Ice Climbers

The first player controls Popo, a boy wearing a blue Eskimo parka, while the second player controls Nana, a girl wearing a pink Eskimo parka. The only tool they carry is a wooden mallet to carve openings in the ice above and to club enemies. Each mountain consists of eight levels of colorful ice and a bonus stage. Standard, dull ice blocks pose no threat other than an easily disposed of barrier. Ice blocks that appear more square and detailed are indestructible forcing the player to take another path. Darker ice with diagonal lines act as a conveyor belt sliding the Eskimo either to the left or right. Finally, many mountains include cloud-shaped, moving platforms as an additional hurdle. The bonus stage takes place at the peak. With a time limit of 40 seconds and no enemies, the Ice Climbers often face trickier jumps and multiple moving platforms. It is also the only place they can take back their stolen vegetables, most notably eggplants. Collecting just one piece of corn from the fifth bonus stage is the only way to gain an extra life. At the top of the peak, the condor flies overhead. Grabbing its talons before time runs out gives the player a large bonus.

Enemies encounter on their way up the mountains include the Topi, Nitpicker, and polar bear. Toppies come in two varieties: the seal featured in the Japanese version and the small yeti seen in western copies. While early U.S. releases featured the seal design, they were redone as a more imaginary creature over concerns of animal cruelty (seal clubbing). Toppies are the least threatening of the Ice Climbers' adversaries. Their aim is to keep the duo from reaching further up the peak by filling in gaps in the ice. To do this, a Topi scouts out a place the player has carved through the floor, runs back to its cave, and reemerges pushing an icicle to fill in two blocks. This process repeats till no more openings on their ice level exist. After a few successful mountains climbed, their speed increases making contact with one all the more likely. The Nitpicker is a small, mountain-dwelling bird that swoops down from icy caves on the edges. Unlike the Topi which is confined to one floor of the mountain, Nitpickers can cross over multiple ice layers. Taking them into account along with moving platforms and sliding ice, timing jumps can be more difficult. The final enemy is the bipedal polar bear. This enemy, wearing sunglasses and pink shorts, appears on screen only when Popo and Nana take too long to advance. Pounding the ice, the polar bear forces the screen to move up. If an Eskimo is forced off the screen, the player loses a life. Other obstacles include deadly falling icicles. These can form on the bottom of any type of ice or platform. The arcade game Vs. Ice Climber includes a purple bee with a spear as a rare fourth enemy.

The game can be played in one or two player mode. The latter places Popo and Nana against each other in a race to the summit. Players can cooperate together on the way up, but during the bonus round they compete for the top.

Development staff

NES credits

• Executive Producer: Hiroshi Yamauchi
• Producer: Shigeru Miyamoto
• Director: Kenji Miki
• Character Design: Tadashi Sugiyama
• Music: Akito Nakatsuka

e-Reader and GBA credits

• Executive Producer: Satoru Iwata
• Producer: Satoshi Yamoto
• Director: Kenji Miki
• Main Program: Tomohiro Kawase, Hideaki Shimizu
• Sound Composition: Akito Nakatsuka
• Supervisor: Tadashi Sugiyama
• Product Debug & Testing Unit: Super Mario Club

Ice Climber was the first video game programmed by Kazuaki Morita. He considered the game his "warm-up" on the NES before his work as a main programmer on Super Mario Bros. Morita was later credited with central programming roles in numerous games including the Super Mario Bros. series, The Legend of Zelda series, and Star Fox 64.

Releases

Ice Climber, a launch title for the NES in the United States, has been released numerous times. Note that Vs. Ice Climber is not a true port, since it includes elements not found in the original game, such as a stage select menu, blizzard and wind effects, new enemies, and bonus multiplier items. For the release on the PC-8801, the game changes to a different and more limited color palette along with a reworked user interface. Including the releases listed below, the entire NES game is found within the 2001 Nintendo 64 release of Animal Forest and the 2002 GameCube release of Animal Crossing.

Cameo appearances

Super Smash Bros. series

The Ice Climbers, voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, appear as playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Their symbol is an eggplant, the first vegetable rescued from the original game. Although they are collectively the same fighter, players only control Popo while Nana mimics his every move. However, if Popo and Nana are separated, Nana will do everything she can to come back to Popo, hitting characters in front of her or throwing them. Changing the fighters' colors can allow one to control Nana with Popo following.

In Melee, polar bears and Toppies appear in Adventure Mode. Predictably, the Japanese version contains the seal Topi while western versions has the yeti. Their stage is "Icicle Mountain," a level partially based on the mountains from Ice Climber. The target test stage is a direct, 2.5D representation of NES-style graphics.

In Brawl, the Ice Climbers return with a Final Smash called "Iceberg." When used, Popo and Nana high five each other causing a huge iceberg to rise from center stage. Taking up most of the level, the iceberg freezes opponents touching it. Their stage is "The Summit," a recreation of the bonus level mountain peak. Enemies from the NES title appearing in Brawl include the polar bear and condor. Along with these new Ice Climber elements, a demo of the original 1985 game appears along with other Virtual Console titles as apart of the "Masterpieces" collection.

WarioWare series

• WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$: One of 9-Volt's classic Nintendo microgames is based on Ice Climber. It consists of Popo grabbing the condor's feet.
• WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$: This cameo is the same as the cameo in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$.
• WarioWare: Twisted!: One of 9-Volt and 18-Volt's classic Nintendo-styled microgames is based on Ice Climber. The player smashes enemies with a hammer.
• WarioWare: Touched!: One of 9-Volt and 18-Volt's Nintendo microgames is named "8-bit-hero". Players touch the pixel that differs from a 6x7 "pixel checkerboard" in the top image. On third difficulty, the sprite is Popo.

Other games

• Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land & Kirby Air Ride: When Kirby gets the Freeze ability, he dons Popo's parka in the same manner it is worn in the Super Smash Bros. series.
• Tetris DS: An Ice Climber backdrop makes an appearance among other classic Nintendo games. Interestingly, it keeps the Topi seals, even for the American release.
• Daigasso! Band Brothers: The bonus stage theme is featured in this DJ music game for the Nintendo DS.

References

External links