Ice Climbers (SSBB)

The Ice Climbers (, Ice Climber) return as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. They were confirmed on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website on September 14, 2007.
Sanae Kobayashi is the voice of the Ice Climbers, reprising her role from Super Smash Bros. Melee; her portrayal consists of re-purposed voice clips from Melee, featuring returning and previously unused ones.
The Ice Climbers rank 2nd on the current tier list, putting them in the S tier, this is a noticeable improvement over their 8th out of 26 ranking in Melee, and is their best placement in the series. The Ice Climbers are ranked and maligned highly for their notoriously abusable tag-team mechanic, which grants them two-in-one chain grabs known as handoffs that can lead to an inescapable zero-to-death combo on any character and on any stage; and it's not like they're nothing without it, either. The tag-team aspect of the fighter also forces opponents to rethink their approach, as either climber can easily disrupt combos and long multihits. The duo also has high raw damage output, versatile specials, and a large, disjointed up aerial to combat foes who go airborne to avoid getting grabbed; and even a solo climber can still chain grab opponents to great effect. 
However, if the partner climber is KO'd, the leader cannot use special moves as effectively and is somewhat helpless during recovery. A lone Ice Climber also has drastically lowered damage output and KO potential, especially due to their inability to perform handoffs, and is considerably more open to combos (though still less so than most fighters thanks to their small hurtbox and low fall speed). Getting a hold of the enemy can also be difficult in some matchups, as the Ice Climbers' low speed and lack of good anti-zoning tools makes them susceptible to camping.
Overall, the Ice Climbers are a dominant force in the meta that nullifies the vast majority of the roster, resulting in very good matchups (with their only relevant losing matchup being ) and tournament results.
==Attributes==
The Ice Climbers are lightweight characters that have the unique property of being a "two in one" character, wherein the game considers each Climber to be a unique character in its own right. The follower is always slightly weaker than the leader, but only the follower can meteor smash with their forward aerial. The Ice Climbers are able to grab two different items and are even able to grab two separate characters. In addition, their unique property also makes them much harder to grab and throw effectively (when one Ice Climber gets grabbed, the partner can simply counterattack, making them immune to chain-grabs), and conversely allows them to have a superior grab game entirely unique to them (see "chain-grabbing and desyncing" below). However, they can easily be separated by strong enough attacks. In this scenario, it is advisable to stick to and protect the partner, even if it puts the player in additional danger. Should the CPU Climber get KO'd during the stock, the remaining Climber will have drastically reduced damage output, KO ability, and recovery, with Belay becoming practically useless and Squall Hammer loses a good deal of distance (whereas with both Climbers they are excellent recovery moves).
The Ice Climbers are great at dealing damage when together, have decent attack speed, and possess a few interesting attacks in their arsenal. Their neutral special move, Ice Shot, is a projectile fired by each Ice Climber which slides along the ground, making it impossible to avoid by crouching/crawling. Blizzard, the down special move, can freeze opponents and even cover both sides if the partner is present, or alternatively can be made to cover one side if performed while jumping with the partner, giving the attack more power. Squall Hammer is a decent approach attack with good damage and speed, spinning the Ice Climbers around each other in a forward-moving hammer attack. Belay, the up special, is a powerful KO move should the second Climber connect with the opponent, but it is generally a risky use of the move given that it separates the Climbers and puts them into a helpless animation. A unique addition to their character is that the Ice Climbers are not affected by the conditions of slippery surfaces such as ice, and they won't slide on it. This is due to the fact that they are wearing cleats. Oddly, their cleats do not affect their traction on normal surfaces, as it is second-lowest in the game ( has the lowest).
The Ice Climbers are not very good at using their standard arsenal of attacks for continuous hits, normally speaking. With weak throws, small hammers, and slow movement in general (slow falling, air, and dash speed), the Ice Climbers can usually only manage one or two good hits in close before they need to resort to Ice Shots or Blizzard again. With both Climbers present, KOing generally is not too much of a problem, although their smashes are generally better at racking up the damage than at KOing.
===Chaingrabbing and desynching===
Many players consider the Ice Climbers to be "the King and Queen of all chain grabs" due to the fact that their two-in-one property allows for a variety of infinite chain-grab options that can combo into kill moves. For example, the lead Ice Climber can grab onto one opponent and use the forward throw. In the middle of the throw animation, the player can gain control of the CPU Climber, commanding them into performing a forward aerial spike, or grabbing again with the CPU Climber. while once again bringing the original, player-controlled Climber in for a new grab. Infinite chain grabs of this nature can be performed at any percent, on any character, on nearly any stage. One hindrance to this strategy is the Ice Climbers' short grab range and low traction, making it almost impossible to grab an opponent when they hit the player's shield(s) unless the Climbers powershield the attack.
The Ice Climbers have many different options to perform an infinite chaingrab. They can use any combination of forward throw, down throw, and back throw, but each option has different timings for every character. For example, against it is most common for players to infinite using a combination of down throw and back throw, as these two throws have the largest time windows to achieve a regrab. Against large characters that are difficult to chaingrab, like and , the down throw can be used in conjunction with the footstool hop and ice shots for another infinite: the hobble. A hobble is performed when the Ice Climbers' down throw sends opponents into the air, the second Ice Climber jumps and footstools the opponent back onto the ground, and as the opponent bounces, the first Ice Climber traps them with an ice shot causing a reset for another grab. The only possible break to a perfectly executed infinite is Brawl's random tripping, which can occur if either climber dashes for any length of time. This can be avoided by only performing infinite chaingrabs while walking. When a chain grab has raised an opponent's damage enough, the most typically used move to KO the opponent is their up smash, if a forward air meteor smash is inapplicable. All of these chain throws can be considered 0-KO combos.
For further two-in-one tricks, it is even possible to de-synchronize or "desync" the CPU partner by confusing it with erratic movement (such as dash-dancing), putting the player in control of both Climbers for as long as they are capable of maintaining it. Once the partner is desynced, the player can have it perform any move while the main Climber is in the middle of one, providing for all sorts of possible attack strategies that can be exceedingly difficult for opponents to escape from (alternating Blizzard, alternating Ice Shot). While desynced, the partner Climber has restrained movement within an invisible box around the main Climber; should they be separated or removed from this box, the CPU will take over again. This invisible box makes it so that if the player desyncs from the AI so that it charges a smash attack and they start walking or running away, the AI will slide in the player's direction while charging the smash. A unique thing that the player can do when desynced is that if they desync the AI to charge a smash attack, their Belay will cancel the AI's charging sequence and teleport it into the belaying sequence. Such techniques are extremely difficult to perform in combat, even for advanced players, due to the constant string of precise commands required for the Climbers to move/attack as intended. Nevertheless, these techniques are considered the backbone of playing the Ice Climbers at a competitive level.
==Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee==
The Ice Climbers have received a mix of buffs and nerfs. Due to the changes in grab mechanics, they can no longer wobble, which previously played a part in their competitive viability. Additionally, the loss of wavedashing has also served to be problematic due to their already poor traction inhibiting their approach and mobility, though not as much as . Their damage output is also lower, some of their moves have reduced KO power and all of their grounded moves have more ending lag.
However, due to the influence of chaingrabs, the Ice Climbers are considered to be overall buffed due to the improvements to their chaingrabbing ability in which makes them even more deadly than in Melee. The player now has full control over the second climber during a grab allowing the player to freely chain grab and combo out of a grab. In addition, their standing grab is slightly faster and the changes to shields makes it easier for the Ice Climbers to grab their opponents. The Ice Climbers are one of the only characters in the game who can consistently 0-death the entire cast which is especially helpful as combos are generally significantly less deadly and plentiful in Brawl than in Melee due to the introduction of hitstun canceling. The partner climber is also more intelligent than they are in Melee making them more useful and less vulnerable. While the Ice Climbers' grounded movement was reduced, the rest of the cast received the same treatment and some of the moves which gave the Ice Climbers the most trouble (such as 's Shine and 's down smash) have been significantly nerfed making it harder for opponents to play around their grabs and separate them. Lastly, Blizzard is a much stronger tool than in Melee and can be a strong tool to allow the Ice Climbers to grab their opponents.
As a result, they are one of the few characters considered to have been truly buffed from Melee to Brawl, and they are widely considered to be the best character behind .
===Aesthetics===
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===Attributes===
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===Ground attacks===
*Neutral attack:
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*Forward tilt:
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*Up tilt:
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*Down tilt:
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*Dash attack:
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*Forward smash:
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*Up smash:
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*Down smash:
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===Aerial attacks===
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*Neutral aerial:
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*Forward aerial:
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*Back aerial:
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*Up aerial:
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*Down aerial:
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===Throws/other attacks===
*Grabs:
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*Pummel:
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*Back throw:
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*Up throw:
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*Down throw:
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===Special moves===
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*Ice Shot:
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*Squall Hammer:
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*Belay:
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*Blizzard:
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*Iceberg:
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==Moveset==
For a gallery of Ice Climbers' hitboxes, see here.
Note: This assumes that both Ice Climbers are present.
===Stats===
	
	
===Announcer call===
Ice Climbers English Announcer SSBB.wav|English
===Wii Remote selection sound===
===On-screen appearance===
===Taunts===
===Idle poses===
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (English) 	Cheer (Japanese) 	Cheer (German) 	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer 	 	 	 	
Description	Na - na! -- Po - po! 	Ice - Cli - mber! 	Na - na! -- Po - po!	
 	Cheer (French) 	Cheer (Italian) 	Cheer (Spanish) 	
Cheer 	 	 	 	
Description	Na - Na ! -- Po - Po !	Naaa - na! -- Pooo - po!	Na - Na! -- Po - Po!	Po - po! -- Na - na!
*In the NTSC-U and PAL versions, when playing as Nana, the Back sound of the menu plays in lieu of the crowd chant.
**The fact that the crowd chant changes (albeit in a glitchy manner) depending on which Climber is leading the pair might indicate that the lead Climber's name was intended to be chanted first by the crowd.
===Victory poses===
==In competitive play==
===Notable players===
:See also: :Category:Ice Climbers players (SSBB)
* - Widely considered the best Ice Climbers player in the world and one of the best players in Japan along with , notably winning SKTAR 3.
* - Placed 5th at WHOBO 5.
* - Considered one of the best players in the United States during the game's later stages; although famous primarily for his Pikachu, has used an Ice Climbers co-main to great success, defeating players such as Kakera and using them.
* - Known as one of the top players in Japan, placed 5th at Apex 2012.
* - A nationally dominant player during his peak from 2009-2010.
* - Defeated players such as 9B, Smasher, Nagahari, Earth, OCEAN, Suinoko, Shu, Kei and Masashi.
* - Quickly rose as a top Ice Climbers player in 2013, with a 4th place at SKTAR 2 and wins over , , , and .
* - A nationally dominant player in the later stages of Brawl's life, after switching to Ice Climbers from .
* - Defeated players such as Shu, Kuroobi, and RAIN.
===Tier placement and history===
In the first year of Brawls metagame, the Ice Climbers were ranked as high tier characters but weren't considered a particularly dominant force, given how weak Popo alone is after Nana is KO'd, and their powerful grab tactics being unrecognized at the time. However, Ice Climbers players soon began to utilize their infinite chain grabs, giving them an extremely powerful zero-to-death option against any other character, which shot them up the tier list. Players found dealing with this difficult, as it completely changed the way players fought the Ice Climbers, with the matchup now revolving around avoiding getting grabbed at all, and the Ice Climbers were able to completely shut down characters who lacked effective means to avoid grabs or separate the Climbers. became the character's first top level player in 2009 and 2010, achieving multiple major top 8 placements, such as and This resulted in the Ice Climbers being considered uncontested top tiers by the Brawl Back Room's the fourth tier list where they ranked 5th, just short of two years after Brawls American release. However, the Ice Climbers were held back by their relative lack of top representation compared to other top tiers, and lain was never able to win a major over other top tier mains. Additionally, the existence of numerous extremely unfavorable stage counterpicks kept the Ice Climbers in check, preventing them from becoming truly dominant. In the earlier Brawl metagame, multiple stages with scrolling platforms and hazards, such as Rainbow Cruise, Brinstar, and Norfair, were available as counterpicks; these stages favored more air-based gameplay and made it much more difficult for the Ice Climbers to complete a zero-to-death chain grab without getting interrupted by the stage.
As Brawls metagame further refined, the Ice Climbers' tournament presence continued to grow. The Ice Climbers' worst stages also happened to be 's strongest stages; as Meta Knight's dominance over the Brawl scene continued to grow, Rainbow Cruise, Brinstar, and Norfair eventually were banned in all Meta Knight legal tournaments due to his unmatched aerial prowess on those stages. The other two stages with more minor moving platforms and hazards, Halberd and Delfino Plaza, also became more frequently banned due to Meta Knight's dominance there, and usually only one of these stages was available as a counterpick, which gave Ice Climbers mains the opportunity to play around this with a stage ban. These factors allowed the Ice Climbers to truly shine in the Brawl scene. Although lain became inactive, a new wave of even better Ice Climbers players arose from 2011 to 2014. , , , , and quickly became some of the biggest tournament threats in both North America and Japan, achieving multiple first place victories at events such as , , and the MK-banned and ; 9B in particular was considered by many to be the outright best player in all of Japan. As a result, the Ice Climbers became one of most dominant characters in tournaments behind Meta Knight, and this coincided with their rise to 2nd place on the eighth and final Brawl Back Room tier list in 2013, right underneath Meta Knight in their own tier above the rest of the characters. Some players argued that since the Ice Climbers have access to a zero-death on every character that works at any percent, they could be tied for first place with Meta Knight, or could even be first place themselves; however, despite these advancements, the Ice Climbers' results never approached Meta Knight's uncontested dominance before the end of Brawl active competitive life at the release of Smash 4.
The Ice Climbers are among the most disliked characters in Brawl by both casual and competitive players, since they possess a reliable zero-death against any character, something no other character has access to, with many players supporting the ban of the infinite chain grabs in tournaments. Due to the prominent competitive philosophy at the time of Brawl however, zero-death chain grabs were uncommonly singled out for banning in tournament rulesets, and with the definition of what construes an "infinite chain grab" usually being rigid, players of the Ice Climbers could find loopholes to avoid using it while still nearly securing stocks with each grab, making opponents' predicaments effectively the same. Some tournaments in the post-Smash-4 era, such as Glitch 2, have banned the Ice Climbers altogether alongside Meta Knight, due to being considered too powerful, especially when Meta Knight is banned, further fueled by their unpopularity among opponents and spectators alike.
==In Solo Modes==
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In Classic Mode, Ice Climbers can appear as an opponent in Stage 9 on Summit. Ice Climbers can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if they haven't appeared in Stage 9.
===All-Star Mode===
In All-Star Mode, Ice Climbers are fought in Stage 4 on Summit.
===Event Matches===
====Solo Events====
*Event 11: Yoshi's Rainbow: As the Ice Climbers, the player must KO six s in the order of red, pink, yellow, green, cyan, and blue.
*Event 17: Super Waterfall Climb: must survive on Rumble Falls until the background changes into a waterfall. Two pairs of Ice Climbers will try to hinder the player's progress.
*Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Ice Climbers are one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
====Co-Op Events====
*Co-Op Event 10: The R.O.B.'s of Tomorrow: and the Ice Climbers must defeat five s of varying sizes on Summit.
*Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on .
===Congratulations Screens===
Ice Climbers Congratulations Screen Classic Mode Brawl.png|Classic Mode
Ice Climbers Congratulations Screen All-Star Brawl.png|All-Star Mode
==Role in The Subspace Emissary==
frame|Ice Climbers in SSE.
The Ice Climbers were first seen climbing up a mountain together, possibly in pursuit of the Halberd or they were just climbing. When passed them going up the mountain, the Ice Climbers took it as a challenge and jumped up the mountain with Meta Knight. Once they reached the top, the Ice Climbers celebrated with their "victory" for getting up the mountain first, until they and Meta Knight found , who was looking for a fight with Meta Knight, so the Ice Climbers watch from the side nervously. After the fight, the winner revives the loser, to their relief, and the Halberd crashes the Great Fox into the mountain. Although Meta Knight and Lucario managed to board the Halberd, the Ice Climbers (ironically) are thrown back to the ground towards , , the , and . After facing some more Subspace Army troopers (with help from and 's group), the Ice Climbers teamed up with the other heroes as they journeyed into Subspace but are turned into trophies by Tabuu. Ice Climbers are then revived by , , , and and help the other smashers defeat Tabuu and restore the World of Trophies to normal.
===Playable appearances===
*The Glacial Peak
*Entrance to Subspace
*The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))
===Exclusive stickers===
These stickers can only be used by Ice Climbers or a select few including them.
*Balloon Fight Enemy: [Specials: Indirect] Attack +4
*Donbe: [Slash] Resistance +26
*Duck: Launch Resistance +20
*Fat Hockey Player: [Specials: Indirect] Attack +12
*F-Type: [Throwing] Attack +22
*Nana: [Specials: Direct] Attack +29
*Wild Gunman: [Specials: Indirect] Attack +5
*Yakuman Player: [Electric] Resistance +28
==Trophies==
The Ice Climbers' main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing and All-Star mode respectively with the Ice Climbers.
==Alternate costumes==
Nana becomes the leading, player-controlled character when using the 2nd, 4th, and 6th costumes shown below. The stock icons for these costumes change to reflect this, but the character select portraits always show Popo in front.
					
					
==Gallery==
Ice Climbers SSBB.png|Official Artwork.
SSBBDojoIceClimbers1.jpg|Taunting on .
SSBBDojoIceClimbers2.jpg|Using Blizzard on on Rumble Falls.
SSBBDojoIceClimbers3.jpg|Popo footstooling on Lylat Cruise.
SSBBDojoIceClimbers4.jpg|Taunting on Delfino Plaza.
==Trivia==
*Along with , , and , the Ice Climbers are one of the only characters to have a unique "Defeated/No Contest" pose different from the traditional hand clapping, with their head down while rubbing their eyes, making it seem as if they are crying. This pose is a reference to the one they make in Ice Climber after failing in a bonus level.
**If one looks carefully, Nana can actually be seen smirking while crying while Popo is frowning. This is fixed in Ultimate.
*In Stamina mode, it is possible for the partner to die before the leader. Regardless of whether this happens or not, the partner will lay on the ground motionless, but not blink red.
*If the partner is caught in a trapping Final Smash and the leader is KO'd, the partner will disappear, leaving the opponent attacking nothing. Some examples are 's, 's, 's, and 's, and as seen here.
*Both Ice Climbers must win a microgame in the WarioWare, Inc. stage to be rewarded.
*Certain Final Smashes, especially trapping ones, can cause the trailing Ice Climber's special effects to be slowed down under the effect of a Timer (Nana's stays even after the Timer is done). The effects end when one or both of the Ice Climbers are KO'd.
*When CPU controlled, if one Ice Climber is Star KO'd, the partner will sometimes taunt.
*Brawl is the only game where the portraits of the Ice Climbers are not swapped around when Nana is in the lead, the only game where their default costume is not available in Team Battles and the only game where Nana takes the lead in all even numbered costumes.
*If the leader dies in Stamina Mode without losing all their stamina, the partner won't disappear and can keep playing normally. This was later fixed in Ultimate.
*If the leader loses their stamina after the partner has been KO'd but they didn't lose all their stamina in Stamina Mode, the partner will respawn in the middle of the stage but will still be defeated.
*The Ice Climbers, , , , and are the only characters whose icon in the Subspace Emissary and the Sticker menu is not based on their renders.
==External links==
*Ice Climbers' page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
*Chain Grab Tutorial
*Ice Climber Character Guide on SmashBoards
*Ice Climbers' Chain Grabbing Every Character, 0% to death
*Ice Climbers' hitbox size of each of their moves, shown with Popo
 
Category:Trophies (SSBB)
es:Ice Climbers (SSBB)