Ice Climbers

> *For more specific and individual information about the Ice Climbers, see Popo and Nana.*
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> *Not to be confused with Kirby, who has a similar design and voice.*
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> *For the duo's franchise of the same name, go to Ice Climber.*
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## Ice Climbers

* Normal
* Casual Outfit

### Relationships

* **Nana**:
* Sayori and Natsuki (best friends)
* Monika and Yuri (close friends)
* **Popo**:
* Monika and Yuri (best friends)
* Sayori and Natsuki (close friends)
* **Both**:
* Mr. Game & Watch (companion)
* PAC-MAN (companion)
* Rayman (companion)
* Cuphead (companion)
* Olimar (companion)
* R.O.B. (companion)
* Ness (best friend)
* Lucas (best friend)
* Kirby (best friend)

## Appearances

### Appears in

* Ice Climber (NES)
* Super Smash Bros. Melee
* Super Smash Bros. Brawl
* Super Smash Bros. 4
* Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
* WarioWare
* Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (cameo)
* Kirby Air Ride (cameo)
* Tetris DS (cameo)
* Daigasso! Band Brothers (cameo)
* Super Mario Maker

### Debut

January 30, 1985

The **Ice Climbers** (アイスクライマー, *Ice Climber*), individualized as **Popo** (the blue one, ポポ) and **Nana** (the pink one, ナナ), are the titular main protagonists of Nintendo's arcade video game series of the same name created in Nintendo Entertainment System on 1985, although Nana is often specificalized as the deuteragonist of *Ice Climber*.

Each Ice Climber is differentiated from each other primarily by the color of their parkas. The duo consists of an elder twin boy dressed in an indigo Inuit parka who is the leader, and a younger twin girl dressed in a pink Inuit parka who is the follower and accompaniment, respectively. Fittingly, the Ice Climbers, true to their epitome as pioneer mountaineers, seek to scale various mountains, yet must also avoid various obstacles and antagonists in their route to each summit. In order to successfully accomplish each level, they must catch a vegetable-stealing condor. In their glory days, they pursued the aforementioned condor who, peculiarly, had possession of cucumbers, eggplants, and various other vegetables, while fending off Polar Bears, Nitpickers and Topis along their routes.

The Ice Climbers are both voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, who also voiced Kaede from *Elfen Lied*.

## Physical appearance

Together, the Ice Climbers both are light-skinned (similar to the club members, Ness and Lucas), wear wintertime Inuit parka outfits, have brown hairstyles, blushing pink cheeks visible on their faces, and are proficient in using their wooden mallets, their primary weapon for defense. The duo also wear brown gloves, white boots with wooden soles and cleats underneath them, attached by blue (Popo) and pink (Nana) boot-straps, and have long black eyes that are almost typically depicted with a white shine. Thus, these traits collectively make them somewhat identical to Kirby. Additionally, their boots and hammers also appear to be covered in light powdered snow.

While out of school, the Ice Climbers causally wear furry, soft polar bear-based warmsies with chibi-proportional features of a realistic polar bear, and the length and size of the warmsies fit their entire bodies. In addition, their hammers also have straps with colors reflecting the respective coloration of their parkas.

In the bad ending, the Ice Climbers' designs dramatically transition from being cute to rather hellish. Their clothing, faces and hammers are all covered in bloodstains, and the duo possess red-glowing eyes during their data corruption, similar to the puppet fighters in World of Light.

### Popo

Popo is the elder leader of the mountaineer duo, being a young, light-skinned, brown-haired and cute boy who typically wears a indigo/blue Inuit parka outfit. He has spiky brunette hair that stops near his eyes. His parka's hood resembles the Freeze Copy Ability's hat Kirby can collect. Most of his clothing is colored indigo/blue, similar to the coloration of Yuri's hairstyle.

Whenever Popo unequips his hood, Popo's hairstyle is chocolate brown, short, spiky and often filthy. While out of school, Popo causally wears a furry, soft polar bear-based warmsie with chibi-proportional features of a realistic polar bear, and the length and size of the warmsie fit his entire body. In addition, his hammer also has a blue-colored strap, reflecting the coloration of his blue parka. An amount of certain portions of the warmsie, such as his claws, his lower feet, fingers, palms, inner ears, pockets, and the inside of the warmsie, all have blue colorations.

### Nana

Nana is the younger companion of the mountaineer duo, being a young, tomboyish, light-skinned and cute girl who typically wears a pink/light magenta Inuit parka outfit. Her parka's design matches that of her brother, but she has smoother hair that parts near the middle. The only major difference between Nana and his brother is that most of her clothing replaces Popo's blue/indigo coloration scheme with pink/light magenta, similar to the colorations of Natsuki's hairstyle. On the official box artworks for the Japanese and PAL versions of *Ice Climber*, Nana (the only individual of the duo to make a depicted appearance on the box artworks) instead is depicted as blonde instead of brunette.

While out of school, Nana causally wears a furry, soft polar bear-based warmsie with chibi-proportional features of a realistic polar bear, and the length and size of the warmsies fit her entire body. In addition, her hammer also has a pink-colored strap, reflecting the coloration of her pink/magenta parka. An amount of certain portions of the warmsie, such as her claws, his lower feet, fingers, palms, inner ears, pockets, and the inside of the warmsie, all replace Popo's blue colorations with pink. Unlike Popo, Nana's hairstyle often varies. Whenever Nana unequips his hood, Nana's hairstyle is chocolate brown, long and is either:

* A ponytail, similar to Monika (albeit without a bowtie).
* A waterfall/big braid.
* Cut chin-length curled hair, similar to Sayori.
* Low pastel pigtails, similar to Natsuki (default).
* Loose an extensively long hair, similar to Yuri.
* A messy bun.
* A pair of ear buns.

## Personality

True to their quintessential designs in *Ice Climber*, the Ice Climbers are overall playful and energetic mountaineers who are entertained by climbing summits and routing through icy mountaintops. As shown in their franchise, the Ice Climbers are heroic and brave - proven when they chase after the vegetables. Despite their extreme youth, the Ice Climbers are proficient in brawling and/or fighting antagonists, by landing heavy blows using their main weapons (their primary means of defense), their hammers. However, the Ice Climbers are often self-aware and oblivious at times, due to possessing cryokinesis and climbing the glacial peak leading to the Great Fox and the Halberd while being unaware of it, respectively.

Additionally, when the Ice Climbers meet up with Meta Knight in *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*, he flies ahead of them and the mountaineers angrily follow him behind; taking it as a challenge. This shows that they find joy in climbing mountains and like racing other people to the top. Despite being fighters, the duo don't like watching fights or arguments, as shown in the Subspace Emissary where Meta Knight and Lucario prepare to fight each other while the Ice Climbers spectate in fear before becoming relieved after their reconciliation. As an archetypical tag-team duo, the Ice Climbers, themselves, have an incredible dependence on each other for almost all situations. Popo and Nana have reliance on each other for teamwork to achieve full level of their fighting prowess and combat, which often leads to occasional trouble: antagonists can receive the free opportunity to easily separate them if the Ice Climbers are reckless, and if under the absence of one climber, the remaining climber will be drastically hindered in combat and skills; in turn, Popo and Nana's skills are at their best when combined, so their levels of prowess are half as effective alone.

Upon introducing themselves in Doki Doki Literature Club, the Ice Climbers express much more maturity than before. While the duo retain some of their childish personalities since *Ice Climber*, the duo symbolize more assist for other people and display an increased level of bravery. Like Sayori, the Ice Climbers perform all in their power to alleviate the club members' struggles and retain a relaxing atmosphere within the Literature Club. Possessing a heightened knowledge of friendships and reconciliation, Popo and Nana are both a typically compassionate duo, forgiving the club members for their wrongdoings regardless of intensity. The Ice Climbers, however, have supernatural levels of concern within the club, known for their notable ability to foreshadow the following events of DDLC. In turn, during the opening of Sayo-Nana, the duo read a poem, titled "%," by Sayori, and Nana foreshadows that "stagnant means something completely still," while Popo states that he saw dark events of DDLC, even before joining the club itself. Before leaving the club, Monika states her most infamous line that "You two left her hanging this morning, you know?," which not only foreshadows Sayori's fate, but also causes Popo and Nana to foreshadow Sayori's fate themselves in sudden suspicion, then in horror. Another circumstantial example, potentially the most notable one, is *Portrait of Markov*, which is Yuri's favorite novel. However, such novel foreshadows the imminent dark events following the progression of DDLC, and the book itself transitions from a fictional novel to a disturbing horror plot, both indirectly and surprisingly, although this often leads to the fourth wall being broken.

Reflecting their cuteness, the Ice Climbers are a considerate and kindhearted pair, yet show a heightened atmosphere of sympathy; in particular, the duo reconciliate with even villains and antagonists and rendering them as heroes instead despite their villainous performances, like Monika, although this leads to frequent impulsiveness and naivety. However, the pair are sometimes mischievous and cunning daredevils at times, by stealing properties from people off-guard. This is especially demonstrated in Markov, where Popo and Nana manage to break into the high school and achieve the *Portrait of Markov* much to Yuri's displeasure. While this is considered a wrongdoing and leaves them hassled upon being confronted, as Yuri intimidates Popo and Nana as the cause of the intentional absence of *Portrait of Markov* (in which Popo and Nana have stolen during the nighttime), the Ice Climbers nevertheless typically manage to escape the situation in succession regardless of how much of a hassle the duo were recently in, meaning that all of their plans work effortlessly. In addition, the reason of their stealing was also crucial for the Ice Climbers' regeneration to other people's wellbeing and indirect alleviations to their struggles. According to Ness and Lucas' letter in the second page of Markov, Ness and Lucas foreshadowed Yuri's insanity because of the aforementioned favorite book she reads, and Popo and Nana proceed to steal *Portrait of Markov* and annihilate it, for the crucial sake to regenerate Yuri's sanity and personality back to how she was in Act 1. Further amplifying this, the Ice Climbers care super well for the Literature Club and have high loyalty to it as they save the club members from their foreshadowed fate, such as saving Sayori from her suicidal tendencies, solving Natsuki's problems with her home and Popo anticipating that Yuri can still cope after he, Nana and Natsuki witness her decomposing corpse after killing herself over Mr. Game & Watch's answer to her love confession, despite her slow and painful death from her fatal wounds.

*DDLC Plus* drastically expands the Ice Climbers' positive traits of their personalities. The duo express a much more accommodating demeanor, making a perfect representation and willing to assist all of the club members in the Literature Club throughout conflict in the side stories, like Mr. Game & Watch, PAC-MAN and Rayman. In Hug Energy, the Ice Climbers learn the understanding of true friendships and compliment each other for their incredible effort of allegiance and regeneration to the Literature Club prior to the side story, offering each other hugs of welcoming and reconciliation, while Sayori and Natsuki spectate the scene in awed expressions. As a penultimate cherry on top, the Ice Climbers and the Indie Cross reconciliate with the Literature Club in the epilogue side story "Retro Equals."

## Relationship

> *Main article: Relationship between the Ice Climbers*
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Although *Ice Climber* did not give precise details about Popo and Nana, their subsequent appearances in the *Super Smash Bros.* series have somewhat elaborated on their relationship.

Initially, three specific instances in *Super Smash Bros. Melee* hinted at them being in a romantic relationship. Firstly, the opening movie features Popo and Nana high-fiving each other, with a small heart emerging from where their hands meet. Secondly, the Japanese title of Event 21: Ice Breaker roughly translates to "Those Who Interfere People's Romance." Thirdly, the aforementioned opening movie also features Nana saving Popo from a helpless fall from dissolving ice after the latter steps on it while climbing a mountaintop, which is also the first time Popo and Nana are seen together and when their sense of relationship officially begins.

However, a subsequent translation of the Ice Climbers' Smabura-Ken page revealed that the creator of the *Super Smash Bros.* series (Masahiro Sakurai) confirmed that their relationship is platonic by saying, "By the way, Popo and Nana are a childhood friends-like boy-and-girl pair. The "more than friends, but less than lovers" kind." Much like Sakurai's explanation, the Ice Climbers' trophy in *Melee* after completing Classic Mode forgoes any romantic undertones, and instead simply mentions that "they're rarely seen apart."

   Despite Sakurai's aforementioned explanation, issue 152 of *Nintendo Power* seemingly lost his comment in translation and instead referred to Popo and Nana as siblings.

Following this, *Super Smash Bros. Brawl* reaffirmed Sakurai's stance on the relationship both in-game and in supplemental material. The Ice Climbers' Smash Bros. DOJO!! page refers to them as friends in two instances while detailing their special moves.

In addition, Solid Snake's codec conversation regarding the Ice Climbers sees Mei Ling mention that Popo and Nana have a "blood bond", which is a long-standing custom practiced around the world that involves two unrelated people swearing loyalty to one another.

However, the Ice Climbers' relationship is reglated back to siblings in **MickMick247**'s website, as the club members of the Literature Club refer them as siblings in the artist's comics.

## Powers and abilities

* **Climbing**: True to their franchise, Popo and Nana are professionals at climbing a limitless amount of mountaintops regardless of size and height.
* **Hammermanship**: Remaining true to *Ice Climber* NES, Popo and Nana are known for typically wielding giant wooden mallets outdoors, versatile for dealing powerful blows against their opponents, such as Polar Bears, Nitpickers and Topis.
* **Jumping prowess**: Due to their impressive jumping heights, the Ice Climbers excel in jumping prowess, which allows them to escape dangerous situations and recover themselves from disadvantage, and also allows them to reach for opponents airbone underneath them.
* **Cryokinesis**: As the duo's dynamic name implies, the Ice Climbers have an incredible possession of cryokinesis, allowing them to freeze their opponents by releasing a considerable blast of blizzard out of their palms.
* **Teamwork**: As a dynamic duo, Popo and Nana both work cooperatively together to fulfill their power to the fullest. Hand-to-hand, the duo are capable of tacking exceptional amounts of damage against their opponents, and have access to various techniques unique to the rest of the entire cast in the *Super Smash Bros.* series, such as hand-offs, edge throw exploits and other alternative traps.
* **Agility**: Popo and Nana both have decent agility, especially the latter (since she has more mobility than Popo), allowing them to traverse through locations at impressive speeds and outpace other characters.
* **Recovery**: Using Belay and Squall Hammer, both travel considerable distances, and the former is a safe tether recovery for both Ice Climbers, giving them an excellent method to recover both Popo and Nana themselves from disadvantage without leaving one of them separated in danger.
* **Chain grabbing**: Known as one of their three most infamous techniques in the *Super Smash Bros.* series, the Ice Climbers are capable of performing an inevitable and repeated series of grabs and throws against their opponents, which is primarily cited as the reason the duo are considered among the best characters in the *Super Smash Bros.* series.
* **Wobbling**: Known as their most controversial and infamous technique in *Super Smash Bros. Melee*, wobbling consists of Popo and Nana pummeling their grabbed opponent simultaneously while leaving their opponent the lack of means to escape, thus leading to zero-to-deaths.
* **Desynching**: Known as one of their three most infamous techniques in the *Super Smash Bros.* series, desynching is an advanced technique exclusive to the duo that involves separating the Ice Climbers' states and controlling them individually. If both are separated, the partner's AI will switch to prioritize returning to the leader. During this time, the duo are not synchronized, or "desynched," meaning the partner will not follow the player's inputs until within a certain distance of the leader. While the partner's actions are unpredictable and are often unfavorable, they can be manipulated to perform basic actions, like attacking an opponent.
	+ Once both climbers are desynched, they are essentially performing different actions as long as the player continues to press buttons. Desynching can allow the player to perform an attack, move, jump, or wavedash with either climber, whilst inputting a different command to the other, which can allow for damaging true combos, zero-to-death strings, and even infinities.

### Weaknesses

* **Dependence on each other**: As an archetypicalized duo, however, the Ice Climbers have an incredible dependence on each other for their maximum potential. In turn, Popo relies on Nana for teamwork. Likewise, Nana relies on Popo vice versa. As such, Popo and Nana have a high vulnerability to separation upon receiving substantial amounts of damage from opponents.
* **Solo Climber**: Referred as "Sopo," if either Ice Climber dies during the current stock, the remaining Ice Climber's potential will be drastically halved, in terms of offense, defense, recovery, and maximum damage output. In turn, the corresponding Ice Climber will also have much more vulnerability compared to being together with the other Ice Climber.
* **Solo recovery**: In addition to the previous point, without a partner in hand-to-hand, the remaining Ice Climber's recovery is drastically nerfed, as Belay becomes practically useless (in terms of distance) and Squall Hammer only stalls gravity and travels horizontally, leaving them vulnerable to skilled edgeguarding.
* **Endurance**: Due to nourishing a heightened amount of vegetables, the Ice Climbers have relatively light weights (weighing 92 units), combined with their floatiness, meaning that Ice Climbers are easy to send flying when damaged, and can succumb to strong hits at high precentages.
* **Aerial Mobility**: As a reference to *Ice Climber*, the Ice Climbers are burdened with slow aerial mobility and falling speed. This is a translation of their orignial movement and physics in *Ice Climber* NES, which gives them difficulty in approaching airbone opponents and make them vulnerable to juggling from opponents underneath them. This, along with their floatiness, also makes them easily predictable in various situations, such as recovering.

## Trivia

* The circumstantial explaination **MickMick247** was interested the most in crossing over the Ice Climbers with Doki Doki Literature Club is due to the duo's implied supernatural abilities of foreshadowing the following dark elements and horror events lurking through DDLC, for a number of following reasons:
	+ In the first segments of Sayo-Nana, Nana is preparing for tomorrow's club festival. Popo, on the other hand, has discovered a poem written by Sayori, which Nana notices him reading it, titled "%," with a constant repetition of the following words "get out of my head" and the final sentence reading that "a poem is never finished, it just remains stagnant." Along with memorizing that Yuri told the Ice Climbers that "*Stagnating air is common foreshadowing that something terrible is about to happen...*", Nana foreshadows that "stagnant means something completely still," while Popo states that he saw dark events of DDLC, even before joining the club itself.
	+ Another circumstantial point, before Popo and Nana leave the literature club for Sayori, is that the interaction between the Ice Climbers and Monika undergoes a darker turn. The Ice Climbers question Monika about Sayori's whereabouts, and Monika responds that "You two kind of left her hanging this morning, you know?," Monika's most famous quote while foreshadowing Sayori's fate. The Ice Climbers become surprised at first, considering that Monika is not supposed to have the knowledge of Sayori's current wellbeing in the first place, then become horrified upon thinking harder on her quote, the duo foreshadow Sayori actually hung herself to death, in which she did.
	+ Furthermore, on the second day of the game, Yuri describes the book she lends to the protagonist, "The Portrait of Markov," which also happens to foreshadow the dark psychological events that will happen in the game. However, on the second day of Act 2, her description of the book changes drastically, becoming more and more of a horror novel, much like the game itself. A similar circumstantial point occurs in the second page of Markov, where Popo and Nana discover the same book, and Nana foreshadows that it is "the book that started it all... the book that changed what this literature club was."
		- Another circumstantial point, on the same page of Markov, upon Popo's interaction and regards with the book that Nana showcased him, Popo's foreshadowing takes a much darker turn: Nana discovers the *Portrait of Markov* in the closet and proceeds to showcase it to Popo in fear, and Popo becomes shocked and intimidated at the book's sights by responding "That was the book she was carrying around everytime we see her around school. No wonder she loved reading that book... she even told me to read it with her. I was so smart to refuse!" The final words that Popo quotes "I was so smart to refuse!" indicate that Popo denying to read the *Potrait of Markov* with Yuri made him so intelligent, potentially because reading the same book would make Popo lose his sanity and turn him more negative to the same degree as Yuri in Act 2.

* On the official box arts for the Japanese and PAL versions of *Ice Climber*, Nana (the only one of the duo to make an official appearance on the box artworks) is depicted with blonde hair, although in the game, she and Popo's hairstyle coloration were restricted to black hair. In their later appearances in *Super Smash Bros. Melee* and *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*, they have brunette hairstyles.
* In various languages, Popo's name is altered to "Pépé." This is because "popo" means "buttocks" in Turkish and "poop" in Spanish.
	+ In German, "Popo" is a basic slang term for "butt" when translated to English.
* The Ice Climbers cease to return as playable characters in *Super Smash Bros. 4*, but then made a cameo as being relegated to a collectible trophy. In a column for the Japanese gaming magazine *Famitsu*, Masahiro Sakurai claimed that technical limitations of the Nintendo 3DS prevented their inclusion; the two were reportedly difficult to implement on the system, and since the characters were unlikely to have a new game in their series, Sakurai deemed the Ice Climbers "low-priority" characters. While they were fully functional on the Wii U, Sakurai decided to scrap them in order for the roster to be identical for both installments.
* The *Mega Man* Robot Master, Ice Man, might have taken some of his design from the duo's.
* In addition to being the youngest of the Indie Cross, the Ice Climbers are argued to be the youngest characters in the *Super Smash Bros.* series, with an maximum age of only 8 years. However, this age is only confirmed by **MickMick247**. Like the Pokémon Trainer, their canonical age is not specified, as Toon Link is the only child whose age is known (12 years old). It is certain, however, that the duo are children, due to their childish voices and appearance.
* In the early development of *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*, shortly after its official announcement, there was a rumor that the Ice Climbers, along with Mr. Game & Watch and Young Link, would be unlikely to return as playable characters. However, this turned out to be a falsification, as the Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch were, in fact, playable characters. Young Link, on the other hand, was the only one out of the three to be excluded, and was seemingly replaced more or less by Toon Link, as the rumor had stated.
* The Ice Climbers are one of two characters in *Super Smash Bros.* who have yet to receive a sequel to their main series game, the others being Duck Hunt.
* Although Mr. Game & Watch has made the most appearances throughout **MickMick247**'s crossover with Doki Doki Literature Club, the creator has been the most interested in crossing the Ice Climbers over Doki Doki Literature Club the most out of the creator's other favourite characters, because Popo and Nana were perfect in befriending the club members in respective orders reflecting their own personality and physical appearances.
	+ In turn, Nana is best friends with Sayori and Natsuki, reflecting their younger and childish demeanor.
		- Nana and Sayori both have a rentless level of happiness and optimism, but are both crybabies, due to the former being depicted bawling when losing a match in *Ice Climber* NES and the *Super Smash Bros.* series, and the latter being brought down by her "rainclouds" in DDLC.
		- Nana and Natsuki both have pink colorations to their attire, along with similar skin colors.
	+ Likewise, Popo is best friends with Monika and Yuri, reflecting their maturity and polite demeanor, in addition to being the ones to lead the Literature Club, similar to Mr. Game & Watch. This references Popo being the leader of the duo, while Nana is the follower and accompainer of the duo.
		- Popo is the leader of the dynamic mountaineer duo, while Monika is the president of the Literature Club. Altogether, both are leaders of their own respective properties.
		- Contrary to the former's age, Popo and Yuri both express maturity. In addition, Popo's indigo/blue colorations to his attire resemble Yuri's purple hairstyle, along with similar skin colors.
* The Ice Climbers are the only playable characters to appear in multiple *Super Smash Bros.* installments before being scrapped in one, then returning to *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/C-o-r-r-u-p-t-e-d-Romance-989359230
2. ↑ https://iceclimbersadventures.tumblr.com/post/177230817235/another-ice-climber-headcanon-nana-has-quite-a
3. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Reconciliation-1004859128
4. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Markov-Pt-5-Close-Call-1006755736
5. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Markov-Pt-2-1001676727
6. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/C-o-n-f-e-s-s-i-o-n-Part-2-GORE-WARNING-989629102
7. ↑ Source Gaming, Melee Ice Climber site.
8. ↑ "Who are the Ice Climbers?" *Nintendo Power*, issue number 152, January 2002, pg. 24
9. ↑ Smash Bros. DOJO!! - Ice Climbers
10. ↑ https://sourcegaming.info/2015/09/09/meleeiceclimbersite/

Monika • Sayori • Natsuki • Yuri • MC