Figured I might as well, since ICs have to be close to the last characters to get one.
Anywho, the Ice Climbers are a rather unique beast- they’re the only character in the game to have two active participants as one character after all (Olimar has six tagalongs, but they follow different rules and are only active during certain attacks)
This, of course, has perks:
For this, assume that Popo/Po is the front man and Nana/Ho is the CPU ally.
-
The biggest advantage is that Ice Climbers are the best grapplers in the game. Some characters have better grab range, or better single grabs, but no character can get as much damage off a grab then the Ice Climbers. If the throw infinite (Grab while in-sync, do down/forward throw, edge the other climber forward and grab just as they let go) isn’t enough, there’s other throw tricks, like down-throw to Nana air F+A (leaves enemy either in a stunned, and thus regrabbable state at low percentages, or prone for whatever followup you want at higher percentages- I suggest F+B for damage or F-smash for kills/edgegame setup) or grab into charged smash (Execute a smash with a C-stick + throw button and hold both- works better if Nana’s the grabber.), both of which are brutal.
-
There’s also desync, which basically allows the Climbers to mix-up their assault and put the opponent in difficult scenarios. Basically, there’s four states the Climbers can be in.
Sync- Default. Ho is only an instant behind Po in action. Required for most chain-grabs and a lot of item antics to be described later. Note that even Sync Nana won’t perfectly be in tune- there’s a chance she may pivot/roll opposite then Popo on command, she may use a different attack when Popo’s swinging (most often seems to be F+B) and she might taunt on her own under (mostly) appropriate circumstances.
Delay- Ho’s within range of Po and still mimicking his actions/following but considerably slower. Usually set up by doing an action which Popo can resolve instantly but Nana can’t, or having Nana perform an action Popo’s incapable of doing- frequently a result of throwing the opponent or arming one climber with certain items- can also be caused by having one Climber block an attack that misses the other. Will reset to Sync if Popo becomes idle, so finding ways to keep ‘attacking’ without opening up oneself to beatings is important to maintain Delay state.
Discord- Ho’s doing her own thing. Generally requires Nana being out of Po’s ‘pimp radius’ (an area about an Ice Climber and a half in any direction around Popo). Not much to say here- Nana’s completely under AI control for the most part, and generally ignores your inputs. The AI routine generally has one thought- get back to Popo as fast as possible. Nana may attack opponents in her way en route, but otherwise generally won’t stop. That said, there are uses for it- Nana WILL attack sometimes and is fairly good at picking something that’ll get the job done, and Nana will instantly re-enter Sync/Delay state once she returns to range, even if she’s not right next to Popo, which is the main use for Dischord-desync- setting up Nana as a hazard while using Popo to keep them busy.
Ho Control- A special state that seems mostly to occur whenever Popo is uncontrollable, the player will be able to control Nana’s attacks (and maybe manipulate her movement somewhat). Seems to happen most often when Popo is frozen or stuck in the ground, or grabbed by an opponent (By the way- this makes the Ice Climbers almost immune to other character’s throwing games- this can be huge.) MIGHT also be the case when Popo is on a Warp Star or Dragoon- I’ll have to look more into it.
-Lastly, there’s the Ice Climber’s exceptional item game. After all, two sets of hands are better then one. Some examples:
Using Nana to grab and hold an opponent while Popo takes off on a Dragoon or Warp Star. NO ESCAPE.
Using Nana to execute Smash attacks on opponents stuck in Fire Flower flames
Still being able to use pickup/thrown items while wielding a Beam Sword, Lip’s Stick, or the like.
Using two items to achieve superior results- like holding something in place for a Super Scope charge shot with a Fire Flower, or grabbing a Pitfall to help setup a Home Run Swing.
Two fan fatal dance of death.
Two shooting weapons. Ray Guns with delay desync are absolutely fatal.
When I get back from work later today, I’ll talk more about their basic game- attack setups, approaches, and the like. As well as Glacier: Your Friend… your enemy? Stay tuned.
