Melee Ness Feels Good But Not PM?

[Little Nemo]

So as a casual and up until I met with a pro I played Ness in Melee and PM. But now that I've been playing about a year I have shifted from Ness in both games. I stopped playing him in Melee because he is trash and learning the fundamentals of competitive Smash with a bad and strange character. I stopped playing him in PM because... He just doesn't feel satisfying like Melee Ness.

I play kind of a weird Ness. I like to use tilts as much as possible- though I don't go for them if it's not safe. Could that maybe be it? I noticed in particular Ness's ftilt just seems to NEVER hit in PM whereas it has some really decent range in Melee. I feel the same about his jabs from Melee to PM. They just don't feel useful in PM.

Am I crazy to feel this way? Anyone else feel this way or maybe know why I feel this way? It's not even that I'm a bad Ness in PM. I'm decent. I just don't like the way he feels. Ness in Melee is my style of playing to a T... But not PM.

 

[choknater]

It is best to use the best moves rather than limit yourself to a structure. His tilts have uses, but they are a small part of the gigantic arsenal that PM Ness has.

 

[Kokomaniac]

Give him more of a chance than using his tiny range tilts and calling it a career

Aerials, pk fire, grabs yo

 

[Little Nemo]

I use everything, even his shine. I certainly don't limit myself to his tilts. Rising aerials, everyone I play can SDI out of PK Fire so fast it's not that good a move, grabs are amazing for kills. I just personally feel they're great moves. I especially like utilt for starting aerial combos. I don't know how to explain it but I feel ftilt is a nice combo ender if you end up on the ground. It gets them away from you starting around 60%. I guess I just mean I use tilts a little more than your average Ness. Not that I ONLY use them. That'd just be silly.
And neither of you answer why I might feel Ness doesn't feel as good in PM. I guess I am really the only one that can answer that though.

 

[Eagleye893]

Ness is very different in PM. His PKT is more reliable, his PK-Fire is more useful, his PSI Magnet can be thrown in to extend combos, his PK Flash is actually use-able (edgeguard or even sometimes I hit someone coming from above by using ness' crazy movement techniques). His aerials are all pretty decent: DAir is quick and combo setup, FAir is long and basically a slightly buffed version of Melee, UAir is the same, and BAir is slightly bigger. His throws are essentially the same except DThrow became more reliable by way of the buffed aerials.

His smashes are situationally useful alongside the rest of his ground moves because of how well the other moves are in PM, but that doesn't mean they're useless. I often find myself using FTilt to KO or just to send people offstage unexpectedly rather than try and poke with DJC BAir or other aerial combos where I'm required to get slightly closer or hoping to get a PK-Fire. I find myself using USmash to catch people coming down from the air and from dodges because it's more reliable than most aerials (especially OoS)

The reason why Ness seems so odd might stem from his aerials and special moves receiving decent enough buffs as opposed to the minimal buffs (and some nerfs) of his ground moves. Ness also has some crazy aerial drifting tech with his PSI Magnet to function similarly to peach as well as the bounce in momentum for his Double Jump. ON TOP OF THAT, you can choose between DJC and rising aerials with your second jump by holding the jump button.

In summary, the changes to ness' moves and the ways in which he can move in PM cause his aerial options to be much more potent than the ground options. If you want to incorporate more grounded moves, you need to examine the openings in what your opponent does/can do and think of what moves you could use to attack such holes in their attack patterns. Over time, you'll start throwing in those moves by making yourself more comfortable/able to find their use cases.

 

[Little Nemo]

See this is what I mean lol.
I think you described it perfectly. All of it I knew but I wasn't really able to connect the dots between Melee and PM. I definitely use all of Ness's new junk but I am not used to it. It's hard playing a character so familiar yet to similar. His aerial combos for sure throw me off in PM. A lot of my combos I do in Melee don't go all the way through in PM.
Thank you very much, Eagleye.