Ness, IMO, has problems with characters who have a better neutral/camping ability than him, can gimp him, and outprioritize him whether through disjoints or speed. This is your Robins, your Sheiks, and your Foxes. Characters who can camp him easily but are not good close range don't really count. Ness really relies on reads which I'm luckily godlike at. But sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm losing because I'm playing bad. Sheiks and Robins in particular I just despise. Secondaries that I've tried are Shulk, DK, Pikachu, Duck Hunt, and Fox. Am I even on the right track? What are all of Ness's bad matchups?
Ness has no need for a secondary. Ness has only three, or maybe four bad matchups. Sonic, Rosalina, Sheik, and Diddy. He doesn't really lose to anyone else. At this stage in the metagame anyways.
Ness beats Robin because he has to be so careful with his thunder and arcfire. Robin relies on both of those specials heavily, and forcing him to use them sparingly because of the magnet hurts Robin a hell of a lot. While Ness usually has trouble with large disjointed aerials, Robin's air speed is so poor that he can't space or wall with them in a threatening way. Robin is a very mediocre character, adn I actually think that Ness beats Robin. Only slightly though.
Ness also doesn't have trouble with Fox. Fox's range is very short, and he can have trouble getting past our sh fair. He also dies incredibly early to our bthrow because of his light weight and fast fall speed. We can interrupt both his side b and up b with pk thunder when he's recovering as well. Now Fox has other advantages that help him significantly in this matchup, but this matchup is quite firmly even.
Ness loses to Sonic, Sheik, Rosalina, and maybe Diddy for a variety of reasons. Which one is the worst will probably come down to your playstyle of Ness. Different characters handle different types of Ness players to varying degrees. However these three characters do have a solid advantage against Ness (I think the Diddy matchup is even). Despite the fact that he loses to these characters, you should never lose to a Sonic, Sheik, or Rosalina player who's worse than you. The matchups are bad for us, but they're perfectly doable and if you are a better you won't have difficulty winning. Playing against players on the same level, or who are better than you, you will have a lot of difficulty against these three characters. If you sit down and learn these matchups, you'll start to become confident in them. I actually enjoy seeing Rosalinas in bracket. I have become quite adept at the matchup, and I have a lot of confidence in it. Ditto for Sheik. I'm not as confident against Sonic but I'm getting there.
There is no need for a secondary. Ness is a great character and has no awful matchups. A couple of bad ones, but none are significant disadvantages for us. I have only used Ness in tournament thus far, and plan on continuing to do so. I've never felt that I was held back or limited by picking Ness in a match. So if you want to solo main Ness, have no fear!
If you do wanna pick up a secondary though, pick a character that does well against Sonic, Sheik, and Rosalina. Those are Ness's problematic matchups. Not very many characters do well against all three of those characters. But find a secondary that has a matchup you prefer for those characters.
