Ice Climbers

Taken from the first level of the game

When we think of the classic Nintendo era, we think of Mario, Zelda, Metroid. When it comes to the more obscure games we may think of Kid Icarus, the R.O.B. peripheral, and ice climbers. When it comes to thinking about our childhood, we sometimes remember that we were told we were special and can do great things. This game was never told that, or given any form of creativity, love, or passion past the first concept doodle.

Taken from the 2nd level, showing the game over screen

The game has an arcade objective with the game focusing on getting the highest score, and not on climbing every tower possible. To increase your score, you must climb the mountain, knocking out blocks in the platform, and killing animals such as birds, seals, or white puffins, depending on which version of the game you play. There does not appear to be an official statement for why this change was made for the international markets .

Taken from the level 1 bonus stage

Once you reach the top of the mountain, there is a bonus stage, where you collect either aubergine or strawberries, depending on the level you are on. At the end of the bonus stage, there is a moment where you have to jump and attack the pterodactyl, this proves to be surprisingly more challenging than you would initially think.

Whilst the screenshots that have been used look like they are all the same level, this is not the case, as every level has the exact same backdrop, and mountain structure. This is presumably due to memory limitations, but it has the unfortunate consequence of making every level look identical. Whilst a consistent art style is important for a video game, when it’s done to this extent it makes the game look bland and unimaginative. As the player cannot easily visually see difference in the level design, this can lead to a lack of a sense of progression. The only thing that shows how far they have come, is an increase in enemy’s, harder layout and an incremental number.

If the game were on an arcade cabinet, then it would be able to include more varied backgrounds with its more powerful hardware. It would also mean that players would have to pay money every time they wanted to play. This would mean that players wouldn’t be playing the game as much which may work to its advantage, as players would be eager to try and beat their, or their friends high score. It would also mean that there would be less memories of the game, which could more easily create positive nostalgia towards it.

The game raises a large number of questions about its world and characters. ‘Why are we harming the animals that are trying to sustain the environment’, ‘why is fruit considered a reward for the ice climbers’ ‘What on earth is that pterodactyl creature doing with all the fruit’, ‘did we steal it from them’, ‘Why does everything have eyeballs including the fruit’ and ‘why is the time limit only applied in the bonus stage’. When looking into the game and its manual, there are no satisfying answers to any these questions.

In some cases, the lack of explanation, can work such as in Jet Set Willy having a clear Monty Python inspiration. This did not translate well over and simply drawing eyes on everything does not make it humorous. It does not deserve the title of absurd humour, if it was trying to make us sympathies with cute things with eyeballs it should not have made us crush animals because they were simply in our way, by trying to keep their habitat.

This game has no sequels; however, it does contain a large list of ports to other systems, including the Nintendo switch. If you pay for the online service you will receive the game for free, this is how the product was reviewed. It should be noted that the Nintendo switch version does feature online multiplayer, which is the most recent innovation to the title. It does, however, seem that the player base isn't large to play with strangers online, so its recommended that if you want to try this feature, you should plan ahead with a friend you don’t particularly like, though the same could be said with the standard multiplayer. The lack of an active online player base speaks volumes towards the current popularity of the game and its legacy, as it appears to have been lost in the ether of time aside from when Nintendo need to test their new NES emulator.

A surprisingly lacking feature would be a high score board for both local and global statistics. It's quite surprising that Nintendo has not tried this is as it would be a relatively simple addition to the game that would give people of reason to play it again. Whilst the feature may be implemented in a future patch, it is currently not inside of the game.

The 2 characters who are nameless do feature in Smash Bros, however, they are not generally considered a viable character in high-level practice nor are they anybody’s favorite. the only time they were omitted, their return was requested, however this may this may be due to the controversy surrounding the Wii U and 3DS limitations.

The music is another thing that is incredibly repetitive. It contains only one song, which is more monotonous than any song in the charts. Its length is by far one of the shortest of any NES title, which really makes it show that it was a launch game.

The game is small, repetitive, and won’t make any ‘top 50 NES games' list. If you have the Nintendo online service then you may want to give it a try for a few minutes, but your play session won’t last much past that. Playing with a friend, however, is an entirely separate question. I do not recommend sharing the frustration of this game is it merely makes 2 people mildly irritated as opposed to one.