Ness (SSB4)

Ness in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	EarthBound
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable (3DS) Starter (Wii U)
Final Smash	PK Starstorm
Tier	C (28-29)

Ness (ネス, Ness) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Ness was officially confirmed on October 3rd, 2014, alongside Falco and Wario, coinciding with the Western release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. As in every previous Smash Bros. installation, Ness is once again voiced by Makiko Ōmoto, who has now recorded new voice clips for both versions of the game.

Ness is ranked 28th/29th out of 54 characters on the tier list (tied with Lucas), placing both him and Lucas as the lowest C tier characters. This is an improvement from his 26th out of 38 in Brawl and his best placement in the series, although his Ultimate incarnation is considered to be much more viable. Ness no longer suffers from having 10 extra grab release frames, which was a huge detriment to his survival. Besides that, Ness possesses arguably the best grab game among the entire cast (competing with Mewtwo's and Luigi's), with his forward and up throws leaving opponents in very unfavorable positions, his down throw being a great combo starter at lower percentages and his back throw being the most powerful throw in the game, on top of being difficult to DI properly. Other notable strengths include an effective projectile game with PK Fire and PK Thunder, a formidable air game courtesy of his powerful aerials, and a versatile combo game thanks to his throws and aerials. Despite being a middleweight, he also has high raw KO power and high damage output, a prime example being his aerials, forward smash, PK Flash and PK Thunder 2. Finally, due to the strengths above, Ness possesses very useful options to cover getups from a ledge or on the ground.

However, Ness has rather sub-par mobility and range, which often forces him to be methodical with his approaches, or play defensively in order to gain the lead, which can leave him at a disadvantage against characters with greater range on their attacks such as Cloud. Lastly and the most problematic is his recovery. Despite being greatly improved, PK Thunder remains quite gimpable as the lightning bolt can clang with other attacks, while opponents can forcibly push Ness out of the way or even take a hit from the lightning bolt, making his recovery fail.

While Ness has poor matchups against several characters that were ranked higher than him, particularly Rosalina & Luma, Marth, and Corrin, Ness has achieved good representation and above average results thanks to top players such as FOW, BestNess, S1, The Great Gonzales, Gackt, and NAKAT.

How to unlock (3DS version only)

Complete one of the following:

• Play 10 VS Matches.
• Clear Classic Mode on any difficulty.

After completing one of the two methods, Ness must then be defeated on Magicant. Unlocking him will also unlock the stage.

Attributes

Ness is an unusual blend of character archetypes, being a short, projectile-heavy character with a high level of versatility in his moves. Ness's weight is average, and his falling speed is rather slow, giving him no disadvantage with weight alone. His walking speed is slow while his dashing speed and air speed are both sub-par, but his air acceleration is very high.

Ness possesses three projectiles: PK Flash, PK Fire, and PK Thunder. PK Flash can be used as an extremely powerful punishing or edge-guarding option, dealing huge knockback which can KO even Bowser, the heaviest character, under 70%. PK Fire possesses a good amount of range. It holds opponents in it when it hits them (due to being impossible to SDI out of), granting Ness guaranteed follow-ups (such as grab, an additional PK Fire, or a forward smash to finish the opponent) as long as he acts quickly enough. Also, it can be used off-stage against characters with more linear recoveries to combo into down air. PK Thunder is one of the more unique projectiles in the game. When used, the player will lose control of Ness and instead take control of a large thunderball for a few seconds. PK Thunder can essentially be used to knock opponents towards Ness for follow-ups, to mindgame opponents into a PK Thunder 2 trap to finish them, to edgeguard, and to juggle opponents. The knockback it provides can also hit an opponent over the upper blast line (especially light and floaty characters), allowing it to be used as a situational KO move as well. His down special move, PSI Magnet, provides a psychic shield that can heal him when hit with an energy-based attack, making it extremely effective against characters with slower projectiles such as Samus or the Mii Gunner. PSI Magnet has fast start-up and end-lag; this allows Ness to cancel his double jump momentum and allows him to reverse himself mid-air more reliably, making it effective for avoiding vertical attacks such as Mario's up smash when Ness is in the air.

Ness's biggest strength is found in his superb aerial game. Most of Ness's aerial moves can be used to either space, combo, or KO. All aerials, excluding down aerial, are capable of auto-canceling out of a short hop. His neutral aerial possesses very little startup and ending lag, and hits on both sides of Ness, making it a useful out of shield option. His forward aerial has quick startup, a disjointed hitbox, and traps opponents, essentially allowing it to chain into either itself or another move. It is a powerful spacing tool and is helpful in approaching opponents. His up aerial, one of the strongest in the game, can be used to combo at lower percents and KO reliably at higher percents. It possesses a large hitbox and little lag, making it low risk, high reward. His back aerial is another reliable KO move that possesses low lag. His down aerial can occasionally be useful in edgeguarding, although it has significant startup in comparison to his other aerials. Down aerial has a large autocancel window, giving Ness the ability to decrease the length of his shorthop, as Ness extends his hurtbox by using the move. Ness can use this property to Tomahawk much more effectively, buffer landing options, mix up his platform movement, and occasionally avoid techchase situations. Thanks to his floatiness, Ness can perform a neutral aerial or up aerial after a short hop air dodge, allowing him to jump through moves with invincibility and whiff punish.

While Ness's aerials make him a formidable fighter at close quarters, he can struggle to pressure from afar. His dash attack has an exceptionally long range and is a decent approach, but leaves him vulnerable to landing aerials and is only safe if properly spaced. PK Fire covers a lot of ground and can be used to perform a PK Jump, a technique that allows Ness to approach or retreat by inputting the move 1 frame after double jumping. If Ness buffers an airdodge after double jumping, he can increase the height of his double jump. If Ness uses PSI Magnet, then PK Thunder by the ledge, he will snap immediately, rather than stalling as he would normally. By combining these two traits together, Ness can often recover without having to use PK Thunder to travel, alleviating one of his biggest weaknesses.

Ness's grab game is also very potent. His standing grab has a slightly below-average range and is fast. His pivot grab is surprisingly disjointed, and his dash grab gives him a substantial speed boost. As mentioned earlier, Ness can trap opponents with PK Fire or PK Jump to set up for a grab. Ness possesses one of the fastest pummels in the game, allowing him to deal a decent amount of damage before throwing. His down throw neatly sets up for aerial attacks, leading into a forward air chain at lower percents or an up air at higher percents. Ness's forward throw has very high base knockback and can set up edgeguards. Up throw can be used to play situational mindgames with PK Thunder. Ness's infamous back throw is the strongest in the game; while it has very low base knockback, it has extremely high knockback scaling and is often regarded as his most effective and commonly used KO option.

Ness is far from perfect, however. He possesses below average speed in both the ground and the air, making it hard for him to chase most opponents. His ground game is also generally weak as he possesses short-ranged tilt attacks. His up and down smashes are also somewhat situational. While his up smash can be used as an out-of-shield option and his down smash as a useful edgeguarding option to two-frame opponents, both KO considerably later than his other KO options in a neutral situation, and his forward smash, while extremely powerful, possesses both high startup and ending lag, making it easily punishable if it misses. Ness's biggest flaw, however, is his recovery. While there have been various buffs to his recovery that make it much more reliable and viable than in previous Smash games, it is still easy to gimp if Ness is not careful enough with his double jump offstage. Characters with multiple jumps, such as Jigglypuff, Kirby and Meta Knight, with counters, such as most of the Fire Emblem characters, or with moves that reflect or absorb, such as Rosalina, Villager, and Pit can force Ness into disadvantage when offstage.

Custom moves can give Ness great advantages and brand new options. PK Freeze can freeze opponents, allowing free follow-ups, especially with PK Fire. PK Fire Burst has more range and power and always goes straight, making it a spacing tool rather than a combo tool. Lasting PK Thunder goes right through opponents and moves more slowly, allowing for better control. Recovery with PK Thunder 2 is also longer, significantly improving Ness' offstage survivability. Rolling PK Thunder travels much slower but is much stronger. While the recovery with PK Thunder 2 is mediocre due to the drastically decreased distance, the move is also significantly stronger, which allows it to KO even earlier than normal PK Thunder 2. Forward PSI Magnet is the same, but has a semi-spike hitbox in front of Ness, functioning similarly to Fox's Reflector. Finally, if the opponent has no energy projectiles, PSI Vacuum is the optimal choice, as it draws opponents in and is the strongest of Ness's down special moves damage-wise.

Overall, Ness is viewed as a viable character in tournament play due to his good combo game and extremely potent kill options. Despite this, he is believed to have a somewhat volatile matchup spread; he is especially vulnerable to characters that can abuse his poor mobility and low range to zone him out. Characters such as Rosalina and Luma, Marth, and Corrin are seen as especially troublesome matchups for Ness.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ness has been heavily buffed in the transition from Brawl to SSB4. His grab-release animation with 10 extra frames of ending lag, which was one of his most detrimental flaws, has been removed, and many of the other flaws he had (mainly his recovery) have been addressed. Ness also greatly benefits from the general changes of SSB4, as the new edge-trumping mechanic makes his recovery much harder to gimp, and the changes to hitstun canceling allow him to combo with his moves much more efficiently, while the weakening of SDI makes his multi-hit moves more reliable. The introduction of rage also benefits him as it improves his KO potential when he's at higher percents. He also greatly benefits from the removal of chain grabbing which was one of the main reasons why his longer grounded grab release was so exploitable.

As for direct changes outside of the length of his grounded grab release animation, he has seen a mix of buffs and nerfs. Ness overall has greater mobility, his smash attacks are stronger, and his down smash can now be used as a powerful edgeguarding tool as Ness can now charge to close to a ledge and it now semi-spikes opponents.

However, Ness has seen more direct nerfs overall. Ness' damage output is overall lower, and a variety of his moves have smaller hitboxes. His aerial game has seen some downgrades as his forward aerial deals less damage, has more landing lag and has much smaller hitboxes making it a less effective spacing tool while his down aerial has less range, is considerably weaker and it has lost its extremely lenient auto-cancel window making it no longer auto-cancel in a short hop and making it a much worse move overall. His down throw also has considerably increased knockback, hindering its setup potential at higher percents.

Overall, Ness is significantly better than he ever was in previous Super Smash Bros. games due to the general changes to the mechanics greatly benefiting him overall, and he has also seen solid tournament representation and greatly improved results due to his vast improvement.

Aesthetics

• Ness has a brighter color palette, and has lost the blushes on his cheeks and the indigo hue in his eyes. He is also slightly taller and thinner, with a smaller and more proportionate head and a smaller backpack. He also lacks the partial yellow stripe that he had at the bottom of his shirt.
• Ness' backpack now has more various color schemes depending on his alternate costume, such as a blue backpack for his yellow outfit, and a red backpack for his green outfit, whereas in previous titles, his backpack for those aforementioned costumes used the default color scheme instead.
• Ness is more expressive.
• All of Ness' PSI-based attacks now use a graphic effect similar to Lucas's attacks (forward aerial, up smash, etc.) instead of using the same graphic effect as his double jump.

Attributes

• Ness walks faster (0.86 → 0.8635).
• Ness dashes faster (1.39 → 1.46265).
• Ness' grounded grab release has much less ending lag (FAF 41 → 30), now matching the rest of the cast, and making him significantly less vulnerable to grab release follow-ups, especially when combined with the removal of chain grabbing. The changes to air releases also benefit him as he is far less susceptible to air release follow-ups.
• Air dodge has less startup lag (frame 4 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 49 → 34).
• All of Ness's electric attacks except for his specials are now a magic effect.
• Ness' gravity is higher (0.0711 → 0.077).
• Rolls have less ending lag (FAF 32 → 31).
• Rolls have a shorter duration (frame 4-19 → 4-17).
• Spot dodge has more startup lag, a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 3-18) and more ending lag (FAF 26 → 28).
• The changes in shieldstun make some of his attacks slightly less safe on shield compared to the cast.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit of neutral attack deals 1% less damage (3% → 2%) and all three hits have smaller hitboxes (3u/3u/2.5u → 3u/2u (hits 1 & 2), 4.5u/4u/3.8u → 4u/2.4u (hit 3)).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt deals less damage (12%/11%/10% → 9% (unangled)/10% (angled)).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt now involves Ness releasing a PSI spark from his hands, increasing its vertical reach.
  • Up tilt has slightly higher startup (frame 5 → 7) and its old hitbox is now a sourspot that deals 2% less damage. Its hitboxes are also smaller (7.2u/7.2u → 6.5u/4.0u) to compensate for the increased vertical range.
  • Up tilt's animation is more similar to that of Smash 64, and its sweetspot now has a magic sound effect instead of a punching sound effect.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt now has a sourspot at the end of Ness's foot that deals less damage (4% → 2%) with its base knockback only slightly increased (3 → 6). Down tilt also has smaller hitboxes (4.32u/2.88u/3.36u → 2.5u/2.5u).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack now launches in front of Ness instead of behind him (100° → 80°), making follow-ups easier. The final hit also deals more knockback (70 (base), 100 (scaling) → 80/104) and has a bigger hitbox (5u → 6u).
  • The first hit of dash attack no longer deals consistent damage (5% → 4%/7%/3%). This makes it better against aerial opponents, but worse against grounded ones. Dash attack also has more intense lighting effects.
  • The second hit of dash attack deals less damage (4% → 2%), and as the first hit no longer deals consistent damage, dash attack as a whole no longer deals consistent damage (13% → 9%/11%/13%).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash deals drastically more knockback (50 (base), 62 (scaling) → 70/67) (now having the same knockback values as its Japanese Smash 64 counterpart), going from a forward smash of above-average power in Brawl to one of the most powerful forward smashes in Smash 4. Its reflector now has a speed and power multiplier, drastically improving its punishing utility.
  • Forward smash's strongest tipper hitbox has been completely removed, so that its maximum damage potential when uncharged has been lowered (24% → 22%). Its other hitboxes are also smaller (2.9u/3.6u/3.8u/4.099983u → 2.3u/2.6u/3.0u) and its reflector now has a limit, where if he tries to reflect a projectile that is too strong to reflect, Ness will experience about 300 frames (5 seconds) of ending lag.
• Yoyo:
  • Both up smash and down smashes are now properly affected by smash charging, making them deal more damage when charged.
  • Yo-yo smashes are charged while still in Ness's hand, removing their pre-charge hitboxes.
  • Yo-yo is colored green instead of yellow.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has much less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 10-34 → 6-30).
  • Up smash has more ending lag (FAF 55 → 56).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 62 → 46).
  • Down smash is now a semi-spike (55° → 28° (front), 33° (back)), greatly improving its edgeguarding ability.
  • Down smash's main hit deals less damage (13% → 10%), and its knockback was not fully compensated (90 (base), 60 (scaling) → 60/80 (front), 50/80 (back)).
  • Down smash now has weak initial hits before its front and back hits, which deal 1% damage and low knockback; linking into the main hit. It hits four times at the front and two times at the back.
    • Because of this, the front hit deals more damage overall (13% → 14%).
    • However, the back hit deals less damage overall (13% → 12%).
  • Down smash is no longer constantly active (frames 10-33 → 10-15/17-18/23-25/26-29/31-32).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has a shorter duration (frames 5-24 → 5-15).
  • The hand hitboxes have been positioned closer to Ness (x offset: 0.33 → 0), slightly decreased their range.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's looping hits have a decreased SDI multiplier (1.5x → 0.8x), which, along with the weakening of SDI, makes forward aerial significantly more difficult to escape from.
  • The looping hits' angle has been altered (361° → 366°).
    • This allows them to connect more reliably (with the move now being able to reliably chain into itself), improving Ness's comboing and damage-racking capabilities.
    • However, this also removes their ability to lock opponents, removing Ness' most reliable aerial locking tool at higher percents.
  • The final hit has increased knockback (24 (base), 145 (scaling) → 32/150) improving forward aerial's edgeguarding potential but hindering its ability to chain into itself.
  • Forward aerial a higher hitlag multiplier (0.5x → 1x (loop), 1.5x (final)).
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (2% → 1% (loop), 11% → 7% (total)), has smaller hitboxes (8.1u → 5u/1.5u (loop hits), 9u → 8u (final)) and the final hit has a shorter duration (frames 20-21 → 20).
  • Forward aerial has increased landing lag (12 frames → 20) and auto-cancels later (frame 30 → 33).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has increased landing lag (12 frames → 17).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has an altered animation where Ness swings his head faster.
    • This new animation increases the move's horizontal range.
    • However, this also makes the move slightly harder to use as an anti-air.
  • Up aerial's hitbox has been marginally repositioned (y offset: 3.408 → x offset: 3.4).
  • Up aerial has increased landing lag (12 frames → 14).
• Down aerial:
  • Late down aerial deals more damage (9% → 10%).
  • Down aerial has a new animation, where Ness spins during its startup, and he is facing a different orientation as he kicks downward with his toes instead of the stamp of his foot. The kick additionally now produces a spark of energy below Ness's foot.
  • Down aerial's hitbox is now static, rather than being attached to Ness' foot. This means that the hitbox now stays in the same position relative to Ness, rather than moving with his foot.
  • Down aerial uses the strong magic sound effect on hit instead of a strong/medium punch sound.
  • Down aerial has a shorter duration (frames 20-23 (clean)/24-28 (late) → 20-21/22-24).
  • Down aerial auto-cancels much later (frame 29 → 50), removing its ability to auto-cancel in a short hop, let alone straight after the hitboxes cease.
  • Down aerial has drastically decreased base knockback (90 → 20 (clean)/30 (late)), with both hits now being incapable of KOing at realistic percentages, even with the removal of meteor canceling and the late hit's increased damage.
  • Down aerial has smaller hitboxes (6.54u → 3.9u (clean)/6u (late)).
  • The late hit launches opponents at a slightly higher angle (361° → 45°).

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs are positioned further outwards (z offset: 6.8 (standing)/8 (dash)/-12 (pivot) → z stretch: 8/10/14), improving their range and no longer being the shortest-ranged grabs in the game.
  • Pivot grab has more startup lag (frame 6 → 10), no longer being the fastest in the game.
  • Dash and pivot grab have more ending lag (FAF 36 (both) → 43 (dash), 41 (pivot)).
  • Dash grab has a smaller grabbox (4u/3.5u/3.5u → 3.2u).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals slightly more damage (1% → 1.2%).
• Down throw:
  • The changes to hitstun canceling and DI significantly benefit down throw, as Ness can now use it to set up into his aerials much more effectively at lower percents when combined with its lowered base knockback (90 → 70).
  • Down throw has fewer fire graphics.
  • Down throw's fire hits deal less damage (1% → 0.6%), reducing its total damage output (9% → 7%).
  • The throw has much more knockback scaling (30 → 80), hindering its combo potential at higher percents.

Special moves

• PK Flash:
  • PK Flash travels faster. It travels even faster and gains even more distance if directed behind Ness. Turning around before using this move might prove useful, depending on the prediction.
  • PK Flash is now a much darker green.
• PK Fire:
  • PK Fire travels slightly farther.
  • PK Fire has slightly more ending lag. It now travels much farther back to Ness if reflected rather than petering out after traveling its set distance.
  • PK Fire's effect after hitting an opponent produces darker colored flames and more smoke.
  • When interrupted whilst starting up PK Fire, Ness stops reciting the attack's name.
• PK Thunder:
  • PK Thunder travels faster, has less ending lag, much larger hitboxes, deals much better knockback, travels in a drastically tighter arc, and goes through opponents until the tail disconnects from Ness with 1% more damage, making him less susceptible to being gimped. PK Thunder 2 is much faster, and when Ness bounces off a wall while recovering with it, he can initiate PK Thunder again during the bounce.
  • PK Thunder is now light blue like in Melee.
• PK Thunder 2:
  • PK Thunder 2 has increased ending lag.
• PSI Magnet:
  • PSI Magnet has significantly less ending lag, with Ness now being able to act out of it much quicker. The magnet is also larger, increasing its range.
  • PSI Magnet swirls projectiles around it, causing a slight delay until Ness can actually be healed. If Ness were to drop PSI Magnet and/or be launched, the absorbed projectiles may take even longer to reach him, but they will still heal him eventually.
  • The swirling of captured attacks by PSI Magnet utterly nullifies even projectiles that would continue past Ness, including Thoron and Pikachu's Thunder.
  • PSI Magnet is now light blue like in Melee.
• PK Starstorm:
  • PK Starstorm now fires a thin, aimable line of meteors from the top-center of the stage, similar to how Aura Storm functioned. This enables it to deal damage more reliably at the cost of having blind spots.
  • PK Starstorm now has a flame effect, instead of an electric effect.

Update history

Ness has been slightly nerfed overall in game updates. His most notable nerfs are the reduced damage output to his down throw and PK Fire having slightly more endlag. The changes to shield mechanics also hamper him slightly due to the majority of his non PSI-based moves having a rather low damage output. Ness has also got some other useful buffs, however, such as a faster PSI Magnet and his down aerial having a bigger hitbox and lasts one more frame (though it's still his least useful aerial), and while the buffs do not truly compensate for his nerfs, he remains a strong character.

1.0.4

• The period Ness can be at his maximum fall speed before using hard landing lag has been lengthened: 4 → 5 frames.
• PK Thunder and all custom variations have 6 frames more ending lag.
• Down throw's five hits have gained additional hitboxes, allowing them to hit Mr. Game & Watch.
• Down throw's five hits before release deal less damage: 1% → 0.6%.
• Down throw's release has increased knockback: 90 base/30 growth → 70/80, hindering its combo ability at high percents.

1.0.6

• Forward smash's has an updated sound effect when reflecting projectiles.
• Down throw's screen shaking effect is more pronounced.

1.0.8

• The PK Starstorm trophy adds "Ness" in parentheses once Lucas is downloaded, as Lucas's trophy is also named "PK Starstorm"
• PK Thunder 2 has a greater deceleration rate (0.072 → 0.08), making it cover less distance.
  • PK Thunder 2 has a lower deceleration rate after hitting an opponent (0.072 → 0.064), making it cover the same distance after hitting an opponent despite the previous change.
• PSI Magnet and its custom variants' minimum hold time has been decreased (30 frames → 18 (PSI Magnet), 26 frames → 16 (PSI Vacuum), 36 frames → 20 (forward PSI Magnet)).
• PSI Magnet absorbs projectiles faster (20 frames → 6).

1.1.0

• Down aerial's meteor smash hitbox size increased: 3.5u → 3.9u and duration increased.
• PK Fire's ending lag increased.

1.1.1

• Rising PK Flash has less startup lag when it is detonated (frame 8 → 6).
• Rising PK Flash deals more damage (2% → 4%) and knockback (80 (base)/30 (scaling) → 50/80), improving its KO potential.
• Rising PK Flash's range increased (10 → 13).
• Rising PK Flash's first hitbox's duration decreased (3 frames → 2).
• Rising PK Flash has a smaller size multiplier (2.2x → 2x).
• Rising PK Flash minimum charge increased.
• PK Freeze range increased (10 → 11).
• PK Freeze has less startup lag when it is detonated (frame 15 → 8).
• PK Freeze deals more damage (8% → 10%) and has a larger damage multiplier (0.11x → 0.16x).
• PK freeze has more landing lag (25 frames → 30).
• PK Fire Burst deals 1% more damage: 1%/8% → 2%/9% and hits earlier.

1.1.3

• PSI Magnet heals halved damage from absorbing teammates' projectiles.

Moveset

For a gallery of Ness's hitboxes, see here.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Jab (ジャブ) Straight (ストレート) Middle Kick (ミドルキック)	2%	Punches twice, then kicks. The first hit can jab lock at low percentages.
			2%
			4%
Forward tilt	↗	Side Kick (サイドキック)	10%	A roundhouse kick. Can be angled, making it deal 1% more damage. It can also lock at low percents.
	→		9%
	↘		10%
Up tilt		PK Toss (ＰＫトス)	7% (arms) 5% (hands)	Pushes upward with both hands that produces a PSI spark. Has a sourspot located on his hands that deals 5%.
Down tilt		Crouching Kick (クラウチングキック)	4% (foot), 2% (toes)	A swift shin kick. Extremely spammable and can be used to jab reset. Has a sourspot located on the tip of his foot. Has a chance of making the opponent trip.
Dash attack		PK Hand Stamp (ＰＫハンドスタンプ)	4%/3% (hit 1), 7% (hit 1 aerial), 2% (hit 2), 4% (hit 3)	Sends three PSI sparks out in front of him with the third spark knocking the opponent up into the air. The first spark deals more damage to aerial targets. Good to set up juggles and pressuring from afar. Difficult to punish on shield if only the last hit connects.
Forward smash		Batter Up! (バットスイング, Bat Swing)	18% (low), 20% (mid), 22% (tip), 2× damage (reflected projectiles)	Swings his bat. It is the second strongest forward smash in the game when sweetspotted at the tip of the bat and still one of the strongest forward smashes when untippered, but it has some start-up and ending lag. The bat itself will reflect incoming projectiles when he swings it. However, reflecting a projectile that is too strong to reflect will result in Ness experiencing five full seconds of ending lag, although this is uncommon since it requires a strong projectile to be reflected multiple times.
Up smash		Around The World (シャトルループ, Shuttle Loop)	9%-13%	Sends his yo-yo forward and performs "around-the-world" over himself. A decent anti-air and a good out of shield option. It is more powerful if the opponent is behind Ness, but it's still the weakest up smash in the game, not KOing until roughly 137%.
Down smash		Walk the Dog (ヨーヨーショット, Yo-Yo Shot)	1% (hit 1, front and back)