Ness

"Okay!"

- Ness

Ness is a 13 year old boy from Onett, who first appeared in the game EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan). Although just a normal boy, he ended up on a wild adventure to rescue his country, Eagleland, and eventually the whole world, from Giygas's alien army. He also developed psychic powers 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, though he has a different voice actor in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. 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 series 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 order to unlock him. His powers are based on his PK (Psychokinesis) moves from EarthBound. None of Ness's attacks from Super Smash Bros. were his in Earthbound, but those of his supposed girlfriend, Paula Polestar (however, Paula's Trophy in Melee stated that she may have taught Ness the techniques after the events of the game).

Super Smash Bros. Melee


Ness returns in the game's sequel, 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. He adds a new attack to his arsenal, PK Flash, which is one of his original EarthBound attacks. This replaced PK Fire as his standard special move, and PK Fire was moved to a side special. Ness also has one of the most useful smash hits, which involves his baseball bat.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ness also appears in the third game of the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where he returns to the status of a hidden character. He is unlocked if the player plays five matches in Brawl or reflects 10 projectiles. Another option is to simply recruit Ness in the player's party in The Subspace Emissary. When any of these requirements are met, the player will battle Ness, and if the player wins, Ness becomes a playable character. Ness' moveset is exactly the same as it was in Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, he shares his Final Smash with Lucas - PK Starstorm. Overall, Ness is a rather difficult character to use, but can be very helpful once mastered.

Solid Snake Codec Conversation

 * 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.

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 trophies back into living creatues 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 living creatures. 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 an unlockable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. Most of his alternate special moves come from Lucas, due to Lucas being cut in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. He appears to have a new voice, bearing an American accent when he is using his PK moves rather than a Japanese accent.

In the Nintendo 3DS version, Ness is unlocked after either Classic Mode is completed twice or 10 matches are played, then by defeating Ness in a 1-stock match on the Magicant stage.

PK Fire


PK Fire is an attack used by Ness in all three installments of the Super Smash Bros. series. In the former, it is executed by pressing the B button alone. Once the foe is hit (or the ground is hit), it will burst into a miniature wild-fire, hurting anyone caught in it. When used in mid-air, Ness will fire it downward, instead of forward. It is best used as a rapid fire attack. In the latter, it was moved as Ness' Smash B move, and still had the same effect from the original. Not much has changed, except graphical improvement. Ness could never use PK Fire in EarthBound, along with PK Thunder, only Paula could. However, Paula's Trophy Bios hints that she probably taught Ness the attack.

PK Flash
PK Flash was one of the new moves that Ness can use in Super Smash Bros. Melee and in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It replaced PK Fire as the B Button attack in Super Smash Bros. Melee, moving PK Fire to Smash B. Ness charges up a green flash of light (hence the name), and starts charging up. He can move the attack very slowly, at will. After the player charges it as much as they want, press the B Button again, and the light will explode, devastating anyone caught in it. Its power varies, depending on how much it was charged up. The attack is very hard to maneuver, as it is worthless to just use the attack without charging, and one hit will distract Ness, causing the attack to fail. PK Flash was actually a move that Ness could use in EarthBound, acting as the only one of Ness' Super Smash Bros. attacks that he could use in EarthBound. Ness will be put into a helpless state if he uses this move in mid-air.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this is the only special move that Lucas doesn't have the same as Ness, it is instead replaced by PK Freeze.

PK Thunder


PK Thunder is an attack that Ness can use in all the Super Smash Bros. games. It is his Up B move in all of the games, and is a guidance attack, as well as a recovery attack. Once executed, Ness will shoot out a blast of electricity, which he will then guide across the field. Best used when far away, it can be used to hit foes from a distance, without the risk of getting attacked. Although it lasts long, it does have an extent to how far it can go. As for the recovery side, it can be used to hit Ness, and launch him really high up into the air, allowing him to get back to the field (if he jumps high enough). Luckily, the attack will not harm Ness, but he doesn't jump as high in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ness will be put into a helpless state if he uses this move in mid-air.

The attack is hard to control, and it stops whenever it hits an opponent or a wall. Also, if Ness hits any opponents after hitting himself with PK Thunder, the attack will do heavy damage with just one hit and send them flying.

PSI Magnet
PSI Magnet is one of the attacks that Ness can use in the Super Smash Bros. series. The attack can be done by pressing Down + Special move button. It is one of the few attacks that "absorb" attacks, rather than deflect them. Once used, any energy-matter projectiles that hit Ness (in contrast to objects, such as items that are thrown) are absorbed, and Ness is healed.

The move works similar to Fox's Reflector, but it doesn't repel projectiles, and the PSI Magnet can only absorb energy-based projectiles. This means that solid projectiles like Bob-ombs can't be absorbed by the move.

On a side note, while the attack can't hurt opponents, it can push them back a bit in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

PK Starstorm


PK Starstorm is a Final Smash that Lucas and Ness are able to use in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. When the Smash Ball is broken open by one of the boys, he will start to glow, as the screen grows darker. They then charge up for a massive attack, and then releases all the stored energy into the sky. Once this is done, massive PSI Comets start smashing onto the ground from the sky, causing a massive amount of damage when it hits a player. However, more comets appear the longer the attack lasts for, which can cause other players to get hit a lot easier. Because the attack is from the skies, the comets hit all over the stage, so dodging it is no easy task. PK Starstorm has a much better chance of hitting the opposing players when used on smaller stages, and is less handy on larger stages, with the largest stage being, ironically, New Pork City. But, PK Starstorm is not entirely useless on large stages. When used by Lucas, the comets come straight down; however, when used by Ness, the comets come at an angle.

PK Starstorm returns in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, once again as Ness' Final Smash, but its' type has changed from Stage-Wide to Directional, making it the only returning Final Smash to change types. The stars have a short horizontal range because of this, which in turn causes blind spots, but they are more concentrated and cause burning damage, making it almost impossible to avoid in the range that it does hit.

Profile information from Super Smash Bros.
''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.''

Trivia

 * Ness and Lucas's victory theme is the title theme for the first Mother game, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the first two games, it is based off the "8 Melodies" theme from EarthBound.
 * In EarthBound, one of his default names in Japan is Mario. Many other Japanese default names for his friends are also from the Mario series, such as Luigi, Peach, Kinopio (Toad in the U.S), and Yoshi.