Ness (SSBU)

Ness in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	EarthBound
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	PK Starstorm
Tier	B- (49)

Ness (ネス, Ness) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was revealed along with fellow EarthBound fighter Lucas and all other previous veterans on June 12, 2018. As in the original Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, he is unlockable, instead of being available from the start. Ness is classified as Fighter #10.

Makiko Ōmoto's portrayal of Ness from Super Smash Bros. 4 was repurposed for Ultimate.

Ness is currently ranked 49th out of 82 characters on the Ultimate tier list, placing him at the top of the B- tier. This is a slight drop from his placement in Smash 4, where he was ranked 28th/29th out of 58 (tied with Lucas); despite this, Ness is generally regarded as being at his most viable in Ultimate. He possesses a fairly well-rounded design, including useful tools in most phases of the game. He is most notable for his fantastic air game: all of his aerials can auto-cancel in a short hop, have low landing lag, and are fast, powerful, disjointed, and useful for both racking up damage and KOing. His grab game is also among the best in the cast, as all of his throws have practical utility: his down throw is a viable combo starter, his forward and up throw force opponents in unfavorable situations where they can be juggled or edgeguarded, and his back throw is among the strongest KO throws in the game. Furthermore, Ness's specials all have flexible utility: PK Flash, PSI Magnet, and PK Fire can all start or extend combos, while the latter can quickly rack up damage and set up strong punishes. Ness's recovery has improved in Ultimate thanks to buffs to PK Thunder and PK Thunder 2 — and by virtue of having the longest directional air dodge distance in the game alongside Lucas.

However, Ness does have some exploitable weaknesses. He suffers from poor grounded mobility and a lack of range in his normal attacks. Altogether, characters with large and/or disjointed hitboxes can easily outrange Ness, forcing him to play defensively and leaving him with few options in neutral and at a disadvantage. Because of his slow mobility on the ground, his approach options are also limited, especially when combined with his aforementioned sub-par range. Worst of all, despite the improvements to his recovery, it is still exploitable by many characters.

As a result of his strengths and weaknesses, Ness is viewed as a strong, but volatile character in competitive play. Players such as Gackt, Scend, and Syrup have seen consistent success with Ness in tournaments.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Ness being the 1st character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Kirby or anyone in his unlock tree, being the 1st character unlocked.
• Have Ness join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Ness must then be defeated on Onett.

Attributes

Ness is a versatile character with strong tools for a variety of situations. Although he has relatively poor movement on the ground — his walking speed, initial dash, and dashing speed are all below-average, as well as his air speed — his aerial movement shines thanks to his excellent air acceleration, above-average jumping height, and unique double jump cancelling ability. Further bolstering his aerial game, Ness's low gravity and falling speed allow him to perform multiple aerials in one short hop, and all of his aerial normals can be auto-canceled. Ness has three projectiles with numerous applications, including juggling, edgeguarding, and even recovery. Despite his small stature, Ness is a middleweight, tied with Lucas, Mii Brawler, and Inkling.

Ness's outstanding aerial movement is supported by having one of the best sets of aerial normals in the entire game. His neutral aerial activates on frame 5 and functions well as a combo-breaker and out-of-shield option. It also sets up tech chase situations at medium percents and has decent knockback at high percents, making it a viable edgeguarding and KO option. His forward aerial has a large disjoint and is quite active, making it excellent for starting combos, edgeguarding, and approaching. Ness's new multi-hitting up aerial is strong and great for juggling, and its drag-down properties allow Ness to set up grabs, combos, and KOs. Ness's back aerial is fast and very strong when sweetspotted, and his down aerial is a slow-but-powerful meteor smash useful for edgeguarding or starting vertical combos.

Ness's grab and throw game is also outstanding and among the best in the cast. His grab is relatively fast, and all of his throws have useful applications. Ness' down throw is a solid combo starter that will often lead into multiple forward aerials, and his forward throw has very high base knockback, allowing Ness to reliably set up edgeguarding situations. Ness's up throw, while not as practical, is a solid mix-up that can set up juggling with PK Thunder or PK Flash. Most notorious, however, is Ness's back throw, which remains the most consistent killing throw in the game.

Ness's grounded game, while limited by his poor grounded mobility, features some powerful attacks. His forward tilt and dash attack are fast and strong enough to KO at high percents, and the latter has improved range. His up tilt is a good combo tool at low percents and can even KO at higher percents. His down tilt, which is very fast and highly spammable, can be used to two-frame, jab lock, pressure shields, confirm into a grab, or deal immense damage if the opponent is trapped at the ledge. His forward smash (baseball bat) has high start-up and ending lag, but deals very high damage and knockback, especially when sweetspotted with the tip of the bat. The bat is also a reflector with a damage multiplier of 2.0 and a speed multiplier of 2.5, giving it the second-highest damage multiplier (after Kazuya's Left Splits Kick) and the single highest speed multiplier of any reflector in the game, excluding items. Ness's up and down smashes (yo-yo) have significantly improved knockback, deal damage while charging, and can hang below the stage, making them some of the best and easiest-to-use edgeguarding tools in the game.

Ness is perhaps best known for his special moves. His neutral special, PK Flash, is a large projectile that travels in an arc from Ness's head, gaining strength and distance depending on how long the input is held for. Because it has low ending lag and freezes opponents briefly when successful, PK Flash has great utility as a combo starter and juggling tool. It also no longer sends Ness into helplessness, making it useful for knocking opponents away from the ledge while Ness is offstage. Ness's side special, PK Fire, is a tiny projectile that travels a short distance horizontally and bursts into a pillar of flames on contact with an opponent, dealing multiple hits. When used in the air, PK Fire has a diagonal trajectory and decreased landing lag, bolstering its safety in neutral, especially on platforms. The move is infamously spammable and can set up combos, condition opponents to jump, or simply rack up damage itself. Ness's up special, PK Thunder, doubles as a versatile projectile and Ness's primary recovery option. The move sends a ball of electricity upward from Ness's head that can be guided with the control stick, costing Ness his mobility while active, but granting him the ability to pressure deep offstage, juggle opponents repeatedly, or, at times, KO an opponent into the upper blast zone. Ness can also send the lightning into himself at any angle, launching him in that direction for an extremely powerful attack, known as PK Thunder 2, which also allows Ness to recover from deep offstage. Ness's down special, PSI Magnet, creates a psychic field around Ness that absorbs energy-based attacks and heals Ness a proportionate percent. PSI Magnet also has newfound offensive utility in Ultimate, as it now features an active hitbox with set knockback. The aerial hitbox can confirm into several of Ness's normal aerials, while the grounded hitbox places opponents in perfect range for a sweetspotted forward smash, making it practical in jab lock situations. PSI Magnet also alters the momentum of Ness's double jump, a form of double jump cancelling that makes for a unique aerial burst option and a stylish way to start or extend combos.

Ness's strengths are balanced by notable weaknesses, however; his sub-par overall horizontal movement greatly limits his options to approach. In addition, despite his disjoints being notably large for his size, Ness's overall reach is still short relative to the cast, especially when combined with his normals having stubby range in general. As a result, characters with better disjoints (particularly swordfighters), such as Lucina and Shulk, and speed demons, like Sonic, can stuff him out. When combined with his projectiles being rather slow or short-ranged, these issues render him slightly vulnerable to camping, especially against opponents with non-energy projectiles. Ness is also vulnerable to juggling given his floatiness and lack of reliable landing options, as well as the removal of multiple air dodges. Characters with powerful and disjointed aerials or anti-air tools, such as Mr. Game & Watch, can make it very difficult for Ness to land safely because of this.

However, Ness's most glaring weakness remains his recovery. Despite traveling a good distance, PK Thunder 2 is quite exploitable: if the attack makes contact with an opponent or projectile mid-flight, its distance will be halved, often resulting in a gimp. Furthermore, opponents with good timing can hit Ness with a powerful attack or fall into PK Thunder 1 before he can launch himself. The projectile also disappears when hitting an opponent or touching solid stage terrain; thus, characters with great recoveries can simply jump into the projectile and take minor knockback and damage, immediately sending Ness into helplessness offstage, though doing this is risky of course. Because of its enormous knockback, PK Thunder 2 is also susceptible to many counters, and opponents who time their counter correctly will almost always kill Ness. Conversely, opponents who mistime an edgeguard against Ness will often die for it.

Overall, Ness is a floaty, brawler-type glass cannon, similar to Peach, with a mix of fast aerials, a strong grab and combo game, excellent aerial mobility, poor grounded mobility, some situational zoning tools, and a unique aerial stalling mechanic in PSI Magnet. Ness excels in most offensive aspects of the game, possessing excellent damage output and strong KO potential, as well as impressive edgeguarding options and a versatile suite of projectiles. On the other hand, he suffers in certain defensive situations, especially when launched offstage or dealing with juggling due to his exploitable recovery and lack of reliable landing options, respectively. He also struggles against characters who can outrange his disjoints and/or abuse his poor mobility, though this is less of a problem than in previous games.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Ness has been significantly buffed in his transition from SSB4 to Ultimate. Various changes to his previous options and the addition of new ones have positively impacted his playstyle, and the changes to the game's engine strengthen his kit.

Ness's ground game is better compared to previous iterations; forward tilt is now a viable KO option, dash attack has increased knockback and range, up tilt has decreased ending lag and is useful for starting combos, and down tilt racks up damage much more effectively, especially near the ledge. Among his most significant buffs are the changes to his yo-yo smash attacks (up smash and down smash), which not only regained their charging hitboxes, but now hang below the ledge to very easily set up edgeguards against most characters; up smash has also lost its early hit and has dramatically higher knockback, making it a viable KO option for the first time.

Many of Ness's other tools are more effective as well. All of his aerials, save for neutral aerial, deal more damage, and he has gained a new up aerial that hits multiple times, allowing for drag-down combos and set-ups while retaining most of its standalone KO power. Down aerial has more range, can once again be autocanceled from a short hop, and has a much stronger meteor smash effect. In terms of special moves, PK Flash charges much more quickly and no longer causes helplessness; PK Fire has reduced lag (especially landing lag, making it far more useful when used in the air) that improves its combo and set-up potential, and PK Thunder deals more damage. His most notable buff, however, comes from a significantly improved PSI Magnet; the move now has a hitbox (similarly to Lucas, although during the move rather than when canceling the move) that possesses a rehit rate, which gives it offensive use for the first time in the series, as it supports Ness in extending combos and gives him newfound KO confirms at high percentages.

The universal changes in Ultimate have improved Ness as well, especially the new air dodging mechanics and general buffs to aerial attacks. The return of directional air dodges benefits Ness tremendously, as his own directional air dodge travels further than that of any character (aside from Lucas), providing a reliable recovery option aside from the notoriously exploitable PK Thunder 2. The removal of multiple air dodges also enables Ness to pressure opponents in the air with PK Thunder more consistently. Furthermore, Ness's already great aerial game is further compounded by the universal reductions to landing lag, improving their safety and combo potential. Lastly, the universal increase to mobility has improved Ness' sub-par horizontal movement, improving his approach.

However, Ness has also received a few nerfs. His new up aerial has less horizontal range, requires landing all hits (which start from behind and move in an arc above Ness) to deal considerable damage, and sends at a lower angle that hinders its KO potential, worsening Ness's ability to juggle opponents. His grab game has been toned down; his slower, more standard pummel is no longer one of the fastest in the game, preventing it from racking up damage as effectively, back throw is very slightly worse for KOing (though it remains the strongest throw in the game), down throw's higher ending lag hinders its combo potential past low to mid-percents, and the universal nerfs to grabs affects Ness just as much as the rest of the cast, as grabbing is a key component to his gameplan. Lastly, the power of his yo-yo smash attacks now only increases by half as much when charged, and PK Flash, in exchange for its much faster charge, is significantly weaker when fully charged.

While most of the universal changes to the game's engine have benefitted Ness, a few other changes have hindered him just as much. As mentioned before, the universal nerfs to grabs' frame data makes it riskier for Ness to throw out his own grabs. The new limit to air dodges has greatly hindered Ness' ability to land safely, as air dodging multiple times was previously one of Ness' most reliable ways to land safely. Additionally, his own air dodges are now far more laggier than average. Collectively speaking, Ness is far more vulnerable to juggling and thus his disadvantage state is easier to capitalize.

Overall, the buffs to Ness's neutral game, punish game, edgeguarding, and recovery outweigh the few nerfs he received, and while his core weaknesses — such as a lack of range, poor approach, and an exploitable recovery — are still present, they are generally to a lesser extent than in previous Smash games. Thus, despite his similar position among the roster, Ness performs better in Ultimate than in SSB4.

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, Ness' model features a more subdued color scheme, now more closely resembles his sprite in EarthBound. The detailing on his clothes and weapons are more prominent, such as the stitching on his socks.
• Ness faces the foreground at an angle, instead of facing directly forward. In addition, he always faces the screen regardless of which direction he turns, causing all of his animations to be mirrored while altering some, such as his dash animation.
• Ness' idle animation has been altered: he keeps his arms to his side rather than swinging them around.
• Ness, like many other characters, has been made much more expressive. He is much angrier when attacking, such as using his tilts. His eyes bulge and grow more circular when he is hit or frozen. His eyebrows are much more prominent when attacking or stunned.
• Ness' PSI graphic effects have been changed: both rings are thinner and are colored magenta instead of just the smaller circle, closely resembling the appearance of Hypnosis in Mother 3.
• Air dodging animation has changed.
• Ness' victory poses have been slightly altered:
  • His left-inputted victory pose now shows Ness with a more astonished expression.
  • His up-inputted victory pose now shows Ness skipping into the victory area instead of hopping in place.
  • His right-inputted victory pose now has Ness swing his bat only once instead of multiple times, in a similar manner to his forward smash.
• Ness has a new victory theme; it is an arrangement of the last two out of the Eight Melodies from EarthBound Beginnings.
• Ness' cyan costume is darker and more of a green color.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Ness' jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Ness runs faster (1.46265 → 1.609).
  • Ness' initial dash is significantly faster (1.3 → 1.826).
• Ness walks slightly faster (0.8635 → 0.907).
• Ness' air speed is faster (0.9588 → 1.007).
• Ness' traction has been significantly increased (0.0546 → 0.131), going from average to being tied for the fifth-highest traction in the game.
• Ness' jumping height has been increased (34.47 → 34.48 (full hop), 34.47 → 45.65 (double hop), 68.95 → 80.13 (maximum)).
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 31 → 35).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 26).
• Spot dodge grants less intangibility (frames 3-18 → 3-17).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 34 → 60), being one of the slowest.
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-28 → 3-30).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodges benefits Ness more than the rest of the cast, as his directional air dodge grants more distance compared to other characters' (a trait he shares with Lucas), and it provides him with a reliable recovery mixup to avoid leaving himself vulnerable by using PK Thunder.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit drags opponents towards Ness with the farthest hitboxes (361° → 180°), and the second hit uses a different angle throughout (70° → 361°). Both hits also have altered knockback (8 base/50 scaling → 30/20 base/25/15 scaling (hit 1), 30/20/25/20 (hit 2)). This allows for the full neutral attack to connect more reliably.
  • Consecutive uses of the first hit are faster (9 frames → 7).
  • The first hit transitions faster into the second hit (frame 7 → 5), which transitions faster into the third hit (frame 7 → 6).
  • All hits have a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.7× (hit 1), 1.2× (hit 2), 2× (hit 3)), giving opponents more time to SDI each hit and DI the last hit.
  • The second hit deals less damage (2% → 1.5%).
  • The third hit has a shorter hitbox-duration (frames 6-9 → 6-7).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has drastically increased base knockback (12 → 35), turning it into a viable KO option starting at around 155% from the center of Final Destination.
  • It deals more damage when not angled (9% → 10%), no longer dealing less damage than the angled versions, and thus making its KO ability consistent.
  • The hitboxes have been moved slightly inwards (X offset: 0.7u/2.9u → 0.6u/2.7u), marginally reducing its range.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup, with the sweetspot having a longer duration (frames 7-8 → 5-6 (sourspot)/5-8 (sweetspot)), and less ending lag (FAF 32 → 29). This improves its combo potential and allows it to function more effectively as an anti-air.
  • It deals more damage (7% → 9% (spark), 5% → 7% (body)) with knockback not fully compensated (42 base/126 scaling → 46/113), improving its KO potential, without worsening its combo ability due to its reduced lag and Ness' faster jumpsquat.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (4%/2% → 4.5%/3%).
  • It can be interrupted earlier by actions besides another down tilt (FAF 14 → 12).
  • Its base knockback and knockback scaling have been reversed (3/6 base/20 scaling → 20/3). This increases its safety on hit at low percents so that opponents in range can no longer shield in-between hits, improving its reliability for racking up damage.
  • The increased shieldstun for tilts allows down tilt to repeatedly hit and keep opponents locked into their shields until they get out of the move's range or are shield stabbed, improving its offensive utility.
  • It no longer has a bonus trip chance, removing its guaranteed setups.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's second hit extends backwards (Z offset: 16u → 13u-16u), improving its ability to hit opponents next to Ness.
  • The last hit deals more damage (4% → 6%) and knockback (80 base/104 scaling → 85/113), significantly improving its KO potential, despite launching at a lower angle (80° → 70°).
• Yo-yo (up smash and down smash):
  • Up smash and down smash once again have their charging hitboxes from Melee and Brawl, hitting opponents repeatedly for 1% damage per hit. Unlike in those games, however, charging these moves still increases their damage, making the charging hitboxes far more useful. Notably, the mechanic where Ness cannot charge the move if too close to the ledge did not return, making it much easier to have the yo-yo hang over the ledge with a constant hitbox while charging, improving its edgeguarding potential.
  • They have a lower maximum damage multiplier (1.4× → 1.2×) and cannot be held as long as most other smash attacks.
  • The text on the yo-yo reads "SUPER NINTENDO 2018 MOTHER".
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less ending lag (FAF 56 → 53).
  • It no longer possesses an early hit that deals 9%, allowing it to KO more consistently.
  • It has considerably more knockback scaling (60 → 79), significantly improving its KO potential, no longer being the weakest in the game.
  • It has more startup (frame 6 → 10), no longer hitting behind Ness during its first active frames.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash deals one hit less at both sides, increasing its startup (frame 10 → 12) and reducing its total damage (12% → 11%).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have much less landing lag (18 frames → 8 (neutral), 20 → 12 (forward), 17 → 10 (back), 14 → 8 (up), 28 → 12 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Ness emits PSI from his hands when using the move. It also uses a magic effect and SFX, rather than a neutral effect and a punch SFX.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial deals more damage (1% → 1.5% (hits 1-3), 4% → 5.5% (hit 4); 7% → 10% (total)), with knockback scaling adjusted on the final hit (150 → 128), resulting in more knockback at high percents, improving its KO potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's outer-hitbox has been moved outward and down (X offset: 2.7u → 3.7u, Y offset: 0u → 2u), improving its horizontal range and better matching the inner-hitbox in height.
• Up aerial:
  • Ness has a new up aerial: he waves his hand in an overhead arc while emitting PSI from his index finger. It is a multi-hit move, dealing up to five hits.
  • Up aerial has a longer hitbox duration (frames 8-11 → 8-14 (hits 1-4), 15-16 (hit 5)), and more disjointed vertical range above Ness.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 34). Coupled with its longer duration and multi-hit nature (guaranteeing opponents are launched during the latest active frames), this allows it to combo into itself in the air from low to mid percents.
  • The first four hits use the autolink angle (366°). This allows Ness to drag opponents down to the ground with the move and combo into several others, which is further complemented by its lower landing lag.
  • It deals more total damage (13% → 2.5% (hits 1-4), 5% (hit 5); 15% total), with knockback adjusted on the last hit (13 base/109 scaling → 40/180). The move deals more knockback at low to mid percents, but deals less knockback at very high percents (≈110+%), overall KOing earlier.
    • If not all hits connect, the move may do less damage than it used to.
  • Up aerial has drastically decreased horizontal range, hindering its use for landing and approaching directly.
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 27 → 34), matching its interruptibility.
  • The last hit launches at a more horizontal angle (85° → 73°). While this allows it to combo better into other moves at low percents, such as neutral and forward aerial, it greatly hinders its KO potential, as it is vulnerable to LSI.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has less startup (frame 20 → 18) and ending lag (FAF 60 → 53).
  • It deals more damage (12% → 14% (clean), 10% → 12% (late)) and knockback (20 base/70 scaling → 37/74 (clean), 70 scaling → 74 (late)), making it a significantly stronger meteor smash and no longer one of the weakest.
  • It has a longer duration (frames 20-21 (clean)/22-25 (late) → 18-20/21-24).
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 50 → 39), allowing Ness to auto-cancel it in a short hop like in earlier Smash titles.
  • The clean hit has a much larger hitbox (3.9u → 6u), making it easier to land.
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes, coupled with down aerial's immensely decreased landing lag and better auto-cancel window, significantly improve its combo potential onstage.
  • Down aerial uses a kick SFX instead of a magic SFX on hit.
  • Its animation was reversed to make Ness face the screen. The landing animation was also tweaked.

Throws and other attacks

• Ness grabs and pummels his opponents using PSI, with accompanying sound effects.
• Forward, back and up throws are no longer weight-dependent.
• Grabs:
  • Standing grab has increased ending lag (FAF 35 → 38).
  • Dash grab has more startup (frame 8 → 9) and ending lag (FAF 43 → 46), and slightly less horizontal range (Z2 offset: 10u → 9.8u).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals slightly more damage (1.2% → 1.3%).
  • It has less startup (frame 3 → 1) and ending lag (FAF 10 → 7), but deals much more hitlag (4 frames → 14), drastically increasing its effective duration. This hinders its damage-racking ability, no longer being one of the fastest pummels in the game.
  • It uses a magic effect, rather than a neutral effect.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has an altered animation. Due to this new animation, Ness releases the opponent closer to himself, slightly reducing its KO potential.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals more damage (10% → 12%) with no compensation on knockback, allowing it to KO middleweights at around 180%, though this is rarely practical.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw's first three hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×), allowing it to execute faster.
  • Ness launches the opponent from it earlier (frame 30 → 27), and it has slightly increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 51), reducing its combo potential.
  • While the move's total damage is unchanged, it deals four hits before the throw instead of five, which have redistributed timings (frames 10/14/18/22/26 → 6/10/14/27) and damage values (0.6% (hits 1-5) → 0.5% (hits 1-3), 1.5% (hit 4)).
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• PK Flash:
  • PK Flash has less startup (frame 44 → 40), travels faster, and reaches its full charge much quicker (frame 150 → 117).
  • It has less ending lag (uncharged: FAF 70 → 62).
  • It can travel through soft and semisoft platforms. It also no longer dissipates immediately upon making contact with hard platforms, allowing its full charge to be unleashed on the ground by simply holding the button, much like in Melee.
  • The explosion has a longer hitbox duration (1 → 5 frames) and is larger (size multiplier: 0.9× uncharged/1.43× fully charged → 1.05×/1.8×).
  • It no longer causes helplessness when performed in the air, allowing Ness to hit opponents near edges from offstage without self-destructing.
  • It has much more base knockback (10 → 50), with knockback scaling barely compensated (70 → 65), strengthening it at lower charge levels. Combined with its lower ending lag, and the increased hitlag in Ultimate, which effectively lengthens the move's frame advantage on hit due to its projectile properties, it can also start combos at low to mid percents if the opponent is hit close enough to Ness.
  • It deals significantly less damage when fully charged (37% → 27%), hindering its KO potential despite its increased knockback values.
  • PK Flash has a more aquamarine color and emits its respective EarthBound graphic (specifically the "α" form) upon detonating.
• PK Fire:
  • PK Fire has less startup (frame 21 → 18), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 59 → 56).
  • It has significantly less landing lag (30 frames → 12), improving the aerial version's zoning ability.
  • The spark is bigger and deals more damage on its initial hit (4% → 6%).
  • Due to the universal nerfs to roll-intangibility frames, PK Fire can catch rolls more effectively.
  • The flame pillar has a faster rehit rate (11 → 7), but no longer has a hitbox that deals more damage (2%/1% → 1%). As a result, it cannot deal as much damage, but it is more consistent overall.
  • PK Fire pushes Ness back slightly, similar to Lucas's PK Fire.
  • Ness uses one hand to fire the projectile while emitting a red spark from his index finger. Diamond-shaped PSI energy also rises up within the fire pillar, resembling PK Fire γ's graphics from EarthBound.
• PK Thunder:
  • PK Thunder deals more damage (8% → 11%) and has increased knockback scaling (50 → 55), allowing it to KO near the top blast line at high percents.
  • The new air dodging mechanics significantly improve its edgeguarding ability, allowing Ness to pressure opponents more reliably and force them to spend their air dodge, leaving them open to punishes.
  • PK Thunder emits yellow hexagon-shaped PSI energy, which more closely resembles its appearance in EarthBound.
  • It has an angle indicator when the ball of lighting moves close to Ness. While this allows for the player to more accurately determine the trajectory Ness will travel during PK Thunder 2, it also makes it more predictable to opponents.
• PK Thunder 2:
  • PK Thunder 2 travels further.
  • In addition to its full intangibility during frames 1-9, it grants intangibility on Ness' head during frames 10-32, improving its safety for recovery.
  • The window for using PK Thunder again after bouncing off a wall is much bigger. In addition, Ness enters the rebound animation when bouncing against the ground, instead of being knocked down, allowing him to use PK Thunder a second time.
  • When hit by PK Thunder 2, the opponent is always launched in the horizontal direction Ness is facing. This makes KOing at very low percents much less likely if the opponent gets hit behind Ness.
  • The clean hit triggers Special Zoom upon hitting an opponent.
• PSI Magnet:
  • PSI Magnet begins absorbing projectiles faster (frame 10 → 7), and has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 25).
  • It no longer halts Ness' horizontal momentum in the air, functioning as it did in Brawl, improving Ness' movement options.
  • It has gained a hitbox close to Ness from frame 7 onward, which deals 4% damage with weak set knockback, and can rehit opponents every 10 frames. This grants the move offensive utility, and alongside the changes above, allows it to be used in combos. The lingering hitbox can also destroy weak projectiles, improving its safety when used for absorption.
  • PSI Magnet emits pink diamond-shaped PSI from the center, more closely resembles its appearance in EarthBound. It also features a visible suction effect around the magnet.
• PK Starstorm:
  • PK Starstorm summons slower meteors that spread out over the stage, similar to its Brawl iteration, but can still be aimed horizontally like the Smash 4 iteration. Paula and Poo accompany Ness during the move. PK Starstorm particle effects from EarthBound accompany each meteor, and the Sound Stone's background pattern appears in the stage's background.
  • Ness no longer sinks downward while channeling PK Starstorm while airborne. In addition, if this Final Smash was initiated while in the air, Ness is propelled upward a moderate amount at the conclusion. This can assist in recovery.

Update history

Ness has received a mix of buffs and nerfs, but he was buffed overall. Update 2.0.0 increased autocancel frames for up aerial, matching the ending lag of the move, and his down aerial deals more damage while keeping the knockback the same. Update 3.0.0 nerfed yo-yo charging smash attacks, which were infamous for breaking shields easily. He also received buffs such as PK Flash, having a larger hitbox, and physics changes to the yo-yo that improved its potential as an edge guarding tool. Update 3.1.0 reverted the yo-yo physics back to its pre-patch state, and his neutral attack connects more reliably.

However, Ness has received a number of buffs in 9.0.0. Up tilt, dash atta