Wifi doesn't really help Ike, no. Only way I can get consistent practice, unfortunately. We have a much larger Melee scene in Minnesota's Twin Cities area than Smash 4, so local tournaments are harder to find. If my opponents internet is good, I don't have any issues (other than what I bring) but a slight delay makes it difficult to keep my turnaround tilts and jabs on point. (Plus properly power shielding, or punishing with grabs) I haven't had issue with my recoveries with it yet, though.
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Ryusei the Falling Star
I find Ryu can be difficult when he gets in. Good defense when he's on stage is a must, since being able to mix-up is his main fighting style. Once he's off-stage, he suffers the same issues against Ike as most of the cast. I've used Counter against 'Dragon Punch' and 'Hurricane Kick' to gimp, and unless he can time a Hadoken properly, Eruption can be used against him as well. Focus Attacks are our one big vice with him in my experience, as most of our attacks have a single hitbox and our speed isn't fast enough to get another attack out before we get the wind knocked out of us.
Slightly different topic, I fought a good Pac-man earlier today that gave me some good trouble. He made great use of the space FD gave him to properly charge up different projectiles, try to wall out my approach with aerials and set up movement traps with a combination of quick aerials and the Hydrant. (He'd drop one from above and then see what you'd do by charging a projectile. If you attempt to remove the hydrant, he'll punish you. If you attack him, he'd dodge around and smash the hydrant to cover both close range and close proximity aerial attacks. If you did nothing, he'd charge to Key and make the 2nd option's ending worse.)
It wasn't too hard to return to neutral, but trying to get the KO was difficult. It required a lot of patience and giving him way too much space than he should have. Off stage became problematic since he'd use his side-B to retreat high, charge a ranged attack and then make a couple different attempts for the ledge with counters to most of Ike's go to moves. Eruption would get fruit in the face, counter would often get a misfire, and he'd dodge around an off-stage attack to either counter attack with side-b or use trampoline with said projectile to cover his return trip.
It was pretty grueling to fight, though I won about as many fights as I lost in the end. What are some advice those of you fighting good Pac-man can give out? I'd say keeping our feet on the ground is a must, as a good Pac-man will bait out aerial attacks and use hydrant with items to wall us out. Our feet on the ground makes it easier to shield anything he throws at us, which allows us to punish his landing. (assuming we are in range) As for arenas, I'd go with something that has platforms to help break up what setups he can do with his hydrant.
It really sucks. Hopefully I'm wrong.
