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, he later becomes his enemy.

Background

Earthbound

Ness had a fairly ordinary life living in Onett, before the meteor crashed by his house. He had his mom, and his little sister Tracy, and his dog. He also had a father whom he never saw. He had an annoying next-door neighbor, Pokey, and was friends with a liar who lived on the hill. But then a meteor crashed by his house. At first, he couldn't get near it. Later that night, he and his neighbor, Pokey, found Pokey's brother Picky there. Upon investigating, Ness met a strange bug being from the future named Buzz Buzz, who told Ness he was the Chosen One to defeat Giygas, a monster who had taken over the world ten years in the future. 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. On their way home, he was attacked by Starman Jr., but Buzz Buzz was able to save Ness. 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.

Thus Ness began his journey (after being told to change out of his pajamas). With his trusty baseball bat and developing psychic powers, Ness smashed the animals, plants, and people being controlled by Giygas back into normalcy. Along the way, he made many friends, including the three other prophesied warriors, Paula, Jeff, and Poo. His worldwide travels led him to numerous exotic locations, and he assembled the parts of the song the "My Sanctuary" locations gave him. Once completed, the Sound Stone played a song that led Ness into a journey in his own mind, where he defeated the evil side of his personality.

Upon returning to the waking world, Ness and friends were put into robotic bodies to travel to the past and kill Giygas. Giygas, and his assistant, the annoying neighbor Pokey, fought Ness and his friends, but the Four Heroes called upon the friends they had made, and were able to defeat Giygas. Their robotic bodies were crushed in the ensuing destruction, but their souls traveled through time, back to their original bodies. Ness returned home, to get started on the mountain of homework he had missed.

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 and psychic. His weapon of choice is the baseball bat, but he can also fight using yo-yos. His "PSI" powers allow him to attack and heal.

In the Smash Bros. games, Ness has 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. In the original game, only Poo can learn this move.

Other Roles

Other Games

• Ness is also an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros., a starting playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and again an unlocable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is able to use both his bat and yo-yo. 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 Melee, Ness has three unlockable trophies. In Brawl he has two trophies, one normal one and one of his Final Smash, as well as a sticker of him. In Brawl, the character Lucas from the same series is a clone of his moveset.
  • 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 getting Ness to join the party in "The Subspace Emissary".
  • In "The Subspace Army", 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 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 and needs to call his Mom to feel better.
• 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.
• 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 that game when character notes that Ness says hotel rather than 'otel and asks if he says hotter instead of otter.