Ice Climbers (SSBU)

The Ice Climbers (, Ice Climber) are playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. They were confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Although they are a team, the Ice Climbers are collectively classified as Fighter #15.
The Ice Climbers are once again voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, with her portrayals from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl being repurposed for Ultimate.
The Ice Climbers are ranked 51st out of 82 on the tier list, putting them towards the end of the B- tier. This is a huge drop from their 2nd out of 38 ranking in Brawl, and their worst placement in the series. The Ice Climbers serve as an unconventional close-quarters combat character due to their tag-team mechanic, which allows the duo to get away with certain unfavorable situations since the partner climber causes hitlag upon shielding or taking an attack. With proper execution, they possess some of the highest damage outputs of the entire cast in terms of both raw power and combo abilities, alongside solid frame data which allows them to take on an aggressive playstyle in spite of their poor mobility. The Climbers themselves aren't too susceptible to combos due to their short stature and low falling speed, while the partner climber is capable of disrupting combo attempts by their opponent. These advantages grant the Ice Climbers a formidable advantage state and punish game, as one mistake has the potential to lead to heavy damage or a zero-to-death combo, while also making their disadvantage state difficult to capitalize on if their opponent is unable to KO the partner climber quickly.
Despite all their strengths, the Ice Climbers have 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. Universal changes to prevent chain-grabbing make cheesing opponents much harder, especially since the partner climber cheers while the main climber throws an opponent. The partner climber was also made to panic when their leader is grabbed, making previously near-guaranteed grab escapes far less reliable. While they boast significant damage output and KO potential, it becomes heavily diminished if the partner is KO'd. This is not an uncommon occurrence, either, since they take 1.02× more damage and knockback and deprioritize most attempts to defend themselves if separated. Their main recovery methods, Belay and Squall Hammer, are also drastically weakened if the partner is KO'd during the stock, to the point that Squall Hammer no longer provides any height and Belay becomes nearly useless. With these handicaps on the table, defending the partner climber is essential to the character's success. It is also notoriously difficult to use the duo at their strongest, as their most formidable advanced techniques, such as Desyncing, require high technical skill and are difficult to perform consistently. Finally, the climbers have some innate issues such as a lack of range and an aforementioned low approach speed, alongside a mediocre out of shield game without the help of a partner.
Overall, the Ice Climbers have many unique advantages possessed by no other character, with an extremely high skill ceiling, many advanced techniques and potentially high payout; however, the loss of their most abusable tricks from previous games and the technical skill required to perform optimally with them have led to very low usage rates and representation at top-level play. Nonetheless, they remain a viable character and have seen strong results thanks to the efforts of and several players in Japan.
==How to unlock==
Complete one of the following:
*Play VS. matches, with the Ice Climbers being the 10th characters to be unlocked.
*Clear with or any character in his unlock tree, being the 2nd character unlocked after .
*Have the Ice Climbers join the player's party in World of Light.
The Ice Climbers must then be defeated on Summit (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
==Attributes==
The Ice Climbers are a pair of middleweights (weighing 92 units, the same as , , , , and ), with small bodies, above average jumps, below average air speed and air acceleration, 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 six 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, deals less damage, receives more damage, and is 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 underwhelming damage on their own, the two's power combined can make them very formidable.
Most of the Ice Climbers' grounded moveset is fairly quick and disjointed, allowing for versatile use. Their forward tilt has impressive knockback growth, and can 2-frame and KO fellow middleweights at about 135%. 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 and kill confirms. Down tilt is one of their quickest grounded moves, acting as a strong semi-spike at high percentages, and making follow-ups into tech-chases or edgeguards very easy. Dash attack sends opponents above the leader for quick transitions into aerials or desynced combos similarly to up tilt. However, it has very low knockback growth, making it only useful in starting combos.
Complementing 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 its quick speed, and respectable knockback even at lower percentages, reliably KOing at about 70% at edge of the stage. Up smash is similarly powerful, but is slower in its start-up and ending. It hits in a wide area directly above the Ice Climbers, and can KO at about 120%. Down smash is the fastest but also the weakest of the duo's smash attacks. Each Climber swings in one direction, and can even catch large targets with both hits, but 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 has weak knockback, but is also quick to start, very safe, fairly damaging, and has a long-lasting hitbox, making it a threatening combo and gimping tool. Forward aerial is an overhead swing, which is slow and deceptively inactive, but deals immense damage and is the safest air attack in the game. The partner's version of the move has a sweetspot with a very strong spike that can net a KO impressively early offstage, and acts as the Ice Climbers' deadliest edgeguarding tool. Back aerial is an exceedingly useful move for its high speed, incredible safety, and staggering power. Up aerial is one of their best moves for a variety of scenarios. The move has excellent combo and juggling capabilities at low percent, and KOs most opponents at around 110-125% when used out of a down throw. Down aerial is a stall-then-fall that while risky to use, has respectable payoff for landing both on or off the stage, and even offers some combo potential.
The Ice Climbers' specials all have 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 tangible, tanking opposing projectiles even as strong as a Shadow Ball or Charge Beam. This allows the Ice Climbers to counter some projectile spam playstyles more easily. It can also freeze opponents, but not within realistic percents. If attacked with a strong enough attack, the projectile's ownership may change, allowing it to harm the Ice Climbers if collided with. When desynced, the duo can launch 1 Ice Shot at a time and in rapid successsion, making for a very dangerous edgeguard and even a frustrating zoning tool in certain matchups. Their side special, Squall Hammer, is a very respectable move for racking up damage and is relatively safe on shield due to the burst of movement during the final swing. 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 distance, the partner Climber is completely intangible until pulling up the leader, and auto-grabs any ledges within range. They also have a situational, but strong hitbox on the way up, allowing for a risky combo finisher or anti-air, or a means to punish edgeguard attempts by opponents. Finally, down special, Blizzard, is a long-lasting ledgetrap and combo extender that freezes opponents in their tracks and deals huge 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 it can cover most ledge getup options and 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 various situations and can help to create openings for additional combos or surprise KOs.
An important part of playing Ice Climbers is learning how to consistently perform a tech called desyncing. Desyncing is an advanced technique that allows a player to manipulate the partner Ice Climber into acting with different timing 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 its 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 its effectiveness. However, while it is not as potent as it once was, the Ice Climbers' grab game is still respectable. The Ice Climbers' 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 Climbers' grab has the shortest range of any grab in the game, making it difficult to grab an opponent in the first place. Forward throw is a basic throw that has moderately strong base knockback and causes tumble from 0%. But its knockback growth is far too low to KO at realistic percents. Back throw also has strong base knockback with little growth, with less damage and a higher launch angle. Up throw continues this trend to an extreme degree, with virtually nonexistent knockback scaling but very high base knockback—high enough to take stocks at very low percentages or from light and floaty characters if used on a high enough platform on a stage such as Palutena's Temple. Down throw is by far the duo's best throw. Its main use is to initiate aerial combos, desync combos, and juggles, all of which can be devastating. Most of the Ice Climbers' aerials can 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. While all of their throws (except down throw) are normally subpar at best, any of them can be used to hold an opponent in place for a free hit when desynced.
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, such as or . 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, nearly impossible. This significantly impedes their cheesing ability compared to Brawl or Melee and makes getting a stock off of a single grab much harder. Desyncing in itself can also have its 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 inconsistent reaction time between the leader and the partner; abilities such as dodging, and jumping can be significantly delayed, giving the opponent time to counterattack if properly read. They also retain most of the flaws that plagued them in Brawl and Melee, such as the difficulty in keeping the partner alive, severe handicaps when the partner is gone, sluggish aerial mobility, and susceptibility to camping, with the former issue being further pronounced as well.
Overall, the Ice Climbers can be intimidating and difficult to understand for new players, and combined with their subpar mobility and severe handicaps when the partner is lost are also considerable barriers of entry. However, learning the quirks of the pair, especially desyncing, 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 Super Smash Bros. Brawl==
The Ice Climbers were previously infamous for having some of (if not) the most powerful damage racking capabilities thanks to wobbling in Melee and handoffs in Brawl, with these even allowing them to achieve a KO from them. Most likely owing to this, the Ice Climbers were drastically nerfed in the transition from Brawl to Ultimate.
The Ice Climbers' grab game was impacted the most; the partner climber can no longer grab the opponent or act when the leader is grabbed or throwing someone (except when in the air). This dramatically changes the way their combo game works, as it removes the Climbers' extremely powerful chain grabs they were capable of, instead forcing them to rely on desynching or bread-and-butter strings in order to combo the opponent. Moreover, the leader's grabs have noticeably more startup and ending lag, and much less range, now being the shortest grabs in the game.
Outside of this, the base damage output on many of their moves has decreased and many of their attacks connect less reliably when they are together due to reduced hitlag. The partner climber is also launched much easier than the leader due to taking increased damage and knockback from attacks, and the AI's intelligence has been reduced leading to more likely self-destructs, making it harder for each of them to stay together. The partner climber also no longer performs Blizzard behind the leader when used on the ground, and the move itself is less effective as a spacing tool due to its lack of knockback at max range. Finally, due to changes in Belay's hitboxes, the move can gain significantly less height if the hitbox is out prioritized, and its overall size is smaller, making it harder to connect against grounded opponents.
However, the Ice Climbers have received some useful buffs. As with almost every other returning veteran, their mobility has been considerably increased and the partner climber is now faster than the leader, making it harder to separate them. Some of their moves, including forward smash, down smash, and forward aerial deal higher damage with proportional KO power. The Ice Climbers also have superior combo potential on their own due to the removal of hitstun canceling, the weakening of SDI, and desynching remaining mostly intact. Thanks to improved freezing properties, the Ice Climbers can also freeze opponents easier and longer, which can lead to high damage, KOs while edgeguarding, shield pressure, and follow-ups if performed correctly.
Overall, the Ice Climbers are significantly less effective than in Brawl. Their learning curve has become much more steep, as the removal of chaingrabbing and weakening of miscellaneous moves forces them to rely on desynching to perform at full capacity. Even with the changes to game mechanics and late game updates giving them multiple benefits, the Ice Climbers perform worse than in Brawl, and are by far the most nerfed characters in the transition from Brawl to Ultimate.
==Update history==
The Ice Climbers received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but have been buffed slightly overall. Update 2.0.0 improved the partner climber's AI in order to make them follow the leading climber more reliably, though at the cost of making desyncing harder to perform. Aside from this, Belay's recovery potential was improved via its enlarged edge grabbox.
Following this, the Ice Climbers would not receive any noteworthy changes until update 9.0.0. This update decreased the partner's damage and knockback multipliers, which made them less susceptible to being separated from the leader. Belay was also improved noticeably, thanks to its tether recovery distance being lengthened and the leader no longer being inadvertently prevented from using it if the partner used it. Aside from these improvements, a few moves received quality-of-life buffs: dash attack has slightly more range and improved consistency, down smash's knockback was increased, and Squall Hammer will sweetspot edges earlier.
Lastly, update 13.0.1 granted the Ice Climbers a few decent buffs. Belay's start-up lag was decreased, which improved both its recovery potential and utility as a follow-up from up tilt. On a similar note, dash attack's overall lag was decreased, which made it safer and improved its utility for setting up aerial pressure. Lastly, down smash's knockback was increased yet again like in update 9.0.0.
Overall, the Ice Climbers fare mildly better than they did at the launch of Ultimate.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6.1.0
 
 
 
 
==Moveset==
*Although the Ice Climbers have among the lowest traction in the game, their traction is completely unaffected by slippery terrain, such as ice.
*The partner Ice Climber will taunt whenever the leader throws an opponent.
**Additionally, when the leader Ice Climber is grabbed, the partner will panic.
For a gallery of the Ice Climbers' hitboxes, see here.
===Stats===
====Popo====
====Nana====
===Announcer call===
Ice Climbers English Announcer SSBU.wav|English
Ice Climber Japanese Announcer SSBU.wav|Japanese/Chinese
Ice Climbers Korean Announcer SSBU.wav|Korean
===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.
IceClimbersOnScreenAppearanceSSBU.gif|Ice Climbers' on-screen appearance
===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.
*Side taunt: They point their hammers diagonally upward and shout "Yup!", as the wind blows behind them.
*Down taunt: They dance in a circle.
SSBUIceClimbersTaunt1.gif|Ice Climbers' up taunt.
SSBUIceClimbersTaunt2.gif|Ice Climbers' side taunt.
SSBUIceClimbersTaunt3.gif|Ice Climbers' down taunt.
===Idle poses===
*Both twirl their hammers.
*Popo looks backward curiously.
SSBUIceClimbersIdle1.gif|Ice Climbers' first idle pose.
SSBUIceClimbersIdle2.gif|Ice Climbers' second idle pose.
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (English) 	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Italian) 	Cheer (Dutch) 	Cheer (French)
Cheer 	 	 	 	 	
Description	I scream, you scream, Ice Climb - ers!	Ice Climb - er! 	Na - na! Po - po!	Ice - Ice - Climbers!	Na - na! Po - po!
 	Cheer (German) 	Cheer (Spanish) 	Cheer (Russian)	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer 	 	 	 	
Description	Na - na! Pe - pe!	Naaaa - na! Poooo - po!	Nana! Popo! 	Eol - eum Ta - gi!
===Victory poses===
*Left: Both jump up and down infinitely. Based on their victory animation in Ice Climber, similar to their up taunt.
*Up: Both nod and high-five one another before facing the camera.
*Right: Nana hides behind Popo, only showing her face as Popo shifts from left to right.
Ice Climbers Ultimate Pose 2.gif
Ice Climbers Ultimate Pose 1.gif
Ice Climbers Ultimate Pose 3.gif
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
See also: :Category:Ice Climbers players (SSBU)
* - The greatest Ice Climbers player of all time, having been ranked on most rankings since the early metagame and peaking at 19th on the UltRank 2022, making him the only Ice Climbers player to rank in the top 20 globally. His 2nd-place finish at was the closest an Ice Climbers player came to winning a major, and he had additional top 8 performances at many majors, especially in 2022 and early-2023, which included placing 3rd at both and , notably defeating in the latter event.
* - One of the best Ice Climber players in Japan in the post-pandemic metagame. He is best known for placing 5th at , where he notably upset and also defeated . In addition, his major performances were considered more consistent than FNKA, though he did not have FNKA's peaks. These performances include placing 9th at , 13th at , and 25th at several other majors such as and , in addition to wins over players such as , , and at majors. He was ranked in the top 150 on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023, though was unranked on the full-year ranking.
* - One of the best Ice Climbers players in Japan who is known for using a more synced playstyle. He is infamous for being inconsistent at majors, but has nevertheless seen some of the best Ice Climbers performances at these events, including placing 5th at both and , the only Ice Climbers player other than Big D who had placed top 8 at a major, and defeating at . He has been more consistent at superregionals, having placed 3rd at , 5th at , and 7th at . He was ranked in the top 150 globally for several seasons, peaking at 136th on the LumiRank 2024.2.
* - The best Ice Climbers player in Japan in the early metagame. He was first notable Ice Climbers player in competitive play, placing 2nd at using primarily Ice Climbers. Though many of his other performances since were primarily with and , he often utilized Ice Climbers as a secondary or counterpick to complement both characters, and has placed 13th at and 17th at with a mix of all three characters.
* - The best Ice Climbers player in Japan in the post-pandemic metagame and the best Ice Climbers player in the world in the second half of 2024, ranking 41st on the LumiRank 2024.2 and becoming the second Ice Climbers player to rank in the top 100. Though active and had decent performances prior, he first broke out onto the competitive scene after his run at , where he defeated and to place 9th. In addition, he has also placed 9th at , notably defeating along the way.
===Tier placement and history===
Prior to Ultimates release, players were quick to find that the Ice Climbers lost their most devastating attributes from Brawl and Melee: Their infamous zero-to-death chain grabs, wobbling and handoffs, were either heavily impaired or altogether removed due the changes to gameplay-based mechanics during the transition from Brawl to Ultimate. This caused players to believe that the Ice Climbers wouldn't be viable, a sentiment that would hold on throughout the early metagame.
Upon Ultimates release, the Ice Climbers' competitive perception, which was estimated to be poor, dwindled even further, as their retained weakness were more detrimental than expected. The difficulty of maintaining both climbers in a single stock, their steep learning curve, unimpressive endurance, slow aerial mobility, vulnerability to camping, on top of the removal of several quirky combos and zero-to-deaths from previous installments. As such, the Ice Climbers’ representation was minuscule, and all the players who mained the duo in Brawl completely dropped them in favor of other characters. As a result, they were widely perceived to be either low or bottom-tier.
But a few months after release, the duo's playerbase and competitive scene started to make surprising breakthroughs: with the few that stuck with them discovering new desynching setups and combos, as well as new zero-to-deaths off of desyncs. In turn, players such as , , , and have picked up the duo and garnered excellent results in tournaments using the duo. Big D, in particular, mastered the duo enough to the point that the Ice Climbers can beat almost every match-up across the board once their desynced zero-to-deaths have been pulled off. As a result, the Ice Climbers' improving results have gradually softened the community's perception on the duo, ranking 56th on the first tier list, and impressive performances from dedicated players led to them rising up to 51st on the second tier list, with the general consensus believing that the Ice Climbers are either upper mid-tier or high-tier at least, similar to their Melee selves, and a notable improvement compared to their initial low-tier status. Overall, the Ice Climbers remain as characters that should not be underestimated, even without the infamously strong powers of their previous iterations.
==: Duos for Days==
Referencing themselves being duos, Ice Climbers fight two characters from a given universe in each stage. To go with the duo theme, both and are fought regardless of the difficulty.
Round 	Opponent 	Stage 	Music
1 	and 	Great Plateau Tower 	
2 	and 	Suzaku Castle 	
3 	and 	Smashville 	
4 	and 	Jungle Japes 	
5 	and 	Palutena's Temple 	
6 	and 	Princess Peach's Castle	
Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage 	Bonus Stage
Final 	and 	 	
Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as the Ice Climbers has accompany the credits.
==Role in World of Light==
Although the Ice Climbers are absent from the World of Light opening cutscene, they were vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) 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.
===Fighter Battle===
No.	Image	Name 	Type	Power	Stage 	Music
15 	 	Ice Climbers	 	7,500	Summit (Ω form)	
==Spirit==
Ice Climbers' fighter spirit can be obtained by completing as Ice Climbers. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Ice Climbers have been unlocked. Unlocking the Ice Climbers in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Their fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with their artwork in Ultimate.
SSBU spirit Ice Climbers.png|606. Ice Climbers
==In Spirit Battles==
Conditions in italic aren't listed on the Spirit Battle preview screen.
===As the main opponents===
Spirit	Spirit	Spirit 	Spirit 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Inspiration
No. 	Image 	Name 	Series 	Enemy Fighter(s) 	Type 	Power 	Stage 	Rules 	Conditions 	Music 	Character
114 	 	Mario Bros. Series 	• 	 	1,600 	Mario Bros. (Battlefield form) 	•Item: Freezie 	•The enemy starts the battle with a Freezie 	 	 	
373 	 	Kirby Series 	• (80 HP) 	 	2,200 	(Battlefield form) 	•Hazard: Ice Floor 	•The floor is frozen•The enemy's ice and water attacks have increased power•Stamina battle 	 	 	
457 	 	Pokémon Series 	• 	 	3,800 	Wuhu Island (Rocks at sea) 	•Buoyancy Reduced 	•You can't swim 	 	 	
531 	 	Pokémon Series 	• 	 	4,700 	Summit (Battlefield form) 	•Hazard: Ice Floor 	•The floor is frozen•Timed battle (1:30)•The enemy favors special moves 	 	 	
860 	 	Animal Crossing Series 	• 	 	9,400 	Smashville 	•Item Tidal Wave•Hazard: Low Gravity	•Gravity is reduced•Certain items will appear in large numbers after a little while 	 	Reese (Nana), Cyrus (Popo) 	
878 	 	Mega Man Series 	• (140 HP) 	 	4,600 	Summit (Battlefield form) 	•Hazard: Ice Floor 	•The floor is frozen•The enemy's ice and water attacks have increased power•The enemy has super armor and is hard to launch or make flinch•Stamina battle	 	 	
1,099 	 	Super Smash Bros. Series	•Giant (150 HP)	 	4,100 	Halberd (Ship deck) 	•Item: Shooting Types 	•Stamina battle•The enemy's shooting items have increased power•The enemy is giant 	 	Duon's gun side (Nana) and sword side (Popo)	
1,137 	 	Advance Wars Series 	• 	 	2,200 	Summit (Battlefield form) 	•Move Speed ↓•Hazard: Ice Floor 	•The floor is frozen•You have reduced move speed after a little while•The enemy starts the battle with a Steel Diver 	 	 	
1,308 	 	Persona Series 	• 	 	9,700 	Kalos Pokémon League (hazards off)	•Sudden Damage 	•You take serious damage after a little while•Timed battle (1:00) 	 	 	
===As minions===
Spirit	Spirit	Spirit 	Spirit 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Inspiration
No. 	Image 	Name 	Series 	Enemy Fighter(s) 	Type 	Power 	Stage 	Rules 	Conditions 	Music 	Character
607 	 	Ice Climber Series	• (80 HP)• (80 HP)	 	4,500 	Summit (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Ice Floor	•Defeat the main fighter to win•The floor is frozen•Timed stamina battle (1:00)	 	Ice Climbers 	
==Alternate costumes==
Their 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th costumes swap Popo and Nana, making Nana controllable. The stock icons and character select portraits change to reflect this. Popo and Nana act separately in terms of their costume's color.
							
							
==Gallery==
Ice Climbers amiibo.png|Ice Climbers' amiibo.
SSBU Ice Climbers Number.png|Ice Climbers' fighter card.
Ice_Climbers_unlock_notice_SSBU.jpg|Ice Climbers' unlock notice.
SSBUWebsiteIceClimbers1.jpg|Ice Climbers on Magicant.
SSBUWebsiteIceClimbers2.jpg|Attacking a with Blizzard on .
SSBUWebsiteIceClimbers3.jpg|Nana grabbed by the Arcade Bunny's claw on Wii Fit Studio.
SSBUWebsiteIceClimbers4.jpg|Striking with Squall Hammer on Summit.
SSBUWebsiteIceClimbers5.jpg|Popo performing his forward smash on Kongo Falls.
SSBUWebsiteIceClimbers6.jpg|Performing their neutral aerial on Spirit Train.
SSBUWebsite4.jpg|Taunting on Skyloft.
8-PlayerSSBU 1.jpg|With , , , , , and on .
===Fighter Showcase Video===
==Trivia==
*One of the Ice Climbers' preview pictures shows them using Blizzard against a , referencing the species' weakness to cold in the Metroid series.
*When the lead climber is grabbing and pummeling an opponent, the partner's animation will lag for every pummel hit.
*Hitting the accompanying Ice Climber will not cause controllers to shake if the vibration setting is turned on. This applies to everything from normal attacks, throws, or Final Smashes.
*When played on the world map for World of Light, only the leading Ice Climber appears.
*If the partner is caught in a non-cutscene trapping Final Smash (such as Triforce Slash, Great Aether, or Omnislash) and the leader is KO'd, the partner will disappear, leaving the opponent attacking nothing. A similar situation occurs in Brawl.
*When getting hit from behind, the Ice Climbers' back-hitting/wall bounce hitstun animation causes them to freeze for a brief moment before going into their tumbling animation. This is due to additional frames being added past the final point of the animation.
**The animation itself mimics how hitstun animations worked from Smash 64 to Brawl.
**The freeze itself is a reference to the duo's dying animation in Ice Climber, in which they freeze for a brief moment after touching an enemy.
*When navigating the camera around the Ice Climbers during certain animations, such as their ledge hanging animations, the fur trim on the bottom of their coats and around their wrists seem to detach from their jacket, exposing multiple gaps. There are also gaps when looking at their face at certain angles between the fur trim.
**Additionally, zooming in on Popo's face reveals a gap between his hair and fur trim.
**Also, looking closely at Nana's hair reveals a small gap underneath between her hair and forehead.
*In a Stock or Stamina battle, if the leading Ice Climber gets KO'd, the vanishing effects of the partner do not appear whenever the leader respawns.
*If one looks closely at one of the Ice Climber's non-leading feet during their tech wall jump animation, it twists the other way during the move. This can be more easily seen if the match is currently slowed down.
*While most other characters have the announcer say "(character) wins!" at the victory screen, the Ice Climbers have the announcer say "Ice Climbers win!" The "(character) win!" audio clip is usually reserved for the Japanese version, though it is most likely used with the Ice Climbers because of their two-in-one nature and name. and Banjo & Kazooie also share this distinction.
**In Spanish, French, German, and Italian, the name tag and voice clip from the announcer on the victory screen is slightly different from the one used on the character select screen, instead featuring a noticeable translation of "the" (los, les, die, and gli Ice Climbers, respectively). This trait is shared with , , , , , Zombie, Enderman, and the s.
*In the Ice Climbers' battle portrait, the partner Ice Climber is slightly lower than they are in their full artwork, in order to make their face fully visible. Banjo & Kazooie are the only other fighter with such an edit.
*The AI level for the partner Ice Climber (Nana by default) is 77 out of 100, which is slightly higher than a level 8 CPU (75 out of 100); the non-standard number is likely a pun on Nana's name, as one of the ways to say seven in Japanese is " (nana)".Meshima on Twitter: Nana AI level is 77 out of 100, slightly smarter than lv.8 CPU having 75. Probably the number of 77 comes from Japanese pronunciation (7 = "na" or "nana").
*While most characters have two different sets of knockback-based voice clips, the Ice Climbers are the only exception to this rule as they use either their low or high knockback voice clips or remain silent, regardless of their knockback speed.
**Additionally, the Ice Climbers are the only characters that retain their voice clips from Brawl but do not make use of their unused knockback voice clips, a trait shared with Link, Captain Falcon, and Ganondorf from Smash 4.
***When Popo is the leader, they vocalize their medium and one of the heavy knockbacks based on a small probability. Both are missing a light knockback and 1 heavy knockback which goes unused in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and also in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
*The Ice Climbers are the only characters who have fewer dash-to-run frames when performing a pivot dash instead of a regular dash.
*When playing on a custom stage, there's a visual glitch in the Ice Climber's on-screen appearance where the Condor does not disappear and only does so once "GO!" appears on the screen.
*If both Ice Climbers perform a smash attack with the Home-Run Bat, Nana will vocalize first, which is during the windup rather than before the swing. This is a carryover from Brawl, where all characters will grunt during the windup animation. This is shared with .
*If Nana is the leader, the Ice Climbers' knockback voice clips won't play for unknown reasons.
*The Ice Climbers' description on the North American amiibo website is based on their trophy description from Melee.
*Instead of being supported by a clear stand on their amiibo, the Ice Climbers are instead supported by a blue iceberg, which is not present in their official render.
*The Ice Climbers are the only characters who wield weapons at all times to be affected by stance mirroring.
*The Ice Climbers seen in 's reveal trailer after everyone has been turned back into trophies are actually two Popos.
*During Palutena's Guidance regarding the Ice Climbers, assumes that their absence in SSB4 was due to illegal teaming. This dialogue is a humorous reference to the Ice Climbers being cut due to the consistent technical issues that Masahiro Sakurai and the development team faced when attempting to make them function properly in .
*When functioning as the partner climber, Popo and Nana are the only characters capable of dashing through other characters in Ultimate.
*When one Ice Climber gets KO'd off the top blast line, the other Ice Climber has a greater chance of being KO'd the same way. For example, if the leader were to get Screen KO'd, the partner likely would as well, instead of the usual completely random chance.
*If uses Shadow Flare against the AI-controlled Ice Climber, they will flinch and take the initial damage, but the shadowy orbs that normally follow from this attack will not appear.
*In training mode, if both of the Ice Climbers land an attack at the exact same time, the combo counter will treat the two as a single hit.
*In training mode, if the partner climber is struck while the Ice Climbers are the player's training partner, the number displayed by the info box under "damage" will contradict the number displayed under "total damage".
**This is because the combo counter does not account for the additional damage the partner takes from attacks.
*Attacks by or against the partner climber fill the opponent's Final Smash Meter, but not the Ice Climbers'.
==References==
 
Category:Spirits
es:Ice Climbers (SSBU)