Ness advice/criticism

[Monochromatic]

NOTE: This is my friend's Ness and he wanted me to post this up for him, since he didn't want to go through creating an account and such:
Alright my Ness isn't so great, i end up losing half the time =\ And because of that, I need advice or criticism on how to play him a better... I just can't seem to win quite often... Help?

Vids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJB538FcJkY (Mario vs Ness)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skiJHwJ21OQ (DK vs Ness)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7jVY8kJ22M (Marth vs Ness)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijlwzL8woiwl (Marth vs Ness)

As you can tell i lose in each of these... Advice or criticism would be helpful- thank you.

 

[Uffe]

Your last video doesn't seem to work for some reason. You don't spot dodge or air dodge enough. Another thing, the third video with you returning, you should have just went in the ocean instead of landing into Marth's sword. It's a bad habit attempting to return to the stage. Nice use of PSI Magnet stall, I'll give you that much.

Try to pivot your PK Fire more, too. Good for attacking and good for spacing. Worthless if they're in the air. Your opponent seems to shield quite a lot, so you should have just grabbed them. Is that Crew guy from All is Brawl? I've seen someone by the name of that, I think.

For the first match, you shouldn't have really gotten knocked around that much. Try to retreat your aerials. You kept landing into shield grabs. What I mean by retreating is put pressure on your opponents shield and pull back. Wait for an opening to start multiplying your attack on them.

Another thing is that you roll quite a lot. Don't do it unless you really need to. Rolling around can become a bad habit and you'll sometimes roll towards your opponent for no reason. Another thing is your PKT2 is predictable which is why you're getting punished. You can do a few things to trick your opponents like making PKT fly over you and at them instead of at yourself.

Use more neutrals and tilts, too. Other than that I can see your Ness getting good over time, but in the mean time try and do what I wrote.

 

[Yoshi-Kirby]

The main thing that I noticed was you getting punished for things that could have easily been avoided. First thing, you roll a lot, and that can easily mess you up. Becoming a habit is even worse, especially if you roll into powerful moves. When you started using PK Thunder, your PKT2s did become predictable. Spacing can improve, you got grabbed out of his shield a lot. Grabbing would have been better. I didn't see much PK Fire either, and that can help, but against someone that can reflect like Mario, don't use it too often. And like Uffe said, more neutrals and tilts. Your Ness is good, but he can still go for some improvement.

 

[Lizard]

PKT2 ws too predictable. try this.

Grab-up throw- PKT- Two things can happen- 1- they get hit... free damage...- 2 They airdodge, you lopp thunder back around to you... and PKT2 right into them, 20%+ damage and most likely a kill depending of damage.

PK fire pivots are great too. mix up the opponent..

Keep with Ness! He's a badass

 

[PKSkyler]

PKT2 ws too predictable. try this.

Grab-up throw- PKT- Two things can happen- 1- they get hit... free damage...- 2 They airdodge, you lopp thunder back around to you... and PKT2 right into them, 20%+ damage and most likely a kill depending of damage.

3- they cancel out the thunder with an attack....when people have Ness experince they find that airdodging isnt the way to beat pkt, attacking it is. Of course then your pkt game gets better because you focus more on geetting tailwhips first.

 

[Uffe]

Shaky told me that if you're going to use PKT2, have your opponent in the air. This is actually the safest way in my opinion. You miss, whatever. Just fast fall (FF). I've been testing out PKT2 in the air and I usually try to fool my opponent by having them air dodge while I proceed to aim at them.

 

[Lizard]

In the air it great for PKT2, and i didn't think about the cancelling Skyler

 

[Jarrod159]

learn the double aeriel shuffle. staple for any great ness. also in first match i would have psi magneted the fireballs.

 

[Shaky]

Shaky told me that if you're going to use PKT2, have your opponent in the air. This is actually the safest way in my opinion. You miss, whatever. Just fast fall (FF). I've been testing out PKT2 in the air and I usually try to fool my opponent by having them air dodge while I proceed to aim at them.

Yeah, PKT2 is easier to hit with when the opponent is in the air (you don't necessarily have to be in the air too). Although there are certain situations when you can do it on a grounded opponent and remain unpunished, it it safer to do it when the opponent is in the air. So yeah do that and you will be fine.

Is Uffe becoming the official Ness rater or something?

 

[Excellence]

Not saying that Uffe isn't a great Ness, we've never played, but I'd reccomend Shaky for knowing his ****.

 

[Uffe]

Eh. I've actually been lacking in the Ness department as far as playing good goes. I'm trying to get better with some tougher opponents.

 

[Gindler]

From what I could see, your friend didn't use enough Fairs, Dairs, or Nairs. These are all great on stage aerials (the dair onstage isn't used enough)

Yeah, PKT2 is easier to hit with when the opponent is in the air (you don't necessarily have to be in the air too). Although there are certain situations when you can do it on a grounded opponent and remain unpunished, it it safer to do it when the opponent is in the air. So yeah do that and you will be fine.

Is Uffe becoming the official Ness rater or something?

It's safer to do when you're both in the air too. I just know you can go anywhere once in the air with it.....I've rarely hit people with PKT2 while i'm on the ground (sometimes after Dthrow if they airdodge immediately)

The main thing that I noticed was you getting punished for things that could have easily been avoided. First thing, you roll a lot, and that can easily mess you up. Becoming a habit is even worse, especially if you roll into powerful moves. When you started using PK Thunder, your PKT2s did become predictable. Spacing can improve, you got grabbed out of his shield a lot. Grabbing would have been better. I didn't see much PK Fire either, and that can help, but against someone that can reflect like Mario, don't use it too often. And like Uffe said, more neutrals and tilts. Your Ness is good, but he can still go for some improvement.

Yeah, Ness' roll isn't the best so I try no to do it Nairing out of shield is almost always a better option. I noticed alot of whiffed grabs too, you can try running past them and pivot grabbing, they usually sidestep expecting a dash grab at first but you can punish the sidestep that way (useful yoshi tactic)

 

[xoxokev]

am i the only one that noticed this is from 2 weeks ago?

 

[Uffe]

am i the only one that noticed this is from 2 weeks ago?

No. I just felt like responding because Shaky and Excellence responded.

 

[Shaky]

I just noticed it D:

 

[Eagleye893]

... I really don't want to give away any of my hidden ness secrets, but they aren't hidden at all so here you go
PSI MAGNET: i saw the stall but not the absorption from mario. psi magnet should be used mainly for absorbing things that CAN be absorbed. If you think that has too much lag, then here is a useful hint: when on the ground and immediately after absorbing, you can dodge/roll/jump out of the psi magnet
PKT/PKT2: never rely on it to kill. this should be one of the last moves to attempt for killing at higher percents. i know it does kill low, but nobody is going to run into you, especially in duels. Tailwhipping helps... I dont know much for regular PKT to help anyone out. practice on angling (not that you did bad with that
PK FIRE: needs more pk jump... and that mario could have destroyed you if he decided to use his cape. Use it when they least expect it.
PK FLASH: it's underrated because of the lag, but you can use it for edgeguarding, people in the air, etc. although i rarely use it because i never see a need for it in my games.
Aerials: ness is best used with the aerial game (according to everyone else, which i don't agree with in some ways), so try and use more of his aerial attacks.
Ground: the bat almost never should be charged, especially not in the middle of a heated battle. on the ground, ness is more needed to be defensive. his yoyos are awesome and my favorite now that i've incorporated his whole moveset; usmash and dsmash should be used if the enemy is in front of or behind you respectively, although they don't have the greatest range in the world. all his tilts are good, although his dtilt should be used a lot less often and only when the enemy is really close. his AAA combo is somewhat of an annoyance for me because i often get killed between the second and third hit.
Grabs: back for high percents, forward for getting the opponent away or off the edge (also my favorite of the throws), down for combos, up for annoying the enemy with flash and PKT. try and get in at least a few hits on the opponent before throwing, although don't overdo it.

.... I should write a guide or something for in-depth things, but I'm pretty busy as is.

PS: this post should be less for you because you have skill. just see my second post.

 

[Eagleye893]

After looking at all the videos, you are actually pretty good. the only thing is you leave yourself open a bit too much. try learning to spotdodge/airdodge/shield/anything in order to avoid attacks from destroying you. for ness, my strategy is more of a reaction to the opponent's attacks and their oppenings rather than offensive, but if you are more offensive than defensive, i'm not of much help here.

 

[Man of Popsicle]

Uh... more nair, sh aerials in general, more yo-yo, wait for the other player to approach and punish their misses... That's about all I got.