Video games - Ice Climber

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	Video games - Ice Climber

Ice Climber (Japanese: アイスクライマー) is a platform arcade game, developed by Nintendo in 1984. The game was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, as one of the initial titles, in 1985.

Gameplay

In the game, the players control either Popo (a boy dressed in a blue Eskimo suit) or Nana (a girl dressed in a pink Eskimo suit). Their challenge is to venture up an ever scrolling mountain in their quest to defeat an evil condor. The only tool a player has is a hammer to make openings on the floor above and to club enemies.

The enemies they encounter on their way up the mountain include polar bears and seals. Seals were present in the Japanese version of the game, but they were replaced with small yetis, called Topis, in the American version over concerns of animal cruelty (seal-clubbing). Other obstacles include deadly falling ice cones.

Halfway through the level, the enemies disappear and a small bonus portion of the level is available to earn extra points by collecting vegetables, most notably eggplants.

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

As characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee

16 years after their original debut, they reappeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee
for GameCube as playable characters. Nana and Popo are connected as a single character. If the player selects the Ice Climbers, he or she will control Popo or Nana; the other one is computer-controlled, and will mimick what the player does. Although the two characters work as a unit especialy if they have the same item of if one is charging the other can block, Nana can be defeated without Popo dying – however, the effectiveness of the Ice Climbers' special attacks is halved, and Popo can no longer use Belay when he is alone.

One of the stages, Icicle Mountain was based off the mountain stages in the original game. The enemies also appear on the stage in certain modes of play.

Trivia

On rare occasions, falling onto the head of the other player will cause you to be forced through the floor of the level. If this happens on the bottom floor, you will lose a life.

Ports

Ice Climber has been ported a handful of times.

Ice Climber (Nintendo Entertainment System) 1984
VS Ice Climber (Arcade
) 1984
Ice Climber (Animal Forest)
Ice Climber (Famicom Disk System) 1985 (a sequel of sorts based on VS Ice Climber)
Ice Climber (E-Reader) 2000/2001
Ice Climber (Animal Crossing
) 2002
Ice Climber (Game Boy Advance) 2004 (Classic NES Series)
Climber (Game & Watch) 1986

Appearances

Super Smash Bros. Series

Super Smash Bros Melee:
The Ice Climbers Popo and Nana appear as playable fighters. The player controls Popo and the computer controls Nana. Some palete swaps reverse this.
The Ice Climber stage is Infinite Glacier: Icicle Mountain - a vertically scrolling platform stage.
There are two Ice Climber music tracks: Icicle Mountain is the title theme and stage music from Ice Climber, and Ice Climbers's Victory is the stage complete music. There are five Ice Climber trophys: Ice Climbers, Ice Climbers (Smash 1), Ice Climbers (Smash 2), Polar Bear, Topi.
The Ice Climbers's Target Test stage borrows graphics from the original Ice Climbers. The final target is carried by the Condor.

Animal Forest/Crossing Series

Animal Forest: One of the NES games you can collect and play in full is the original Ice Climbers.

Wario Series

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$
: One of 9-Volt's classic Nintendo games is based on the original Ice Climber
. Grab the Condor's feet.
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$
: This cameo is also same as the cameo in the original WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ (above)
WarioWare: Twisted!
: One of 9-Volt and 18-Volt's classic Nintendo-styled microgames is based on Ice Climber
. Smash enemies with your hammer.
Finally, in WarioWare: Touched!
One of 9-Volt and 18-Volt's Nintendo microgames is named "8-bit-hero". Touch the pixel that's different from on a 6x7 "pixel checkerboard" from the top image, and on third difficulty, the sprite is of Popo.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ice Climber ]

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