Ike Observations (An Intermediate Players take on Ike Matchups)

[SevenDeadlySquids]

I noticed a lack of Ike "match-up" charts, and I wanted to take my limited knowledge and experience and see if other people who played Ike shared similar opinions of certain match-ups with me.

Since I don't believe that I am experienced enough to go over every single matchup, I'm just going to point out a handful of characters and give my two cents. I am mostly curious to see what other, more experienced Ike mains have noticed and if they agree or disagree with my opinions.

For simplicity's sake, I will either call a matchup a good matchup, where Ike is favored to win, a fair matchup, where Ike is going to have about the same chances as his opponent, or a bad matchup, where Ike's opponent will have an advantage over him.

I will say that I do not believe that it is not possible for Ike to win against any character, or that an Ike player is guarenteed to win every "good" matchup. Even Ike's "good" and "bad" matchups are, in my opinion, still relatively evenly matched.

General Notes: Ike's eruption (neutral special) is a great way to punish recoveries. The more a character can mix up their recovery, the harder it is for Ike to predict, and the worse the move is (duh). This is why I frequently will point out some characters recovery options.

Link/ Toon Link
Matchup: Bad
Explanation: Mostly because they've got projectiles. Sure, you could argue Link is kind of slow, but Ike isn't exactly the fastest thing on two feet either. I don't believe this is Ike's worst matchup, but sometimes it can feel somewhat unfair. That being said, I would not call this a landslide win for Link. If you play smart and are able to carefully avoid all of the projectile spam, then the match slowly begins to shift in you favor. I believe the Toon Link matchup is slightly worse due to Toon Link's superior speed, but I also am more familiar with Toon Link and feel like I am more able to predict his movements. One other problem with this matchup is Links ability to use bombs and a few other tools to mixup his recovery.

Zero Suit Samus
Matchup: Bad
Explanation: I used to really, really struggle with this matchup. However, as I grew more as a player and practiced more and more, I found that it was perhaps a bit more fair. Yeah, I usually lose to ZSSs that are about my skill level, but with proper DI and careful recovery, it doesn't feel as unfair as before. That being said, ZSS is undoubtedly superior to Ike in a good bit of ways. She has ranged options, she can out-speed Ike, her combos are great, she has numerous recovery options with her tether, and she probably won't struggle that much to kill Ike and punish his relatively straightforward recovery. At one point I would have called this Ike's worst matchup, but I do not think that is the case any more.

Ness
Matchup: Good/ Neutral
Explanation: Probably a more controversial opinion, but I don't think this matchup is really better for Ness. You see, when Ness struggles against a character, it is usually because the character is too fast for Ness to deal with. That is certainly not the case for Ike, who is obviously slower and easier to combo than several characters. However, I believe that Ike can take advantage of Ness' somewhat limited recovery options. I have won several matches by combating Ness' PK Thunder with a two frame punish. That being said, Ness does have a few advantages over Ike thanks to his superior speed and combo game that make me somewhat afraid to call this a straight up good matchup.

Lucas
Matchup: Neutral
Explanation: Lucas' grab and tether recovery offer him a few more range options and make it easier for him to mix up his recovery. Lucas is scarier at a range, and his PK freeze is easier to get hit by than PK pulse in my opinion.

Jigglypuff
Matchup: Good
Explanation: Yeah, there simply isn't anything Jigglypuff can do. Jiggs struggles just against Ike in the same way she struggles against almost all of the characters in the game.

Megaman
Matchup: Bad
Explanation: Projectiles, projectiles, projectiles. Mega man can outspeed and outrange Ike.

Diddy Kong
Matchup: Bad
Explanation: Diddy Kong's combos are insane. I never feel like I have enough options and different things to throw out against a Diddy Kong. I don't think anyone will argue that Diddy's speed makes this matchup one of the hardest ones for Ike.

Pikachu
Matchup: Bad
Explanation: Pika is so fast and small that I really struggle in this matchup. Pikachu has got projectiles and the ability to gimp Ike's simple recovery. The only thing I have going for me when playing against Pikachu is that he's going to die a little easier than me because he is lighter. Pikachu has so many recover options that his recovery is practically impossible to punish. Spacing needs to be very, very precise in this matchup which, in my opinion, may be Ike's worst matchup.

Wario
Matchup: Neutral, maybe slightly bad.
Explanation: The only reason I don't think you have the upper hand in this matchup is Wario's ability to relatively easily get his waft ready due to the fact that he, like most characters, is faster than you. However, I do think that Ike actually shines and when able to catchup with Wario on a small enough stage. I feel like your neutral is at a slight advantage and that whenever I fall for Wario's shenanigans like his bike or bite that I feel like I'm outplayed in a relatively fair way instead of simply being outdone by superior attacks I can't really do much about. One reason that I feel like this may actually be a bad matchup is because of Wario's recovery numerous recovery options.

Shulk
Matchup: Neutral
Explanation: Basically, you're almost forced to deal with his Monado art, and that's why I feel that you do not quite have the upper hand. The only reason I point this out is because I feel like many people believe that this is an easy matchup for Ike and I have to disagree. While far from his hardest matchup, I do not quite think that Ike has much of an advantage here, but I might be wrong. If I play enough Shulks in the future, my opinion may change.

Kirby
Matchup: Good
Explanation: Kirby is just so easy to kill and I never feel threatened by them. If I lose to a Kirby, it's because I made a stupid mistake and got fairly punished for it. Kirby's recovery is solid, but not crazy enough to really bait eruption consistently. Maybe I find this so easy because I used to play Kirby a lot (Kirby was my main in Brawl), but I do think that Kirby is one of the best matchups.

*Update
Mario
Matchup: Bad
Explanation: Mario is faster than you, can take advantage of your recovery with his cape and FLUDD, and even has his fireballs to use as projectiles. From my experience, if you are playing against a Mario as Ike, prepare for an uphill battle.

That's all I have for now, but I am curious, what do you guys think? Do you agree or disagree with my opinions? What do you think Ike's worst and best matchups are?

 

[A Scrub]

As an ex-Ike main, I can safely say, no matchup is too bad for him. Some are more difficult than others, but even with heavy zoners or good frame data, Ike has the tools to deal with it. And once he gets in he's devastating. Not only this, I do believe that Bayo - Ike is at least even, as Ike's grab game is disgusting. Plus he can effectively edge guard her off stage and kill her at low-ish percents. Combine this with Bayo's difficulty against grab heavy characters. The only mu that I feel is rough in Ike's side is Shiek and Shulk. You have the tools to deal with everything else, burst speed (side-b autocancels if you time it right into jab or grab), and a fairly good recovery if you're smart.