Ike (SSBB): Difference between revisions

'''Ike''' ({{ja|アイク|Aiku}}, ''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. 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 hitbox|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 [[combo]]s 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 {{SSBB|Ganondorf}}. 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 [[gimp]]ing, with [[semi-spike]]s 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 [[camp]]ing, as well as being completely incapable of [[camp]]ing or forcing approaches from characters. Overall, this results in average [[matchup]]s (with remarkably few counters for a mid-tier character, plus even matchups against three top/high tier characters, though his especially terrible matchup against {{SSBB|Meta Knight}} is problematic), and Ike has achieved above-average [[tournament]] results.

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 {{SSBB|Marth}}'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 [[gimp]]s from moves that push others away (e.g. {{SSBB|Mario}}'s [[F.L.U.D.D.]] or {{SSBB|Squirtle}}'s [[Water Gun]]). Also, Ike lacks a projectile, and is himself extremely vulnerable to projectile camping from characters such as {{SSBB|Falco}} and {{SSBB|Pikachu}}. 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 grab]]s and [[Wall of pain|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.

|neutraldesc=Ike jabs, kicks, and then executes an overhead slash. One of the strongest neutral attacks in the game along with {{SSBB|Snake}}, being capable of KOing opponents around 150%.  

|utiltdesc= Ike holds Ragnell out parallel to the ground and raises it to above his head in a bunny hop motion. Deceptive range with a quick, good for low-percent combos, but punishable if it misses. Above average knockback.

|fsmashdesc=Ike performs a very powerful overhead swing. The move starts with Ike slowly heaving Ragnell over his head before striking with a heavy downwards slash, and it is one of the slowest forward smashes in the game, startup and endlag wise. Superior KO move at relatively low percentage, but requires careful timing to use effectively. Long range and high arc allow for edge and recovery interceptions. It also hits characters standing on platforms above Ike and hits diagonally down on characters hanging on the ledge. The power behind the smash is enough to KO an opponent at as low as 30% when fully charged. Second strongest smash in the game (only King Dedede's forward smash is stronger, but Ike's is even stronger at extreme percentages due to slightly higher knockback scaling [the highest in the game]).

|desc-left=Slashes his sword twice and says, "I fight for my friends!"  

:''See also: [[:Category:Ike professionals (SSBB)]]''

[[File:Ike Subspace Emissary.jpg|thumb|300px|Ike in ''[[SSE]]'']]

Ike's first appearance is at the Battlefield Fortress, helping out fellow ''Fire Emblem'' hero, {{SSBB|Marth}}, and his new partner, {{SSBB|Meta Knight}}, 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.

*[[The Ruined Hall]]  

*[[The Glacial Peak]]  

*[[The Battlefield Fortress]]  

==In [[Event Matches]]==

===Solo Events===

*'''[[Event 9: The Monster Beneath the Earth]]''': Ike must defeat two {{SSBB|Diddy Kong}}s on [[Castle Siege]] before stage transitions to the underground cavern. Failing to do so makes the player also face a giant {{SSBB|Donkey Kong}}.  

===Co-op Events===

==Trophies==

Ike's main and [[Final Smash]] trophies can be obtained by clearing {{SSBB|Classic Mode}} and [[All-Star]] mode respectively with Ike.

 

 

{{Trophy games|console1=GC|game1={{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance}}|console2=Wii|game2={{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn}}}}

 

 

{{Trophy games|console1=Wii|game1=Super Smash Bros. Brawl}}

 

Ike - Brawl Trophy.png|Classic

Great Aether - Brawl Trophy.png|[[Great Aether]]

Aether.jpg|Ike starting to use [[Aether]] against {{SSBB|Samus}}.

**Additionally, he is the first ''Fire Emblem'' character available as a starter character in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, as {{SSBM|Marth}} and {{SSBM|Roy}} were previously unlockable in ''Melee'' and in the transaction 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, [[Beta elements (SSBB)#Scrapped characters|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 {{SSBB|Lucario}} and {{SSBM|Mewtwo}}.