throughout his moveset, with some of the strongest attacks in Brawl, and nearly all of his attacks can KO under 150%. In addition to being one of, if not the strongest character overall, Ike possesses arguably the greatest average reach in Brawl, made better by nearly every attack having disjointed reach and transcendent priority. He also has great endurance thanks to his high weight and strong momentum cancelling abilities, as well as fearsome edge guarding capabilities. Ike's biggest boon is his amazing jab, which is fast, possesses great reach for a jab, deals high damage and knockback, and can jab-cancel to create highly damaging combos and setups into KO moves (such as up tilt and back aerial). Despite these strengths, he also has severe weaknesses, which are perhaps intent on counteracting such advantages. Most of his attacks have incredibly high startup and ending lag, making his overall attack speed some of the slowest in Brawl alongside. As a result, he is highly reliant on reads and spacing to land even a single hit when his opponents are outside his jab range. Additionally, his recovery is linear, predictable, and highly susceptible to gimping, with semi-spikes being especially deadly. His recovery is also exacerbated by his very fast falling speed and low double jump. Finally, Ike lacks any projectile, which combines with his large size and subpar mobility to make it difficult for him to break through opposing camping, as well as being completely incapable of camping or forcing approaches from characters. Overall, this results in average matchups (with remarkably few counters for a mid-tier character, plus even matchups against three top/high tier characters, though his especially terrible matchup against is problematic), and Ike has achieved above-average tournament results.

Attributes
Ike is a moderately heavy character with very slow but powerful attacks. Although Ike himself is also slow, his attacks will surprise opponents when hitting from maximum range. Most of his attacks possess high damage, great knockback, and outstanding range, giving Ike excellent KO potential at low damages. Ike is also one of the best characters to crouch-cancel a jab with, as the move can accrue upwards of 20% on opponents when crouch-canceling the original hit into another jab a few times. Ike works best when playing the range game, best maximized by using his forward and back aerials whenever retreating. His forward aerial has the distinction of having the most horizontal attack range of any normal aerial in the game. Using the attack to effectively approach depending on the situation, Ike can pursue follow ups such as more forward aerials, his far-reaching dash attack, or an attempt at outwitting the foe into his Quick Draw side special. However, all three of these moves have high ending lag and are quite punishable if they miss. At a distance, one can even use Quick Draw to punish floor recoveries and floor attacks because of the move's ability to be held indefinitely.

Should Ike have to deal with opponents close in, he can easily use his competent jab to either put the spacing back on or to transfer to a throw, with either the back or forward variants capable of putting the opponent in a vulnerable position should they be at the edge. Though more effective as a KO move, Ike's back aerial has very fast startup (especially when considering its power) and can catch opponents off-guard but has high ending lag, should the player be in a position to chase or attack in-close. If the close-in war is being waged at the edge, Ike can be an effective edge guarder, having his long-ranged forward aerial, his down tilt meteor smash, his Aether special, and his deadly down aerial meteor smash or back aerial as options to harass the opponent (as well as the aforementioned jab/throws). Ike is also one of the game's deadliest air-dodge/roll trappers, given his far-reaching forward smash and its tremendous power; it is a useful move so long as Ike is never predictable with it. Up-smash can be also be used in this fashion due to its similarly wide sweeping motion, and is preferable to Ike's down-smash for punishing excessive rolling and also giving him the ability to have a surprisingly long hyphen smash considering his dash speed.

However, Ike definitely has his drawbacks. His dash speed is fairly slow, and he is a somewhat tall target. His counter is quite slow, requiring some prediction to use effectively (it takes approximately six frames longer than 's counter compared to Marth's which takes only four frames for the counter frames to start). On the other hand, Ike's counter frames end six frames later than Marth's (both of their counters last for about 59 frames, 23 of them being counter frames), making him less vulnerable afterwards. His throws do low damage. Ike's recovery is also somewhat predictable, because he has a short double jump and only two main recovery moves (Quick Draw and Aether) which have limited trajectories and cannot both be used in the same recovery. Quick Draw needs to be charged to get far, and is easily blocked by anyone willing to get hit by it before Ike can reach the ledge, making him extremely vulnerable to low-angle attacks and edge guarding. Aether is very predictable but also difficult to guard against by any character with short ranged attack, due to the knockback resistance the move grants and the fact that Ike's sword reaches the ledge long before he does. Still, he is vulnerable to edgehogging as it does not grab the ledge until he is descending with the attack and most characters have at least one attack that can knock Ike out of Aether. It is also vulnerable to gimps from moves that push others away (e.g. 's F.L.U.D.D. or 's Water Gun). Also, Ike lacks a projectile, and is himself extremely vulnerable to projectile camping from characters such as and. His attacks can generally be avoided/dodged easily because of the massive starting lag on all of his attacks. Additionally, he is one of the easiest characters in the game to punish a missed move due to the extreme ending lag on his attacks and extreme unsafeness on his moves when shielded. Because he is a large heavyweight with fast falling speed, he is susceptible to chain grabs and walls of pain.

In the end, Ike must rely on careful prediction and spacing of the opponent to even land a single attack, much less win the match, but when effectively doing so, smart Ike players can end or mostly obliterate a stock within a matter of seconds. Still, Ike cannot handle many high-level match-ups, due to his lack of fast aerials and slow speed overall that forces over-reliance on the opponent's mistakes.

Notable players

 * See also: Category:Ike players (SSBB)



Tier placement and history
Ike initially placed 25th on the first tier list for Brawl, with most noting that his below-average speed with his high raw power made him a solid middle tier character. The changing metagame of Brawl, however, began to favor characters that had either superb camping prowess or the mobility to counter it, which were two things that Ike lacked. As a result, Ike began to consistently fall on the tier list; on the fourth list, Ike had fallen to 29th place, and it was widely assumed that he would eventually fall into the bottom tiers. At this point, Ike was frequently derided as a "noob character" in the competitive Brawl community who relied far too heavily on abusing opponents' errors to KO.

The sudden appearance of, however, caused Ike's perceived viability to immediately reverse. At Apex 2010, a tournament that was known for hosting some of the best smashers at the time, San's 9th place finish with Ike in a pool of over 63 other smashers was an upset to the community, and his continued dominance at low tier tournaments also caused a revitalization of Ike's metagame. San pioneered the use of Ike's surprisingly flexible and powerful jab in his metagame, as well as demonstrating that Ike's aerial and spacing powers were more powerful than previously thought. As a result, Ike jumped four places to the 25th spot on the fifth tier list. He currently ranks at 23rd in the game, higher than any of his previous placings; while he is still unable to consistently win against more powerful characters, Ike is currently seen as a solid mid-tier character, as evidenced by a surprising fifth place finish by in WHOBO 4, as well as continued strong showings in mid-tier tournaments.

Role in The Subspace Emissary
Ike's first appearance is at The Battlefield Fortress, helping out fellow Fire Emblem hero,, and his new partner, , who both miss, by halting the Ancient Minister's escape with his trusted Aether move (though he says "Great Aether!"), which also destroys the Subspace Bomb (making Ike the only character in the Subspace Emissary to successfully disarm a Subspace Bomb). He then teams up with the two swordsmen.

Ike's team is later seen in The Wilds, tracking a tank. The three then chase after it, only to find that it is the Subspace robot, Galleom. Galleom is defeated, but jumps off the cliff and into The Ruined Hall, where and the  defeat it once more. Upon its defeat, Galleom grabs the two and attempts suicide with its built in Subspace Bomb. Fortunately, Meta Knight rescues Lucas and Pokémon Trainer, and brings them back to Marth and Ike.

Ike is briefly seen at the Glacial Peak level when they see the battle between the Halberd and Great Fox, in which at that point, Meta Knight leaves the party. The, who have fallen off the mountain, join Ike's group just in time for a large battle with the Subspace Army. Luckily, and 's team arrive to help out, after which they join up.

Ike's next appearance is at the Entrance to Subspace level, where he can be used. Ike is one of the many to be turned into a trophy by Tabuu's Off Waves. His trophy can be picked up at the first Subspace level. Once he has rejoined the team, he is available for use in The Great Maze, as well as in the Tabuu battle.

Cameo appearances

 * The Ruined Hall
 * The Glacial Peak
 * The Canyon
 * The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II)

Playable appearances
After The Ruined Hall is completed, Ike,, the &  only make cameo appearances until Entrance to Subspace.


 * The Battlefield Fortress
 * The Wilds (Part I)
 * Entrance to Subspace
 * The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Exclusive stickers
These stickers can only be used by Ike or by a select few including Ike.
 * Ashnard: [Slash] resistance +39
 * Deke: [Slash] attack +9
 * Eirika: [Slash] attack +17
 * Eliwood: [Flame] resistance +31
 * Greil: [Throwing] attack +14
 * Ike (Path of Radiance): [Weapon] attack +23
 * Ike (Radiant Dawn): [Slash] attack +27
 * Lilina: [Leg] attack +5
 * Marth: [Weapon] attack +19
 * Micaiah: [Weapon] attack +21
 * Mist: [Slash] attack +8
 * Ninian: [Arm, Leg] attack +6
 * Rutoga: [Slash] resistance +12
 * Shiida: [Specials: Direct] attack +7

In Classic Mode, Ike can appear as an opponent or ally in Stage 4 along with, , and on Castle Siege or New Pork City. Ike can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if he hasn't appeared in Stage 4.

All-Star Mode
In All-Star Mode, Ike is fought in Stage 11 alongside on Castle Siege.

Solo Events

 * Event 9: The Monster Beneath the Earth: Ike must defeat two s on Castle Siege before stage transitions to the underground cavern. Failing to do so makes the player also face a giant.
 * Event 39: All-Star Battle x2: Ike is one of the eight opponents fought in this event along with, , , , , , and.

Co-Op Events

 * Co-Op Event 11: The Great Remodeling Battle: and  must collect 300 coins from  and Ike without destroying any of the breakable pillars on Luigi's Mansion.
 * Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: Marth and Ike must defeat, , and on Temple.
 * Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on.

Trophies
Ike's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing and All-Star mode respectively with Ike.

Trivia

 * The Aether Ike uses to destroy the Subspace Bomb looks like a normal Aether, although he shouts "Great Aether". This is because "Aether" is said with two syllables in Japanese (天空 Ten-kū, literally "Sky"), thus necessitating the changed battle cry.
 * While Ike is an infamously slow character in Brawl, he actually has very good speed stats in all of his Fire Emblem appearances. In addition, while having the highest overall KO power in Brawl, multiple characters in both of his games can have higher strength than him.
 * In his first game, Ike is actually likely to be faster than he is strong throughout the game. This trend continues into the second game, though the endgame of this game can cause him to have roughly equal speed and power.
 * Similarly, while Ragnell is visually a heavy weapon in Brawl that seemingly slows Ike down, and has a weight of 20 (versus a weight of 7 for Ike's older preferred weapon, the Regal Sword) in both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, Ike statistically is more likely to be able to wield Ragnell without any problems than he is to be weighed down by it in the Fire Emblem games.
 * In contrast to Brawl making the young form of Ike one of the more heavier characters in the game, in Path of Radiance, Ike is not a particularly heavy character. For example, Volke and Bastian, a middle aged thief and Aristocratic magic user respectively, have higher constitution and weight stats then Ike.
 * Ike's on-screen appearance is shown as Warp Magic or Warp Powder from the Fire Emblem series. However, neither of the two games he appeared in allowed him to use warp magic in any capacity; a variety of items that could be used to warp were only ever seen used by opposing armies and characters.
 * Ike's appearance in Brawl is based on his default class appearance and official art in Path of Radiance; however, the aforementioned class, the Ranger, is unable to wield Ragnell in any capacity. Ike's second class, the Lord, allows him to wield Ragnell, but this class features him wearing different clothing than that found in Brawl.
 * Ike's "We Like Ike" chant is a reference to the "I like Ike" slogan of the "" campaign that led to become President of the United States.
 * On custom stages, Ike's sword trail animations on his aerial attacks will only play if done at the peak or near the peak of his jump and midair jump; when attacking after or before the peak of a jump Ike's sword will simply glow and leave no trail, except his up aerial. This also happens to.
 * There is a glitch relating to Ike on Corneria. On the far left of the back fin on the Great Fox, he must grab . He will rotate infinitely between his aerial and grounded grab animations.
 * Ike is the first playable Fire Emblem character in the Super Smash Bros. series to speak English.
 * Additionally, he is the first Fire Emblem character available as a starter character in the Super Smash Bros. series, as and  were previously unlockable in Melee and in the transition to Brawl, Marth remained unlockable while Roy was cut.
 * It was a common belief around the time of Brawl's release that Ike "replaced" Roy from Melee, due to them having a similar neutral special, and both being sword wielders from Fire Emblem. However, leftover data on Brawl's disc shows that both Ike and Roy were planned to be playable in Brawl. A similar and equally untrue belief existed for and.