Play Ice Climber Online

Ice Climber came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, developed and published by Nintendo. It was one of those early platformers that felt distinct from the Mario games, built around a simple vertical climb instead of a side-scrolling adventure. The game had a certain charm with its blocky, colorful graphics and straightforward premise, fitting right into that era of NES experimentation where not every game needed a complex story.

You control either Popo or Nana, a pair of parka-clad climbers, and your goal is to scale a series of mountain stages by breaking through layers of ice above you. You use a wooden mallet to smash the ice blocks overhead and also to fend off enemies like polar bears and swooping condors. The screen scrolls upward as you climb, and you have to move quickly before the platform below you vanishes, which adds a constant pressure. The controls are a bit slippery, making precise jumps and strikes more challenging than they first appear. It feels like a race against both the clock and your own momentum.