Ice Climbers

Ice Climbers
File:Ics.PNG The in-game sprites of Popo and Nana from Ice Climber.
Universe	Ice Climber
Debut	Ice Climber (1985)
Smash Bros. appearances	Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	NES Remix Pack (2014)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System
Species	Humans
Gender	Male (Popo) and female (Nana)
Place of origin	Infinite Glacier
Designed by	Tadashi Sugiyama
Japanese voice actor	Sanae Kobayashi

The Ice Climbers (アイス クライマー, Ice Climber) are the pair of playable protagonists from the game Ice Climber, released in the pre-Super Mario Bros. era of NES games. When playing a one-player game, the player plays as Popo. When playing a two-player game, player one plays as Popo, while player two plays as Nana. In both Melee and Brawl, certain color changes will make Nana the leading, player-controlled climber.

In Super Smash Bros., the CPU-controlled Ice Climber has his or her own separate percentage or stamina counter, though it is not displayed on-screen. This factor alone contributes to the Ice Climbers' extremely high learning curve, as players must ensure the safety of not one, but two characters at the same time. The payoff can be highly rewarding, however; they are placed near the top of most accepted tier lists.

Character description

Both of the Ice Climbers are small, young children. They both wield wooden mallets, which they use to whack enemies and break ice cubes. Both of them wear parkas; Popo's parka is blue while Nana's is pink. They can also be identified by the patch of hair exposed from their hoods.

The relationship between Popo and Nana is unknown and was not elaborated on in Ice Climber. As the two are said to be "rarely seen apart" in Melee, among the ideas thought up of by fans are that the two are siblings, friends, or even lovers. According to Nintendo, the nature of their relationship is up to the player's imagination; as a result, no hints to their relationship has been directly stated in any media. Melee offers some insight to the potential relationship to the two; a brief shot in the Opening of Melee features Nana and Popo high-fiving each other, with a small heart coming out from where their hands meet, and the Japanese title of Event 21: Ice Breaker roughly translating to "Be the jammer of their romance".

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Nana and Popo, as they appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee

The Ice Climbers made their debut appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series as a dual-controlled pair of fighters. They (as a singular entity) are one of the 14 (15 if Sheik is counted) default characters available from the start of the game. They are ranked 8th on the tier list, in the S tier.

They were selected over Balloon Fighter from Balloon Fight, the main character from Urban Champion, Bubbles from Clu Clu Land, and the Excitebiker from Excitebike, to be representatives of the Famicom/NES period in Nintendo's history.

Trophy

Ice Climbers
That's Popo in the blue and Nana in the pink. These two stars of the game Ice Climber have scaled many an icy summit in their mountaineering careers. Back in their glory days, they chased eggplants, cucumbers, and other vegetables that inexplicably fell from frosty summits when a condor reigned supreme. They're rarely seen apart.

• Ice Climber, 10/85 (NES)

• 

  Ice Climbers [Classic Mode] trophy

• 

  Ice Climbers [Ice Climbers, Adventure Mode] trophy

• 

  Ice Climbers [Ice Climbers, All-Star Mode] trophy

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Nana and Popo, as they appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Ice Climbers still consist of Popo and Nana. They still fight as a pair with Nana following along. Both Ice Climbers can now hang on a ledge at the same time and their down special in the air is no longer an auto-freeze. The Ice Climbers' Final Smash, Iceberg, consists of a large iceberg taking up a large portion of the screen. It deals damage and can freeze those on or near it. Players can still between Popo or Nana as the leader of the duo depending on which color of costume is chosen. The threat of the Ice Climbers' 0-death chain grabs puts them in 2nd on the Brawl tier list in S tier only behind Meta Knight.

Trophy

Ice Climbers trophy in Brawl.

Ice Climbers
The one in blue is Popo, and the one in pink is Nana. They use their incredible jumping powers and hammers to break blocks and climb to the summit. They grab veggies, and if they can catch the condor at the end, they conquer the mountain. Other than breaking blocks, their hammers are good for sending foes flying, climbing down from blocks, and destroying icicles.

: Ice Climber

Sticker

Name	Game	Effect	Characters
Nana	Ice Climber	AttackSpecialsDirect+029 Attack +29	Ice Climbers

Nana (Ice Climber)

In Super Smash Bros. 4

The Ice Climbers' trophy in Super Smash Bros. 4

The Ice Climbers do not return as playable characters for Super Smash Bros. 4, though they do make a cameo as a collectable 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 they were fully functional on the Wii U, Sakurai decided to cut them in order to keep the playable roster between the games identical.

Trophy

Ice Climbers

This pair of adventurers starred in an action game released in 1985. Popo wears blue, and Nana wears red. The goal of their adventure was to reach the top of the mountain, collecting vegetables and defeating animals along the way. Grabbing the condor earned them a nice bonus too!

Popo (in blue) and Nana (in pink) are the daring adventurers from the two-player platformer Ice Climber, released in Europe in 1986. In that game, your goal is to head up a mountain, breaking blocks and taking out pesky critters along the way. When you get to the top, you can collect veg and grab on to the condor to get bonus points! Nice!

: Ice Climber (10/1985)

Trivia

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, the Ice Climbers appear to be left-handed, as they wield their hammers using their left hands.
• Ice Climbers are the only characters to have been cut after appearing as playable in multiple Super Smash Bros. titles.
  • Ice Climbers are one of two starter characters to be cut indefinitely in the next game, with the other being Pokémon Trainer.
  • Ice Climbers and Snake are the only characters from single-character universes to get cut.
  • Nana is the only female character to get cut.
  • Ice Climbers, Lucas (though he returns as DLC), and Pokémon Trainer are the only cut veterans who have trophies in SSB4 that use their models from the previous Smash Bros. game.
• In Germany, Popo is named Pèpè, as "Popo" is a slang word for buttocks in German which, as a name, can also be an insult.
• In both Melee and Brawl, the Ice Climbers are immediately to the right of a character from the Kirby universe on the character select screen.