LogFAQs > #967406383

Ness - Earthbound

See what I said about Lucas, but replace being lonely crybaby child with cool hat. Ness is just a good ol slice of picturesque childhood through the lens of Americana; hes the nostalgic wistfulness of growing up put into the form of an RPG character whose best trait is propping up others and Makin Friends. I adore the idea of him finding strength within himself via Magicant and that directly correlating to a huge stat increase to make him an incredible tank. Mother does a great job in general at making its characters reflective of their core values as RPG characters, Ness is no exception.

Best Smash Appearance: 64 - I think that the novelty of WOAH ITS NESS FROM WHAT NOW was probably his best role. Ness outright didnt have a fully functional kit until Smash 4, and he really only stuck the landing with it in Ultimate. And that role is usually boiled down to people cursing the name of PK Fire! I love the effects used on Ness moves, I hate the application of PK Flash not being a weird status move with a chance to do massive knockback, like thats just not the move at all. Ness is too nice of a kid to be as annoying as he is to fight, and while I do generally like his air game, I feel the way he uses it is pretty lame. Add in that hes not reflective of his character at all and yeah, the more I think about it, the more I like his Smash 64 appearance. Hes just a kid from nowhere smacking you with baseball bats and having weird, unexpected moves with Smash 64s incredibly punchy sound design. Its humble and weird and unexpected, and is the most Earthbound hes really ever been. Remake him. D

Sephiroth - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

One of the best Smash Bros designs ever put out. This really feels like the coolest version of Sephiroth, and they absolutely nail the guys implementation. Rarely does Sephiroth feel like hes a constant threat when hes playable, often just being wow long sword thats lame. Smash Bros takes the basic idea of that and makes it into Sephiroths entire kit. Sephiroth is huge. he WILL hurt you, you WILL come to him because he can WALK to you and make your death effortless, and hes scary. Theres this genuine sense of menace when you approach Sephiroth, as his effective range is just so huge and his moves so versatile that if he picks the right callout, you will lose. Yet its so neatly balanced by the oomph he puts into each swing - everything that could be considered a killing blow has this palpable sense of delay and impact that feels incredible to hit with. Anything thats instant is him toying with you, snaps of power, light swings of the sword, spreading the worlds thinnest laser to haunt you, repelling your pitiful efforts with a barrier. Sephiroth simultaneously nails how ethereal and untouchable his character is with the power and menace that his presence in FFVII gives off, AND some Advent Children lip service without making that rushdown style his entire identity. Little things like his One Winged form serving as a mid-battle phase shift that works a lot better here than it does on Joker, or the way the screen dims when Gigaflare is fully charged just make him a truly special encounter. If you told someone who had no idea who Sephi was this is the villain of video games, this portrayal would make em believe it. A+

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Dissidia NT

It really is slim pickings, huh? World of Final Fantasy is admittedly pretty funny, having the pomp and circumstance of his intimidating summon and then cute little boy is there, but I am somewhat of a fan of whats done to him in NT. Sephiroth operates best in his mid range where he can lash you with his sword, and his whole moveset is designed around pressuring the opponent into that ideal range, hunting them down from afar with Black Materia so that they have to chase after them. Its not nearly as effective as Smash, but its functional and he has good voice lines, so thats nice.

Waluigi - Mario Superstar Baseball

Oh man I am THRILLED I get to talk about the Superstar Baseball meta. Okay, so Waluigi is propped up as the premiere pitcher in the game, like his pitching stat is as close to max as you can get. For a long time, the guy was seen as invaluable; one team has Boo for a pitcher, the other team has Waluigi. However, it was discovered that Waluigi actually pitches faster than most on average, giving him a great fastball, but meaning that he has less time to play with his amazing curveball. Diddy and Dixie were revealed to have an equal curve stat, but much gentler pitching arms, completely knocking Waluigi - whose only niche was pitching as his batting was terrible - out of the meta. BUT THEN, people started experimenting with Waluigis bat. Now, at a starting level, Waluigi is the worst slugger in the game, his power actually bottoming out to a score of 1/100 if you have him charge his swing and aim for the fences (which is amazing flavor - Waluigi is doomed to fail if hes actually trying). His singles slap hit was thought to be junk, HOWEVER, it was discovered that if he pulls the ball, he can land it in no mans land fairly consistently. Additionally, Waluigi is very tall and has the Super Jump ability, AND he has chemistry with Wario, one of the premiere 2nd Basemen in the game, giving them a boost when they throw the ball to each other or if one is on base and the others up to bat. This revolutionized Waluigi, making him a premium 1st Baseman who isnt even used for his best qualities, because what limited support options he offers are just good enough and help take Wario from a purely defensive player to a home run threat. Now instead of being Boos rival in pitching, he often is paired WITH Boo as a way of giving Wario a double chemistry boost to make him a Home Run threat. Waluigi failed at all he was good at, and somehow people stuck with him and found him a niche. And that is the most Waluigi thing I could possibly imagine.

(The netplay scene for Superstar Baseball is actually pretty rad, look up Project Rio if you want to play a 2005 Gamecube Mario Sports game with better online than Nintendos offering with its current titles. By far my favorite Mario spin-off title.)