Ness

"Okay!"

- Ness

Ness is a thirteen-year-old boy from Onett and the main protagonist of EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan). Starting off as a normal young boy, Ness ends up on a journey to save the world from Giygas's alien army. He also develops psychic powers, known as PSI, during the course of the game. Ness is often pictured with a baseball bat, which is the first weapon acquired in EarthBound. He has been linked to Mario through the Super Smash Bros. series. Throughout the Super Smash Bros. series, Ness was voiced by Makiko Ōmoto, who also voices Kirby. Ness's name is an anagram of "SNES", the shorthand term for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, on which EarthBound was released (however, it is also like "NES" as in the Nintendo Entertainment System).

Super Smash Bros.
Ness's first Mario franchise appearance is in Super Smash Bros., where he must be unlocked to become playable. To unlock him, the player has to beat 1-P Mode on Normal difficulty with three lives, without continuing, as any character. The player then must defeat Ness in Dream Land in order to unlock him.

Ness uses either his PK moves for his attacks or more physical-based ones. All of Ness's regular attacks involve physical moves, such as a punch kick combo with his jab or his headbutt as his upper aerial move. In addition, Ness uses a yo-yo for his up and down smash attacks and a baseball bat for his side smash attack, both of which are equipment in EarthBound. Additionally, the baseball bat can reflect projectiles. Ness throws his opponents using his psychic powers. When Ness jumps, he also uses his psychic powers to propel him through the air. Due to Ness's size, he has below-average weight, meaning that he is more easily knocked off the stage, but can escape combos more easily. If players press the taunt button, Ness looks at the screen, bows, and says "Okay!" Ness's stage entrance animation has him flying to the stage with PSI Teleport. Ness shares many animations with Mario in Super Smash Bros., such as his hurt, item swinging, walking, both pratfalled and face-planted prone animations, etc. In fact, his Fighting Polygon variant has a very similar appearance to Mario, with the most distinction giving to his smaller, lower nose and his jumps.

Ness's special moves are based upon some of the various PK (Psychokinesis) moves from EarthBound. His neutral special is PK Fire, which sends out a bolt of lightning that creates a pillar of fire that traps opponents when it hits. His up special is PK Thunder, which sends out a controllable lightning bolt to attack. Ness has a unique recovery move in this game, in that Ness can strike himself with the PK Thunder to recover, which propels him to the direction depending on how the PK Thunder hit him. His down special is PSI Magnet, which can absorb energy-based projectiles to recover damage. None of these moves can actually be learned by Ness in EarthBound; they are instead those of his friend and teammate, Paula (although her trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee suggests that she taught him these moves).

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Ness returns in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Here, he is a default character at the beginning of the game. Originally, Ness was to be replaced by Lucas, the main protagonist of Mother 3. However, Mother 3 turned out to be delayed until after Super Smash Bros. Melee was released. As such, Ness was kept in to avoid confusion.

While Ness retains many key features from the original Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee has seen drastic changes, where Ness has been given many tweaks. Many of his formerly physical moves now have Ness use his psychic powers associated, with examples being his dash attack and his forward and back aerial moves. When Ness jumps, he uses psychokinesis only for his second jump. Ness has been given a down and throw as new features to Super Smash Bros. Melee: his down throw has him throwing opponents to the ground and using PK Fire on them while his up throw involves him twirling his opponent and tossing them up, also with psychokinesis. Ness is given a new neutral special attack, PK Flash, which is one of his original EarthBound attacks, and it lets him release a ball of energy that can be charged as it rises and lowers to eventually explode. This replaces PK Fire as his standard special move, instead making it his side special move. Ness still retains most of Mario's animations, such as his Parasol drifting animation, though he has been given a new item swing animation. As Super Smash Bros. Melee has no unique stage entrance animations, Ness does not use his unique stage entrance in this game, though it returns in the next games.

Onett, Ness's hometown, is featured as a stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ness returns again in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and is once again one of the hidden characters. He is unlocked if the player plays five Brawl matches, reflects 10 projectiles, or by recruiting Ness as a member of the party in The Subspace Emissary. When any of these requirements are met, the player battles Ness, and by winning Ness becomes a playable character.

Ness's moveset is exactly the same as it is in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is given a Final Smash which is shared with Lucas: PK Starstorm, which sends meteors raining down on the stage to damage opponents. In EarthBound, this move could only be learned by Poo, though like with Paula's trophy in the previous game Ness's Final Smash trophy suggests that he learned this move from Poo.

The Subspace Emissary
When Lucas is attacked by The Pig King Statue at the Ruined Zoo, Ness arrives and uses PK Flash on it to save Lucas. The statue explodes, revealing Porky in his Spider Mech. Lucas and Ness then both fight Porky and defeat him. However, after his defeat, Wario, with his Dark Cannon, comes and attempts to shoot Ness several times. Ness avoids all the shots so Wario decides to aim for Lucas. Wario shoots an arrow out of the gun and it flies straight at Lucas - Ness however jumps in front of the arrow to save Lucas, and ends up becoming a trophy. Wario grabs the trophy and starts laughing while Lucas runs away terrified.

Wario later travels in his Cargo with the princess trophy (the one that wasn't rescued at Midair Stadium) and the Ness trophy. After finding the Luigi trophy, he decides to take it. However, King Dedede steals the Cargo and drives off with all three trophies, as Dedede had been using Luigi to distract Wario. Later, at King Dedede's Castle, Dedede puts a timed Badge on the Ness trophy, along with the other two trophies. Dedede ends up becoming a trophy not long after, and the princess was captured by the Subspace Army again. Later, the Ness, King Dedede and Luigi trophies end up in Subspace.

Near the end of the game, Tabuu turns all characters into trophies. Meanwhile, Luigi and Ness are both turned back to life. This is because the badges that King Dedede put on them had the power to turn revert trophies to their living counterparts, but this didn't happen until a long time later. Ness and Luigi revive King Dedede (who is overjoyed that his plan worked out), and they go out together into Subspace itself where they turn Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Marth, Mr. Game & Watch, Falco, Pit, Olimar, Lucas, Diddy Kong, the Pokémon Trainer, and Ike back into their living counterparts. Ness and Luigi also witness King Dedede's battle with Bowser and convince Wario about the truth of the situation. All trophies (including Kirby and the ones he rescued) then endure the Great Maze and fight Tabuu.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Ness appears as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. He has a new voice set, but is still voiced by Makiko Ōmoto. In the Nintendo 3DS version, Ness is unlockable; he is unlocked after either Classic Mode is completed twice or 10 matches are played, then by defeating him in a 1-stock match on the Magicant stage. In the Wii U version, Ness is a default character.

Ness's base moveset is still unchanged, though half of his alternate special moves originate from Lucas's variants of his special moves. In addition, PK Starstorm has been changed to be more concentrated rather than meteors falling across the stage.

Super Mario Maker
Ness makes a cameo appearance in Super Mario Maker as an unlockable amiibo costume for Costume Mario. Mario's 8-bit sprite takes the appearance of Ness, and his sound effects change to ones from EarthBound: when acquired, the PSI healing sound effect plays. Clearing the stage plays the boss victory theme. When falling into a pit, the sound effect of Ness's party being defeated from that game plays, and pressing on the controller makes the jingle for learning a new technique play. The costume is unlocked either randomly upon completion of 100 Mario Challenge on Normal difficulty or higher, or by scanning a Ness amiibo.

Super Smash Bros.

 * Website: Unlock the Earthbound hero by finishing the game on the Normal difficulty, with only three lives and without continuing. It's quite a feat, but the plucky little guy is worth it. His Psi attacks will drive the other players mad.
 * In-game description: 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' character, and much remains hidden.


 * Works:
 * EarthBound (SNES)

Snake's codec

 * Colonel: That kid... Isn't that Ness?
 * Snake: Ness?
 * Colonel: He may look like a mere boy, but don't let that fool you. He has PSI abilities that defy all scientific explanation.
 * Snake: Just like Psycho Mantis...
 * Colonel: Exactly. He can use teleportation, levitation, pyrokinesis, and psychokinesis.
 * Snake: Yeah, but the question is, can he read minds?
 * Colonel: Not to my knowledge, no.
 * Snake: Good. Then I won't have to worry about him predicting my every move.
 * Colonel: Even if he had telepathic powers, I don't think he'd use them to mess with you like that. I hear he's a good kid.

Trophies
Red indicates exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version. Blue indicates exclusive to the Wii U version.

Palutena's Guidance

 * Pit: I'm picking up on some weird kind of energy here.
 * Palutena: What you feel is Ness's PSI.
 * Pit: What's PSI?
 * Palutena: It's a general term for supernatural abilities.
 * Pit: Supernatural?! Isn't that pretty unscientific?
 * Palutena: Said the angel to the goddess.
 * Pit: What are you getting at?
 * Palutena: Pit, we're having this conversation via telepathy. Meanwhile, the power of flight is a type of psychokinesis, and I see you from the heavens using clairvoyance. Finally, I call you back from the battlefield with something akin to teleportation.
 * Pit: And believe me, I truly appreciate all that...stuff...you do...with things...
 * Palutena: Anyway, if Ness tries to recover via PK Thunder and you reflect it, that will really ruin his day. Give it a try when you get a chance!

amiibo

 * Ness is a small-town kid and the main protagonist of the beloved game Earthbound. His ordinary looks hide his psychic PSI powers. 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.

Trivia

 * Ness and Lucas's victory theme is the title theme for the EarthBound Beginnings in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. In the first two games, it is based off the "8 Melodies" theme from EarthBound.
 * In Mother 2, the Japanese version of EarthBound, one of the default names for Ness is Mario.
 * Ness is shown to have visible teeth in the cutscenes of the Subspace Emissary, despite not having any during actual gameplay. This distinction applies with Lucas as well.