Ness' Contest History

Who is Ness?
Ness is the spunky young lad you lead across scorching deserts battling offensive piles of puke lead by a ragtag team of aliens bent on world domination. Yes, that is Ness.

Many may recognize him from his role in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee as the baseball bat wielding, psychic youngster. However, Ness was around long before his N64 debut on the Nintendo battlefields. And for all those who are thinking of the SNES classic "Earthbound", well...he was around well before then too. "Earthbound Zero", a NES game starring "Ninten" was arguably the first appearance of Ness. Sure, it wasn't the Ness we all know and love, but you do an image search for Ninten from Earthbound Zero and then you tell me that WASN'T the exact make and look for the Ness we all know, then you can prepare to have a bottle rocket shoved off your hindside. (That last sentence didn't sound quite as intimidating as once thought. In fact, ewwww......)

Back on the topic at hand, Ness is a teenage from Onett who embarks on a journey to all 8 "Your Sanctuary" locations in the hopes of taking down the all-powerful Giygas. What may sound like a typical, ho-hum, cliche RPG story is well....twisted. Along the way, there are no knights in shining armor, there are no dastardly and wicked villains that bring about a sense of hatred and the enemies and bosses along the way aren't the ones you will recall from any Final Fantasy game. In the place of these RPG-mainstay positions is a debt-ridden band on tour, a cult devoted to the color "blue" and an assortment of enemies ranging from a ruler-wielding hippie to a clumsy robot that relies on eating sandwiches for energy. Yes, this is DEFINENTLY NOT the type of RPG you are accustomed to. And it's because of this that Earthbound has a cult of followers and why Ness has had at least an inkling of success in the Summer Contest. Ness represents the crazy, wild game of Earthbound and while he has zero character development and can only express himself with a smile, that's quite enough to give him SOME success in the Summer Contest.

"All the info is there, except for the info that's isn't there." - Onett librarian

Ness's Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 2-4

Summer 2003 Contest - East Division - 12 Seed
 * Eastern Round 1 --- Lost to (5) Bowser, 24627 [24.93%] - 74164 [75.07%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 55th Place [14.94%]

Summer 2004 Contest - Midgar Division - 6 Seed
 * Midgar Round 1 --- Defeated (11) Jak, 40130 [55.08%] - 32733 [44.92%]
 * Midgar Quarterfinal --- Lost to (3) Auron, 28806 [34.96%] - 53602 [65.04%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 40th Place [19.14%]

Every dog has his day, and Ness finally had his in 2003 (not to say Ness is a canine...). After getting pounded into oblivion by 50 grand worth of votes against Bowser in 2002, Ness' sophomore campaign saw him face an easier challenge in PS2 platform hero, Jak. The match was very much in question due to Ness' smackdown from a year ago, but come gameday, the Earthbound franchise had finally earned it's coveted "first victory" in GameFAQs contest play. The ensuing celebration echoed from the town square of Onett, out to the graveyards of Threed and all the ways out to the Tenda tribe in Deep Darkness. With the party over, attention shifted towards a 2nd round match with Final Fantasy X badass, Auron and following that match, Earthbound was put down once again. Ness is the very definition of a cult character in this contest. He's not going to do anything but pick on the lowly scrubs of the contest and shine the shoes of the upper echelon. His Super Smash Bros. career has boosted his repuatation and if he continues getting more exposure in Nintendo's fighting blockbuster, then Ness' chances can only go up. As of now though, don't bank on Ness unless he's going up against some true fodder. Cult characters aren't successful in this arena.

Summer 2005 Contest - Mushroom Division - 4 Seed
 * Mushroom Round 1 --- Defeated (5) Carl Johnson, 54881 [55.14%] - 44644 [44.86%]
 * Mushroom Semifinal --- Lost to (1) Mario, 15696 [17.20%] - 75566 [82.80%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 47th Place [18.81%]

Ness may have been destined for little more than an SFF beating like few other at the hands of Mario (which likely proves that almost all of his strength comes from the SSB series), but step back for a moment.

Against CJ, even Lucid Faia (Lucid Faia : EarthBound :: futuresuperstar : Metal Gear Solid) felt that Ness stood no chance.

So what does Ness go out and do? He proves that CJ, star of the most popular GTA game of all time is little more than another Jak. Everyone knows him, but hardly anyone cared about him. Ness was the benefactor of this, and on he went to his second-ever victory in a contest after many a user felt that he'd never win one after 2003.

And with Mother 3 having recently been announced, Ness will clearly be a top tier character before long.

...

A guy can dream, alright? =p

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 5 - Fourth Group
 * Division 5 Round 1 --- 3rd place, 32413 [25.42%] - Liquid Snake, 35430 [27.787%] - Alucard, 35427 [27.785%] - Zidane Tribal, 24234 [19.01%]

Prior to the contest, Ness was placed in one of the toughest fourpacks to predict, but it seemed that most people felt he would place second behind Alucard. For some reason, the idea was that being a Smash Brothers character grouped in with three PSX characters would help him out. This time, it turned out that SSB wasn't enough. He didn't even come close to competing for second place, showing that he may be a low midcarder, but he's not quite ready to beat some of the more well-known names out there. Perhaps those wins over Jak and CJ aren't worth as much as we thought, and once again, people have put too much stock into Super Smash Brothers. But with the very real possibility that Ness won't be in Brawl, he may have reached his peak.