Ness (Super Smash Bros.)

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

Ness
Universe	EarthBound
Also appears in	Melee Brawl SSBWU/3DS
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	C (10)
Voice Actor
Voiced by	Makiko Ōmoto

Ness (ネス, Nesu) is a secret character in Super Smash Bros., who 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 10th on the current 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 Dream Land.

Attributes

Ness's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Ness is a fairly small, light character with very high priority attacks. Ness' Special Moves serve a variety of purposes. His Neutral and Up Specials are projectiles, and his Down special can absorb energy projectiles. However, they 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 it. 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 was originally rather dominant, being ranked 3rd in the S tier on the first well-known international Super Smash Bros. tier list. Ness' strong point are his excellent combos and air game, but his poor range gives him big problems facing excessive range such as Captain Falcon's up smash or Kirby or Pikachu's up tilt. Ness' approach is also easily read, with his two projectiles being slow and predictable. Ness overall has below average matchups, with an especially terrible matchup against Pikachu, and only two advantageous matchups against two bottom tier characters.

Moveset

Ground attacks

• Neutral Attack - One-two punch and a side kick. Fast, looks similar to Mario/Luigi's combo, but has short range. 2%, 3%, 4%.
• Forward Tilt - Ness roundhouse kicks in front rapidly, his body moves with it, giving it minor ending lag. Decent close-up spacer. Can be angled. 9% damage.
• Up Tilt - Two-handed open-palm Uppercut. Thrusts both his hands directly upwards above him, which is a great aerial setup, especially because of its good speed and decent power. 7% damage.
• Down Tilt - Ness does a fast kick while crouching, with can chain into itself, or a grab. 7% damage.
• 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 - Ness 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.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral Aerial - Ness does a falling Split Kick. The hitbox is Ness's entire body. Has similar properties to a sex kick. Good spacing move. 14% damage.
• Forward Aerial - Two-handed open-palm lunge. Similar to his Dash Attack. Good damage and knockback. Quick attacking move, though the range is restricted to his small opened hands. 12% damage.
• Back Aerial - Thrusts his feet backwards for tremendous killing power. 16% damage.
• Up Aerial - He does a quick and short ranged headbutt above him with good power. Good for juggling. 15% damage.
• Down Aerial - Spike kick. Comes out extremely quickly with short range. 15% damage.

Throws

• Forward Throw - Takes foe, lifts them with PSI, and twirls them whilst launching them forward for great power. High knockback. 16% damage.
• Back Throw - Similar to his Forward Throw, only he takes the foe and launches them behind him. 12% damage.

Other attacks

• 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.

Special moves

Ness' Special Moves
	64	Melee	Brawl	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	PK Fire	PK Flash
Side Special	—	PK Fire
Up Special	PK Thunder
Down Special	PSI Magnet
Final Smash	—		PK Starstorm

Taunt

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

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Character Matchups

Avg.

Ness used to rank very high at 3rd place on the first SSB64 tier list, just only below Pikachu and Kirby. With double jump cancelling, Ness was a dominant force in the SSB64 metagame, as his double jump cancelled aerials can rack up a huge amount of damage, and can also be used to perform deadly zero-to-death combos. However, Ness became less effective as the metagame progressed. His short range in his attacks made his aerial combos lose their recognition and effectiveness, and Ness's recovery, despite covering a long distance, can be exploitable due to it being predictable. This caused Ness to drop from a top tier 3rd place to a low mid tier 8th place on the second tier list and then dropping again to 9th on the third list.

Combos, tricks, and tactics

Double jump cancel

Ness's DJCs allow him to do a wide range of tricks, such as a DJC'd Down Aerial Shield Break, DJC'd Forward Aerial chains, Shield Break Jump, and DJC'd spikes on the edge. Though double jump canceling is extremely effective and powerful in its 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 recovery 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 Super Smash Bros., where it inflicts 35% damage, and has even more power than DK's fully-charged Giant Punch.

Home Run Bat Reflector

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

Costume Gallery

Ness' changeable clothing in SSB

Trivia

• Ness, along with Captain Falcon, are the only characters in the original Super Smash Bros. to not have a stage originating from their franchise.
• Ness is the youngest character in Super Smash Bros, being only 13 years old. This does not count Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Kirby, because their age isn't clear.
• This is Ness's only appearance on the Nintendo 64. The only other playable character to share this distinction is Samus.