Ness (Super Smash Bros.)


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

Ness (, Nesu) is a secret character in Super Smash Bros.  He is well-known for his unique second and third jumps. He, along with Yoshi, can double jump cancel, allowing them to use quick aerials.

Ness ranks 8th on SSB's tier list for a predictable and at times unreliable recovery, which many foes abuse to their advantage, as well as some range issues. However, he does have a decent amount of combos.

How to unlock Ness

 * Beat 1-Player mode in Normal Difficulty with 3 Lives without continuing, then defeat Ness in a match. He is fought in Dreamland.

Attributes
Ness is a fairly small, light character with very high priority attacks. Ness' Special Attacks serve a variety of purposes. His Neutral and Up Specials are projectiles, and his Down special can absorb energy projectiles. However, his special moves are slow. Ness himself is somewhat slow normally, but his fast roll and certain advanced techniques can help this problem. Ness has the game's lowest Double Jump Cancel and a quick, high priority spike. Ness' grabs and throws are great in speed, range, and power. Ness' moves have great hitstun, which makes Ness very good at combos (including multiple shield break combos). Also among Ness' assets are his powerful Side Smash which can also reflect projectiles, good juggling capabilities, and excellent range on his Down Smash.

Ness' recovery is long if mastered, but this can be a difficult task. This is because Ness is easily intercepted when using his third jump. His recovery gives him many invincibility frames, but if it hits a wall, Ness will fall in a helpless state. Additionally, Ness, like most characters, can be easily spiked if he slides up the wall of the stage during recovery. Because he can be attacked out of and attacked before he can PK Thunder 2, Ness' recovery is considered the second worst, after Link. Ness can also however cancel his PSI Magnet on the ledge in order to reduce all ending lag.

On a competitive level, Ness has dropped the most since being 3rd on the original Super Smash Bros. 64 tier list. Ness' combos are excellent, but he has problems dealing with excessive range such as facing Captain Falcon's Up smash or Kirby and Pikachu's Up Tilt. Ness' approach has very high priority, but is easily read and has extremely short range. His recovery has also been proven to be a lot worse than it first appears, due to its low sweetspot and sliding nature. However, Ness still has one of the best throws in the game, a great Up Tilt, and can still compete vs the higher tiers better than the other characters in his tier.

Normal

 * Neutral attack - One-two Punch and Side Kick. Fast, looks similar to Mario/Luigi's combo, but short range. 2%, 3%, 4%.
 * Forward A - Roundhouse Kick. He kicks in front rapidly, his body moves with it, giving it minor ending lag. Decent close-up spacer. 9% damage.
 * Up A - Two-handed Open-palm Uppercut. Thrusts both his hands directly upwards above him, which is a great aerial setup, especially because of it's good speed and decent power. 7%.
 * Down A - Low Kick. Ness does a fast kick while crouching, with can chain into itself, or a grab. 7%
 * Dash attack - Puts both of his hands in front of him with good duration, usually launches foes in front of him. 10% damage.

Smash attacks

 * Forward smash - Home-run Swing. Takes out a bat and swings it, making a pinging sound if it connects. Decent speed and range, with great priority and power. 18% damage.
 * Up smash - Yo-yo Semicircle. Ness does a "round the world" yo-yo swing, which acts as a good anti-air move. Strange hitbox, does not hit short characters on ground. Above average speed. 17% damage.
 * Down smash - Yo-yo Back and Forth. Extremely low hitbox, though extremely long range. Longest horizontal range of all down smashes. Fast startup in back, average speed to reach front. 19% damage.

Other

 * Ledge attack - Lunges upwards and twirls. 6% damage.
 * 100% ledge attack - Gets up and punches slowly. 6% damage.
 * Floor attack - Gets up and twirls around with his foot extended. 6% damage.

Aerial attacks

 * Nair - Split Kick. Ness does a falling Split Kick, somewhat similar to Jigglypuff's. The hitbox is Ness's entire body. Has similar properties to a Sex Kick. Good spacing move. 14% damage.
 * Fair -Two-handed Open-palm lunge. Similar to his dash attacks, puts both hands in front of him for good damage and knockback. Quick attacking move, though the range is restricted to his small opened hands. 12% damage.
 * Uair - Headbutt. He does a quick and short ranged headbutt above him with good power. Good for juggling. 15% damage.
 * Bair - Back kick. Thrusts his feet backwards for tremendous killing power. 16% damage.
 * Dair - Spike kick. Comes out extremely quickly with short range. 15% damage.

Grabs & Throws

 * Forward throw - Takes foe, lifts them with PSI, and twirls them whilst launching them forward for great power. High knockback. 16% damage.
 * Backward throw - Similar to his forward throw, only he takes the foe and launches them behind him. 16% damage.

Taunt

 * Says "Okay!" while turning to his right, then nods his head while putting hands on hips.

Double jump cancel
Ness's DJCs allow him to do a wide range of tricks, such as a DJC'd D-Air Shield Break, DJC'd F-Air chains, Shield Break Jump, and DJC'd spikes on the edge. Though double jump canceling is extremely effective and powerful in it's own right, relying only on it is not very efficient. For a great Ness, one must utilize both his ground attacks and aerial attacks to their full potential.

PK Thunder 2
When Ness hits himself with PK Thunder, he will rocket in the opposite direction from which he was hit. This is both his triple jump and an incredibly powerful move - when Ness collides into someone with this move, the opponent takes high damage (30%) and suffers critical knockback. This move is more powerful in the Japanese version of SSB64, where it inflicts 35% damage and has more power than even DK's fully-charged Giant Punch.

Home Run Bat Reflector
Ness' Forward Smash (the Home-run Bat) has the ability to reflect projectiles from other characters, such as Pikachu's Neutral B (Thunder Jolt), or Mario's (Fireball). However, this technique requires very precise timing and skill to pull off, otherwise resulting in Ness taking damage.

Trivia

 * Ness, along with Captain Falcon, are the only characters to not have a stage originating from their franchise.
 * Even if a platform is above him, a CPU Ness will always use PK Thunder and aim sideways instead of up.
 * Ness is the youngest character in SSB, being only 13 years old. This does not count Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Kirby, because their age isn't clear.
 * This is Ness' only appearance on the Nintendo 64. The only other playable character to share this distinction is Samus.