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This article is about the Ice Climber's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Ice Climbers.
Back in the battle after a ten-year absence! There are two of them, so does that make them twice as strong as other fighters?
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

The Ice Climbers (アイスクライマー Aisu Kuraimā?) (respectively known as Popo and Nana) are veteran fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, first playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee. They were confirmed in June 12th, 2018 along with the remaining roster. Although they are a team, they are classified as #15. While Nana is the follower, Popo is the leader.

When unlocked, they are fought at Summit.

Attributes[]

Strengths[]

  • The Ice Climbers can be desynched to execute attacks in a manner that makes them difficult to dodge or make combos more difficult to escape.
  • During their Final Smash, they can attack the opponents to lure them to the iceberg in order to KO.
  • Blizzard freezes the opponent, allowing them to punish with one of their attacks.
  • High jumping height.
  • Good grounded mobility.
  • The partner is much faster than the leader in terms of mobility.
  • Fantastic KO power.
  • Great attacking speed, slightly on par with Kirby and Mario.
  • Among the best grounded and aerial games across the entire roster.
  • The duo have among the best grab games across the roster: as desyncs allow them to pull off zero-to-deaths and combos that very few characters can perform, on top of possessing a pair of KO throws (forward throw and down throw) at reasonable percents.
  • Forward aerial is a strong meteor smash.
  • As a pair, the duo collectively possess some of the greatest damage-output among the entire cast.
  • Excellent range for their small size.
  • Belay covers a high distance and can tether to ledges.
  • Squall Hammer is a form of horizontal recovery.
  • Ice Shot can be used for spacing and zoning, as well as to hit opponents from above.
  • It is impossible for opponents to determine what percentage Nana is at.
  • Both climbers are capable of holding a pair of different Items.

Weaknesses[]

  • Lightweight and floaty, making them easy to launch and KO.
  • Poor horizontal air-based movement, thus complicating safe approaches.
  • Due to Nana's complicated wellbeing, the duo have lackluster defensive capabilities to prevent both climbers from getting hit.
  • Because their hammers are among the shortest of any weapon in Ultimate, swordfighters can still out-range the duo despite their notable disjoints.
  • The leader's grab has the shortest range in the entire game, whereas the partner typically lacks the ability to grab.
  • Belay is easy to gimp and goes almost nowhere if Nana is KO'd.
  • Squall Hammer leaves them helpless after use. Additionally, distance is greatly reduced if Nana is KO'd.
  • Ice Shot decreases in size over time and distance. It can also be knocked back by attacks.
  • If Nana gets KO'd, Popo will be all on his own, drastically decreasing their damage output and survivability.
  • If the leading Ice Climber is KO'd, the following climber will also be KO'd.
  • Nana is unable to grab opponents.
  • The partner climber will panic if the leader is grabbed, preventing the partner from attacking the grabber.
  • Has a very high skill ceiling due to the difficulty of effectively desynching.
  • The partner climber AI is prone to making poor decisions when separated, including self-destructing or unintentional air dodging.
  • Iceberg is very avoidable by most characters and is limited by the Ice Climber's movement, making it one of the worst Final Smashes.

Summary[]

The Ice Climbers are a pair of middleweights (weighing the same as Lucario, Wolf, Villager, Mythra, and Steve), with a moderately short height, above-average jumps, average walking speed, slightly above-average dashing speeds (with a decent initial dash), slow air speed, above-average air acceleration, with low gravity and slow falling speed. Unique to a majority of the roster, they are the archetypical tag team fighters, though each Climber is a unique character in their own right. The partner (Nana by default) is controlled by a CPU and mimics what the leader (Popo by default) does with a seven frame-delay. As such, the player is essentially controlling two characters at the same time with slight tweaks; the partner has slightly higher mobility attributes, they will deal less damage, receive more damage, and are knocked back farther than the leader. When separated, the partner's AI takes control over their movement, and guides them back to the leader, ignoring most opponents in their path. While one Ice Climber deals respectable damage on their own, the two's power combined can make them formidable.

Most of the Ice Climbers' grounded moveset is fairly quick, and disjointed, allowing for versatile use. Their neutral attack is fast, hits twice, and launches at a low angle, making this attack fairly good at guaranteeing follow-ups at lower percentages, giving the duo a reliable stun-lock, and allowing the Ice Climbers a quick option to keep opponents away from them. Forward tilt can be angled, and has a chance to trip opponents. It has impressive knockback growth, and can KO fellow middleweights at about 135% at the edge of Final Destination. Up tilt is short ranged, but one of the Ice Climbers' most useful moves, hitting multiple times with low knockback and dealing excellent damage. It also allows for a direct chain into a series of up aerials until about 115%, making it paramount in initiating combos. Down tilt is one of their quickest grounded moves, acting as a strong semi-spike at high percentages, and making follow-ups into dash attack or similar very easy. Dash attack starts off moderately slow, but sends opponents above the leader for quick transitions into Up aerials, similarly to up tilt. However, it has very low knockback growth, making it only useful in starting aerial combos.

Complimenting their tilts, the Ice Climbers' smash attacks are also very useful and excellent KO options. Forward smash is the duo's strongest smash, dealing impressive damage despite it's quick speed, and respectable knockback even at lower percentages, reliably KOing at about 70% at edge of the stage. Up smash is similarly powerful, sending opponents flying quite early, but is particularly slower in it's start-up and ending, making it situational. It hits in a wide area directly above the Ice Climbers, and can KO at about 120%. Down smash launches opponents at a diagonal angle, and is the weakest of the duo's smash attacks. Each Climber swings in one direction, allowing this move to catch rolls and surprise opponents who may be approaching from behind. However, if only the leader is currently on stage, they become vulnerable to rolls due to the lack of a hitbox from behind.

The Ice Climbers' aerials are all strong options and are the basis of most of their combos. Neutral aerial is short ranged, and has weak knockback, but is also quick to start and has a long-lasting hitbox, making it passable as a gimping tool. When an opponent is launched upward, it also can add on some extra damage when using up tilt is unfavorable, or launch opponents directly forward. Forward aerial is a disjointed hammer swing, which deals heavy damage and has moderate ending lag. The partner's version of the move has a sweetspot that hides a very strong spike that can net a KO impressively early if used at mid percentages, and acts as the Ice Climbers' main edgeguarding tool. Back aerial can be a useful move for it's quickness, large, disjointed hitbox, and respectable knockback. It is deceptively strong offstage as such, and when used properly, it can allow for a stage spike and particularly useful edgeguard. It also is safe on shield, the partner Climber's attack actually being positive on shield. Up aerial is the duo's strongest aerial and one of their best KO options when on the stage. The move has excellent juggling capabilities at low percent, and KO's most opponents at around 110-125% when used out of a down throw. Down aerial is a stall-then-fall that covers the entirety of the Ice Climbers' underside, and moves slightly diagonally forward, making it excellent at punishing opponents who are trying to juggle them. Despite having little KO potential outside of very high percentages, it can be effectively used out of a short hop to attack opponents directly in front of the Ice Climbers, while also being quick to act out of makes it situational for edgeguards.

The Ice Climbers' specials all have somewhat versatile uses. Neutral special has the duo each create a slab of ice that slides across the stage, shrinking as they melt. Unlike most projectiles, the ice acts more like a container or soccer ball in that the incoming projectile is completely stop, allowing the Ice Climbers to counter most projectile spam playstyles more easily. At extremely high percents it can also freeze opponents, allowing use of setups or reads. If attacked with a strong enough attack, the projectile's ownership will change, allowing it to harm the Ice Climbers if collided with. Their side special, Squall Hammer, is a respectable move for racking up damage and is relatively safe on shield or cross-ups. With continued presses, the attack can also be used for recovery purposes, which puts them into a helpless state. It is also one of the easiest desync methods available to the player. Up special, Belay, covers an excellent amount of air, the partner Climber is completely intangible until pulling up the leader, and auto-grabs any ledges within range. The leader also has a very situational, but strong hitbox on the way up, allowing for a KO from the top blast zones, or a means to apply extra damage at the end of an aerial combo. Finally, down special, Blizzard, is a slow, read-based punish tool that freezes opponents in their tracks and deals significant amounts of damage at point blank range. Using the attack while an enemy is already frozen increases the freeze time slightly and can allow the duo to make space between them and their opponent if need be, or tack on extra damage while frozen. Specifically, this move is very useful when near the ledge, as freezing an opponent near the edges of a stage can make it easy to nudge them off without any means to escape. It also has priority over some other projectiles and can cancel them if the two collide. Overall, the duo's specials are all useful in specific situations and can help to create openings for additional combos or surprise KO's.

An extremely important part of playing Ice Climbers is learning how to consistently perform a tech called desynching. Desynching is an advanced technique that allows a player to manipulate the partner Ice Climber into acting slower than usual. At its most basic form, anytime the partner Ice Climber is not within a specific range of the leader, the partner's AI will take manual control of the partner and return it to the leader. During this time, none of the leader's inputs are read by the partner and it's AI inputs are prioritized until it has returned to the leader, and may act independently of the leader's current movements being performed. Using desyncs can allow for some remarkable combos and setups that are completely impossible with other fighters.

The removal of chain grabs (and by extension, wobbling) means that the duo's grab game has become more situational and in-line with the rest of the roster, limiting it's effectiveness. However, while it is not as potent as it once was, the Ice Climber's grab game is still respectable. The Ice Climber's grab itself has been vastly changed. For starters, only the leader grabs opponents, while the partner cheers. This means that the duo can no longer grab more than one opponent at a time. Additionally, the Ice Climber's grab is the shortest ranged grab in the game, making it risky to attempt to grab in the first place. Forward throw is a basic throw that has moderately strong base knockback and causes tumble from 0%, which allows it to open options for a tech chase. Back throw has very strong base knockback, while it's knockback scaling has been decreased, making it difficult to use in either combos or as a KO option, but useful in desyncs. Up throw is similar, in which it has very limited uses, but notably allows quick access to juggling with up aerial. Down throw is by far the duo's best grab. It's main use is to initiate aerial combos, desync combos, and juggles, all of which can be devastating. The Ice Climbers' neutral, forward, back, and up aerials can all be used for combos out of down throw and the opponent's placement in air can make it difficult for them to escape from a combo once it has been started, especially if desynced.

Despite all their strengths, the Ice Climbers have a few glaring flaws, mainly coming from the vulnerability of the partner Ice Climber and the loss of a few important tools between the transition from Brawl to Ultimate. While having decent damage output and KO potential, it becomes heavily diminished if the partner is KO'd, and the fact that the partner takes more damage and knockback further compounds this problem. When separated, the AI guides the partner back to the leader and the partner is unable to act and defend themselves from any threats. When the leader is grabbed by an opponent, the partner will act shocked or scared and cannot attack until the leader has escaped or been thrown, which makes previously near-guaranteed grab escapes no longer possible. The partner also has their own hidden percentage that racks up separately of the leader's and can make it easy for an opponent to KO them first. Because of this, it is important for the leader to hurry back to the partner in an attempt at defending them, though this can potentially lead the leader into dangerous situations as well. Their main recovery method, Belay, is also incredibly situational. If the partner is unable to reach the ledge, it can put the leader at a disadvantage, even if they make it back to the stage. Since the partner flings the leader much higher, it is possible to overshoot the ledge, leaving the leader unable to defend themselves while descending helplessly onstage. Should the CPU Ice Climber get KO'd during the stock, the remaining Ice Climber will have drastically reduced damage output, KO ability, and recovery, with Belay becoming practically useless and Squall Hammer losing a good deal of distance (whereas with both Ice Climbers they are excellent recovery moves).

Outside of the issues of the partner Ice Climber, the duo's moveset comes with it's own problems. Barring their situational projectile from Ice Shot, the Ice Climbers have no reliable projectile and can be easily camped out or their projectiles turned against them. The range of their moves is not great—despite being disjointed, their hammers' range can still come up short and can make for some bad matchups, specifically against the likes of Marth or Sephiroth, while Blizzard's range has been nerfed significantly and is dangerous to use liberally. Arguably, the changes that hurt the Ice Climbers most are the changes to grab mechanics in Ultimate. The added period of grab intangibility between grabs and the partner's lack of a grab makes the Ice Climbers' previously most potent tool, chain grabbing, impossible. This significantly impedes their damage output compared to Brawl or Melee and no longer gives the Ice Climbers an almost guaranteed stock off of a single grab. Desyncing in itself can also have it's own drawbacks. An accidental desync off of up tilt or down throw may make it more difficult to follow-up with the duo's combos, or can even cause the partner's attack to miss entirely, hindering the duo's damage-racking capabilities. Desyncing can also leave the partner Ice Climber vulnerable because of the increase in reaction time between the leader and the partner; in particular, abilities such as dodging, and jumping are significantly delayed, giving the opponent ample time to counterattack if properly read. Finally, the Ice Climbers suffer from being rather predictable and are forced to endure a severely poor disadvantage state. Because of their reliance on mid-air combos and some situational oddities, the general playstyle of the Ice Climbers can be easily picked apart and exploited early on in a match. In cases like this, it can be come difficult, if not impossible to return to neutral or even win trade offs without having to take serious risks.

Overall, the Ice Climbers are among the least beginner friendly characters on the roster, but offer amazing potential with practice. The inherent complexity of controlling two characters at once can be difficult to understand for new players, and combined with their low traction, somewhat situational moveset, and severe handicaps when the partner is lost are also considerable barriers of entry. However, learning the quirks of the pair, especially desynching, can open an incredibly potent and powerful game plan. This includes long and relatively free-form combos, many being zero-to-death options—some even being true—as well as other unique setups and mix-ups that very few characters have any proper answers for.

Changes from Brawl[]

Attributes[]

  • Nana and Popo appear to stand more closely together.
  • Nana cannot act if Popo does a throw or if Popo has been grabbed.
    • She also has a unique expression for these animations.

Ground Attacks[]

  • Neutral attack can lock opponents due to its altered angle (60° → 361°/180°) and the partner's second hit deals more damage (2% → 2.6%).
  • Neutral attack does less damage (3% → 2% (leader hit 1), 4% → 3.5% (leader hit 2), 2% → 1.5% (partner hit 1), 11% → 9.6% (total)).
  • Second hit of neutral attack has more ending lag (frame 20 → 30) and both hits have a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (hit 1), 4-6 (hit 2) → 4-5 (both)).

Aerial Attacks[]

  • All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 7 (neutral/back), 20 → 10 (forward), 30 → 14 (up), 42 → 20 (down).
  • The Ice Climbers can no longer use two back or up aerials in a short hop due to their faster falling speed as well as the latter having increased ending lag.

Grabs and Throws[]

  • Nana is unable to grab opponents now, preventing the Ice Climbers from performing Wobbles or chain grabs that they were so well-known for in previous appearances.
  • New down throw.

Special Attacks[]

  • Belay travels a higher distance.
  • Blizzard now only goes in one direction rather than both.
  • The stalagmites from their Ice Shot move can be easily reflected, similar to King Dedede's Gordo
  • During their Final Smash, the iceberg will now spin constantly while a Condor flies around the stage that Popo/Nana can grab it's leg and ride (Nana/Popo can't grab the Condor's leg unlike Popo/Nana). The Iceberg can also be moved left and right with the joystick. The Polar Bear from the Ice Climber game also makes a cameo appearance.

Moveset[]

Ground Attacks[]

Normal[]

  • Neutral Attack: The Ice Climbers swing their hammers horizontally, and then vertically. A great "get off me" tool that does decent damage to boot.
  • Forward Tilt: The Ice Climbers swing their hammers horizontally. Has high knockback growth, being able to KO at around 80%-90% at the ledge on most characters, which is compared to Mr. Game & Watch's forward tilt.
  • Up Tilt: The Ice Climbers twirl their hammers over their heads. This creates a lingering hitbox that hits multiple times. A useful combo starter that can begin a chain of up aerials.
  • Down Tilt: The Ice Climbers sweep their hammers across the ground in front of themselves. A steep semi-spike that functions very well as both a poking option in neutral and edgeguarding option, thanks to its quick startup, decent range, and low endlag.
  • Dash Attack: The Ice Climbers leap forward, swinging their hammers in front of themselves. It deals mostly vertical knockback that can start combos, but has weak knockback and is ineffective for KOing.

Smash Attacks[]

  • Forward Smash: The Ice Climbers swing their hammers down in front of themselves similar to their original attack in Ice Climber.
  • Up Smash: The Ice Climbers swing their hammers in an overhead arc.
  • Down Smash (Hammer Sweep): The Ice Climbers sweep their hammers across the ground in a specific direction (the leader attacks in front, while the partner attacks behind). If the partner is absent, however, this move will only hit on one side.

Other attacks[]

  • Floor Attack (Front): The Ice Climbers swing their hammers around themselves as they get up.
  • Floor Attack (Back): Same as the frontal floor attack.
  • Floor Attack (Trip): Gets up and spins around, hitting with their hammers.
  • Ledge Attack: The Ice Climbers climb up and slam their hammers in front of themselves.

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral aerial: The Ice Climbers spin in place with their hammers outstretched.
  • Forward aerial (Hammer Slam): Resembles the Ice Climbers' air attack from their original game. They perform a somersaulting overhead swing of their hammers in a manner similar to their forward smash. The partner's hammer has a sweetspot that can meteor-smash opponents.
  • Back aerial: The Ice Climbers swing their hammers horizontally behind themselves. Both hits are extremely safe on shield, with the secondary climber's hit being one of the few moves that is positive on shield.
  • Up aerial: The Ice Climbers swing their hammers above themselves in an arc. An excellent juggle tool that can quickly rack up damage both desynced and synced, and can even function as a KO confirm from down throw at around 70% on most characters.
  • Down aerial: The Ice Climbers hold their hammers below themselves and fall downward. A stall-then-fall, but it is unable to meteor smash at all, unlike most attacks of its kind. As a result, it is usually used as a niche landing option.

Grabs and Throws[]

Control of Nana is deactivated during throws and grabs.
  • Grab: The leader reaches in front of themselves with their free hand. The leader's grab range is the shortest in the game.
  • Pummel: The leader headbutts the opponent.
  • Forward Throw: The leader knocks the opponent away with their hammer.
  • Back Throw: The leader throws the opponent behind themselves.
  • Up Throw: The leader tosses the opponent upward and hits them with their hammer. It has the second highest base knockback of any up throw, but the weakest knockback growth, rendering it incapable at KOing, even at very high percents.
  • Down Throw: The leader lifts the opponent over their head with both hands and slams them on the ground. The Ice Climbers' only throw with KO potential, it can KO middleweights at around 214%. It is also effective for starting combos, especially when desynced.

Special Moves[]

Ice Climbers' Special Moves
Melee Brawl Ultimate
Standard Special Ice Shot
Side Special Squall Hammer
Up Special Belay
Down Special Blizzard
Final Smash - Iceberg

Taunts[]

  • Up Taunt: They set down their hammers and jump up and down once. This is their victory animation during the results screen in Ice Climber.
  • Down Taunt: They dance in a circle.
  • Side Taunt: They point their hammers diagonally upward and shout "Yup!", as wind blows behind them.

On-Screen Appearance[]

The Condor flies in with them hanging off its feet. They then jump off while high fiving each other, and the Condor flies off.


Idle Poses[]

  • Both twirl their hammers.
  • Both look backwards curiously.

Victory Poses[]

  • Both Ice Climbers nod to each other then give each other a high five.
  • Both Ice Climbers excitedly jump up and down.
  • Standing in front of each other, one Ice Climber moves their head to the left, while the other one moves their head to the right; they then spin their heads around.

In competitive play[]

Before release, players were quick to note that the Ice Climbers lost their most powerful tool from Brawl: their infamous zero-to-death chain grab. That, along with changes to gameplay mechanics removing several combo tools, caused players to believe that the Ice Climbers wouldn't be viable, a belief that held on throughout the early metagame. As such, the Ice Climbers’ representation was minuscule.

It wasn't until a few months after Ultimate's release that the Ice Climbers' playerbase started to make breakthroughs, with the few that stuck with them discovering new desync setups and high-damaging combos. This allowed the Ice Climbers to gain better representation as the metagame progressed, with Kie using them as a co-main in Japan. Most notably, Big D picked up the Ice Climbers up and was able to place well at a national level. Because of the duo's competitive success, the Ice Climbers have been reassessed as either an upper mid-tier or high-tier by the general consensus, like their performances in Melee and Brawl. The new advanced techniques, however, have helped their mains with how little match-up experience there has been from opponents to learn from.

Classic Mode: Duos for Days[]

Ice Climbers' Classic Mode consists of them fighting two characters from each of their respective universes, referencing themselves being duos.

Round Opponent Stage Music Notes
1 Link and Zelda Great Plateau Tower Main Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2 Ryu and Ken Green Greens Ryu Stage
3 Villager and Isabelle Smashville Title Theme - Animal Crossing: Wild World (Brawl)
4 Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong Jungle Japes Jungle Level (Melee)
5 Palutena and Pit Palutena's Temple Title Theme - Kid Icarus
6 Mario and Peach Princess Peach's Castle Main Theme - New Super Mario Bros.
7 Bonus Stage
Final Master Hand and Crazy Hand Final Destination Master Hand / Crazy Hand

Role in World of Light[]

Although the Ice Climbers do not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, they were vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (except for Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

The Ice Climbers are unlocked in the southern portion of the snowy mountain area. Unlocking them eliminates the ice paths so they can be traversed in both directions as well as opening a path to the hidden forest. In the battle, you fight on the Omega form of Summit. Ice Climbers have a Grab Spirit in the battle with a power of 7,500.

In Spirit Battles[]

As the Main Opponents[]

As Minions[]

  • Condor

Palette Swaps[]

Ice Climbers Palette (SSBU)

•Note: Nana becomes the leading, player-controlled character when using the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th costumes shown above. The stock icons for these costumes change to reflect this, but the character select portraits always show Popo in front.

Gallery[]

External links[]

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IceClimbersSymbol Ice Climber universe
Character Ice Climbers (Melee  · Brawl  · Ultimate)
Side Characters Enemies Polar Bear  · Topi
Final Smash Condor
Stages Icicle Mountain  · Summit
Item Vegetable
Music List of Music (Ice Climber)
Collectibles Trophies Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies
Stickers List of Stickers (Ice Climber series)
Spirits List of spirits (Ice Climber series)
Masterpieces Ice Climber
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