Ness (Super Smash Bros.)


 * ''This article is about Ness's appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series. For information about Ness in general, see Ness.

Ness (Japanese:  Ness) is a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series. Along with characters like Mario, Link, and Kirby, Ness is a member of the "" who have been in every Super Smash Bros. game.

General information
Ness is depicted as being a fast lightweight character. Ness has a variety of different PSI moves used for his special attacks: PK Flash is his neutral special starting in Melee. It is a damaging move that gets stronger as the player charges it, when fully charged it is a powerful move that deals a lot of damage and can KO at low percentages. PK Fire is Ness's neutral special in the original Super Smash Bros, and his side special from Melee onward. Ness fires a lightning bolt that ignites into a piller of electrical fire upon hitting an opponent. Characters will get trapped in the flame piller as they also gradually take damage, making it a useful move for racking up damage and combos. PK Thunder is his up special. Ness fires a ball of lightning that can be controlled by the player, which damages an opponent upon contact, but disappears as it does. However if the player hits Ness with it, Ness will be launched like a missile which is very powerful and as it sends him far it can be used as a to get him back to the stage if he gets launced. PSI Magnet is Ness's down special. It functions as a shield surrounding Ness which absorbs energy based projectiles such as fire or ice and heals Ness as a result.

In Super Smash Bros.
Ness is a playable character and is the only EarthBound character in Super Smash Bros. He is unlocked by completing 1P Game on normal difficulty or higher with only 3 stocks and without using a continue. He is fought on for his unlock battle.

Ness can be a big threat when used by a skilled player with many casuals calling him the best character. One of his biggest strengths was his infamous double jump cancel technique that is seen as deadly, allowing Ness to rack up a lot of percentage and even being able to zero-to-death opponents.

In the early days of competitive Smash 64, Ness was considered to be top tier, among the ranks of Pikachu and Kirby. One of the main reasons was for his aforementioned double jump cancel, which was a big threat early on. However, as the years went on, Ness's flaws, specifically his poor range and recovery, became more apparent and abusable, causing Ness to drop to low tier. Currently, Ness sits at 10th out of 12th on the official tier list, however for Smash 64. Due to Ness being stronger in the Japanese version, however, the Japanese tier list ranks Ness as 5th out 12, in the high tier.

Special moves





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Discription
''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's character, and much remains hidden.''

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Ness returns as a playable character, although he is now available from the start, and still remains the only playable EarthBound character. His home stages are Onett and Fourside.

Ness's moveset was largely unchanged, though the most notable change is PK Fire was moved to his side special and he gained a new neutral special, PK Flash.

Despite being considered a low tier character in Smash 64, Ness had been slightly nerfed during the transition into Melee, similar to Pikachu and Kirby. Although his aerial game is superb thanks to his double jump cancel and he has access to some cheap kill options via the Yo-yo glitch, his KO power is extremely lackluster, which is made worse by the fact that his range, while significantly improved from the previous game, is still among the worst in the game. Furthermore, Ness's recovery via PK Thunder travels a shorter distance which, coupled with unfixed issues from the previous game, makes it one of the worst in the game. As a result of his nerfs and poor viability, he is currently ranked 23rd out of 26 characters on the official Smashboards tier list, a slight fall from his placement on North America's Smash 64 but a significant drop from his placing on Japan's Smash 64 tier list.

Special moves







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Classic Mode
''Ness is a young boy who's mastered the psychic power known as PSI. Ness was living a normal life in the suburbs of Onett until a meteor crashed into a nearby mountain and sent him on a wild adventure. Believing in the ultimate powers of wisdom, courage, and friendship, Ness proves that some heroes come in small packages.''

Adventure Mode
''The key to mastering Ness is controlling his unique midair jump, which makes up for what he lacks in speed. His PK Flash attack may seem weak at first glance, but it grows more powerful the longer you hold down the B Button. To do a lot of damage with PK Fire, try to burn your opponent as many times as possible.''

All-Star Mode
''Ness's mind is his best weapon. PK Thunder is a PSI missile weapon that can be guided using the Control Stick, and if Ness hits himself with it, he turns into a living missile capable of doing massive damage. This move can also be used for recovery. PSI Magnet turns energy missile attacks into health; try out certain Pokémon for stamina replenishment.''

Planned replacement
Lucas was originally planned to replace Ness in Melee, however due to EarthBound 64's constant delay and cancellation, Ness was kept instead.

"Actually, at first, I planned to change him [Ness] into the protagonist of Mother 3 [Lucas], but for various reasons during the delay, I settled back on the original idea."

- Masahiro Sakurai

Lucas eventually became a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ness returns and is once again an unlockable fighter. To unlock him play five VS. matches, reflecting ten projectiles, or have Ness join the player's party in the .

Ness has achived better tournament results in Brawl, being 26th out of 38 on the tier list. He was mostly buffed in his transition to Brawl, with his speed and KO power increased, although his double-jump cancel technique was removed. However he suffers from one major flaw: his grab-release animation is 10 frames longer than other characters, a trait he shares with Lucas. This makes him vulnerable to grab-release followups by many characters, including zero-to-death chain-grabs from characters like Marth. This trait is generally disliked by players and many Brawl mods, such as, remove the extra grab-release frames, and overall he performs much better there.

Special moves









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The Subspace Emissary
In The Subspace Emissary, Ness appears after saving Lucas from the giant Pig King Statue, which is soon revealed to be Porky Minch. Lucas and Ness team up to defeat Porky. After the two defeat Porky, Wario appears and attacks Ness with a strange cannon, and Ness successfully dodges each shot. Wario, however, then aims at Lucas, forcing Ness to push Lucas out of harm's way and take the arrow from the Dark Cannon, which turns him into a trophy. As Lucas is too scared to face Wario, he leaves Ness behind as Wario cackles in the rain. Most of Lucas's story in SSE involves getting revenge on Wario and trying to find Ness. As Wario is driving his Cargo with Ness' and Peach/Zelda's trophies on board, he finds Luigi's trophy and prepares to take it until he is ambushed by an army of Waddle Dees, who throw Luigi's trophy into the cargo, which is stolen by King Dedede. At his hideout, Dedede puts a badge on Luigi's, Ness', and Peach/Zelda's trophies before the roof collapses on them, turning Dedede into a trophy in the process, and Bowser takes Peach/Zelda's trophy. Soon afterwards the Ancient Minister detonates a Subspace Bomb that consumes Dedede's castle along with Ness', Luigi's and Dedede's trophies by Subspace. Ness is not seen again until much later in the story, where 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, along with most of the other characters. Kirby, who was revived by the Dedede brooch he swallowed earlier, revives whatever characters that Ness' group did not come across, including Wario. Wario then bashes Dedede in the head as revenge for Dedede stealing his cargo and trophies. He is then surprised to see Ness and Luigi on Dedede's side. They offer to let Wario to join them, and he agrees and rides his bike up to the entrance of The Great Maze. After clearing The Great Maze, the characters reaches Tabuu again. He attempts to use his Off Waves attack, but they are destroyed by Sonic. Lucas, along with the other revived characters team up to defeat Tabuu, the ruler of Subspace.

In the Subspace Emissary, characters are playable by what's going on in the story. Ness is playable in The Ruined Zoo, Subspace (Part I), and The Great Maze. After the game is completed, Ness can be played on any level.