Why does Ness sometimes whiff hitting himself with PK Thunder 2?

[CainTheLongshot]

I've searched all over online and couldn't find anyone talking about this.

I'm wondering why sometimes when you're standing on stage as Ness and try to hit yourself with PK Thunder, that instead of sending you flying when it hits you, aka PKT2, sometimes you just sort of pop up into the air stunned for a second instead. The best I could find online was "When PK Thunder 2 is aimed downwards towards the ground, Ness or Lucas will enter a lying position, facing downwards. " But it seems to be very inconsistent. Sometimes you feel like you're sure that you hit yourself on one side only to fly the other way, or just to whiff and fall over.

Had this happen to me 3 times in a row in one match in a tournament today when could have gotten KOs, was super frustrating. Normally it happens infrequently enough that I just shrug it off, but I guess it's time for me to learn how to avoid doing this.

 

[MG_3989]

You have a video?

 

[Uffe]

It's basically a wallbounce into the ground. Once you do this, you can use PK Thunder again and go for another PK Thunder 2. I feel like it's a useless thing they've added for Ness, but I have seen it mindgame someone and kill them.

 

[Olympia]

I think in Smash Ultimate you have to be more careful when aiming the PK Thunder at yourself.
It usually happens to me when I try hitting myself with the PK Thunder from a weird angle (it mostly happens to me when I hit myself from upper right/upper left angles).
It's just something you gotta adapt to.

 

[Mr Saturn Fanboy]

I find it to be rather helpful at times. Can really save you if you mis-input. Also good for tricking opponents because the bounce launches you up just enough to dodge many attacks. Not exactly un-punishable, but its definately preferrable (IMO) to either being stuck in the thunder channeling animation, or the endlag when the thunder is destroyed.

However, several times I've tried to do one, and instead it sends me flying off the stage in a rocket. Be Careful!

 

[tehflash]

I've seen high level Ness players use this to their advantage too since you can follow up immediately after with another up B, see 2:14 in this BestNess game:

In this case he missed trying to do a second PK Thunder 2 but you get the idea.

Incidentally you can use this same ability on the bottom or sides of stages to extend recovery or save yourself from a bad recovery. Jtails talks about it in his tutorial video of Ness:

 

[EGsmash]

I've seen high level Ness players use this to their advantage too since you can follow up immediately after with another up B, see 2:14 in this BestNess game:

Oh way cool! I knew you could cancel freefall by bouncing off the stage wall with a second PKT once, but I didn't know it worked the same for floor bounces!