Ice Climbers (SSBM)/Grab

Hitbox visualization of the Ice Climbers' standing grab.

Hitbox visualization of the Ice Climbers' dash grab.

Overview

One or both of the ice climbers reaches mitten(s) forward, grabbing a single opponent, at which point the player can choose a throw, assuming they grabbed with the primary climber (usually referred to as Popo, even when using different costumes), or the game will choose a throw for the player, if they grabbed with the backup climber (usually referred to as Nana). It has subpar range (7th-worst in the game), but can be comboed into from jab.

At first glance, the move appears to be a standard, if slightly worse than usual thanks to its low range, grab; like all grabs, it can be used to combo into the climbers' aerials, or to throw the opponent off-stage and set up an edgeguard. However, this fails to tell the whole story. Because the player is able to control two climbers at the same time, they're able to hit the opponent with one climber while the other is still stuck in end lag, or even before the grabbing climber has actually thrown the opponent. This opens the door up to a ton of pseudo-infinites, or even a true infinite in the case of wobbling, which makes the Ice Climber's grab a terrifying option for the opponent, and is usually why the Ice Climbers are considered the closest thing to a grappler in Melee, although some would argue that title belongs to Donkey Kong with his Cargo Throw.

As mentioned previously, grabbing enables the Ice Climbers to perform the wobble, a true zero-to-death against every character in the game. However, since wobbling has been banned by the majority of tournaments since 2020, Ice Climbers have been forced to rely on other techniques to make the fullest use of grab. Examples of these techniques include handoffs and its variation the cookhold, the combo of down throw -> down aerial -> regrab, and Popo's down throw chain grab, which can be done without Nana's help and can even be used to set up a wobble where it's not banned. However, all of these options have drawbacks which make them worse than wobbling: handoffs and the cookhold require the Ice Climbers to be close to the ledge in order for Nana to throw the opponent in a predictable manner, as she will attempt to throw the opponent off-stage if close to the ledge and randomly if she's anywhere else, the down-throw -> down air -> regrab setup can be escaped with SDI, and the down-throw chain throw only works against Sheik and Ganondorf at specific percents.

Overall, even after the move was nerfed by the wobbling ban, it's still a terrifying option and one that any Ice Climbers opponent should rightfully respect. However, the move falls flat in one instance: the ditto match. Because the Ice Climbers are usually unable to grab both of their opponents' climbers, the climber who wasn't grabbed can usually just hit the comboing climbers out of their setups, thus interrupting the combo and resetting the match to neutral. However, this is only when both of the victim's climbers are still alive; in situations where the victim's Nana is dead, the grabbing climbers' deadly grab game is unlocked, allowing them to deal massive damage to Popo, if not outright being able to KO them.

Hitboxes

Standing grab

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Clang	Rebound	Effect	G	A	Sound
0	0	0%	0		0	100	0	4.4919	26	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick
1	0	0%	0		0	100	0	3.1248	22	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick

Dash grab

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Clang	Rebound	Effect	G	A	Sound
0	0	0%	0		0	100	0	4.4919	26	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick
1	0	0%	0		0	100	0	3.1248	22	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick

Timing

Standing grab

Grab	7-8
Animation length	30

Dash grab

Grab	7-8
Animation length	40

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Grab

Ice Climbers's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back)
Edge attack (fast) · Edge getups (fast) · Edge attack (slow) · Edge getups (slow)
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special