Ness (SSBB)

Ness (, Ness) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Ness was initially confirmed in Brawl through leaked on January 18th, 2008 through a topic in the game site's message board about an official trailer in a promotional video on the Japanese Wii website about sticker power-ups that leaked him being playable in the game, alongside and. He was officially confirmed on February 1st, 2008 on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website, the day after Brawl came out in Japan. He is once again voiced by, with a combination of new voice-clips and recycled ones from Melee.

Ness is ranked 26th out of 38 on the tier list, a notable improvement from his placement in Melee, where he was ranked 23rd out of 26. Ness possesses a strong aerial game with a strong, quick and disjointed set of aerial attacks capable of racking up damage and comboing at lower precents and KOing at higher ones, alongside possessing arguably the best grab game across the entire cast (even competing with the ) due to possessing the fastest grabs in the game, a quick pummel and effective throws; in particular, back throw is the most common killing throw in the series. Furthermore, Ness boasts a flexible special moveset: PK Fire is versatile for racking up damage and leading to free follow-ups, PSI Magnet is capable of edgeguarding and leading to early KOs, PK Thunder is useful for mindgames, and PSI Magnet absorbs energy-based projectiles while healing Ness himself. Despite being a small middleweight, Ness boasts high overall KO potential and damage output, courtesy of his aerials, forward smash, back throw, PK Flash and PK Thunder 2. Ness is greatly hindered, however, by his exploitable recovery by either hitting Ness to an undesirable angle or nullifying the projectile, alongside the poor reach in his normal attacks, which allows characters with disjointed hitboxes (such as and ) to easily outrange him, possessing a limited grounded game (due to his aforementioned poor range, his almost non-existent approaching options on the ground, sub-par mobility and situational smash attacks), and by the 10 additional frames of lag he suffers when grab released, leaving him extremely vulnerable to followups out of a grab release from almost every character, as well as infinites and zero-to-death chain grabs out of a grab release (most infamously from  and ). Overall, Ness overall has below-average matchups with several counters, but he has acheived above-average tournament results regardless.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following:
 * Play 5 VS. matches.
 * Reflect 10 projectiles.
 * Have Ness join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary (Subspace (Part I)).

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

Attributes
Generalizing Ness is difficult. He has a unique moveset that borrows from various archetypes: while his three projectiles allow for some zoning, his fast moveset and punishing grab game make him most dangerous at short distances. Although his grounded mobility is relatively poor — his walking speed, initial dash, and dashing speed are below-average — his aerial mobility shines thanks to his excellent air acceleration, above-average jumping height, slightly above-average air speed, and unique double jump cancelling ability. Further bolstering his aerial game, Ness' low gravity and below-average falling speed allow him to perform multiple aerials in a single short hop, and all of his aerials can be auto-canceled. Despite his small stature, Ness is a middleweight, tied with and.

Ness is perhaps best known for his flexible special moveset. His neutral special, PK Flash, is a large projectile that travels in an arc from Ness' 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. In addition, it boasts extreme power at full charge, KOing, the heaviest character, under 70%. However, similar to ' PK Freeze and 's Din's Fire, PK Flash sends Ness into helplessness after usage in midair, making it risky for offstage usage as it will lead into inadvertent self-destructs. Ness' side special, PK Fire, is a tiny projectile that travels horizontally a short distance and bursts into a pillar of flames on contact with an opponent, dealing multiple hits. When performed in the air, PK Fire has a diagonal trajectory and less 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' up special, PK Thunder, doubles as a versatile projectile and Ness' primary means of recovery. The move sends a ball of electricity upward from Ness' 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 occasionally 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 (PK Thunder 2), which both KOs rather early and allows Ness to recover from deep offstage. Ness' down special, PSI Magnet, creates a psychic field around Ness that absorbs energy-based projectiles and heals Ness a proportionate percentage. PSI Magnet also alters the momentum of Ness' 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' outstanding aerial mobility is supplemented by possessing one of the best aerial games in Brawl. Ness is one of the few characters in the game who can perform a pair of aerials in a snigle short hop (Double Aerial Shuffle). This requires practice though because the player needs to performs the aerial immediately when jumping off the ground. His neutral aerial is a sex kick that possesses minimal startup and ending lag, and hits on both sides of Ness, making it a useful out of shield option. It also sets up tech-chasing situations at medium precents, while the clean hit also deals decent knockback, allowing it to KO at high precents while eddgeguarding. 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, making it useful in approaching, racking up damage and edgeguarding 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 tool in his kit. His back aerial is another reliable KO move that possesses low lag when clean, while the late hit is useful for performing a wall of pain. Lastly, his clean down aerial is among the strongest meteor smashes in the game, and when hit late, it is a steep semi-spike, making it good for edgeguarding.

Ness' grab game is outstanding and among the best across the cast. All of his grabs are characterized with extreme speed, albeit short range. His pummel is tied with for the second-fastest in the game (surpassed by only ), allowing him to inflict decent damage before throwing his opponent, and all of his throws have useful applications. His down throw is a solid combo starter, easily following into an aerial attack or multiple forward aerials. His forward throw has disproportionate base knockback, allowing it to easily set up edgeguards. His up throw has similar applications of utility to down throw: being a solid combo starter. However, it can KO at very high precents and can lead to solid mix-ups that can set up juggling with PK Thunder or PK Flash, leading to mindgames. Most notorious, however, is Ness' infamous back throw, which is the most consistent and common KO throw in the series.

Although less effective than his aerial prowess, Ness' grounded game is still respectable. His forward tilt and dash attack are fast and strong enough to KO at high percents, and the latter has considerable range. His up tilt is a good combo tool at low percents and can even KO at higher percents. His down tilt, which is extremely 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 is among the strongest in the game, especially when sweetspotted with the tip of the bat. The bat itself is also a long-lasting reflector. Ness' up and down smashes (yo-yo) 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. However, while his up smash is useful out of shield and his down smash is useful as an edgeguarding option to two-frame opponents, both KO considerably later than his other KO options in a neutral situation.

Ness' major problems are his awful grounded grab release and exploitable recovery. He and both suffer from possessing 10 additional frames of lag on their grab releases. Most characters have some sort of detrimental exploits upon grab releasing Ness, and/or Lucas, leading to chain grabs, infinities in walls, and other moderate/major exploits. A pair of examples of this would be and 's zero-to-death on Ness and Lucas. Another example is using his forward smash out of the grab release, which Ness cannot avoid. As mentioned above, Ness' other major problem is his exploitable recovery. Although Ness has the second-highest double jump in the game (surpassed by ), Ness' PK Thunder, though faster than Lucas' PK Thunder, has a much wider turning angle, thus requiring more room for Ness to recover than Lucas. Ness' PK Thunder 2 also travels less distance than Lucas'. In addition, PK Thunder will stop in its tracks when it hits most projectiles, walls, or a character. As such, some opponents might take a risk and jump in front of PK Thunder's path to intercept Ness' recovery, giving Ness little/no hope of returning it onstage, which is easier with attacks with disjointed hitboxes. It is also notably difficult to angle correctly, and it can easily curve under lips of stages, especially on. However, this is a risky method of intercepting Ness' recovery, due to PK Thunder 2 dealing an extreme amount of knockback, KOing below 50% in most situations, although a projectile could still be useful to halt his recovery, especially if it is controllable.

Ness' double jump has a unique quality that differs itself from the other characters in the game, aside from. It consists of four PSI flashes that propel him upwards. If Ness perform an aerial or air dodge at the beginning of the jump, he will obtain a directional boost depending on the aerial performed, and if it is performed on the first or second flash (his up aerial gives the longest boost, and the boost is longer if activated on the first flash). He can also use his double jump from the ground if the jumping button is pressed during lag, which is useful for starting up aerial combos. Using an aerial will cause Ness to move up faster, which complies for his slow double jump and floatiness. After this, he will take a small pause in the air as a "filler" for the frames lost by the faster double jump.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Near the end of Melee's metagame, Ness was considered one of the worst characters in the game due to his lack of range, underwhelming grounded game, non-existent approaching options, poor KOing ability and a catastrophic recovery. As such, Ness has received a mixture of buffs and nerfs during the transition from Melee to Brawl, being noticeably buffed overall. While he has received relatively few direct changes compared to the other returning characters, he has nevertheless received improvements.

Ness' aerial game has received noticeable improvements, as his aerial mobility has been improved, the reduction of landing lag improves the safety and combo potential of his aerial attacks, his forward aerial connects more consistently to make it a more effective spacing tool at the expense of the final hit's weaker power, and his back, up and down aerials have more range and are overall more effective KO options due to the changes to Brawl's mechanics, partially reducing his most glaring weaknesses from the previous games: his range. The utility of his grounded game has been considerably improved: neutral attack and down tilt benefit from jab locking and tripping, respectively, while forward tilt remains a relatively strong KOing tool and up tilt is a more versatile anti-air due to its extended hitboxes while being able to KO at high precents. His smash attacks have all been comparatively improved, as his forward smash, while slower, has much more range while remaining its high power, while up and down smashes can now KO at very high precents. His underwhelming special moves have all received notable improvements. PK Flash's hitbox is much less misleading, improving its overall utility. PK Fire is much harder to SDI out of. His recovery, while still exploitable, is more reliable due to his faster air speed, slower falling speed, PK Thunder's tighter arc and slower speed, and the removal of double jump canceling. PSI Magnet's new windbox enhances its defensive utility, and can now be canceled with a roll, a spot dodge or a jump, drastically improving its saftey and allowing it to lead into punishes. Finally, a number of moves deal stronger knockback; some examples being his up and down aerials, his smash attacks, and PK Thunder 2. These give him much more reliable and stronger KO potential.

However, Ness also received a few drastic nerfs that not only magnify his flaws, but also feature new unique weaknesses and tone down some of his most potent key strengths. The most fatal of which is the 10 additional frames to his grounded grab released animation, which is widely detrimental for Ness as it makes him vulnerable to inescapable KO confirms and even infinite chain grabs from some characters. Additionally, his combo potential has also been drastically toned down—due to the introduction of hitstun canceling, the universal reduction to falling speeds and the removal of double jump canceling. Altogether, this drastically changes the way his neutral game works: while his neutral game still remains decent, Ness is forced to rack up damage easily with either over-reliance on PK Fire or multiple aerials instead of relying on combos to successfully do so. Furthermore, several of his notable buffs have failed to completely alleviate most of his most glaring flaws; his improved recovery remains extremely easily to gimping or edgeguarding, his approaches can still be stuffed out due to his non-existent grounded approaching options and his sub-par overall grounded mobility, while his marginally better overall range is still short relative to the cast, which is exacerbated by the loss of his powerful yo-yo glitch. This, alongside his overall sub-par mobility, still causes him to heavily struggle in approaching most of his opponents. Finally, while his KOing ability is much better than in Melee, Ness still struggles to KO opponents consistently, as his slightly better smash attacks are still sluggish and somewhat situational compared to the rest of the cast, while his other most powerful KOing options still suffer from his aforementioned poor range.

Overall, Ness' Brawl iteration is considered to be a vast improvement over Melee and Smash 64. However, his lengthened grounded grab releases, watered down combo game, the loss of advanced techniques from DJC and yo-yo jackets, and his retained flaws have all prevented him from rising up into the game's higher tiers.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * (up and down smashes):
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * (up and down smashes):
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * (up and down smashes):
 * Forward smash:
 * (up and down smashes):
 * Forward smash:
 * (up and down smashes):
 * (up and down smashes):
 * (up and down smashes):
 * (up and down smashes):

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Ledge attack:
 * Pummel:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Ledge attack:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Ledge attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Ledge attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Ledge attack:
 * Ledge attack:

Special moves

 * PK Flash:
 * PK Fire:
 * PK Thunder:
 * PSI Magnet:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Fire:
 * PK Thunder:
 * PSI Magnet:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Fire:
 * PK Thunder:
 * PSI Magnet:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PSI Magnet:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PSI Magnet:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PSI Magnet:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Starstorm:
 * PK Starstorm:

Notable players

 * ''See also: Category:Ness players (SSBB)


 * - Considered one of the best Ness mains in the world before switching to.
 * - Japan's top Ness player.
 * - Considered the undisputed best Ness following FOW's switch to Meta Knight.

Tier placement and history
Ness' competitive standing in the metagame initially had been somewhat intact, despite his notable buffs in the transition to Brawl. He was originally considered to be a low-tier character, lying as low as 31st on the third tier list. In the early days, players immediately noticed the presence of the 10 additional frames to his grab released animation, making him very vulnerable his grab-releasd combos by several characters in the cast, where common characters (like ) could easily exploit such detriments, resulting in his quality-of-life buffs being insufficient to alleviate his most significant problems (most notably his exploitable recovery, his barely improved mobility, range, and his overall awkward neutral game), as well as the loss of double jump canceling, the overall reduciton to falling speeds and the ability to act out of hitstun having severely decreased his combo ability. In addition, Ness also suffered from lackluster fundamental advantages as well, such as his poor range, inconsistency in KOing opponents despite his strong KOing ability, mediocre grounded game (due to his situational smash attacks, non-existent approaching options, and his aforementioned poor range) and sub-par mobility.

However, the general consensus later discovered the potency of Ness' strengths overtime, such as his disproportionate KOing power, strong combos, excellent damage output combined with his quick frame-data, formidable aerial and grab games, as well as the versatility of his special moves (such as PK Fire and PK Thunder's zoning abilities, and PK Flash and PK Thunder 2 capable of leading into early KOs, and PSI Magnet giving Ness a healing move by absorbing energy-based projectiles), which makes his neutral game dominant when combined. In turn, new Ness professionals were discovered and Ness received surprisingly above-average tournament results for a character of his own viability. While he suffers from poor matchups against certain characters who can abuse his long grab releases, such as, and , Ness performs reasonably well against most other mid/high-tiers, such as , , ,  and , as well as some top-tiers, such as ,  and , since they lack the tools to outmatch Ness' devastating aerial game because of their poor aerial mobility. As such, he has risen up to 27th place by the fourth tier list, and he remained there for every single tier list in Brawl, until the last one, where he was slightly bolstered by a single tier. Overall, while Ness had heavily struggled throughout the game’s competitive lifespan in the early days because of his amplified consequences upon getting punished that made it extremely hard for him to approach most of the cast, those few achievements have allowed Ness to find a rather solid placement as a mid-tier in the current tier list due to the expansion of tiers.

His current ranking, however, remains a high topic of debate: most of the community argues that Ness is underrated and should be ranked higher due to the potency of his aforementioned strengths, with a few considering Ness to be high-tier at least despite the notable detriments to his long grab releases.

Role in The Subspace Emissary
Ness shows up rescuing from the giant Pig King Statue, by knocking it over using PK Thunder. The Pig King Statue recovers and flies into the air, intentionally attempting to crush Ness, but the latter causes the Ping King Statue to explode using PK Flash, which reveals to be their mutual nemesis, Porky Minch (in his spider-like bed-mecha), from MOTHER 3, who immediately challenges Ness and Lucas. The latter two team up to defeat Porky Minch, including his machine. Shortly thereafter, though, the pair encounter on top of a pillar, who attempts to trophicate Ness using the Dark Cannon. Ness successfully evades each shot. Proving himself to be a difficult target, Wario shrugs and attempts to trophicate Lucas instead (who is too scared to react). Noticing this, Ness sacrifices himself, pushing Lucas out of the shot's range while Ness transforms into a trophy himself. Unconcerned with who exactly he got, Wario acheives Ness' trophy, and Lucas (terrified to challenge Wario due to the Dark Cannon) flees while Wario cackles in the rain, before bumping and teams up with him in an effort to rescue Ness and retaliate on Wario.

As Wario is driving his Cargo with Ness' and Peach/Zelda's trophies on board, he finds 's trophy and prepares to steal it, which is interrupted being ambushed by an army of Waddle Dees, who throw Luigi's trophy into the cargo, which is stolen by. At his hideout (his castle), King Dedede applies a brooch on Luigi's, Ness', and Peach/Zelda's trophies before the roof collapses on them caused by the Koopa Troop, knocking out and transforming King Dedede into a trophy in the process, and steals Peach/Zelda's trophy, while Luigi's, Ness's, and King Dedede's trophies are left abandoned and covered in rubble. Soon afterward, the Ancient Minister detonates a Subspace Bomb that consumes King Dedede's castle into the Subspace, along with Ness', Luigi's and King Dedede's trophies.

Ness does not make another reappearance until after Tabuu trophicates all of the fighters using his off waves, where he and Luigi are miraculously revived from the Dedede Brooches. Upon inspecting Luigi's badge, he notices that it replicates King Dedede's appearance, and, assuming that Dedede made them, proceeds to revive him. Upon being revived, King Dedede, his plan being successful, grants both of them a hug in elation before teaming up and reviving Lucas, along with the other fighters the trio come across. Upon reaching the staircase at the Great Maze's entrance and spotting Bowser's trophy lying there, they revive him as well, only for him to challenge King Dedede, while Ness and Luigi spectate. Dedede wins the subsequent fight and revives Bowser again; Bowser tries to initiate another fight, but is flicked in the face by Dedede, who directs Bowser to Master Hand's motionless form. Bowser begrudgingly decides to join the group to retailiate on Tabuu. , who was revived by the Dedede Brooch he swallowed earlier that fell off from the trophicated princess King Dedede had collected, revives whatever characters that Ness, Luigi and King Dedede group did not come across, including Wario. The latter then confronts Dedede by bashing him in the head as revenge for King Dedede stealing his cargo and trophies. He taunts over it, but after witnessing Ness and Luigi on Dedede's side, Wario became surprised to the point he stopped fooling around. The trio offer to let Wario join them, and after a bit of reflection, he agrees and rides his bike up to the entrance of The Great Maze.

Upon completing the Great Maze and confronting Tabuu altogether, Tabuu attempts to trophicate the fighters once again, but shatters his wings and teams up with the other fighters, including Ness. In the end, the fighters successfully defeat Tabuu, both restoring the World of Trophies and annihiliating the existence of the Subspace.

Playable appearances
Ness was captured by during The Ruined Zoo, and he is brought into 's castle after he previously stole Wario's trophy cart. After The Cave, a Subspace Bomb was detonated near King Dedede's castle, bringing Ness into the Subspace.


 * The Ruined Zoo
 * Subspace (Part I)
 * The Great Maze

Solo Events

 * Event 21: Visit to Onett: The player controls and must defeat Ness on Onett.
 * Event 25: The Aura Is With Me: As at 182% damage, the player must defeat  and Ness on Spear Pillar.
 * Event 26: The Slow and Easy Life: Ness must defeat three tiny s on Smashville before K.K. Slider's song ends.
 * Event 29: All-Star Semifinal Regulars: Ness is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are characters that were unlockable from the original Super Smash Bros. game.

Co-op Events

 * Co-Op Event 9: Those Who Wait in Onett: and Ness must defeat  and  on Onett.
 * Co-Op Event 16: Jigglypuff's Great Comeback: and, who are tiny, must defeat  and Ness, who are giant, on Castle Siege. As the stage changes to different backgrounds, Jigglypuff will grow and Lucas and Ness will shrink.
 * Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on.

Trophies
Ness's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing and All-Star mode respectively with Ness.

Trivia

 * Despite being the first character to be unlocked in the game, Ness is one of the last unlockable characters by playing Subspace Emissary. He is also the first unlockable character to be playable in the Subspace Emissary, despite not joining the player's team until near the finale of the game.
 * Strangely, Ness possesses visible teeth during the cutscenes of the Subspace Emissary, but not during the actual gameplay. shares this distinction as well.
 * During his metailic period while under the effect of the Metal Box, Ness' baseball bat is also metailic, but his yo-yo is not, remaining the same design when Ness is non-metailic.
 * Ness' yo-yo possesses a noticeable dialouge on it, reading "Super Nintendo 2008" along the top, above "MOTHER."
 * Ness and are the only two characters to have their unlockability status change between Melee and Brawl. In Ness' own case, Ness was previously able to be unlocked by playing 1P Game on normal difficulty or higher with three stocks or less without continues in Smash 64. In Brawl, he can be simply unlocked by either playing 5 VS. matches or reflecting 10 projectiles.
 * Ness is the only fighter to provide his trophy list another Super Smash Bros. game for his game appearances. This is most likely due to the fact that outside of the ' series, he only made a playable appearance in '. instead lists the second appearance as Mother 1+2, released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance.
 * Ness is the only character to be fought on a Melee Stage (Onett) when being unlocked.
 * Ness is one of the only four unlockable characters to make an appearance in the opening cinematic of Brawl upon starting the game. The three others sharing this attribute are, , and.