Ice Climber Review

Tonight we'll be taking a look back at a game that many people had long forgotten prior to 2001 when the Ice Climbers, Popo and Nana, were thrown into Super Smash Brothers Melee. That game's name is Ice Climber!

Ice Climber is an arcade style vertical platformer that was developed by Nintendo and released on January 30th, 1985. The game was one of the launch titles of the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States. The game can be played by either one or two players and the objective of the game is to scale 32 frozen mountains while reclaiming stolen vegetables from a condor. 

In order to scal a mountain you'll need to make use of the Ice Climbers hammers. When playing solo you will control Popo and when playing two player, the second player will control Nana. Both characters play the same. If you jump and hit a block from underneath, you'll knock it out.

Once you scale the 9th level of each mountain you will be thrust into a bonus stage where you collect eggplants or other vegetables to nab bonus points.

There are a few types of ice blocks that the climbers will need to get around. The first is just a basic ice block that poses no threats and the climbers hold plenty of traction on them. The next is a square block of ice that the climbers cannot break through, so they need to go around them. The third and most challenging type is the hatching ice block which acts like a conveyor belt. Also standing in the way of the Ice Climbers are several enemies. The Topi will push out an ice block and fill a hole that the Ice Climbers make with their hammer.

The Topi

The next enemy is not confined to the floor of the mountain levels. It is a small mountain dwelling bird called the Nitpicker. This bird will swoop from side to side and travel between the levels of the mountain.

The Nitpicker

The last enemy, besides the condor, is the White Bear. This enemy appears only when the player takes too long to advance. Once he appears he will occasionally jump, causing an earthquake that ends with the screen moving up (part of the mountain crumbling?). If the Ice Climbers are too low and are dropped off screen, they die. 

The White Bear wears both sunglasses and a pink bathing suit...

I have had a decent amount of fun with this game. It is certainly far better to play this game with a friend in my opinion, but the single player still offers a good amount of arcade style fun. The biggest complaint I have with this game is the jump itself. In a game where you rely on jumping an incredible amount I often found myself frustrated as I put do the proper thing to jump and move to the right or left, but sometimes just wind up jumping straight up into the air. This hasn't resulted in many deaths for me, but it has been simply frustrating. The soundtrack isn't anything special, but you will get it stuck in your head as you hear the same music throughout the game. Graphics wise, the game is actually pretty impressive. Seriously, keep in mind when looking at the game that this was an NES launch title. Given that, the game actually looks pretty good!

Overall I'd give Ice Climber a 7 out of 10. Playing with 2 people is a ton of fun and the game is actually a very good arcade style vertical platformer. For a launch title, the game is actually quite visually appealing and even features a polar bear wearing sunglasses to add in some visual humor. The biggest downside to this game in my opinion is the occasional issue with the jumping and a soundtrack that just keeps on repeating over... and over.... and over...

Final verdict: 7 out of 10. Ice Climber is a fun 2 player game that was one of the first games on the NES and one that still can be quite the challenge to this day!

As always thank you for reading. Remember my ratings are by no means fact, but rather my opinion on the games I blog about. My next blog is going to actually be a blog about a Majora's Mask soundtrack remix that I have not been able to put down for over 2 years! More on that later though!