Ness (SSB4): Difference between revisions

Opinions on Ness' competitive viability have been controversial throughout the game's lifespan. During the early life of ''SSB4'', smashers immediately noticed the vast buffs made to Ness. Many smashers recognized that Ness no longer have the 10 extra frame grab-release animations, his combo game has been markedly improved, and his recovery is much harder to gimp by the addition of a new edge-trumping mechanic. From these initial buffs, Ness was widely considered to be a prominent high tier or even a top-tier character. From possessing arguably one of the best throw games in ''SSB4'', a highly versatile aerial game, alongside excellent KO power and damage output, Ness's expectations continued strong, leading to great tournament representation. His results had been splendid throughout 2015-Early 2016 thanks to likes of {{Sm|FOW}} and {{Sm|Shaky}}. With FOW's 7th placement at [[EVO 2015]] and 5th place at [[GENESIS 3]] and Shaky's 7th placement at [[CEO 2015]] and 9th placement at GENESIS 3, it solidified Ness into 13th position on the first official ''4BR'' [[tier list]].  

After the first tier list, his results slightly fell from the slight inconsistency from {{Sm|FOW}} and the sudden inactivity from {{Sm|Shaky}}. While Ness made a slight decline, the release of {{SSB4|Bayonetta}}, the significant buffs to {{SSB4|Mewtwo}} and the increased representation of {{SSB4|Mega Man}} drop Ness even further. Despite this, Ness' results and representation went on strong and would drop slightly on the second tier list, placing at 16th.

Over time, Ness' flaws came to be more apparent, with players noticing that his subpar mobility, mediocre ground game, and notably gimpable recovery made him struggle against high and top tiers, despite his buffs.

As a result, opinions on Ness began to fall off drastically. His results would become stagnant, as many of his players became significantly inactive (Specifically after [[EVO 2016]] to [[2GGT: ZeRo Saga]]). During the period of stagnation, Ness had been rivaled against his fellow EarthBound semi-clone, Lucas. While Lucas was initially considered inferior to Ness in the Smash community, over time, the community questioned about Ness' and Lucas' viability. Lucas' buffs received from patches and his commendable results thanks to {{Sm|Taiheita}} slowly led the community into believing that Lucas is superior to Ness. At the same time, some of his previously not so troublesome matchups such as {{SSB4|Marth}} and {{SSB4|Lucina}} would also gain a large spike in popularity and viability, and prove to now be worrisome matchups for Ness. Despite again gaining results on Winter 2016 and 2017, most noticeably FOW's 17th placement in [[2GGT: ZeRo Saga]] and S1's 5th placement in [[B.E.A.S.T 7]], it didn't compensate the loss of his stagnant results he had suffered from mid to late 2016. This resulted in a much larger tier drop to 24th on the third tier list, being tied with {{SSB4|Pac-Man}} for the largest between the second and third tier lists.

Throughout 2017, several mains began to return to the scene, with FOW briefly coming out of retirement to place 13th at 2GGC: Nairo Saga and 25th at 2GGC: Civil War respectively. NAKAT, despite using Ness as a secondary in favor of Fox in 2016, began to co-main Ness. With his Ness, NAKAT placed 3rd at [[Smash Factor 6]], 13th at EVO 2017, 17th at [[GameTyrant Expo 2017]], 17th at [[2GGC: FE Saga]], and 33rd at [[GENESIS 4]]. The Tristate Ness main, The Great Gonzales, placed 5th at Royal Flush and 17th at Smash 'N' Splash 3 respectively. Most recently, a Japanese Ness player, Gackt, made a breakout performance at [[The Big House 7]] by claiming wins against {{Sm|ANTi}}, {{Sm|Locus}}, {{Sm|Mistake}} and secured 17th place. Regardless of these improved results, opinion from Ness worsened and many Smashers, including {{Sm|ZeRo}} and {{Sm|Nairo}} widely believed that Lucas is superior to Ness, despite Ness' accomplishments. From this, Ness dropped once again on the fourth and current tier list, at 28th, now sharing the spot with his Earthbound representative {{SSB4|Lucas}} though due to the expansion of the tiers, he is now considered a high tier character rather than a mid tier character.