Ness (SSBM): Difference between revisions

|rankingPAL  = 23

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

==Attributes==

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.

While Ness is considered to be a low tier in ''Smash 64'' owing to his poor range, mobility and most notably; his poor recovery, he was initially considered to be top tier character in the game's early meta due to the strength of his [[double jump cancel]] which gave him a powerful combo game as well as giving him excellent [[shield]] pressuring potential. Likely as a result of this, Ness received a mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition from ''Smash 64'' to ''Melee'' but was ultimately [[nerf]]ed overall.

Lastly, Ness' weaknesses from the previous game were not properly addressed. While the range in some of his attacks has increased, his range is still among the absolute shortest in the game and his mobility is still mediocre even though its not quite as poor as it previous was. As a result, Ness still has a difficult time approaching opponents and winning the neutral as he can still easily be outspaced. His recovery also is now among the absolute worst as while he has better aerial mobility and he can airdodge to avoid having to use PK Thunder, PK Thunder retains all of the issues it had in the previous game and has even become a considerably worse move/recovery option overall.

===Aesthetics===

*{{change|Ness's grounded jump is no longer psychokinetic.}}

*{{change|Ness has new voice samples.}}

*{{change|Ness now has a blue hue in his eyes.}}

*{{change|Ness now faces the screen if he uses his [[taunt]] while facing left. It also has a new voice clip.}}

*{{change|Ness now consistently smiles instead of only doing it during his taunt and victory poses.}}

===Attributes===

**{{nerf|However, this also makes him much more vulnerable to combos and makes him susceptible to {{SSBM|Fox}}'s waveshine combos.}}

*{{buff|The introduction of [[air dodging]] benefits Ness as it gives him a much needed additional recovery option as well as an additional movement option in the form of [[wavedash]]ing.}}

**{{buff|Neutral attack transitions sooner into the later hits (frame 10 → 5 (hit 1), frame 8 → 6 (hit 2)).}}

**{{buff|The third hit has increased base knockback (10 → 16).}}

**{{nerf|Ness can no longer cancel the first hit into grab.}}

*[[Forward tilt]]:

**{{buff|Dash attack deals slightly more damage if all hits connect (12% (clean)/9% (late) → 5% (hit 1)/4% (hits 2 & 3)/12.28% (total)) and has significantly more range and overall utility.}}

**{{change|The final hit of dash attack has higher base knockback (16 → 70) and launches opponents vertically (361° → 100°) improving its combo potential but hindering its KO and edgeguarding potential when combined with its lower damage.}}

**{{nerf|Dash attack has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 40).}}

*[[Forward smash]]:

**{{buff|Forward smash no longer deals consistent damage with the tipper of the bat being the strongest (18% → 18%/20%/22%/24%).}}

**{{nerf|Forward smash deals less knockback (70 (base), 65 (scaling) → 50/62) drastically hindering the sourspots' KO potential at high percentages.}}

*{{nerf|All aerials have increased landing lag (14 frames → 22 (neutral), 16 frames → 18 (forward), 15 frames → 18 (back), 4/8 frames → 18 (up), 4/8 frames → 28 (down)).}}

*{{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|This combined with the changes to [[shield]]s has severely harmed Ness's shield pressuring potential; making his aerials much less safe against shield and completely removing his ability to perform [[shield break combo]]s.}}

*[[Neutral aerial]]:

**{{change|Forward aerial has been altered: Ness now produces five PSI rings in front of him with the move being a multi hit.}}

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

**{{buff|Forward aerial has considerably more range.}}

**{{buff|Forward has much better combo potential due to its multi-hit properties as it can now chain into itself or other aerials.}}

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

*[[Up aerial]]:

**{{nerf|Up aerial deals less damage (15% → 13%) and its knockback was not fully compensated (10 (base), 110 (scaling) → 13/109).}}

**{{nerf|Up aerial has a shorter duration (frames 8-16 → 8-11).}}

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

**{{nerf|Down aerial has twice the amount of ending lag (FAF 30 → 60) no longer being possible to perform twice in a short hop or even out of a full height double jump.}}

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

***{{nerf|Altogether, these changes drastically worsens the move's utility and reliability, hindering its use in combos and in shield pressure while being much more unreliable as a KO move.}}

**{{nerf|Ness's grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 8 (standing), 10 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).}}

*[[Forward throw]]:

**{{nerf|Forward throw has more ending lag (FAF 45 → 53).}}

**{{nerf|Forward throw no longer has a collateral hit which can hit bystanders.}}

===Special Moves===

*[[PK Flash]]:

*[[PK Fire]]:

**{{change|As a result of PK Flash now being Ness's neutral special, PK Fire is now Ness's side special.}}

**{{buff|PK Fire has less ending lag (FAF 72 → 70).}}

**{{buff|PK Fire pillar's hitboxes are larger and no longer shrink as its lifetime decreases.}}

**{{buff|PK Fire spark is less likely to knock opponents away from the pillar at higher percents.}}

**{{nerf|Ness will not auto-snap the ledge after PK Thunder despawns until he has performed an aerial somersault.}}

***{{nerf|Altogether, these changes make it much riskier to use PK Thunder near the ledge.}}

**{{change|The crowd no longer gasps when Ness hits himself with PK Thunder.}}

**{{nerf|PK Thunder 2 travels a much shorter distance.}}

**{{nerf|PK Thunder 2 now has a drastically weaker late hitbox that deals less damage (30% → 20%) and knockback (40 (base), 84 (scaling) → 45/65).}}

**{{nerf|PK Thunder 2's clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 1-18 → 1-10).}}

*[[PSI Magnet]]:

**{{change|Physic-Magnet has been renamed to PSI Magnet.}}

**{{buff|PSI Magnet has less startup lag (frame 15 → 11).}}

**{{change|The crowd no longer cheers when Ness absorbs a projectile with PSI Magnet. The screen additionally no longer flashes when this occurs either.}}

**{{nerf|PSI Magnet has 10 frames extra frames of ending lag when Ness drops the magnet.}}

|game=SSBM

|neutralcount=3

|neutral1dmg=3%

|neutral2dmg=2%

|neutral3dmg=4%

|neutraldesc=Punches forward twice, then kicks.

|ftiltangles=3

|ftiltupdmg=12%

|ftiltdowndmg=10%

|ftiltdesc=Does a roundhouse kick forward. Can be angled up or down.

|utiltdmg=7%

|utiltdesc=Thrusts both his hands upward. Ness's head is intangible during the early part of the animation. Can combo into itself and DJC'd up aerials.

|dtiltdmg=3%

|dtiltdesc=Thrusts his leg downward, then pivots his foot to hit the opponent. Can combo into itself by mashing the [[A button]] after the move is executed, and is an infinite against a wall.

|dashdmg=5% (hit 1), 4% (hits 2-3) (≈12.28% total)

|dashdesc=Throws his hands forward, sending three sparks PSI energy in front of himself. Good, disjointed range. 1st hit powerfully semi-spikes opponents, 2nd hit does very weak vertical knockback and the last hit deals powerful vertical knockback.

|fsmashdmg={{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|18}} (body), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|20}} (bat base), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|22}} (bat mid), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|24}} (bat tip)

|fsmashdesc=Swings his bat forward. Has high knockback and damage at the tip of the bat, but has very weak knockback for a smash attack when untipped and has a little bit of start-up lag. There is a hitbox around Ness which can [[reflect]] projectiles,  but it is only out for 2 frames, so it's near-impossible to use reliably.

|usmashdmg=9% (startup), 4% (charging), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|6}} (attack)

|dsmashdmg=11% (startup), 4% (charging), {{ChargedSmashDmgSSBM|7}} (attack)

|nairdmg=11% (clean), 8% (late)

|nairdesc=Spins around, arms stretched out. Has good knockback and is very fast with high combo potential. Poor range.

|fairdmg=3% (hits 1-4), 5% (hit 5) (≈15.74% total)

|fairdesc=Throws both his hands forward, sending multiple sparks PSI energy in front of himself. Is a fast, multi-hitting move, with good range and high knockback on the last hit KOing under 130% off-stage. Generally used as a [[spacing]] move and can chain into itself several times at low to high percents.

|bairdmg=16% (clean), 10% (late)

|uairdmg=13%

|dairdmg=12%

|dairdesc=Pulls his legs to his body before stomping downwards.  Is a [[meteor smash]], and has a decent amount of start-up lag. Great range, extremely high knockback at 0% (most powerful meteor smash at 0% in ''Melee''), but it also has very low knockback scaling, being unable to KO grounded opponents at even 200%, and is relatively easy to meteor cancel. It also has no IASA frames (being interrupted on the same frame as Mario's forward aerial, but Mario's seem slower compared to Ness's).

|grabdesc=

|pummeldmg=3%

|pummeldesc=Headbutts the opponent.

|fthrowdmg=11%

|fthrowdesc=Psychically throws the opponent forward. Very strong base knockback, but very low knockback scaling.

|bthrowdmg=11%

|bthrowdesc=Psychically throws the opponent behind him. Has extremely low base knockback but very high knockback scaling. This is Ness's strongest throw and the second strongest throw in the game (second to {{SSBM|Mewtwo}}'s up throw), KOing reliably at 130% and above.

|uthrowdmg=10%

|uthrowdesc=Psychically spins the opponent above his head and throws them upwards. Can chaingrab {{SSBM|Fox}}, {{SSBM|Falco}} and {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}} at low % and has a decent amount of followups. Good knockback.

|dthrowdmg=1% (hits 1-5), 4% (throw)

|dthrowdesc=Slams the opponent to the ground and hits them with fire. Low knockback but allows a decent amount of followups, including being able to lead into an up aerial to KO. The fire hitboxes are fairly small (so small in fact that they flat out whiff against {{SSBM|Mr. Game & Watch}}).

|dsdesc=Creates a blue energy field around him which allows him to absorb all energy-based projectiles. It can be held.

}}

===[[Taunt]]===

===[[Crowd cheer]]===

===[[Victory pose]]s===

|char=Ness}}

*{{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}}.

===Tier placement and history===

==={{SSBM|Classic Mode}}===

In Classic Mode, Ness can appear as an ordinary opponent, as an ally or opponent in the team battles, alongside {{SSBM|Yoshi}}, {{SSBM|Peach}}, or {{SSBM|Mewtwo}}, as a member of a multi-character battle, or as a metal opponent. In Ness's appearance, he appears on either [[Onett]] or [[Fourside]] (if unlocked) as a regular opponent and on {{SSBM|Battlefield}} as a metal opponent. When on a team with Yoshi, he appears on {{SSBM|Yoshi's Island}}.

*'''[[Event 36: Space Travelers]]''': As Ness, the player must defeat {{SSBM|Samus}}, Kirby, {{SSBM|Fox}}, Captain Falcon, and {{SSBM|Falco}}. The player battles the first three characters on [[Fourside]] and battles the last two on {{SSBM|Battlefield}}.

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==[[Alternate costume (SSBM)#Ness|Alternate costumes]]==

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

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

*The PK Fire pillar appears to have a windbox-like property. Information on this attribute is scarce and it seems to only happen under specific circumstances.

*''Melee'' is Ness's only appearance where PK Thunder has transcendent priority. In every other ''Super Smash Bros.'' title, it can be clanked with.

*Ness is one of three characters whose neutral special changed during his jump to ''Melee'', the others being [[Link]] and [[Jigglypuff]]. In the original ''Super Smash Bros.'', his neutral special was PK Fire; from ''Melee'' onward, he now uses PK Flash. As with the other two, his original neutral special remains in the game, having been transferred to the newly added side special move slot.

*Hitting Ness as he's using [[PK Thunder]] can cause his body to constantly produce sparks afterward, though these sparks only provide a cosmetic effect. This glitch continues until he gets KOed, shields, or performs PK Thunder again.

*Ness's [http://www.nintendo.com/amiibo/detail/ness-amiibo-super-smash-bros-series amiibo description] on the North American [[amiibo]] website is based on his trophy description from ''Melee''.

{{SSBMCharacters}}

{{EnemiesAdvSSBM}}