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Ness (SSBB)

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This article is about Ness's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For the character in other contexts, see Ness.
Ness
in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ness SSBB.jpg
EarthboundSymbol.svg
Universe EarthBound
Other playable appearances in SSB
in Melee
in SSB4
in Ultimate
Availability Unlockable
Final Smash PK Starstorm
Tier D (26)
NessHeadSSBB.png

Ness (ネス, Ness) is an playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was confirmed on February 1st, 2008 on the Smash Dojo website. He is once again voiced by Makiko Ohmoto, with mostly recycled voice clips from Melee, while providing some new ones.

Ness is currently ranked 26th out of 38 on the tier list, a vast improvement from his placement in Melee, where he was ranked 23rd out of 26 characters. Ness possesses a strong aerial game with very useful aerial attacks, as well as effective tilts, effective throws, a projectile with great trapping and damage potential in PK Fire, a versatile projectile capable of very early KOs and mindgames in PK Thunder, and multiple powerful, reliable finishers (such as his back throw and back aerial). Ness is greatly hindered however, by his limited and easily disruptable recovery, the rather poor reach in most of his attacks, possessing a lackluster set of smash attacks, and by the 10 additional frames of lag he suffers when grab released, leaving him vulnerable to grab release followups from almost every character, as well as infinite and zero to death grab release chain grabs (most infamously from Marth and Donkey Kong, but also Charizard and Squirtle). Ness overall has poor matchups with several counters, and he has had average tournament results.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

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

Attributes

Generalizing Ness is difficult. He generally runs a unique, versatile role, employing three different projectiles with differing purposes. Generally, the moves have modest lag and decent knockback, his PK Fire leads well into other attacks, and his PK Thunder can trap opponents and lead into PK Thunder 2, one of the strongest attacks in the game. Also, PK Thunder and PK Flash both leave Ness very vulnerable because he can't move or attack when controlling these projectiles. Ness can use his PSI Magnet to absorb any energy projectile. The best for Ness, however, are his powerful throws, most notably his back throw, the only throw in Brawl that can reliably KO under 150% without relying on being on the edge and bad DI. Combining these with proper projectile use and appropriate Smash timing, and Ness can be a powerful foe. Shield Grabs tend to be a problem for Ness because of his below average standing grab range. Ness is fairly balanced in the areas of weight, falling speed, and air speed with none of them being particularly good nor particularly bad.

Ness' true game can be found by utilizing his aerials. Ness is one of the very few characters in the game who can perform two aerials in one shorthop (Double Aerial Shuffle). This requires practice though because one needs to do the aerial immediately when one jumps off the ground. Looking at his aerials individually, his neutral aerial is fast and a great combo move. His forward aerial can set up into itself, making it good at damage-racking. His back aerial deals powerful knockback when sweetspotted, making it his best aerial finisher, while it can be used for a wall of pain when sourspotted. His up aerial is a very strong vertical KO move with a decent amount of range. Lastly, his clean down aerial is among the best meteor smashes in the game, and when hit late, it has strong horizontal knockback, making it good for edgeguarding.

His ground game is decent but not great. With slow dash speed and short range tilts, he suffers fighting people with disjointed hitboxes such as Ike or Marth. The only upside of his tilts are that they come out very quickly, which can be used to rack up damage. His forward smash, although powerful, is slow. His up smash, though weak in terms of knockback, is very versatile when used properly, being one of the only two smash attacks able to damage people while charging, the other being Ness's down smash. All of Ness's smashes also give Ness some much needed range in his ground game.

Ness's major problems are his poor ground grab release and recovery. He and Lucas both suffer from having extremely long grab release animations. Most characters have some sort of ground grab release on Ness, and/or Lucas, leading to chaingrabs, infinities in walls, and other moderate to major problems. An example would be Marth's 0-death on Ness and Lucas. Another example is Wario using his forward smash out of the grab release, which Ness can't avoid. As mentioned above, Ness's other major problem is his using of PK Thunder 2 as a recovery move. Although Ness has a very large 2nd jump (second only to Yoshi's in terms of height), his PK Thunder, though faster than Lucas' PK Thunder, has a much wider turning angle, thus requiring more room for Ness to recover than Lucas. Its PK Thunder 2 also travels less distance than Lucas' version. In addition, his PK Thunder will stop in its tracks when it hits most projectiles, walls, or a character. As such, some opponents may take a risk and jump in front of PK Thunder's path to intercept Ness's recovery, giving Ness little to no hope of making it back onstage, which is easier with disjointed moves. However, this is a risky way of intercepting Ness's recovery, due to his recovery move having an extreme amount of knockback, KOing below 50% in most situations, although a projectile could still be used to halt his recovery, especially if it's controllable. Ness's double jump has a unique quality that sets it apart from others in the game. It consists of four PSI flashes that propel him upward. If Ness uses an aerial or air dodge at the beginning of the jump, he will obtain a directional boost depending on the aerial used and if it is used 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 jump button is pressed during lag, which is helpful for starting up aerial combos. Using an aerial will make Ness 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 Melee to Brawl

Ness has been greatly buffed in the transition from Melee to Brawl, given that he was one of the worst characters. However, he also received some major nerfs, such as the 10 extra frames added to his grab release animation, the removal of double jump cancelling and the removal of the powerful yo-yo glitch. Because of this, he is considered to be greatly improved from his Melee incarnation, but the noteworthy nerfs that he suffered keep him from moving into the higher tiers.

Aesthetics

  • Change The overall graphics boost from Melee to Brawl gives Ness much more detail.
  • Change Ness has a new tumbling animation.
  • Change Ness uses a different voice clip when using PK Fire.
  • Change Double jump has a different sound effect.

Attributes

  • Buff Ness' walking speed is slightly faster (0.84 → 0.86).
  • Buff Ness' traction is lower (0.06 → 0.0546), going from the 15th highest to the 24th highest. Compared with the returning veterans, however, Ness's traction is higher, making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
  • Nerf Ness dashes slightly slower (1.4 → 1.393).
  • Change As with the returning veterans, Ness' falling speed was reduced (1.83 → 1.31). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Ness falls faster. While this improves his endurance, it worsens his recovery and makes him more vulnerable to combos.
  • Change Ness' gravity is lower (0.09 → 0.0711).
  • Change The removal of double jump cancelling greatly hinders his already poor approach and slightly weakens his combo ability, but significantly improves his recovery's safety.
  • Buff Sidestep has a longer duration (frames 2-18 → 2-20) and less end lag (frame 27 → 25).

Ground attacks

  • Buff All three hits of Neutral attack have longer durations and the 2nd and 3rd hits have less startup lag (frames 3-4 (jab 1), 4-5 (jab 2), 7-10 (jab 3) → 3-5 (jabs 1 and 2), 6-10 (jab 3). The introduction of jab locking also improves jab's utility.
  • Nerf Forward tilt has more startup lag (frame 7 → 8).
  • Buff Forward tilt has a longer duration (frames 7-11 → 8-13).
  • Buff Up tilt has a longer duration (frames 5-9 → 5-10).
  • Buff Down tilt is better at racking up damage as it deals more damage (3% → 4%), and can induce tripping.
  • Buff Dash attack deals more damage (12% → 13%), connects more reliably and all hits have a longer duration (1 frame → 2).
  • Buff Forward smash deals more knockback.
  • Nerf Forward smash has more startup (frame 16 → frame 22) and end lag (frame 50 → 56).
  • Change Forward smash now produces a more realistic sound of a bat hitting a baseball instead of using the Home-Run Bat sound effect.
  • Buff His up and down smashes are stronger, have greater knockback and are able to KO at very high percentages (though the former is still among the weakest up smashes, while down smash is now a down smash of average power). They also have a longer duration (frames 12-31 → 13-35 (down), 13-36 (up). Down smash also has less end lag (frame 62 → 57).
  • Nerf Both his up and down smash no longer increase in damage or knockback when charging. They also have more startup lag (frame 12 → 13) and up smash has more end lag (frame 49 → 64).
  • Bug fix Yoyo/Jacket glitch has been fixed.
  • Nerf The removal of the Yoyo/Jacket glitch has significantly hindered his already poor range.
  • Change His yo-yo has gained a new design.

Aerial attacks

  • Buff All aerials except down aerial have less landing lag (22 frames → 18 (neutral), 18 frames → 12 (forward/back/up)).
  • Buff Neutral aerial sourspot deals 1% more damage. Neutral aerial also has a slightly longer duration (frames 5-23 → 5-24).
  • Buff Back aerial is slightly stronger and has a slightly bigger sweet-spot compared to Melee version. And its sourspot is also much larger, greatly increasing the move's overall range.
  • Nerf Back aerial deals less damage (16% (clean), 10% (late) → 15%/8%).
  • Buff All of forward aerial's hits have a longer duration of one frame giving the move an overall longer duration (frames 8-21 → 8-22). It also connects more reliably.
  • Nerf Forward aerial deals much less damage (16% → 11%).
  • Buff Up aerial has much more knockback growth, and can be used as a effective vertical finisher. It also has a slightly longer duration (frames 8-11 → 8-12).
  • Nerf Up aerial has slightly shorter range.
  • Buff Down aerial has a longer duration (frames 20-28 → 20-29), is more effective due to the changes to meteor canceling and the universally reduced falling speeds, has much better range (5.452u → 6.54u), making it easier to meteor smash. It also has a powerful sourspot which sends opponents horizontally which can KO grounded opponents earlier.
  • Nerf Down aerial's sourspot hurts its edgeguarding ability although it can still KO opponents off stage. Its longer duration also means that it auto-cancels one frame later (frame 29 → 30).

Throws/other attacks

  • Buff Grab range improved, no longer being the second shortest, and dash grab also has better range and a new, faster animation giving it less startup (frame 10 → 8) and end lag (frame 41 → 37). Standing grab also has less startup lag (frame 8 → 6) and Ness now possesses a frame 6 pivot grab which is the fastest in the game.
  • Nerf Standing grab has more end lag (frame 31 → 36).
  • Buff Pummel has less end lag (frame 27 → 10).
  • Nerf Pummel deals less damage (3% → 1%).
  • Buff Back throw is slightly more powerful.
  • Change Back throw now makes the same sound effect as PSI Magnet.
  • Nerf 10 extra frames were added onto Ness' grab release animation, which makes him vulnerable to chain grab releases and combos.
  • Change Forward and down throws now send foes at a higher angle.
  • Nerf The universally decreased fall speeds and changes to hitstun remove up throw and down throw's ability to combo and chaingrab.

Special moves

  • Buff Ness can now B-reverse all his specials except for PK Thunder.
  • Change PK Flash activates faster, charges and travels further and deals slightly more damage when fully charged (36% → 37%), but it no longer activates automatically once it hits the ground, hits in a smaller radius and an uncharged PK Flash deals 2% less damage.
  • Change PK Flash is more blueish instead of green and has a different sound effect.
  • Buff PK Fire activates faster and can trap opponents more effectively.
  • Buff PK Thunder travels in a tighter arc, making it easier to hit himself. PK Thunder 2 has drastically less ending lag, is significantly stronger, now KOing at around 50% and the late hitbox deals 1% more damage with much more knockback allowing it to KO under 100%.
    • Change The camera no longer follows the ball of lightning as it moves away from Ness. The lightning ball is now indigo instead of blue in color.
  • Nerf PSI Magnet heals less damage (x2.0 to x1.6).
  • Buff PSI Magnet now has a push effect when released.
  • Change PSI Magnet is now colored indigo instead of blue. It also has a different sound effect

Moveset

  Name Damage Description
Neutral attack   3% Ness punches twice, then kicks.
2%
4%
Forward tilt   12% Ness kicks with a foot forward. Can be angled.
11%
10%
Up tilt   7% Ness pushes upward with both hands.
Down tilt   4% Ness swiftly kicks out in front of him. Extremely spammable. Has a chance of making the opponent trip.
Dash attack   5% (hit 1), 4% (hits 2-3) Sends three PSI sparks out in front of him with the third spark knocking the opponent up into the air. Each hit sends the opponent in a different direction, with different knockback. Great, disjointed range. If all hits connect, it can be followed up by an aerial combo.
Forward smash   24% sweet, 18% sour Ness swings his bat. There are four hitboxes on the bat, dealing 18%, 20%, 22% and 24% uncharged, the strongest part being at the tip of his bat. The bat will reflect incoming projectiles when he swings it.
Up smash   4% (startup & charge), 9% (front), 13% (back) Ness sends his yo-yo forward and performs "around-the-world" over himself. Interestingly, when it's 'charging', it doesn't increase in damage or knockback.
Down smash   4% (startup & charge), 13% (attack) Ness sends his yo-yo backwards and "walks-the-dog" with it before pulling the yo-yo back. Similar to his up smash, the yo-yo doesn't increase in damage or in knockback when it's "charging".
Neutral aerial   11% (clean), 7% (late) Spins diagonally in the air with arms outstretched.
Forward aerial   2% (hits 1-4), 3% (hit 5) Ness sticks out his palms out, sending a stream of PSI sparks in front of him.
Back aerial   15% (clean), 8% (late) Ness kicks out backwards with both feet. If sweetspotted, it electrifies the opponent and semi-spikes them with extreme power.
Up aerial   13% Ness headbutts up into the air.
Down aerial   12% (clean), 9% (late) Ness pulls his legs to his body before stomping down into the air. This attack can meteor smash in the first frame of the move. Somewhat laggy in the startup.
Grab   Grabs opponent with both hands.
Pummel   1% Ness quickly headbutts the opponent. Very fast.
Forward throw   11% Ness psychokinetically swings his opponent in a small circle in front of himself before sending them off forward.
Back throw   11% Ness psychokinetically swings the opponent over his head before sending them off backwards, in a diagonally upwards motion. Has extremely low base knockback but very high knockback scaling. Has the highest KO potential of all throws.
Up throw   10% Ness psychokinetically spins the opponent above his head before sending them up. Leads into many PK Thunder tricks and juggles. Good knockback for an up throw, though the opponent will have to be around 200% to actually KO.
Down throw   1% (hits 1-5), 4% (throw) Ness throws his opponent onto the ground and scorches them with PK Fire. Combined with pummeling and PK Fire, it can be used to rack up a high amount of damage quickly.
Floor attack (front)   6% Gets up and kicks both sides of himself.
Floor attack (back)   6% Gets up and kicks both sides of himself.
Floor attack (trip)   5% Gets up and kicks both sides of himself.
Edge attack (fast)   8% (leg), 6% (body) Flips onto the stage and does a sweep kick.
Edge attack (slow)   10% Slowly pulls himself up and delivers a powerful punch.
Neutral special PK Flash 9-37% Ness generates a green pulse of energy that is sent upwards, then explodes. It can be charged, increasing damage and knockback while causing it to curve downwards, and it can be moved sideways.
Side special PK Fire 4% (lightning), 1-2% (fire) Fires a yellow, lightning-bolt shaped projectile, that travels in a straight line until it hits an enemy or destructible portion of a stage, at which point it explodes into flames. When used in midair, Ness fires the bolt at a 45° angle.
Up special PK Thunder PK Thunder: 8% (head), 1% (tail);
PK Thunder 2: 25% (clean), 21% (late)
Ness creates a stream of lightning that can be aimed into opponents to deal damage with the head and stun with the tail. Aiming the head into Ness himself will launch him in a trajectory opposite to the side he was hit on, which is referred to as PK Thunder 2. PK Thunder 2 has invincibility frames during the first half of the move.
Down special PSI Magnet 0%, heals x1.6 the damage of absorbed projectiles. Creates a blue energy field around himself which allows him to absorb all energy-based projectiles. It can be held in order to use it repeatedly. The move pushes nearby opponents when the button is released.
Final Smash PK Starstorm 20% (each star) Ness calls down a rain of stars from the sky, yelling "PK... Starstorm!".

On-screen appearance

  • Ness teleports onscreen using PSI Teleport, then shakes off the soot gathered after crashing.
NessOnScreenAppearanceSSBB.gif

Taunts

  • Up taunt: Ness bows and says "Okay." Ness' Up taunt is a reference to the naming screen in Ness' game EarthBound. When one confirms the name one is giving a character, one hears a sound effect of the game's creator, Shigesato Itoi, say "Ok desu ka." which means "Is that okay?" in Japanese.
  • Side taunt: Ness points his bat outward and says "Huah!"
  • Down taunt: Ness creates PSI sparkles on his fingers while saying "Hah!"
Up taunt Side taunt Down taunt
If this works, I should be able to add one for every taunt in Brawl. NessSideTauntBrawl.gif NessDownTauntBrawl.gif

Idle poses

  • Closes his eyes and places his finger to his forehead, similar to Lucas' Down taunt.
  • Frowns and looks around cautiously.
Ness Idle Pose 1 Brawl.png Ness Idle Pose 2 Brawl.png

Crowd cheer

English Japanese
Cheer
Description Ness Ness Ness OOOO! Ness Ness Ne-su!
Pitch Group chant Group chant

Wii Remote selection sound

  • Ness says "Okay." like his up taunt.
Ness's selection sound

Victory poses

A fast-paced cover of a portion of the opening theme from Mother.
  • Up: He jumps up and down twice, swinging his arms, before quickly nodding twice towards the screen with arms akimbo.
  • Left: He looks to his sides quickly before facing the screen, putting his hand on the back of his head. (His animation when chosen in Super Smash Bros.)
  • Right: He swings his bat many times before holding the bat with his right hand, outstretched and pointing diagonally upwards.
Up Left Right
Ness-VictoryUp-SSBB.gif Ness-VictoryLeft-SSBB.gif Ness-VictoryRight-SSBB.gif

In competitive play

Matchups

Notable players

See also: Category:Ness professionals (SSBB)
  • USA FOW - Considered one of the best Ness mains in the world before switching to Meta Knight.
  • Japan Fsann - Japan's top Ness player.
  • USA Shaky - Considered the undisputed best Ness following FOW's switch to Meta Knight.

Tier placement and history

Ness' standing in the metagame has not changed much. He was originally seen as a low tier character, lying at the low tier at 31st. He did increase to 27th by the third tier list as new Ness professionals were discovered, and he stayed there for every single tier list in Brawl, until the last one, where he was slightly bolstered by one tier.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Ness in SSE

Ness shows up saving Lucas from the giant Pig King Statue, which is soon revealed to be their mutual nemesis, Porky Minch. Lucas and Ness team up to defeat Porky and his machine. Afterwards, Wario attacks him with his Dark Cannon, but Ness successfully dodges each shot. Wario, however, then aims at Lucas, forcing Ness to push Lucas out of harm's way and take the arrow from the Dark Cannon, which turns him into a trophy. As Lucas is too scared to face Wario, he leaves Ness behind as Wario cackles in the rain. Most of Lucas's story in SSE involves getting revenge on Wario and trying to find Ness.

As Wario is driving his Cargo with Ness' and Peach/Zelda's trophies on board, he finds Luigi's trophy and prepares to take it until he is ambushed by an army of Waddle Dees, who throw Luigi's trophy into the cargo, which is stolen by King Dedede. At his hideout, Dedede puts a badge on Luigi's, Ness', and Peach/Zelda's trophies before the roof collapses on them, turning Dedede into a trophy in the process, and Bowser takes Peach/Zelda's trophy. Soon afterwards the Ancient Minister detonates a Subspace Bomb that consumes Dedede's castle along with Ness', Luigi's and Dedede's trophies by Subspace.

Ness is not seen again until much later in the story, where he and Luigi are revived thanks to the Dedede Badges. Upon inspecting Luigi's badge, he notices that it looks like Dedede, and, assuming that Dedede made them, proceeds to revive him. Upon being revived, King Dedede gives both of them a hug before they team up and rescue Lucas, along with most of the other characters. Kirby, who was revived by the Dedede brooch he swallowed earlier, revives whatever characters that Ness' group did not come across, including Wario. Wario then bashes Dedede in the head as revenge for Dedede stealing his cargo and trophies. He is then surprised to see Ness and Luigi on Dedede's side. They offer to let Wario to join them, and he agrees and rides his bike up to the entrance of The Great Maze. Ness, along with Sonic and the other characters team up to defeat Tabuu.

Playable appearances

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

In Event Matches

Solo Events

Co-op Events

Trophies

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

Trophy descriptions

Ness
An average boy whose life changed when he found a meteor and an alien on a nearby mountain. The alien warned him of a future threat, and adventure ensued. He can use psychic energy known as PSI and also wields a bat and yo-yo. This brave youth gives his all to defeat the evil Giygas.
SNES: EarthBound (Japan and US Only)
N64: Super Smash Bros.
PK Starstorm (Ness)
Ness as he calls down a host of damage-dealing stars in his Final Smash. Everyone on the screen must dodge like crazy to avoid getting hurt, but that's no easy task. This attack appeared in the Mother series, but it was Poo, not Ness, who wielded it. Perhaps Poo taught Ness the secret of the attack for use in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Alternate costumes

Ness's palette swaps, with corresponding tournament mode colours.
NessHeadSSBB.png NessHeadWhiteSSBB.png NessHeadYellowSSBB.png NessHeadGreenSSBB.png NessHeadBlueSSBB.png NessHeadPurpleSSBB.png

Trivia

  • Despite being the first character unlocked through playing Brawls, Ness is one of the last characters unlocked 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 end of the game.
  • Strangely, Ness has visible teeth during the cutscenes of the Subspace Emissary, but not during the actual gameplay. Lucas has this distinction as well.
  • When in metal form, Ness' bat is also metal, but his yo-yo is not.
  • Ness' yo-yo says "Super Nintendo 2008" along the top, above "MOTHER."
  • Ness and Captain Falcon are the only two characters to have their unlockability status change between Melee and Brawl.
  • Ness is the only fighter to have his trophy list another Super Smash Bros. game for his game appearances. This is most likely due to the fact that outside of the Super Smash Bros. series, he only made a playable appearance in EarthBound. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 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 appear in the opening cinematic of Brawl. The three others sharing this attribute are Marth, Snake, and Sonic.

External links