Ness (SSB)/Back aerial

Overview

Ness does a quick split kick with his feet in front of him in the air, dealing 16% (10% for the late hit) for high horizontal knockback and high shield stun but with a smaller hitbox than most of his other aerials. Interestingly, the move is extremely similar to Mario and Luigi's back aerials, having the same speed, power and even hitboxes as their back aerials. Unlike most of Ness' aerials, this move is not as strong for juggling purposes, due to its horizontal knockback. It is possible to combine this move with the double jump cancel technique, though this is more used for pressure, KO potential, and grab setups than combo setups. Because of this, the move's main uses are to get the opponent off stage for an edgeguard and to score a KO. The most common use of this technique is out of a up tilt or up aerial for a KO. The late hit of his back aerial, has low combo and knockback potential due to its awkward and short lasting hitbox so it is uncommonly used on purpose outside of a weak back aerial to down aerial spike at mid percents. The weak hit also has lower shield stun due to its lower damage, making it unable to reliably lead into shield breaks. Even when the late hit could be useful, Ness is better off using the late hit of his neutral aerial as it lasts for much longer and it is overall easier to land.

This move, along with Ness's other moves used for DJCing, has short range, so the technique has since lost recognition and known effectiveness.

Even though it is Ness's slowest aerial, it still has shield break potential due to it's incredible shield stun. The clean hit is +25 on shield when Z-cancelled, making it his safest aerial on shield outside of his up aerial in the Japanese version. However, unlike his other aerials, this only occurs if the clean hit is landed and it cannot be used alone (as in other aerials must be used after the initial back aerial) due to its range being sub-par, and its slow startup lag. This makes the move less commonly used outside of high percents.

Overall, back aerial is a decent move although it is nothing spectacular compared to other back aerials or Ness' other aerials. Back aerial serves its purpose as a solid KO move although in most situations, Ness is better off using his up or down aerials.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Clang	Effect	G	A	Sound
Clean hit
0	0	16%	0		10	100	0	120	26	-30	45	0					Kick
1	0	16%	0		10	100	0	145	26	80	30	0					Kick
Late hit
0	0	10%	0		0	100	0	110	26	-30	45	0					Kick
1	0	10%	0		0	100	0	135	26	80	30	0					Kick

Timing

Initial autocancel	1-9
Clean hit	10-13
Late hit	14-19
Ending autocancel	20-
Animation length	39

Landing lag

Animation length	15
L-cancelled animation length	4

Normal

L-cancelled

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Hitbox change

Autocancel

Ness's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Forward throw · Back throw
Floor attack (front) · Floor attack (back) · Edge attack (fast) · Edge attack (slow)
Neutral special · Up special · Down special