Here's the next one (it's loooong).

Who emerges from yonder portal covered in soot? Behold, it is Ness, the psychic wonder-child who has triumphed over hippies and aliens alike!























Battle-seasoned as he may be, Ness has never fared very well in any Smash game. One of his worst outings, in fact, was our own SSF2 demo v0.7. Sadly, Ness was overlooked during the short balancing period that preceded said demo’s release in favor of characters with more glaring problems. This left him sharing the less than glamorous company of Kirby n’ friends as one of the worst characters in the game. He had awful recovery, no combos, and many of his moves were not worth using at all. The one thing that he did have going for him was KO power, but landing any of his dangerous moves was just as if not more difficult than getting your opponent up to a decent percentage in the first place. There simply are no two ways about it. v0.7 Ness was bad. Really bad.

I heartens me to say that this time around, the little guy is getting some much-deserved attention. His entire moveset has been adjusted and fine-tuned to give him more than a fighting chance on the battlefield... or any other stage. He can combo, he can KO, and yes, he can even recover.


Let us first look at Ness’ special moves. Each one of them has been improved significantly and now they all add something interesting to his game. PK Flash (neutral special) now travels much faster and is easier to control. It is a great tool for putting pressure on a distant recovering opponent while keeping Ness safe and sound. Additionally, it is now possible to combo into at certain percentages using other tools such as Ness’ up throw.





PSI Magnet, Ness’ down special, is a move that has seen little use in the past. It’s main purpose, absorbing energy projectiles to heal, is as limiting and situational as it sounds. The little push upon release of the magnet could be used to gimp recovering opponents, but the move itself was so slow that by the time Ness pulled it out and put it away, his adversary was usually back on stage and busy sending him out of bounds. All that is in the past, thankfully. PSI Magnet has been sped up significantly, both in start-up and ending. The “force push” that accompanies it also has a little bit more “umph” behind it.




Those aren’t the only tricks this move has up its sleeve, though. It has learned the ancient secrets of its reflecting brethren and now acts as a “shine.” In a nutshell, if one can connect with the first frame of the attack, the opponent will be sent up a short distance at a perfect angle to combo. Those familiar with Falco’s shine in Super Smash Bros. Melee should feel right at home using this new tool (though Ness' comes out less quickly), and those not already acquainted with shines will find that it adds a useful and interesting option to Ness’ game. Of course, what shine would be complete without jump canceling? Both the aerial and grounded versions of PSI Magnet can be canceled with their respective jumps at any point during the attack. Combined with Ness’ unique double jump, players will be able to set up combos that are, *ahem* “oUt oF ThiS WoRld. ZoOm!”





PK Fire in v0.7 was... lackluster, to say the least. Slow, low priority, easily escapable even if it did hit. It just wasn’t that great. In v0.8, in addition to better trapping the opponent, it has gained an interesting new feature. Namely, the ability to activate when it hits a shield. This allows Ness to put some pressure on defensive opponents by forcing them into uncomfortable situations as they try to avoid ensnarement by the pillar of flames.





Closing out the specials section of this mini blog is the famous, or perhaps infamous, PK Thunder. In v0.7, Ness was one of the easiest characters to edgeguard due to the fact that opponents willing to take a few percentage points of damage could simply jump offstage to intercept the slow-moving PK Thunder 1, causing Ness to fall to his doom. In v0.8, PK Thunder 1 travels much faster and is thus harder to intercept. In addition, the direction that Ness travels during PK Thunder 2 is now determined by the direction that PK Thunder 1 is travelling when it makes contact with him instead of where it makes contact. This may take some getting used to, but ultimately Ness mains will find that it makes their recovery much more versatile. Lastly, the boy from Onett is now able to sever his mental link with the Thunder projectile by pressing the shield button. This allows him to regain freedom of movement without first having to hit something. Be aware, however, that should he cancel control in midair he will still enter fall special.





Ness’ regular moves have received some special attention as well. His yo-yo smashes can now lock careless opponents in while charging, setting them up for a world of hurt. His baseball bat maintains its role as the hard-to-hit but very powerful smash attack. Up tilt and down tilt are great combo tools while forward tilt is like a faster but less powerful forward smash, great for setting up edgeguarding situations. Unlike in v0.7, where Ness’ forward air was his only aerial worth using, all of them now play a key part in his game, both as combo and KO tools. Neutral air can set up almost anything depending on the opponent’s weight and DI. Up air can combo at low percentages and KO at higher ones, while forward air maintains its role of damage racker and spacing tool. Back air is now faster and much easier to land. It serves as both combo and KO move depending on whether Ness hits with the sweet-spot or the sour-spot. Last among the aerials but certainly not least is the down air, bane of all off-stage characters. It now bears much more resemblance to its Smash 64 counterpart: It comes out faster, lingers longer and is deadly even at 0%.






In the early days of Smash Brothers, Ness was renowned for having some of the best throws out of the entire cast. They have now been restored to their former glory, some of them perhaps even beyond that. The feared back throw is as deadly as ever, scoring KOs at dangerously low percentages. The forward throw is a great edgeguard set-up, as it sends adversaries far even at 0%. Up throw can set up aerial combos while down throw partners with PSI Magnet to create interesting tech-chase and mix-up opportunities.







With his arsenal of psychic weaponry brought to its full potential, Ness is set to bring some pain to all who cross his path. We hope you enjoy playing as him in v0.8!