Ness (PM)

Ness; in Project M and Project+
	;
Universe	EarthBound
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Ness (SSBM), Ness (SSB)
Alternate costume	Pajama Ness

Ness is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. Because of his very low position on the Melee tier list, he has been significantly buffed from his Melee version for his appearance in Project M.

Attributes

Ness is a very versatile character. He has three projectiles that are of varied use in a match. PK Fire can be used as a punishing option, and followed by a grab and throw. PK Thunder can keep airborne opponents stuck the air for a larger amount of time, and if used on grounded opponents, can bring them closer to Ness so that he can use an aerial attack on them. PK Flash has a slow startup, but can be an effective finisher or edgeguarding move.

Ness' aerial moves are all effective. His neutral aerial comes out quickly and gives moderate knockback, making it a good choice for interrupting combos. The individual hits of his forward aerial cause low damage, but the move is useful in advancing combos. Ness' back, up, and down aerials are all extremely powerful if sweetspotted. In particular, Ness' down aerial, which comes out very fast, can KO quickly if it hits properly. The up aerial makes an excellent combo finisher for KOing foes above the upper blast line. The back aerial can finish off opponents who are at high percentage. Ness' ability to double jump cancel advances his already potent air game by giving him even more combo options.

Ness' smash attacks all have unusual properties. The forward smash will send opponents flying if sweetspotted. His up and down smashes all involve his yo-yo, which charges on the ground. If opponents get hit by the yo-yo while it is charging, they take damage, making these moves useful for situational spacing and edgeguarding.

Ness' throws are generally effective. His back throw is a very reliable KOing move at high percents. The forward, up and down throws can be used as combo starters. Following the down throw with a down aerial is particularly effective, especially if the down throw sends the opponent over a ledge.

Ness' recovery can be both safe to use and his greatest weakness at the same time. Once one learns to master how to direct the PK Thunder, it becomes one of the most reliable recovery moves in the game. Ness' PK Thunder 2 is a deadly move that causes great damage and knockback to any opponent it hits. However, PK Thunder is not without its weaknesses. It is a very easy move to gimp. And opponent need only hit the PK Thunder, or allow themselves to be hurt by it, to force Ness into a helpless state. Besides that, certain characters such as Falco can use their flinch-causing projectiles to hit Ness and enforce helplessness as well.

Changes from Melee to PM

Ness received many considerable buffs from Melee to Project M, having many more options for racking up damage and KOing.

Ness's down aerial in Project M.

Aesthetics

Forward smash's sourspot produces the "wooden bat" SFX from Brawl, while sweetspot displays a ping sound like in Melee and Smash 64.
Revamped on-screen appearance: the vortex of Teleport now appears as well, similar to in Melee's opening.
Ness now has an up Smash Taunt: he poses at the screen and a "photo" flash is displayed, based on the iconic Fuzzy Pickles moments in his origin game, EarthBound.

Attributes

Ness retains his double jump cancel ability, though it is now optional; just pressing and then releasing the jump button when attacking will cause him to DJC, while holding the jump button causes him to perform a rising aerial, just like characters who cannot use this technique. Special moves will always DJC.
Midair jump speed increased.
Ness's additional lag from a grounded grab release has been removed.

Ground Attacks

Forward smash has slightly more range and is much more powerful (went from on par with Mario's to being slightly stronger than Captain Falcon's forward smash).
Up smash is much faster and deals better damage and knockback, being more reliable at juggling and KOing.
Down smash covers more distance and also deals better damage and knockback, serving as a powerful on-stage edge-guarding tool.
Both up and down smashes can now be held even when near an edge.
Down tilt now has a more vertical angle, removing its infinite capabilities.
Yoyo/Jacket glitch has been removed.

Aerial Attacks

Neutral aerial initiates slightly faster.
Up aerial and the sweetspot of back aerial were given more KO power.
Down aerial reverted to Smash 64 speed, which almost removes its startup lag entirely. It also has much higher knockback scaling and deals 2% more damage.

Grabs and Throws

Dash grab range from Melee increased.
Back throw is slightly stronger from Melee.

Special Moves

PK Flash moves farther horizontally and is faster, greatly improving its use as an edgeguarding move. It also no longer enforces helplessness.
PK Fire's flame effect has Brawl power. It also keeps forward momentum when used in midair. The move can additionally "Fobble": the knockback of other hitboxes that hit within a 3 frame window of one of the PK Fire's repeating hitboxes gets completely canceled due to Project M's new knockback engine, allowing the player to rack up deadly amounts of damage.
- The pillar has been reduced from being active for 100 frames to being active for 45 frames.
PK Thunder 2 travels farther and keeps its hitbox throughout the move.
Ness can jump out of PSI Magnet (like how the space animals can jump out of their Reflectors), and the move additionally deals consecutive damage, with a strong initial hit that sends foes above Ness and allows to link into aerials. When absorbing a projectile, he can also cancel the move to go into the ending animation afterwards, preventing rapid-fire projectiles such as Fox's Blaster from trapping him into the move indefinitely.
PK Flash, though retaining its powerful knockback, is smaller and deals much less damage.

Ness' alternate costume.

Revisions

v2.1

Ness' PK Flash no longer causes him to become helpless.

v2.5b

Dash attack cannot be DI'd down or shielded inbetween hits.
Up tilt has better coverage in front of Ness, and can be interrupted earlier.
Down tilt can be interrupted into itself quickly like in Melee and Brawl.
Forward smash can now be angled, and its tipper hit has increased knockback scaling.
PK Flash can be charged for slightly longer.
PK Fire travels for slightly longer.
PK Thunder has a hitbox during startup, and the thunderbolt no longer vanishes when entering the horizontal blast lines. It also no longer dies when Ness is hit, and instead becomes unfriendly towards any player and continuing in the same direction before he got hit.
PK Thunder 2 travels a bit faster over the same distance, and its hitboxes have more coverage over Ness.
PSI Magnet's healing multiplier was slightly increased, and the move can be jumped out of. It additionally causes Ness to float for much longer at the start when used in midair.
PSI Magnet was given damaging hitboxes; a weak launching one at the start, then repeated non-flinching ones afterwards.
Down throw has more ending lag.
PK Thunder does not clip stages as easily.
PSI Magnet's absorb collision is decreased in size (matching the graphic better).
Midair jump animation touched up near the end.
Forward air animation touched up near the end.
Back air animation touched up.
Dash grab has a new animation.
Up Smash Taunt implemented.

v2.6b

Up tilt has a slightly reduced cooldown.
Up and down smashes' refresh time between hits while charging has been slightly reduced.
PSI Magnet can be released during the absorb lag to go into the end animation afterwards, preventing rapid hitting projectiles like Fox's Blaster shots that can re-hit before the absorb lag ends from trapping him into it indefinitely. The absorb lag was also reduced greatly.
Pivot grab has more startup, matching other pivot grabs.
PSI Magnet no longer allows Ness to roll, sidestep or jump upon absorbing a projectile while grounded.

v3.5

Forward tilt has less endlag.
- It has a more horizontal angle.
- It deals slightly less knockback.
The knockback values for Ness' down throw has been altered.
PK Fire no longer activates on shielded opponents.
- Opponents can no longer shield between the fireball hit and 1st pillar hit.
PK Fire duration has been reduced.
PK Fire pillar has higher gravity, preventing opponents from whiffing between the first few hits.
PK Thunder can no longer hit Shy Guys and Smashville balloons.
Can no longer reverse ledge grab after missing PK Thunder 1.
PK Thunder 2 has less landing lag.
Dash attack, forward aerial, and PK Thunder all have normal hitlag.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.5.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		3% (hit 1), 2% (hit 2), 4% (hit 3), (9% total)	Ness punches twice, then kicks.
Forward tilt		12% (high), 11% (mid), 10% (low)	Ness kicks with a foot forward. Can be angled.
Up tilt		7%	Ness extends his arms quickly upwards. Can be used to juggle fast faller up to 70% which can lead into aerial attacks.
Down tilt		3%	Ness kicks his foot out slightly. Short ranged attack, but can be used in quick sucession.
Dash attack		5% (hit 1), 4% (hits 2-3) (13% total)	Ness runs forward and creates three disjointed PSI bubbles from his hands. The first two hits have a semi-spike trajectory, while the last hit sends opponents straight upwards which can lead into up tilt combos against fast fallers.
Forward smash		18% (body),20% (handle), 22% (mid), 24% (tip)	Ness takes out his trusty cracked bat and swings it at his opponents. Sweetspot is located at the bat's tip. Reflects projectiles.
Up smash		2% (hits 1-7 [hold]), 12% (swing)	Ness takes out his yoyo and swings it above him. Fast for an up smash; covers a wide area above him. Can be charged, but doing so does not increase the attack's damage. It is also affected slightly by gravity when used near an edge.
Down smash		2% (hits 1-7 [hold]), 12% (swing)	Ness takes out his yo-yo and swings it across the floor. Strong power, can be used to safely edge-guard from the stage. Same properties as the up smash.
Neutral aerial		11% (clean), 8% (late)	Ness spins around with his arms stretched out.
Forward aerial		3% (hits 1-5) (15% total)	Ness produces PSI bubbles in front of him that hit consecutively, the latter hit having stronger knockback.
Back aerial		15% (clean), 10% (late)	Ness extends his feet outward. Sweetspot is electrical and posseses high KO potential.
Up aerial		13%	Ness uses his noggin to hit the opponent.
Down aerial		14%	Ness kicks with one foot downward. A fast meteor smash useful for edge-guarding. Combined with double-jump canceling and L-canceling, it can also pressure shields efficiently.
Grab		—	Grabs with both hands. The fastest grab in the game, but has short reach.
Pummel		3%	Hits grabbed opponent with his head.
Forward throw		11%	Throws the opponent forward with PSI power.
Back throw		11%	Uses PSI to throw the opponent backwards. Has low base knockback, but a surprisingly strong knockback scaling, becoming a powerful KO move and also one of the strongest throws in the game.
Up throw		10%	Psycho-kinetically spins the opponent horizontally above him, then throws upward. Can chain grab at very low percentage and set up an uair or up tilt against fast fallers.
Down throw		1% (hits 1-5), 4% (throw) (9% total)	Ness pushes the opponent onto the floor and hits repeatedly with PK Fire.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Does a low kick going from back to front.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Does a low kick going from back to front.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Kicks with both of his feet from back to front.
Edge attack (fast)		6% (body), 8% (foot)	Ness pulls himself off the side of a stage, rolls, and kicks his feet out.
Edge attack (slow)		10%	Ness climbs up the side of a stage and throws out a punch.
Neutral special	PK Flash	8-22%	Ness generates a green ray that is sent upwards, then explodes. Can be charged, and doing so nudges the ray downwards. Can be moved sideways effectively, and is also Ness's deadliest edge-guarding move due to its very strong knockback scaling. The explosion can be absorbed and reflected, though the latter only affects Ness if he's close to it.
Side special	PK Fire	8% (bolt), 1% (pillar hits 1-5)	Ness shoots a bolt from his fingers forward, which then bursts into a pillar of flames upon hitting a foe. When used in midair, Ness instead shoots it at a diagonally downward angle while keeping his forward momentum. The pillar is affected by gravity and can be hit by attacks. The bolt vanishes upon hitting a surface, and can be reflected or absorbed.
Up special	PK Thunder	4% (startup), 8% (head), 6% (tail); PK Thunder 2: 25% (clean), 21% (mid), 15% (late)	Ness produces an electric beam from his head, which he can then control freely. When he produces it, a brief hitbox covers his body, repelling foes attempting to stop the attack. The beam vanishes upon hitting a foe or surface (though foes can be hit by its tail without the beam vanishing), and Ness can hit himself with it to launch into a distance for recovery, known as PK Thunder 2. Ness will launch in the opposite direction the beam hits him (if aiming to the center of his body), and will travel a far distance while keeping a powerful hitbox with KO potential. When hitting a wall or ceiling, he will either travel paralell to it or rebound off it, depending on how perpendicular he blasts against it. When launching against the ground, he will lie on the floor. Ness will lose control of the beam if he's hit or it becomes reflected. Can also be absorbed. Though an effective recovery move, it's difficult to recover with it between tall walls (such as the buildings in Saffron City).
Down special	PSI Magnet	4% (startup), 2% (loop)	Ness becomes covered by an electrical field that absorbs any energy projectiles shot against him, deducting x1.6 of the damage a projectile would have dealt. As an attack, it first launches enemies diagonally upwards, then hits consecutively with no knockback. When used in the air, it resets Ness's falling speed. He can jump out of the ending lag of the move to string it together with aerials.
Final Smash	PK Starstorm	20% (each star)	Ness calls down a rain of stars from the sky, yelling "PK Starstorm!".

In competitive play

Notable players

Alternate costumes

Ness' alternate costume is his striped blue pajamas he has been seen wearing in the beginning of EarthBound and while in Magicant in the American version of EarthBound.

3.5 gave Ness' pajamas some recolors to be used for team battles, and a purple costume based off of Yes Man Jr.