Ice Climber, FC

Ice Climber game cart for Famicom, Family Computer.  Nintendo, 1984

• Condition: Fair.  Shows small scratches and stains. 
• Tested: plays great.
• Cleaned: both cart and contacts have been cleaned.

This is a relatively rare game from Nintendo.  It is fun to play.  I did a lot of "testing" with this game!

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Expert Review of Konami's Ice Climber for Famicom by Traci B.:

1985 was a year that saw some great Famicom releases that nobody could have known would grow to such popularity. Ice Climber, a platformer originally released in Japanese arcades the year prior, is one example of such a game.

The game stars now-iconic characters Popo and Nana, distinguished by their blue and pink Inuit jackets, respectively. Newer gamers would recognize the Ice Climbers from their appearance in both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, who enter the stage via condor, another iconic Ice Climber staple.

The premise of Ice Climber is simple: reach the top of the mountain. Unlike other games, which have a set, linear path to them, Ice Climber allows you to pick any of the 32 stages right from the main menu. Progressing through each stage follows the same idea, with the only difference being an increase in difficulty: extra enemies, less platforms to stand on, and more falling icicles. Pressing B swings your hammer and attacks enemies in front of you, while A either breaks the ice block above your head or lets you jump to the next platform.

The enemies are fairly varied. There are Toppies who slowly walk out of caves on either side of the screen and will repair any holes in the ground that you have made on your expedition. Generally, Toppies are slow moving and only care about fixing the holes in the floor, so they are not much of a problem. However, Nitpickers, small red birds that fly across the screen, will follow you as you scale up the mountain. Finally, if you wait around too long without climbing up the mountain, vicious polar bears come out, rounding out the list of enemies.

Once you reach the top of the mountain, you enter the bonus stage. This is a timed section of the mountain that, like its base, requires you to jump up onto platforms and grab vegetables for points. If you manage to reach the top of the bonus stage, you will notice a condor flying across the screen. Jumping and grabbing onto the condor gives you big bonus points at the end of the stage.

Ice Climber is a challenging Famicom game for two reasons. The first are the increasingly difficult obstacles you must face as you attempt harder mountains. Often, some mountains will have sliding floors that automatically slide you to the left and right. All too often you will jump to a higher level only to have the sliding floor throw you back down. In addition, some mountains contain no floors at all, requiring that you jump from fast moving cloud platform to cloud platform to reach the top.

The second challenging aspect lies in the controls. Attacking with your hammer works fine, but the jumping controls are stiff. It is possible to move Popo or Nana while they are in the air, but it is to a negligible degree. There are also times where you will swear you landed on a platform’s edge only to find yourself falling back down the mountain.

Even today, gamers enjoy Ice Climber because of its appropriate challenge, great gameplay and memorable music. This game also features little text, but what is present is in English, making this an easy game for non-Japanese readers to get into. The two player mode, in which both players attempt to climb the mountain together, offers a competitive edge as it’s a race to see who grabs the condor the fastest. After 26 years, Ice Climber remains a title that gamers should seek out for their collection.