Ness

Ness (ネス Nesu) is a psychic adolescent who is the protagonist of the 1994 SNES video game EarthBound.

When a meteor crashes in the outskirts of his hometown Onett, Ness investigates the debris and finds a bug named Buzz Buzz, who sends Ness on a globe-trekking journey to recruit three friends into the "Chosen Four" and save the world from Giygas, an "embodiment of evil" that exists outside of spacetime.

Appearance
Ness is a short, black-haired boy with white skin, black bead eyes, and no eyebrows.

While it is up to the player to imagine Ness's fashion taste because of various items that he can equip in-game, from a hard hat to a star pendant, Ness's typical attire consists of a red baseball cap with a blue brim and a white button, a yellow and blue-striped shirt, a tan backpack with brown shoulder straps and silver buckles, jorts, white socks, and red sneakers with white laces and heels. Three tufts of black hair stick out from Ness's cap and are swept to his right on his forehead.

Ness is also often portrayed with a wooden bat that reads "ONETT" in vertical lettering on the bat.

EarthBound
Ness awakes from a sound sleep by a crashed meteorite north of his house in Onett. His mother and sister are agitated, but Ness leaves to find out what happened. After meeting up with Liar X. Agerate and Porky Minch, he returns home and tries to get back to sleep. Soon thereafter, Pokey arrives and demands that Ness help him look for his little brother, who has gone missing during the calamity surrounding the impact.

After a pep-talk from his mother, Ness, Porky and King return to the hillside, where they find Picky (who reveals it was Porky who actually ran away). They also encounter Buzz Buzz, an insectoid warrior who has returned from the future to warn Ness of the threat that Giygas poses to the universe. It is from Buzz Buzz that Ness learns of the prophecy surrounding his future; that he, two other boys, and one girl will stand against Giygas and save the universe from total annihilation.

Vested with this knowledge, Ness escorts Porky and Picky home before launching his quest, but is assaulted by a Starman Jr. The alien confirms the prophecy before attacking the group, but Buzz Buzz and Ness subdue it. Upon arriving at Pokey's house, Lardna Minch unceremoniously kills Buzz Buzz for his resemblance to a dung beetle. Before expiring, Buzz Buzz passes the Sound Stone to Ness, and starts him on his journey to save the world.

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary
Ness arrived at the Ruined Zoo and saved Lucas from the King Statue with his psychic powers. He and Lucas subsequently defeated Porky Minch in an electromechanical spider, but found Wario plotting to capture them with a Dark Cannon. Ness evaded every shot Wario fired, but pushed his blond-haired companion out of the way and became a trophy after Wario pivoted his Dark Cannon towards Lucas.

King Dedede eventually stole the Ness trophy from Wario and attached a trophy revival brooch to his chest.

After Tabuu decimated all surviving fighters with Off Waves, Ness's brooch activated, and he promptly returned to being and found himself in Subspace. He took a similar brooch off Luigi's nose and deduced that King Dedede had warranted their revival, and they activate King Dedede's trophy in turn. Ness eventually joined Luigi and King Dedede in revitalizing the trophies of all other fighters that Tabuu turned into trophies and defeating Tabuu himself.

Trivia

 * Ness is the only main protagonist in the Mother series who is unable to run normally. He can temporarily run with a speed boost from a Skip Sandwich or Skip Sandwich DX, however.
 * Ness is analogous to Ninten and Lucas in their respective games.
 * 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.
 * Using the Don't Care naming option, possible names for Ness are "Ness", "Alec", "Roger", "Will", "Brian", "Tyler", and "Lane".
 * 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.
 * When Ness enters Magicant in the Japanese version of EarthBound — MOTHER 2 — he appears naked (sprite seen above) instead of appearing in his pajamas. This is explained by nudity being a sign of purity in Japanese culture.
 * Ness's name is likely a homophone of NES and an anagram of SNES, two Nintendo consoles that were out at the time.
 * Ness strangely resembles Ninten, the main character from MOTHER, the NES game immediately preceding EarthBound.
 * EarthBound fans have even theorized that Ness is Ninten's son.