Collection essentials #71: Ice Climber (NES)

Ice Climber is a platformer, and one that predates the big famous one with that Italian plumber, so it wasn’t influenced by that game. Most platformers have you going from left to right, but this one (as you may guess from the title) is exclusively about ascending upward. It’s also a high score-oriented game and not one that you’re meant to “beat,” in fact you can select any of the game’s 32 stages right from the main menu. 

You play as a character wearing a parka named Popo, who comes equipped with a trusty hammer. Popo automatically swings the hammer upon jumping, and when standing still the player can press a button to swing the hammer in front of them to wack an enemy unfortunate enough to get in the way. Popo’s hammer is necessary to ascend, as he’ll often find himself needing to make a hold in a ceiling to jump through. Platforming can be really tricky, as Popo has to rely on fast-moving clouds…wait, you can stand on clouds in this universe?? The enemies aren’t too annoying in this game, but one rather annoying thing they’ll do is patch up holes on the floor, sometimes requiring Popo to make one again. At the end of every level is a timed clouds-heavy section where you try to grab as much fruit as you can and then grab onto the talons of a bird flying overhead for bonus points.

What holds this game back is the controls. Perhaps because this game predates the one with that plumber guy, controlling Popo after a jump is really stiff and feels awkward, and you can’t maneuver very much in midair once you make one. It can be tough to be precise when you need to jump into a tiny area, and frustrating when you just miss. A redeeming quality, though, is that a buddy can team up for the climb, taking control of a girl named Nana.

Admittedly, the main reason this game is essential is the Smash Bros. series. Ice Climber was pretty obscure for a long time, but then Nintendo thought it would be fun to bring back Popo and Nana for 2001’s Super Smash Bros. Melee, and they’re very unique in that game (and the rest of the series) since you basically control two characters at once. And me being really into Smash, I had to have the game that these two were from. So Ice Climber may not be the greatest game in the world, but sometimes something other than the quality of a game makes it essential.