|
“ | Hah! | „ |
~ Popo performing Ice Shot, in the Super Smash Bros. series. |
“ | Aey! | „ |
~ Nana performing Ice Shot, in the Super Smash Bros. series. |
The Ice Climbers (アイスクライマー, Ice Climber), individualized as Popo (the boy in blue, ポポ) and Nana (the girl in pink, ナナ), are the titular main protagonists of the video game series of the same name, created by Nintendo for the arcade in 1984, also titled as VS. Ice Climber, before re-releasing to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.
True to their name, the Ice Climbers are fundamental twin partners in justice, though each Ice Climber is differentiated from each other especially by the color of their inuit parka outfits. The duo consists of an elder twin boy, Popo, dressed in an indigo inuit parka who is the leader, and a younger twin girl, Nana, dressed in a pink inuit parka who is the follower and accompaniment, respectively. To fittingly reflect their characteristic leitmotifs, the Ice Climbers, true to their epitome as pioneer mountaineers, seek to scale various glacial and enormous mountains, yet must also avoid various obstacles and antagonists during their routes to each summit. In order to successfully accomplish each level, the duo must catch a vegetable-stealing condor. In their illustrious timeline, the duo have pursued the aforementioned condor who, peculiarly, had possession of cucumbers, eggplants, and various other vegetables, while fending off Polar Bears, Nitpickers and Topis along their routes.
The Ice Climbers are voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, who also voiced Kaede in Elfen Lied, Allen Walker from D.Gray-man, Reiko Natsume from Natsume's Book of Friends and Alexis Rhodes from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
Appearance[]
Together, the Ice Climbers both wear wintertime inuit parka outfits, have shade brown chin-length hairstyles, blushing pink cheeks visible on their faces, and are proficient in using their hammers, their primary weapon for defense. The duo also wears brown gloves, white boots with wooden soles and ice cleats underneath them, attached by blue (Popo) and pink (Nana) boot-straps, and have long black eyes that are almost typically depicted with a white shine. Thus, these traits collectively make them somewhat identical to Kirby. Additionally, their boots and hammers also appear to be covered in light-powdered snow.
Popo is the elder leader of the mountaineer duo, being a young, light-skinned boy who typically wears an indigo/blue Inuit parka outfit. He has spiky brunette hair that stops near his eyes. His parka's hood resembles the Freeze Copy Ability's hat Kirby can collect. The coloration for most of his clothing ranges from indigo-to-blue.
Nana is the younger companion of the mountaineer duo, being a young, tomboyish and light-skinned girl who typically wears a pink/light magenta Inuit parka outfit. Her parka's design matches that of her brother, but she has smoother hair that parts near the middle. The sole major difference between Nana and her brother, Popo, is that most of her clothing replaces Popo's blue/indigo coloration scheme with pink/light magenta. On the official box artworks for the Japanese and PAL versions of Ice Climber, Nana (the only individual of the duo to make a depicted appearance on the box arts) instead is depicted as blonde instead of brunette.
Personality[]
True to their quintessential incarnations in their original series, the Ice Climbers are overall mischievous, considerate, lighthearted and energetic mountaineers who are entertained by climbing summits and routing through glacial and enormous mountaintops. Demonstrated in the Ice Climber franchise, the Ice Climbers are heroic and valiant, proven when the duo begin their pursuit after the vegetables. Despite being in their early childhood, the Ice Climbers have surprisingly high intelligence and are proficient in brawling and/or fighting antagonists, by landing powerful hits using their predominate weapons (their sole means of defense), their wooden mallets. However, their sole interest in mountaineering does not mean that the Ice Climbers are not sentient of themselves or oblivious of other events occurring around them, as the duo are reactive of possessing cryokinesis and scaling the glacial peak to access the Battleship Halberd (battling against the Great Fox), respectively.
Additionally, when the Ice Climbers meet up with Meta Knight in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he flies ahead of them and the mountaineers follow him behind in a fit of rage, rendering Meta Knight's phenomenal speed as a challenge. This shows that the duo seek entertainment in climbing mountains in such a manner that not only do the two desire racing other skilled people to the top, but also demonstrating more of their confidence and courageousness as the duo scale several mountains while simultaneously foregoing the threat of antagonists who lurk and invade themselves in mountains the Ice Climbers proceed to scale, an example being the Subspace Army. Despite being professional fighters themselves, the duo ironically despise spectating and/or dealing with fights or arguments, as shown in the Subspace Emissary where Meta Knight and Lucario prepare to fight each other while the Ice Climbers spectate in fear before becoming relieved after their reconciliation.
As an archetypical tag-team duo, the Ice Climbers, themselves, have an incredible dependence on each other for almost all situations. Popo and Nana have reliance on each other for teamwork to achieve full level of their fighting prowess and combat, which often leads to occasional trouble: antagonists can receive the free opportunity to easily separate them if the Ice Climbers are reckless, and if under the absence of one climber, the remaining climber will be drastically hindered in combat and skills; in turn, Popo and Nana's skills are at their best when combined, so their levels of prowess are half as effective alone.
Biography[]
Implied by the game's title, the Ice Climbers have climbed a variety of mountains throughout the entire lifespan of Ice Climber. In their glory days, they pursued the aforementioned condor who, peculiarly, had possession of cucumbers, eggplants, and various other vegetables, while fending off Polar Bears, Nitpickers, and Topis along their routes while climbing the mountains the duo passes by.
In Ice Climber, the player controls a child in a blue Inuit parka and wielding a mallet as the default first player, Popo, and in a two-player cooperative mode, a second feminine 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 their routes, they must smash blocks of ice either by jumping into them from underneath or using their mallets. In addition to forming random ice stalactites that fall down from above, several varieties of antagonists native to the mountains threaten to reduce an Ice Climber's limited stock of lives: a flying bird, titled the Nitpicker, an upright-walking Polar Bear that wears pink shorts and sunglasses, and a Topi, which undergone an infamous alteration 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). Furthermore, the arcade version includes a pair of enemies which were omitted from the NES release: the Bee, which wields a spear and flies across the screen, and the Butterfly, which replaces the Condor in some levels. The upper half of all stages is an antagonist-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 (or the Butterfly's feet in some levels in Vs. Ice Climber) at the mountain peak, all for a massive point-bonus.
Other Media[]
Super Smash Bros.[]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[]
The Ice Climbers made their debut appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, after a total of sixteen years from the release of their original installment of their series, Ice Climber. The Ice Climbers are a dual-controlled pair of fighters, making them unique compared to the other fighters. They, as a singular entity, are one of the 14 default characters available from the start. As a duo-dynamic pair of fighters, the partner duplicates whatever the leader performs. If the following Ice Climber is KO'd during the current stock, the remaining Ice Climber's fighting prowess is only half as effective; vice versa, however, if the leading Ice Climber is KO'd before the partner, the partner will be rendered KO'd as well.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
The Ice Climbers make their official reappearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as playable characters and being available at the start of the game. In addition to retaining their moveset and attributes from Super Smash Bros. Melee, their own designs have been aesthetically altered, and the duo have received a final smash, titled Iceberg.
The Subspace Emissary[]
The Ice Climbers first appear in the Glacial Peak, climbing the glacial and enormous mountain leading to the Battleship Halberd and the Great Fox battling against each other in the sky. Upon noticing Meta Knight flying past them, the duo perceive this as a challenge, angering them and leading to the duo racing him to the top of the mountain while fending off a sizeable portion of the Subspace Army along their route to the top. When the Ice Climbers and Meta Knight reach the top of the mountain, the trio find a meditating Lucario there (waiting for Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers' arrival), who challenges Meta Knight to a battle, while the Ice Climbers spectate in fear. After the fight, the victor revives the trophicated loser, and Meta Knight and Lucario reconciliate, relieving the Ice Climbers, but more than that, the Ice Climbers are especially delighted that Meta Knight and Lucario have befriended each other instead of continuing to be rivals. However, relief was short-lived, as the Battleship Halberd crashes the Great Fox into the mountain. Meta Knight and Lucario manage to board the Halberd, and the Ice Climbers are knocked back to the ground towards the canyon from the earthquake inflicted by such impact (along with a multitude of Shadow Bugs raining from the sky), where Marth, Lucas, the Pokémon Trainer and Ike are located. After the Ice Climbers defeat a portion of the Subspace Army (with the assistance of Mario, Kirby, Pit, Link and Yoshi), the Ice Climbers team up with the other fighters.
The Isle of Ancients has been engulfed by a plethora of activated Subspace Bombs, and the ten fighters notice this (Ice Climbers among them). After annihilating the Subspace Gunship with the assistance of the Falcon Flyer (containing Samus Aran, Pikachu, Olimar, Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, and R.O.B.) and the reowned Halberd (retaken by Meta Knight, Lucario, Solid Snake, Peach, Princess Zelda/Sheik, Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, and Mr. Game & Watch), the Ice Climbers and the other fighters invade the Subspace.
The Ice Climbers and the other fighters eventually confront Tabuu. Unfortunately, Tabuu trophicates the rest of the fighters once again using his off waves without enough warning, including the Ice Climbers. However, the duo were miraculously revived by Kirby (who was revived by eating a Dedede Brooch), and accompanies Ness, Luigi, King Dedede and the rest of the fighters into the Great Maze. In the end, the Ice Climbers and the other fighters not only finally defeat Tabuu, but the latter's defeat also results in the Subspace successfully wiping out into nonexistence. The Ice Climbers and the other fighters then manage to escape from Subspace, and all the colonies composing the Great Maze (World of Trophies) are restored to their rightful positions in the real world, with the rifts of Subspace all being sealed off, excluding the Isle of Ancients. Because of the plethora of detonated Subspace Bombs engulfing said isle, it is impossible for the Isle of Ancients to return. As such, it is claimed to be permanently erased from existence. Instead, it leaves a giant luminous cross in its place, where the rest of the fighters look at in triumph and victory, including the Ice Climbers (with Nana peeking to the luminous cross while embracing behind Popo).
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[]
The Ice Climbers do not make their reappearance as playable characters for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, although the duo is regulated in both variations as a collectible trophy. According to Masahiro Sakurai, the Ice Climbers and their franchise were successfully functional and playable in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but because of Nintendo 3DS's lack of hardware power, the Ice Climbers were ultimately scrapped from both variations of Super Smash Bros. 4, so that they share the same roster because Sakurai did not desire to have an exclusive character for the Wii U. Additionally, the duo were deemed as "low-priority" characters since it was unlikely that the duo would receive a new game in their series.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
Alongside the rest of the entire veterans of the Super Smash Bros. series, the Ice Climbers make their ultimate reappearance to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as unlockable characters, being formally announced within the game's E3 2018 trailer on June 12th, 2018.
The Ice Climbers appear on the story mode, World of Light, where they, along with the other fighters (excluding Kirby), were vaporized by Galeem when he unleashed his beams of light and placed under his imprisonment. Gameplay-wise, the Ice Climbers are found in the southern portion/bottom of the icy mountain next to the Temple of Light (where Pit and Simon are unlocked), located at the top left corner of The Light Realm. Unlocking them eliminates the icy paths in order for them to be successfully traversed in both directions, as well as unblocking an additional path to the shrouded forest, making the Ice Climbers' unlock obligatory for completing the story.
WarioWare Series[]
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames![]
Popo, the duo's leader, makes a cameo in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, making an appearance in the microgame, titled the original game's same name "Ice Climber." In this microgame, Popo has to travel to the top of the mountain and grab the condor.
WarioWare: Twisted![]
Popo makes a reappearance as a cameo in WarioWare: Twisted!, with his primary mission to smash the oncoming antagonists with his hammer.
WarioWare Gold[]
Popo makes a reappearance in WarioWare Gold, in the microgame, "Ice Climber." The player's objective is to grab onto the condor before time runs out. On the third-level difficulty, he has to reach the eggplant before time runs out.
Powers and abilities[]
- Hammermanship: The Ice Climbers are known for wielding their sole weapon, their hammer. This allows them to excel at close to mid-ranged combat, and offers them exceptional attacking range despite their short stature.
- Combat Skills: Using their hammers, the Ice Climbers are capable of combating their opponents through multiple and countless strategies, by swift hammer sweeps, hammer swings, long-ranged hammer swipes, hammer flicks, and most categorically, swift and powerful hammer slams.
- Raw Power: The Ice Climbers excel in overall raw power, courtesy of their aforementioned combat skills above, but also due to their hammers sustaining high weight, offering them the opportunity to inflict high levels of damage output and knockback by smashing their hammers onto opponents, and knocking them out with only a few hits.
- Agility: The Ice Climbers have above-average agility (in more simple terms, running speed), which offers the duo the opportunity to outspeed their opponents or catch up with one another if separated.
- Jumping prowess: A sentiment originated from Ice Climber, the duo possess an excellent jumping prowess, allowing them to excel in reaching impressive heights. This is especially prevalent and versatile when it comes to climbing mountains.
- Flexibility: In collaboration with the duo's small size and short stature, the Ice Climbers benefit from their aforementioned agility and jumping prowess, but also from their high air acceleration, which allows the duo to easily mix up their movement in the air (despite their extremely slow air speed). In addition, the duo also benefit from hyperactive attacking speed, which allows the Ice Climbers to constantly pressure the opponent and take on an aggressive playstyle.
- Cryokinesis: The psychic ability to control and create ice and cold temperatures. This allows the Ice Climbers to perform omnipotent tactics (such as summoning a giant iceberg or devastating snowstorm, blowing out gusts of blizzard from their palms), or simple and powerful techniques, including freeze tags, freeze touches or freeze sneezes.
- The Ice Climbers have an extremely powerful and magical gift from birth, that of generating and controlling ice, cold and snow at will. Using this power, Popo and Nana are capable of several versatile applications: the duo have demonstrated both immense power (by creating a gigantic ice palace) and subtle usage (by generating an icy path to walk on water or by creating several geometric shapes by combining her magic with her creative spirit). The duo also have demonstrated the ability to generate freezing rays from their hands or to create stalactites.
Weaknesses[]
- Reliance on teamwork: The Ice Climbers are otherwise over-reliant on each other for teamwork, as if one climber gets lost and/or knocked out, the remaining climber will become drastically weakened.
- Range: Despite wielding hammers as weapons to excel at close to mid-ranged combat, the range of their hammers fall short to especially excel at long-ranged combat, allowing opponents with long-ranged combat skills or zoners to wall them out.
- Floatiness: As mentioned before, the Ice Climbers are burdened with a slow falling speed, which makes it difficult for them to land immediately and safely, while their poor air speed does not allow their floatiness to compliment their prowess in the air in the first place.
- Floaty jumping: When combined with their light weight, their aforementioned floatiness also causes their jumps to be very "floaty," despite their excellent jumping prowess.
- Separation: The Ice Climbers are vulnerable to getting separated rather effortlessly, especially by attacks with high levels of strength. Upon separation, the opponent has the opportunity to assault either the more vulnerable leader (Popo) or the more helpless partner (Nana).
- Aerial Drift: Despite their good agility and air acceleration, the Ice Climbers are burdened with sluggish aerial and falling speeds, which heavily references said mechanics in Ice Climber, causing the duo to flounder against opponents who excel in aerial combat.
- Lateral horizontal jumping: When combined with their aforementioned "floaty" jumping and slow falling speed, this also makes the duo's lateral horizontal jumps very underwhelming, as the duo will cover little horizontal distance within their jumps.
Trivia[]
- The Ice Climbers are one of the two archetypical tag-team characters to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series. The other is considered, Rosalina & Luma. Unlike Banjo & Kazooie and Duck Hunt, the Ice Climbers are simultaneously controlled by the player in a separate manner instead of singular.
- The Ice Climbers are the only characters to appear in multiple Super Smash Bros. installments before being scrapped, then returning to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The reason the Ice Climbers were scrapped from SSB4 is due to the consistent technical issues that Masahiro Sakurai and the development team faced when attempting to make them function properly in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
- During Palutena's Guidance regarding the Ice Climbers, however, Pit assumes that their absence in SSB4 was due to illegal teaming, in which this dialogue is a humorous reference to the aforementioned reason above for the Ice Climbers' absence in Smash 4.
- The Ice Climbers cease to return as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. 4, but then made a cameo as being relegated to a collectible trophy. In a column for the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Masahiro Sakurai claimed that technical limitations of the Nintendo 3DS prevented their inclusion; the two were reportedly difficult to implement on the system, and since the characters were unlikely to have a new game in their series, Sakurai deemed the Ice Climbers "low-priority" characters. While the duo were successfully functional on the Wii U, Sakurai decided to scrap them in order for the roster to be identical for both installments.
- Popo makes cameos without Nana in WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$, WarioWare: Twisted, and WarioWare: Touched. However, both Ice Climbers appear as cameos in WarioWare: Get It Together! when playing the "Ice Climber" microgame with two players.
- Contrary to popular belief, the pair are not canonically siblings. In an interview with Masahiro Sakurai, he has referred to the pair as "childhood friends like boy-and-girl pair" and goes on to state that their relationship is “more than friends, but less than lovers,” along with revealing that their relationship is platonic.
- Following this, Super Smash Bros. Brawl reaffirmed Sakurai's stance on the relationship both in-game and in supplemental material. The Ice Climbers' Smash Bros. DOJO!! page refers to them as friends in two instances while detailing their special moveset.[3] In particular, the description regarding Belay reads, "When you use Belay with two climbers, they perform a feat that leaves you dazzled at the depths of their friendship!"[4] Another circumstantial point is the final stanza of the description regarding Blizzard reads: "Ahem... And let’s overlook our friend’s occasional impulse to wander off, shall we?"[5]
- Despite this, however, issue 152 of Nintendo Power seemingly lost his comment in translation and instead referred to Popo and Nana as siblings regardless.[6]
- Additionally, Solid Snake's codec conversation regarding the Ice Climbers depicts Mei Ling mentioning that Popo and Nana have a "blood bond," which is a long-standing custom practiced around the world that involves a pair of distinct people swearing loyalty to one another.[7] This implies that Popo and Nana are supposed to be siblings due to possessing relentless dependability to each other and promising to never leave each other behind.
- An extra hint of their relationship is that during the 2-player cooperative mode of Ice Climber, Popo and Nana are theorized to be "frenemies." When scaling mountains, Popo and Nana can either scale the mountain and collect vegetables with teamwork, or through means for one of them to reach the top of the mountain while leaving the other one behind to prevent them from catching up to their pace. This is further supplemented by the elements of the Bonus Stage and Super Bonus Stage, where either Popo and Nana must grab the condor's talons or reach the top of the mountain with the flag planted on the summit first, respectively.
- Following this, Super Smash Bros. Brawl reaffirmed Sakurai's stance on the relationship both in-game and in supplemental material. The Ice Climbers' Smash Bros. DOJO!! page refers to them as friends in two instances while detailing their special moveset.[3] In particular, the description regarding Belay reads, "When you use Belay with two climbers, they perform a feat that leaves you dazzled at the depths of their friendship!"[4] Another circumstantial point is the final stanza of the description regarding Blizzard reads: "Ahem... And let’s overlook our friend’s occasional impulse to wander off, shall we?"[5]
- The Ice Climbers have never unequipped their hoodies or gloves, not even revealing their full hairstyles. As such, the duo are potentially referred to as “eskimos.”
- On the official box artworks for the Japanese and PAL variations of Ice Climber, Nana (the only one of the duo to make an official appearance on the box artworks) is depicted with blonde hair, although in the game, she and Popo's hair coloration were restricted to black hair. In their later appearances in Super Smash Bros. series onwards, the duo have brunette hairstyles.
- In various languages, Popo's name is altered to "Pépé." This is because "popo" means "buttocks" in Turkish and "poop" in Spanish.
- In German, "Popo" is a basic slang term for "butt" when translated to English.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.ssbwiki.com/Sopo
- ↑ https://www.ssbwiki.com/Sopo
- ↑ Smash Bros. DOJO!! - Ice Climbers
- ↑ Smash Bros. DOJO!! - Ice Climbers: "When you use Belay with two climbers, they perform a feat that leaves you dazzled at the depths of their friendship!"
- ↑ Smash Bros. DOJO!! - Ice Climbers: "Ahem... And let’s overlook our friend’s occasional impulse to wander off, shall we?"
- ↑ "Who are the Ice Climbers?" Nintendo Power, issue number 152, January 2002, pg. 24
- ↑ Merriam-Webster - the familial bond of common descent or of a similarly close relationship established by adoption or other ceremony.
External Links[]
- Ice Climbers on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
- Ice Climbers on the Nintendo Wiki