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by Ethan, Guest Contributor
Hi everyone, I’m Ethan (formerly known as Cloud, back when usernames were cool) and Ness is my signature amiibo. My Ness amiibo, Super NES, has placed among the top Nesses in both 4 and Ultimate. In Ultimate, he’s had several top places, including first in Splice’s Brute Force tournament and many others.
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AI Issues
While on-stage, Ness’ AI is pretty solid. The only notable issue some trainers may run into is that the AI may use PK Flash at inappropriate times. It can’t charge PK Flash anymore, so if the move is entirely avoided this won’t be a problem.
Off-stage is a different story, though. Ness’ AI often wastes its double jump to fire itself at the edge with PK Thunder, even if said double jump would’ve been enough distance to properly recover. This means Ness is often left vulnerable while recovering, and he can be easily gimped with proper timing. Opponents do have to be careful not to get hit by PK Thunder, though. Something else to note here is that Ness’ preferred recovery angle happens to align with Ridley using Plasma Breath at the edge. If Ness has to fight a Ridley that waits at the ledge and uses neutral special, he can get gimped at any percentage if he’s knocked off-stage.
Overall Playstyle
Ness’ playstyle is pretty straightforward. When Ness is far away (or at mid-range), he should straight up spam projectiles to rack up damage. At close range, he’s got options too. He can rack up damage with grabs, KO with back throw, or use his smash attacks and strong aerials to keep opponents away.
As mentioned before, avoid PK Flash and avoid going off-stage whenever possible. Ness does have a down air spike, but landing it isn’t worth it and will often get him killed, especially against opponents who like going off-stage. With Ness, you can either walk or run during training, either one is good.
How to train the Ness amiibo
Your top priority on the ground is PK Fire. amiibo don’t DI / SDI as well as they should, so be sure to use multiple PK Fires in a row against your Ness. You can then follow up with a grab or an up smash. Grabs and up smash are important on their own, too, and should be used quite often. Down throw to two forward airs at low percents, up throw into PK Thunder 1 at mid percents and back throw at high percents. When you launch your amiibo upwards, chase it with PK Thunder for as long as you can. If you can KO it off the top blast zone, perfect!
Other important moves include up air and back air. Don’t charge smash attacks at the ledge, as Ness can’t learn to do this. For the most part, you are going to want to stay on the ground and just use PK Fire and PK Thunder. When your Ness is airborne and near you, you can use a short hopped up air or back air. But PK Fire, PK Thunder, and up smash are your main and best options.
Why it Works
PK Fire racks up a ton of damage in a short amount of time, especially since other amiibo (especially large or heavy characters) can’t get out of it very quickly. PK Thunder chasing works because amiibo don’t try to air dodge away from it, and they just let themselves get hit over and over. These two moves alone allow Ness to win many matchups. Ness’ closer ranged moves are overall pretty fast and allows him to hold his own against characters with faster frame data as well. He can use those closed-range moves to knock opponents away to set up with PK Fire or PK Thunder again.
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