Ike Video Thread (Critiques Welcome!)

[GhostUrsa]

Yeah, it's For Glory, but hey. Some experience is better than no experience, right?
There's a second part that I'll update this with later.

I'd recommend mixing up your recoveries from the ledge. You almost always rolled, which got you into plenty of trouble in the beginning. You also favored your dash attacks, which Falcon continued to punish. Once you started mixing it up near the end, you did much better but it was a little late to save the match. It was a good attempt though.

You'll want to work on your spacing a little. There was plenty of times when you attempted an empty short hop but landed right where you needed to be for your opponent to hit you. Ike's range for his tilts and smashes are near legendary, so a little practice knowing your MU's range will help prevent future punishes.

When using QD to cover distances, I recommend using it lower to the ground(But still airborne). You'll use the no landing lag to your advantage that way, and can attack while sliding. If done too high, you'll enter the free-fall state which prevents any kind of attack/defense.

Watch out for the forward rolls. You've been using them a lot when you are far from your target, which puts you right in the way for a smash. I'd recommend either teching the landing so you can stand right where you are, just rising up or rolling back. It's almost always better to be on your feet when approaching due to the number of offensive/defensive options available to you. If the opponent was closer and trying to attack, then the rolling towards them is more useful.

Specifically with Bjr, avoid using Eruption when they are recovering High as the exploding cart will get you with all but a full charged eruption (and he won't take damage since he's sailed clear over you.) I'd recommend meeting him with an F-air or Aether to attempt a Catchn'Spike instead. (Eruption still is godly against his lower recoveries)

You did good with DeDeDe. Only recommendation I can see is to watch out for his f-tilt and f-smash since they do out-range you.

With Lucina or Marth, I find that Eruption against Low recoveries is difficult to pull off due to the speed of their Up-B. Blocking it allows for a free grab, or you can counter it for some flourish (and to make them afraid of using it.)

Biggest thing I can recommend is practice the spacing of your character. Lucina got you in the end because she was too close for your attacks to be effective when in the air and she was able to use her speed to beat out your moves.

 

[LordShade67]

snip

Noted. Much appreciated for actually detailing where I'm going wrong. Looking back at it(I have the second part up, but it's a followup to that, so...), you're right. My spacing DOES need work. Lots of it.....

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Is this thread still active? I want to know if we still have people. All of the support and critique I've gotten here has been amazing. I want to continue posting videos and see what everyone says.

I'm having serious trouble with Diddy and Mario. I'll post some videos soon, but they'll take a while to upload.

 

[san.]

I'm not too familiar with the two outside of what you should theoretically be able to do. I'm good for 1 video at a time. When there are many, many videos, I end up just not watching any.

 

[GhostUrsa]

I'd say it's still active. I may not be able to help immediately after something is posted, but as long as you don't mind replies coming after a bit (life does get in the way at times. ) I'm game for helping assess. It helps improve my game by showing me things I may not have known was possible and/or an issue.

Personally, I'd post videos if I could. I don't have any way to capture my mistakes beyond the built in replay features of my Wii U/3DS. Once I find a way, I'll be posting some stuff. I had a particular fight with a Yoshi I'd like some help with. I could have fought better since I had some distractions on my end, but there are still some mistakes I've made that have been nagging me because I'm not quite sure what went wrong.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Have one for Mario. Definitely not my shining moment, but it needs to be addressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__u5NRqCtDw

And one for Diddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIKImgWg7Us

Notably, LordMix told me he plays with Ryuga a lot, so he's very keen on Ike's mechanics.

 

[A2ZOMG]

Have one for Mario. Definitely not my shining moment, but it needs to be addressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__u5NRqCtDw

And one for Diddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIKImgWg7Us

Notably, LordMix told me he plays with Ryuga a lot, so he's very keen on Ike's mechanics.

You need to F-tilt more against Mario (a lot of times you whiffed in situations where F-tilt, especially pivot F-tilt, would have actually hit Mario). Plus actually recover low and sweetspot the ledge with Up-B.

I swear just not long ago, I was telling myself that I needed to learn to not throw out U-smash recklessly as a read. I mean, yeah. You got punished a lot for doing that. You have to space U-smash really carefully because it has significant ending lag.

 

[GhostUrsa]

Have one for Mario. Definitely not my shining moment, but it needs to be addressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__u5NRqCtDw

And one for Diddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIKImgWg7Us

Notably, LordMix told me he plays with Ryuga a lot, so he's very keen on Ike's mechanics.

I can see in the video he had a very solid read for most of the 2 matches. A2ZOMG is correct that you seem to U-Smash quite a bit when trying to prevent ledge movements, when can be easy to read. More importantly, you were mixing them in with your back turned which gives them ample time to get out of the way and figure out how to hurt you while you are swinging. I like to use it when I suspect my opponent will land behind me as well, but you did it too often. Mario has the speed on you, so Smashes should be avoided for the most part. (You have to be certain and not fishing with them) Don't be afraid of Ike's U-Tilt, as it can kill at a good percentage and has a decent range.

Mostly I saw quite a bit of staying too close. You'd air dodge or use a *-air but land right next to him for a follow-up. Since he had a good read on you, it was begging for a punish. You'll want to try to give yourself more space to react after hitting the ground.

Lastly, mix up your attack options when approaching. More in the Diddy match, but you spent a lot of time f-air or n-air against a shield then necessary. Mix in a fast fall out of reach, hit the deck to give yourself some breathing against his F attacks and punish. You could have also fast falled out of reach, and baited that banana he likes so much for a counter. (He liked to follow through with a rushdown, so the counter would have hit him too.) When you broke routine, you almost always were getting in some good hits/kills in.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what else to say. LordMix definitely had an experience edge over you, which is something only practice and comfort with your character will give over time.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I'll post two more videos, and if you want to watch the rest, just focus on the ones that are dated "2/3/15".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgSm7yHGLTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_SyyqF1kM

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Okay, I need some serious help against these two characters. Got outplayed hard.

Rosalina:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIaJF6ASvns

Toon Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nVJKEQkOyY

For Toon Link, I don't know if I should pressure him completely or respect the spacing. He has a ton of kill options and combos everywhere. Rosalina is just incredibly hard to finish off because she's so wiry with her air game and hard to hit.

 

[GhostUrsa]

You and Rosalina were pretty close. You noticed it after a little bit, Ike players have to get rid of Luma as much as possible. With Luma, Rosie has better range then us and can gimp our edge guard if she's airborne but Luma isn't. Once you made sure Luma was out, you had a much better time keeping up with Rosie. I know it can be difficult to land a solid blow against Rosie when she dodges because of the invisible frames (I've had a similar problem with any character that goes invisible when air-dodging and stuff, like Palutena) as it throws off the eye when tracking your target. Because off this, when going for the kill I try to bait her to commit to an attack or recovery move since she can't rely on optical illusions to throw off your aim. There were a couple times when you had her off stage and one good Eruption would have done wonders. Her Launch Star recovery move doesn't cause damage, so all you have to worry about is the timing.

As for Toon Link, that match was intense! I can see your game has improved since the last video against LordMix. You had a good read against his moves, did some excellent baits and were really adaptable to his playstyle changes. I'd recommend mixing up your air game with some more ground moves, as he started catching on that you preferred aerial attacks to grounds fairly fast and was trying to bait your short hops so he could disrupt it with his boomerang. You did a good job dodging those traps, but there were a few opportunities where a dash attack would have completely blindsided him when he set those up. Don't forget to mix in a couple d-smashs when your opponent gets roll happy. There were a few times where he was rolling around trying to get some distance to return to neutral, and you were dancing around each other with rolls. Stopping when this starts and d-smashing would have made him more fearful of trying to return to neutral. Lastly, don't be afraid to counter a little. Since most of your time in Skyloft is on the flying platforms zooming around the city, the lower platform can be jumped through from the bottom during recovery without approaching the edge. You gave him plenty of space when he attempted to do so, but since Toon Link's recovery requires him to commit to his spin attack, you could have rushing in there with a counter later in the match to seal the victory. (He started relying on you to give him the space he needed during the recovery, which I could see as the match went later and he stopped using U-Air before recovering. Perfect time to scare the crap out of him.)

Overall, they were fun videos to watch. Good thing we don't fight in the same circuit, or I'd have my work cut out for me.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Had some humongous problems against Kami's Lucario today. I got two videos. Please watch and critique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRLgx6GfHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZBB1nsrvIo

 

[GhostUrsa]

Had some humongous problems against Kami's Lucario today. I got two videos. Please watch and critique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRLgx6GfHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZBB1nsrvIo

Lucario can be a hard Match Up with Ike, with range and power being tied to his %. This was making it hard to come at him from a cardinal direction (all but his up tilt and U-air work in straight lines), but if you come at him more from a diagonal you'll have an easier time slipping between his attacks.

You'll want to slip some u-tilts in, as the range is decent and has some good speed to catch opponents in front, above and diagonal forward from you. He spent some time leaping at you but backing up to get you caught in some of his F attacks, and a well placed u-tilt can mean all the difference.

The only other thing I can recommend is watch out for the range of his Aura ball, both it's fired and charging states. You spend a little too much time right up next to him, which he would use to both punish you and charge up his ranged attack. You do outspace it's range with your f-tilt or f-smash, so don't be afraid to give him a good poke with it, especially since you were usually behind him when he was attempting to get you caught in it.

As for when he was covering the ledge with a charging Aura ball, I'd recommend dropping a little and using Aether. Ragnell would have came up right under his feet and got him caught in its spin

This is a match up I find where finding ways to gimp your opponent at lower % is the key to victory, as every blow you make that doesn't KO your target makes him more deadly. My last recommendation is to use more Eruptions when Lucario was going for a low and deep recovery, as his extreme speed can't hit you from down there but your eruption's tip can take him out. If you are on the ledge and he's going for that low/deep recovery, you can use that jumping spike I've seen you pull off before.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Thanks, you're a big help. I got mauled by LordMix sometime after and he picked me apart. I'm really running out of options here, so I will have a few more videos if you'd like to look.

 

[GhostUrsa]

Thanks, you're a big help. I got mauled by LordMix sometime after and he picked me apart. I'm really running out of options here, so I will have a few more videos if you'd like to look.

Watching you improve over time, I'd say knowing your options isn't the problem anymore but just knowing which to use at different times. I'm glad to help and am willing to help deduce what's gone wrong during matchups, but most of what you need is just practice now. I say this so you don't lose heart thinking you aren't smart enough to adapt to your opponent.

LordMix has much practice on the ins and outs of fighting Ike, as you've mentioned previously, so you've got an uphill battle just by taking him on. 'Picking you apart' is something he'll have a better time doing since you are only one character while he's using multiple, meaning you've got more match up possibilities to think on what options are best compared to him.

TL,DR: You're adapting well, you just need practice. You'll more consistently give LordMix a run for his money/a beating with time.

 

[Xuan Wu]

I would like critique as well please. ^-^

This is a set of matches against a formidable Ganon user I encountered in FG uploaded by the opponent. He is definitely more scary compared to his SSBB counterpart and was reading me like crazy! I really need to stop running into smashes.

Any feedback or tips would be most appreciated!

 

[GhostUrsa]

I would like critique as well please. ^-^

This is a set of matches against a formidable Ganon user I encountered in FG uploaded by the opponent. He is definitely more scary compared to his SSBB counterpart and was reading me like crazy! I really need to stop running into smashes.

Any feedback or tips would be most appreciated!

Ganondorf is currently one of a few Matchups I struggle with, but I'll help with what I can.

Quite a bit of Ganondorf's moves have super armor, so a direct attack usually is a bad idea. Especially in the air, as the super armor allows you to fall right into range of quite a bit of his moves (start up of the u-air or his meteor slam). I find that if you are going to go after him there, you want to come in slightly higher than normal to offset this.

When gimping his recoveries, avoid him when he's recovering from the side. His side-b has some nasty range and will almost always ganoncide you. Preventing high recoveries can be risky, since you'll be approaching from that unwanted angle I mentioned above. So you'll want to mix in some attacks that change his approach direction. Throw in an aether, as it should go above him slightly and follow through with a more horizontal knockback with the final hit will set him up for a more likely low recovery. (Not always, as rage and % will affect this.) When he's recovering low, you'll either want to get right up to the edge with Eruption or with counter depending on how deep the recovery is. If his recovery isn't that deep, there is a chance that his U-special will not sweet spot the edge but go slightly higher which can prevent all but a fully charged Eruption from going off. A counter here may be more ideal. A walk off f-air or B-air can also make good work, f-air for the better radius for hitting that higher part of his hurtbox and b-air for the attempt to bounce him off the stage. For deep recoveries, you'll want to practice that Eruption, as he can't do anything to you otherwise. If you get up to the edge, the hitbox for the tip of Ragnell should give you the depth you need to intercept him getting the sweetspot if you time it right. (you'll want to have the explosion be the second before he snaps to the ledge)

The only other thing I can see is that after he Flame Chokes you, you have a tendency to roll backwards. Normally the distance is good but Wizard Kick has a nasty range, so in this case you may actually want to roll forward instead. If you are free falling towards the stage and in range for the wizard kick/flame choke you may want to tech the landing instead of trying to roll back/forward. normal rolls have the impact lag first, which gives Ganon the time needed to hit you when your invincibility frames wear out. If you tech it, or tech and roll forward it will throw off his groove and might give you the edge needed for a solid punish.

You did adapt well during the fights, and his read on you wasn't absolute. He had the advantage in the beginning, but as the matches went on you were able to give him a hard time planting hits. Brushing up on your punishes is all you needed to put him down early. :-)

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

I would like critique as well please. ^-^

This is a set of matches against a formidable Ganon user I encountered in FG uploaded by the opponent. He is definitely more scary compared to his SSBB counterpart and was reading me like crazy! I really need to stop running into smashes.

Any feedback or tips would be most appreciated!

1) Aether after DThrow. Big no-no. Against other characters, take a risk if you don't feel punished. Against someone who can bring you from 0%-70% in 5 seconds, avoid at all costs. Use DThrow Nair instead until he's at 40% or so, then switch to UThrow into Fair/Nair/Uair.

2) Don't fastfall your shorthop fair. Either shorthop fair or full jump Fair and then fastfall. That's how you get the autocancel.

3) Ganondorf players take full advantage of the hitbox-shift that he gets from FSmash. You have to really be on him or let him do the move first in order to not get caught.

4) Good Eruption. Be warned that some Ganon players can and WILL go to his lowest recovery point intentionally to punch you with his Up B instead of grabbing.

Here's a few things to keep in mind in general about Ganon.

1) Shorthop Bair autocancels. Full-hop Uair, Nair, and Dair auto-cancel. Ganondorf players will use this to bait you into thinking they're suffering from landing lag. This usually leads into an immediate FTilt...or worse.

2) They can, and will, chain their Side B's as many times as they can. Roll past him, and you could get FSmashed upon getting up.

3) Under no circumstances should you ever, EVER attempt to edgeguard Ganondorf at the ledge on your last stock. It's not about desperation. It's a simple read. Even if you're not at the very corner, he can still drag you off the stage by pulling back while using Side B.

*NEVER CORNER EDGEGUARD GANONDORF*

4) Ganondorf can send you off stage and use Wizard's Foot (Down B) and cancel immediately into UAir upon leaving the ground. This is not only a bait to hit you if you try to recover horizontally, but also a setup into whatever edgeguard he chooses to read from you. Listen to me when I say this. *Ganondorf has among the best edgeguarding tools of anyone in the game* He has enough power to launch you or stage-spike you at low percents, Bair comes out very fast, his Up B is reliable enough to save him after gimping you, and his Uair hits from front to above to behind him.

5) Ganondorf's Wizard Foot can launch you if he connects in the air. It can also spike you off-stage, and with the proper positioning, he will recover.

I've played messhia_dark from GameFAQs a good bit, and the #1 cornerstone of Ganondorf's library is deception. He wants you to think he's open. He wants you to think he can't edge-guard you. He wants you to think he can't recover and if you do edgeguard him, he's dead for sure. He wants you to think his FTilt and DTilt won't out-range several of your prominent moves. Above all else, pro Ganondorf players want you to think he is as weak as he was in Brawl.

Do not ever take a Ganondorf player lightly. As far as I'm concerned, they have the advantage until they're dead. It doesn't matter if you've capped 150% damage on them. They can kill you at 75% with a proper FSmash. They can kill you at less with the proper gimping. They are a true threat.

 

[RoronoaTREY15]

I have sadly switched my main from Ike to Link =( But I fought this match the other day against a really great lil mac player (who switched to his alt Diddy), so I switched to my alt Ike!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE_hTirSy_I

 

[Arrei]

At 0-ish percent, I'm fairly certain D-throw to Aether is perfectly safe against Ganondorf due to his size. Many characters can slip out or DI out of its trajectory, but Ganondorf's too bulky for that.

Now, something I've noticed against Ganondorfs that I'm not sure is unique to online play or not, but it seems while Ganondorf is able to Flame Choke -> D-tilt many characters on the roster, there are some where it just doesn't work - and Ike is one of those characters, making a get-up attack a valid option for Ike. Do keep in mind, however, that once Ganondorf knows you know that, he has the option of using short hop Wizard's Foot to punish the attack, which will be a kill at high percent - at which point it becomes a game of mixups, but it still means your chances are improved a bit since the pool of followups Ganon has to pick from has increased.

 

[GhostUrsa]

At 0-ish percent, I'm fairly certain D-throw to Aether is perfectly safe against Ganondorf due to his size. Many characters can slip out or DI out of its trajectory, but Ganondorf's too bulky for that.

Now, something I've noticed against Ganondorfs that I'm not sure is unique to online play or not, but it seems while Ganondorf is able to Flame Choke -> D-tilt many characters on the roster, there are some where it just doesn't work - and Ike is one of those characters, making a get-up attack a valid option for Ike. Do keep in mind, however, that once Ganondorf knows you know that, he has the option of using short hop Wizard's Foot to punish the attack, which will be a kill at high percent - at which point it becomes a game of mixups, but it still means your chances are improved a bit since the pool of followups Ganon has to pick from has increased.

I'll have to try that once I get my router moved. I've had a hard time at late playing online due to the amount of interference my apartment complex has, and I'm trying to get my router to a place that will give me optimal broadcast. I have noticed that sometimes the d-tilt follow-up didn't work with Ike in the past, which I've used to return to neutral more often than not. If it is easier to predict when that will happen, mixing up with a rising attack at the right time could allow for an excellent punish option at kill %!

 

[Arrei]

Like I said, I don't know if it's as feasible in offline play, but I suspect it has to be some minute difference in their frame data when hitting the ground. Against the same opponent I can Flame Choke and D-tilt their Kirby and Game and Watch all day, but against their Donkey Kong who you'd think it'd be a cinch to execute due to his size, the tilt comes out too late. Similarly as Ike facing any Ganondorf online I can always act before Ganondorf does, but Bowser gets a boot to the face no matter how hard I try, even if I tech because his tech roll is just goddamn terrible.

 

[Mario766]

Ganon gets zero follow-ups against Donkey Kong or Ike from Flame Choke.


There's a thread on the Ganon boards that shows what you can and can't get from it. Against Ganon when you get hit by side-b, just don't tech and play safe depending on their action. Usually you'd not tech into a roll, and back to neutral.

 

[Trunks159]

Had some humongous problems against Kami's Lucario today. I got two videos. Please watch and critique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRLgx6GfHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZBB1nsrvIo

Little late but I think you just threw out move after move without any hope of hitting Lucario. Your spacing wasn't really spacing very well, since this Lucario was having none of it. He would just charge his sphere as you attacked the air and wait for an opening to punish. Staying on the ground, sheilding, grabbing, dtilting, and jabbing were some things I think you lacked.

 

[Shun_one]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_2hvFVxwU&feature=youtu.be
I thought it was a good match, if nothing else. Versus Megaman. Apologies for video quality.

 

[GhostUrsa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_2hvFVxwU&feature=youtu.be
I thought it was a good match, if nothing else. Versus Megaman. Apologies for video quality.

Always better to block dash attacks when your opponent has multiple attacks in their animation than retreating roll, since their dash attacks are designed for chasing fleeing targets. If you shield through them, you have a free attack at their back. You could forward roll, but only if you need to return to neutral as you'll never close the gap before he can react.

When chasing a fleeing opponent for a grab, you'll want to practice going farther before hitting the grab button. I've got a similar bad habit from playing Link for some 10 years, so I have to constantly remind myself in order to break the habit. Don't be afraid to get close, as Ike's grab is fairly fast(and will beat out MM's attacks except his pea shooter and maybe his slide).

You'll want to edge guard with Eruption more, as your opponent preferred low recoveries and a well placed one will beat out almost everything he's got. If he's coming from a middle recovery, give him space (Which you did during the second stock. Good read!). Otherwise get to that edge and anticipate.

It was a good match. You adapted well. Most of what I've got is nitpicks, anyway.

 

[Shun_one]

So I have learned about the dash attacks. I have too many habits ingrained into myself and have been making an effort to stop doing them because I get killed when I do. Remembering to shield versus roll is one such bad habit of mine.

I've been working on my grabbing habits too, so thanks for pointing it out. I've been trying to get good at doing pivot grabs consistently, but as I still flub more than 40% of the time, I don't trust myself to pull one off when it'd be required. Holding my run a bit more before grabbing will be much easier to adapt to doing.

More Eruption I'll need to work on. I don't trust myself to not miss the key moment when they ledge-snap, so there's times I opt to just keep myself ready to react. So, I need to go practice and get used to when it'll hit against which recoveries. In this fight, I was a bit concerned about being shot with something so I picked poorer choices a lot of times.

Thanks for the critque's. I have been trying to find more footage of other Ike's out there, but that is a surprisingly challenging endeavor.

That said, another match. Verus Villager this time. I am grateful to the MegaMan and Villager both, as they've been giving me ideas on how to get in on heavy projectile users.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlGPBRrbx0

 

[GhostUrsa]

So I have learned about the dash attacks. I have too many habits ingrained into myself and have been making an effort to stop doing them because I get killed when I do. Remembering to shield versus roll is one such bad habit of mine.

I've been working on my grabbing habits too, so thanks for pointing it out. I've been trying to get good at doing pivot grabs consistently, but as I still flub more than 40% of the time, I don't trust myself to pull one off when it'd be required. Holding my run a bit more before grabbing will be much easier to adapt to doing.

More Eruption I'll need to work on. I don't trust myself to not miss the key moment when they ledge-snap, so there's times I opt to just keep myself ready to react. So, I need to go practice and get used to when it'll hit against which recoveries. In this fight, I was a bit concerned about being shot with something so I picked poorer choices a lot of times.

Thanks for the critque's. I have been trying to find more footage of other Ike's out there, but that is a surprisingly challenging endeavor.

That said, another match. Verus Villager this time. I am grateful to the MegaMan and Villager both, as they've been giving me ideas on how to get in on heavy projectile users.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlGPBRrbx0

I can understand that. I've still got a bad habit with using Air Dodge into the ground to reduce lag I'm trying to break, though it's not as bad as it used to be. (Yeah practice!)

Eruption is a big part of Ike's edge game. Getting the timing down is crucial for gimping your opponents. In your fight with Villager, you could have ended both stocks far earlier if you'd hit him with a half or full charge eruption during his deep recoveries. The villager's Balloon flight recovery has no attacks available and leaves him in a helpless state if you pop the balloons, which makes deep recoveries dangerous for him against Ike. If you're having a hard time practicing your Eruptions (or if you start practicing it now and find you are still having a hard time getting it right during a match), then try a walk off b-air. You can smash the balloons for an humiliating win, or can smash him against the stage for a cool Stage Meteor effect. (He'll hit the walls of the lower part of the stage, and due to the unique curve on the mansion the bounce will spike them. Only way to be saved is he can perfectly tech off the wall, which I've only seen one other person ever pull off down there.)

If you're looking for some Pro battles, Ryuga has some of his 3DS tourney's recorded on Youtube for some ideas. I thought I'd seen some of the other regulars there, like san but now I can't find confirmation on that. Looking at some of the videos on here can also be useful. Most of us may not be professionals, but we may have a grasp on some parts of Ike's play that you aren't aware of yet. I know that has been the case for me. (Deep offstage fighting is something I've feared due to Ike's recoveries in the past, but I've seen some wonderful play down there that has got me a little more 'courageous'. Like the b-air stage meteor stuff.)

 

[Shun_one]

Off-stage b-air to stage spikes? I'll have to start using that one, especially against Villagers. I didn't know he couldn't act out of Balloon Fight, so I'll take advantage of that more. I should probably go do some studying on my more challenging match-ups rather than doing mid-match recon which usually costs me a stock if not a few games.

I've been doing alright with Eruptions in the past few battles, albeit, against opponents who weren't nearly as skilled as I, so I'm not sure how well it would stack up facing better foes. I'll use it along with this off-stage B-air's and see what results I get going forward.

I've been silently following this thread since it started, so I've been keeping up with the footage posted. I was hoping posting a bit of my own might encourage a few others to start posting again. I'll check out the footage you recommended and try implementing some of this new stuff into my game. Staying fresh is a big part of staying alive for us Ike mains.

 

[GhostUrsa]

The off-stage b-air trick doesn't work on all stages, only on the ones that are curved on the bottom. Something to pay attention for, as ones like Mushroomy Kingdom and Onett are vertical, so will more launch them sideways. The angle is key, since it throws off expectations for the player and the blast zone down there is much closer than on the sides or top.

Practicing against others with less Ike experience is probably the best way to get some Eruption practice. The players who've played him before will try to avoid deep recoveries when possible. (Like that Mega Man player tried to later in the match. Only a few characters with some tricks to their Up-B will attempt it and succeed against a trained Ike. Sheik/Zelda and Ganondorf are a few that come to mind.) Hard to always get with For Glory, but it's still practice for your Ike fundamentals.

 

[Trunks159]

Few good things, and a few bad things. Overall, I like your ability to read, predict, and react. You seem like youre constantly trying to read your oponent, however, this isn't always a good thing. Your oponent controled the pace of the match and kept you on your toes the entire time, and human reaction speed isn't usually reliable.

Work on your movement skills. You would stand in the same place sometimes and awkwardly fullhop sometimes, revealing your unstable control with the controller. Go into training mode and repeat actions over and over again until you have complete control of your character. Characters like Link, Villager, Megaman, etc expose movement skills.

 

[Shun_one]

@ Trunks159
Thanks for the critiques. I've been working on ways to get more involved in controlling the fight since those two battles and have been doing alright for the most part. I have recently been going into training mode and just running around a lot so I have been flubbing inputs less frequently.

I've been experiencing lag spikes in a lot of my fights lately and some of my technical errors I can attribute to "internet woes". Lag is a powerful monster.

 

[Trunks159]

Yes it is, almost impossible to be a good Link on autopilot on fd with lag. One thing that may help ur control of the analog stick would be to learn perfect pivoting. It exercises ur ability to make precise movements.

 

[Shun_one]

Yes it is, almost impossible to be a good Link on autopilot on fd with lag. One thing that may help ur control of the analog stick would be to learn perfect pivoting. It exercises ur ability to make precise movements.

Whoooo boy....that right there is a monster of a technique. Since you recommended it, I'll go back to practicing it. I had made an effort to try learning it when it first came up, but I wasn't sure if it would be worth it for me to put the time commitment in. It's something I can do, maybe 10% of the time I try to do it.

Thanks again all for the critiques. Hopefully next time I come back with videos these issues will have all been addressed, or at least better than they were at present.

 

[GhostUrsa]

A good way to get the timing down for Perfect Pivoting is to practice Dash Dancing, as the window of opportunity for the Perfect Pivot grabbing and tilts is in the animation of the turn used for Dash Dancing. I found practicing the two techniques in tandem accelerated my understanding of them. That and Dash Dancing is a nice technique to know when fighting opponents that can attack with moves with lingering hitboxes, which is where spot dodging can get in trouble.

As for the Internet woes, I can completely relate. I've had my fair share, and have been trying to help out where I can on the forums when people bring up wanting to optimize their internet for play. If your issues are consistent with lag, you can look for some of the forum posts I had on the subject or, if they aren't comprehensive enough, start a new thread and I can try to help further. (I don't want to derail this thread, as it's more about technique critique than router critique. )

 

[Trunks159]

Whoooo boy....that right there is a monster of a technique. Since you recommended it, I'll go back to practicing it. I had made an effort to try learning it when it first came up, but I wasn't sure if it would be worth it for me to put the time commitment in. It's something I can do, maybe 10% of the time I try to do it.

Thanks again all for the critiques. Hopefully next time I come back with videos these issues will have all been addressed, or at least better than they were at present.

Hah, took me like a whole day to do it about 85% of the time, and even now I never implement it, but it did help. Sorta like school where you learn a whole bunch of thinhs you'll never use but simply doing the act of learning them sauses you to improve.

 

[Shun_one]

@ GhostUrsa
Thanks, that's what I've been doing with my movement practice. As for my internet woes, I plan to wire my connection eventually. Right now, I've been having success with minimum lag battles, so perhaps it was my foes? Thanks though!

@ Trunks159
That makes sense! From just an hour of dedicated movement practice, I can pivot grab maybe 70% of the time now. Perfect Pivots are still beyond me with any modicum of consistency, but I'll keep working on it.

 

[xBlitz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7nHajUhfqk

Myself vs Doom aka Max Ketchum. Happened at a Canadian national in December. I still struggle in this matchup, but I feel like certain aspects of what happened can be analyzed to learn this slightly difficult matchup. Beating him was an "upset", and it net me 9th after losing to Ally and a high level Rosalina shortly after in losers. Critique away

 

[Trunks159]

Wow your Ike is really good. Honestly, you played the matchup well but you messed up a few times. Eruption should pretty much work 100% of the time if you do it right, and i noticed you miss timing or give up on it. Those couldve been kills. Other than that, no problems.

 

[GhostUrsa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7nHajUhfqk

Myself vs Doom aka Max Ketchum. Happened at a Canadian national in December. I still struggle in this matchup, but I feel like certain aspects of what happened can be analyzed to learn this slightly difficult matchup. Beating him was an "upset", and it net me 9th after losing to Ally and a high level Rosalina shortly after in losers. Critique away

I agree with Trunks that some more Eruptions against deep recoveries would have helped. Though your opponent was adapting to your edge guarding, the deep recoveries are where he has no options but to try for the edge snap and this is right where Eruption is the best. You'll also want to work some tilts into your fight. Ike's d-tilt and u-tilt have some good reach, and d-tilt got some speed as well. You'd be able to set up a good 20% combo with 2 or 3 moves starting with a well placed d-tilt.

Last thing I'd recommend is watch out for using too many smashes against Cap, as his speed will usually beat them out. There were plenty of times where he was able to just wait you out and then commence with a thrashing.

The fight was a fun one to watch, and your setups were fun to watch. If you can cut some of the luck out of your reads (Most of your smashes felt like fishing, which is hard to do against Cap), I think you'll be a good Cap killer.