Ness
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Ness (disambiguation).
Image:Ness sprite-frf.png Image:Ness bicycle sprite-frf.png Image:Ness PJs sprite-frf.png Image:Ness dead sprite.png Image:Ness robot sprite-frf.png Image:Clay m2ness.png
Ness (or Nes) (Japanese: ネス) is the pre-teen hero of EarthBound. He is an unassuming young boy, gifted with special powers, who would rather investigate on aliens than hang out at the Mall. He comes from Onett, in EagleLand, and lives next door to a fat boy named Pokey Minch. Ness is without dialogue.
Ness in Earthbound
Ness is the first controllable character in EarthBound. His appearance is simple: most of the time he wears a striped blue and yellow shirt, purple pants, a red and blue baseball cap, and a yellow backpack. His hair and eyes are completely black, and his most unique trait consists of three spikes of hair coming out from the front of his hat. His arsenal in EarthBound is composed of baseball bats, and miscellaneous toys such as yo-yos and slingshots. His "armor" consists of various kinds of hats and badges. Ness has below average Speed (until Magicant), high Offense (determines attack power) and Guts (determines frequency of critical attacks, and also determines the probabilty that fatal attacks against the character will not kill them, but will instead leave them with 1 hp), high HP, and average PP (analogous to MP). He's the only character with recovery PSI until Poo joins. Occasionally, he will become "homesick", causing him to skip turns in battle (thinking about his home and his favourite food, a favorite chosen by the player) and requiring a call to his mother from one of EarthBound's plentiful pay phones or the use of a Chick item to heal. His father adds money to his bank account throughout the game (more money is added as enemies are defeated), and his sister provides storage for the player's items through the Escargo Express service.
Ness is chosen by an alien named Buzz Buzz to save the world from Giygas, a malevolent entity which is causing the citizens and animals of Onett to become hostile. To do this, he must first travel to eight sanctuaries and record the eight melodies there in his Sound Stone (given to him by Buzz Buzz), then he must combine those melodies and make the "Sound Stone melody", which will give him the power of the Earth (and thus a huge boost to his stats). Over the course of the game, he makes many friends, three of which become permanent members of your team (Paula, Jeff, and Poo).
The name "Ness" may be an anagram of the acronym "SNES" (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). This idea is more supported by the fact that the main character of the first Mother was named Ninten, which is a shortened form of Nintendo. However, in Japan, where the game was developed, his name is still Ness, although the video game console is called the Super Famicom.
Ness in Super Smash Bros.
Image:Ness1.jpg Ness has also appeared in Super Smash Bros. as a hidden character and Super Smash Bros. Melee as a base character. He uses moves like PK Fire and PK Thunder (PK is the original name of PSI), which he does not actually use in EarthBound; they are only used by Paula and Poo. (Paula's trophy suggests tongue in cheek that she taught him the moves beforehand.) Ness's own PK Flash move was introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is considered to be a good character to play as due to his excellent jump motion, and his moves being more towards ease for larger combos or attacks.
To unlock Ness in Super Smash Bros., you must beat one-player mode on medium, with a stock of three lives, using no continues. In that game, Ness was a mid to light weight character whose PK Thunder Attack when directed at Ness himself, could propel him into enemies when done right for massive damage. This action could also be used to propel himself back onto a stage when knocked off. His very effective aerial kick spike made him a real threat in any game.
In the sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ness is slightly faster. His PK Thunder knocks him a tiny bit less far when he collides with it. He is also given an additional move, PK Flash, as well slight adjustments to basic moves, one of which makes his aerial spike kick much easier to pull off. However, to balance this out, Ness has been given an extended psychic attack in melee form that boosts from the palms when the player moves forward (A), making his reach longer. In addition, he also has somewhat of an easter egg in that he generate an electric current around his body when directly hit on the head with PK Thunder. Holding down and B results in the activation of the PSI Shield (Japanese: Phycho Shield), which reduces his damage meter when energy weapons are used.
In the Super Smash Bros. series, Ness is voiced by female seiyu Makiko Ohmoto, who also voiced Kirby.