Ike


 * For the Japanese smasher, see Smasher:Ike.

Ike, Ike) is a character from the series. As the main protagonist of ' and deuteragonist of ', Ike grows from a naive mercenary-in-training into a savvy and renowned war hero who desires to be a capable warrior like his father, . Ike made his  series debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a playable character, and has appeared as such since then.

Origin
Following the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee and its inclusion of Fire Emblem protagonists Marth and Roy, Fire Emblem established itself outside Japan with two Game Boy Advance titles: ' and '. The international success of the former prompted developer Intelligent Systems to begin work on a more ambitious, large-scale Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo GameCube: , Ike's debut game, which released in 2005.

Ike is the son of, a legendary warrior who leads a band of mercenaries which operates in , a minor kingdom on the continent of. He and his younger sister,, live with the mercenaries in a remote Crimean fort. Notably, Ike is currently the only protagonist of a Fire Emblem game to have absolutely no royal, noble or divine ancestry at all; this is reflected in his initial character class in Path of Radiance not being the usual, but rather the unique that ultimately promotes into a Lord when he is temporarily knighted.

Path of Radiance follows Ike's exploits through the. Having only recently been allowed by Greil to join missions with the Mercenaries, Ike encounters Princess of Crimea on the run after the neighboring Kingdom of  attacked and conquered Crimea. Elincia hires the Greil Mercenaries to assist her in escaping Crimea, but after Greil himself is killed by his former student, the Black Knight of Daein, Ike is forced to take command of the Mercenaries.

Ike's journeys with Elincia – fleeing to the Empire, assisting its Empress  in destroying a slave trafficking ring, being knighted by Elincia, and raising an army to march on Daein and take back Crimea – brings him into contact with the ancient racial tensions between the  (clans of animal shapeshifters) and his fellow ; with a plot by Daein's Mad King,, to unleash a dark god sealed within a bronze medallion and remake the world; and with the sacrifices his parents made to try and stop that plot decades prior. By the end of the war, Ike's deeds have earned him respect across the world, from beorc and laguz nations alike.

Path of Radiance received a direct sequel in 2007 called , in which Ike returned as part of a larger ensemble cast of protagonists, playing out the conflicts from multiple viewpoints. Radiant Dawn is set three years later, by which time Ike has renounced his Crimean knighthood and returned to work with the Greil Mercenaries. After assisting Queen Elincia with ending an uprising in Crimea, Ike is hired by his friend, a cat laguz, to assist the in a war against Begnion, demanding reparations for the major atrocities they committed against laguz nations. This provokes a civil war in Begnion, in which Sanaki breaks away from her corrupt senate to join Ike's side, and is further complicated when Daein's army, led by the mage, joins the war on Begnion's side.

The enormous war awakens and angers the goddess of order,, with the underlying conflicts having been specifically manipulated to do so, and Ike and Micaiah join forces with the released "dark god" – actually , a sympathetic goddess of chaos – to reverse Ashera's judgement and save the world. The game ends with Ike dealing the finishing blow to Ashera, for which he becomes known as the legendary "Radiant Hero", Hero of the Blue Flame), and with him leaving Tellius forever for parts unknown.

Described in Radiant Dawn as "blunt, but genuine and loyal", Ike is reserved and brusque because of his rural upbringing, and starts out impatient and unfamiliar with political situations. While perpetually uncomfortable with the status and attention that the command of large armies thrusts upon him, preferring to work with the Greil Mercenaries, his strong sense of duty and loyalty compels him to accept it when he has to. Ike is also known for his sense of empathy, even toward his enemies and those who betray him, and offers almost every boss he faces an opportunity to surrender and leave the battlefield alive. His one true desire is to someday be as capable a warrior as Greil was, even long after his father's death.

In gameplay, Ike is a strong unit. In the tradition of all Fire Emblem protagonists, his death in battle causes an immediate Game Over, but his good statistical performance and high utility makes him a consistent front-line force nonetheless. In Path of Radiance, he is a well-rounded swordsman with no obvious weaknesses. In Radiant Dawn, he boasts high strength and physical defense at the cost of low magical resistance. Late in his games, he gains exclusive access to two powerful tools: Aether, his unique skill, and Ragnell, a. In every attack he makes after acquiring it, Aether gives him a small chance to trigger an acrobatic two-hit sequence that combines the effects of two other skills, and, that heals himself before bypassing his opponent's physical defense stat to deal more damage to them. Ragnell, meanwhile, allows him to fight both in close quarters and at a distance, attacking far-away enemies with a powerful shockwave; he is one of only three Fire Emblem main protagonists whose signature sword gives him this extra range, with the others being Roy and Byleth.

Even before his Super Smash Bros. appearances, Ike was one of the most popular characters in the Fire Emblem series, especially outside of Japan. In 2017, he was voted the single most popular male character in the inaugural popularity poll for  (surpassed only by the top placers of the female bracket, Lyn and Lucina; if votes for multiple incarnations of the same character had been tallied together, as they were in later years, Ike would have placed 1st overall).  features him as a bonus character, albeit unrelated to the main story, via SpotPass and DLC. Awakening also features the character, a distant descendant of Ike who bears both a striking resemblance to him and a heavily aged Ragnell. Later appearances include ', ' and , all via amiibo. Ike also makes frequent appearances in the smartphone game Fire Emblem Heroes and the  card game. Most recently,  features Ike as one of the game's numerous Emblems, ethereal clones of protagonists from various other Fire Emblem games who dwell within special rings.

As a playable character
Ike was the first Fire Emblem character to be revealed as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Despite Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn being released nearly a year before Brawl, Ike instead sports his design from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

According to Masahiro Sakurai, Ike was not intended to be on the roster early on. Rather, Sakurai devised a blank character template of a slow and very powerful swordsman, and wanted a new Fire Emblem character in Brawl. When discussing the potential new Fire Emblem character with Intelligent Systems, it was suggested he use Ike, owing to his status as the protagonist of the then-latest two games in the series. Upon this suggestion, Sakurai considered Ike, and saw him to be a perfect fit for the aforementioned character template, leading to his inclusion as the new playable Fire Emblem fighter.

Thanks to the considerable size of his blessed sword,, the majority of Ike's attacks are among the longest ranged and most powerful in the game. As a trade-off, however, most of his attacks are notorious for being among the slowest in the game in regard to both start-up and ending lag. Ike also possesses Aether as his up special move, which grants him armor at its beginning when he and Ragnell are separated and prior to his leap. Unlike his fellow Fire Emblem fighter, Ike's moveset features a number of unarmed strikes (specifically punches, kicks, and a headbutt) alongside sword swings. On a related note, his neutral attack can jab cancel easily and reliably into various combos, or even KO outright.

In addition to his extremely laggy attacks, Ike also possesses a poor recovery. Despite his appearance, Ike is also a heavyweight, which hinders his mobility and renders him very susceptible to combos. Lastly, Ike lacks a projectile to compliment Ragnell's range; by extension, this leaves him susceptible to camping because of his aforementioned mobility issues. Although Ike's weaknesses have resulted in him attaining a small playerbase, he has nevertheless managed to achieve respectable tournament results. As a result, Ike is ranked 23rd out of 38 on the current tier list; this places him in the D tier, and posits him as a mid-tier character.

As a playable character
Ike returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Unlike in Brawl, he now sports his design from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. The majority of Ike's frame data saw noticeable improvement primarily in the form of decreased lag, thanks largely to game updates throughout SSB4's lifespan. His mobility has also improved, thanks to his faster dashing and air speeds, as well as his higher double jump. Changes to game mechanics have also benefited Ike: the changes to hitstun canceling grant his up and down throws respectable combo potential at varying percentages, while the removal of edge-hogging significantly improves Aether's reliability as a recovery option.

However, Ike's power and range have been slightly toned down. Despite gaining a varied combo game, Ike's renowned jab cancel has been significantly worsened to the point of being extremely situational. Lastly, Ike's mobility is below-average at best in spite of its improvements, which results in him remaining susceptible to combos, rushdowns and camping.

Ultimately, Ike's buffs have somewhat improved his viability since Brawl and especially SSB4's early days. Although Ike currently has a small playerbase like in Brawl, players such as have demonstrated that he remains a formidable character as long as his strengths are utilized to the fullest and his easily exploitable weaknesses are circumvented. To reflect this, his playerbase has achieved decent results at both regional and national level of tournament play, much like in Brawl. As a result, Ike is ranked 39th out of 54 on the current tier list; this places him in the E tier, and posits him as a mid-tier character.

As a playable character
Ike returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Unlike his previous appearances, Ike is now an unlockable character, his Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn designs are both available for selection, and Greg Chun has become his English voice actor since succeeding Jason Adkins as of . Both designs have unique voice clips, with some different phrases and the Radiant Dawn design having a deeper, gruffer tone than the Path of Radiance design.

Ike's moveset has been subtly reworked to better resemble his Fire Emblem depictions, in which several of his moves had their lag decreased by varying amounts in exchange for a slight loss in power. Overall, Ike has been buffed; the most notable improvements consist of his new up aerial sporting much greater range, Eruption generating additional fiery pillars when sufficiently charged, Aether's transcendent priority and much higher knockback making it into a risky yet rewarding KO option (especially from out of shield), and his neutral aerial's lower start-up lag, landing lag and damage output collectively making it somewhat infamous as both a neutral game option and combo starter.

Ike's appearance in Ultimate has generally been considered his most successful appearance in the series to date, thanks to his playerbase achieving arguably his best tournament results relative to his appearances in Brawl and SSB4.

Trivia

 * Like Ganondorf, Ike's fighter design and portrayal in the Super Smash Bros. series feature many noticeable inaccuracies to his home games:
 * Although Ike boasts impressive strength within both series, his own games feature his speed stat as noticeably one of his best stats. He is known for a unique style of swordsmanship pioneered by his father, where a two-handed sword is wielded in one hand with surprising fluidity. This is not reflected in the Super Smash Bros. series, where his overall mobility is poor, and his moves feature large start-up and end lag. Robin and Byleth underwent a similar decrease in speed upon also becoming fighters.
 * Despite Ike being a heavyweight fighter, his weight in Path of Radiance is relatively low. While his weight did increase considerably in Radiant Dawn to coincide with the significant physical growth he underwent between the games, he is still far from being among the heaviest units in the game.
 * Ragnell's long-ranged energy shockwave in the Fire Emblem series is replaced with the fiery Eruption.
 * Although Eruption is unique to the Super Smash Bros. series, it heavily resembles, a very powerful fire /magic in the Fire Emblem series.
 * As Ike's up special move, Aether loses both of its special effects from Fire Emblem, and only consists of its first sword-throwing hit.
 * In comparison, would later use his own version of Aether as his Final Smash in Ultimate which, despite also lacking the special effects, is identical to both hits of its depiction in Fire Emblem Awakening.
 * Ike is the only Fire Emblem fighter to be a heavyweight.
 * Although Ike is eventually promoted to the class in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, he appears as a  in Brawl and a  in SSB4. As such, he is the first playable Fire Emblem character to not appear as a Lord upon debuting in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * Ike is the first Fire Emblem fighter to be a starter character.
 * He is also the first Fire Emblem fighter to both speak English in the Super Smash Bros. series and have a change in voice actor.
 * Ike appears in several downloadable chapters as an in Fire Emblem Awakening. This includes all three of the aptly named Smash Brethren chapters, which reference Ike's involvement in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * Ike and Ganondorf are the only fighters to revert to an earlier design used for their debut appearance in a later installment.
 * Unlike Ganondorf, however, his Radiant Dawn design used in SSB4 is available as an alternate costume in Ultimate.
 * Because the Spanish language does not contain /aɪ/ (as in "eye"), Ike's name is pronounced as /ˈiː-kɛ/ ("ee-keh") in the Spanish versions of Brawl, SSB4, and Ultimate. While the Italian language lacks this as well, his name is pronounced properly in Italian nonetheless.
 * Ike and R.O.B. are the only fighters whose default costumes became alternate costumes in a subsequent installment.
 * While and Princess Zelda both have alternate costumes that resemble their counterparts in previous installments, they are not directly based on said counterparts. For example, Link's Wild Set of clothes is based on the traditional attire his counterparts have worn throughout The Legend of Zelda series, but it is not the general design used by the other playable Links in previous Super Smash Bros. games.
 * Ike and Corrin are the only Fire Emblem fighters who can use counterattacks, yet whose movesets are not based on Marth's moveset.
 * Ike and Roy are the only Fire Emblem fighters who are playable in the Super Smash Bros. series to not be playable in Fire Emblem Warriors. This does not include Byleth, who debuted after that game's release.
 * Byleth, however, would later appear in Fire Emblem Warriors' successor, Fire Emblem: Three Hopes.
 * Ike's crowd cheer, "We like Ike!", is a slight variation of a campaign slogan used by Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower during the United States' presidential elections in 1952.