Ness (SSBB)

This article is about Ness's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Ness.

Ness
Ness
Universe	EarthBound
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	Low (28)

Ness (ネス, Nesu) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is 28 on the tier list, one below Lucas.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play five Brawls, then defeat Ness
• Reflect ten projectiles, then defeat Ness
• Get Ness to join your party in The Subspace Emissary

Attributes

Generalizing Ness is difficult. He generally runs a versatile role, employing three different projectiles with differing purposes. Generally, the moves have modest lag and decent knockback, and his PK Fire combos well into other attacks. The best for Ness, however, are his powerful throws, which are among the best in the game and among the few with true KO potential. Combining these with proper projectile use and appropriate Smash timing, and Ness can be a powerful foe.

Ness' true game rely in his ariels. Ness is one of the very few in the game who can perform 2 ariels in 1 shorthop (Double Ariel Shuffle). This requires practice though because you need to do the ariel immediately when you jump off the ground. His weakness is his ground game. With weak and very short range tilts he will be hurt fighting people with disjointed hitboxes such as ike or marth. The only upside of his tilts are that they come out very quick so you can use them to continue a combo. His foward smash although powerful when hit is nearly impossible to land due to its speed. His upsmash though not very powerful in terms of knockback is very versitle when used properly being the only smash attack able to damage people while charging. He can also be infinitely grabbed by Charizard. (He may escape Marth's grab using EIDI). Still, enterprising Ness players can make him highly dangerous.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack - Jabs twice and kicks. 3% first hit, 2% second hit, and 4% third hit.
• Dash Attack - Sends three sparks out in front of him with the third spark knocking the opponent up into the air. 5% first hit, 4% second hit, and 4% third hit.
• Strong Side - Kicks out in front of him. Can be tilted upward or downward. Downward, 10%. Forward, 11%. Upward, 12%.
• Strong Up - Raises his hands, which grow large, up into the air. 7%.
• Strong Down - Ness crouches and very quickly kicks out in front of him. The quickest Strong Down attack and one of the quickest attacks in the game (can be used multiple times in a row to rack up damage). 4% each hit. Can trip opponent.

Smash

• Side Smash - Ness swings his bat. The bat has a sweet-spot at the tip of it. Similar to Lucas's Forward Smash, but with a slower start-up time, much more power, and a longer range. One of Ness's best killing moves. Also functions as a reflector when timed right. 18%-24% uncharged, 25%-33% fully charged.
• Up Smash - Ness sends his yo-yo forward and performs "around-the-world" over himself, with the yo-yo ending behind him before he pulls it back. This is the only smash attack in the game (along with Ness's down smash) that does damage while it charges (which actually isnt a charge at all). If connected properly, the opponent hit by the forward yo-yo will then be sent up to be hit by the swinging yo-yo and then sent up into the air. 4% while "charging", 9% on opponents in front on the ground, 13% on opponents in the air or behind Ness.
• Down Smash - Ness sends his yo-yo backwards and "walks-the-dog" with it before pulling the yo-yo back. Works much like Ness's Up Smash. 4 while "charging", 13% during the actual attack. If connected properly (the first hit), the enemy will be hit twice.

Other

• Ledge attack - Flips onto the stage and does a sweep kick. 8%.
• 100% ledge attack - Slows pull himself up a delivers a powerful punch. 10%.
• Floor Attack - Gets up and kicks backward, then spins around and kicks in front of him. 6%.
• Trip attack - Gets up on his hands, kicks backwards, then brings his legs under him and kicks in front of him. 5%.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Air - Spins diagonally in the air with arms outstretched. A single hit with moderate knockback. 11%.
• Forward Air - Ness sticks out his palms in front sending a stream of PK sparks in front of him. Very similar to his dash attack and is an excellent at disrupting opponents. 4 hits of 2%, then one hit of 3%.
• Back Air - Kicks out backwards with both feet. Has a sweet-spot that could, if landed correctly, send the opponent a fair amount of horizontal distance while electrified. One of Ness's killing moves. 8% normal, 15% sweetspotted.
• Up Air - Headbutts up into the air. High knockback and can Star KO over 100%. Another of Ness's killing moves. 13%.
• Down Air - Ness pulls his legs to his body before stomping down into the air. This attack can spike but has a lot of start-up lag. One of the best spikes in the game. 12%.

Grabs and Throws

• Grabs - Ness's standing grab has fairly short range but little lag. His dash-grab has a large range without much increase in lag over the standing grab.
• Pummel - Ness pummels the opponent with headbutts. 1% each hit.
• Forward Throw - Ness psychokinetically swings his opponent in a small circle in front of himself before sending them off forward. The knockback of this throw is not set, but does not increase with damage at an expected rate: it changes from Ness's best throw to his worst as the enemy's damage increases. Because of this nature this throw can score cheap KOs on walk off stages and setups for spikes. 11%.
• Back Throw - Psychokinetically swings the opponent over his head before sending them off backwards, in a diagonally upwards motion. The knockback (as well as angle) fluctuates from barely noticeable to significant depending on percent. At about 100-150% it can KO any character quite easily changing from the games worst throw to the best. 11%.
• Up Throw - Psychokinetically spins the opponent above his head before sending them up. Average Knockback. 10%.
• Down Throw - Throws his opponent down and shoots out fire onto his opponent. Combined with pummeling and PK Fire it can be used to rack up very high amount of damage quickly. 5 hits of 1%, then 4%.

Taunts

• Up Taunt - Ness bows and says the word "Okay."
• Down Taunt - Ness creates PSI sparkles on his fingers while saying "Hah!"
• Side Taunt - He pulls out his bat and says "Huah!"

Changes from Melee to Brawl

• PK Flash activates faster and charges and travels further, but is less controllable in horizontal direction. Also, it goes further down than where it starts (it doesn't activate automatically once it hits the ground) and hits in a smaller radius.
• Back Air is slightly weaker and has smaller sweet-spot compared to Melee version
• No double jump cancel (except with special moves)
• PK Thunder travels tighter, making it easier to hit self
• Up aerial now quite low-range, but much more powerful, and can be used as a finisher.
• Running Grab Animation no longer has Ness leaning forward hopping if missed.
• Forward Smash produces a "CRAAAACK!!" sound, similar to a baseball bat hitting a baseball, when connecting with the opponent instead of the echoing "PIIIING!!" sound of the Home-Run Bat. Additionally, it's slightly slower than its Melee counterpart.
• Up and Down Smashes are stronger, have greater knockback and are able to kill at high percentages (though they are still the weaker smashes in Ness's arsenal)
• So far, there is no known way to do the yo-yo glitch, however, the SLAPAYO glitch is very similar
• Forward throw sends foes at a higher angle
• Victory Theme changed from an orchestrated version of the second half of the "Soundstone Melodies" (from EarthBound) to a sped-up section of the Mother Title theme. Both Ness and Lucas share the same Victory Theme.
• No longer a starter character.
• New yo-yo design
• Ness's PSI Magnet can be canceled with Up Smash, Jump, Grab or Spot Dodge.
• No more lag in final of Human Missile.
• Down spike is faster and stronger.
• Dash grab has excellent range, is faster, and has less ending lag.
• Back throw slightly more powerful
• PK Fire activates faster
• PK Flash has slightly different animation.
• New costumes, as he no longer has just striped shirts for alternate colors.
• When Ness activates PK Fire, his voice sounds different.
• PSI Magnet's color changed from blue to purple.
• Has the same "toppling" animation as Lucas.
• Up Aerial and Side Aerial can replace 2nd jump.
• When PSI Magnet is deactivated, it blows close opponents away without doing damage.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness in the SSE'

Ness shows up saving Lucas from the giant Pig King Statue, which is soon revealed to be his nemesis, Porky Minch. Both Lucas and Ness team up and 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 trophy-izing arrow from the Dark Cannon. As Lucas is too scared to face Wario, he leaves Ness behind as Wario cackles in the rain.

As Wario is driving his Cargo with Ness and a princess's trophies on board, he finds Luigi's trophy and prepares to take it until he's ambushed by an army of Waddle Dees, who throw Luigi's trophy into the cargo,on his head as a joke, which is stolen by King Dedede. At his hideout, Dedede puts a badge on Luigi, Ness, and the princess's trophies before the roof collapses on them and Bowser takes the princess's trophy.

Later on, 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 most of the other characters to defeat Tabuu.

Trivia

• Ness cannot charge his down smash while on the edge of any platform.
• Despite being one of the first characters unlocked by playing Brawls, Ness is one of the last characters unlocked by playing Subspace Emissary.
• When in metal form, Ness's bat is also metal, but his yo-yo is not.
• Ness's yo-yo says "Super Nintendo 2008" along the top, above "MOTHER."
• Ness's Trophy is the only one that mentions "Super Smash Bros." as one of a character's works. Others only list games of their originating franchises.
• Ironically, while Ness's game (EarthBound) was released in North America, his in-game voice in the Super Smash Bros. series speaks with a Japanese accent. Whereas Lucas, whose game (Mother 3) was released only in Japan, speaks using a North American accent.
• Ness's up and down smashes don't show the usual display while charging.
• Strangely, no matter what level a CPU Ness is at, when they recover by using PK Thunder, they always launch themselves vertically. This occurs even when they can only reach the stage by firing horizontally or diagonally, resulting in their SDs.
• Ness's PSI Magnet changed color throughout all three games, from green, to blue, and finally purple.

External links

• Image still from the trailer leak confirming Ness's presence
• Screenshots (Spoilers)
• DOJO!! page