Ice Climber
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| Ice Climber | |
| Developer | Nintendo R&D1 |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| System | Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade, e-Reader, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console (Wii, 3DS, Wii U) |
| Release Date | Nintendo Entertainment System JP October 30, 1985 US October 1985 EU September 1, 1986 JP November 18, 1988 (FDS) Arcade US 1988< br />e-Reader US November 12, 2002 Game Boy Advance JP February 14, 2004 US June 2, 2004 EU July 9, 2004 Wii Virtual Console JP January 16, 2007 US February 12, 2007 EU March 16, 2007 3DS Virtual Console August 31, 2011 (Ambassador) JP July 4, 2012 US January 31, 2013 EU May 2, 2013 Wii U Virtual Console US April 26, 2013 EU/AU April 27, 2013 |
| Rating | ESRB: E |
Ice Climber is a platforming game for the NES that stars a pair of heroes in parkas within an arctic setting. Despite its obscurity, the game later received more exposure due to the game's heroes appearing in several of the Super Smash Bros. games.
Story
All of the village's vegetables have been stolen by a giant condor. It's up to Popo and Nana to get them back.
Gameplay
The goal of Ice Climbers is to get to the top of the mountain. To get to the top, the player has to chip their way through the ice, defeat enemies, and avoid deadly icicles. After the first eight stories of the mountain, the player comes to a bonus area. They then have 40 seconds to grab as many vegetables as they can and try to defeat the condor. After completing a mountain, the player moves on to a new one.
The enemies include polar bears, Nitpickers, and Topis. In the Japanese version of the game, the Topis were seals, but were changed in the American version of the game due to concerns about animal cruelty, specifically seal clubbing.
In two player mode, both players try to advance up the mountain. For most of the level, players may cooperate to get up the mountain. However, once they get to the bonus area, the players must compete for vegetables and to reach the condor.
Legacy
Though Ice Climbers never had a sequel, they have appeared in various Nintendo games. Some of 9-Volt's microgames in the WarioWare series are based on Ice Clmber or feature Popo and Nana. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Popo and Nana are playable characters. Tetris DS and Daigasso! Band Brothers also feature references to Ice Climber, and it's one of the games featured in NES Remix.
The game was also the first game programmed by Kazuaki Morita. He considered the game a "warm up" before working on Super Mario Bros.
Ports and Remakes
- In 1988, Nintendo released an arcade version of Ice Climber as part of the Vs. series.
- Nintendo allowed Hudson Soft to port Ice Climbers to the NEC PC-8801.
- In 2002, Ice Climber was released as an E-Reader game.
- In 2004, Ice Climber was playable in Animal Crossing.
- In 2004, Ice Climber was released for the Gameboy Advance as part of the Classic NES series.
- In 2007, Ice Climber was made available for the Virtual Console. A demo version of the game was included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a Masterpiece.
- In 2011, it was among the games released as free downloads on the 3DS for participants in the Ambassador Program. It later received a normal eShop release in 2012, and it was also released for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013.
- In 2016, it was among the games included in the NES Classic Edition.
- In 2018, it was among the NES games made available to play as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service. It was part of the first wave of games that were made available with the launch of the service in September 2018. This version included cooperative and competitive online multiplayer options.