Ness (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Initial opinions of Ness were fairly positive, as the numerous buffs he received during the transition from ''Smash 4'' and the addition of several new mechanics in ''Ultimate'' improved his neutral, advantage, recovery, and movement options. Ness's early results reflected these improvements, as Ness saw strong performances at majors from players such as {{Sm|Gackt}} and {{Sm|Scend}}, while regionally he was represented by a multitude of players, including {{Sm|ATATA}}, {{Sm|Awestin}}, {{Sm|PeW}}, {{Sm|S1}}, and {{Sm|FOW}}. As such, in the early metagame Ness was widely considered a high-tier character; this perception was boosted even further online, as the presence of increased [[Wi-Fi lag|input lag]] made his quick aerials even safer and his recovery more difficult to challenge, allowing players as Scend and {{Sm|Syrup}} to flourish during the online metagame.  

Unfortunately, this positive perception only declined in the post-online metagame. First, Ness's core weaknesses, specifically his exploitable recovery and short range, became more apparent in the newer metagame as characters with disjoints became more common in competitive play. In addition, although he remained in or around the top 20 in terms of representation, it was noticeably weaker at a major level due to Gackt's general inconsistency (for example, following his 3rd place finish at {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}} with a 49th place finish at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 8}} a month later) and Scend's decline. Alleviating this dip was Syrup's performances offline in 2022, giving Ness a new player in offline top level play. Due to all of this, Ness debut at 40th on the first tier list, ranking near the top of the upper mid tier: although many in the community still considered Ness as a solid high-tier, especially in the United States, some players and observers, notably in Japan, hold a lower opinion of the character.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.start.gg/ultranks-first-official-ssbu-tier-list-4a35bf3dcfc3|title=First Official SSBU Tier List}}, data located in the "Regional Differences" section</ref>

Following the first tier list, Ness's top level results continued to decline as Syrup eventually relegated Ness to a secondary in favor of {{SSBU|Steve}}, while Gackt's results remained inconsistent. In addition, the rise of characters such as {{SSBU|Steve}}, {{SSBU|Sonic}}, and {{SSBU|Mr. Game & Watch}} in the metagame greatly harmed Ness, as all three characters were great at dealing with Ness's projectiles or exploited his short range. On the other hand, Ness's representation remained solid as he still had several players perform well regionally, including ATATA and Scend. As such, although the second tier list saw Ness drop seven spots to 47th, now ranking in the B-tier, some regions, especially the United States and Latin America, ranked Ness higher.