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7) Ice Climber
Last Title: Ice Climber (NES, 1985)
Outside of being a perennial giveaway game, Ice Climber hasn’t seen much action outside of Smash Bros. cameos. Which is a total shame, as this is one of the most under-valued series in Nintendo’s lineup. The NES classic is still home to one of the most unique premises in the company’s history. Climbing up a mountain to retrieve stolen (and presumably frozen) veggies, Nana and Popo are an adorable Eskimo-themed duo wielding mallets to fight off giant condors, polar bears, and fuzzy… icy… round… things. Anyway, the gameplay is fun, with interesting light environmental puzzles forcing you to be tactical about monitoring enemies and deciding which floor to break or zooming cloud bank to jump on.
While not as technically impressive as some other early NES titles, Ice Climber is notable for its quirkiness and simple, solid gameplay. Like Balloon Fight, this is another series that could see new-life in the form of an eShop release. Ice Climber is dying to see a visual overhaul, as the original’s colorful graphics would look wonderful in either 3D or HD. Competitive vs. cooperative multiplayer could really liven things up, especially if Nintendo can squeeze in two pairs at a time, one against the other. Perhaps add a couple of new gameplay modes, and Ice Climber could be a real winner.
