the idea of changing ness's look aint as farfetched, I mean look at fox and pit, Uber look change right there, what u said about mario wario and luigi, well take notice that mario is nintendos #1 franchise, changing his look will probably provoque a worldwide mob of angry videogame players, now ness, sure his series is fun, but not as popular as mario, why not chnage his look a bit? the changes may actually make him more popular, making him seem more human like would actually benefit him...
I believe (If I remember correclty) that hiddentiger had an uber pwnage art of ness, with him looking more anime-ish, older and far more awesome... ill try to find the pic...
BTW: Claus FTW!...
EDIT: Deviantart FTW!: