I remember the day I was reading Dojo and they announced Lucas in Brawl. The second I heard no mention of Ness, I decided that I would hate Lucas and vow not the use him at all. Then some time later, thankfully, a video was leaked proving that Ness was in Brawl. Finally, there was some rock solid evidence that Ness was in Brawl and I no longer had hatred towards Lucas.

Some time later, Brawl came out. Ness was my favorite character back in the N64 game, so I figured he'd be a fun character to use in Brawl, but Lucas also looked pretty cool. His PK thunder didn't create a `wall', but I liked how his PK Thunder could get several hits on your foes. I was having a tough time choosing which of the Mother kids I'd be playing as more. I shifted around from Lucas and Ness a lot, so I had a good feel for the two. Who did I decide on? I'll reveal that a little later. From here on, I'll be comparing both the characters.

Now, firstly, I want to talk about Lucas, as he's new to the game. Lucas has a nice variety of moves. His standard A attack is decent, but I never find myself using it. For close range combat, a sufficient move for racking up damage, as with Ness, is the down tilt. The low kick that Lucas springs out when you execute the move is fast. The great thing is, is that you can follow it up with another immediately after. Great for spamming close range, but I don't recommend spamming too much as it does get annoying after a while. His forward tilt is also nice to use every now and then for its great knock back, range and damage. Lastly, my favorite tilt is his up tilt. It's a must for juggling. A nice, quick combo is grabbing someone, throwing them down and then right, executing an up tilt. This works with the up throw as well. Once they get around the 40 percent range, you won't be able to pull this off. Now, Lucas has decent grab, but he rope snake has too much lag if it misses.
A solution to this is pivot grabbing, done by running forward and then changing directions and grabbing, but running into an opponent is never a good idea. Lastly, his aerials. Lucas has some great aerials, such as his up air and his forward air, but his best aerial would be his neutral. This energy based mid-air cartwheel is great for using when near an opponent. Use it well. His down air is good, but I don't like the delay. Use it against recovering foes, if the last hit hits, it will spike! I'm not going to cover Lucas' smashes much, but two, which are great, are his up smash and forward smash. The up smash is slow but deadly, while the forward smash is quick and…deadly. An advance technique I'd like to mention is the Zap Jump. This is done by jumping, then jumping again and using your PK fire at the exact same time. It is best to customize your button config to use this. If done correctly, Lucas will fly high into the air!

Ness, oh Ness. I want to say that Ness, although not as good as he was in the N64 game or Melee, is still a great character. His PK fire is a move you will have you learn to use all over again. Instead of going straight, it goes at a much lower angle and does not go nearly as far. Use it against rolling opponents and recovering opponents. Once someone is in your PK fire, a great follow up is his neutral air, a down tilt spam (similar to the one Lucas has), or a nice hit from your home run bat, which is your forward smash. Be warned though, Ness' bat has gotten heavier, it seems it's much slower in this game. Now, none of his other smashes are great, but they are still good. They're all similar; he throws his yo-yo around in whichever direction you smashed in.

The best of his smashes is easily his up smash. It has decent knock back, range and damage. A useful thing to do is dash into an up smash. His down smash comes in very handy at times, so it is something you should master if you wish to main Ness. Other than that, Ness isn't very complicated. Learn to use your up smash and down smash well, use PK fire often, and I almost forgot, use your aerials a LOT. Besides having a deadly back air (it spikes!), Ness has some of the best aerials in the game. My favourite is a neutral aerial which will send your opponent flying forward, then a double jump, followed by a fast fall and down air. If done above the stage, your opponent will be spiked by your down air and fall into oblivion. I may have missed a few things, but this is a major chunk of them.

Now, who did I choose? I used Lucas for quite a while, but in the end, I decided on Ness. Ness is much more of a combo character than Lucas, so I felt at home with him, along with the fact I mained him in the first Smash title. But, who do I main? Recently, I've decided I like Marth. With a great forward air, decent special moves and a nice recovery, I found Marth to be a great character to use.

I'd say it's mediocre writing, and the ending is just completely useless. The article was supposed to differentiate Ness and Lucas and you mention Marth? Hmm...

As far as who is better, the article really offers little information about what makes one better than the other; it's more of a descriptive piece. It would've been much better if you'd chosen a position, either Ness or Lucas, and went with what made him better than his counterpart. You could still mention shortcomings, or advantages the other way around, but it would've been a more effective article if you'd taken a stance. Floundering between two positions makes you seem unsure of which you prefer, and obviously those reading the article were hoping for some direction as to which of the two was better.

I would say based sheerly on the massive power of Lucas' upward smash, he gets the edge. His PK Freeze also offers an opportunity to get multiple hits in if you can catch up to them while they're frozen. His grab makes him weaker in the throw department, but throwing is less of an impact in Brawl as it was in Melee, and certainly less important than it was in the original N64 Smash. Ness' yo-yo seems a bit slower than in past versions, and you mentioned his bat is also a bit slower. Overall, Lucas seems more effective, and his PK Fire has a fairly high priority over most other attacks and releases quickly.

Ness is the one with more combo orientated moves....youtube some Ness combos. Ness's PK Fire is easily a great combo starter. From that, you can go into a downthrow or an up throw. From THAT, you can go into a forward air or a back air. Finally, a PK Flash or Thunder

I'd like to disagree. He's not in fact 'quicker'. He may run faster, but all his attacks, aside from his forward smash have much more lag after being used and have much longer animations. A failed up smash or a down smash can leave you open for some major punishment.