Arcade Archives Ice Climber

Genre: Platformer / Arcade

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Ice Climber is an Arcade-style Platformer released in 1985 on the Japanese Famicom, and then later that same year on its Western counterpart, the Nintendo Entertainment System, as a launch title. Meanwhile, the game also received an arcade port in 1985. Despite this game never getting a sequel, it became much more well-known when the game’s protagonists, Popo and Nana, appeared together as a playable multi-character fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Ice Climber uses 2D pixel art visuals and chiptune sound design that work well enough for the game. It all has a retro style charm to it, but it’s not exceptional in any way.

Ice Climber has players scaling up a series of platforms they can chip away at by jumping up at them with a hammer to get through them, trying to work their way up platform by platform to the summit, while fending off enemies.

Unfortunately, this game is made far too difficult due to move around with physics that favored vertical jumping far more than horizontal control, and with some terrible hit detection on platforms that made it difficult to judge whether you’d land a jump or pass right through the platform.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to make as many points as they can in one run. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

So there are only two remaining elephants in the room to discuss. First: Is this game worth its $8 price tag? And second, is it worth buying if you already subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, which includes a version of this game on its Nintendo Entertainment System app? I’m going to say no on both counts. Not only is $8 pretty steep for a game this old and that plays this poorly, but the Nintendo Entertainment System app version is not different enough to make this version worthwhile in its own right. Really, the only reason anyone would want to buy this release is if they absolutely must own a version of the game. But if you plan on continuing to maintain your Nintendo Switch Online subscription, this release has very little of value for you.

In the end, while the Super Smash Bros. series has made the Ice Climbers iconic, the game itself is just not very good, the price tag is absurd, and you’re much better off just playing this on Nintendo Switch Online.

tl;dr – While this game is probably best known these days for producing the pair of titular characters now featured in the Super Smash Bros. Series, this classic arcade game is stifled by the terrible horizontal movement while jumping that makes the game harder to control than it should be, and this release has an absurd $8 price tag. If you want to play this game, just play it on Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Entertainment System app.

Grade: D

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