Ness (SSBM): Difference between revisions

Makiko Ōmoto reprises her role as Ness in ''Melee'' with new voice clips.

==Attributes==

Arguably Ness's greatest strength is his combo game. Despite a poor [[SHFFL]] due to his high short hop and low falling speed, Ness has many ways to pressure and combo in the air thanks to his [[double jump cancel]] (often abbreviated DJC). By cancelling out of his midair jump with an aerial, Ness can quickly and efficiently use his multiple aerial attacks; this is especially important considering the utility of his aerial attacks. His [[neutral aerial]] and [[forward aerial]] attacks acting as potential combo starters (especially the latter) and his back, up and down air attacks serve as good KO moves. Due to this, his air approach is considered to be much better than his ground approach.

Although Ness has a poor ground approach, he still boasts two effective options: his grab game and the [[Yo-yo glitch]]. Ness' throws all have excellent utility; his forward throw has extremely high base knockback, making it ideal for starting edgeguards. His down throw is a decent combo starter, having potential to lead into his DJC'd aerials. His up throw is a decent chain grab and can be used in conjunction with PK Thunder to rack up damage or play mindgames. Finally, his back throw is the strongest throw in the game, making it a deadly KOing option.  As for the Yo-yo glitch, Ness is the only character to have access to this technique. It is initiated through his up smash, and can be used to attack or grab with near limitless range or attach certain single-hitbox attacks to Ness's body. This can significantly increase Ness' range and options when performed properly.

Ness' special moveset also has some problems: it is rather situational overall. PK Flash boasts extreme power when fully charged and is great for punishing poorly positioned opponents offstage, but it is limited to edgeguarding due to it being very slow and difficult to land. PK Fire can trap opponents and leave them open for follow-ups, and can even gimp fast-fallers. However, it has short reach for a projectile and is very easy to SDI out of, making it easy to punish. PK Thunder is Ness' most useful special move; it is unique for controlling a thunder ball which can be moved in any direction, allowing for mindgames, offstage gimps, and even a powerful KOing option in PK Thunder 2. However it has one critical flaw: the player loses control of Ness during the move, leaving him open to extremely powerful attacks if he can't hit the opponent quick enough. Finally, PSI Magnet can heal Ness and put him in a better position defensively, but it is rather slow and completely dependent on the opposing character, as it only absorbs energy-based projectiles.

Ness' mobility has been drastically improved, possessing a much faster dashing speed and air speed, making it much easier for him to approach, run away and chase opponents. Ness also benefits from the introduction of [[air dodging]] for two reasons; it gives him a much needed additional recovery and it gives him access to [[wavedash]]ing. Ness overall has a solid wavedash due to his average traction and short jumpsquat giving him a useful movement option. Ness overall has a better recovery outside of [[PK Thunder]] due to his aforementioned increased air speed and ability to air dodge meaning that Ness does not have to rely on PK Thunder to recover as much.

However, Ness has received a much greater quantity of nerfs which along with universal changes, have drastically crippled him overall. Ness' damage output has been reduced which has also hindered the KO potential of many of his moves. Some moves such as up aerial, forward smash and back throw simply KO later than in the previous game while moves such as up smash, down smash, forward aerial and forward throw are now practically useless moves for KOing. This naturally hinders Ness' damage racking capabilities as well as his ability to close out stocks and as a result of these changes, Ness' ability to KO opponents has gone from being disproportionately high to rather low.

*{{nerf|All aerials except neutral aerial [[auto-cancel]] later (frame 27 → 30 (forward), frame 20 → 25 (back), frame 1 → 27 (up), frame 1 → 29 (down)).}}

*{{nerf|The weakening of [[L-canceling]] has hindered Ness's combo game with landing aerials as well as their safety with the increasing landing lag and worse auto-cancel windows on his aerials only further exacerbating this.}}

*[[Neutral aerial]]:

**{{buff|Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 36).}}

**{{buff|Neutral aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 40 → 27).}}

**{{nerf|Neutral aerial deals less damage (14% → 11% (clean), 11% → 8% (late)) hindering its KO potential.}}

**{{nerf|Neutral aerial has a shorter duration (frames 5-39 → 5-23).}}

**{{nerf|Neutral aerial has less range and is less safe due to Ness's head being farther in front than the move's hitboxes.}}

*[[Forward aerial]]:

**{{buff|Forward aerial has less startup (frame 10 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 42 → 40).}}

**{{buff|Forward aerial deals more damage if all hits connect (12% (clean)/10% (late) → 3%/2% (hits 1-4)/5% (hit 5)/15.74% (total)).}}

*[[Back aerial]]:

**{{buff|Back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 36).}}

**{{nerf|The sweetspot has a shorter duration (frames 10-13 → 10-11) with the late hit's duration being compensated (frames 14-19 → 12-19).}}

**{{nerf|The sweetspot now has an electric effect, giving it more hitlag (1x → 1.5x) and making it easier to DI.}}

**{{buff|Down aerial has much higher base knockback (10/0 → 90), improving its edgeguarding potential at lower percents.}}

**{{nerf|Down aerial has drastically increased start-up lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-20 → 20-28).}}

**{{nerf|Down aerial no longer auto-cancels while the hitbox is out, now having 28 frames of landing lag (14 if L-cancelled).}}

**{{nerf|The addition of [[meteor canceling]], when combined with down aerial's new angle (-90° → 280°) allows it to be meteor cancelled.}}

===Most historically significant players===

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:''See also: [[:Category:Ness players (SSBM)]]''

*{{Sm|Mofo|USA}} - One of the most influential Ness mains known for discovering many [[glitch]]es such as the [[Star Jacket]], [[Spike Jacket]] and the [[yoyo stack glitch]]. Considered the best Ness in the world from 2009 to 2014 before retiring, has taken a set off {{Sm|Gravy}} and {{Sm|Captain Smuckers}}.

*{{Sm|JoeyBats|Canada}} - The current best Ness player in the world, gaining notoriety during online tournaments through [[Slippi]]. He boast the highest tournament placements and highest rates of tournament participation among Ness players in 2021 on [[Project Slippi]] netplay and offline placed 17th at the superregional {{Trn|Rise 'N Grind 2023}}.

===Tier placement and history===

==In 1-P Mode==

[[File:SSBM-Nessyoyo.png|thumb|The yoyo's texture.]]

[[File:Elnessjabsmaller.gif|thumb|The "Electric Ness" glitch being performed.]]

*When Ness's profile page was updated on July 17th, 2001, [[Sakurai]] revealed that Ness was meant to be replaced by [[Lucas]] from ''Mother 3''. However, as ''Mother 3'' was facing development issues and had its original Nintendo 64 release cancelled, Ness was brought back instead.

*Interestingly, the command structure for Ness's Down-Aerial matches up with its ''Brawl'' counterpart, though it lacks the late hitbox. It is very likely that Down-Aerial was programmed this way erroneously, since it has two 'Synchronous Timer' flags (4 frames and 5 frames) before the hitbox is cleared, adding up to 9 frames, while most moves only have one.