Ness (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

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

“	Ness has a variety of moves, from long-range attacks using psychic powers known as "PSI," to short-range attacks with his bat and yo-yo. Ness can also unleash PK Thunder, a guided attack that can launch him like a rocket or help him recover!	”
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Ness
Universe	EarthBound
Also appears in	64 Melee Brawl 3DS/Wii U
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	PK Starstorm
Tier	B- (44)
Character Statistics
Gender	Male
Number of Jumps	2
Character Stats
Weight	Middleweight
Voice Actor
Voiced by	Makiko Ōmoto

Ness is a veteran fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, first playable in Super Smash Bros. He was confirmed to return on June 12th, 2018 during E3 2018. Ness is classified as fighter #10.

For his unlocking battle, Ness is fought at Onett.

Attributes

Strengths

• Multiple projectiles can allow him to maintain pressure from a far-away distance.
• PSI Magnet allows him to heal himself when he absorbs projectiles. Also, PSI Magnet has a hitbox that can combo effectively.
• Grabs are capable of KOing at mid-low percentages.
• Moves combo well into each other.
• Incredible aerial game due to high range, ease of juggling, edgeguarding, and killing.
• Being small, Ness is difficult to hit.
• PK Fire has a large damage buildup and traps enemies for its full duration, making it a brilliant combo starter and extender.

Weaknesses

• PK Thunder is a severely unreliable recovery move, as the energy can be hit, causing Ness to go into free fall.
• Fast projectiles are very difficult to absorb. Also, Ness can only heal via energy based projectiles.
• Ness has a weak ground game due to having low range and lag on some moves.
• His double jump is significantly slower than average, and is easy to interrupt.
• Very floaty, making him easy to hit in the air.
• His PK Thunder makes him have to charge energy to use it, making him vulnerable (aside from making him helpless).

Changes from 3DS/Wii U

Attributes

• Ness' Final Smash, PK Starstorm, now features Paula and Poo.
• Ness' eyes bulge and grow more circular when he is hit or frozen.

Aerial Attacks

• Ness' up-air has been changed to a multi-hit attack.

Grabs and Throws

• Ness' grab and pummel now make use of his PSI.
• Ness' down throw now has more circular effects to it to replicate the animations of PSI attacks in the Earthbound games.

Special Attacks

• PK Flash moves faster and doesn't put Ness into a helpless state when used in the air.
• PK Thunder has hexagonal effects around it to make it more visible. It is also a reference to the animations of PSI attacks in EarthBound.
  • Moreover, a small arrow will appear to point Ness' launching direction when PK Thunder is close to him.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack: Ness throws a punch, then a second punch, and then finishes with a kick.
• Forward Tilt: Ness does a wheel kick. Can be angled up and down.
• Up Tilt: Ness thrusts upwards with his hands, some PSI energy appearing from his fingertips.
• Down Tilt: Ness kicks low to the ground.
• Dash Attack: Ness thrusts his hands forwards and releases multiple sparks of PSI energy.

Smash Attacks

• Forward Smash: Ness swings his signature baseball bat forwards. Can reflect projectiles.
• Up Smash: Ness does an "Around the World" trick with his yo-yo, hitting in front of himself and then overhead, ending behind him.
• Down Smash: Ness does a "Walk the Cat" trick with his yo-yo, hitting low to the ground behind him and then in front of himself. The yo-yo can hit enemies even while the move is charging.

Other attacks

• Floor Attack (Front):
• Floor Attack (Back):
• Floor Attack (Trip):
• Ledge Attack:

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Aerial: Ness spins around with his outstretched arms emitting PSI, similar to Zelda's Neutral Aerial.
• Forward Aerial: Ness thrusts both hands forwards and releases multiple shocks of PSI energy.
• Back Aerial: Ness does a double kick.
• Up Aerial: Ness waves his hand overhead and emits PSI-Energy from his index finger, hitting 5 times.
• Down Aerial: Ness stomps downwards with one foot, PSI energy bursting from the tip of his foot.

Grabs and Throws

• Pummel: Ness pummels his opponent with PSI-Energy.
• Forward Throw: Ness uses psychic powers to spin the opponent around before hurling them forward.
• Back Throw: Ness uses telekinesis to flip the opponent over him and then hurl them backwards.
• Up Throw: Ness spins opponent above his head with PSI-Energy, then throws them upwards.
• Down Throw: Ness hurls opponents beneath him and blasts multiple bolts of fire into them.

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

Taunts

• Up Taunt: Places his hands on his hips, turns towards the screen and nods, saying, "Ok!"
• Down Taunt: His PSI powers spark at his fingertips as he draws an 'S' shape in the air.
• Side Taunt: Poses with his baseball bat outstretched.

On-Screen Appearance

• Appears on the screen completely charred, then shakes his head to get all the dust off and return to his normal appearance.

Idle Poses

• Look to his left, then to his right.
• Places his finger to his forehead before pointing it forward.

Victory Poses

• Skips forward, then nods once.
• He looks to his sides wondering, then puts his hand on the back of his head and scratches.
• Swings his bat strongly, then points it forward.

In competitive play

Ness was initially viewed as an upper-mid or low-high tier character in Ultimate's early metagame, roughly on par with his 3DS/Wii U counterpart. However, Ness' popularity was limited due to the removal of multiple air dodging and smaller hitbox of his up aerial hindering his landing abilities, combined with the popularity of swordfighters who could effectively counter him and his aerials.

Despite this, Ness has achieved strong results in the early metagame of Ultimate, even compared to 3DS/Wii U. Ness is greatly benefited by the overall mechanics of Ultimate, most notably to his recovery. Furthermore his improved aerials and specials have buffed his neutral, advantage, and movement options. In addition, Ness has been indirectly buffed due to the nerfs to characters who previously countered him in 3DS/Wii U, such as Rosalina & Luma, Cloud, and Corrin.

Ness' position in the current metagame remains up for debate. He has fairly strong representation in tournaments and had two representatives on the Fall 2019 PGRU: Gackt from Japan and Scend from the United States. FOW, S1, and Awestin have also achieved strong results with Ness in their respective regions. Ness's matchup spread is very solid, notably having favorable matchups against Pikachu, Fox, and Captain Falcon, who were historically an unfavorable matchup, while also doing well against Wario, R.O.B., Joker, and Roy. However, he does suffer from negative matchups against fighters that either outrange or counter his projectiles, such as Lucina, Palutena, Mr. Game and Watch, and Shulk. Because of his overwhelming offensive kit and edgeguarding prowess offset by his limited recovery and landing options, Ness is seen as a potent but balanced character at high level play. Overall, Ness is currently viewed as a high tier character.

Notably, Ness has achieved even stronger representation in Ultimate's online mode, due to the presence of increased input lag providing him an unexpected advantage by making his already fast aerials even safer, and his recovery more difficult to challenge. Despite being traditionally dismissed as meaningless in high-level competition, these advantages gained unforeseen significance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has temporarily relegated all major tournaments to an online format. Ness's strong online results include impressive first-place finishes by Scend at The Quarantine Series: Minor Tournament 1, and most notably, The Box, which featured a $10,000 prize pool and the largest bracket of any Smash tournament (online or offline) to date.

Classic Mode: Home to Onett!

Ness fights opponents largely based on his journey in EarthBound in reverse from Magicant to Onett.

In Spirit Battles

As the Main Opponent

• Slugger & Green Glove
• Ninten (x4)
• Starman (Metal)
• Ramblin' Evil Mushroom
• Nico Fire
• Pitcher & Batter

As a Minion

• Ana
• Flying Man
• Paula
• Ness' Father
• Girl from HajimarI no Mori

Role in World of Light

Although Ness has been absent from the World of Light opening cutscene, he was one of the many characters (aside from Kirby, who had managed to escape) to be captured by Galeem.

Ness can be found in a pink cloud area reminiscent of Magicant, and to access him the player needs to defeat the Flying Man spirit.

Palette Swaps

Gallery

Ness looking around on Bridge of Eldin.

Ness using his down smash on Kalos Pokémon League.

Ness using PK Flash.

Ness using his forward throw on Fox.

Ness ducking with Jeff on Onett.

Ness running in his black costume on Smashville.

Launching from a Super Launch Star on Yoshi's Island.

Ness with Jeff, Paula, and Poo on Delfino Plaza.

External links

10 Ness – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Trivia

• The strength of Ness' Forward Smash is also based on what part of the bat it hits, with the tip being the strongest. This trait is shared with the Home-Run Bat.
• Both Ness and Kirby share the same voice actor.
• Ness can't actually use PK Fire, PK Thunder, PSI Magnet, or PK Starstorm in EarthBound. Instead, his party members Paula and Poo could, hence why they appear in his final smash.