Optimizing Ness

[Double Helix]

I was thinking about this for awhile, and I felt I should bring it to the boards. When it comes to optimizing Ness, I want to compare it to another low tier character that has recently made another splash in recent tournaments. Amsa's Yoshi has brought a lot of success to tournaments recently, and I want to know if optimizing Ness can be similar to comparing Vectorman's Yoshi to Amsa's. Amsa moves a lot faster than Vectorman during the neutral game it seems, while Vectorman simply positions himself where he wants to be and uses Yoshi's parry and shield drops to optimize defensive options that Yoshi wields.

My question is, do Ness mains to focus on being faster, or should we focus on the positioning game? Recently, I've been leaning toward the faster side of things, moving more and more so that I can more often play like a fast-faller. But moving a lot and moving quickly can be useful in punishing randomly thrown out moves by having great positioning. I would like to get everyone else's view on the topic of general style. Obviously you should do what works for you, but I feel like in order to optimize Ness you need to be very very fast.

One thing to note: I have gotten much faster since the last time I posted a video, which was also just short-lived due to Twitch settings. I am moving better than ever before.

 

[Simna ibn Sind]

Ness players need to come to terms with the risks they need to take in order to make progress.

 

[Double Helix]

Ness players need to come to terms with the risks they need to take in order to make progress.

This is another thread entirely. However, I will do my best to express my thoughts on the matter. In order for a Ness player to come to terms with those risks, the individual has to play a lot of games, SD a lot, and master PKT2 so that recovery after offstage maneuvers are not a question of "Will I make it this time?" I am in a similar boat right now. I need to get to the point that recovering as Ness is never a problem because I get the angle I want 99/100 times.

Risks aside, I feel like the onstage speed of Ness is under-utilized and not very well represented among top Ness players in the world.

 

[PSI-Apocalypse]

Interesting... I think it's convenient to move faster, because if we see top players, no matter which character they use, they tend to move fast to connect as many hits as they can, but also to work mind games and confound the opponent. Amsa Yoshi moves really fast, and that gives him an advantage because makes him a bit unpredictable and allows him to chase his opponent. That's what i think. I always try to improve my movement, using dash dancing and wavedash combined to make pressure and maybe provoke punishable mistakes, like an obvious roll, or chase a tech.

 

[Beets]

I think Ness can perform well. After having played Ness in Smash 4, it seems like his PK Thunder is good (to me at least) in Melee. Does it not perform the same edgegaurding capabilities like in does in Smash 4?

 

[Simna ibn Sind]

PK Thunder between those two games is very different.

Beets: You are from Davis. Come over.

 

[Beets]

PK Thunder between those two games is very different.

Beets: You are from Davis. Come over.

LOL heck yeah dude, I'll pm you.

 

[Ganreizu]

Pretty much the only way for melee pk thunder to be anywhere near as good as smash4 pk thunder is if you use it in the air and land after you hit someone so you don't have lag coming out of it. If you're grounded you can't spam pk thunder at all so you have to either go for raw follow up or read a platform tech/no tech.

 

[Simna ibn Sind]

Let's not dwell on other games. But tech chasing with PK Thunder might be more effective than many ppl realize.

 

[Ganreizu]

Has anyone experimented with re-grabbing ledge with airdodge? I think i remember the idea being posted somewhere here but we should be abusing ness' big hands to fix some of his edgeguard issues. A fastfall -> air dodge up from ledge should be his fastest refresh option especially at high percents.