Ike: Difference between revisions

|image = {{tabber|title1=Path of Radiance|tab1=[[File:FEPR Ike 02.png|x300px]]|title2=Radiant Dawn|tab2=[[File:FERD Ike.png|x300px]]}}

|englishactor = Jason Adkins (''Brawl''/''SSB4'')<br>Greg Chun (''Ultimate'')

|japanactor = Michihiko Hagi

Described in ''Radiant Dawn'' as "blunt, but genuine and loyal", Ike is reserved and socially awkward because of his sheltered upbringing, and starts out both quick to anger and naive to the way that the world works. He is never comfortable in the spotlight into which his work with Elincia and Sanaki thrusts him, or with command of large armies, preferring to work in anonymity with the Greil Mercenaries, but his strong sense of duty and loyalty compels him to accept it when he has to. Despite being a mercenary, Ike takes the life-and-death nature of war very seriously and only takes up arms as a last resort; the only exception is his rivalry with the Black Knight. Ike is also known for his sense of sympathy, even toward his enemies and those who betray him (worrying about what could have driven them to that point), 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 formidable all-rounder. 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. He boasts high strength and speed, and good physical defense, but his big weakness is his resistance to magical attacks. Late in his games, he gains exclusive access to two powerful tools: [[Aether]], his unique master skill, and Ragnell, a {{iw|fireemblemwiki|regalia}} {{iw|fireemblemwiki|sword}}. 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 mastery skills, {{iw|fireemblemwiki|Sol|skill}} and {{iw|fireemblemwiki|Luna|skill}}, 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 entire ''Fire Emblem'' series, especially outside of Japan. In 2017, he was voted the single most popular male character in the inaugural {{iw|fireemblemwiki|Choose Your Legends}} popularity poll for ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Heroes}}'' (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). ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Awakening}}'' features him as a bonus character, albeit unrelated to the main story, via SpotPass and DLC. ''Awakening'' also features the character {{iw|fireemblemwiki|Priam}}, a distant descendant of Ike who bears both a striking resemblance to him and a heavily aged Ragnell. Later appearances include ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.}}'', ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Fates}}'' and ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia}}'', all via [[amiibo]]. Ike also makes frequent appearances in the smartphone game ''Fire Emblem Heroes'' and the ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Cipher}}'' card game. Most recently, ''{{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Engage}}'' 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.

! Character(s)

| {{Head|Marth|s=16px|g=SSBB}}{{Head|Ike|s=16px|g=SSBB}}

| {{Head|Marth|s=16px|g=SSBB}}{{Head|Ike|s=16px|g=SSBB}}

[[File:Ike SSB4.png|200px|right|thumb|Ike, as he appears in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.]]

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 {{Sm|Ryo}} 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 40th out of 58 on the current tier list; this places him in the E tier, and posits him as a mid-tier character.

[[File:Ike SSBU.png|thumb|right|200px|Ike (''Path of Radiance''), as he appears in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''.]]

** Although Ike boasts impressive strength within both series, his own games feature his speed stat as noticeably one of his best stats, to the point of even eclipsing his strength in certain ways: his speed growth in ''Path of Radiance'' is higher than his strength growth, and his speed stat in ''Radiant Dawn'' is higher than his strength stat at base. This is not reflected in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, where his overall mobility is poor. [[Robin]] and [[Byleth]] underwent a similar decrease in speed upon also becoming fighters.