Ness (SSBB)

This article is about Ness's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Ness.

Ness
Ness
Universe	EarthBound
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Unlockable

Ness (ネス, Nesu) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play five Brawls, then defeat Ness
• Reflect ten projectiles, then defeat Ness
• Get Ness to join your party in The Subspace Emissary

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Most of his attacks are fairly fast with little lag (other than his F-smash).
• Three projectiles of varying usefulness.
• Can absorb energy projectiles such as fire with PSI Magnet, restoring health, and can reflect any projectile with forward smash.
• Much more like his SSB self in terms of speed and power
• Forward Smash has long range, high knockback, decent damage, a disjointed hitbox, and a sweet-spot at the tip of the bat.
• Up Smash can set up for aerial combos and kill at higher percentages
• Up and down smashes deal damage while charging and can also block projectiles while charging
• Large second jump.
• PK Thunder is a fast projectile, which can be used to annoy your opponent
• PK Thunder 2 has long range and superior knockback, killing Mario at 30%.
• Forward Aerial is a quick, disjointed, multi-hit attack with decent knockback on the end
• Down Aerial is a very powerful spike
• Back Aerial has a powerful sweet-spot
• Down tilt used repeatedly can trap opponents
• Small target
• Strong Throws, especially his Back Throw
• Up aerial now a good finisher
• Dash attack can set up for aerial combos
• Standing-grab range much better than in Melee, can outreach some attacks.
• Excellent dash-grab and powerful throws
• Side special has a great wavebounce
• PK Flash can KO at average percent when fully charged
• PK Fire racks up damage quickly
• If used in mid-air PK Fire may bring opponents downward with it
• Can perform any two mid air attacks at short hop height (first attack must be a N-air, F-air, or B-air) including the flying stomp negating any lag while still hitting an opponent on the ground
• F-air and B-air have good priority, along with decent priority on most attacks.
• If used correctly PK Thunder can be used to stage spike
• PK Fire can be used to help land a fully charged PK Flash or to set up a sweet spotted PK Thunder 2.

Cons:

• PK Flash and PK Thunder can leave you open
• F-smash is on the slow side
• Back Aerial is somewhat weak if not sweetspotted
• D-air has starting lag
• PK Flash has limited usefulness due to its slow speed
• Up and Down Smashes are weak (but much stronger when compared to their Melee counterparts)
• PK Thunder can be intercepted, gimping his recovery, and requires specific conditions to work properly (i.e. no "trenches"). Hitting Ness while he steers the PK Thunder towards himself will put him into a Helpless state.
• Easy to KO being medium-light
• Can be chaingrabbed easily due to his breaking free animation (this can be avoided by jumping out of the grab by mashing the shield button)
• Slow dash speed (sixth slowest along with Olimar, Wolf, and Ice Climbers).

Changes from Melee to Brawl

• PK Flash activates faster and charges and travels further, but is less controllable in horizontal direction. Also, it goes further down than where it starts (it doesn't activate automatically once it hits the ground) and hits in a smaller radius.
• Back Air is slightly weaker and has smaller sweet-spot compared to Melee version
• No double jump cancel (except with special moves)
• PK Thunder travels tighter, making it easier to hit self
• Up aerial now quite low-range, but much more powerful, and can be used as a finisher.
• Running Grab Animation no longer has Ness leaning forward hopping if missed.
• Forward Smash produces a "CRAAAACK!!" sound, similar to a baseball bat hitting a baseball, when connecting with the opponent instead of the echoing "PIIIING!!" sound of the Home-Run Bat. Additionally, it's slightly slower than its Melee counterpart.
• Up and Down Smashes are stronger, have greater knockback and are able to kill at high percentages (though they are still the weaker smashes in Ness's arsenal)
• So far, there is no known way to do the yo-yo glitch, however, the SLAPAYO glitch is very similar
• Forward throw sends foes at a higher angle
• Victory Theme changed from an orchestrated version of the second half of the "Soundstone Melodies" (from EarthBound) to a sped-up section of the Mother Title theme. Both Ness and Lucas share the same Victory Theme.
• No longer a starter character.
• New yo-yo design
• Ness's PSI Magnet can be canceled with Up Smash, Jump, Grab or Spot Dodge.
• No more lag in final of Human Missile.
• Down spike is faster and stronger.
• Dash grab has excellent range and is faster
• Back throw slightly more powerful
• PK Fire activates faster
• PK Flash has slightly different animation.
• New costumes, as he no longer has just striped shirts for alternate colors.
• When Ness activates PK Fire, his voice sounds different.
• PSI Magnet's color changed from blue to purple.

Standard Moves

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack - Jabs twice and kicks.
• Dash Attack - Sends three sparks out in front of him with the third spark knocking the opponent up into the air.
• Strong Side - Kicks out in front of him. Can be tilted upward or downward.
• Strong Up - Raises his hands, which grow large, up into the air.
• Strong Down - Ness crouches and very quickly kicks out in front of him. The quickest Strong Down attack and one of the quickest attacks in the game.

Smash

• Side Smash - Ness swings his bat. The bat has a sweet-spot at the tip of it. Similar to Lucas's Forward Smash, but with a slower start-up time, much more power, and a longer range. One of Ness's best killing moves. Also functions as a reflector when timed right.
• Up Smash - Ness sends his yo-yo forward and performs "around-the-world" over himself, with the yo-yo ending behind him before he pulls it back. If connected properly, the opponent hit by the forward yo-yo will then be sent up to be hit by the swinging yo-yo and then sent up into the air.
• Down Smash - Ness sends his yo-yo backwards and "walks-the-dog" with it before pulling the yo-yo back.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Air - Spins diagonally in the air with arms outstretched. A single hit with moderate knockback.
• Forward Air - Ness sticks out his palms in front sending a stream of PK sparks in front of him. Very similar to his dash attack and is an excellent at disrupting opponents.
• Back Air - Kicks out backwards with both feet. Has a sweet-spot that could, if landed correctly, send the opponent a fair amount of horizontal distance while electrified. One of Ness' killing moves.
• Up Air: Headbutts up into the air. High knockback and can Star KO at moderate percents another of Ness' killing moves.
• Down Air - Ness pulls his legs to his body before stomping down into the air. This attack can meteor smash but has a lot of start-up lag. Possibly the strongest in the game.

Grabs and Throws

• Grabs - Ness's standing grab has fairly short range but little lag. His dash-grab has a large range without much increase in lag over the standing grab.
• Pummel - Ness pummels the opponent with headbutts that deal a max of 2%.
• Forward Throw - Ness psychokinetically swings his opponent in a small circle in front of himself before sending them off forward. The knockback of this throw is not set, but does not increase with damage at an expected rate: it changes from Ness's best throw to his worst as the enemy's damage increases. However this throw can score cheap KOs on walk off stages.
• Back Throw - Psychokinetically swings the opponent over his head before sending them off backwards, in a diagonally upwards motion. The strongest throw in the game.
• Up Throw - Psychokinetically spins the opponent above his head before sending them up.
• Down Throw - Throws his opponent down and shoots out fire onto his opponent.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Ness shows up saving Lucas from the giant Pig King Statue, which is soon revealed to be his nemesis, Porky Minch. Both Lucas and Ness team up and defeat Porky and his machine. Afterwards, Wario attacks him with his Dark Cannon, but Ness successfully dodges each shot. Wario, however, then aims at Lucas, forcing Ness to push Lucas out of harm's way and take the trophy-izing arrow from the Dark Cannon. As Lucas is too scared to face Wario, he leaves Ness behind as Wario cackles in the rain.

As Wario is driving his cargo with Ness and a princess's trophies on board, he finds Luigi's trophy and prepares to take it until he's ambushed by an army of Waddle Dees, who throw Luigi's trophy into the cargo,on his head as a joke, which is stolen by King Dedede. At his hideout, Dedede puts a badge on Luigi, Ness, and the princess's trophies before the roof collapses on them and Bowser takes the princess's trophy.

Later on, he and Luigi are revived, thanks to the Dedede Badges. Upon inspecting Luigi's badge, he notices that it looks like Dedede, and, assuming that Dedede made them, proceeds to revive him. Upon being revived, King Dedede gives both of them a hug before they team up and rescue Lucas and the others in order to defeat Tabuu. [1]

Trivia

• Ness relies on his PSI powers far less than Lucas, using them only for his specials, throws, dash attack, and forward aerial. His back aerial also seems PSI powered if it connects. Lucas uses his PSI powers for two smashes (up and down), all specials, all aerials, all throws, his dash attack, and forward and up tilts.
• Ness was confirmed in a sticker screenshot via leak.
• Ness closes one eye while performing his forward smash, while Lucas closes both eyes.
• Ness cannot charge his down smash while on the edge of any platform.
• Despite being one of the first characters unlocked by playing Brawls, Ness is one of the last characters unlocked by playing Subspace Emissary, perhaps in homage to SSB, where Ness was the hardest-to-unlock character.
• When in metal form, Ness's bat is also metal, but his yo-yo is not.
• In the cutscene in which Ness hits the Porky Statue with PK Thunder, PK thunder is white instead of a dark purple.
• Ness' yo-yo says "Super Nintendo 2008" along the top, above "MOTHER."
• Many believe that Lucas's attacks are faster and stronger, but Ness's attacks tend to be faster, weaker and combo better. Some exceptions are PK Freeze and Lucas's forward smash.
• Ness's Trophy is the only one that mentions Super Smash Bros. as one of a character's works. Others only list games of their originating franchises.
• Ironically, while Ness's game (EarthBound) was released in North America, his in-game voice in the Super Smash Bros. series speaks with a Japanese accent. Whereas Lucas, whose game (Mother 3) was released only in Japan, speaks using a North American accent.
• Also, in the Japanese version of Brawl, EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan) is included in the Masterpieces section, however the English version has it removed.

External Links

• Image still from the trailer leak confirming Ness's presence
• Screenshots (Spoilers)
• DOJO!! page