Why Ness?
Ness, despite being a low-tier character, has massive potential. He is one of the trickiest characters in the game and has excellent mindgames. He has a few very powerful moves. The thing that really holds him back is his steep learning curve. Ness is a great character for those who want to work hard and surpass high-tier players with a low-tier character.
Pros
- Extremely tricky
- A few extremely powerful moves i.e. bat, bair, PK flash
- Often unexpected (not many people play a good Ness)
- Annoying, can cause opponent to lose temper
- Excellent projectile game
Cons
- Recovery with up + B is terrible
- Very difficult to master
- Hard to escape from comboes
- Can sometimes be very laggy
Basic Techniques
Standard Attacks
| Button(s) | Attack | Description/notes |
|---|---|---|
| A | Quick Punch | An unremarkable neutral A. |
| A A | One-Two Punch | Two unremarkable neutral As. |
| A A A | Punch Punch Kick | A quick combo that can sometimes be comboed into a bat. |
| Forward + A | Roundhouse Kick | An excellent move for intercepting people, this kick has surprisingly good knockback and quick startup time. |
| Dash + A | Energy Burst | Projects an orb of energy in front of Ness. Quite powerful and a decent setup at higher damages. Very useful. |
| Down + A | Piston Kick | One of Ness' most annoying moves, this kick can be repeated ridiculously fast. It's best used to annoy people. |
| Up + A | Overhead Clap | Ness claps his hands over his head. This move has excellent priority, decent damage and isn't too laggy. It can sometimes be a bit awkward to get used to though. |
| Smash Forward + A | Bat Smash | Awww yeeeeah. This move hits so hard you hear that soooo satisfying PING! Does about 20 damage and has scary knockback. It's a great edge guard. Use this move whenever you're sure you won't get punished for it. |
| Smash Down + A | Yo-yo Behind | Ness stalls his yo-yo behind him, then flings it in an arc over his head. This is basically a down tilt that you can charge up. Very little knockback, but okay damage. |
| Smash Up + A | Yo-yo Forward | Just like down smash, but forwards. |
Aerial Attacks
| Button(s) | Attack | Description/notes |
|---|---|---|
| A | Flail | Ness spins around for a bit, doing some physical (i.e. not PK) damage. This move is often overlooked and can be useful sometimes. |
| Forward + A | Multi-Kick | Fox kicks five times as he hurtles through the air. Very cool and does decent damage if you can land several kicks. However, you usually can't, making this move mediocre at best. Very dangerous to use off a ledge since it will take forever for the attack to end and you will fall to your death. |
| Back + A | PK Kick | This move is pure pain. It's a lot like Zelda's bair - sweet spot it by hitting with the tip of Ness' foot and you'll do crazy damage and knock the sucker away. Otherwise, it's weak as a kitten. An extremely useful KO move as well as a combo finisher. |
| Down + A | Drill Kick | A move with virtually no knockback and slightly above mediocre damage, Fox kicks the opponent in what can really only be described as a "drill" motion. See "drillshining" in advanced techniques. |
| Up + A | Backflip Kick | Now THIS is an aerial attack. Fox does a little backflip and kicks the opponent. The move actually hits twice, but the hits are so quick that you'll rarely miss the second hit. The first hit does about the same amount of damage as the second, but has zero knockback. The second is the powerhouse. This monster of an attack is almost as powerful as a smash attack and can be used as a juggle, finisher, or just to deal out some hot steaming pain. |
Special Attacks
| Button(s) | Attack | Description/notes |
|---|---|---|
| B | Blaster | The only attack in the game that does not cause the victim to flinch at all, Fox's blaster sucks. Don't use it ever on the ground. You'll just get kicked in the face or something as you're trying to put the blaster away. Instead, use the short-hop blaster to add minor damage at a distance. |
| Up + B | Firefox | In an attack sharing its name with the best internet browser ever, Fox engulfs himself in flames and yelps out an enthusiastic "Hiii-yaaah!!!" as he rockets in any direction (which you specify with the control stick). It has a nice big hitbox and is fairly quick, so it's usually a safe way to return to the ledge providing you are coming from above rather than below. |
| Down + B | Reflector (Shine) | Known as the shine among smash elites, Fox's reflector's intended function is to reflect projectile attacks. Be advised that it can actually break like a shield if you abuse it, as it will add power to whatever it reflects. However, it has a few more useful and interesting functions. See advanced techniques. |
| Forward + B | Illusion | Fox dashes forwards and prodcuces several nifty little blue versions of himself behind him. It's better to use this to get back on the ledge than Firefox, because it's faster. However, it only goes horizontally. As an attack, it's not too spectacular. |
Throws
| Button(s) | Attack | Description/notes |
|---|---|---|
| Down | Execution | Fox throws the opponent down onto the ground and shoots the poor fellow a few times with his blasters. This throw is your best bet against any friends you might have who are unable to tech roll efficiently, because you can follow it up with a shine or down smash to rack up some serious damage. However, if your opponent learns to tech roll away from the throw, you're better off with the up throw. |
| Forward | Forward Throw | Fox throws the opponent out in front of him and shoots him a few times. Not very good. |
| Up | Upward Throw | Your best bet against people who don't fall for down throw comboes, this is a sweet setup, especially against fastfallers such as Falco (or another Fox). The possibilities are endless, but one of the best things to do is to follow it up with an upsmash or some uptilts. |
| Back | Backward Throw | Like the forward throw, only backwards. Yawn. |
Advanced Techniques
Short Hop Blaster
If you jump, pull out your blaster, and land, the blaster is automatically put away, as opposed to the normal half-second or so delay when normally putting away the blaster. Thus, short-hopping while using your blaster is a much safer way of adding damage at a distance.
Shine Spike
The shine/reflector, when used in direct contact with a victim, knocks said victim away from Fox. The advantage to this is that the shine is the least laggy move in the game - it deploys in ONE FRAME! This can be abused very nicely by knocking the opponent off the stage, then jumping after them and shining them right on the top of the head, sending them down and outwards into oblivion. If you find this description confusing, consider it like a meteor smash only less powerful but easier to use, a lot trickier and a lot cooler.
Waveshining
You should first master Fox's wavedash (see general techniques). With that done, note that you can "cancel" a shine by wavedashing immediately after it. This can be used to shine the opponent, wavedash after him, shine him again, and repeat to your heart's desire (until they fall off the edge). It's basically a potential infinite combo, restricted only by the fact that the victim will fall off the edge. The timing is a bit tricky. Also, note that not all characters can be waveshined, as different characters react differently to being shined. Falco, for example, falls flat on his face afterwards, and is thus un-waveshinable. Link, on the other hand, gets torn apart.
Drillshining
This technique may seem a bit daunting at first, but is actually a rather easy way to rack up some good damage with Fox. It entails using the drill kick (aerial down a), l-cancelling (see general techniques) and shining immediately. It can be repeated over and over if you can time it well enough, and if you get somebody up against a wall with it it's an infinite combo.
Chain Throwing
Although Fox is not the first character who comes to mind when you think chain-throwing, he can do it to Falco and other Foxes. Simply upthrow, turn around, catch, upthrow, repeat. Eventually their damage will get too high and they will recover before you can catch them. They might also be able to DI out of it. Still, pretty tricky stuff.