Ness

Official clay model of Ness
Ness
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Tracy (Sister), Mom, Dad
Voiced by	Makiko Ohmoto
Debut	Earthbound

Ness is the hero of Earthbound. He is one of the Chosen Four along with Paula, Jeff, and Poo. Ness displays the qualities that the prophecy foretold in the world's savior: courage, wisdom, and friendship. He is neighbors with Pokey, who later becomes his enemy.

Background

Earthbound

Ness had a fairly ordinary life living in the suburban area of Onett, before the meteor crashed by his house. He lived his mother, his little sister Tracy, and his dog King. His father was usually away, but Ness spoke to him over the phone often. His friends included Pokey, his selfish next door neighbor, and Lier X. Aregate, a liar who lived on a nearby hill. Everything changed when the meteor crashed one night, and Ness's mom let him go out to see because she knew that he would sneak out anyway, but told him to change out of his pajamas first. He almost made it to the site, but returned home after a police barricade had blocked it off. However, Ness was awakened later in the night when Pokey barged in after losing his little brother Picky, and coerced Ness into coming to the crash site to help find him. His mom told him to take the dog and a cracked bat from his sister's room with him, then sent him off on the beginning of his journey.

They traveled to the meteor's landing spot and found Picky, whom had actually been abandoned by a frightened Pokey. As they were leaving, they met a strange bug being from the future named Buzz Buzz, who told Ness he was the Chosen One to defeat Giygas, the universal cosmic destroyer whom had taken over the world ten years in the future. He told them that the legend foretold of three boys and a girl who would defeat Giygas (Pokey wasn't interested) and that to succeed, Ness would need courage, wisdom and friendship. On their way home, they were attacked by a Starman Jr., but Buzz Buzz was able to help the odd group destroy it. Then, when he and Ness where escorting Pokey and Picky home, Buzz Buzz was mistaken for a dung beetle and crushed by Pokey's mother. Before he died, Buzz Buzz gave Ness the Sound Stone, and told him to travel to eight mystical "My Sanctuary" locations, in order to gain the power to defeat Giygas

Thus Ness began his journey. With his trusty baseball bat and developing psychic powers, Ness smashed the animals, plants, and people being controlled by Giygas back into normalcy and slowly began meeting his destined friends. He first defeated and befriended Frank Fly, the leader of the Sharks in Onett, to convince the mayor to allow him access to Giant Step, the first My Sanctuary location. At each My Sanctuary Location, he recorded part of a melody there to his Sound Stone and felt some sort of vague memory. He then traveled to Twoson, where he learned of the missing Paula, whom had been captured by the Happ-Happysm cult. He found her cell, and she gave him a Franlin Badge, which he was able to use to defeat Mr. Carpainter, who returned to his normal self. Ness was then able to free Paula, who became his first partner, while the Mani Mani Statue that had influenced Carpainter wound up being whisked away. At the same time, he found out that Pokey was helping the villains and had tried to gain power within the Happ-Happysim cult. Ness and Paula then found the second My Sanctuary nearby.

They then befriended the band Runaway Five, who gave them a ride to Threed, which was overridden by zombies. Ness and Paula were lured into a trap and imprisoned by the zombies, but Paula used this opportunity to call out to the next destined warrior, Jeff, who was able to make his way there and save them. From there, they made their way to Master Belch's factory and destroyed him, freeing the captive Mr. Saturns and ridding Threed of its zombie problem. In the process they discovered the Saturn Valley and the third My Sanctuary location. Their next step was Fourside, which was ruled by the seemingly corrupt businessman Mr. Monotoli, although he actually was also under the influence of the Mani Mani Statue, and both Pokey and his dad were mooching off of his resulting wealth. Paula was then kidnapped by Monotoli, which led Ness and Jeff to stumble into Moonside searching for the Mani Mani Statue. They found the Evil Mani Mani and destroyed it, which also shut down Moonside, which turned out to be an illusion created by the statue. With the help of the Runaway Five, whom they once more helped with a debt, Ness and Jeff were able to storm Monotoli's tower, at which point the now nice Montoli released Paula and told Ness that he had to go to Summers to find another Sanctuary. He even offered them his helicopter, but Pokey stole it first.

With help from Dr. Andonuts, they were able to make their way to Summers and from there found their way to the distant land of Scaraba, which contained the hawk-eye item. Along the way, they found two more sanctuaries in Fourside and Winters. While in Summers, they also met the fourth member of the group, Prince Poo of Dalaam, who humbly offered them his services and joined them. By teleporting to his homeland of Dalaam, they found another My Sanctuary spot there. Afterwards, they proceeded into the mysterious swamp known as the Deep Darkness using the hawk-ete and met with the lost Tenda tribe, but they were too shy to help them further. They were then sidetracked by returning to Winters and making their way into the hidden base beneath Stonehenge, where Giygas's minions had abducted a large amount of humans, including Dr. Andonuts and Apple Kid, whom had been working together on a Phase Distorter to help them defeat Giygas. Ness and his friends were able to free them by destroying the Starman Deluxe. Apple Kid then helped them find a book on dealing with shyness, which they presented to the Tenda tribe, at which point they were able to show them the entrance to Lumine Hall, where they found the seventh My Sanctuary location, which contained the phenomena of lights on the walls that spelled out Ness's thoughts.

From the Lumine Hall, they found a hidden entrance to the Lost Underworld, which contained living dinosaurs as well as a splinter group of the Tendra tribe. A talking rock at the village told Ness about all of the sanctuary spots and pointed him in the direction of the last My Sanctuary, Fire Spring. They successfully traveled there and recorded the eighth melody, at which point the Sound Stone played the complete song that led Ness on a journey into his own mind. This journey started with him having a flashback to his memory as a baby. He then wound up in Magiciant, a mysterious realm created by his mind which was filled with strange creatures as well as versions of his family and various other people and creatures (even inanimate snowmen) that he remembered, even vaguely, from throughout his life (although his three new friends and some of the people he met on his quest were notably absent from this world). Ness even met a past version of himself there, who gave him a baseball cap that he had lost, as well as what seemed to be his idealized version of Pokey, who was flawed but genuinely wanted to be Ness's friend, although it seems the real Pokey turned out to not be like this.

Finally he made his way through the Sea of Eden to accomplish the purpose of his internal journey- to vanquish the evil part of his brain. This evil being, known as Ness's Nightmare, took on a form similar to the Evil Mani Mani and battled Ness, but Ness was able to destroy it. A voice that was actually Ness's own spoke to him, telling him that it was the destiny of he and his friends to defeat Giygas, and imploring him to return to the Saturn Valley next. Ness's mind then cleared, expanding his powers greatly, and he finally woke up from this adventure to find Paula, Jeff and Poo watching over him, at which point they teleported back to the Saturn Valley. There they found that Dr. Andonuts, Apple Kid and the Mr. Saturns had completed the Phase Distorter, after Pokey had stolen the prototype. However, they needed a piece of a meteor to power it. This led Ness and the group to return to Onett, which was now infested with powerful aliens (although Ness's family was still safe), and they retrieved a chip of the meteor which Andonuts was able to use to power the Phase Distorter.

They first traveled to the Lost Underworld, where they found the kidnapped Mr. Saturn with the wreckage of the protoype Phase Distorter. Dr. Andonuts then returned with the Phase Distorter III, which could travel through time, which was necessary because it detected that Giygas was attacking them from his past. Organic matter could not travel back through time, so Dr. Andonuts had to remove their minds (and apparently their souls came with them) and placed them in robotic bodies to be sent back in time in the Phase Distorter. In their robotic bodies, they made their way to Giygas's lair and found that Pokey was overseeing him, having become his most loyal servant and even considering himself to be Giygas's master.

They proceeded to battle Pokey and Giygas, with the latter being contained within a Devil's Machine. Pokey later dropped out of the fight and released Giygas from the Devil's Machine, in hopes that they would be horrified by Giygas's true form. Despite the horror of Giygas, Ness and his friends were able to keep on fighting, and Paula reached out to the people they met throughout their adventure with her prayers, with each prayer harming Giygas, eventually calling on the even the player, whose prayers delivered the final blows to Giygas. Pokey escaped into time while Giygas was destroyed, leaving the lifeless robot bodies of Ness and friends behind. However, their spirits were able to exit the robot bodies and return to their true bodies in the present, with the world in a state of peace.

At this point, Ness and his new friends went their separate ways. Only Ness and Paula were left, as Paula asked Ness to escort her home. Ness's mother, as well as Tracy and Paula's father, all believed that Ness and Paula were dating, although it remains up to the player's interpretation whether they go together, and Paula's mother also encouraged Ness to visit often. After returning Paula to her home, Ness returned to his own home, where his mother waited to overlook a photo album of his adventure with him. Tracy also offered to have lunch with him and help him with all the homework he had missed during the adventure, and his father promised to come home next week for Ness's birthday. But not all of the news was good, as late one night following the credits, Picky visited to show Ness a letter that he had received from Pokey, in which Pokey taunted Ness to find him.

Mother 3

Ness himself never appears, but there are references to him. For example, there's a theater that shows screenshots chronicling Ness's adventure.

Abilities

Ness is both a formidable physical fighter with psychic abilities. His weapon of choice is the baseball bat, but he can also fight using yo-yos. In Earthbound, his strongest weapon is the Legendary Bat. His "PSI" powers are primarily defensive, with various healing and status-affecting abilities, aside from his one special offensive PSI ability. The following are the abilities he learns throughout Earthbound:

• Lifeup - A simple healing technique that Ness learns all five forms of throughout the game. Lifeup alpha (learned at Level 2) restores 75 to 125 HP of a single ally, Lifeup B (learned at Level 20) restores 225-375 HP of a single ally, Lifeup y (learned at Level 39) restores all HP of a single ally, and Lifeup Omega (learned at Level 70) restores 300-500 HP of all allies.
• Hypnosis - An attack that puts enemies to sleep, which Ness learns two forms of. Hypnosis a (learned at Level 4) puts one enemy to sleep, while Hypnosis Omega (learned at Level 27) affects all enemies onscreen.
• PSI Rockin' - Ness's only offensive ability, this is a powerful attack that hits all enemies on screen, with four different forms of increasing power: a (learned at Level 8), B (learned at Level 22), y (learned at Level 49) and omega (learned at Level 75). This move has the same name as Ness's favorite thing and thus is actually named by the player at the beginning of the game, although "Rockin'" is the default name.
• Healing - A move that heals status conditions, which Ness learns three of the four forms of throughout the game. Healing a (learned at Level 10) heals colds, sunstrokes and sleep; Healing B (learned at Level 24) heals all of that plus poison, nauseousness, crying and feeling strange, and Healing y (learned at Level 53) heals all of the other status conditions plus paralysis and being turned into a diamond, as well as having a 75 chance of reviving a fallen ally.
• Shield - A defensive move that Ness learns two forms of. Shield a (learned at Level 12) shields one ally, while Shield B (learned at Level 34), forms a power shield around one ally.
• Paralysis - An ability that paralyzes enemies. He learns two forms of it: a (learned at Level 14) paralyzes one enemy, while Omega (learned at Level 29) affects all enemies.
• PSI Flash - A blinding light that can cause any of a variety of status effects to all enemies. Ness learns four forms of it: a (at Level 18), B (at level 38), y (at Level 61) and Omega (at Level 67).
• Teleport - A special ability that allows Ness to warp to various towns. He learns Teleport a (which requires Ness to have a running start before teleporting) from Talah Rama and Teleport B (where Ness and his friends just need space to spin around in briefly to teleport) is learned by Ness after he defeats his Nightmare in Magiciant.

In the Smash Bros. games, Ness has a wider ability of offensive psychic abilities that only his partners knew in the original games, as he knows the following special abilities:

• Standard Special Move: PK Flash- Ness releases a bright ball of energy. It is more powerful when charged. This move was added in Melee, and in the first game PK Fire was his standard special move instead. This was one of Ness's moves in the original game.
• Side Special Move: PK Fire- Ness releases a column of flame that can score multiple hits. This was Ness's Standard Special move in the original Smash Bros. and became his side special move starting in Melee. In the original game, this is actually one of Paula's abilities.
• Up Special Move: PK Thunder- This is an electric missile of PSI energy which can be manipulated with the control stick. If Ness hits himself with it, he temporarily becomes a powerful living missile as well, and it can be used as an extra jump. In the original game, only Paula and Poo can learn this ability.
• Down Special Move: PSI Magnet- Ness surrounds himself with a magnetic field that turns any incoming projectiles into health. In the original game, only Paula and Poo can learn this.
• Final Smash: PK Starstorm- Ness causes blue stars to rain down from the sky. This differs from Lucas's version of the move in that the stars fall in a wide fan-shaped pattern. Paula and Poo join him for this move in Ultimate. In the original game, only Poo can learn this move.

Other Roles

Video Games

• In Yoshi's Woolly World, a design for Yoshi based on Ness's appearance could be unlocked by scanning an amiibo of Ness.
• In Super Mario Maker, Ness appears as one of the costumes that Mario can transform into when using the Mystery Mushroom. His costume can be unlocked as a random prize for completing a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or harder, or by scanning an amiibo of Ness.

Super Smash Bros.

Ness appears as a playable fighter every game of the Super Smash Bros. series, appearing in Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, being an unlockable character in every game except for Melee and the Wii U Smash. In battle, he uses his baseball bat and yo-yo as weapons in addition to wielding a number of PSI abilities. Of Ness's special attacks, PK Flash is the only one he actually knew in the original game. All of his other attacks were originally Paula's and Poo's, making him into somewhat of an amalgamation of the three characters. In Brawl, the character Lucas from the same series is a partial clone of his moveset. He also gains PK Starstorm as a Final Smash, and in Ultimate he is joined by Paula and Poo while using the move.

In the original Super Smash Bros., he is unlocked by completing the game on Normal Mode with three lives and without use of continues. In Brawl he is unlocked by playing five matches in Brawl, reflecting ten projectiles or by recruiting Ness in "The Subspace Emissary". In the 3DS game, Ness is unlocked by playing 10 Vs. Matches or beating Classic Mode on any difficulty. In Ultimate, he can be unlocked through the game's variable-based system for unlocking characters or by awakening him in Adventure Mode (where he was found in a pink cloudy area similar to Magicant).

Ness's Classic Mode route in Ultimate is "Home to Onett!". It follows Ness going through several environments from the Mother series or similar to locations from the series and ending with the last pre-boss battle of the route being set at Onett. The final boss of the route is Master Hand (joined by Crazy Hand on higher difficulties).

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

Ness has also been represented by three unlockable trophies in Melee, two trophies (one being of his Final Smash) and a sticker in Brawl, two trophies in the 3DS/Wii U installment, a trophy of his Final Smash in the Wii U game and a Fighter Spirit in Ultimate.

Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

In the Adventure Mode of Braw, "The Subspace Emissary", Ness first appears in The Ruined Zoo to help Lucas escape a rampaging Pokey Statue, shattering the statue with his PK Thunder to reveal the real Pokey within in his mech suit. Ness and Lucas teamed up to defeat him. Afterwards, Wario attempted to turn Ness into a trophy with a Dark Cannon. Ness initially dodged the cannon's blasts, but when Wario turned it towards Lucas, Ness pushed Lucas out of the way to save him and was turned into a trophy. The trophy was later stolen by King Dedede, who placed his own emblem on it which restored Ness to his normal form later on, after most of the other heroes had been turned into trophies and trapped in Subspace. Ness, Luigi and Dedede, the only survivors, then banded together and entered Subspace, where they freed all (or most) of the other heroes and then teamed up with them for the final battle against Tabuu.

Trivia

• Ness (as well as his favorite food and favorite thing) can be named by the player at the beginning of the game, and otherwise they can pick from a list of default names, with Ness being the first listed as well as being the canonical name. The Japanese version had special themed names among Ness's other default names such as Mario (part of a Mario set) and John (after John Lennon as part of a Beatles set).
• According to the default selections, Ness's favorite food is steak and his favorite thing is rocking.
• Ness is named after the NES, although his name (unintentionally according to the creator) is also an anagram for SNES.
• Ness occasionally gets homesick over the course of the game, which causes him to be increasingly distracted in battles to the point where it is nearly impossible to motivate him in battle. He will feel better only after calling his mother.
• Ness bears a strong resemblance to Ninten, the main character of Mother, to the point where they're nearly identical. There are only subtle differences in their appearances such as the two wearing their caps in opposite ways, and Ness having overalls. Oddly enough, creator Shigesato Itoi has commented on the relation between the two by saying that it is ultimately up to the player to choose whether or not Ninten or Ness are the same person, despite most evidence in the same games indicating they are different people (Ness and Ninten having different siblings, the two being the same age yet living in different decades, no evidence that Ninten/Ness has saved the world before in Earthbound, etc.)
• His pose in the Smash Bros. games is based on the clay model that appears in the game's official art. The way he pronounces his taunt ("Hokay" rather than "Okay") is a reference to a line in Earthbound where a character notes that Ness says "hotel" rather than "'otel" and asks if he also says "hotter" instead of "otter".