Ness (SSB)

Ness in Super Smash Bros.
Ness
Universe	EarthBound
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	B (8)

Ness (ネス, Nesu) is a secret character in Super Smash Bros. He is well-known for his unique second and third jumps. He, along with Yoshi, can double jump cancel, allowing them to use quick aerials.

Ness ranks 8th on SSB's tier list for a predictable and at times unreliable recovery, which many foes abuse to their advantage, as well as some range issues. However, he does have a decent amount of combos, due to the aforementioned double jump cancel.

How to unlock Ness

To unlock Ness, play 1-Player mode in Normal with 3 Lives without continuing, then defeat Ness in a match. He is fought on Dream Land.

Attributes

File:Ness ending.jpg

Ness's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Ness is a fairly small, light character with very high priority attacks. Ness' special attacks serve a variety of purposes. His neutral and up specials are projectiles, and his down special can absorb energy projectiles. However, his special moves are slow. Ness himself is somewhat slow normally, but his fast roll and certain advanced techniques can help this problem. Ness' grabs and throws are great in speed, range, and power. Ness' moves have great hitstun, which makes Ness very good at combos (including multiple shield break combos). Also among Ness' assets are his powerful side smash which can also reflect projectiles, good juggling capabilities, and excellent range on his down smash.

Ness' greatest metagame comes from his air game. He has the game's lowest double jump cancel, which can be used to perform devastating combos, and a quick spike as a finisher to many of his combos.

Ness' recovery is long if mastered, but this can be a difficult task. This is because Ness is easily intercepted when using his third jump. His recovery gives him many invincibility frames, but if PK Thunder hits a wall or opponent, Ness will fall in a helpless state. Additionally, Ness (like most characters) can be easily spiked if he slides up the wall of the stage during recovery. Because he can be attacked out of and attacked before he can PK thunder 2, Ness' recovery is considered the worst in the game. Ness can also however cancel his PSI Magnet on the ledge in order to reduce all ending lag.

On a competitive level, Ness has dropped the most since being 3rd on the original Super Smash Bros. 64 tier list. Ness' combos are excellent but Ness has problems dealing with excessive range such as facing Captain Falcon Up smash or Kirby or Pikachu's up tilt. Ness' approach has very high priority but is easily read and has extremely short range. His recovery has also been proven to be a lot worse than is first appears, due to its low sweet spot and sliding nature. However, Ness still has one of the best throws in the game, a great up tilt and can still compete vs the higher tiers better than the other characters in his tier.

Moveset

Ground Moves

Normal

• Neutral attack: One-two Punch and Side Kick. Fast, looks similar to Mario/Luigi's combo, but short range. 2%, 3%, 4%.
• Forward tilt: Roundhouse Kick. He kicks in front rapidly, his body moves with it, giving it minor ending lag. Decent close-up spacer. 9% damage.
• Up tilt: Two-handed Open-palm Uppercut. Thrusts both his hands directly upwards above him, which is a great aerial setup, especially because of its good speed and decent power. 7%
• Down tilt: Low Kick. Ness does a fast kick while crouching, with can chain into itself, or a grab. 7%
• Dash attack: Puts both of his hands in front of him with good duration., usually launches foes in front of him. 10% damage.

Smash attacks

• Side smash: Homerun Swing. Takes out a bat and swings it, making a pinging sound if it connects. Decent speed and range, but great priority and power. 18% damage.
• Up smash: Yo-yo Semicircle, 17%. Ness does a "round the world" yo-yo swing, which acts as a good anti-air move. Strange hitbox, does not hit short characters on ground. Above average speed.
• Down smash: Yo-yo Back and Forth. 19% Extremely low hitbox, though extremely long range. Longest horizontal range of all down smashes. Fast startup in back, average speed to reach front.

Other

• Ledge attack: Lunges upwards and twirls. 6% damage.
• 100% ledge attack: Gets up and punches slowly. 6% damage.
• Floor attack: gets up and twirls around with his foot extended. 6% damage.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial: Split Kick, 14%. Ness does a falling Split Kick, somewhat similar to Jigglypuff's. The hitbox is Ness's entire body. Has similar properties to a Sex kick. Good spacing move.
• Forward aerial: Two-handed Open-palm lunge, 12%. Similar to his dash attacks, puts both hands in front of him for good damage and knockback. Quick attacking move, though the range is restricted to his small opened hands.
  

  Ness' Aerial Attacks
• Up aerial: Headbutt, 15%. He does a quick and short ranged headbutt above him with good power. Good for juggling.
• Back aerial: Back kick, 16%. Thrusts his feet backwards for tremendous killing power.
• Down aerial: spike kick, 15%. Comes out extremely quickly with short range. With double jump cancel, it can be used to rack up extremly high damage, in some cases being used in 0-death combos.

Grabs & Throws

• Forward throw: 16%. Takes foe, lifts them with PSI, and twirls them whilst launching them forward for great power. High Knockback.
• Backward throw: 16% Similar to his forward throw, only he takes the foe and launches them behind him.

Special Moves

Ness's special moves

Neutral special	PK Fire	PK Flash
Up special	PK Thunder
Down special	PSI Magnet

Taunt

• Says "Okay!" while turning to his right, then nods his head while putting hands on hips.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups

Avg.

Description

Ness was a seemingly-average kid from Onett, but in truth, he was destined for much more. When a strange meteorite landed near his hometown, the little boy with psychic powers set out to save the world. Little has been said of Ness' character, and much remains hidden.

Works:

• EarthBound (SNES)

Costume Gallery

File:Alt-ness.jpg

Ness' changeable clothing in SSB

Trivia

• Ness, along with Captain Falcon, are the only characters to not have a stage originating from their franchise.
• Even if a platform is above him, a CPU Ness will always use PK Thunder and aim sideways instead of up.
• This is Ness' only appearance on the Nintendo 64. The only other playable character to share this distinction is Samus.