Ness (SSB4)

Ness in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	EarthBound
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl
Availability	Unlockable (3DS) Starter (Wii U)
Final Smash	PK Starstorm

Ness (ネス, Ness) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Ness was officially confirmed on October 3rd, 2014, alongside Falco and Wario, coinciding with the the North American and European release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

As in every previous Smash installation, Ness is voiced by Makiko Omoto, who recorded new voice clips for both versions of the game.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play 10 VS Matches.
• Clear Classic Mode on any difficulty.

After completing one of the two methods, Ness must then be defeated on Magicant.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Ness is playable from the start.

Attributes

Ness is an unusual blend of character archetypes, being a short, projectile-heavy character with a lot of versatility with his moves. Ness' weight and falling speed are average, giving him no disadvantage with weight alone. He possesses three projectiles: PK Flash, PK Fire, and PK Thunder. While PK Flash is very powerful, it has little mobility, a massive amount of startup, and is generally only used as a situational edgeguard. PK Fire is fairly quick, possesses a good amount of range, and the projectile holds opponents in it when it hits them, allowing Ness free follow-ups as long as he acts quickly enough. PK Thunder is one of the more unique projectiles in the game. When used, the player will lose control of Ness and instead take control of a large thunder ball for a few seconds. PK Thunder can essentially be used to knock opponents towards Ness for follow ups or juggle opponents. The knockback it provides can also hit an opponent over the upper blast line, allowing it to be used as a very situational KO move as well, and it can allow him to use the powerful PK Thunder 2. His fourth special move, PSI Magnet, provides a psychic shield that can heal him when hit with an energy based attack, however, it does contain a bit of starting and ending lag.

Ness' biggest strength is found in his superb aerial game. All of Ness' aerial moves can be used to either combo, space, or KO. All of them are also capable of auto-canceling in a short hop. His neutral aerial possesses very little starting and ending lag, and hits on both sides of Ness, making it a very useful out of shield option. His forward aerial has little lag, a large, disjointed hitbox, and traps opponents, essentially allowing it to chain into either itself or another move. It is a powerful spacing tool and very useful in approaching opponents. His up aerial can be used to combo at lower percents and KO reliably at higher percents. It possesses a large hitbox and little lag, allowing it to be of low risk to use. His back aerial is another reliable KO move that possesses low lag. His down aerial has long range and can be useful in edgeguarding and breaking juggles.

Ness' grab game is also very strong. While he has a short grab range, he can easily trap opponents with PK Fire in order to set up for a grab. Ness possesses one of the fastest pummels in the game, allowing him to deal a decent amount of damage before throwing. His down throw sets up for an aerial attack and can lead into a forward air at lower percents, or an up air at higher percents. Ness' forward throw has very high base knockback and can set up edgeguards. Up throw can be used to play mindgames with PK Thunder. Ness' infamous back throw is the strongest throw in the game; while it has very low base knockback, it has extremely high knockback scaling and is often regarded as his most effective KO option.

Ness isn't completely infallible, however. He possesses below average speed in both the ground and the air, making it hard for him to chase faster opponents. His ground game is also generally weak as he possesses weak and low range tilts. His smash attacks are also lackluster. While his up smash can be used as an out of shield option and his down smash as a situational edgeguard, both KO considerably later than his other KO options, and his forward smash, while very powerful, possesses high ending lag and is easily punishable if it misses. Ness's biggest flaw, however, is his recovery. While there have been various buffs to his recovery that make it much more reliable and viable than in previous Smash games, it is still relatively easy to gimp for characters with multiple jumps, such as Jigglypuff, Kirby and Meta Knight, or with moves that reflect or absorb, such as Rosalina, Fox, Villager, and Pit.

Ness has also seen a mixture of buffs and nerfs through game patches. In 1.0.4, the damage of Ness's down throw was reduced, causing combos out of down throw to do less damage, and the ending lag of PK Thunder 2 was increased, making grounded landings with it easier to punish. In 1.0.8, the ending lag of PSI Magnet was significantly reduced, causing the move to be a much better option against projectiles with energy properties due to it now being harder to punish. In 1.1.0, the size of down aerial's meteor hitbox was made larger, making the meteor smash portion of the move slightly easier to hit, and PK Fire was given one more frame of endlag, causing the move to be very slightly easier to punish and for Ness have to wait a tiny bit longer in order to punish those caught in the fire pillar. However, these changes are negligible and have not affected Ness significantly, both positively and negatively, in competitive play.

Custom moves can give Ness great advantages and brand new options. PK Freeze can freeze opponents, allowing free follow-ups, especially with PK Fire. PK Fire Burst has more range and power and always goes straight, making it a spacing tool rather than a combo tool. Lasting PK Thunder goes right through opponents and moves slower, allowing for better control. Recovery with PK Thunder 2 is also longer, significantly impriving Ness' offstage survivability. Forward PSI Magnet is the same, but has a semi-spike hitbox in front of Ness, allowing the move to function as the old Reflector. Finally, if the opponent has no energy projectiles, PSI Vortex is the optimal choice, as it draws opponents in and is the strongest of Ness' down special moves.

Overall, Ness is viewed as a very potent character in tournament play. He is believed to have advantageous matchups against most of the cast, with Rosalina being the only character that truly counters him solidly.

Changes from Brawl

Ness has been heavily buffed in the transition from Brawl to SSB4. His 10 extra frame grab release animation, which was one of his most detrimental flaws, has been removed, and many of the other flaws he had have been addressed. Ness also greatly benefits from the general changes of SSB4, as the new edge-stealing mechanic makes his recovery much harder to gimp, and the removal of hitstun cancelling allows him to combo with his moves much more efficiently. Overall, Ness is significantly better than he ever was in previous Super Smash Bros. games and he has also seen very strong tournament results as a result of his vast improvement.

Aesthetics

• Ness has a brighter color palette, and he has lost the blushes on his cheeks and the purple hue in his eyes. He's also has slightly taller and thinner, with a smaller and more proportionate head, and a smaller backpack.
• Ness has become more expressive, like most other characters.
• Ness now lacks the partial yellow stripe that he had at the bottom of his shirt.
• All of Ness's electric attacks except for his Specials are now Magic Effects, so they no longer have the 1.5 freeze frames multiplier. They use a graphic effect similar to Lucas's attacks (forward aerial, up smash, etc.) instead of using the same graphic effect as his double jump.

Attributes

• Ness dashes slightly faster (1.39 → 1.46265).
• Ness walks slightly faster (0.86 → 0.8635).
• Ness no longer has an extra 10 frames of lag from being grab released, bringing him in line with everyone else, and making him significantly less vulnerable to follow-ups.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack deals 1% less damage (9% → 8%).
• Dash attack now has vertical knockback (80 degrees), as opposed to vertical and slightly behind Ness (100 degrees), making follow ups easier.
• Dash attack has more intense lighting effects.
• Forward tilt does 2% less damage (11% → 9%).
• Up tilt has more range.
• Up tilt changed to its SSB64 animation.
• Up tilt Sweetspot is now a magic effect.
• Down tilt now has a sourspot at the end of Ness' foot that deals 2% less damage (4% → 2%).
• Forward smash has much more knockback (50 base/62 growth → 70 base/67 growth).
• Forward smash deals less damage, and its reflector now has a limit, where if he tries to reflect a projectile that is too strong to reflect, Ness will gain a 5 second long ending lag.
• Yo-yo smashes (up smash and down smash) now deal properly-increased damage when charged and are now stronger.
• Yo-yo smashes are charged while still in Ness's hand, removing the pre-charge hitbox.
• Yo-yo is colored green instead of yellow.
• Up smash now has a small hitbox behind Ness that comes out on frame 6. While this new hitbox is considered a sourspot, dealing less damage and knockback, it is a buff as it puts out a hitbox earlier and covers his back during startup.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial's hitbox is now shorter in duration.
• Forward aerial's individual hits now chains into itself significantly better, and can now result in multiple forward aerials in a row, improving Ness's combo and damage capabilities.
• Forward aerial deals 4% less damage (11% → 7%).
• Forward aerial has much more landing lag (12 frames → 26 frames).
• Back aerial has moderately increased landing lag (12 frames → 17 frames).
• Back aerial has more range.
• Up aerial has slightly more landing lag (12 frames → 14 frames).
• Down aerial has more range.
• Down aerial sweet and sourspot have drastically decreased base knockback (90/90 → 20/30), the meteor smash is much harder to hit with and the autocancel window is now a massive 21 frames later in the animation. It is now unarguably his worst aerial.
• Down aerial sourspot deals 1% more damage (9% → 10%).
• Down aerial has an extra spin in its animation.
• Down aerial uses the magic effect when hitbox connects.

Throws/other attacks

• Pivot grab comes out slower.
• Pivot grab's range is now large and disjointed.
• Pummel is faster.
• Up throw's ending lag has been significantly decreased.
• The removal of hitstun cancelling significantly benefits down throw, as he can now use it to set up into his aerials much more effectively.
• Down throw does less damage. (9% → 7%).
• Down throw has PSI graphics added to its fire graphics, akin to Zelda's down throw.

Special moves

• PK Flash travels faster. It travels even faster and gains even more distance if directed behind Ness. Turning around before using this move might prove useful, depending on prediction.
• PK Flash is a much darker green.
• PK Fire travels slightly farther.
• When interrupted whilst starting up PK Fire, Ness stops reciting the attack's name.
• PK Fire now travels much farther back to Ness if reflected rather than petering out after traveling its set distance.
• PK Fire has 1 more frame of ending lag.
• PK Fire's effect after hitting an opponent produces darker colored flames and produces more smoke.
• PK Thunder and PSI Magnet are now light blue like in Melee.
• PK Thunder travels faster, has less cooldown, a larger hitbox, travels in a drastically tighter arc and goes through opponents until the tail disconnects from Ness, making him less susceptible to being gimped. PK Thunder 2 is faster, and when Ness bounces off a wall while recovering with it, he can initiate PK Thunder again during the bounce.
• PK Thunder 2 has increased ending lag.
• PSI Magnet has significantly less ending lag, with Ness now being able to act out of it much quicker. It's also larger, increasing its range.
• PSI Magnet swirls projectiles around it, causing a slight delay until Ness can actually be healed. If Ness were to drop PSI Magnet and/or be launched, the absorbed projectiles may take even longer to reach him, but they will still heal him eventually.
• The swirling of captured attacks by PSI Magnet utterly nullifies even projectiles that would continue past Ness, including Thunder and Thoron.
• PK Starstorm now fires a thin, aimable line of meteors from the top-center of the stage, similar to how Aura Storm functioned. This enables it to deal damage more reliably at the cost of having blind spots.

Update history

Ness has been slightly nerfed overall in game updates. His most notable nerfs are the reduced damage output to his down throw and PK Fire having slightly more endlag, both of which weaken his versatile grab game. The changes to shield mechanics also hamper him slightly due to the majority of his moves having low hitlag, save his forward air. Ness has also got some other useful buffs, however, such as a faster PSI Magnet and his down aerial having a bigger hitbox (though it's still his worst aerial), and while the buffs do not really compensate for his nerfs, he is still viewed as a solid character.

1.0.4

• Ending lag of PK Thunder 2 is increased.
• Down throw damage reduced from 9% to 7%.
• Fixed glitch where down throw does not do proper damage to Mr. Game and Watch.

1.0.6

• Forward smash now makes a hit-sound when projectiles are reflected.
• Screen shakes more violently when down throw is used.

1.0.8

• Ending lag of PSI Magnet significantly reduced.

1.1.0

• Down aerial's meteor hitbox size increased (3.5u → 3.9u)
• PK Fire has 1 more frame of endlag.

1.1.1

• Portions of Rising PK Flash knockback growth increased: 30 → 80.
• Rising PK Flash has less base knockback: 80 → 50.
• Rising PK Flash's first hitbox duration decreased: 3 → 2.
• Rising PK Flash minimum charge increased.
• Rising PK Flash range increased: 10 → 13.
• PK Freeze range increased: 10 → 11.
• PK Fire Burst damage on hit increased 1% → 2%. Damage on trigger increased 8% → 9%, hits sooner smaller size and closer.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	Ness punches twice, then kicks. Can be used to jab reset.
			2%
			4%
Forward tilt	↗		10%	Ness kicks with a foot forward. If angled, it does 1% more damage and has slightly more knockback scaling. Can jab lock at low percents.
	→		9%
	↘		10%
Up tilt			7% (sweetspot) 5% (sourspot)	Ness pushes upward with both hands that produces a PSI spark. Has a sourpot located on his hands that deals 5%.
Down tilt			4% (sweetspot), 2% (sourspot)	Ness swiftly kicks out in front of him. Extremely spammable. Has a sourspot located on the tip of his foot. Has a chance of making the opponent trip.
Dash attack			4% (hit 1), 7% (hit 1 aerial), 2% (hit 2), 4% (hit 3)	Ness sends three PSI sparks out in front of him with the third spark knocking the opponent up into the air. The first spark will do 7% damage to aerial targets and 4% damage to opponents on the ground. Good to set up juggles. Difficult to punish on shield if only the last hit connects.
Forward smash			18% (low), 20% (mid), 22% (tip)	Ness swings his bat. It's one of the strongest forward smashes in the game when sweetspotted at the tip of the bat, but it has some start-up and ending lag. The bat itself will reflect incoming projectiles when he swings it. However, reflecting a projectile that is too strong to reflect can cause him to have a terrible 5 second endlag, making it incredibly unsafe if the opponent is nearby.
Up smash			9%-13%	Ness sends his yo-yo forward and performs "around-the-world" over himself. A decent anti-air and a good out of shield option if the opponent is behind Ness.
Down smash			1%,1%,10%,1%,1%,10%	Ness sends his yo-yo backwards and "walks-the-cat" with it before pulling the yo-yo back. Covers get up options well.
Neutral aerial			11% (clean), 7% (late)	Ness spins diagonally in the air with his arms outstretched. Quick, and acts like a sex kick. Can be followed-up after a down throw. Rather useful to break combos and as an out of shield option.
Forward aerial			1% (hit 1-3) 4% (hit 4)	Ness sticks out his palms out, sending a stream of PSI sparks in front of him. Decently safe one shield if Ness retreats during the attack, useful to start and continue combos.
Back aerial			15% (clean), 8% (late)	Ness kicks out backwards with both feet. A very good KO move if hit initially.
Up aerial			13%	Ness headbutts up into the air. A very good KO move due to its quick start-up and high knockback. It can also act as a combo starter at low percents.
Down aerial			12% (sweetspot), 10% (sourspot)	Ness pulls his legs to his body before stomping down into the air, producing a PSI spark. This attack can meteor smash in the first frame of the move. Somewhat laggy in the startup and has lots of landing lag. It autocancels before the hitbox comes out, making it useful to cancel the tumble animation when Ness is near the ground.
Grab			—	Grabs with both hands. Fast, but low ranged.
Pummel			1.2%	Ness quickly headbutts the opponent. Very fast.
Forward throw			11%	Ness psycho-kinetically swings his opponent in a small circle in front of himself before sending them off forward. Very high base knockback.
Back throw			11%	Ness psycho-kinetically swings the opponent over his head before sending them off backwards, in a diagonally upwards motion. Notorious for KOing rather early, generally around 90% near the ledge, because of its powerful knockback scaling.
Up throw			10%	Ness psycho-kinetically spins the opponent above his head before sending them up. Can set up juggles.
Down throw			0.6% (hits 1-5), 4% (final hit)	Ness throws his opponent onto the ground and scorches them with PK Fire. A good combo starter, with the most notable being his down throw to forward air.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Ness flips onto the stage and does a sweep kick.
Neutral special	Default	PK Flash	9%-37%	A sphere of green light appears above Ness. As the attack button is held, the sphere moves downwards and increases in power, until the attack button is released or until it is fully charged, it explodes. Can KO as low 37% fully charged.
	Custom 1	Rising PK Flash	8%-24%	Creates a magenta color PK Flash that keeps rising. Has minimal control and deals less damage, but has a larger hitbox.
	Custom 2	PK Freeze	10%-19%	Inflicts less damage, but freezes opponents. Works like Lucas's neutral special, except with the same movement as PK Flash.
Side special	Default	PK Fire	4% (lightning), 2% (fire)	Ness 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 a gradually-fading pillar of fire, making said enemy vulnerable. Fires at a downward 50 degree angle if used in the air.
	Custom 1	PK Bonfire	2% (lightning), 3%-5% (fire)	The lightning-bolt doesn't travel as far, but the flame pillar is stronger and it sticks around longer. Has less combo potential due to it's increased ending lag.
	Custom 2	PK Fire Burst	2% (lightning), 9% (fire)	Releases a single flame when it hits and knocks opponents farther. It will always travel horizontally even when used in the air, similar to Lucas's variant of PK Fire. It also travels further distance.
Up special	Default	PK Thunder	8% (PK Thunder), 1% (Thunder's tail), 25% (PK Thunder 2 initial hitbox), 21% (PK Thunder 2 late hitbox)	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.
	Custom 1	Lasting PK Thunder	7% (PK Thunder), 1% (Thunder's tail), 1.5% (PK Thunder 2, each hit), 10% (PK Thunder 2, last hit)	Functions identically to Lucas's counterpart, with tighter turning and both the projectile and Ness piercing enemies. Deals less damage, but launches Ness further. The thunder is dark purple instead of blue.
	Custom 2	Rolling PK Thunder	12% (PK Thunder), 1% (Thunder's tail), 30% (PK Thunder 2)	Creates a slower, yet larger green colored PK Thunder. Both the projectile and Ness do more damage and knockback. However, the distance Ness moves with PK Thunder 2.
Down special	Default	PSI Magnet	0%	Ness creates a purple energy field around him which allows him to absorb any energy-based projectile (Like Samus' Charge Shot). It can be held in order to use it repeatedly.
	Custom 1	PSI Vacuum	10%	Ness draws opponents in, releasing an explosion that damages nearby foes when the move is released. It cannot absorb projectiles.
	Custom 2	Forward PSI Magnet	9%	Ness draws his Magnet in front of him, just like Lucas's version. It damages an opponent inside the magnet when the move is released.
Final Smash		PK Starstorm	8% per hit	Ness summons stars to fall from the sky to annihilate his enemies. The comets descend in a straight line over Ness and can sweep the screen with directional inputs to the left and right.

Taunts

• NessTaunt1Smash4.jpg
• NessTaunt2Smash4.jpg
• NessTaunt3Smash4.jpg

• Up Taunt: Ness turns to the screen and nods his head while saying "Okay".
• Side Taunt: Ness takes his bat out and points it in front of him.
• Down Taunt: Ness releases a wave of PSI from his finger while shouting.

Idle Poses

• Looks around curiously.
• Closes his eyes and places his fingers on his forehead, concentrating his PSI, and then points it forward.

On-Screen Appearance

Ness teleports on the screen using PSI Teleport. He then shakes the ash off of his body.

Victory Fanfare

A flourished remix directly from Brawl. It is a sped-up remix of a portion of the title theme from the original MOTHER for the Famicom. It is shared with Lucas.

Victory Poses

• NessPose1WiiU.png
• NessPose2WiiU.png
• NessPose3WiiU.png

• Skips in place and then nods similar to his up taunt.
• Ness looks to his sides quickly before facing the screen, putting his hand on the back of his head. (His movements when doing this are more subtle than in previous games).
• Swings his bat multiple times, then points it forward.

In Competitive Play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Ness	1112	1121	1122	1311	1312
	1321	1322	1212	2111	1113

Notable players

•  FOW
•  ATARi
•  Fsann
•  Greward
•  Mik!
•  Nakat
•  Ribs
•  S1-14
•  Shaky
• SS
•  taranito

Alternate costumes

Trophy

Ness

Hailing from Onett, a small town in Eagleland, this young boy's ordinary looks hide his psychic powers. Ness fought against the evil Giygas in Earthbound, and in Smash Bros. he unleashes some of the same PSI moves. Watch out for PK Thunder, a guided attack that can also launch Ness like a rocket!

From Onett in Eageland comes this young lad. He may not look like much, but he has powerful psychic abilities, and they really come in handy in EarthBound. They come in handy in this game, too. Did you know you can control his PK Thunder bolt? Aim it at Ness himself to send him flying, absolutely clobbering anyone in his path!

: EarthBound -- 06/1995

: Mother 1+2 -- 2003 (JP)

Ness (Alt.)

Ness may have psychic powers, but that doesn't mean he shies away from getting physical. His side smash packs a real punch if you hit enemies with the end of his bat, and it can even deflect projectiles! His up and down smashes also have a lot of range - Ness can land his strikes with ease!

Ness may have psychic powers, but that doesn't mean he shies away from getting physical. His side smash packs a real punch if you hit enemies with the end of his bat, and it can even reflect projectiles! His up and down smashes have a lot of range, meaning when you play as Ness, it's always easy to land hits on your foes!

: EarthBound -- 06/1995

: Mother 1+2 -- 2003 (JP)

PK Starstorm

In EarthBound, this PSI ability belonged to Poo, the Crown Prince of Dalaam and one of Ness's friends. Ness must have learned it especially for Smash Bros.! The attack makes a shower of meteors fall onto the stage, damaging any foes it hits. While the attack's in progress, Ness is invincible and can adjust the meteors' trajectory.

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• 

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  PK Starstorm

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• All-Star Battle: Secret: Ness is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are characters that have been unlockable in previous Super Smash Bros. games.
• It's Past Your Bedtime!: As Jigglypuff, the player must make Ness, Bowser Jr. and Toon Link fall asleep at the same time by using Sing.
• Playing Tricks: Ness must bury two Villagers at the same time with Pitfalls.

Co-op Events

• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
• Visiting Onett: Ness and Villager must defeat Kirby, Meta Knight, Fox, Falco, Olimar, and Rosalina & Luma.

Gallery

• 

  Ness's amiibo.

• 

  Posing with Jeff.

• 

  Posing with Pikachu.

• 

  Showing off his yo-yo.

• 

  Posing with Toon Link.

• 

  Posing next to Mr. Saturn.

• 

  Attacking Sheik with PK Thunder.

• 

  Using PK Starstorm.

• 

  On Battlefield.

• 

  On Magicant.

• 

  Attacking Starmen.

• 

  Using PSI Magnet.

• 

  Using PK Flash on Bowser.

• 

  Using PK Fire.

Trivia

• Many of his alternate special moves are similar to Lucas' special moves.
  • Because Ness shouts the name of his neutral special move, he is the only character besides Palutena to have a sound clip unique to a custom move (in this case, PK Freeze).
• Ness's amiibo description on the North American amiibo website is based on his trophy description from Melee.
• Ness's yo-yo in this game reads "SUPER NINTENDO 2014" and "MOTHER", in reference to his console of origin, SSB4's year of release, and his home series.
• Ness's custom special PK Freeze is one of only three custom specials in the game that have a preview images featuring a non-silhouetted character besides the user of the attack (alongside Mega Man's Ice Slasher and Lucas's PK Freeze). This is likely due to the characters being frozen.
• Ness's baseball bat is branded by Nett Sports, which has an O for a logo. This name is likely derived from the name of Ness's hometown, Onett.
• Ness's "Okay" taunt is based on the voice at the beginning of EarthBound saying "Ok desu ka" (Is that okay?) when the player gives a name to a character.