Ness (SSB16)

Ness is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. OC 2016. Ness possesses a strong aerial game with very useful aerial attacks, as well as effective tilts, effective throws, a projectile with great trapping and damage potential in PK Fire, a versatile projectile capable of very early KOs and mindgames in PK Thunder, and multiple powerful, reliable finishers (such as his back throw and back aerial).
==Attributes==
Ness is an unusual blend of character archetypes, being a short, projectile-heavy character with a lot of versatility with his moves. Ness' weight and falling speed are average, giving him no disadvantage with weight alone. He possesses three projectiles: PK Flash, PK Fire, and PK Thunder. While PK Flash is very powerful, it has little mobility, huge amounts of lag, and is generally only used as a situational edgeguard. PK Fire is fairly quick, possesses a good amount of range, and the projectile holds opponents in it when it hits them, allowing Ness free follow ups as long as he acts quick enough. PK Thunder is one of the more unique projectiles in the game. When used, the player will lose control of Ness and instead take control of a large thunder ball for a few seconds. PK Thunder can essentially be used to knock opponents towards Ness for follow ups or juggle opponents. The knockback it provides can also hit an opponent over the upper blast line, allowing it to be used as a very situational KO move as well, and it can allow him to use the powerful PK Thunder 2. His fourth special move, PSI Magnet, provides a psychic shield that can heal him when hit with an energy based attack, however, it does contain a bit of starting and ending lag. Ness' biggest strength is found in his superb aerial game. Four of Ness' five aerials are very strong and can be used to combo, space, and kill. Neutral aerial possesses very little starting and ending lag, and hits on both sides of Ness, making it a very useful out of shield option. His forward aerial has little lag, a large, disjointed hitbox, and traps opponents, essentially allowing it to chain into either itself or another move. It is a powerful spacing tool and very useful in approaching opponents. His up aerial can be used to combo at lower percents and KO reliably at higher percents. It possesses a large hitbox and little lag, allowing it to be of low risk to use. His back aerial is another reliable KO move that possesses low lag. His down aerial, while being unarguably his worst aerial due to its slow startup and its large ending lag, can still be useful as a situational edgeguarding option. Ness' grab game is also very strong. While he has a short grab range, he can easily trap opponents with PK Fire in order to set up for a grab. Ness possesses one of the fastest pummels in the game, allowing him to deal a decent amount of damage before throwing. His down throw sets up for an aerial attack and can lead into a forward air at lower percents, or an up air at higher percents. Ness' infamous back throw is arguably the best throw in the game; while it has very low base knockback, it has extremely high knockback scaling and is often regarded as his best KO option.
However, Ness isn't completely infallible. Ness possesses below average speed in both the ground and the air, making it hard for him to chase faster opponents. His ground game is also generally weak as he possesses weak and low range tilts. His smash attacks are also below average. While his up and down smashes have a disjointed hitbox and can KO, they KO considerably later than his other KO options, and his forward smash, while very powerful, possesses high ending lag and is easily punishable if it misses. Ness's biggest flaw, however, is his recovery. While there have been various buffs to his recovery, it's still relatively easy to gimp for characters with multiple jumps, such as or with moves that reflect or absorb, such as , and . Nonetheless, Ness' strengths drastically outweigh his weaknesses and he is viewed as a very potent character in tournament play.
==Moveset==
Attack 	Name 	Damage 	Description
Neutral Attack 	 	2%, 2%, 4% 	Ness punches twice then kicks.
Side Tilt 	 	10% 	Ness kicks with a foot forward. If angled, does 1% more damage and has slightly more knockback scaling.
Up Tilt 	 	7% 	Ness pushes upward with both hands. Produces a PSI spark. His hands have a sourspot of 5% damage.
Down Tilt 	 	2% 	Ness swiftly kicks out in front of him. Extremely spammable. The tip of his foot has a 2% damage sourspot. Has a chance of making the opponent trip.
Dash Attack 	 	2-4% 	Ness sends three PSI sparks out in front of him with the third spark knocking the opponent up into the air. The first spark will do 7% damage to aerial targets and 4% damage to opponents on the ground.
Side Smash 	 	22% 	Ness swings his bat. There are three hitboxes on this move which do 18%, 20% and 22% uncharged, the strongest part being at the tip of his bat. The bat will reflect incoming projectiles when he swings it. However, reflecting a projectile that is too strong to reflect can cause him to have a terrible 5 second endlag, making it incredibly unsafe if the opponent is nearby.
Up Smash 	 	13% 	Ness sends his yo-yo forward and performs "around-the-world" over himself. The yo-yo will hit first in front of Ness for 9%, then swing in a circle, doing 13% for the rest of the move.
Down Smash 	 	10% 	Ness sends his yo-yo backwards and "walks-the-dog" with it before pulling the yo-yo back. The yo-yo hits behind him first for two hits of 1%, then 10% and then in front of him for another two hits of 1%, and then 10%.
Neutral Ariel 	 	7-11% 	Ness spins diagonally in the air with his arms outstretched. If hit initially, the opponent suffers 11% damage. If hit later in the attack, 7% is dealt.
Forward Ariel 	 	1%, 1%, 4% 	Ness sticks out his palms out, sending a stream of PSI sparks in front of him.
Back Ariel 	 	8%-15% 	Ness kicks out backwards with both feet. If hit initially, the move does 15%, otherwise the damage is 8%.
Up Ariel 	 	13% 	Ness headbutts up into the air.
Down Ariel 	 	10-12% 	Ness pulls his legs to his body before stomping down into the air, producing a PSI spark. This attack can meteor smash in the first frame of the move, dealing 12%, and the sourspot dealing 10% damage. Somewhat laggy in the startup.
Forward Throw 	 	11% 	Ness psychokinetically swings his opponent in a small circle in front of himself before sending them off forward.
Back Throw 	 	11% 	Ness psychokinetically swings the opponent over his head before sending them off backwards, in a diagonally upwards motion. Has extremely low base knockback but very high knockback scaling, usually KO'ing at 125%.
Up Throw 	 	10% 	Ness psychokinetically spins the opponent above his head before sending them up.
Down Throw 	 	4% 	Ness throws his opponent onto the ground and scorches them with PK Fire. A good combo starter, the most noteable being down throw to forward air.
Neutral Special	PK Flash 	9% - 37% 	A sphere of green light appears above Ness. As the attack button is held, the sphere moves downwards and increases in power, until the attack button is released or until it is fully charged, it explodes.
Side Special 	PK Fire 	4% 	Ness fires a yellow, lightning-bolt shaped projectile, that travels in a straight line until it hits an enemy or destructible portion of a stage, at which point it explodes into a gradually-fading pillar of fire.
Up Special 	PK Thunder 	8% (PK Thunder), 1% (Thunder's tail), 25% (PK Thunder 2 initial hitbox), 21% (PK Thunder 2 late hitbox)	Ness creates a stream of lightning that can be aimed into opponents to deal damage with the head and stun with the tail. Aiming the head into Ness himself will launch him in a trajectory opposite to the side he was hit on, which is referred to as PK Thunder 2. PK Thunder 2 has invincibility frames during the first half of the move.
Down Special 	PSI Magnet 	0% 	Ness creates a purple energy field around him which allows him to absorb any energy-based projectile (Like Samus' Charge Shot). It can be held in order to use it repeatedly.
Final Smash 	PK Starstorm	8% per hit 	Ness summons stars to fall from the sky to annihilate his enemies. The comets descend in a straight line over Ness and can sweep the screen with directional inputs to the left and right.
===Taunts===
*Up: Ness turns to the screen and nods his head while saying "Okay".
*Side: Ness takes his bat out and points it in front of him.
*Down: Ness releases a wave of PSI from his finger while shouting.
===On-Screen Apperance===
*Ness teleports on the screen using Teleport. He then shakes the ash off of his body.
===Idle Poses===
*Closes his eyes and places his finger to his forehead, similar to Lucas' Down taunt
*Frowns and looks around cautiously.
===Victory Poses===
*Swings his bat many times before holding the bat with his right hand, outstretched and pointing diagonally upwards.
*Looks to his sides quickly before facing the screen, putting his hand on the back of his head. (His animation when chosen in Super Smash Bros.)
*Jumps up and down twice, swinging his arms, before quickly nodding twice towards the screen with arms akimbo.
==In Competitive Play==
===Match ups===
==Alternate Costumes==
==Trivia==