Lumine Hall - Ness Video and Critique Thread

[Kirby Phelps (PK)]

Okay...what the hell is Ness supposed to do against a spammy Dr. Mario? A friend of mine plays Doc and it's so difficult to approach. If I do manage to get in, he'll just grab me or something equally as punishing. This is a match I fought with said friend. What can I do?

 

[PK Tripping]

Okay...what the hell is Ness supposed to do against a spammy Dr. Mario? A friend of mine plays Doc and it's so difficult to approach. If I do manage to get in, he'll just grab me or something equally as punishing. This is a match I fought with said friend. What can I do?

To be honest, I don't know of too many ways to avoid Dr. Mario's pills. I would probably just bat them away until he approaches, as he cant do much. Rather than trying to rush a spammy character, just let them get bored and rush you.

 

[Uffe]

The Pills bounced over Ness' head. You can especially see this at 3:10 and up. I'd say try PKF if those things fly over Ness. Shield pressure is better than nothing. You could have also went to the furthest part of the stage and tried PKT since the Pills don't go across the whole stage. And seeing how he'd block when you got close, just grab. Sometimes jabs help.

 

[foppy]

not much advice for avoiding pills. Uffe mentioned this already, but you can go to the other side of the stage and pk thunder since the pills don't travel that far. if he tries to reflect with side b, you can perform pk thunder mindgames and get him while he is vulnerable. for approaching, pk fire in the air might (big emphasis on the might) work, but it is extremely punishable. dash attacks can work. if he shields you can try to go for grabs or jump and bait rolls or any other movement out of his shield.

 

[Kirby Phelps (PK)]

*sigh* Okay. Is this player really good, or do I just really suck? I just recently fought this Japanese player and got completely annihilated. Out of maybe 10 matches, I won only 1. I know I might be posting a lot of videos, but lately I keep coming across players that just make me feel like the worst.

In the videos, if it looks like I'm making very odd decisions, it's because all my usual tactics just weren't working. So I was trying to make some odd moves and be less predictable, but this player STILL read my every move like a book. I felt completely helpless and it just put me in the worst mood... I couldn't even beat this player's Little Mac and usually Ness is great against Little Macs...

 

[Ranias]

Okay...what the hell is Ness supposed to do against a spammy Dr. Mario?

I would probably just bat them away until he approaches.

I think Dr. Mario is actually one of Ness's harder matchups. I've tried batting away Dr. Mario's pills. The reflected pills never arc back down like normal, so batting is pretty useless. You seemed to do okay for the most part though. Maybe approaching by running and powershielding pills could work.

*sigh* Okay. Is this player really good, or do I just really suck? I just recently fought this Japanese player and got completely annihilated.

He was pretty good, but he's not unbeatable.

Against Robin, you want to try to harass him out of charging Thunder ASAP, but I wouldn't do it with PK Thunder unless he is in the air, because it is easily shielded.
Approaching him by running and power shielding could work, or by air, but just watch out for Elfire or Arcthunder. If you get hit by either, try to roll out or DI out of it ASAP.
If you ever get a PSI Magnet absorb off, you can roll directly out of it as soon as you absorb, so keep that in mind.

You're right that Ness is good against Little Mac.
Try to throw him in the air or off the edge, then juggle him with PK Thunder. Basically any time he is in the air, it is very safe to follow up with a PK Thunder.
The biggest mistake I saw you doing against Little Mac was trying to follow him offstage instead of simply PK Thunder gimping him.
If you hit Little Mac with the tail of PK Thunder right after he Side Bs or Up Bs, he will be knocked out of it for a bit and it makes it very difficult for him to recover. Also, if he ever uses counter while recovering, you can hit the side of him opposite of the stage and make him move further away, lol.

 

[Kirby Phelps (PK)]

Here's another question I have. How do I DI or whatever it is in this game (vectoring?)? When I get locked in Little Mac's multi-jab attack, it's very difficult for me to get out. I mash my circle pad in the opposite direction, but it doesn't take me very far. And yet, when I play Little Mac and fight some people online, they manage to wiggle out of my multi-jabs pretty easily. Also, one maneuver I like using with Ness is grab>down throw>fair>fair. It works on a lot of people. If not that, then grab>down throw>uair also works. But with really skilled players like this one, they either get out of PK Fire before I can even grab them which results in me getting punished (even at low percents) or once I do my down throw and attempt to do my fairs or uair, they go in a weird direction that doesn't allow my fairs or uair to hit. How do they do this? I've fought a few other Ness players and I try to do the same thing, but I always get caught in the full combo. I don't know if I'm supposed to mash on the circle pad or just hold it in a direction or what.

 

[Ranias]

Here's another question I have. How do I DI or whatever it is in this game (vectoring?)? When I get locked in Little Mac's multi-jab attack, it's very difficult for me to get out. I mash my circle pad in the opposite direction, but it doesn't take me very far. And yet, when I play Little Mac and fight some people online, they manage to wiggle out of my multi-jabs pretty easily. Also, one maneuver I like using with Ness is grab>down throw>fair>fair. It works on a lot of people. If not that, then grab>down throw>uair also works. But with really skilled players like this one, they either get out of PK Fire before I can even grab them which results in me getting punished (even at low percents) or once I do my down throw and attempt to do my fairs or uair, they go in a weird direction that doesn't allow my fairs or uair to hit. How do they do this? I've fought a few other Ness players and I try to do the same thing, but I always get caught in the full combo. I don't know if I'm supposed to mash on the circle pad or just hold it in a direction or what.

Vectoring in this game just takes holding a direction you want to go while flying through the air. This thread explains it in detail: http://smashboards.com/threads/vectoring-the-replacement-to-directional-influence-in-smash-4.368780/
You basically net the most vector magnitude if you input a diagonal. So I think you should input diagonally back to escape, towards whichever side requires the least amount of distance.

Mashing is good to do Smash DI, which instantly moves you in the direction you smash while taking a hit, but doesn't change your trajectory much.

You should probably start off the escape from multihitting moves with a smash in the direction you want to escape, followed by holding the direction you want to escape.

I could be wrong though. It might be faster to mash to escape rather than vector. I haven't experimented thoroughly.

 

[15 [イチゴ]]

Pardon the off screen video.

I just got stomped in a tournament and it was one of those realization of how bad I am moments. I just sandbagged for a majority of the match as I failed to get stuff out or poorly spaced myself. Oh and I used PK Fire very poorly and often!

What I want to know is how to approach with Ness and how to follow up when I get a throw. Do I have to always wait for an air dodge?

If I come at guys with aerials while they're on the ground they block and I get grabbed. If I approach on the ground they beat me out with longer range normals. I think I'd do alright if I challenged them in the air, but I'm not sure how to get them up there.

I'd appreciate any advice you can offer. Thank you for your time!

 

[Noa.]

T5

- The best times to go for pk fire is when an opponent is landing, when you expect them to spotdodge or do a dash grab. You cannot pk fire the fast opponents in neutral because they can shield it on reaction and punish you. Yoshi is a very fast character so when you use pk fire you have to make sure it's going to land or you will be punished for it.

- When you're trying to get back on stage by jumping you have to perform an aerial to cover yourself. You have difficulty getting on stage because Yoshi kept jabbing you off. But if you had nair'd while jumping back onstage you would've beaten the jab. Now if Yoshi goes for F smash or usmash you just have to jump over that or land in front of him outside of its range. It's very difficult to interrupt Yoshi when he's charging one of those smashes because he pulls his hurt box out. You typically don't want to challenge the smashes head on.

- This Yoshi almost never grabbed you. You should be shielding more often and more freely until he starts reading the shields and starts grabbing. At the most basic level in smash you have three fundamental options. Shield, grab, and attack, which all work like rock paper scissors. A lot of opponents tend to lean more heavily on one of these options and not use the other one as much. Just try to identify which option your opponent uses as their crutch and try to keep up when they change it up.

- There are many times where he just rammed into you with his dash attack. It is somewhat difficult to punish Yoshi's dash attack. You can shield it safely but it usually will past by your shield so you can't shield grab it. I believe that if you space our dash attack correctly it can beat his, but I'm not sure on that honestly.

- Dthrow combos change depending on their percent, your percent, their character, and their vectoring. In any case the timing is very strict and you have to jump immediately and start performing the aerial to make sure they can't airdodge through it in most cases. Some times even if you do perform the aerial as fast as possible they can still airdodge through it. If they do just perform a nair as quickly as possible and in most cases you should be able to punish the airdodge. Dthrow combos into either uair or fair depending on their direction.

- Overall I would say that your reaction time and decision making are both pretty slow. And you don't seem to know what options are available to you and how to use them. The only way to improve that is to play a lot more. Play with the best players you can find. Go to smashfests and when you go to tournies ask anyone for friendlies. If you don't know anyone who plays smash make friends at tournaments and in the mean time play for glory. For glory is not that great of a tool but at least it's something.

 

[15 [イチゴ]]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Uffe]

Pardon the off screen video.

I just got stomped in a tournament and it was one of those realization of how bad I am moments. I just sandbagged for a majority of the match as I failed to get stuff out or poorly spaced myself. Oh and I used PK Fire very poorly and often!

What I want to know is how to approach with Ness and how to follow up when I get a throw. Do I have to always wait for an air dodge?

If I come at guys with aerials while they're on the ground they block and I get grabbed. If I approach on the ground they beat me out with longer range normals. I think I'd do alright if I challenged them in the air, but I'm not sure how to get them up there.

I'd appreciate any advice you can offer. Thank you for your time!

At times, after doing a down throw with Ness, you will have to expect their air dodge and then follow up with your attack afterwards. A lot of players will tell me that Ness' fair is good to follow up with, but I feel like it gets dodged quite often. If your fair misses, attempt a uair. Sometimes you can get two uairs in. Of course if you down throw and they expect you to use fair or uair, you can just use PKT on them while you're grounded.

If you're getting grabbed after using an aerial, you need to attack and retreat. Basically offense > defense. Because Ness' fair seems shorter this time around, it seems to be more punishable in terms of getting grabbed. So try to poke with it and pull away. You can do the same with Ness' nair. Short hop > poke nair > pull away to see if your opponent dropped their shield > If they dropped it, go for a second nair. If it's still up, stay away and use a different attack. Bair is pretty long ranged, so it's almost impossible to get punished if you're poking their shield with it. Again, with these, offense > defense.

As for playing grounded, if your opponent has no projectile, use PKT at a distance and have them come to you. Use your tailwhip for extra damage, or just to mess with their heads. If they do have projectile, you basically have to move in. And because they'll be using projectile, you may not have to worry as much when using your aerials against them. If your opponent relies heavily on projectile, then getting close enough to them can be pretty daunting for them. If you're still grounded, pivot PKF. Just be sure your opponent isn't too close to you, otherwise you get punished. I think the best opponent to practice against is Mega Man if you're having trouble with ground play and projectile issues.

 

[Funkermonster]

Ness isn't really one of my mains in this game, but I do like to use him in Project M and Brawl so I thought I'd give him a go-round in this game when I'm failmiar with him in the past games and I tried playing Bowser Jr., but sadly he and I aren't exactly two birds of a feather so I tried Ness instead. Again, not really one of my mains and I haven't really used him outside of For Glory so far, (may do so in the future though), but I thought I'd ask for critique of my skill with him anyway. Any advice would be helpful.

vs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Txuz0dknI&list=UU0RMA482bkRmw4pukDNhPgQ&index=6
vs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXDFc5Ojx9M&list=UU0RMA482bkRmw4pukDNhPgQ&index=5
vs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld_y6fjlqYU&list=UU0RMA482bkRmw4pukDNhPgQ&index=4
vs. (really salty about this one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtFOZgk-NLk&list=UU0RMA482bkRmw4pukDNhPgQ&index=2
vs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CrXcWYdwwo&list=UU0RMA482bkRmw4pukDNhPgQ&index=1

Somehow I feel that I would have the potential to be good with him, but I am tunnel visioned and not aware of every option I have and end up choosing the worst actions in certain situations when I could've done something else instead.

 

[foppy]

for the little mac match, you went for back throw at very low percentages. back throw has high knockback scaling, meaning it will only do you good when used at high percents. in addition, you seem to be a bit too aggressive. little mac becomes very easy to deal with if you bait him in approaching first by rolling away when he goes for a dash attack or side b or shield grabbing his dash attack. you control the pk thunder to go straight at him, making it very predictable and easy to avoid. you can try baiting a shield and having the thunder go over him and into his back or mix it up with the mindgames pk thunder offers. dthrow to fair is best to get mac offstage, and it is best to go for fair when he tries to recover horizontally. when you went for offstage bairs, you didn't double jump and ended up below the little mac. you need to capitalize on when mac is offstage or in the air, as that gives you the opportunity to gimp him or rack up damage respectively. there were also times where he just ran at you and you attempted punishing with a pk fire. that could of just been the for glory lag causing you to react late, but it is very predictable when he does that, and the best option is to shield. shield grab can work but it might not because of the shieldstun. overall you should go for more fairs, dthrows, and shield grabs and stop going for bthrow at lower percentages.

 

[Karsticles]

Here is a video of me against a very strong Ness player. He beat me overall in the set 8-4, and my biggest problems are the combk followup he gets after a down throw and PK Thunder harassment. I would love feedback on those aspects of the match as well as anything else that comes to mind.

Karst (Bowser) vs. Shamrock (Ness): http://youtu.be/kztNVBgZJuU

 

[15 [イチゴ]]

Whelp! I guess I'm going to make a trend of posting bad Ness videos. This time I'm looking for some specific advice for a Bowser match up. For example: What do you do to recover when he's using his fire breath? Do you grab the ledge and jump right away hoping to keep some invulnerability to get past the fire and pull off an aerial?

Pardon the excessive PK Fires again.

What are your options in the instance of a hard knockdown? I always end up rolling even though I just want to stand up.

Also, can you grab the ledge if you slide along the stage? I swear I was mashing left on my 3DS and it just wouldn't grab in either of my SDs.

 

[Snerp]

Whelp! I guess I'm going to make a trend of posting bad Ness videos. This time I'm looking for some specific advice for a Bowser match up. For example: What do you do to recover when he's using his fire breath? Do you grab the ledge and jump right away hoping to keep some invulnerability to get past the fire and pull off an aerial?

Pardon the excessive PK Fires again.

What are your options in the instance of a hard knockdown? I always end up rolling even though I just want to stand up.

Also, can you grab the ledge if you slide along the stage? I swear I was mashing left on my 3DS and it just wouldn't grab in either of my SDs.

No worries man. We Ness mains are here to help.

- When a bowser is using fire breath you need to take note of both of your positions. If you are above him try doing an angled pk fire on top of him. A lot of players don't expect a Ness to PK Fire in midair so use that to your advantage. When you're below him aka trying to get the ledge I really can't help you there too much. Not a lot of Bowsers I've faced even use their neutral b to begin with. Also, PSI Magnet. Use it...sometimes.

- Generally when you're knocked down you want to roll away from your opponent, however a get up attack is a good option if you read them well. Judging by what you wrote I'm assuming you don't know what teching is. Press R before you land, it could save your life.

- You need to nair more. A LOT more. Nair is my favorite option on the ground. Learn how to short hop it on the ground it beats a lot of moves.

- PK Fire is not good early on in the Bowser matchup due to his "Tough Guy" which is basically super armor. HOWEVER, PK Fire absolutely destroys Bowser after you've gotten 50% on him. I've chained 3-4 PK Fires on Bowsers in FG before. It's hilarious.

Seriously, nair.

 

[Noa.]

Here is a video of me against a very strong Ness player. He beat me overall in the set 8-4, and my biggest problems are the combk followup he gets after a down throw and PK Thunder harassment. I would love feedback on those aspects of the match as well as anything else that comes to mind.

Karst (Bowser) vs. Shamrock (Ness): http://youtu.be/kztNVBgZJuU

Bowser dair and down b are both good options against pk thunder juggling. Just use them to land quickly, or better yet land onto Ness and punish him.

You can't do much about the grab game. Just vector in different ways each time to make it more difficult for him to use the same followup.

 

[15 [イチゴ]]

- Generally when you're knocked down you want to roll away from your opponent, however a get up attack is a good option if you read them well. Judging by what you wrote I'm assuming you don't know what teching is. Press R before you land, it could save your life.

The biggest thing that annoys me about teching is that I never just get up. I always end up hitting the control stick and get a roll. Admittedly it's not the easiest thing to practice either. To get practice I guess I'll just have to fight a bot that attacks and focus on letting go of the control stick.

I see why you suggest Nair though. Fair didn't really help me in the situations I used it in. It seems like a better aerial to use when dropping through platforms on battlefield. Although, dropping through platforms on battlefield seems like a bad idea. I'm not really sure how to play on Battlefield yet. I've been playing way too much For Glory FD / Omega stages.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[fusrodahshane]

Wow, most of you are really good! O.O

 

[Waael]

Oh oops! Should have posted this here :V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IpldtsaaOQ&index=1&list=PLdfiFUiRFRooD6rUkwEEJ9MbzD7IiQJxx

 

[phili]

Oh oops! Should have posted this here :V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IpldtsaaOQ&index=1&list=PLdfiFUiRFRooD6rUkwEEJ9MbzD7IiQJxx

that first stock was really nice. I've had a similar problem with a few rosalinas jumping off stage and using gravity during my pk thunder. very heartbreaking

 

[Waael]

that first stock was really nice. I've had a similar problem with a few rosalinas jumping off stage and using gravity during my pk thunder. very heartbreaking

OH GOD, That has happened to me and I was like WUT.

 

[C0rvus]

I just placed third in a local, and I have a vod of loser's quarters, semis, and finals to share. I mostly played Ness until loser's finals, when Shulk came out. I'm not looking for specific matchup tips, maybe against Falcon, but feel free to critique this stuff.

Here it is: http://www.twitch.tv/hitboxarena/b/594089103

I'm the second match, and in a few others.

 

[Snerp]

Oh oops! Should have posted this here :V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IpldtsaaOQ&index=1&list=PLdfiFUiRFRooD6rUkwEEJ9MbzD7IiQJxx

Very impressive 1st stock. I never knew about that PSI gimp until now.

 

[Waael]

Thank you Snerp!

 

[Ako.]

I would have never thought of using magnet to prevent ness recovery with pk thunder.

 

[PSIBoy]

Oh oops! Should have posted this here :V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IpldtsaaOQ&index=1&list=PLdfiFUiRFRooD6rUkwEEJ9MbzD7IiQJxx

Whoa, that PSI Magnet gimp never occurred to me at all. Impressive. If you're looking for constructive criticism, however, I would strongly recommend avoiding using d-air on the stage and off the stage, I only recommend using it if you're extremely confident about using it to spike. Otherwise, I'd stick to f-air/n-air/b-air. Not sure about that PKT2 you pulled off. I would not do something like that though, I'm sure. If timed right, I assume it would be an unpredictable and rewarding trick to pull off. Overall, solid gameplay. I wouldn't be surprised if you were one of the better Nesses out there.

And Wii U (Ness) graphics look so good... Wish I had the Wii U version.

 

[Ako.]

Ok here is a match of me (Ness) vs Catnip (Ike). This was my first tournament and I heard Catnip was a well known player in Nor-Cal which got me a bit nervous. Unfortunately I lost the match. I use PK Thunder 2 as an edge guarding tool, but seems to not work out well. I think my biggest problem is my edge guarding game which needs to be improved and closing on the Ike. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.twitch.tv/breakoutpresents/b/594049937

Match starts around 44 mins

 

[Waael]

Whoa, that PSI Magnet gimp never occurred to me at all. Impressive. If you're looking for constructive criticism, however, I would strongly recommend avoiding using d-air on the stage and off the stage, I only recommend using it if you're extremely confident about using it to spike. Otherwise, I'd stick to f-air/n-air/b-air. Not sure about that PKT2 you pulled off. I would not do something like that though, I'm sure. If timed right, I assume it would be an unpredictable and rewarding trick to pull off. Overall, solid gameplay. I wouldn't be surprised if you were one of the better Nesses out there.

And Wii U (Ness) graphics look so good... Wish I had the Wii U version.

YES D-air is SO BAD. It's an instinct since I played PM and Brawl (it was great in those games) but yeah I use it sometimes but its horrible, Eventually Ill stop using it for good XD

Ok here is a match of me (Ness) vs Catnip (Ike). This was my first tournament and I heard Catnip was a well known player in Nor-Cal which got me a bit nervous. Unfortunately I lost the match. I use PK Thunder 2 as an edge guarding tool, but seems to not work out well. I think my biggest problem is my edge guarding game which needs to be improved and closing on the Ike. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.twitch.tv/breakoutpresents/b/594049937

Match starts around 44 mins

HEY! Wait you went to that tournament in Lodi right? Near Stockton? I was going to go there but I ended up going to a tournament in Milpitas which is 20 minutes away from me! NESS REP :D So you're from Norcal too then? =]

Also: Wait guys.. you never thought about PSI Magnet gimping Lucas or Ness? I've been doing it for a LONG time. It's actually the easiest in Smash 4 because the Magnet has such a huge hitbox while in Brawl it's a lot smaller and riskier. I guess I'm the first to record it in Smash 4? =P

 

[Ako.]

Yes that is right! Smash Bash 4 is the tournament. So you went to tight or fight? I know about that tournament because they mostly host street fighter and mv3 tournaments, and I used to play street fighter competively.

Stockton is where I'm from, but currently living in the sacramento area attending Sac State.

 

[PSIBoy]

YES D-air is SO BAD. It's an instinct since I played PM and Brawl (it was great in those games) but yeah I use it sometimes but its horrible, Eventually Ill stop using it for good XD


HEY! Wait you went to that tournament in Lodi right? Near Stockton? I was going to go there but I ended up going to a tournament in Milpitas which is 20 minutes away from me! NESS REP :D So you're from Norcal too then? =]

Also: Wait guys.. you never thought about PSI Magnet gimping Lucas or Ness? I've been doing it for a LONG time. It's actually the easiest in Smash 4 because the Magnet has such a huge hitbox while in Brawl it's a lot smaller and riskier. I guess I'm the first to record it in Smash 4? =P

Never played against, well any Nesses or Lucases in Brawl (sounds so wrong, plus I couldn't figure out how to get my Wii to connect to the internet until Brawl Online was down) and Ness on 3DS online is rather rare, part of the reason why I never bothered to try to formulate a strategy against them.

By the way, I see you use PK Flash a lot vs Shulk. I recommend only to use it for edge-guarding purposes. It is extremely leggy and punishable and there are typically better options for anti-air operations.

 

[Waael]

Yes that is right! Smash Bash 4 is the tournament. So you went to tight or fight? I know about that tournament because they mostly host street fighter and mv3 tournaments, and I used to play street fighter competively.

Stockton is where I'm from, but currently living in the sacramento area attending Sac State.

I'm from San Jose, I knew a lot of people who were going to Smash bash but it was too far And yeah I went there! It was fun, AND DUDE NICE! I'm living in Davis right now, and attending UC Davis =P

Never played against, well any Nesses or Lucases in Brawl (sounds so wrong, plus I couldn't figure out how to get my Wii to connect to the internet until Brawl Online was down) and Ness on 3DS online is rather rare, part of the reason why I never bothered to try to formulate a strategy against them.

By the way, I see you use PK Flash a lot vs Shulk. I recommend only to use it for edge-guarding purposes. It is extremely leggy and punishable and there are typically better options for anti-air operations.

LOL I KNOW >_< BUT ITS GREEN AND AWESOME, and its worth the risk! =P But yeah a F-Air, and N-Air are clearly more better than PK Flash

 

[neomadgic]

Ok here is a match of me (Ness) vs Catnip (Ike). This was my first tournament and I heard Catnip was a well known player in Nor-Cal which got me a bit nervous. Unfortunately I lost the match. I use PK Thunder 2 as an edge guarding tool, but seems to not work out well. I think my biggest problem is my edge guarding game which needs to be improved and closing on the Ike. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.twitch.tv/breakoutpresents/b/594049937

Match starts around 44 mins

Ako, your ness is great! Here's what I got out of your video.

Pros:

• You have great fast fall game.
• You're great at landing without landing lag
• You seem to have a good grasp on Ness's moveset.
• Nice read with the bat

Things I would work on:

• You are nairing too much. You are approaching with Nairs everytime. I guess it sometimes work, but your approach game needs improvements. I'd HIGHLY recommend you approaching with FAIR instead of nair. Connecting with a Fair can lead into combos AND it also the hitbox stays out longer so it's a better spacing tool.
• You approach in the air about 80-100% of the time. To add on to your approach game, I'd recommend staying grounded as well to mix it up. As ness, you can run up to them and force them to react to you... If they Shield (go for grab), if they tilt or jab (try to powershield and punish them with a nair out of shield), etc, Ness has a lot of ground approaches as well as aerial approaches. Even Ness's dash attack is amazing as it can lead into combos. The key is to mix it up so your opponent has no clue what you are doing.
• Getting KO's is one of Ness's strengths. He has Bair, Uair, and Bthrow that can kill and his GIMPS are amazing. Even though ike was at like 100%+, you were still throwing out way too many nairs. I'd recommend mixing that up and using BAIR (reverse aerial Back air) and/or Uair instead. Bair can easily be spaced, and can kill if you land. Uair can be used near the ground, and has a HUGE hitbox. Over half my kills are usually uairs. But yet, I counted maybe 5 uairs throughout your whole set.
• I know you already recognized it, but your edge guarding game as well. I know it is super satisfying to hit with pkt2. But for me, pkt2 is more for mind games and not for ledge guarding. Obviously its always good to mix it up and maybe try pkt2 when he's least expecting. But from what I saw, every edge guard opportunity you had, you tried to land a pkt2 (and missed everytime). To me, that's wasted opportunities because ness has such a great edge guard game. You can try going beneath him and land an uair. Or just send out PK thunders to get free damage (or stop his side B momentum).
• Recovery! (This might be a matchup issue, since I havent' faced many ikes). But from what I've seen, you like to recover high and mighty, leaving yourself very very vulnerable during your freefall animation. Try to aim for the ledge, or recovery from lower. Again, I'm not familiar with what Ike is capable of, so maybe low isn't a safe option. But in Smash, whoever is lower has the advantage. so by recovering high, you give him the advantage.

Anyways, sorry for the long read. Just really trying to help you out . I see a lot of potential in your ness, but you just have to hone his other skill sets. If those are all too much to take in at once, the main thing I would work on is to Nair less. Try out your other aerials.

 

[ilysm]

^ Agree with everything above, though your Ness is still very good! This is honestly just speculation on my part, but perhaps against a character with long reach like Ike you may want to play Puff and weave in and out of his range with fairs and...bairs? Unless I'm mistaken, bair has a pretty decent hitbox, so pivoting in the air and mixing it up can let you use little hits to rack Ike up to the percent where a grab or well-spaced bair or even a fair into a combo will kill. Someone correct me if this is lunacy.

 

[Conda]

Sonic vs Ness match in the GF of a tournament I commentated. A lot of Ness play in this tournament, actually.

More coming, editing and uploading.

 

[Ako.]

Ako, your ness is great! Here's what I got out of your video.

Pros:

• You're great at landing without landing lag

What do you mean by that? Was I doing something that got rid of landing lag?

 

[Waael]

Placed #17 in a tournament with 60+, I was the only one who used Ness! There were so many Diddy Kong and Sheik players

 

[PSIBoy]

Placed #17 in a tournament with 60+, I was the only one who used Ness! There were so many Diddy Kong and Sheik players

Good job getting that far with those characters around!

 

[joniho]

So I went up against LiquidKen in For Glory...

jump to 1:37:47
http://www.twitch.tv/liquidken/b/594754949

Went 5-7 against him, although in the last match I gave a gentleman stock:
Ness v Marth -> Marth
Ness v Diddy -> Diddy
Ness v Falcon -> Ness
Ness v Fox -> Ness
Ness v Marth -> Marth
Ness v Diddy -> Ness
Ness v Diddy -> Ness
Ness v Diddy -> Diddy
Ness v Diddy -> Diddy
Ness v Lil Mac -> Ness
Ness v Marth -> Marth
Ness v Link -> Link

Some feedback I noticed/received:
- I didn't nair enough
- I threw out unsafe PK Fires (I got nervous when I realized it was actually LiquidKen)
- I have a bad habit of recovery-rolling into unsafe positions
- I missed sweetspotting the ledge with PKT2 at times, or just flat out derped (PKT into a wall, etc.)