Ice Climber/Walkthrough

Types of floors

 * Breakable ice: This type of ice can be chipped away at with the climbers' hammer. It can be up to two layers thick, with the bottom layer of variable height.  Note that if a Topi fills a gap with ice, that ice will be breakable, and only fill the top layer, not the bottom.


 * Unbreakable ice: Ice that is a solid square and has a criss cross pattern, or looks slightly three dimensional, cannot be broken with a hammer. Unbreakable ice can also be stacked vertically to create a barrier that you can not run through.


 * Conveyor ice: Any type of ice, whether it's breakable or unbreakable can be conveyor ice. If the ice has diagonal lines running through it, the climbers will slide to one direction once they land on that ice.  If a topi fills a gap with ice, the new ice will also move in the same direction as the rest of the floor.  Running in the opposite direction causes you to run at half speed, while running in the same direction causes you to run at double speed.


 * Cloud platforms: Mountain floors that do not contain ice contain moving cloud platforms.  These platforms are solid, and as such, cannot be jump through, only on.  Use them to reach higher cloud platforms, new ice floors, or to chip away at the ice above.

Strategy

 * Always pay attention to yeti, bird, and falling ice position. Neglecting either one of these will often result in losing a life in later levels.


 * Standing behind numbered rocks on left/right side of screen grants you invincibility from yeti. Standing at 3.5 blocks from left/right side of screen grants you invincibility from birds. You're still vulnerable to falling ice, which can only reach you here by falling from a moving cloud.


 * You can reach right side of the screen by passing through the left side of screen and vice versa.


 * Don't stand near corners where yeti come out. Make sure you've seen them on the screen before you move out of corner, otherwise you might run into them. There can be two yeti on screen at the same time.


 * You can kill the bird with a jump if your hammer or your extended legs touch the bird. When your back is facing the bird, your hammer hits it immediately, but your leg attack only comes out after you extend the legs in mid air.


 * Jumping through one brick sized hole is easier with a forward jump. However, sometimes you're on a small moving cloud, and taking a step means taking the risk of falling down. Since your back has smaller size than your front side in mid air, it's easier to go through the hole by straight jumping while facing it with your back, then moving towards the edge in mid air.


 * Some floors have no walking platform, only a moving cloud. When the final floor has no walking platform, and moving cloud moves from right to left side, you can jump on the cloud, wait for the wall to touch you, then jump straight up and move left while in mid air to reach the top floor easier.


 * When you jump while being pressed against a wall on your left side, you bounce off of it and go right. When you do the same on a wall that's on your right side, you jump straight up. Moving into a wall and jumping forward bounces you off of it and you jump to the opposite direction. Use this mechanic to climb certain floors.


 * Forward jump reaches further if you run shortly before jumping. Walls can be jumped over with this if you jumped from the right spot.


 * Your jump can destroy the ice if you touch it while being high up in the air. You can also destroy it while it's still forming on a platform.


 * Conveyor ice accelerates you into direction where diagonal downward lines point to. Keep this in mind before jumping on it.


 * Fastest way to move in the opposite direction of conveyor ice is by running for about half a second and then jumping, repeatedly.


 * While on a small platform with conveyor ice, hold B for repeated hammer swing to move slower and avoid falling down. This is also an easier way to kill yeti while on conveyor ice.


 * If you don't move the screen upwards in 70 seconds, a bear appears, waits 6 seconds, then stomps the ground, which moves the screen up by one floor. If you were on bottom of the screen, this kills you. Moving the screen up yourself or killing the bear before he stomps the ground prevents this. Bear's touch doesn't kill you, just moves you along with him. This could result in you falling off the floor, so it's best to kill him. Once he touches you, you won't be able to turn around and swing the hammer, so attack him before he gets close.


 * When you die and re-spawn, you become invincible until you press a button. You can capitalize on this in few ways. If you re-spawned on a conveyor ice, you move while being invincible, so wait to be moved to a position where you'd want to start before pressing a button. If bird is on screen, wait for it to go away. If platform is missing underneath you, wait for it to get built. You can even wait for the bear to appear and advance one extra floor. You won't lose a life even if the screen swallows you, so you can do this until you reach floor 6, but then you have to reach the top yourself.


 * Collecting one corn from 5th bonus level grants you an extra life. Selecting 5th level from menu doesn't have the same effect. You have to beat four levels first for this to work.


 * You can't hit two targets with one hammer swing. For example, if you attack yeti while falling ice is in their space, you'll only hit the ice, and then yeti might run into you. Recognize this situation and attack twice (hold B button to attack twice quickly).


 * Game becomes harder on second loop. Birds are faster, and there's three falling ice instead of two.


 * On level 54, the bird slows down to an almost still pace, then gradually speeds up with each level, but still remains very slow.


 * Score restarts when you reach 999999 points.


 * Level number resets after 99, but levels still follow a logical order.

Bonus round strategies

 * You have 40 seconds to complete the bonus round by reaching the peak of the mountain and jumping in to the condor's claws.


 * There are no enemies here, so you do not have access to your hammer.


 * If you have to decide between taking the time to collect a vegetable, or completing the bonus round in time, complete the bonus round because you earn a lot more points for that than for collecting vegetables.


 * On the other hand, take as much time as you need to complete the bonus round because there is no bonus for unused time.


 * In order to complete the bonus round, you must jump such that your hands literally touch the condor's claws. The condor changes directions occasionally.  Jump well enough in advance of the condor's arrival over your head to touch his claws.

Arcade / Family Disk System differences

 * Instead of a single set of 32 stages, there are 48 stages split up across two sets of 24. The player can choose to complete the stages in any order desired, although you swap back and forth between sets every 8 stages.


 * The second set of stages has a unique color scheme (example shown to the right). In the arcade version, the Condor at the top is replaced by a Butterfly.  In the FDS version, this is switched back to a Condor, but it's colored blue.


 * If you successfully clear the 8th stage before the stage sets switch, you will be treated to a super bonus level, in which you must merely ascend to the top where a flag has been posted. The platforms are typically composed of single blocks spaced very narrowly apart, and set up so that it's actually easier to rise from one level to another than usual.


 * The arcade version has one new enemy, the Bee, which flies straight across the screen. In the FDS version, the Bee is replaced by another Nitpicker who behaves in the same manner.  Additionally, the seals are replaced by the small Abominable Snowmen from the American version of the game.


 * The game features new hazards, such as blizzards which blow gusts of wind across the screen that augment or hamper your jumping, depending whether you jump with the wind or into it. Additionally, the cloud platforms may hover up and down as they cross the screen.