Ness (EarthBound/Mother)

Ness (Nesu) is the silent main protagonist of the Nintendo video game EarthBound (MOTHER 2 in Japan), and is analogous to Ninten and Lucas in their respective games. He is the older brother of Tracy, and the son of his unnamed mother and unnamed (and more notably, unseen) father. He greatly enjoys baseball; not only are most of his weapons various types of baseball bats, but he can also equip several baseball caps. In the EarthBound Player's Guide, he is said to wear a special baseball cap with his favorite team's logo on the front. He is also a guest character in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He is courageous, kind and helpful, such as being close with his family, helping his friends out, saving innocents, and being brave in a danger of adventure.
 * 2) He is one of the most powerful kids in video game history, with psychic moves such as PK Flash and PK Thunder, and is the most strongest member of his team in Earthbound.
 * 3) He is considerably easy to use and hard to beat in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * 4) * He has many moves in his arsenal, and considering he’s become a better fighter since Smash 64, and with all the buffs he got up to Ultimate, he’s become a good average fighter.
 * 5) He utilized his powers to defeat an alien invasion by the forces of Giygas, with his most powerful being PK Starstorm, which is deadly against any foes.
 * 6) He bravely ventured out of his home to fulfill his destiny after getting psychic powers from the meteor, and he succeeded, with him returning safely home afterwards, having a happy reunion with his family.
 * 7) He has a great teamwork with Paula, Jeff and Poo, and he cares about them very much.
 * 8) His iconic "Oykay!" catchphrase.
 * 9) The iconic moment in the game where Ness travels to Magicant and meets his younger self.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) If you do this in Earthbound, then he eats hamburgers out of trash cans, which is rather gross. Thankfully, there are more healthier ways to get hamburgers in the game, like buying them at the Burger shop.
 * 2) He appears in the Super Smash Bros. series, as said before, but he didn't have a good start in the game.
 * 3) * His PK Flash and PK Thunder moves leave him vulnerable.
 * 4) * His PK Fire move is annoying. The same goes for his line, which is atrocious to listen to. To make matters worse, most people in Online Gameplay spam his PK Fire, which lead to him gaining a hatebase.
 * 5) *To add more insult to injury, most of his special moves were actually never his in the original EarthBound. But although to be fair, Smash required a lot of innovation for all the characters, especially Captain Falcon who has a moveset that was completely made up for him, so this is justifiable.
 * 6) * Has a Baseball Bat attack for his forward smash, but while it is strong it leaves him vulnerable.
 * 7) Ness's [North American artwork] for Earthbound is bad. What happened to his original Japanese artwork? On top of that, it looks like a rejected design for Ninten.
 * 8) In spite of Ness being the game's protagonist, most of his moves are simply used for healing and defense, like PSI Shield and Lifeup, instead of having more Offensive attacks.

Trivia

 * Ness is the only main protagonist in the Mother series to not normally have the run ability. He can temporarily run with the aid of a Skip Sandwich or Skip Sandwich DX, though.
 * Ness was originally planned to be replaced by Lucas as the character representative of the Mother series in Super Smash Bros. Melee; however, Ness reprised his role due to the original cancellation of EarthBound 64.
 * In an early video of EarthBound 64, footage was shown of what appears to be Ness riding a Pork Bean and walking in the forest. It is speculated by fans that he would have been playable, as a 3D model of Onett was also shown.
 * Ness was the first Mother character to have his game released outside of Japan.
 * In the Japanese version of EarthBound, Ness enters Magicant completely naked instead of dressed in his pajamas in the localization. Nudity is generally acceptable in Japanese culture, whereas it is considered sexually explicit in the West, requiring it to be changed during localization.
 * Ness's name may be due to the fact that it is a homophone of NES and an anagram of SNES, similarly to how Ninten's name may be based on Nintendo.
 * A younger version of Ness appears in Magicant, saying "It's me… I'm you when you were younger. Hey, let's play ball. Do you prefer reading comics or playing games? What? You're busy?…"
 * This younger version's sprite is used for one of the NPCs in Threed.
 * Ness is the only main protagonist to have a weapon for his first fight, since his mom tells him to get the Cracked bat from Tracy's room.
 * In the commercial for EarthBound, Ness was named "NessA" for unknown reasons.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Ness's Final Smash is PK Starstorm despite the fact that he never actually uses or even learns the move in EarthBound. However, it is stated in a trophy that, "Poo taught Ness the secret of the attack for use in Super Smash Bros. Brawl".
 * In Super Mario Maker, there is a Ness costume that can be unlocked by completing 100 Mario Challenge on Normal setting or higher, or by scanning a Ness Amiibo. By pressing up on the D-Pad, the jingle for learning a new technique will play.
 * Two Copy abilities in the Kirby series are both references to Ness: Yo-Yo and ESP. The former is implied while the latter alludes to him in the Copy Ability's description.