Year released: 1984 (Arcade), 1985 (NES)

Number of Players: 1-2 (simultaneous)

Popo and Nana (that's their names... right?) chase a bird up 32 mountains to get their food back.

Graphics: The sprites are a tad small, about the same scale as Donkey Kong. Little fluidity in the animation. Colors are all used well, enemies have as much detail as you'd look for in sprites their size.

Play control: Right and left on the control pad make Popo or Nana walk left or right--when you let go, they slide some before stopping fully. B makes them whip out their hammer, which is tricky when you're on moving platforms... hold it down, and you'll float after the platform moves on (when you use your hammer on a platform, you stay in one place instead of moving with the platform). You won't float forever, though. A button makes a high jump, but the horizontal speed of the jump seems lacking.

Sound: Hmm... simplistic, like Donkey Kong, but changed to fit a mountain-climbing atmosphere. I know it's kind of weird, but just go with it. The music is pleasing, but don't expect M.C. Kids.

Challenge: Reach the top of the mountain by jumping, thus bashing your hammer into ice. Once you have a hole in the floor of ice, you jump through it. Each time you move up (starting with conquering the second level of ice), the screen follows you up. Fall down to the bottom of the screen, and you're dead. Oh, yeah, spend too much time on one level, and a polar bear will come out and move the screen up a level. There are also enemies like birds and white hairballs that you need to conquer with your mallet (either from below, with jumping [making sure the mallet is above your head, as only at the peak of your jump does the mallet go above your head], or from the side with a B button mallet attack). Then you have to catch floating clouds. The stage ends with a bonus stage that you have 40 seconds to complete. It's like the normal stage, except without enemies, and if you die, you don't lose a life. Also, there are fruit to collect, and at the very end, you have to jump up as high as possible and hitch a ride on the feet of the bird who stole your food.

Gameplay: Not entirely new experience. It puts an engine most gamers should be familiar with (close range attack for doing damage, but jumping still a key part) into an awkward situation--moving vertically with little horizontal space. You see, you must climb up multiple screens high, but the width of the stage is only one screen. That's a good thing in some cases, because you can walk off the screen on one side and reappear on the other side. However, attacking will need to be confronted with planning by this token. Also, your jumps fit the stage proportions--you jump one third of the screen's height, yet you can go forward only a few blocks' width. This makes jumping from horizontally scrolling clouds a nightmare. Not to mention that sometimes winds can blow you off course (horizontal levels that have wind will be marked by marks on the blocks).

Bottom line: At first, it might seem that the only redeeming factor that Ice Climber has is that it uses an engine we've found to be fun. There is a certain appeal to having to plan out every attack, though. Cramped quarters in terms of width may prove frustrating, but with the level select on the title screen, you can come back to kick its butt (or let it kick yours, as the case may be) easily. If you have an NES, then I guess that shows what your taste in video games is--try it.

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