Ike Is Awesome...But So Are His Foes.

[ESC Artiste]

Being an Ike player ever since Brawl came out, I manely did if for the sheer fun of seeing opponents blast off the screen in almost less than a second. As for competitive play...I do have issues.

First off, lets start with one match-up in Brawl I feel can be a bit crazy if both players are experienced; Ike v. Ganondorf. Both are tanks, both have high powered attacks, and at the right times, both can be pretty fast. I, obviously, prefer Ike over Ganondorf due to a slight increase of speed and versatility (in my opinion) in his moveset. However, Ganondorf has a similar playstyle, being the powerhouse punisher, and can really get me where I cannot expect it. This is probably my greatest foe in Brawl, even outdoing Fox, Captain Falcon, and Pikachu-all of which are my secondaries in Brawl (Only CF is my secondary in Sm4sh. Pikachu got nerfed, and Fox....I don't even... ;_; )

The rest are all match-ups in Sm4sh, where I cannot seem to get leverage if the the player is good with the character.

Ike v. Bowser. Do I really have to?....okay, I will. Bowser got BUFFED. Basically, being faster, having a bigger hitbox and hitting harder than Ike makes him a pain in the *** with the right player. Even with hit own body hitbox being the biggest in the game, it really doesn't take away his potential to send me flying.

Ike v. Mewtwo. With Mewtwo joining the game, it causes things to become very complicated, as his moves are buffed from Melee and can be very good against Ike...unless you have my luck and get the annoying Mewtwo player who doesn't care for KO's, but racks up sh*t like no one's business and leaves you with no way out. And against Ike makes things much easier with Mewtwo.

Ike v. Shulk. Ike hits hard, and is considered very versatile if played right (which is why I main him). Shulk does have horrible frame data, but his own versatility outmatches Ike every time. And god forbid Shulk's counter (with Smash or Buster, no less). Which leads to my main gripe with a good portion of characters against Ike.

How is it that out of 2 characters in Melee (Roy and Marth) and 4 characters in Brawl (Marth, Lucario, Peach, and Ike) with counter, we get TEN CHARACTERS IN SM4SH WITH COUNTER. You heard me right. 10 characters have a form of counter in Sm4sh. Here is the list (excluding customizations):

Marth: Counter
Lucina: Counter
Ike: Counter
Palutena: Counter
Mii Swordfighter: Counter
Little Mac: Slip Counter
Lucario: Double Team
Peach: Toad
Greninja: Substitute
Shulk: Vision *insert cringe here*

It's ridiculous that there are so many who have this, and while it is effective, can be abused so well to the point of rage. I wouldn't mind if maybe 6 or 7 got the counter variation, but goddamn TEN!?....what the hell, Sakurai?

Well, I may be ranting, but these are some serious issue for me in competitive Smash for me....or I just suck. Let me know if there are anything I could to to give myself a chance against these bros, and give your concern towards issues against Ike

 

[Arrei]

Yes, people were quite annoyed by all the Counters in this game. It's just rather unimaginative, and impossible to give them enough variation to make any of them unique without also making them better than all the other ones... or in other words, making them all into Vision.

As for your specific problem matchups... I'm going to hazard a guess and say you likely need to work on your defensive game.

The thing about Bowser is that he and Ike happen to end up both being defensive characters with high reach, and even nearly identical Fairs. But while Bowser can kill early with a good read, he can't combo or follow up very well, making it his main weakness when comparing him to Ike. Just don't get too aggressive against Bowser, and don't attack his shield. Every hit you take gets you one step closer to getting killed by a misstep.

As for Mewtwo, he's got great damage, kill, and combo capability, but gets sent to the blast zone by a strong wind. Only a few of his attacks have particularly good reach, and just as few have disjoints. So for all his combo capability, you can combo him back. Once he's at kill percent, Ike has a very easy time landing the killing blow, as few other targets are as big as Mewtwo is yet as susceptible to good old Bair. The key things here are to not jump face first into his Nair when he tries to intercept aerial approaches with it, and watch your spacing so you don't get caught at a range where you can't jab or Dtilt him but he can Dtilt you.

And then Shulk has a lot of the same tools as Ike in the neutral game, but, aside from using MALLC, cannot autocancel his approaches. This turns the matchup into a game of who's better at defending but at the same time identifying and capitalizing on the holes in their opponent's defense, because both characters can wall each other out pretty handily with neutral or retreating aerials. If you're getting wrecked by Vision a lot, that usually means you're either too predictable or attempting to be aggressive when it's not wise, since Counter is typically used on things you see coming (or, on For Glory, a last-ditch effort to stop an attack that usually ends in the opponent charging a smash for a second longer and annihilating you).