Ice Climber (universe): Difference between revisions

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ice Climber'' (universe)}}

|caption = [[File:IceClimberSymbol.svg|50px]]

|originconsole = Nintendo Entertainment System

|firstinstallment = ''{{b|Ice Climber|game}}'' (1985)

In January 1985, one of the various original video games developed by [[Nintendo]]'s Research and Development division for the Japanese Famicom was ''Ice Climber'', as part of a stream of similarly "one-shot" games released in rapid succession in late 1984 and early 1985 (other games included ''Clu Clu Land'', ''Excitebike'', and ''Balloon Fight'', which incidentally was released just a week earlier). It was the first game programmed by Kazuaki Morita, who went on to become the main programmer of the industry-defining ''[[Mario (universe)|Super Mario Bros.]]'' later that year, and became a prolific programmer for multiple titles in the ''Mario'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda (universe)|Zelda]]'' series, as well as for ''[[Star Fox (universe)|Star Fox 64]]''. Like the other aforementioned Famicom games released before the world famous debuts of the ''Mario'' and ''Zelda'' series, ''Ice Climber'' was not necessarily any kind of breakout hit, and was never chosen as a recipient for sequels or follow-ups. The game was also arguably overshadowed by ''Super Mario Bros.'' when both games were among the fairly extensive launch library for the Famicom's Western equivalent, the NES. Nonetheless, the game can be said to have a particularly significant background role in Nintendo's early release timeline because Morita described his work on the game as a "warm-up" before becoming a main programmer on ''Super Mario Bros.''

A little-known arcade version of ''Ice Climber'' entitled ''Vs. Ice Climber'' was released in the same year, which included some different stages and mechanic changes, but otherwise, ''Ice Climber'' remained an isolated, historical relic from the early years of the Famicom/NES. Sixteen years later, however, Nintendo's ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' crossover fighting game series selectively picked its main characters, the {{SSBM|Ice Climbers}}, as a playable character choice representing an exclusively "retro" game series among a sea of Nintendo characters well-known in Nintendo's modern lineup of IPs. The appearance of the Ice Climbers in 2001's ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' - which developer [[HAL Laboratory]] chose over other retro NES games such as ''Balloon Fight'' and {{uv|Kid Icarus}} - spurred on multiple rereleases of their game in a variety of formats, such as for the e-Reader, a Game Boy Advance cartridge, and the Virtual Console featured of the Wii, the 3DS, and the Wii U. Despite the Ice Climbers reappearing in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'', though, there have never been any announced plans to produce some kind of modern-day follow-up.

In ''Ice Climber'', the player controls a child in a blue Eskimo parka and wielding a mallet, Popo, and in a two-player cooperative mode, a second, female Ice Climber in a pink parka, Nana, becomes a simultaneous second player-character. The [[Ice Climbers]] are motivated into jumping up through vertical, platform-heavy "glacial mountain" stages when all of their vegetables are stolen by a giant [[condor]] that retreats to the top of each stage, and along the way, they must smash blocks of ice either by jumping into them from underneath or using their mallets. In addition to randomly forming ice stalactites that fall down from above, several varieties of enemies native to the mountains threaten to reduce an Ice Climber's limited stock of lives: a flying bird named the Nitpicker, an upright-walking [[Polar Bear]] that wears pink shorts and sunglasses, and a [[Topi]], which was famously changed from a seal to a rotund, yeti-like creature in the Western version, perhaps to avoid potential accusations of endorsing animal cruelty (in that the game depicts humans bludgeoning live seals for a point reward). The upper half of every stage is an enemy-free "bonus" stage in which the Ice Climbers have the opportunity to navigate a tricky set of platforms, collect vegetables for points, and potentially jump up to and grab the condor's talons at the mountain peak, all for a massive point bonus.

===Character===

*[[File:IceClimbersIcon(SSBM).png|50px|right]][[Image:PopoIcon(SSBM).png|32px|right]][[Image:NanaIcon(SSBM).png|32px|right]]'''{{SSBM|Ice Climbers}}''': A pair of children clad in blue and pink Eskimo parkas, the Ice Climbers (respectively, Popo and Nana) live and sustain themselves on a variety of vegetables. When a giant condor steals the vegetables for itself and flees up to the peaks of various mountains, the pair grabs big mallets and hike up each mountain, smashing blocks of ice in their way and swatting Topis, Nitpickers, and Polar Bears before retrieving their stolen veggies and confronting the condor at the top. The Ice Climbers are the most unique fighter in ''Melee'' in that it is two copies of the same fighter mimicking each other's moves a fraction of a second apart, and the player controls the one "lead" Ice Climber while the second is computer controlled. At first considered gimmicky, over time professional players have learned to take advantage of this setup with various innovations such as [[desynching]], transforming the Ice Climbers into a combatant in the high tier.

*[[File:IcicleMountainIconSSBM.png|right|link=Icicle Mountain]]'''Infinite Glacier: [[Icicle Mountain]]''': Representing the vertical, platformed mountains that Popo and Nana regularly scale, this is perhaps the game's most unusual stage; it is an infinitely scrolling vertical stage where all sorts of platforms are laid out in almost random configuration, and one must pay attention both to the battling and keeping oneself on platforms that aren't about to disappear off the bottom into the abyss. It is a combination of this and the fact that the KO boundaries on either side of the stage are rather close to each other, causing potentially random KOs, that many players consider this their least favorite stage, and it is often banned in [[Tournament legal (SSBB)|tournaments]]. The [[Adventure Mode]] version of this stage features many [[Topi]]s and [[Polar Bear]]s as common enemies, and the ''[[Mario (universe)|Mario]]''-series item [[Freezie]] makes many appearances as well.{{clear}}

*'''25: Icicle Mountain''': A synthesized medley of the two primary tunes in the NES game ''Ice Climber'', with the first part being the "Bonus stage music" and the second part being the "Normal stage music". It appears in [[Icicle Mountain]] as a primary track.

*'''50: Ice Climbers' Victory''': The victory fanfare of [[Ice Climbers]] is an orchestration of the victory music that occurs in the original ''Ice Climber'' when an Ice Climber reaches the top of a stage and manages to jump up and grab onto the talons of the [[Condor]].

===Full Trophy List===

*[[Ice Climbers|Ice Climbers]]' three game trophies

===Character===

*[[File:IceClimbersIcon(SSBB).png|50px|right]][[Image:PopoIcon(SSBB).png|32px|right]][[Image:NanaIcon(SSBB).png|32px|right]]'''{{SSBB|Ice Climbers}}''': The duo returns again after debuting in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''. Aside from an [[on-screen appearance]] where they drop in from the sky holding onto the [[Condor]] and a colossal new Final Smash named [[Iceberg]], nothing much seems to have changed about the mountain-climbing duo.

On the final character select screen (after all characters are unlocked), the Ice Climbers share the fourth column with fellow Famicom/NES-originated characters {{SSBB|Pit}}, {{SSBB|R.O.B.}}, and {{SSBB|Samus}}.{{clear}}

*[[File:Icon-summit.gif|right]]'''[[Summit]]''': A stage that takes place at the summit of [[Icicle Mountain]]. As players fight, the chunk of the mountain they're on will break off of the mountain and slide down into the icy waters below. While floating in these waters, a polar bear like in the original game will appear and push the stage down to a level where players may drown if not careful. The fish from [[Balloon Fight]] also appears and may eat players, causing an instant [[KO]].{{clr}}

*{{SSBB|Ice Climbers}}

*[[Vegetables (Ice Climber)]] (not to be confused with [[Vegetable]])

===Stickers===

*''[[List of SSBB Music (Nintendo series)#Ice Climber|Ice Climber]]'' - A medley of the original ''[[Ice Climber (game)|Ice Climber]]'' game's title screen and main theme; changing tone and pace depending on whether the stage is at the top of the summit, sliding down the mountain, or floating in the ocean.  It is the theme of the ''Summit'' stage.  This track is also played during Ice Climbers' Classic Mode credits and in the [[Glacial Peak]]'s first part in [[Subspace Emissary]].

*'''Ice Climbers' victory theme''' - Taken from the original Ice Climber, this was the victory fanfare that would play if Popo or Nana completed a bonus level by grabbing the Condor's talons at the end.

The Ice Climbers are not playable in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''. [[Masahiro Sakurai]] originally planned to include them in the game, but ultimately removed them, as the Nintendo 3DS version did not have the power to run them, and Sakurai did not want the [[Wii U]] version to have an exclusive character.

*'''Ice Climber''' - returns unchanged from ''Brawl'' as a track on the [[Wrecking Crew]] stage.

*'''Icicle Mountain''' - Taken directly from Melee. It is also used on the [[Wrecking Crew]] stage.

===Character===

*15. [[File:IceClimbersIcon(SSBU).png|50px|right]][[Image:PopoIcon(SSBU).png|32px|right]][[Image:NanaIcon(SSBU).png|32px|right]]'''{{SSBU|Ice Climbers}}''': After being absent in ''Smash 4'', the duo finally returns as an unlockable fighter. The duo received some major nerfs to their gameplay, most notably that the side character (depending on alternate costumes) can no longer react as the main character grabs. This effectively killed major chain grabs that the duo were known for.

{{clear}}

*{{GameIcon|ssbb}}[[File:SSBU-Summit.png|75px|right|link=Summit]]'''[[Summit]]''': The icy mountain returns as a retro stage in ''Ultimate'' after being left out of ''Smash 4''.

{{clear}}

*{{GameIcon|SSBM}}"'''Ice Climber (Melee)'''": An arrangement of the bonus stage theme and stage theme from ''{{iw|wikipedia|Ice Climber}}''. Returns from ''Melee'', renamed from ''Icicle Mountain''.

*{{GameIcon|SSBB}}"'''Ice Climber (Brawl)'''": A medley of tracks from ''Ice Climber'', including the bonus stage theme and the stage theme. Returns from ''Brawl''. Appeared in the Ice Climbers' character trailer.

====Victory fanfares====

*"'''Victory! Ice Climbers'''": A remix of the theme that plays when clearing a bonus stage from ''Ice Climber'', the beginning is cut down in ''Ultimate''.

*Despite having 2 tracks, the ''Ice Climber'' universe does not have its own category in ''Ultimate''{{'}}s music section. This also holds true for the {{uv|Duck Hunt}} universe.

*''Ice Climber'' is the only fighter-based universe introduced in in the first two Smash games without an installment following their Smash Bros. debut.

**''{{uv|R.O.B.}}'' shares this distinction for ''Brawl'', and ''{{uv|Wii Fit}}'' and ''{{uv|Bayonetta}}'' share this distinction for ''Smash 4''. However, ''Bayonetta'' has an upcoming game announced.

*''Ice Climber'' and {{uv|ARMS}} are the only character-based universes to only have one game in their series.<!--The Duck Hunt universe includes other NES Zapper games like Hogan's Alley, and additionally, Vs. Duck Hunt and the 1976 projection version also exist.-->