Ness (ネス, Nesu) is the main character of the cult-hit RPG EarthBound, the most popular and successful game in the Mother franchise. He appears as the sole representative of both the game and the series in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
See Ness (SSB), Ness (SSBM), and Ness (SSBB) for fighter info.
Character description
Ness is a young boy from the fictional town of Onett. He possesses strong psychic powers and utilizes his abilities to defeat an evil monster known as Gigyas.
In Super Smash Bros.
Ness was a bit of surprise addition to the roster for the original Super Smash Bros.. Many players had never expected such an obscure character to turn up in the game, which seems to be reflected in-game as he is a secret character, unlocked by completing the 1P Game on a difficulty of Normal or higher, with three lives or less and using no continues. Strangely, only one of Ness' special moves, the PSI Magnet (B), is one of his own; his other attacks, PK Fire and PK Thunder, B and B + Up, respectively, were originally used by ally Paula in EarthBound. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is offered in the sequel to this game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Which stats that Paula may have taught him these Techniques
He is widely considered to be one of the best characters in the game, although quite hard to master.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Ness returns in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a default character. He keeps all of his special moves and, as all other veterans, gains a fourth one: PK Flash, which is assigned as his B attack. PK Flash is Ness's first "true" special attack, as his other two offensive moves were not used by him in EarthBound. PK Fire is now Ness' B + Forward.
Unlike Captain Falcon, who also made the transition from unlockable to default without being affected much, Ness appears to have been "nerfed"; that is, his fighting ability has been decreased, making him a much lower-quality character, much to the dismay of Ness fans.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
When Lucas's Special Moves were profiled on the Dojo, there was much conspiracy that Ness will be cut, due to the fact that Lucas has similar moves to Ness and due to a general consensus that there will be no clones in Brawl.
On January 20, 2008, Edible, a GameFAQs member, made a topic on the site's Brawl message board about an official trailer on the Japanese Wii website that apparently confirmed Ness (as well as Lucario and Jigglypuff) as playable characters in the game. In this screenshot taken of the video, a Ness icon can clearly be seen in the lower right hand corner, suggesting that Ness is returning in playable form. The video in question can be viewed here.
The recently leaked intro for Brawl features Ness, reaffirming the fact that he is playable.