The freeze glitch is a glitch unique to the Ice Climbers in Melee discovered by Philly Billy. It is caused by performing a grab with the secondary Ice Climber performing Squall Hammer on the character being grabbed. This glitch is banned in tournament play due to the glitch allowing the ICs to attack the opponent while prohibiting any attacks or movement from the opponent.
Characters
- Primary: Ice Climbers
- Secondary: Any
Stage
- There are no stage requirements, but it is easier to do it on a flat stage that does not move, such as Final Destination.
Instructions
- Start by grabbing the opponent with the secondary Ice Climber.
- Next, the player will need to (quickly) use Squall Hammer on the grabbed opponent.
- If done correctly, the opponent will be frozen from the grab.
- Once the opponent is "frozen", they will remain in the same place, no matter how high their damage gets, until a character grab(s) and throw(s) them.
Barrel Cannon glitch
This is a variation of the Freeze glitch that can be used to get a large number of combos. It can be done by the Ice Climbers on any stage with a flat surface. The user must have a Barrel Cannon and at least two opponents. First, the player must perform the freeze glitch on any opponent. When the opponent is frozen, the player must grab a Barrel Cannon and throw it at the opponent. The opponent should be stuck in it if performed correctly. Then, the player must perform the freeze glitch on the second opponent. Once the second opponent is frozen, the player should throw said opponent at the barrel cannon. The frozen opponent should be stuck in the barrel cannon and rack up a decent amount of damage.
Notes
- If opponents are hit up or down while frozen, they will slowly move in that direction, which may cause the Ice Climber to be unable to grab and release them from the glitch.
- On the Corneria and Venom stages, frozen characters will float around the stage until the glitch is fixed (i.e. grabbing them).
- If frozen characters gets out of the screen, they will neither be KO'd nor revive. This might happen in stages such as Corneria and Venom, as well as moving stages. It can also happen if a Barrel Cannon is thrown on the frozen character.
- A Screw Attack will unfreeze the frozen character.