Ness is the young hero of EarthBound, a role-playing game first released in Japan in 1994, and he later became a long-running playable fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series. Short character voice clips from those games have long circulated as reaction sounds on soundboards, forums and video edits, where a single expressive cry can carry a joke without dialogue. The Ness scream endures because it is brief, instantly cartoonish and easy to recognise, making it a handy shorthand for panic, failure and surprise.