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Ike : A Detailed Matchup Guide; #33 - Ness

YagamiLight

Smash Champion
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
2,411
Location
California
Essentially, over the last month or so I've come to loathe the basic system of numbering match-ups. That explains to you very little, it doesn't tell you where you have advantages, where you have to watch out for, anything really. Just a simple...number. Which brings me to this topic, essentially I want to establish a habit of everyone on the boards contributing to a massive match-up guide. Made for the people, by the people, basically. Just state your opinion on the match-up, provide what you think are the advantage, disadvantages, and what stages you like to play that character on, if you must, assign a number. Done right, this will be a fantastic tool for aspiring Ike players (And great knowledge for the old ones!), as this really is one of the only boards without a match-up guide on the front page. I'll be doing this in more or less tourney usage order, as the more you see of a character, the more you need to know about said character, eh? So, to begin:


Character One - Meta Knight



Image by Teevo


Speed (Running and attack) : *****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : *****


Character Strengths: Very fast, great aerials and gimp game, excellent recovery..
Character Weaknesses: Light, few ground finishing moves..


Recommended Counterpick: Corneria



Our first character up for contention is Meta Knight, famous for being (At the time of this writing) the best character in the game. Meta Knight is a character that excels at recovery and speed, having 5 mid-air jumps, 4 recovery-based specials, super high run speed and lag-less aerial moves. His specialty is gimping the opponent, pummeling him with aerials and finishing it with a reverse shuttle loop. Against Ike's mediocre recovery, this is a fatal attack. With that said, is Ike doomed?

"Hardly" is the correct response. You must realize that Ike has enormous two things going for him compared to Meta Knight's several, albeit less important, advantages. The most important thing to realize here is that Ike has the best range in the game, and as such has the capabilities to play a spacing game against Meta Knight. Scratch that, you WILL HAVE to play a spacing game against such an offensive character. Ike's best-known move for spacing is his Forward Aerial, especially if done and then you move backwards, making it a retreating forward aerial. If Meta Knight comes close (Which he will, he's got ridiculous speed) you have some options. The Forward Throw is a very fantastic way of creating distance, whilst the jab combo is a perfect way to punish any real mishap you see in Meta Knight as he tries to attack you. In a match against a character who can rack up 100% in 20 seconds easily, you need to get any tiny bit of damage you can get. Ike's lagless neutral air is a good way of doing this; it creates a shield around you that can be auto canceled by simply landing. The neutral aerial also combos into the AAA jab for 25%. Don't get the false impression that you can waste moves here; you're fighting a character who punishes even the slightest error. To kill Meta Knight outside of spikes, the Forward Tilt has great range, lure him into falling for it. The back air is virtually lagless, so do that after a SH. The up tilt acts as a high priority aerial wall and kills almost as early as Snake's does! The smashes are too laggy to really use, but if you catch MK airdodging, Up Smash him for the easy kill. To punish his rolls, the Forward Smash works perfectly. Play smart and use moves only when you know they will hit. Don't be afraid to stop a strategy if it isn't working.

Speaking of strategies that DO work, Meta Knight has a few, haha. For one, his main ground kill move is the Down Smash, so watch out for that after spot dodges at 120% or so, he also has a beastly glide attack that he can kill you at low to the ground. To counteract this, either QD into him directly, Up Tilt, use SA frames or up smash. He has his grab game which deals around 12% for the down and up throws, and that links into aerial barrages. Do be VERY careful not get hit by his aerials as he'll turn your weight against you as he rushes you off the stage, and Ike's recovery isn't good enough to save him. To avoid this, you've got a few options: If he sends you up high, use an Eruption. The super armor frames will save you lest he attacks, and it'll also change your speed. Worst case scenario is he runs off, and you get to the edge safely. The best scenario is that he strikes, the SA frames activate, and you get a very early kill. If you don't get too high, but you get rather far, Airdodge and use Aether to get back on. Getting to the safe spot is a hassle, but once you're there consider yourself saved. Quick Draw is a decent move to use to recovery, do keep in mid that MK jumping in front of it results in...a minus one stock. If he's knocked you very far, you've got one option remaining. Use Aether away from the edge and both of you die, provided you get the suicide move off on him. Counter is VERY risky, and while you might get some damage off on him and save yourself, the ~10 frame start up time is the reason that the move should be use liberally. Used wisely, however, it creates mindgame situations. You must also remember never to just instantly use your second jump with Ike; you've got to leave all your options open.

And on the topic of mindgames, we come to Ike's edgeguard game. You've got a few options to use on a Meta Knight that you've knocked away. The first is standing by the edge and using Eruption, a superb edgeguard. The Dtilt also goes through his up B and spikes him. If you predict he won't up b, use the walkoff Dair to spike him...again. If you're hanging on the edge, you might try a reverse Aether spike, beware of the stage spike from Shuttle Loop, however. On the topic of MK specials, Eruption, Fair, Ftilt, Counter, Fsmash and such break through them all, so MK's famed tornado isn't as much a boon in this match-up.

To increase your advantages, you'll want to play on stages that are good for Ike. The best neutral stages are Battlefield, since you won't be gimped by the edge, it takes a while for MK to go to the other side and him landing on a platform results in free Up Tilts or Aethers. Yoshi's Island gets props for not letting him glide under it, and the stage is small. Watch out for the blastoff glitch, however. As a counterpick, Corneria and Green Greens are always awesome for Ike, due to the low ceiling and sides, as well as infinites. Pirate Ship negates the gimp aspect of MK altogether, and remember, you have a spike and he doesn't. Brinstar is also a good choice, as Ike's Aether has interesting bouncing properties, can be used as an anti aerial, the lava stops Meta Knight's gimps and the edges are close. Lastly, Green Hill Zone can really hurt MK's recovery near the bottom of the stage. The check points are also easy ways to get space, activate them with the up tilt.

That's it for MK, the game's best character. Is it easy for Ike? Not a chance, but by using all of the outlined strategies and playing smart, you can put MK on the spot and win.

Character Two - Solid Snake



Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): *****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ****
Recovery : ***


Character Strengths: Fast attacks, large hitboxes, very powerful, stage control.
Character Weaknesses: Poor air game, mediocre recovery.


Recommended Counterpick: Halberd / Corneria



Snake is a very good character that until recently occupied the highest possible spot on tier lists. This is due to his fantastic moveset, which contains speed, power and stage control all in one. Add to that the fact that he's the third heaviest character in the game, and as such going to be killing you at a faster rate than you'll be killing him, and you've got serious trouble.

Well, the last sentence WOULD be true were you anyone else, but you use Ike. The main thing Snake can use against you is his ability to control the stage. He has 5 or so projectiles, all of them quite deadly. As soon as the match starts, just run towards him to get him to fight you in Ike's best area, close quarters combat. Essentially, when I say just run towards him, I actually mean do dodge the grenades and such, so as to not get any damage. When you do reach him, you've got a few things that are a massive boon to your chances. First off, you've got your good air game, and Snake is very vulnerable in the air. Secondly, you've got quite a few spikes, so if you knock Snake off the stage (Using a plethora of moves, try to rack up damage via aerials, grabs and your ever present friend, the jab combo) you can use your Down Tilt spike, your Down Aerial spike if he's a bit too far (You can go fairly low for a spike, the Cyphr will assist you) and if he's trying to fly over you, teach him a good lesson and bring him back down with an Aether. Don't bother with a grab, kill him the real way. Whilst that is Snake's biggest weakness, you can attempt to kill him while on the stage as well. The Forward Tilt outranges the first hit of Snake's Forward Tilt (Known for incredible range) and kills pretty early. The back aerial is also great, even better because you can get him in the air with it. If you get him into the air, he'll attempt airdodges back to the ground. Teach him a good lesson with the Up Smash, Up Aerial or Eruption. Never whiff a grounded side smash, as Snake has an almost equally powered one.

Now, let's reverse these roles, and assume Snake isn't doing punching bag training or has recently changed his world view on violence. Snake's moves are mostly faster than Ike's, most of them match Ike's power, and he's got good range and priority. Snake's jab combo (While not as good as yours) packs quite the punch and does 14%. Snake's forward tilt has ludicrous range and does 21%. Snake's down throw is one good tech chase and does 12%. Why am I listing these percents? Because Snake's up tilt kills you at around 100%, that's why. Now, as I'm sure you know, even though Ike is a middle-heavyweight, you still should be playing to not get hit, that concept is even more reinforced during this match. Snake's landmines and Nikita can be shielded, countered (Though don't degrade your counter too much, alright?) or just avoided in general (Do dispatch of the landmines, just in case). Snake will attempt to mortardash away if you get too close, so that's just another reason to keep the guy in the air. The Nikita missle is mainly used as an edgeguard, and quick drawing into it is the same as QDing into a human, so then you die. If you're high, feel free to Quick Draw (Watch out for an up smash, however), but if you're at a fairly low level, go and Aether. You may have to time the SA frames so a Nikita falling on you won't kill you, but that's a rare situation you'll be in. Never hurts to know your SA frames, of course (For the record, Aether has more SA frames tha Eruption does).

Snake's weight can and should be used against him with your underrated grab game. Jab to grab, forward or down throw, follow-up is a great way to rack up the damage on a heavy like Snake. By using these "weak" moves as damage dealers, you not only rack up damage, and keep him in the air or on the defensive, but you ALSO conserve and refresh your other, more powerful, killing moves so you don't get into the situation other characters with kill problems do.

Stages, stages. Corneria is the standard Ike CP of choice, but it's a little more dangerous here as Snake's Up tilt kills super fast at the top fin and he can lure you out of your infinite zone by using the Nikita missile. For this matchup, you might try Norfair or Green Greens. Green Greens is also a self explanatory Ike stand, filled with infinites, low kill areas and it also kind of messes with Snake's projectiles. Norfair blows up Snake's land mines, gives him little mortardash space, and as a whole reduces and camper's effectiveness as a whole. As far as neutral stages go, Battlefield is probably your best bet. Everything else assists Snake in some way (Try seeing mines on Lylat...).

That's essentially the lowdown on Snake. Ike's definitely got the ability to mess with Snake and put a damper on his game with all his close combat options. Essentially, get past the stage control, get him into the air, and give Snake no sympathy, haha.

Character Three: King Dedede


Image by the King D3 Fan Club
Speed (Running and attack) : ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ****
Recovery : ***


Character Strengths: Chaingrab, heavy weight, good projectile.
Character Weaknesses: Mediocre recovery, sluggish, some kill issues.


Recommended Counterpick: Lylat Cruise / Corneria



Meet King Dedede, a character that looks relatively harmless. Harmless is the operating word here, since he not only carries a hammer that comes close to rivaling Ike's sword, but also has fearsome chaingrabs that deal plenty of damage when they hit. It's one of Ike's harder matches, but, as with anything, knowledge is the key to this match.

The first thing that we should probably explain is that D3 has a chaingrab on Ike. While not a crippling infinite chaingrab, this allows Dedede to get you to the edge, causing 8% a throw (Though it degrades to 4%). This is an excellent means of damage dealing and he'll either back throw (Which is the game's strongest throw, dealing 16%!) you or aerial release (In which case you should Aether), so your main principle is to use a very simple technique: Don't get grabbed. If you see your jabs not working, pull out. If your Forward Air is going to be shielded, pull out. Don't use high commitment attacks. That said, he can't grab you if he's in the air, now can he? Keep him there. Other things that King Dedede can threaten you with include Back Air walls, Inhale (Which can glitch Quick Draw into killing you as well as him bringing you down and spitting you out) and he has a good side B, one that, while normally powershieldable and punishable, can send out a Gordo that kills really early.

That said, Ike has his own clear advantages in this match-up. Even though King Dedede is heavy, so KOing him off the sides and top isn't easy, you can always KO off the bottom with one of your trusty spikes. In addition to that, you still have the power and range advantage that you have in practically every other match-up, do note that D3's Forward Tilt does outrange pretty much all of your ground options (Except for Quick Draw...), so you'll need to go to the air, where your Forward Air outranges everything he has. You should also try things like: Nair to AAA, which racks up damage and is a true combo. If you need to kill him, don't do anything laggy, always stick to stuff like your own Forward Tilt and the Back Aerial. Remember that D3 might get greedy with his grabs. Always try to stay one step ahead of him (In both senses) to you can get powerful hits on him and potentially kill him.

Speaking of killing, Dedede has a few ways to do that to you. His Forward smash is similar to yours, so keep an eye out. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy to hit with (And is even slower, haha), so you'll just have to worry about him attempting to trick you with Dthrow->Forward Smash. His Down and Up smashes are rather high in wind up time, but don't get hit by them, as they are powerful enough. His Up tilt is the main thing to look out for, it kills at 120% on Ike. He'll punish whiffed aerials with it, so remember to pull out if it is not working. If he doesn't go for the back air gimps (Which you should airdodge, go to the bottom of the stage and Aether, never being too predictable, of course), he'll do that. He also has a very powerful dash attack, but it's highly telegraphed, so you won't be hit by it often. His Down and Up aerials can be DI'd out of, so keep note of that. His Up B CAN kill you, but it will not land on you if you play smart.

In fact, punishing that up B is a good way to start beating Dedede. Edgeguard him until he's out of jumps, then when he returns hit him with an Up smash, Up air, or perhaps a Quick Draw from the side. It'll probably kill him, done right. If he decides to float up to the edge, use a Down Tilt or a Walk-off Down Air to kill him.

Your best choice of a stage in this case is a place in which he might have trouble with a CG, such as Lylat. Otherwise, platform heavy stages seem the way to go, as he can't get a good CG going there. Remember that walls such as Corneria's work both ways, either YOU infinite him or HE infinites you.

All in all, it's not a match-up that Ike should have ease with, but it's definitely not as bad as some would have you believe. The keys to this match are a) spacing b) not leaving spots open c) spike when possible. If all those are done, you'll be able to change the momentum in your favor and win. It's a momentum based match, but most matches with strong characters are.

Character Four - Marth


Image by Ryuuto on Deviantart.


Speed (Running and attack) : *****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ****
Recovery : ***


Character Strengths: Fast, powerful, good range.
Character Weaknesses: Light, mediocre recovery, no safe kill moves.


Recommended Counterpick: Corneria / Brinstar


Let's give a friendly shout-out to Marth, your co-Fire Emblem character. With the introductions out of the way, let's just see what is scary about Marth, shall we? First of all, he appears to dye his hair, so he can never hope to achieve Ike's pure blue coloring. Actually, what IS scary about him is that not only does he have raw speed, power and range all perfectly placed into one character, but he is also one of the few characters who can gimp Aether, so you're going to have to hope that your edge game isn't the only good thing about your Ike. That said, Marth has his own issues, which will be covered next.

You're going to have to win this by exploiting Marth's weaknesses. Unfortunately, Marth is a pretty good character whose weaknesses aren't easily used to your advantage. First of all, similar to Meta Knight, Marth weighs as much as a feather does. Ike has the power to consistently kill Marth at low percents, the main issue is, however, landing the blows. Marth also has no safe kill moves. What does that essentially mean? It means that for Marth to kill you, YOU are going to have to mess up. It's a trying match, since Marth is also good at punishing mistakes. The solution is, of course, to play perfectly. If you play aggressively, Marth is going to utilize his 4 frame counter to counter your attack back for 1.1x damage. If, however, you stick to defense, Marth can then just pressure you with Shieldbreakers and Dancing Blades. The key is to, essentially, keep Marth guessing. Don't always instantly unleash your attacks whenever he's in range either. Much like you might use the airdodge to bait an up smash, you use some waiting time to bait the counter, and hit with any of your powerful moves. Be sure to note that Marth's recovery can be edgehogged with good timing. If you take advantage of that, you'll gain the upper hand.

Of course, our fellow Fire Emblem character is not to be taken lightly. The first thing you should be trying to do as soon as the match starts is to not get grabbed. The reason for this isn't a chaingrab, but the fact that Marth has a combo that goes: Fthrow->Tippered Fsmash. Marth's signature Forward Smash is a beastly move, and this combo'll deal near 25% on you. It won't work at later percentages, but it's always a good idea not to be grabbed in any match. Speaking of 25%, that's how much a NAir to AAA jab does, and you should be using your Neutral Aerial much more than your Forward Aerial in this match, though that doesn't mean you shouldn't mix up your options, of course. The general idea is to build up damage, then bait a wrong move and destroy our friend at obscenely low percents. And, on the topic of building damage, try not to leave any lag for Marth to exploit, since he can instantly punish you with a Dancing Blade combo that can do up to 18% I believe. He'll generally do the standard variant, but don't get too confident by overshielding and side-stepping the last move. Why is this? Because that last move can be the multiple hit down version. If you get hit by that, it's not terrible, just DI. Another thing to note is that Marth has a famous sweetspot tipper at the end of his sword. This means that his attacks have increased knockback and damage if he hits you with those. The logical thing to do, then, is to get close to Marth. Your jab, jab cancel (Though look out for the Dolphin Slash!) and grabs should all be used interchangeably so as to rack up damage and harass Marth.

Now that you are pestering him, he decides to take to the air, in hopes that your aerial game sucks and you'll die there due to his superb juggling skills. Unfortunately, your aerials most certainly do not suck and you've got ground based options as well. Remember that you outrange his Fair with yours, but be wary of being predictable. If he decides to retreat backwards, you can hit him with a dash attack. The main thing to remember is that Marth has a blind spot right below him in the air. This means that when you get him there, you've got plenty of things to use on him and all he can really do is Counter. If he tries to counter, just charge past the counter frames and hit him with an even more powerful attack! Now, Marth is recovering (Let's pretend that you knocked him sideways). His Shieldbreaker can help him recover, but it's predictable, so punish it. The Up B only goes up, so Eruption can teach him a little lesson in that. If he gets ledge happy, you've got a very fine Dtilt spike you can use against him. If, let's say, you're the one recovering, make sure not to get predictable. Save your second jump so you don't have to deal with Counter/Aether mindgames much. If Marth seems to be fairly close, he may try to edge hog the reverse Aether, just be wary and plan accordingly. Your best idea is to just try and get back on with great DI and a little sense, as over the edge Marth has more control than you do. On a last note, in this match-up, sometimes the basics work really well. Simply walking back a bit and attacking with say, a forward smash, is viable and will kill Marth quite fast.

Choosing a stage for this match-up is actually kind of hard to do. For all practical purposes, you're rather similar when it comes to stages. Just choose what stage you play best on and go from there. If you must choose a neutral, Halberd works well enough. The low ceiling helps you kill even earlier, and the neutral platform design punishes Marth's up b to the extreme. Counterpick wise, you've always got Corneria, your trusty side-kick. Brinstar also works, due to Aethersliding.

On the whole, Marth's got the tools to punish you, kill you early and gimp you. On the other side of the coin, Marth also has predictable kill moves, a predictable recovery and a light build. Using these to your advantage will allow you to rob Marth of his stocks quite fast. The main idea is to not be predictable and to stay away from the sides of the stage at all costs.

Character Five - Princess Zelda


By Maga Link.
Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : **


Character Strengths: Powerful, fast attacks, good throws, multiple hit moves.
Character Weaknesses: Light, slow run speed, poor recovery.


Recommended Counterpick: Green Greens


Princess Zelda, our first character from the series up for review, and one of the most interesting. Zelda is a character with several quick moves, powerful kill options and a projectile. She is, unfortunately, handicapped by a poor recovery as well as poor run speed and weight, meaning that she can fall prey to techniques that other characters can avoid. It’s no walk in the park for Ike, but very few matches are. If you know what Zelda can do, you’ll be able to take advantage of her (haha) and win.

When the match starts, you will quite naturally be on opposite sides of the stage. At this point, expect Zelda to attempt to Din’s Fire you. It’s much better than it was in Melee, but it’s still fairly poor compared to the much better projectiles that other characters have. It does a fair bit of damage, but you’ve got several ways of avoiding it. You can shield it or roll past it, but if Zelda predicts the roll she can still hit you. Then you have your own character specific ways of dealing with it: You can just Quick Draw past it and cover about 2/3 of Final Destination with a fully charged one, or you can counter it. This will degrade your counter, but you aren’t going to be using it a great deal, so you might as well.

You approached Zelda, probably without a scratch, but now she decides to go on the offensive! You must keep in mind that her attacks have laggy hitboxes, and as such you are going to have to full shield them. If you spot dodge them, you’ll be hit regardless. By shielding, you can then jab or grab Zelda and go on the offensive yourself. Nayru’s Love, and the forward and up smashes are equally susceptible to this. After she whiffs those, you should jab her or grab her and follow it up, both work. As you take damage in the fight, Zelda is going to (obviously) have to find some means of finishing you off. She’s got no lack of kill moves, in fact. Her Down Smash sends you at a downward horizontal angle, and she may do that out of a shield, so watch out. Her up tilt kills early as well, don’t come to close if you miss an aerial at higher percentages (100ish). For the rest of her kills, she’ll be relying on her aerials. The sweetspotted F/Bair kill early, but if you shield it you can punish right after. They come out fast, so be quick about it. Don’t get above Zelda, as her up air has a nice disjointed box and kills early as well. Her Down Aerial is a powerful spike, but she’s not going to hit you with it due to Aether, most likely. Her back throw will kill you at high percents near the edge, but it’s a slow grab, so you can beat it with a jab or grab of your own.

Now let’s look at it from Ike’s point of view. Your aerial game beats hers, so that’s a clear venue for both dealing damage and finishing her off. Ground game wise, you’ll need to put slightly more effort into it. Your jabs are, as always, great for damage. Mixing it up with grabs to place her into the air will prove beneficial to your cause as well. Since she’s actually very light, killing her isn’t too much trouble. The forward tilt or back air are nice kill moves, and will finish her up at 90% or so. If you knock her off the stage, she’s once again, all but dead. Her recovery is poor, and you can knock her out of it before she manages to teleport. If she does teleport, of course, you’ve got Eruption to take the minor hit from Farore’s Wind and send her straight up to death. The move is hard to sweetspot, even for advanced Zelda players. Combined with Ike’s superior edgeguarding, it makes for an easy time.

To make her recovery even worse, why not choose a stage to help with that? Battlefield is the Ike stage of choice, while Lylat Cruise really makes her recovery suck. For counterpicks, you’ve got Green Greens (Which also stops any Din’s Fire) and Frigate Orpheon lacks an edge, so take advantage of that.

Take advantage of her light weight and poor recovery, and watch out for her powerful kill moves, and you’ll be able to pull a win.

Character Six - Wario


Image by alvin earthworm.


Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : ****


Character Strengths: Unpredictable, great air game, powerful moves
Character Weaknesses: Low range, grab release problems, most finishers can be seen in advance


Recommended Counterpick: Corneria


Wario is a character that defies the basic stereotypes of fighting games. You’d expect the heavy type to be mediocre in the air, have no gimping game, and overall be similar to Bowser or Ganondorf. In that sense, you’re dead wrong. Wario is in fact a character that isn’t similar to any heavy, for he plays more like Jigglypuff from Melee than any other character. Wario excels in air combat, having remarkable baiting and punishing tactics, great aerials and an unpredictable nature. You don’t quite know EXACTLY what Wario is going to do at any given moment, but you’d best be aware of everything he can do to you, and vice versa, of course.

Let’s begin with some basic moves that Wario is going to use on you. First off, Wario’s mission in life is to masticate Ike’s personage. The neutral B special allows him to pull off such a feat with extraordinary ease. It deals some damage, then knocks you away. Because it counts as a grab, attacking it will result in Wario taking damage, but you getting bitten regardless. You need to predict these and punish them, posthaste. A common way for Wario to try this stuff on you is to fall straight on top of you, fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Shielding or spotdodging results in you getting bitten, just realize this. A simple bite won’t be the only thing that Wario will be trying to destroy your shielding with, unfortunately. Wario also has a fantastic Down Aerial. To put it in perspective, think of Game and Watch’s Back Aerial, except from a purely vertical angle. As such, taking the full force of the attacking may result in a broken shield! Learn when he may attempt it, and you’ll be fine. “Attempting” brings us to our next point, Wario’s baiting abilities. Think of this as the battle with Meta Knight, you don’t want to waste moves, because doing so will end in Ike getting punished severely. A good way to counteract his airdodge is to use the Neutral Aerial, this lasts longer than the air dodge AND autocancels at the same time. Nifty, eh?

In addition to dealing nice damage with aerial combos and whatnot, Wario has a plethora of options to kill. He can gimp you, but so can almost every other character (I know you hear this a lot, but you’ll just have to get good at recovering with Ike and then gimping you will be much more difficult). He has his Up Aerial, a clap, that kills early, especially due to the fact that he can catch you closer and closer to the aerial blastzone depending on how high you are. His other “favorite” is the Forward Smash. It has super armor, is fairly fast, deals nice damage too. It comes with drawbacks: it has HEAVY lag and poor range. If he attempts it, shield and punish. And next is the most disgusting move in the game, and a ridiculously powerful one. He uses his powers of flatulation to summon a Hadouken of Fart to expel you from the arena! While I do try to make it sound cool, he actually just farts on you and kills you at really low percents. The fart takes 2 minutes to charge, but it’s a deadly force from the first minute onwards. If it’s fully charged, Wario will turn a putrid green, yuck. Wario can also use it for other purposes.

What other purposes, you say? Why, recovery, I answer. He’s pretty good at it too, having his Corkscrew (Which sucks), his Bike (Which is good) and his Wario Waft (Which varies from ?_? to Whoah). This’ll allow him to gimp you and make it back in most cases. Do be aware that Aether can knock him off his bike and force him to use the Up Special. Since this doesn’t sweetspot the ledge, it’s a great time to have spikes. Walkoff Dair (Cstick set to Attack) or just Dtilt him. He’s not coming back.

But let’s say that you don’t particularly get the chance to spike him, and you need to go on the offensive? Well, for that, you need to use your biggest advantage here. Your gigantic range is your trump card. Even stuff like the Nair will allow you to hit low range Wario. Rack up damage using grabs, the jab combo and the Nair. Speaking of grabs, since Wario releases straight up, why not infinite him? If he uses his double jump, simply grab him and he loses a stock if you do the timings right. If you simply want to combo out of a grab, Release->Up Tilt is solid and has the ability to kill at 105% percent or so. To kill otherwise, you can: Bait an airdodge and use a smash, Spike, or good for a trust Back Aerial or Forward Tilt kill, those work everywhere.

Perhaps you wish to make life easier by getting a good stage? Battlefield is always a nice neutral for Ike, but Final Destination can mess with his Corkscrew and there’s no way to be safe from a grab release either. Halberd has a low ceiling, so Release->Up Tilt works even faster here than on other stages. Corneria should be your sole counterpick. No place to hide from infinites, low blast zones and a wall CG. How nice.

It’s a pretty simple fight. Range versus mobility, with some minor things added in. Keep a cool head, know what Wario can do, and you’ll be able to win.

Character Seven - Pikachu




Speed (Running and attack) : *****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ***
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : ****


Character Strengths: Very fast, chaingrabs, great edgeguarder.
Character Weaknesses: Light, low range, low quantity of finishers.


Recommended Counterpick: Luigi's Mansion


Hey you! Pikachu! That pathetic segway brings us to our next character, the lovable rat from Pokemon – Pikachu. Pikachu is a fast, agile character that has electric stun effects, long range projectiles, some disjointed hitboxes, blue goggles and two chaingrabs. It maneuvers itself strategically to inflict damage and finish you off, all in style. Some characters writhe in pain at the sight of this electric rodent. Does Ike? Nah.

There are some things that should be said before we begin a more in-depth overview of Pikachu. First of all, it has Thunder Jolt, a projectile that goes across the screen, bouncing as it does. It can be initiated in the air, though doing so makes it a ball of electricity, instead of a traveling shock. This shock flinches you, and does a fair bit of damage, so either powershield it or jump over it, your choice. Second thing of note is that Pikachu has two chaingrabs to its name. The first is the down throw chaingrab. It racks up to 80% on poor Fox! Ike can just jump out of it, fortunately. However, the second CG, Forward Throw, works on Ike. The timing is strict, but it’s quite some damage if they pull it off. Don’t get grabbed…again. Those will be a main way that Pikachu can rack up damage on you, so just be careful, is all. Pikachu will also attempt to use the Down Smash to rack up a fair bit of damage. Don’t let it do so by DIing upwards, then punishing it. Also avoid its multihit aerials in the same way.

Well, now Pikachu has hit you enough or grabbed you enough or Thunder Jolted you enough that it has decided that your visage annoys it. It has decided to deal a finishing blow on you. It’ll be accomplishing this goal by either edge guarding or simply hitting you with a powerful attack. Thunder will work wonders if you get the timing wrong for Aether or Quick Draw, so avoid that. It can Quick Attack edgeguard to get easy kills and it can also interrupt Aether with QA, but that’s not that bad. If it decides to flat out kill you, it’ll use one of three moves. The Forward Smash has a sweetspot at the base of the attack, but it’s strong, so if you let your spacing down you’re in fun for disappointment. The Nair is fast and kills rather early, same with the Up smash, running or otherwise. Those are the only things that should be killing you, so just keep an eye out and you’ll be safe.

In this match, you’ve got the standard two things going for you. Number one, you outrange Pikachu in everything. Number two; you have more power as well. And there’s the fact that Pikachu is a lightweight. Due to the fact that Pikachu is fast and has a chaingrab, however, you can’t brute force your way through this one. You’ll need to play at a slower tempo than other matches, relying on your Short Hopped Aerials such as the Neutral Air and Forward air to deal damage, head back. The Jab combo and grabs accomplish the same purpose on the ground, as you have a better grab range than Pikachu does. Pikachu might QAC to get close, but it probably won’t due to fear of an Up Smash. To kill Pikachu off, either punish it if it recovering using Skull Bash or find out it’s QA patterns and punish then. Otherwise, I recommend using fully spaced Ftilts and rising Back Aerials to kill it off. If it’s coming down, the Up Air can kill early as well.

To stage counterpick Pikachu, I recommend either Battlefield for neutral stages, as Ike is good there and the platforms help against Pikachu, or you can choose to go Luigi’s Mansion for a true CP. This stage severely helps with all of the things Ike has trouble with in the Pikachu fight, namely the CG and the Thunder Jolt.

This is a battle where you have priorities. Don’t get camped, don’t get grabbed, take advantage of Pikachu’s weaker points and find the opportunities to kill early.

Character Eight - Falco Lombardi



Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : **


Character Strengths: Great projectile, 0-45% chaingrab, powerful spike
Character Weaknesses: Light, poor recovery, non-spike finishers hard to land.


Recommended Counterpick: Lylat Cruise / Green Greens


Star Fox’s sharpshooter has returned to the Brawl. In a starling twist, instead of the cast chaingrabbing Falco, now Falco chaingrabs the cast! With a revamped, swift moveset, a stunning projectile, and a fantastic spike, Falco is a clearly good fighter and one of Ike’s harder match-ups.

Let us begin with analyzing the chaingrab. If you are grabbed at 0%, Falco can, very easily, down throw you, regrab and then down throw again until 45%. On other characters, this can go to a spike and instant death. Ike can save himself by using Aether to get back on the edge, but after the chaingrab and the spike, you’ll be up quite a few percentage points. Falco has, essentially, cut your survivability by quite a bit. You can avoid this by a) Not getting grabbed. b) Using Aether or trying to get out otherwise, in case they mess up and c) Try to position yourself on a platform, as the CG won't last for especially long then. You should also try to be near the center of the stage, so you don’t get hit with the spike.

Falco has a second method of dealing reliable damage to you, using the blaster. The blaster is a blue ray that travels across the screen and deals 3% (It degrades, of course) upon first use. While it may not seem like much, the old reliable strategy of “blaster until they approach, then CG” works on practically every character not named Game and Watch. It has a flinch effect, so you’ll be hard pressed to just walk through it. Falco can also negate the lag on the gun by Short Hopping and Double Lasering (SHDL) to create a wall of the lasers. In addition, if you fail to tech a hit, he can laser lock you in place by just firing and you’ll be dragged across the screen, taking considerable damage. The second thing about the blaster is that it continuously refreshes Falco’s moves, so by using the blaster his killing moves will be fresh.

Falco’s main method of racking up damage outside of the CG and blasters will be his shine, which comes out fast and deals decent damage. It has some cooldown time, so punish him if he misses. His jab is nice, and it may very well lead to a grab, a shine, and such. DI out of it so you don’t take much damage. He also has his good aerial game, with the neutral aerial being especially good, as it does nice damage AND goes into Falco’s jab combo.

Falco has a few methods of killing you. The first is his ability to spike you with the Down Aerial. This is a powerful spike that should be meteor cancelled instantly and then you Aether back to the edge. If you are considerable far away from the stage or at high percents, however, getting back may not be a possibility. On the stage, his main way to kill you will be his powerful forward smash. The move has two drawbacks, however: First off, it’s pretty slow at winding up. And secondly, if he tippers it, it’ll do pitiful knockback. Keep your spacing and you won’t be affected by the move. His up and down smashes are good (Especially the Dash to Up Smash cancel, boost smash), but they kill late, especially on a heavier character like Ike. His Back Aerial is decent if you’re closer to the edge, but it’s still not great at killing either.

Ike’s main goal here is to get close and rack up the damage. When you do approach him, he’ll either Phantasm away, go for a CG if you’re at the right percentage, or just roll away. Figure out his pattern and punish him for it. He has a fast spotdodge as well, and the downsmash comes out right after it, so be careful. When you get close, you’ll either want to get a jab in, grab and get follow up. Naturally, you can’t be grabbed if you’re in the air, but his aerial game is fast, so consider that.

When you’ve dealt enough damage and knock him away, he’ll be DIing upwards. This is so he can Phantasm back to the edge, instead of using his Firebird recovery. If he misses the stage with phantasm, punish it with any powerful move, it’ll probably kill him. If he gets the ledge, he may try to jump and laser. Stop this with a dash attack. If he’s forced to use the Firebird recovery, just edgehog him. Falco has one of the game’s poorer recoveries, really. To finish him off otherwise, you’ve got a few options aside from punishing one of his moves. The Back aerial is faster than all of your kill moves and can compete with Falco in the air easily, so that’s good. The up aerial can kill him if he goes for a spike, and if he’s coming down in general. The forward tilt is good if he tries to jab you or use a close combat move. And, finally, the Up Smash punishes airdodges and kills really early.

To Counterpick Falco, you may want to try Green Greens, to stop CGs and lasers.. Lylat Cruise can mess with Falco’s recovery easily and ruin the CG. Norfair can stop Falco if you know what you’re doing, otherwise don’t pick the stage. Corneria is simply always good. Battlefield is your neutral of choice if Lylat is banned, but do be careful of Falco’s Nair if you’re platform camping.
Falco is probably Ike’s hardest match. As such, it’s not expected to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. You’ll have to get past the CG and blasters, then deal with Falco’s CQC game. Thankfully, Falco’s poor recovery and light weight make this a definitely possible match to win, you’ve just got to play smart.


Character Nine – Captain Olimar



Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : *****
Recovery : *


Character Strengths: Major disjointed hitboxes, powerful attacks, great grab game.
Character Weaknesses: Light, bad recovery


Recommended Counterpick: Rainbow Cruise



Captain Olimar is, essentially, both a coward and a genius. He uses living projectiles to bait you and get you to slip up, and since those are long ranged attacks, he won’t especially care if you attack them. Not only that, but the little guy has combos, he has high power, and he grabs using his long ranged Pikmin. Bummer. Olimar’s goal is to bait you, to throw Pikmin at you, to try your very patience. He’ll launch them and launch them as both a damaging tool, and as a deterrent whilst he does whatever he likes with you. You, of course, are not going to allow him to do so. You’ll need to at first realize what each of his different Pikmin do, and as such manage to predict his movements. To start:

White Pikmin: Do high damage when latched on, up to 54%. Also very good for grabbing and doing a grab attack for high damage. Do good pummel damage. Highly fragile. 6 percent per latched hit.
Blue Pikmin: Standard, powerful. Nice grab range, powerful back throw. Fairly durable. 2% per hit when latched on.
Red Pikmin: Average, resistant to fire. Good spike, but the rest of the Pikmin spike as well. 2% per hit when latched on.
Yellow Pikmin: Average, resistant to electric effects. Arc when thrown. 2% per hit when latched on.
Purple Pikmin: Short range, but highly durable and powerful. Has knockback when thrown, and has very strong up and down throws.

With that out of the way, let’s begin the actual analysis. When the match begins, Olimar is going to use a few things to deal damage to you. The first is the Pikmin Toss. This move basically lets him throw his Pikmin onto you, latch on and deal perpetual damage (Except for Purple Pikmin, who knock you back). If you get one on you, you’ve got a few options. You can just let it stand there, killing you from the inside. Or, more intelligently, you can do a quick Nair to get them off as well. In addition to that, if you ever have one on you, Counter will auto activate when you use it. Don’t constantly use different moves to get them off of you, in fact, don’t pay much attention to them. Simply brush them off (Nair) and as you are doing so, mount an aerial attack. When you do reach Olimar, be forewarned that he has an obscene grab range. Dash, standing, shield grab, whatever. His grab range depends on the Pikmin he has. The grab ranges go like this: White=Blue>Red=Yellow>Purple. If he grabs you, it’s just going to become a follow up that you’ll have to DI out of. That said, if you attack when he’s grabbing you, your attack will go through, unlike other grabs when they have pseudo super armor effects. Throws to smashes, throws to aerials, expect everything and be ready for it. If he grabs you when you have a Pikmin on you (Especially a White one), well, you’re taking a whole bunch of damage. Olimar’s other methods of dealing very solid damage include the Up Aerial, which, while beaten by the Down Air Ike has, will still do very nice damage if you mistime. His tilts aren’t much for range, as they don’t use Pikmin, but they’ll do some damage as well.

Olimar has a few methods of killing. He has his smashes, he has powerful throws, and he can gimp your QD recovery with extreme ease. To gimp Quick Draw, all he has to do is throw a Pikmin in front of you, you’ll attack it and die. His smashes have nice knockback, especially with the shorter ranged Purple one. This Purple one is capable of killing you below 90% off the top of FD with an Up Smash. Getting caught between both Pikmin of the down smash is also terrible, as you’ll not only be hit hard, but you’ll take plenty of damage. As far as throws go, his Purple Pikmin up and down throws both kill fast, while his best Back Throw is from the Blue Pikmin. If you see the purple Pikmin especially, be ready for his attempt to kill you. His Forward smash range varies, so don’t get used to, say, a Purple Pikmin range then be surprised when a Blue one kills you. Keep a good distance. If Olimar attempts to spike you, hitting him with Aether results in instant death for him, remember that.

Speaking of distance, you probably shouldn’t be on the ground a whole lot in this match, in any case. Your best bet is carefully timed, well-placed, aerial assaults. You should not be rushing in aggressively, you can’t do that in this match. Even your best spaced Forward Aerial can still be grabbed out of. Wait for him to throw a Pikmin, or move first, then either Fair him, Neutral Air him, or go for a dash attack. The dash attack is useful, due to the great range it possesses. It can reach throw his Pikmin toss, and hit the Olimar underneath. Your jab is always a good option, especially since he can’t fake Super Armor his way through it with a grab. Your grab is fast as well, and can be used to get him into the air for free damage. Don’t counter much, as Olimar does enjoy grabs, free grabs doubly so.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this, but Olimar has a terrible recovery. You can gimp him just by being on the ledge, even without invincibility frames. He will use his tether, hit you, but he won’t grab on. This is a surefire way of getting kills on Olimar. He will try to mask it by DIing upwards, it’s your job to either hit him horizontally or to greet him with a Forward Aerial, the grab onto the ledge. You don’t have to gimp him, of course. He’s pretty light, so a nicely spaced Ftilt or an Upsmash (Or Forward Smash) that punishes his dodge is always in order. You can always spotdodge (A good option) and then Downsmash, as that’s a rarely used move that’s still pretty powerful. Your Up Aerial can get him if he’s coming down, as it beats his aerial moves. And finally, the back aerial is great when done whilst rising. Remember, however, that Olimar’s Down B whistle not only sorts his Pikmin, but it can also save him with Super Armor frames.

Rainbow Cruise is a fantastic choice, as it forces Olimar to fight in the air, something Ike beats him at. It also has fewer ledges, so it can gimp Olimar. Since Olimar depends on grabbing the ledge, Frigate Orpheon is also a good choice. He’ll simply die without the edge on parts of the stage. Be warned, however, that that means you’ll have to Aether onto the stage as well. You may simply want to stick with Corneria or Green Greens if you’re unsure, but remember that his Up Smash kills even faster off the top there.

Olimar is definitely a challenge, get used to his patterns, where he attacks and how. Realize that his Pikmin are bait, and you can win the match.

Character Ten - Zero Suit Samus


Image by Sigurd Hosenfeld

Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ***
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ****
Recovery : ***


Character Strengths: Range, Speed, Paralysis Stun Effects
Character Weaknesses: Light, Weakish


Recommended Counterpick: Corneria / Pirate Ship



The only new human female character to be introduced to Brawl, Zero Suit Samus is Armored Samus with the Power Suit. She’s a much better character without the suit, interestingly enough, as she is now very fast, agile….and stronger?!? Who knew? She lost her weight in the transition, so she dies earlier compared to Regular Samus.

Zero Suit Samus is an interesting character, namely because she has the ability to paralyze you and follow it up with either a more damaging attack or a kill move (Think Mewtwo from Melee, except not quite so cool). She can use this “stun effect”using her Neutral B which is like a slower Wolf blaster that’s able to be charged. Her down Smash is similar to Lucas’s in that it hits diagonally down in front of her. It puts you into stun mode, after which she will hit you with it again, then follow up with another move, as it can’t be done more than twice in a row. If she gets you near the edge with this, she can jump behind you and back air for a stage spike, be ready to tech. Both of her methods of paralyzing you aren’t especially fast, and they both have cool down times. Know them and punish them.

Zero Suit Samus is going to be be building up damage in a few way, the first is the aforementioned stun shenanigans, the others being using her armor pieces at the beginning of the match to harass you and try to deal extensive damage. Learn to glide toss and such, retrieve her projectiles, and throw them straight back at her, not off the stage! This is only really a factor for the beginning of the first stock, but if you aren’t careful it could very easily be the END of the first stock, as the armor pieces back a punch. Her Up smash does nice damage and can punish you if you’re above her, same with her Up B.

She is going to be trying to continually space you with her Side-B. Do look out for this, and learn the fairly linear path that it has and the hitboxes. Jumping over it (as it is laggy) and Fairing her in the face is what I recommend. If you get within reach, she may try to grab you. While her grab is laggy and unsafe, her throws are good, and she can mess with you if she happens to get you into the air. If she happens to miss the grab, go for a quick tilt to rack up damage and perhaps even kill her.

Jabbing is a great option in this match. Zero Suit is going to try to space, you’re going to have to try to get up close and personal. Obviously the best way to do this is to use quite liberal amounts of jab. Jab to grab, the whole jab combo, jab to up tilt all work fine here. Take your pick. Remember to always keep up the pressure at all times, as it plays a fairly crucial part in the match.

When ZSS decides to kill you, she has a few ways to do it. Down Smash->Forward Smash/Side B work well enough near the edge, but remember that if she’s using the Side-B for spacing, it’ll become degraded and she’ll be forced to use another kill move. Her Back and Forward Aerials are what she can use as faster options to kill you, so if she jumps toward you, beware. Her Flip Kick CAN kill you, so don’t get tricked into being hit by it. The Up B can pull you straight downward, so if you get hit by that over the edge it’s not going to end so good. Her Down Aerial is also a spike, but Zamus players don’t use the move much, from what I’ve seen.

On edgeguarding, Zero Suit wins out. She can hit the apex of Aether with the Side B and knock you out of it. If she has any armor pieces lying around, she can use those to knock yoy away as well! Her recovery isn’t as gimpable as Olimar’s is, truth be told. This is because she has the flip kick in addition to her Tether grabs. Failure to predict both of these and time the invincibility frames perfectly will result in you getting stage spikes and losing a stock. It may be more intelligent to just wait for her to come close to the edge with you hanging on it, then jump off and Back Aerial her.

Zero Suit Samus is a light character, so you’ll get her to KO percentages even faster than usual. Your longer ranged killers such as the Forward tilt work well here, and predicting a roll into your side smash is a very early KO. Her flip jump has no vertical hitbox, so feel free to spike that if you choose. Interrupt her Dair with an Up Air (This works on all stall and falls) to fling her to the blastzone.

Your stage of choice is Corneria, where it’s generally open, with close blastzones, and infinite for you, and you know the drill. Battlefield is a pretty good option for both of you, as you can both platform punish. Pirate ship is also a recommended level, as Ike can water stall with Aether and her edgeguard advantage means little.

The match is about pressure and spacing, it’s about seeing if you can get her to a good enough damage percentage to kill, or whether she will overwhelm you with combos and the paralysis effects.

Character Eleven - Link

Image by Lavender Ice on Deviantart.


Speed (Running and attack) : ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : *****
Recovery : *



Character Strengths: Multiple projectiles, long range, good power.
Character Weaknesses: Terrible recovery, predictable finishers, slow run speed.



Recommended Counterpick: Battlefield / Green Greens


The Hero of Time has had a bumpy ride over the three iterations of the Smash series. He’s never been at the top, or at high, even. He barely made it to mid tier in the last one. And this is no different in Brawl. The Gods of Hyrule gave Link great range, projectiles and power. Unfortunately, they then left and forgot to give him any sort of useful recovery, so he had to join the Brawl lacking his good Spin attack from Melee. Nevertheless, just like Ike, Link is a heavy swordsman that is a beast on the stage, with strength and range, and quite decent speed. Off it, he flounders and fails.

Link comes equipped with 3 projectiles, Bombs, the Hero’s Bow, and his Gale Boomerang. This is what Link has over Ike in the match, as Ike beat Link at close quarters combat for the most part. The Hero’s Bow is the least used of Link’s projectiles, but it can be done while jumping, or held and charged, then released to deal quick damage. The Bombs and Boomerang are a mainstay of Link’s arsenal, however. The Gale Boomerang is a quick, direction controllable toss that deals aquick bit of damage and flinches you. What is most interesting about it, however, is that on the return trip it pushes you a good deal in the direction it is going, and it’s what make’s Link’s boomerang so unique. The Bombs are a fairly simple explosion that happen to be the crux of most of Link’s mindgames, by holding a bomb out at all times, he can cause a constant fear factor. They do kill at higher percents so be forewarned.

At mid range, Link once again can use a quick Gale Boomerang, but now he also has another option now with his fantastic Zair: An aerial move with more range than your forward aerial (!!!) that is composed of two hits and does 10% total. It’s mainly used for spacing purposes and quick damage. It can hit Ike easily enough due to his tall height (Though his skinny frame means he doesn’t get that hurt badly by it like D3 or DK does). Getting hit by too many of these can easily result in you racking up unwanted damage. A good idea would be to predict it and roll under Link. You could, as a side note, try to mindgame him into using the Zair by using Step Draw and then swiftly punishing, but that’s pretty risky, as you have to predict the Zair.

Link has other ways of racking up the damage in addition to the long ranged weapons. Failure to tech a hit will result in you being in a jab lock that goes across the screen, does great damage, and ruins your self-esteem. Just make it a habit of teching everything, Ike has a very nice tech roll, actually. Link’s Up Tilt can chain until around 30%, so even if you make it past the projectile and Zair wall, look out for that. Link’s full jab combo also does nice damage, as does hit Up Smash (Smash DI out of this!). Link’s aerials are boosted by the fact that he falls like a rock, so he can do quick Nairs, Fairs or Bairs to rack some damage up. The Nair in particular has a pretty long lasting hitbox and is fast. Link also has several ATs, be sure to learn these at your leisure.

Link has several killing options, a clear advantage over Toon Link. Both hits of the forward smash kill, but the second one is the more powerful of the two. The Forward tilt kills around the same time as the first hit of the Fsmash does, in fact. The Spin attack, while no longer a semi-spike, can still kill you at later percents. Link’s down tilt has like a one pixel spike so don’t worry about it. The Down Smash is fast and can kill you relatively early as well. His scariest kill move, however, is the Down Aerial. This is a very good reason to be afraid, it has ridiculously high priority (I’ve cut through a Snake’s cypher and still hit him with the powerful part!), a lasting hitbox, and it kills if you hit with it below 100%! It’s got bad landing lag, so a good Link won’t be spamming this move in the least bit.

Ike’s goal is, as always with projectile users, to get close. Spacing is key, and yet your jabs are a great idea here. You might find your Fair approaches getting Zaired, so go more ground-based and jab away. Ike pretty much has Link outgunned in close range combat, so the main thing that Link is going to be doing is trying to space the whole match. He’ll do close quarters combat moves, naturally, but don’t think for a second that his arsenal of weapons isn’t going to be used.

The best way to kill Link is to abuse his recovery. Try to hit him horizontally, and then do a simple edgeguard. If he uses the Spin Attack, either edgehog him or Spike him, both work. For the tether, either hit him so he doesn’t get close enough of just grab the ledge (Then drop down and SPIKE!). You can stay near the edge and Eruption as well, if you’d like. Link’s recovery is so bad that he’s probably not coming back if you’re good at edgeguarding.

As Link doesn’t like you getting close, the best place for a neutral stage would be Battlefield, on which Ike is very good anyways, so no need to fret! As far as counterpicks go, you have a few options. Green Greens stops the main thing he has on you, namely projectiles and it also contains the signature blast zones. Frigate Orpheon really can mess with Link’s recovery as well. Rainbow Cruise can work, as in the Olimar match-up. Pirate Ship is also a good idea, as the ship seems made for Ike, and Ike has other methods besides gimping Link.

It’s a test to see who works the hardest. Link is trying to repel Ike; you are trying to close in. Essentially, the one who does this consistently will win, as it is a fairly even match.


Character Twelve - Pit


Speed (Running and attack) : ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): **
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : ****



Character Strengths: Fast and flexible projectile, multi-hit moves, good recovery.
Character Weaknesses: Has trouble killing, on the light side, recovery has some issues.



Recommended Counterpick: Yoshi’s Island / Pirate Ship


Eons ago, in a very dark time, there were once two wise men, chatting amongst themselves, in secret. One said to another, “Good sir, what defines Pit?” with Pit being a word that suddenly popped into his mind. The other wise man pondered, deep in thought. He then uttered out two words “Fluffy puppies.” and the kingdom was saved from the evil forces of whatever.

Random quips about him aside, it must be noted that on a whole Pit has several good traits, and he has the capabilities to use them well. For starters, he has his Palutena’s Arrow to help rack up very nice damage. This arrow is probably one of the game’s best projectiles, if not the best. It’s fast, it can be charged, it does significant damage. Yet all of these take a backseat to what is the most important property of the arrow: It is remote controllable. What this means is that, similar to Snake’s Nikita Missile, the arrow can be moved after firing it, only it moves much faster than the missile does. Not only that, but Pit can move after launching the arrow himself, and he can have 4 controlled on the screen at once. In addition, the arrow not being visible doesn’t mean it fades; they still exist. Pit would be a pretty easy match were this projectile not in place, but with it the situation isn’t as friendly. The arrow can follow you, chase you, and control where you go. If you’re knocked off the stage and the Pit is halfway competent, then he is going to curve arrows to try his best to send you far away. If he’s actually good and you’ve been knocked far enough away, you’re probably not making it back. This arrow forces you to approach and never bee too far away from Pit, you should be fairly close to him.

Pit isn’t just about the arrows, but they are an important part of his damage racking and gimping game. He has his Angel Ring, which is infamous for having a very annoying sound attached to it. This technique will make him lunge forward, blade spinning. Getting caught in the means a fair bit of damage, so you’re going to have to DI out. Thankfully, this move has considerable lag, so punish the puppy! Pit can also rack up good damage by doing simple strings such as “Down Throw to Up Air”. Both his throws and aerials, while not spectacular, do a very nice job of safely racking up damage. The neutral and up airs, in particular, do fine damage.

Pit’s killing potential, as a whole, is rather low. He only has a few reliable ways of killing you. The first is to try and gimp you with arrows, or a well placed Fair. Due to Ike’s recovery, being diagonally downward from the edge at a considerable distance is instant death. If he is about to Fair you off for the kill, and you’re not making it back anyways, don’t be afraid to either maneuver around him and Back Air if he’s damaged enough (Considering you’re right next to the blast zone, it shouldn’t take much) or you can try to spike him, then get him as he meteor cancels, or Aethercide or whatnot. This is a less popular occurrence than simple Arrow gimps, dodge them, get under the stage and Aether. Don’t be too predictable with those Aethers, however. Pit can make you reverse the Aether by using his Mirror Shield (Pit is stealing moves and stuff from Link left and right!). You can avoid this by either good for a low Aether or by doing a reverse Aether straight off the bat, though this could get you edgehogged, so mix it up.

He shouldn’t be able to get you off the map that easily, however. Since Ike is fairly heavy (Remember, he’s not a tank!) and Pit has trouble killing, it’s a fun combination! If Pit is trying to kill you by just sending you off the blastzone, he’s going to attempt this horizontally. His trouble killing isn’t at Sheik’s or Sonic’s level, it’s more like Toon Link’s. His Forward Smash is a two hit combo that is fairly powerful, and his Forward tilt is a single, long ranged poke that is also fairly strong. Pit’s main killer, however, is his Back Air. If you see him approaching you with his back turned to you, you know what’s coming! The range on it is pretty good, so watch out. His Forward Air also has killing potential, and his Dtilt is similar to yours in that it has spike capabilities. If you can avoid these, you should be living to high percents quite easily. Oh, if he’s gliding at you, he may try his Glide attack

This is similar to the Link battle. You’ve got the close quarters advantage, the problem is getting there and staying there. Thankfully, you only have to deal with one projectile and no Zair on top of that. On the other hand, you have to deal with a character who doesn’t fall to the ground like Link does. Once you’re up close, you should space yourself properly, using Nairs to jabs, and try to get him into the air. For a flying angel, he doesn’t have a fantastic aerial game, and you outrange him there as well. If he tries to pull funky stuff on you by going high, you should try Aethering to teach him a lesson. Your counter should go off at opportune times, when you see him going near you.

To kill him either meeting him in the air with a Back Aerial works, or just use any of your standard tactics for blastzone kills. If you can intercept his Up B with Aether, go for it. If he’s recovering for the edge, spike him. You should have little trouble killing, as he is a light-middleweight, around where Ness and Lucas are.

Stagewise, Yoshi’s Island is a good idea as it’s compact and you prevent him from gliding under it. Counterpickwise, Pirate Ship seems the stage of choice. It stops gimp kills, favors Ike’s fighting style, and protects you from projectiles. Corneria and Green Greens work as well, though you must watch for arrows at times.

Similar to the Link match, you’re going to have to get near. This varies from that match because Pit has a much better offstage game, at the cost of some power and range. Play it the same way.

Character Thirteen - Mr. Game and Watch




Speed (Running and attack) : ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): *****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ****
Recovery : ****



Character Strengths: Very good recovery, disjointed hitboxes, highly powerful attacks
Character Weaknesses: Second lightest in the game, kill moves have slight start-up



Recommended Counterpick: Final Destination / Pictochat


In Super Smash Brothers Melee an interesting character was introduced. Mr. Game and Watch, a 2D black stick figure that conjured up random items from Game and Watch iterations. Unfortunately, due to problems such as his buggy shield, his poor recovery and his need to sweetspot attacks such as the Dsmash, he never became especially good. With Brawl, he got massively buffed in pretty much every category he was lacking in. His non-sweetspotted Smashes send you flying, his shield is well made and his recovery is very good.

To begin, let me say that not only does Game and Watch cause massive damage, but he also kills almost as early as you do. The best way for a Game and Watch to deal damage to you is to use his incredibly good Aerial Game. Game and Watch’s main approach aerial is his ludicrous back aerial. He can jump, do this and retreat to safety. It does great damage and it also stabs your shield. You can angle your shield upwards to prevent this. To stop Back Aerial happy Game and Watches, you have a few options. If they decided to not retreat and tried to stab your shield, simply drop it and grab or jab him. If you see it coming far enough in advance, you may try to Fair him out of it, or just counter it.

Game and Watch’s other aerials aren’t as threatening, though they are still ridiculously good. His Down Air is a stall and fall, you can beat the out by using Aether, the Up Smash, the Up Tilt or you could counter, since it’s slow enough to predict. The Forward Air can be used as a mixup instead of the Bair, and it does good damage. This is usually reserved for killing, however. The Up Aerial is interesting for one reason: It consists of two parts, an actual trumpet attack and wind that stalls you in the air and sends you further upward. This wind does not damage you so don’t worry about it. If you must get down, either outmaneuver him or airdodge, but do so only in the start of the animation. Game and Watch might prepare an Up Smash if you go straight down, and that kills at 80%, beware. The final one, the neutral air, can be used as you come down from the wind and also if you try to stand on a platform too long. It’s unpunishable and does great damage, so don’t do that.

Groundwise, you beat out Game and Watch. He’s not really spectacular on the ground. His tilts are okay at best, and 3 of his 4 specials he’s not going to use on you at all. The last one, Fire, is going to be used if he is trying to juggle you or to go into a Dair. His jab is similar to Pikachu’s, DI backwards and punish. If he starts to abuse the Dtilt then just Fsmash or Ftilt him, your choice. His grab game isn’t particularly impressive, he can use his Up Throw and then try to juggle you and in the meantime refresh his moves with Up Air. He can use Dthrow and try to follow it up, but you can just tech it and rool, and you’ll be fine (seeing as how Ike has a good techroll).

Game and Watch’s main threat on the ground, however, comes from his beastly smashes. With IASA, short activation, lingering hitboxes and the fact that they start to kill at 80%, these are seriously scary. His Up Smash is the strongest, but ti has low horizontal range. He might do a hyphen smash with it, or try to predict your Dthrow directional roll. His Forward smash has two hitboxes, both cause fire. You outrange it with your Ftilt. His Dsmash is really frightening, if it sweetspots, you’re dead off the top of FD at 100%. If it sourspots, you go sailing horizontally. This is pretty bad for Ike, as his horizontal recovery is pretty poor. It has fairly deceiving range, but as long as you keep your spacing, you should be good to go. Remember that it has IASA frames, by the way.

Game and Watch is a featherweight, he only outweighs Jigglypuff. As such, you are going to be killing him VERY early, especially since you are Ike. The key thing, however, is to rack up the damage. How do you do this? Very easily. The Fair and Jab are really going to be used in this match, Fair to outrange severely and deal 13%, Jabcombo is punish when he gets close and deal 16%. You’re obviously going to have to mix it up with Nairs and whatnot, but these two move are even more important here than they ever were.

Any of your standard kill moves swiftly finish up Game and Watch near 80% or so. The Up Smash and Ftilt are the ones that will probably be getting plenty of use in this match to finish him. Never underestimate the effects of just walking back and doing an Fsmash, works wonders. The Up Tilt can catch a G&W and kill him at sub 100 as well, so keep that as an option. He might try to go above you and not sweetspot the edge as he recovers, charge an Eruption and let him do however he pleases. Don’t bother gimping G&W, if the player is even partially competent you won’t manage.

Stages don’t especially affect Game and Watch, so just choose something flat where he can’t particularly platform abuse, then just go for the best. Green Greens and Corneria benefit both of you, actually. Pictochat is recommended as it’s flat, you won’t be ledge gimped and you can swing through drawings. Don’t let a Game and Watch ever take you to Norfair or Pirate Ship, they are great G&W stages. If Onett isn’t banned, go ahead and choose that.

It’s a battle of range versus speed, with both of you having immense power. Spacing is the key to winning this match, you’re dead without it.

Character Number Fourteen - Optimus ROB


Speed (Running and attack) : ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ***
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ****
Recovery : *****



Character Strengths: Very good recovery, long reach, good projectiles
Character Weaknesses: Poor kill moves; projectiles take charge time, large target.



Recommended Counterpick: Battlefield / Corneria


R.O.B. is the last character anyone expected to be in Brawl, but after Mr. Game and Watch it’s anyone’s guess as to what the producers are thinking, isn’t it? R.O.B. is, quite simply, that very same attachment that people had for the NES. It was used in a few games, and was a very cool looking paperweight. In Brawl, he serves the role of a passive camper. R.O.B. is a character that will slowly whittle away your health, steal it from right under you. He won’t be killing you particularly fast, but if all goes according to plan then you’ll be killing him even later.

When I used the term passive camper just now, it had an especially relative significance. You see, R.O.B. has two very good projectiles, but they both have a charge time linked to them. The first projectile is a laser beam. This is similar to Wario’s Waft nonsense in that it charges as the battle carries on. It has three levels of charge: uncharged, partially charged and fully charged. The intervals for these times are 0, 7 and 20 seconds, respectively. The laser not only forces your approach, but it can also gimp you if you mistimed the laser hit. The 20-second laser is the main one to worry about, as the partially charged one is pretty weak. It can be aimed and it bounces off the ground as well. In a stage with barriers such as Castle Siege’s statues, the laser will pass right through them. You can tell if he has a fully charged one by either looking at the timer or see if the light on R.O.B.’s head is flashing. If he bends his head back, prepare for a laser.

His second projectile is some sort of Top/Gyro thing that he has to manually charge to increase the launch distance and damage. If he’s flashing that means he has a fully charged Gyro waiting for you. The Gyro can be launched out of the charge sequence, so beware. When fired, it does a good bit of damage and stays on the ground spinning. The spinning animation also has the capability to hurt you, but you can pick it up out of the spin. R.O.B. may only have one Gyro out at a time, so if you grab it, he can’t use another. If possible, try to get the Gyro with your shield; doing so will just make the Gyro vanish into thin air. It disappears over time if left alone, by the way. R.O.B. can also fire this at you to try to ruin your recovery, so beware.

R.O.B.’s reach isn’t only limited to his projectiles, however. Most of his attacks have very nice range. His Down Smash comes out almost instantly after a spot dodge, and it does nice damage, it’s similar to Pikachu. And like Pikachu, DI up to get out of it. His Jab is a one two punch, but it’s not much to worry about. His tilts have very nice reach, but you can still outrange them. His aerials also have nice reach, especially his Nair, Bair and Dair. These have an annoying fire effect attached to them, in addition to the fct that they already go quite the distance.

R.O.B’s Fair also reaches quite a distance, and can be used in a sort of wall of pain fashion, with him continually hitting you with Fairs off the edge until you are simply too far off to recovery. He will then make it back because of his fantastic recovery. R.O.B. is similar to Meta Knight in that unless you flat out kill him, he has the ability to make it back. His Up B gives him around 5 seconds of flight time, and he can attack out of it. Unfortunately, he lacks the capability to airdodge out of it, so if you space a Fair while he’s coming back he’ll be unable to react in time. The recovery will recharge after he touches the ground and doesn’t use the up B for a bit, so him simply grabbing the edge won’t recharge the recovery. You should be doing your best to intercept R.O.B., as the recovery is fairly slow. If he’s trying to go above you, try to Aether him (Unless he goes up way to much, then proceed to juggle him as he probably ran out of gas). If he’s coming near the edge, walk off Dair him (Do this by setting your C-stick to Tilts) or try a Dtilt spike. A run-off Back Aerial can also stage spikes him, so that’s always an option. You may also consider charging Eruption and waiting for him. Beware of lasers he might fire as he’s coming back.

R.O.B’s kill moves are low in quantity, though they most certainly exist. His Fire aerials kill at fairly decent percentages so don’t underestimate them. They are pretty slow, so you can see them coming. His Dair is a very nice spike, but Aether should stop him from trying to use it. His Up Smash has a ridiculously small hitbox, but it kills quite early if he gets you with it. The Fsmash has bad range and lag to it, but it can kill early enough. He can throw kill you at 200% or so, so look out for that.

Ike’s mission is to attempt to close in, rack up damage and get him off the edge. From there, you should be able to kill him quite fast using your great edgeguarding game. You can try to predict his attempts at a Down Smash or whatever and give him an Ftilt to the face. If he’s out of gas just bait an airdodge and punish with an Up Smash. He has blind spots directly above and below him, so just hit him there, and hit him hard.

Stage-wise, you may consider going to our trusty Battlefield for neutrals. R.O.B’s platform game is kind of shaky, while yours is very good. Just watch out for possible Up Smashes if you try to platform camp. Counterpick wise, I suggest Corneria or Green Greens. His projectiles are sort of negated here, plus his good recovery means little as it’s practically impossible to not make it back from the close blast zones.

R.O.B. plays very similarly to Samus from Melee. Sluggish projectiles, but with good close combat options and a nice spike. You’re going to have to close in, then go for either a spike kill or try to get him during his blind spot. As said in the beginning, he’s going to be trying to outlast you. Don’t let him, pretty much.

Character Number Fifteen - Princess Peach


Speed (Running and attack): ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ***
Range (Priority and hitbox): ***
Recovery: ****



Character Strengths: Ability to float, moderately fast and powerful, projectile
Character Weaknesses: Light, lacks range for the most part, poor second jump



Recommended Counterpick: Battlefield / Corneria


Imageby SigurdHosenfeld











Princess Peach is quite a lucky character. In Melee she was considered to be one of the best, similar in position to Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff. Unlike some of her Melee contemporaries, she didn't get nerfed to a bottom or low tier position. Nay, she has managed to still be good, due to the base effectiveness of her character. She prides herself on being an aerial master, able to float around at will. From there, she can launch a myriad of moves in succession, able to daunt many from entering the air.

Peach has no real defining moment in the match against Ike. She’s not Dedede who has a chaingrab, she’s not Pit with his arrows and she most certainly isn’t Snake with his great grenades. Her moments stem from the fact that she has so many interesting things that she can do to you, several tricks that rack up damage, kill and in general add up to be a good character.

Let’s begin by talking about Princess Peach’s turnips. She can quickly pick these up from the ground with a down B and then just toss them at you. She’ll generally glide toss them for a good distance. They aren’t super high on range, so she can’t begin to use them from across the map. These are a nuisance and deal some damage and flinching you. I suggest being able to catch the ones she throws at you, or otherwise shielding it, it won’t hurt the shield too much. She might attempt to toss them at you to ruin your recovery attempts, so beware. If she pulls out a stoned looking turnip with stitches, beware. This deals very high damage and has amazing kill power. She can also pull out a Mr. Saturn, a Bom-omb or a Beam Sword. Mr Saturn instantly breaks your shield if it hits you, the bomb KOs at like 60% and the sword gives her Ike’s range. The sword has ½ the range of a normal beam sword, but she can stop this by taunting or using her up B.

Peach’s main form of threat is her Down Aerial at low percents. This pressures shields like no other. To avoid this, angle your shield upward as much as you can. If she hits you while floating, she will often follow it up with another down Aerial and top it off with an Up Aerial for massive damage. No, seriously, it hurts. Your best bet is to DI this if you get his, but of course not getting hit at all is the best course of action! The rest of her Aerial game is certainly good enough for causing damage as well. The Nair is very fast and the Bair has decent range, the Up Air is fast as well.

Her grab game is pretty decent, albeit short ranged. Her Down Throw will be followed up on by a grab at 0%, so look out for grabs at low percents. Her other throws might be used in order to either get you off of the edge, or into the air, where she will attempt to hurt you. She might get a grab on you by using a jab (Which is just as fast as yours) and then dash grabbing.

Remember in the Marth match-up how using Aether and Marth countering would result in a pretty easy gimp on Ike? Peach can do more or less the same thing with her Toad counter. As with the Marth match, either recover low or do a reverse Aether so that you don’t hit Peach and then toad, as that will result in a stock loss most likely. You might try to use Quick Draw if the spores send you upward, however.

In Melee, Peach’s Down Smash was a very frightening thing indeed. It was capable of causing very high damage in a single use, and was quite fast! It’s been toned down a bit since then, it now only sends you on the other side of Peach with not nearly as much damage. It’s still fast, so she can pull one out to punish you. Ftilt can be using to punish a laggy attack in the exact same way. The Fsmash is too unpredictable to count on, but it either has high range lowish power, middle or the pan with low range and it sends you straight up. Her Up Smash is very powerful when sweetspotted, killing at 100% or so. The problem here is, good luck sweetspotting that.

Her other kill move is the much loved Fair, which occurs when she hits you with her crown,. This has good range, good power and can be used to gimp you as well. Her Side B, the Peach Bomber, has about enough time for you to get a soda, drink it and counter, but if it’s an extra large Dr. Pepper you might not make it in time to counter.

To deal damage to Peach, you must realize that she will be floating a good majority of the time. As such, you need to realize how to get her out of that state. A running Back Aerial or a Forward Aerial will knock her out of there, and eventually she’ll stop attempting that. Don’t be hesitant to counter in this match, seeing as how some of her attacks have some predictability to them. If she decided to go up high, bring her down with Aether for good damage and possibly a spike. Your jabs are, as always, very useful. Do be warned, however, that hers are just as fast, so you might want to shield if your jabs cancel each other out.

If you’re up to killing Peach, you’ll probably try either edgeguarding with Eruption, whose long charge time beats out Peach’s floatiness, Ftilt which can outrange her vastly and kill early, Up Smash to get her airdodges or just go for a spike, that always works. Peach is a light character, so against Ike it really doesn’t take too much. If you haven’t been using the Bair to get her out of the float state, go ahead and use that to kill her. As Peach doesn’t have anything especially fearsome to worry, go ahead and go for BF as your neutral of choice and then go with Corneria / Green Greens, depending on which one she bans. I’m sure you know by know how to take advantage of that stage. I recommend you avoid Rainbow Cruise, as she can exploit her great air game there.

Peach and Ike are more or less complete opposites, with the other having what the other lacks. As such, you’ll be trying to capitalize on the things that you have more than ever, especially your range and power. Being able to do this and avoid Peach’s good traits will serve you well.

Character Number 16- Wolf O' Donnell


Image by Rarzy.


Speed (Running and attack): ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox): ***
Recovery: **



Character Strengths: High attack speed in addition to fast falling allows for swift assaults, projectile, heavy
Character Weaknesses: Some attacks have poor range, poor recovery, easily shieldgrabbable



Recommended Counterpick: Lylat Cruise


Meet the leader of Team Star Wolf, arch-nemesis of Team Star Fox. His name is…Wolf. Yeah, original, I know. That said, he’s a swift attacker, just like the SF team. He has a very good projectile and also has good killing power. His bulk allows him to stay in the arena for a long time, but his recovery fails him once he’s out of it. Wolf’s tendency to have either good attacks or bad attacks leads some to believe that he is one-dimensional, however untrue it may be.

Wolf has, like the rest of the Star Fox clan, a blaster. This is fairly fast shot that covers around 1/3rd the distance of Final Destination. It’s slower than both Fox’s and Falco’s, but it is larger and deals more damage. It’s easy enough to powershield, so go with that. There’s another feature of it, however. Wolf is some sort of vigilante, so he put a ****ing bayonet on his pistol. This allows the blaster itself to do damage when it hits, and that knocks you right into the blaster shot itself. This does a good bit of damage so don’t be taken unawares. When attempting to avoid the blaster shooting that will inevitably comes (You’re Ike, after all) be sure to be wary when jumping. He may outpredict you and perform a swift Side B to catch you midair, spike you and deal 15%. To try to outpredict HIM, do a jumping counter. If he side Bs, you got him and dealt back very nice damage. If he just shoots an aerial blaster, you counter that as well. The Blaster can also ruin a QD attempt, so watch out.

He also has his reflector. It has an attack that comes out on frame 1 and it has a few invincibility frames. This, essentially, acts as a very weak counter that does 3%, but it can catch you if you aren’t careful. He might choose to follow up a successful shine with something like his jab combo (Which is OK, but it only does 9% and pales in comparison to yours). To avoid this, try to space yourself well and avoid leaving yourself open and not mobile. It’s not a major threat, but you’re better off taking as little damage as possible. Wolf’s final special, the Fire Wolf (Which has, surprisingly, no fire), will not be used by a competent Wolf. This is because it not only has start up time, massive end time and he can’t move an inch after using it or a second, but it doesn’t even have a good reward. You just SDI out of the final hit, he’ll do pitiful damage, then you hurt him, badly. Not that you’ll be hit with it in the first place.

Wolf’s physical based damage stems from his great forward smash and his equally fantastic back air. The forward smash is a lunge that propels him forward a great deal forward. The attack has two parts, which in total deal 15%. If only the first part hits, it will trip you, and he’ll just do another one. This move can, in theory, kill but Wolf is probably going to be using it too much for it to retain serious killing potential. His Back Air is very fast, has good range and can be linked into a wall of Back Aerials. It’s a good aerial, his best. He can gimp you with it if you aren’t careful, by the way.

Other ways he can deal damage to you include his tilts, which, while mediocre, still retain power and they might even kill you later. His Dash attack is unspectacular, he’ll be better off Dash Attacking and Upsmashing you, makes more sense for him to do so, His Down Throw deals 12% damage, and after it he might fire a blaster shot or regrab you, depending on how you tech it and which way you roll. His grab attack is also very fast, so he’ll get a few of those in each time you get grabbed. His air juggle game is very good, so he can keep you airborne and continue to pummel you there. You outrange him, but he’ll run circles around you, so just go down.

Wolf has one very good kill move, and other fairly decent ones. His Down Smash is very similar to Meta Knight’s, it’s fast, spammable and will kill Ike at around 130ish from the center of FD, but he will elect to use it near the edge, most likely. There it can kill at 90! His Fair is a fast move, can be made to have 0 lag, and can kill well enough off the top. The Up Smash can achieve the same goal. His Down Aerial is a fairly good spike, but it’s cumbersome and risky, especially considering his recovery.

Wolf’s recovery is, quite bluntly, subpar. His Up B is notorious for being short ranged and not grabbing the edge. His Side B is better, but it needs very good sweetspotting and won’t help you if you’re at an angle. The Side B has a few tricks that it allows Wolf, however. First off, it does 15% and spikes, so don’t fall for it. He can also pass through the stage and hit you waiting there for him by semi scarring. This is done by holding down while Side B-ing. Know how he does this, and either counter it or move back and Fsmash. Wolf’s recovery is gimpable, Walkoff Dair or Fair can accomplish this quite easily.

To deal with Wolf, you’ll need to learn to perfect shield and shieldgrab, as Wolf is highly susceptible to this. If he leaves himself open for just a moment, jab away. Killing Wolf involves baiting him into doing a slow move, then punishing. He’ll try not to leave an opening, so this can take some effort, especially since this guy is bulky.

Stage wise, all spacies HATE Lylat Cruise, so you may as well just go there. Wolf’s recovery goes from bad to terrible there. There’s a good chance he might not make it back if knocked off, really. There’s little reason to CP anything else.

Wolf has a nice balance of speed, power and range that allows him to be effective in all battles. His issues include that he’s not great at any of those categories and his recovery fails him. You’ll need to be offensively oriented here, but at the same time watch his actions carefully and punish well.


Character Number Seventeen- Lucario


Image by aonik.


Speed (Running and attack): ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ** to *****
Range (Priority and hitbox): ****
Recovery: ***



Character Strengths: Spammable projectile, power increases as Lucario takes more damage, moderately heavy
Character Weaknesses: Mediocre recovery, has trouble finishing off after losing a stock, Up B does nothing to get you off the ledge



Recommended Counterpick: Castle Siege / Corneria


Remember Mewtwo from SSBM? Mewtwo was a character that managed to be horrendously slow (Without Wavedashing), really weak, a large target and have low range? Now take Mewtwo and improve him in almost every category, and you have formidable opponent. His most unique trait is that he gets stronger as his damage progresses. He’s rather weak at 0% then begins to steadily increase in power until something like 182% when his power is at maximum. At max power, his attacks have very high knockback and damage, but the attack speed and range remain the same.

There is one more thing that highly increases in power when he takes damage, but Lucario will be liberally using it at 0% anyways – Aura Sphere. This is very similar to Mewtwo’s Shadow Ball from Melee in that it is a chargeable, rather slow moving energy projectile. This forces you to approach from the start of the match, but I assume that you’ll be doing that anyways. The small Aura Sphere can be cancelled out with a jab, but I just recommend you powershield it or just jump over it. The Aura Sphere shall be used to control space, forcing you to go mid-close range. The sparks of the charging Aura Sphere do damage, but just DI out if you get caught in them. The Aura Sphere can kills when you and Lucario are both above 100%, so watch out for it. It can also hamper your Aether recovery if he gets into a good position. If he begins edgeguarding you like this, it may be wiser to simply QD sweetspot the ledge.

Lucario is one of the only characters in Brawl to have true combos. Some of the more common ones he’ll be using are Fair to Fair or Fair to Nair. He might also attempt his bread and butter Jab 1to Jab 2 to Force Palm to deal damage. Basically, know all his tricks and how he sets them up. Fair in particular has a very nice chance of gimping you, as he can do it a few times and recover, and it has JUST enough knockback to make sure you can’t do the same. His Dair can also gimp you if he does it at a certain angle and it stage spikes you. The Dair is fairly easy to see coming, however. Also beware of up tilt chains at low percents, they can rack up at least 20%+ before you get out,

As the match progresses Lucario will be fleeing even more often from you, as his true combos fade and he begins to have much better power. At this point, he will definitely be using Aura Spheres and the Fsmash to space better and keep you at bay. His throws knock you quite a distance away, especially the Forward Throw which increases with Aura Power (The Bthrow does not). He will also attempt to space with his great down and forward tilts, which have good range due to Aura and have IASA frames. When Lucario has you in killing range, he can accomplish it by a number of things, depending on percent. Aura Sphere, Fsmash, Dsmash, Up Smash all kill when Lucario is at high power and all the smashes have lingering hitboxes. The F and B Throws kill if he catches you at the edge with them, so stay near the center. Lucario’s Double Team is slow to act, but it kills depending on both of your percents, not on the move countered. You can generally shield the counter blow, however.

Your best friend in this match is the forward aerial. Nothing Lucario has outranges it, and you’ll need a safe way to get near him. An Aura Sphere to the face won’t hamper this, unlike grounded approaches. Nair to Jab is also a really good idea, namely because they are both very fast options. To kill Lucario efficiently, you need to both space yet still be fast enough to not let the slippery thing get away. Ftilt is a really good idea in this match, as it accomplishes both of those goals. Up Smash is also good, just watch out for him Dair stalling. Lucario users LOVE their roll and your Fsmash does too. You won’t honestly be gimping Lucario much of the time, but at really high percents (110%ish) a walk off Fair will work. If he’s coming from below, might as well go for a walk off Dair.

Castle Siege is a good idea in this match, as all of the forms have something useful. The first stage is sloped and very close quarters. The second stage is spacey, but it can block Lucario’s Aura Sphere. The third form is FDish, but the slant helps. Corneria is the standard Ike CP, of course.

Lucario is good at everything he attempts. He’s got range, power, combos, speed. His recovery isn’t bad either. Thankfully, Ike has the tools to make sure that Lucario is on his toes at all time, namely the early kill possibilities and the obscene range. Play smart!



Character Number Eighteen – Toon Link


Image by Ryuk.


Speed (Running and attack): ****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ***
Range (Priority and hitbox): ****
Recovery: ****



Character Strengths: Great projectile game,
Character Weaknesses: On the light side, poor grab game, has trouble finishing off



Recommended Counterpick: Battlefield / Corneria


At first glance, Toon Link might appear to be no more than a simple clone of Link. After all, don't they both have similar attacks, hookshots and green tights? It'll take a bit more than green tights to make them clones, as is apparent soon after trying both out extensively.

Toon Link's projectiles can be likened to Link's. He has a bow, bombs and a boomerang. The bow will not be used often, as it is a projectile that requires commitment and is slow. It also isn't much for damage. He may use two after a short hop to try and get some stun in. The weird angle of it allows him to shoot it off as he's recovering as well. His boomerang is a mainstay of his arsenal, it is fast, powerful and it hits when coming backwards. The backwards hit will often prevent you from grabbing him or doing a slower approach, so be wary of that. Bombs are his final projectile and good ones at that. They will be used from up high to pepper you with explosions. The explosive radius is larger than Link's, so don't underestimate it. If Toon Link is holding a bomb and does his Up B and it explodes, he regains his Up B. Watch for this and spike him if he tries it. These projectiles will all be used in tandem to try and keep you away from the heart of them, Toon Link himself. Your general way to get past this should be either a well placed dash attack, or perhaps a well placed Fair. Don't do a shoddy job of piercing through that projectile wall, elsewise you'll take so much damage and will simply have to start over from square one.

Toon Link also has a Zair, similar to Link's. It sort of lost both power AND range when compared to Link, sadly. It's tiny in size and only does 4%. The point isn't to build damage, however. It can be auto canceled and followed up by any of TL's other options. He might try a Zair to Nair, Zair to a ground based option, Zair to anything works. The tether portion of it is quite good, saving him from having to use the Up B at times. The tether is also a grab (naturally), but it's not much of a grab game. Each of Toon Link's throws do 7%, the grab is short compared to Link and it has all the flaws that Link's does. He might punish a laggy attack that his the shield with a grab and a throw, then try to string it, but it otherwise isn't much of a threat at all.

Toon Link has one more thing with which he can try to claim dominion upon Ike – His air game. All of his moves in the air are not only fast, but they also have power and good range because Toon Link uses only his sword for attacking, unlike Link with his fancy pants kicks. His Nair and Bair will generally be overused and stale, making them ripe choices for linking into other moves. The Bair in particular is very nasty, as a few can chain together to deal nice damage. If Toon Link is approaching with his back, you know what's coming. His other moves in the air CAN be used liberally, but they will probably be saved for other purposes. The Dair in particular is a very risky move. It sends him straight down, he can't budge from his course. However, the start is a spike and if he hits anything, there is no “stuck in the ground” bit. It may be used as he is above you, but it is generally too dangerous to do so. It has a very solid use against Ike, however. If the Toon Link times your Aether or Quick Draw recovery properly, he can Dair spike you straight out of it. This shouldn't be happening a whole deal, but look for him being near the edge and stall out your midair jump so he can't predict your actions.

Toon Link's ground game is pretty decent, though it all pales in comparison to Ike's (Most ground games do). His jab is a “get out of here” option, and will be used as such. His tilts are generally for combos, but they can also be used for killing later on at very high percents. The Smashes in particular are pretty much used for fast kills. His Up Smash is the versatile move, it kills fast and can link into other things if need be, shield if he's running at you. The Forward Smash is two hits in one, but the first actually goes into the second, unlike regular Link's. Toon Link can alter the timing so it hits you as you drop your shield, so try to outmaneuver him there. The Down Smash kills pretty late, but if you DI it wrong it can very well kill you soon due to gimping as it sends you right into Ike's dead zone ( deep 60 degrees down from the edge of the stage. His Fair can kills you, as can the Up Air. Don't be directly above TL in fear of that Up Air.

Ike should be focusing on two things, and two things only. 1) Get past the projectiles. 2) Always keep your spacing 3) Going for that coveted early kill. Ike has a massive range and power advantage over Toon Link, but Toon Link has him beaten in other general areas. Range and Power are no joke, however. You simply have to cautiously zone him until and opportunity presents itself to go in and deal massive damage. If you see him recovering with the Up B, go ahead and attempt a spike. It's moderately vulnerable to that. You might also try to be fancy and counter it, but do that at your own risk.

To help with your massive damage goals, it is recommended that you visit Battlefield as a neutral. This stage forces close quarters combat, which Ike excels at. It also allows platforms to punish TL from and is generally just a great Ike map. Corneria is a great CP choice, as always. Infinite, low blast zones, it has it all. Other good stages are your standard Ike ones, really. Green Greens is good since it gives you a wall to protect you and makeshift projectiles as well, you know the drill

Similar to the Link match in essence. Get past the (better) projectile spam, fight a (better aerial but worse ground) close combat game than Link and watch out for the dinky Zair. It's a fun match that depends more on position that anything else.

Number 19 Luigi

This is a fabulous guest write-up by Guilhe, in it's original form:

This is the guide I was talking about: A matchup guide from the perspective of both characters. If you think you know your character you can just skip his analysis and read only the opponent's. But please read both of them and inform me if the representation of the characters is lacking. Ok, prepare yourselves for the white wall of text!

Ike & Luigi matchup guide

Let’s first summarize the two characters traits that will come into play in this matchup.

Ike
• Fast faller;
• Heavyweight;
• Moves with high knockback and range, though most are very situational;
• Aerials with long reach and potential for zooning;
• Combo ability tends to zero in both air and ground;
• Limited and poor recovery options.

Luigi
• Floats;
• Lightweight;
• Powerful KO moves, but with very limited range;
• Much more combo and juggling potential than Ike;
• Recovery can travel farther and higher, but leaves Luigi vulnerable during execution;
• Has a projectile.
• Slow horizontal aerial acceleration in the air

Approaches

Ike
When taking the offensive, Ike players should be careful with their spacing in order to not get counter-attacked. When hit by these techniques while shielding, Luigi will slide away due to his low traction. Unable to respond immediately.

Nair
This is Ike’s general purpose tool for spacing and his most reliable move. It can be used when approaching, retreating and recovering. In other words, it should be used relatively often as it has no landing lag and can be used in conjunction with jab or Bair for true combos.

Fair

An alternative for Nair, Fair reaches farther and hits harder. It also has a shorter ending animation when landing due to the IASA frames.

Jab
This move is Ike’s fastest on the ground and can nullify or override some of Luigi’s moves. It also can be cancelled after the first or second hit to a grab, a tilt, more jabs, or used in conjunction with QD. Both this techniques won’t be much useful in a fight against a good Luigi because…

The Grand Viper (QD to jab approach) thingy: 1. If spaced incorrectly the ending lag will potentially get Ike killed. 2. When spaced correctly Ike will be too far from Luigi, and he will probably be throwing fireballs at him. 3. This fight will be close quarters anyway.

Jab cancel to grab: Ike can’t grab opponents from afar, so he has to travel a short distance after canceling the jab sequence in order to get the opponent in range. This gives Luigi a window for using his Nair, which kills.

Bair
This move has a smaller hitbox but higher KO power than the other approaches. I recommend players to save it from the decaying at least until the opponent build up some percentage, in order to get earlier kills. Also, note that it must be executed quickly. You know what to expect from an Ike with his back turned.

Luigi
Luigi should prioritize ground movement over aerial during his approach in this matchup. That’s because Ike’s advantage in horizontal movement and range is greater in the air than in the ground.

Dair to Nair
This is Luigi’s classic combo starter. Both hits can be performed even when short hopping and both of them are starters of true combos.

Tornado
Brief startup lag, packed with multiple hits and with the right amount of knockback for juggling. The flaws that don’t make this a variation of Metaknight’s whorenado are the characteristic ending lag and lower priority. Ike can interrupt it with ease using a SH Bair or aim for the ending lag and punish with Ftilt or a grab.

Dsmash

This is a fast move that hits under the shield, has good range and has ideal knockback for juggling. Combined with the sliding effect when performed walking, it is an effective approach when spaced correctly (it reaches farther than Ike’s jab).

Short hopped fireballs: A diversion that should be used by Luigi whenever he is outranged. This projectile has nothing special packed on it and its timing isn’t too strict.

Approach overview * Advantage to Ike*
Luigi moves are faster than Ike and he has much more reliable combos. But with Ike’s faster aerial and ground movement combined with long range aerials, Luigi will have to work much harder on his approach in this matchup.

Finisher attacks and edge guarding tactics

Ike
This is where this character shines. He is not dependent of his smashes for scoring KOs. All of his moves have powerful knockback and he has three meteor smashes. Of course, he may choose to use a smash attack and finish his opponent earlier, but he is not obligated to do so. Tilts can KO Luigi around 100% in Final Destination (taking DI into consideration) and he is also very vulnerable during the execution of his recovery moves. Ike players should watch out for his fireballs and the 1/8 of his side-B misfiring while attempting to gimp.

Luigi
This characters has very swift killers, bad spacing combined with laggy moves can get Ike out of the screen at 60%. His projectile doesn’t help much for gimping, so he might try to use his Bair in order to hit you before the Aether’s SA frames take effect or force an airdodge. He can also attempt to dive under Ike, jump and use his Tornado. Ike will be thrown against the edge of the stage if he gets caught. But that’s an extremely hard edge guarding technique especially if the opponent knows it and has meteor smashes.

KO potential overview *Advantage to Ike*
Once again the spacing plays a crucial role in this matchup. Luigi’s killers (Nair, Fire punch Fsmash, Usmash) have very limited range compared to Ike’s moves and his edge guard game requires him to chase opponents offstage, possibly getting himself gimped.

Counterpick stages

Stages with high ceiling (like Final Destination or Yoshi´s Island) or true ceilings limits Luigi’s KO effectiveness, as he has no horizontal killers besides his Fsmash (which still sends opponents in a relatively high diagonal). There is no particular stage Luigi can get a significant advantage over Ike.

Matchup overview
This should be quick. Luigi is outranged and incapable of sustaining too much damage, Ike’s weight makes him more combo friendly and his recovery is low tier. Ike’s range, mobility and KO potential give him the 60:40 over this matchup.
Character Number 20 - Lucas

Character Number 21 - Yoshi

Character Number Twentyone – Yoshi, Super Dinosaur



Speed (Running and attack): ***
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): **
Range (Priority and hitbox): ***
Recovery: ****



Character Strengths: Grab Release Chaingrab, Projectile, Good Recovery, Combos
Character Weaknesses: Poor throws, unspectacular range and attack speed, weak



Recommended Counterpick: Pirate Ship


Do you remember the situation when Brawl came out? Let me refresh your memory! King Dedede, Ike and Wolf were considered ridiculously good while people just couldn't decide who was worse, Ganondorf, Yoshi or Donkey Kong. That's obviously shifted around a bit (Though D3 is still ridiculously good and Ganondorf...isn't). Yoshi later was found out to not be as bad as people had originally thought, and so the Green (Yoshi) Revolution began. History lesson aside, Yoshi is a mobile green dinosaur who is surprisingly good in some aspects, but falls a penny short of a dollar at others. At the end of the day, he's still passable, however.

Now, first things first, you must ask yourself: What does Yoshi have on Ike? The answer to that is that Yoshi can chaingrab Ike by grabbing him, chewing on him and waiting for him to release then regrabbing him by dashing forward. This is all well and good, but there's an issue to this. Yoshi has bad grabs. This isn't Dedede or Olimar with the best grabs in the game, these are downright mediocre. His standing grab is a complete joke. He takes his time to recoil backwards, then slowly stick his touch out. If you get grabbed by this you're probably going to have a hell of a time against King Dedede or Olimar. His dash grab is good on range, but it's fairly sluggish. You'll be caught by this if you do something laggy or otherwise are slow to act. If you spot dodge it, however, you can retaliate with a jab combo and I believe an Up Tilt and Down Smash as well (They come out on the same frame, 13). His Pivot grab is fast and good, but you probably won't be hit by it as the range isn't impressive at all.

If Yoshi ensnares you, however, you'll be carried to the edge of the the stage, taking damage as you do. Your best bet is to rapidly mash the buttons on your controller so that you break out even sooner. As Yoshi's grabs cannot be ground released from, you're going to be air released every single time, except in very random scenarios. When you are being release grabbed, I highly recommend not attempting to jump out as if you mistime it you get grabbed without your second jump and things can get really nasty. He'll get new releases on you and whatnot so it's better to just go with the flow or try air dodging instead.

Yoshi's other method of both annoying you, racking up damage and forcing your approach is his Egg Throw. It's a fairly powerful projectile that stuns you and keeps you at bay. It's not particularly threatening as far as projectiles go, but it certainly can get you good if you relax or something. It can go in any which way, but just power shield it when it gets to you and move on. It can be used to muck up high rise Aethers, so you might care to recover lower when against Yoshi. Speaking of recovery, this move gives Yoshi some air movement, so it can be used when returning to the edge. Try to intercept it if you can, but be wary of the egg that comes out. It's usually worth your time to try and get him during this. He might try also to ledge-egg stall you. Teach him a lesson and spike him.

Yoshi isn't limited to egg and grab gimmicks, of course, he's got ways to deal damage to you otherwise. Most of his ground moves have weak knockback such his tilts, so that allows him to combo with them. The benefit is that these have pretty decent range, so they can catch you unawares if you get in too close. His Down Aerial is massive pain if he gets you with all of the hits. 30+ damage and the loss of your self-esteem both ensue from it. His back aerial can fend you off at times and is hard to punish while dealing fairly decent damage, but Yoshi is going to have to be careful here. You can interrupt him with a Fair and make him think twice about doing that again. His jab and neutral aerial are both fast kicks, good for getting people off him, but you probably shouldn't be that close to him. If you are, you're playing Ike wrong.

Yoshi's “issue” is killing people. Especially heavies like Ike. Basically, he's going to have to be attempting to kill you in several ways, none of which flat out are amazing. His Forward Smash is nice on range, but it's slow and it isn't that powerful. His Up Air is good since if he's attempting to juggle you in the air, this can come out and kill you unexpectedly. The downside is that this isn't very powerful either and it's kind of easy to avoid. Ground Pound is pretty good, but you can DI the first hit to avoid the second. Up Smash is fast but it uh...kills at like 140%. Down Smash out of shield can catch you at the edge, so look out for what he does out of the shield. He also has a fairly weak spike in his Forward Aerial that could possible get you if you hang around the air near the edge a lot, but it's unlikely. In short Yoshi is going to have problems finishing you off.

Obviously it's not the same for you. Yoshi is fairly heavy but you most certainly are going to be killing him early. Shall we list the ways? Ftilt is a personal favorite of mine in this match-up, since it outranges all of his ground options and is fairly fast. Go for it at around 105% or so. Up Smash is also ridiculously good here, as your Yoshi's double jump doesn't sweetspot the ledge so feel free to charge it. The bulk of your kills will be from that, but there are others. Up Air beats out Yoshi's Down Aerial and the Ground Pound when done in midair. Back Air isn't as prominent in this match-up, so don't rely on that too much. You can try to Dtilt spike him, it's plausible. Deal damage as you would in every other match-up, though pay some more attention to spacing in this one.

Stagewise, both of you are great on Corneria, so that's not much help. Pirate Ship is a pretty great idea as Yoshi has a poor water game, and the ship shape is pretty good for avoiding eggs and whatnot. Neutralwise, avoid Final Destination because of a certain release grab he has. Just go with your friendly neighboorhood Battlefield if you can.

Not the most complex match on the planet. Learn what he has on you and act accordingly.

Character Number 22 - Ganondorf


Image by the switcher. First image was so funny I put it in, should be gone after the write-up is done.


Character Number 23 - Jigglypuff

Image by saiyagina.

Would you believe how many pictures there are of Jigglypuff as a human being out there? Creepy. Coming soon.

Character Number 24- Foxy Woxy


Image by The Nut.

Character Number 25 - Pokemon Trainer


Image by AudioErf.

Character Number 26 Diddy Kong


Image by:xXlazyartsyboyXx

Character Number 27 Ice Climbers


Image by Pachiko-chan

Character Number 28 Sonic the Hedgehog

Image by ~CPC

#29 Bowser

#30 Sheik

#31 Kirby

#32 DK

#33 Ness
 

WolFlash

Smash Cadet
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
33
Location
Brisbane
My opinion:
Advantages:
-Ike is way more powerful than Mk
-Mk has bad finishing moves so its going to be hard for him to finish Ike off

Disadvantages:
-Mk is faster than Ike and better at chaining combos
-Ike hasn't got the best recovery, so Mk users generally have an easy time edge guarding against him
-Mk has a better aerial game where Ike's is lacking in speed
-Ike's dair spikes are difficult to use against Mk due to his recovery skills
 

Paladinight

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
121
Location
Over there! no, no, the one on the left or is it t
Advantages:
Ike has longer range (I think I'm pretty sure he does)
Metaknight's spam attacks are easily countered (If read right)
Ike will kill Metaknight at a much lower percent.
Ike is around mid-weight so with proper DI he will be hard to kill.

Disadvantages:
Metaknight's attacks are fast so they can be easily spammable
Metanight can easily gimp Ike
 

HeroMystic

Legacy of the Mario
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San Antonio, Texas
NNID
HeroineYaoki
3DS FC
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Due to Metaknight's sick recovery and attack speed, the scales tip in his favor, where as Ike's biggest advantage is his large range (his power is secondary for this match).

Spacing is very important in this battle. Almost every Metaknight I've fought against will go in for a grab to send you in the air for an Up-B to send Ike flying off the stage, as that's their best method for kills. So to avoid that, keep your distance, and Ike should be using his F-air to keep him back.

If Metaknight happens to send Ike away from the stage, then you're pretty much at his mercy. If you're close you can get back with Aether, but if you're far you'll have to get creative, cause Metaknight's edgeguarding is ridiculous. In that case, Ike's best shot is use Counter against a Metaknight going in for a fancy kill. If it works, it should give Ike a decent amount of time to approach the stage.

The best way for Ike to kill Metaknight is when he's using a special. In which case, I doubt any good Metaknight will use specials much besides the Up-B, which means you'll need to take him off the stage first and force Metaknight to use a special. At the end of his special, Ike will be able to punish.

It's a pretty hard match-up, imo, but not impossible.
 

3xSwords

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
1,193
Location
Bergen County
.....

To rely on counter in a matchup for Ike = loss.

Counter off stage w/o jumping = instant death.

MK's attacks should not be countered even if you are reading him, because Ike's counter is slow, and if you are that MK sux b/c he is being way too predictable. For a good counter you need good reaction speed on your part, but the counter must also activate quickly, or else instead of truly countering someone's attack, you are just guessing that he will use one, leaving more chance of failure.

Also when comparing strength and weaknesses MK should have more than Ike in terms of advantages over him.

Here:
Ike Advantages
-Deals more damage per single strike
-Kills @ lower % (excluding gimping)
-Heavier (doesn't matter b/c MK gets horizontal and gimp kills)
-more SA frames
-More range

MK advantages:
-Racks up damage quicker
-Has an easier time gimping
-Better recovery
-Better traps
-Better pokes
-Spam moves are harder to punish for Ike
-Faster moves
-Will have control over the flow of the match

For Ike, this is just another one of those matchups where you have to make every move count, while for MK this is just another "gimp kill every time" matchup.

(Yes I was extremely general but you guys can go deeper into the matchup, I won't)
 

HeroMystic

Legacy of the Mario
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Yeah, I know the counter is slow, but I honestly can't think of any other way to stop an edgeguard-happy Metaknight, unless you say "screw it" and try to take him with you with Aether. The F-air is too slow to beat him, unless you're lucky enough that his attack sent Ike pretty far off from his next attack.
 

3xSwords

Smash Lord
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Sometimes its best not to counter attack and just try to avoid. Since you are being beaten by speed of attack just use your second jumps and air dodges effectively. Never second jump immediately for Ike. If you do your options are so limited.
 

XACE-K

Smash Master
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
4,106
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New York
To win this, you're gonna have to play smart. If you just think "Ike is strong and MK is light weight" you'll must likely get your a** kicked.

You're going to have to rely on mindgames and make every move count in the fight.
 

WolFlash

Smash Cadet
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
33
Location
Brisbane
I find recovery with Ike is best if you gauge the distance and recover vertically with aether, so if Mk trys to aerial you he hits Ike's sword, then Ike can grab directly onto the ledge.
 

YagamiLight

Smash Champion
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Feb 2, 2008
Messages
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California
Great input, guys. If possible, would you mind writing a bit about what stages you like to play Meta Knight on as well? It just seems like it''d be a good thing to include. Neutral and counterpicks both work.

I'll probably have something in a day or so written up, I'm waiting for just a bit more input on the matter here.
 

TwentyTwo

Smash Ace
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Northern Virginia, <3 Ramona Flowers
Well the move that abuses many other characters, which I personally don't have too much problem with because, you can counter, ftilt, or fair. Honestly the move I hate most from MK is shuttle loop and his glide attack. The best solution personally I've found is just air dodge for loop and try to either counter or utilt his glide attack.

As for stages I'm always a fan of battlefield for neutrals. In terms of counter picks though I would say Pirate Ship is good due to water making it harder for MK to gimp, Delfino also for partly being a mix of the previous 2 stages, and Corneria is a good stage for Ike in general because of it's low ceiling and sides.
 

•Col•

Smash Champion
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
2,450
Well the move that abuses many other characters, which I personally don't have too much problem with because, you can counter, ftilt, or fair. Honestly the move I hate most from MK is shuttle loop and his glide attack. The best solution personally I've found is just air dodge for loop and try to either counter or utilt his glide attack.

As for stages I'm always a fan of battlefield for neutrals. In terms of counter picks though I would say Pirate Ship is good due to water making it harder for MK to gimp, Delfino also for partly being a mix of the previous 2 stages, and Corneria is a good stage for Ike in general because of it's low ceiling and sides.
I'd say you're right about about Pirate Ship and Corneria, but I don't think you're right about Battlefield and Delfino. Yeah, they're usually good stages for Ike, but it doesn't really help him that much against a MK...

Personally, I like to go with Yoshi's Island for a neutral stage so the MK can't glide under the stage... But I'd definately go for Pirate Ship or Corneria for a counter-pick... MK has a harder time gimping you on both stages, plus on Pirate Ship, you have a spike and MK doesnt... :D And earlier kills on Corneria is always nice... =P
 

Nidtendofreak

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Well, let's see what I can add....

1) If you get knocked off the edge, but high up into the air, and not below the edge/near the same height as the edge, save your second jump, attempt to head off the MK with Eruption if he attempts to gimp you, fast fall while moving towards the stage, then use you're second jump and aether. I believe Ike can fast fall faster then MK can, meaning by doing this, you can escape gimping. Obviously, you would of had to be knocked fairly high up to be able to pull this all off, but at least you won't get gimped to your death. And if Eruption happens to hit, due to how high up you are, it could kill MK.

2) This is one of the few match ups I can think of were Quick Draw might be to your advantage to use as a recovery. If MK is attempting to gimp you from above, and if you can pull it off, go for it. Unlikely and highly situational, but still possible.

3) Worse comes to worse: Aethercide. Take batboy with you.

4) Eruption, Ftilt, Utilt, Fair, Dair, and Counter all beat out Mach Tornado. Eruption, Ftilt, Fair, and Counter also beat out Drill Rush. If MK uses the cape, roll away. You can try for a counter, but he could be faking you out. Same idea with Eruption.

5) Deal as much damage as you can early on in each of MK's stock. SHNair->Grab->Aether/Dash Attack for example. Later on in his stock, it's a lot harder to get more then one hit in before he's out of range due to his weight.

6) Shuttle Loop is a pain in the rear. >_> Dodge it as best as you can, in the opposite direction he will be gliding after.

As for stages:

Battlefield: MK landing on an ledge with you right under = Free Uair/Aether/Utilt. Just don't have the reverse happen to you unless you like eating Shuttle Loops or Up Smashes

Corneria: There isn't a lot of space for MK to gimp you for an easy KO, and the small blast zones are more to your advantage then his. Also, Ike has an infinity in the lower area. If you happen to manage to pull that off, it's almost a guaranteed KO. The arwing lasers would be more damaging to MK then to you.

Port City Areo Drive (It's a Counter/Banned, so it can happen): Cars are you're friend. They will KO MK insanely early. Of course, he will stage in the air as much as possible, but MK can't stay in the air forever...

Norfair (Counter/Banned IIRC): The lava would screw up MK quicker then it would screw Ike up. When the wall of lava comes, try to hit MK into it. The mass amount of platforms help keep you from getting gimped as easily.

Pirate Ship: Dair in the water for easy kills, as long as you don't get Ship Stage Spike'd. The bombs, again, will be more of a problem for MK then for Ike. Catapult would kill MK sooner then it would kill Ike.
 

metroid1117

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In this match-up, you MUST play defensively until you find an opening. If you rush in, you're as good as dead. MK's very fast on the ground speed-wise and has quick attacks in the air, making him a very difficult character to deal with. Shut him out with retreating FAirs the best you can; it'll beat out his FAir, dash attack (if you don't fastfall), Tornado, and anything else he decides to approach with. If possible, counter his ground-based approaches with NAirs if he's at a low %; NAir -> grab -> etc. can build up for some 20% depending on how you play it, and you'll need all the damage you can get.

Eruption is surprisingly helpful in this match-up due to MK's sub-par weight; when used properly, it can be used to prevent MK from getting a Shuttle Loop gimp on you. From the air, Eruption stops your falling momentum ever so slightly; if you know the MK is going to go for a Shuttle Loop, time the charge so that he misses you on the way up and is forced to try and beat your SAF on the way down.

I like to take MKs to Battlefield; the relatively small stage, in addition to the platforms, allow you to dominate the course of the match if you're on the ground and they're coming from above.

@OP: you should either copy+paste the responses into the original post or synthesize our responses into one analysis. Good idea starting this thread.
 

YagamiLight

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@OP: you should either copy+paste the responses into the original post or synthesize our responses into one analysis. Good idea starting this thread.
I was planning on doing the latter option. By combining all of the posts and suggestions, my hope is to cover every facet of the character of the discussion, to understand exactly what to do in a situation. Meta Knight does A, Ike counters with B. And it'd probably look neater than copy and pasting it.

I'm also thinking of, in addition to the giant summary and stage picks, to add a stat system for every character, just as a basic overview of it's strengths and weaknesses. It won't have much practical value for well known characters, but it can't hurt. Something like:

Meta Knight
Speed (Running and attack) : *****
Power (Killing moves and damage racking): ****
Range (Priority and hitbox) : ***
Recovery : *****
 

M@v

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yeah im thinking this one is a GG for ike, besides the early KO threat, he really has absolutely nothing on MK
 

WolFlash

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Gd stages 4 Ike vs Mk (IMO):
-Delfino: Good stage 4 Ike's aether recovery
-Halberd: Same deal as Delfino, only a better lookin stage
-Luigi's Mansion: The floor between Ground and first stops Mk from spamming Mach Tornado,Drill Rush,Shuttle Loop and Dimensional Cape
And any others that aren't significantly aerially influenced
 

Empy

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WolFlash, even though Delfino and Halberd are normally pretty nice stages for Ike, they are horrible against Metaknight. He can fly under through all day and just spam uair everywhere, hoping to set up for shuttleloop. And if you aether through the stage you better grab that edge or you'll be punished for sure.

I'd rather take MK to Battlefield really. He can fly under the stage to the other side but it takes longer than with Smashville and you get a change to edgehog, so not a good option for him. He can use any of his attacks easily but Ike is just as free in his movement and has an answer for everything. The edges here should really be enough to keep you from getting gimped, as long as you airdodge properly. The other neutral stage is Yoshi's Island, although the slides to the outside can be a problem if he predicts you landing on them. Someone with experience against Ike would just shield to send you flying outwards.

Now about the stages Nidtendo(?)freak mentioned, Corneria, good counterpick, would go with that. Port Town, should be banned imo, but I wouldn't take him here because he can grab you in front of a car and dthrow, getting kills at a % normally impossible for him to kill you at. Norfair, it's counter, but it's not a good idea. The many edges just help him too much with all of his specials. They might help Ike a bit with Aether but landing on the stage is still too dangerous. And they help with QD but you don't need that and it's not really an advantage. Pirate Ship is a better option, though I'm not sure how much the water will be an advantage. I'm pretty sure with MK's better maneuverability the bombs aren't more of a problem to him than you.

One stage I'd personally like to use against MK is Green Hill Zone. All his specials can end up destroying the stage and sending him to his doom. Ike seems to have the same problem with Aether, but you can do a reversed Aether so you aim away from the breakable part and than just fall backwards. The checkpoints help to buy some time and force MK to approach later in the game and your utilt works great with them.

So it's 1) battlefield 2) Yoshi's Island with neutral for me and 1) Corneria 2) Green Hill 3) Pirate ship as counterpicks for me.

yeah im thinking this one is a GG for ike, besides the early KO threat, he really has absolutely nothing on MK
Yeah because a 4-6 disadvantage is completely impossible. And getting in KO's faster than your opponent is obviously not important.
 

HeroMystic

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Ike has better chances against Metaknight than some characters, it's just that Ike can't afford to slip up.
 

Conclusively

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Gd stages 4 Ike vs Mk (IMO):
-Delfino: Good stage 4 Ike's aether recovery
-Halberd: Same deal as Delfino, only a better lookin stage
-Luigi's Mansion: The floor between Ground and first stops Mk from spamming Mach Tornado,Drill Rush,Shuttle Loop and Dimensional Cape
And any others that aren't significantly aerially influenced
No, just nonono. LUIGIS MANSION? Have you EVER played an MK on this map? They'll just get you on the ground and spam MT against the ceiling. MK can also tech your killing moves off the ceiling, making it an even worse stage. No.
 

YagamiLight

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Tadah! I tried to incorporate as much as I could into the post, hence why it's essentially a mini-essay :laugh:. I'm trying to provide as clear cut a view as possible, no needless numbers or opinions in the character match-up ( 6-4/5.5-4.5/4.5-5.5 !!!, tell you so much, doesn't it?). That said, I'll leave MK up for a tiny bit as I not only get a cool picture for the mystery next character but to accept any corrections to the write-up. I want to allow some time to fix these now, as having random MK comments in the later periods will seem out of place (Not that I really mind, but if you have something to add, now's a good time).
 

HeroMystic

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The Dtilt also goes through his up B and spikes him.
I'm going to love this against an edge-campy Metaknight, especially since the majority I've played use this and I had no idea how to handle it.

By the way, in terms of Ike recovering you should add what 3xSwords said.

Never second jump immediately for Ike. If you do your options are so limited.
 

__V

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MK's glide-attack reaches farther than Ike's Fsmash.

There are 3 ways I beat it:

1. QD into him as he lands.

2. Let him fly into Eruption's SA.

3. Dash/QD behind the glide and Usmash him.
 

YagamiLight

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MK's glide-attack reaches farther than Ike's Fsmash.

There are 3 ways I beat it:

1. QD into him as he lands.

2. Let him fly into Eruption's SA.

3. Dash/QD behind the glide and Usmash him.
Up tilt also works to cancel it out if you see it coming. I'll add this in.

Also added in the above post.

Next character will be up in an hour or so.
 

Arturito_Burrito

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Lol I'm tempted to link my guide which only has snake done. Well I'll go ahead and do it if anyone feels like looking over it to get an idea of somethings. http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=184927

Let's see, Snake is a well balanced character and has a lot of tricks up his sleeve which is why he was the best character for a while. His tilts are stronger than Ike's and easier to land. Even so Snake has trouble against Ike on close range so he tries to keep you far away with his 5 (I think) projectiles and stage control. The good thing is Snake is very easy to juggle and to gimp if you send him under the stage, if he recovering close to the stage he really exposes him self to being spiked with Dair or Dtilt, unlike other characters Ike shouldn't grab him and let him plummet to his death as he can always use a C4 to come back up and a spike is much more effective.

Ike's best bet here is to get in close quickly so he doesn't have a chance to adjust the stage to fit him better. Once your in close try to get him into the air as that is where he is most vulnerable.
 

Guilhe

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Using QD and Eruption against Metaknight? Do you have a death wish? Meta knight has very little lag in his attacks and you can’t afford to use a move that has mediocre knockback and damage, a long ending lag and completely destroy your spacing. It’s too much risk for too little. Same Eruption, you lose all control over your aerial movement in order to be protected by a few SA frames. Take 3xSwords advice and save your jump and time well your air dodge.

And please stop making any more matchup threads, we already have many of those. If we don’t focus our efforts on a single matchup guide, Ike boards may never have one of its own.
 

HeroMystic

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I'm only seeing two match-up guides with one general guide. Most boards have a general guide, a video thread, and a match-up guide. I agree that the original match-up guide only posted numbers and does not help in terms of what to do in that situation.

As far as Snake goes, I'll have to sleep on it. Way too tired to contribute.
 

YagamiLight

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Lol I'm tempted to link my guide which only has snake done. Well I'll go ahead and do it if anyone feels like looking over it to get an idea of somethings. http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=184927
The thing that I especially liked about that is the highly detailed stage section. It properly explains which stage has what effects on the match. If you don't mind, I'd like to use some of the tips you wrote for this match-up guide.

Using QD and Eruption against Metaknight? Do you have a death wish? Meta knight has very little lag in his attacks and you can’t afford to use a move that has mediocre knockback and damage, a long ending lag and completely destroy your spacing. It’s too much risk for too little. Same Eruption, you lose all control over your aerial movement in order to be protected by a few SA frames. Take 3xSwords advice and save you jump and time well your air dodge.

And please stop making any more matchup threads, we already have many of those. If we don’t focus our efforts on a single matchup guide, Ike boards may never have one of its own.
QD and Eruption are not absolute deathwishes. Quick Draw need not just be used to quickly predict, get in, jab combo. You can use it for mindgames as well. And those fewSA frames are just what you need to grab the edge, in the case of eruption.

And, in my defense, I saw little activity in any serious match-up thread that had detailed explanations. You can go and write all of Ike's match-ups as 10-0 for all the good that'll do people needing help for that character. And I'll go a bit further and promise to make sure this thread doesn't fizzle out and keeps solid descriptions coming, provided the community as a whole doesn't suddenly disappear from the face of the planet.
 

HeroMystic

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*wakes up*

Believe it or not, Ike actually has a nice chance against Snake. The only thing Snake has a drastic advantage of is his landmines and C4 which can be distracting. The Nikita is pretty slow, but is pretty good at protecting Snake when he's at the edge. Throwing grenades at Ike though I see as a bad idea, cause Ike can just throw 'em back, especially if that Ike knows what he's doing with those grenades.

In close and personal is definitely the way to go. Spacing is a bad idea as it can give Snake a chance to retaliate with his disjointed tilts. That being said, make good use of spot-dodging those tilts and sending Snake in the air with u-tilt. Snake hates being in the air because almost all of his air attacks have horrible ending lag (worse than Ike's by a long shot). However, don't be predictable. Mix up your variations of attacks to keep Snake guessing.

If Snake is under the stage, but also close to it, then he's at his most vulnerable point. His SA doesn't work against Ike's D-air, which will send him plummeting easily. Snake has a much better chance if he's far away and high in the air, in which case, you can try to yank him to the bottom with the Aether spike which could also send him to his death.

Do not bother with Ike's Smash attacks if Snake is still on the ground. If you use them, you are just asking for Snake's F-Smash, which is almost as powerful as Ike's.
 

•Col•

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*wakes up*

Believe it or not, Ike actually has a nice chance against Snake. The only thing Snake has a drastic advantage of is his landmines and C4 which can be distracting. The Nikita is pretty slow, but is pretty good at protecting Snake when he's at the edge. Throwing grenades at Ike though I see as a bad idea, cause Ike can just throw 'em back, especially if that Ike knows what he's doing with those grenades.

In close and personal is definitely the way to go. Spacing is a bad idea as it can give Snake a chance to retaliate with his disjointed tilts. That being said, make good use of spot-dodging those tilts and sending Snake in the air with u-tilt. Snake hates being in the air because almost all of his air attacks have horrible ending lag (worse than Ike's by a long shot). However, don't be predictable. Mix up your variations of attacks to keep Snake guessing.

If Snake is under the stage, but also close to it, then he's at his most vulnerable point. His SA doesn't work against Ike's D-air, which will send him plummeting easily. Snake has a much better chance if he's far away and high in the air, in which case, you can try to yank him to the bottom with the Aether spike which could also send him to his death.

Do not bother with Ike's Smash attacks if Snake is still on the ground. If you use them, you are just asking for Snake's F-Smash, which is almost as powerful as Ike's.
Then again, if Snake is that close to the stage while using his Cypher, you could just grab him out of it, let him break free, then he'll just fall this his death... :chuckle:
 

Kirk

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Just get him off the stage. Insta-spike for pure greatness. If he goes too high with cypher, punish his *** on the way down, since he's limited his options with his only choice being coming back down. Upsmash/Uair/Eruption all come to mind.

P.S. Eruption is a godly move and if you don't use it you should feel sorry for yourself. :D
 

Tenki

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Hey, I just saw this thread, and I missed the MK discussion.

Anyway, I CP'd Brinstar on an Ike (as Sonic) and was completely blown away because I'd never seen Ike play on Brinstar before (lol thought the stage would help). Basically almost everwhere he landed with Aether forced him to slide away, wavedash style, thanks to the silly hills on that stage. The edges are pretty close, too, so it's not too hard to get side or vertical kills.

But anyway, I CP'd Brinstar on a MK, and I baited tornado on the bridge and he died :laugh: The lava kinda helps too. So if you have problems against Tornado, Brinstar should widely discourage it, and it also allows you to use Aether somewhat safely (antiaerial !!), if you can figure out where the "waveland" points are that confused me so.
 

~ Gheb ~

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Why doesn MK only have "***" for range/priority? His range and his priority are both godly
 

HeroMystic

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His range is crap against Ike, and priority means nothing if he can't contest Ragnell's range.
 

XACE-K

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Snake is very easy to punish when recovering so hurt him doing that. D-air, d-tilt, grab him out of Cypher are some strategies. Try to force him to use C4 when recovering so he'll take damage.

Watch out for the C4s and landmines on the stage, they can be a pain in the a** if you're careless.

Never try to F-smash him for a kill. Snake's f-smash is just as strong as his. Use it ONLY when the Snake messes up just like all the other characters.
 

MysticKenji

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@MK

Anti-Tornado Thread said:
FTilt*
FSmash*
Fair**
Nair*** (Also works Horizontally)
Dair*
Bair***
Eruption**
Counter***
Aether*
Nair also breaks Tornado. :D

@Snake

I'm not really seeing much talk of grenades here.
They're the most useful out of all of his projectiles, being able to both camp you and work as a fake counter when you approach.
Landmines, you can run over and shield.
Nikita, is stopped by QD (and your shield) and is also as slow as Ganon's run.
C4, is lol. But most snakes I fight don't C4 often, so I can't really help with this.
Mortardash, is pretty good, it's a nice retreating option for when Ike gets too close (and he can do it either direction, so it's a bit difficult to predict)
 

FuRy Smash

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well from wut i kno grenades are a double edged sword that can help and hurt ike. if u get in his face the grenades will hurt snake as well.
i heard that u can counter his mortarslide so if he rushes u like that then punish him for that with counter.

well snake's main methods of koing ike would have to be a ff bair, c4, fair, and utilt.

hes bair comes out so fast and has so much knockbak. very similar to ike's bair but it has a much better hitbox and range.

c4 i've seen it kill pretty well but it can be worked around with spot dodges and shielding.

utilt will prolly be his main killer against u. so fast, so strong, so ranged. best to kno when he will use this move and shield it before it wrecks u.

fair is only a threat off the stage and due to ike's limited recovery options and snake's stage/mortar control i can see him forcing u into it.
 

Nidtendofreak

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-Ftilt, Eruption, Hyphen Smash, Counter, and Fair > Mortar Dash
-For Grenades....roll around them. Don't try to catch them, you aren't mobile enough to use them against --Snake effectively, if at all.
-I've seen Marths use a SHCounter to get rid of Motion sensor mines. I don't know if it would work with -Ike's Counter or not. It should, but it would be harder to do.
-Ike's Ftilt has more range then the first part of Snake's Ftilt. I tested that out for a debate I had in -IkeVSSnake a while ago. It's only by a VERY small margin, but it's there. Snake's Utilt has more vertical range then Ike's Utilt though.
-Any smart Snake user isn't going to cypher near the stage. He'd rather take damage from a C4 then go near the stage edge with it.
-And who ever said his air game is slow is wrong. His Uair and Bair are both near instant activation with little lag after. And lingering hitboxes in the fact the whole time his legs are out, they can deal damage.
 

HeroMystic

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-And who ever said his air game is slow is wrong. His Uair and Bair are both near instant activation with little lag after. And lingering hitboxes in the fact the whole time his legs are out, they can deal damage.
I don't recall anyone saying his air game is slow (hardly in fact), but the ending lag is highly noticable, especially if they land while still in the animation. It's better for Snake to land if he's close to the ground (unless he tries a unexpected B-air, which could work).
 
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