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Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Strategy Guide by Alasdair Lo
Ice Climbers Guide
System: Nintendo Gamecube
E-mail: [email protected]
Date: 24 June, 2004
Version 1.9
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Contents: [Search Key]
1. Introduction [IC1]
2. Updates [IC2]
3. Basics [IC3]
       a. Basic Information [IC3A]
       b. Glossary of Terms [IC3B]
4. Character Moves and Strategies [IC4]
       a. Properties of the Ice Climbers [IC4A]
       b. Standard Attacks [IC4B]
       c. Strong Attacks [IC4C]
       d. Air Attacks [IC4D]
       e. Smash Attacks [IC4E]
       f. Special Attacks [IC4F]
       g. Rules of Engagement [IC4G]
5. Playing 1-P mode with the Ice Climbers [IC5]
       a. Regular Mode [IC5A]
       b. Adventure Mode [IC5B]
       c. Stadium [IC5C]
       d. Event Battle [IC5D] *****PENDING CHANGES*****
6. Item Usage with Ice Climbers [IC6]
7. Some Fun Things to do with the Ice Climbers [IC7]
8. Conclusion [IC8]
Appendix I. Feedback Information [A1]
Appendix II. Letters from Readers [A2]
Appendix III. Glossary of Terms [A3]

----------------------
1. Introduction [IC1]
----------------------
I must say, the Nintendo Exclusive Super Smash Bros. Melee is my favorite
and one and only fighting game that I play. After all, my parents do not
allow me and discourage me to play other fighting games of the genre. I
remember when I was 9, and I got Super Street Fighter for my SNES, and
my parents said, "Too violent! Don't play this!" But when they saw this
game, they only laughed.

Oh well, I AM surprised that this innovative fighting game got a Teen rating
from the ESRB! Of course, in every fighting game, each character has their
own special attributes, and the Ice Climbers are not an exception. What
is so unique about them is that they are the one and only one character
in Super Smash Bros Melee that appear as a pair!

The Ice Climbers are a newcomer to Super Smash Bros. Melee, along with
characters like Bowser, Peach and Zelda. I have no idea why Nintendo and
Hal Labs would like to put those two in this game. Both Ice Climbers wear
snow suits, or parkas, as they say it. It is rather easy to determine the
sex of each Ice Climber by the color of the coat they wear. I guess it
is due to Nintendo's policies of sexual stereotype, I guess. (Note that
Princess Peach, and Princess Zelda also wear Pink, and Samus is the only
character to have orange as the main color, although she can be pink too.)
The lead character is Popo, with the blue coat is the character you control,
while his girlfriend Nana, tags along behind him as the support character.
The two originally appeared in the NES game Ice Climber, and they, like
Ness' Earthbound were re-released for the Gameboy Advance. Of course, these
little guys still use their hammers, for some spectacular damage! As there
are two kids at once, a player can make use of them for some highly complex
gameplay.

Like Ness, a lot of people find it hard to use them due to their unique
properties, and of course, I will give some strategies to tell you how
to make better use of Popo and Nana. Therefore, this guide can make a
beginner's to intermediate's guide for the Ice Climbers.

For your information, this guide contains:
The basics for SSBM,
The move list of the Ice Climbers and their respective tactics (Beginner
to Intermediate level)
The strategies for the Ice Climbers in various 1-P modes, and
The strategies concerning item usage for the Ice Climbers

Of course, I always welcome to all extra tactics you can think of, and
I won't mind continuously adding new stuff to my guides. However, if you
have any good ideas, CONTACT ME THROUGH E-MAIL. After all, with the fighting
game, comes the infinite number of tactics! Besides, I can be contacted
through MSN Messenger with my e-mail address.

As for the search keys, I added them because someone complained about it
being difficult to find stuff in this huge mountain of words, and hopefully,
the keys can help reduce scrolling time. Anyway, I like to be a chatterbox
at times.

-----------------
2. Updates [IC2]
-----------------
Version 1.9:
Modified a little of the Break the Targets' strategies to suit my needs.
I can break them all within 15 seconds with them now. (Don't blame me if
you can't, it's done after a lot of sprained wrists and fingers.)

Version 1.8a:
Added another glossary at the front.

Version 1.8:
Updated the rules of engagement a bit, with some advice from someone with
a pseudonym NintendoAddict. Also added something more in the air attack
section, and added some strategies for the Home Run Contest to suit those
people who are after a far record.

Version 1.7a:
Changed a few words in the contact section. I will not be updating until
after the final exam. I also added a new technique which involves an
alternated Ice Shot, and I amended the grab and throw move a little bit.

Version 1.7:
Added and changed some parts of the Rules of Engagement Section.

Version 1.6:
Added some search keys, added something more about the Blizzard move. I
also added a new section explaining how most people underestimate the Ice
Climbers and how you can surprise those people.

Version 1.5a:
Added a glossary of terms at the far back.

Version 1.5:
Clarified why you usually cannot L-cancel after a downward air attack.
Also added a few more ways to use throws. (There is at least a million
possible ways to use them.)

Version 1.4b:
Added a couple of submitter's tip. Added a new section, called Appendix
II. Letters from Readers. Most letters people write to me in feedback will
now be posted, along with my answers, if they follow all instructions as
mentioned in Appendix I. Feedback Information.

Version 1.4a:
Added the rules of engagement for the Ice Climbers when playing against,
Link, Zelda/Sheik, Kirby, Pikachu and Ness.

Version 1.4:
Added the rules of engagement for the Ice Climbers when playing against
Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Falco, Fox and Samus.

Version 1.3:
Added some rules of engagement for the Ice Climbers when playing against
Dr. Mario, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach and Bowser.

Version 1.2:
Added some more strategies concerning grabs and special attacks with the
Ice Climbers.

Version 1.1:
The Strategies for Event Battles 3,4,6-10 have been added.

----------------
3. Basics [IC3]
----------------
----------------------------
a. Basic Information [IC3A]
----------------------------
Pros and Cons of using the Ice Climbers:
Firstly, playing as the Ice Climbers has its own shares of pros and cons.
Here they are.

- Cons:
1. The Ice Climbers are rather lightweight
2. The Ice Climbers cannot jump very far horizontally
3. If the supporting Ice Climber is knocked out, the Ice Climber's offensive
capabilities will be halved.
4. The Ice Climbers have a rather difficult learning curve

+ Pros:
1. The Ice Climbers have a very powerful offensive power when they are
together, and can attack opponents with two smash attacks at once
2. Popo can still recover quite well by himself even without Nana, as he
can use the Squall Hammer (Tap B rapidly to make Popo move a bit higher.)
3. The supporting character can fend for him/herself, and can someties
knock out enemies for you
4. Popo and Nana can hold two items at once
5. As Popo and Nana are wearing studded shoes, they will not slip as much
as other characters on slippery services. (Good to catch opponents while
they are slipping.)
6. It is always nice to have someone to beat up the victim while he is
being interrogated face to face. (That is, when you grab an opponent.)

Walking and running:
To make the Ice Climbers walk, hold the Control Stick in the horizontal
direction you want the couple to walk in. To make Popo and Nana run, TAP
the control stick in the direction required.

Jumping:
To jump, press up on the control stick, or diagonally upwards in the
direction you want the Ice Climbers to jump. However, I personally
recommend using the Y Button to jump, as it is more user-friendly. For
me, at least. (Having played Street Fight II on the SNES, I find an extra
jump button to be a very helpful alternative.)

Falling:
The Ice Climbers will be affected by gravity, and fall if they have nothing
beneath their feet. To make them fall faster, press and hold the control
stick downwards.

Attacking:
A Button is the ordinary attack button. Press A repeatedly and the Ice
Climbers will perform a multiple hit combo on the enemy. Press A while
holding a Control Stick in the desired direction will cause your character
to perform a strong attack in the desired direction. Press A while tapping
the Control Stick in the desired direction will cause your character to
perform a Smash Attack in the desired direction. As simple as that. Pressing
A while your character is in the air with or without holding the Control
Stick will cause your character to perform a Mid-air attack in the desired
direction.

Grabbing and Throwing:
Press Z to grab an enemy, A to hit him/her a couple of times and then tap
the control stick in the direction you want to throw him/her in. Pressing
A while holding the R button also works. Besides, pressing A while Popo
is hitting his victim will cause Nana to whack her hammer on the victim
too, provided she is close enough. For more protection, press and hold
R, then press A. It's called a shield grab.

Protective Measures:
Press R or L while standing to pull up a shield, and R or L while in midair
to perform an air dodge. If you tilt the control stick in any of the
directions, you can air dodge anywhere you like. Oh, another thing, if
you have just made an air-attack with the Ice Climbers and land on the
ground, you normally will be immobile for a second before you can move
again while Popo and Nana stands up again. To shorten the time taken to
"stand guard", press the R or L button before their feet touch the ground.
Their recovery time will be shortened by say, half a second.

Dodging and Wavedashing:
Another use for the air-dodge is for the Ice Climbers to gain forwards
momentum, so that they can speed across horizontal surfaces. You can jump,
and immediately Press R + Down-Right + A to air dodge downwards and to
the right. This will enable the Ice Climbers to dodge and propel themselves
forwards. You can repeat this as many times as you like as you gain ground.
This maneuver is called the Wavedash, as the Ice Climbers soar forward
like a wave crest here. You can also perform this maneuver back and forth
if you wish to confuse the enemy. This is why there is a certain degree
of psychological warfare involved. But still, I see people do this, and
yet I can stay calm. Oh well, I guess some people have a higher level of
arousal than others...

Alternating attacks:
Most of the time, Popo and Nana will swing their hammers in unison, hence
resulting in a pause between attacks. To avoid this, you can have Popo
and Nana attacking right after each other with this trick. You can run
very fast at the enemy, then perform a roll in front of him, and then
attacking instantly after the roll. (If you want to stay in the same spot,
use the spot dodge, by tapping the control stick downwards.)

If done right, Nana will deliberately miss a Smash Attack or Dashing Attack
while Popo starts hitting the enemy. Now, as I observed, after tapping
the A button continuously while moving forward, the Ice Climbers seem to
be attacking in a delay after the other. The two will then swing their
hammers right after each other, resulting in a faster attack frequency.
I tried performing Blizzard right afterwards, and in the end, they ended
up performing the move alternately, right after each other. Other attacks
that can be alternated include the horizontal strong attack and the hammer
smash. If your hands are quickly enough, you can have one do a Blizzard,
and another smash. Et cetera.

Special Moves:
Press B alone or accompanied by a tilt of the Control Stick to perform
a special move unique to the Ice Climbers. The Ice Climbers have the Ice
Shot, Squall Hammer, Belay and Blizzard. They will be explained in detail
later.

Using Items:
Sometimes, in a middle of a fight, an item will appear. Go over to the
item and press A to use it. Some items like food or healing items will
take effect as soon as you press A. The others will be grabbed. For throwing
items, capsules and carriers, Press A again to throw. For the other items,
Press A to shoot or bash your enemies with the item. To throw those away.
Press Z, preferably at your enemies to hurt them! The Ice Climbers have
the advantage that they can use 2 items, not one at once! See the item
usage section for more details.

Devaluation of moves:
Whenever the Ice Climbers are on the field, their damage for a particular
attack against a particular enemy will slowly depreciate. For instance,
if I perform the upward strong attack against an enemy, the first time,
they can do 21% damage, the second time, 18% and the third time 14%.
Therefore, all damage values in this guide are referring to its maximum
first hit value (Notice the UP TOs). Do reset the damage values, have your
Ice Climbers knocked out. Or commit suicide (self destruct) when you have
a very large lead in score. (I elaborated on this part, as someone with
a pseudonym Rygar the Ninja suggested I should add this in, even if I knew
it from the start.)

Two Heads are better than one:
When you play as the Ice Climbers, you get to have the Climber with the
darker colored parka in the lead. (Blue/ Green Popo or Orange/ Red Nana)
In either case, try to keep both Climbers close together for maximum effect.
If your support character is knocked out, you still won't suffer from a
Fall (1 point deduction). But things will go tougher as the lead character
has to fight on his/her own. Beware of that.

Using Nana as a shield:
When an opponent uses a shooting item on you. Run away, and let Nana trail
behind Popo a bit. As a result, Nana will be the person who gets shot,
and not Popo, and the damage meter will not increase for your main character.
However, protect Nana afterwards, or she will be smashed away, and she
will not love you.

----------------------------
b. Glossary of Terms [IC3B]
----------------------------
This is where I add the glossary of all the specialized terms players like
to use while playing Super Smash Bros. Melee. Of course, I have tried very
hard to use only layman terms to write my guide, but in case you need to
know, I would just add it for your reference anyway.

Air Dodge- L or R in the air results in an air dodge. Until a character
lands after an air dodge, he cannot do any attacks or jump, like after
most recovery attacks. You can also influence the direction of an air dodge
with the control stick.

Attack- The A button, B button, Z button, and C-stick all make your
character do an attack. The B button is for special moves, and the rest
control standard attacks (C-stick can only be used in versus modes, and
Z button only in the air.) Samus, Link, and Young Link do not do attacks
with the Z button, instead they shoot their respective grappling items
when in the air. Neither Donkey Kong nor Peach have aerial down B's.
Damage- Each character in a fight has a counter of his own at the bottom
of the screen that tallies his health in points, displayed as a percentage.
At the lowest percentage (0%) attacks will not send your character very
far, and effects like Jigglypuff's sing are easy to shake off. Grabs become
harder to get out of at higher damages, and attacks become much more
powerful.

Dodge- A quick tap of down on the control stick while shielding will make
a character dodge (C-stick works also). Dodge times for each character
are different.

Friendly Fire- Another way of saying Team Attack.

Grab/Throw- Every character can grab with Z or L/R + A/Z. Hit A or Z while
holding an opponent to do a grab attack, and then tilt the control stick
in a direction to hurl them in one of four directions.

Handicap- Handicap affects knockback ratios. Higher handicaps will
augment a character's ability to send an opponent flying, while making
them more resistant to being tossed off the edge themselves; a low handicap
will do the opposite.

Item-catch- When an item passes over you, you can hit A on the ground or
Z in the air to catch that item (you can even catch items that are thrown
at you).

Jump- X, Y, or up on the control stick will make a character jump. Kirby
and Jigglypuff have 6 jumps, but everyone else has 2.

Recovery attack- Any attack that gains horizontal or vertical distance,
that can be used to recover after being sent away from the stage.
Roll- Hitting left or right on the control stick (or C-stick) while
shielding.

Smash attack- "Smashing" the control stick while pressing the A button.
The C-Stick, too, is used for smash attacks.

Smash charging- After initiating a smash attack, you can hold A to hold
the attack, thus increasing it in power. It is automatically released after
a set amount of time, if not manually released.

Taunt- ^ on the directional pad will yield a taunt. Some characters (Pichu,
Captain Falcon) have 2. Fox and Falco can hit <, >, <, > on the d-pad to
call their buddies on either of the StarFox stages.

Teching- When you are tumbling in the air after being hit, you can press
L, R, or Z near the ground or a wall/ceiling, with or without a direction,
to recover faster than usual. Holding left or right on a ground tech will
result in a roll in the direction.

Tilt attack- Holding any one of the four control stick directions, and
hitting A. Some <, > tilt attacks can be aimed to the diagonal.
Wall-jump- Hitting the opposite direction when your character is near a
wall, and not tumbling. Works only with Mario, Samus, Young Link, Fox,
Sheik, Falco, Pichu, and Captain Falcon.

?air- refers to aerial attacks in the four directions and neutral. Replace ?
with n, u, a, b, or d to signify which.

Attack Cancel- From the air, many characters can cancel attacks or effects
of attacks by doing an attack close to the ground. Some examples:

Bat drop- Z dropping the bat, followed by an attack that prevents it from
flying off the platform, most often a spike attack. Does a lot of damage
in a short amount of time. Used to get high scores in Home Run Contest.
Chain-throw- Continually throwing another character in such a manner as
to prevent them from landing.

Combo- A combo can be either natural or improvisational; a true combo is
two or more hits that register a 'Combo' reading in training mode. In a
looser term, a combo is any set of attacks that is difficult to escape
from, and may do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Crouch-canceling- Holding down on the control stick when hit by an enemy
attack. Up to a certain damage percentage, this will prevent you from being
sent flying, though you will slide back. Also, a crouch cancel counter
(ccc) is crouch canceling using a character's down-A attack.

C-Sticking- Used to describe the act of using the c-stick to do aerials,
smash attacks, and other things in multiplayer mode.

Dash-canceling- During a run, pressing down will stop the run.
Dash-Dancing- Quickly alternating left and right on the control stick,
so the character only does the opening animation of the run.

Dash-Dashing- Jamming the control stick repeatedly in the same left or
right direction, so the character only does the opening animation of the
run. For some characters, this will result in a form of movement faster
than conventional running. Some people refer to this as the "Foxtrot."

Dash-jump- Jumping out of a dash, often with a short jump. The character
will usually move faster forward in the air than if it were a non-dash-jump.
Directional Influence- The trajectory of an-air character can be
influenced by a control stick direction. The most helpful uses of this
technique are escaping combos and juggles, and for recovery.

Double dash attack- Requires a super scope, ray gun, or fire flower, as
these items do not have a running attack. Do a dash attack holding one
of the items, and while you're doing the attack, hit Z. Your character
will attack, then throw the item.

Double Jump cancel- To stop the upward motion of Mewtwo, Ness, Peach, or
Yoshi's second jump with an aerial attack. This can be demonstrated by
having Ness do two jumps in short succession, followed by a quick aerial
attack. Ness should be VERY low to the ground if you do this quickly enough.
Thanks to MaskedSheik for this term. Double Jump cancel is abbreviated
"DJC."

Edge-guarding- Using attacks to prevent the enemy from recovering to the
stage.

Edge-hogging- A character holding onto an edge will not permit another
character to do the same. This is useful in preventing an enemy's recovery.
The best way to edge-hog is to either wavedash or short-jump backwards
onto the ledge.

Edge-hop- A jump quickly following a press of down from an edge-hang will
let characters do a short edge-hop. Most, if not all characters can do
attacks out of this.

Fast-falling- Pressing down while in the air will make your character fall
faster than usual. You can fast-fall out of aerial attacks, air dodges,
and failed ^B attacks. Young Link, however, is nearly unaffected by this.
Hyper/Power Shielding- Shielding at the exact instant an attack or item
hits your character. Will result in a white flash and the attack not hitting.
Projectiles will be reflected.

Ice Climbers' infinite grab- This technique differs from the infinite grab
in that you can do it in a 1-on-1 match. Grab with the main character
(default=Popo) and hold down on the control stick as you're doing the grab.
Keep hitting the A button, so that Popo does his grab attack, and Nana
does her down tilt. You can keep this up forever. This can be combined
with other Ice Climber grab combos, and because of this fact, it is
essentially an instant-KO grab combo.

L-cancel- When L, R, or Z is pressed before you hit the ground, you
circumvent the normal recovery time after an aerial attack. Link's aerial
down-A L-cancelled will result in his pulling the sword out of the ground
faster.

Light Shield- Holding L or R lightly, to prevent shield-stab, or to guard
against weak attacks. When used by holding the Z button, light shielding
is called Z-shielding.

Juggle- Keeping the opponent up in the air, using ground attacks or air
attacks that send the opponent on an upwards trajectory.

Jump-cancel- Jumping out of a dash; can be linked to a grab or an attack.
Also used to describe jumping out of Falco/Fox's reflector to bypass the
usual lag after the attack is stopped.

Jump-cancel (alternate meaning)- Jumping out of the shield. Yoshi cannot
do this. You can then cancel your jump with an attack, such as an up-B
or a smash attack.

Meteor Jump- Jumping out of a meteor smash. The key indicator between spikes
and meteor smashes is that you cannot meteor jump out of a non-meteor-spike.
Mewtwo's Double Jump boost- With Mewtwo, if you perform an aerial attack
at the end of his double jump, he'll get a small extra boost upwards.

Natural combo- Any combo that is built into the game, such as the variations
of Marth and Roy's >B attacks, and also the A, A, A... combo that many
characters have.

No-ping hit- Hitting with the handle of a home-run bat, so that it does
not make the distinctive "ping" sound. Sends the target a higher trajectory
than a tip-hit.

Running smash- Dash-cancel, then hit a c-stick direction. You can also
grab out of a DC, by hitting Z.

Running smash (alternate)- Only works for up/down smashes. While running,
roll to either of these positions, while hitting A. Works best with
characters that slide when they stop running.

Sex Kick- This term refers to any neutral aerial A kick that does damage
after the actual movement of the foot is over. The attack gets weaker and
has less knock back the longer it is out. The only exception is Dr. Mario.
His sex kick attack actually gets stronger, and has more knock back the
longer it is out. Fox and Falco's aerial backwards A is also considered
a sex kick.

Shffl'd- This is an acronym meaning "Short-hopped, Fast-falled,
L-cancelled." It is basically the most effective way certain aerial attacks
can be pulled off, and is a must in competitive play.

Shield dash- Wavedashing out of a shield. Can be followed by anything a
regular wavedash can be followed by.

Shield grab- Hitting A or Z while L or R shielding.

Shield shifting- Using the control stick to angle the shield to prevent
shield-stab, or provide extra protection in a given direction.

Shield-stab- Attacking a shielded opponent where the shield's leaving a
part of the character vulnerable, allowing them to bypass the shield's
defense. Thanks to NJE789 for this term

Short jump- While running or standing, pressing the jump button more
lightly than usual will result in a shorter first jump. In adjectival form,
short jump becomes short hop or short-hopped.

Spike attack- Any attack that sends an enemy at an acute downward angle
(less than 45 degrees away from straight down). Many, but not all spike
attacks are considered meteor smashes.

Super-Wavedash- A wavedash done from a jump (best way to explain it is
that it is done while falling, not while jumping (as a conventional wavedash
is)).

Swing-Jumping- A late double jump cancel, used to create more vertical
distance for characters with the ability to DJC.

Tip-hit- Also called a "tipper." Hitting with the tip of the home-run bat.
Sends target much farther horizontally than a non-tipper.

Tipper- In addition to the meaning mentioned above, "tipper" is used as
another name for hitting with the optimal range of any of Marth's attacks,
said range being any range where there is distinct damage and knockback
(the tip).

Tumble-recover- When a character is in the air from an attack, he/she/it
might be spinning around. A tumble-recover is alternating left/right on
the control stick while this spinning is going on. This allows stability
without wasting a jump.

Turret Fighting- Tactic that is used by mainly projectile characters in
which the player spams his/her weapon to its fullest, while staying in
the same spot. Falco, Samus, Fox, and Shiek users are known for this
annoying tactic, and can be very effective when in the hands of an expert.

Upward Pound- A tactic with Jigglypuff where you use Pound, and then quickly
press up so Jigglypuff pounds in a more upward direction. This helps
vertical recovery (Pound and then jump gains more vertical distance) and
horizontal recovery (consecutive upward Pounds give Jigglypuff infinite
horizontal recovery). You can also do it downwards. Thanks to MaskedMarth
for this term.

Vertkill- Jumping and spiking at the same time, usually by a character
already in the air. Some useful ones are Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's,
Marth's down aerial.

Wallbombing- Using the Peach Bomber attack (forward+B) as a smash attack
makes Peach pop up a little bit, allowing her to use it repeatedly without
losing height. If kept up for long enough, this can be used to stall out
time matches.

Wall-climbing- After an Mario hits a wall with up-B, he can wall jump.
This can be continued until the wall ends.

Wall-grapple- With Link, Young Link, or Samus, hit Z in the air and near
a wall, facing it, to latch onto it. Hit A while hanging, or after the
initial latching to climb the grappling device. Can only be used once per
time in the air (you have to land before you can use it again), but you
can use the character's ^B after using a wall-grapple.

Wall-hop- For characters that can wall jump, you wall jump and immediately
double jump. You gain more vertical distance this way. Can be done on some
ledges.

Wall of Pain- Jigglypuff strategy that is focused on its superb aerial
ability, and in particular, its aerial back A.

Wavedance- Wavedashing back and forth.

Wavedash- Air-dodging diagonally toward the ground, as close to the ground
as possible, will result in a movement that abuses the games physics by
allowing a player to make themself slide across the ground. Most obvious
with Luigi, Marth, Roy, Mewtwo, and Ice Climbers. You can turn around more
quickly by wavedashing in the opposite direction of your run, then picking
up on the momentum.

Waveshine- Fox's reflector followed by a wavedash, can be linked to a grab,
smash, or looped until the edge of the stage is met. A prerequisite for
Fox's infinite combo.

Wavesmash- A wavedash, then a c-stick direction.

Disjointed Hitbox- When a hitbox is not attached to the character, such
as in Marth/Roy/Link/Young Link's sword attacks and Ness's bat smash. A
sword and a leg (such as Captain Falcon's) are going to be affected
differently by fire. The character whose knee comes in contact with the
fire is going to get hit, but the character with the sword is not, since
damage to the weapon (a disjointed hitbox) does not affect the character.

Freezing glitch- Ice Climbers: Roll behind the enemy using the L or R shield.
Half-way before the roll is over, start holding Z, and the second Climber
MUST grab the enemy. Do a forward B in the direction you just rolled from
and if it worked, the enemy should be frozen after Nana (default) throws
him/her/it.

Lag (also called recovery time)- When a character executes an attack, there
is a certain amount of time after the attack is over in which that the
character cannot move. This is called lag time. Moves that are "laggy"
carry an large amount of lag time. Some examples are Ganondorf's ground
forward-B when it misses, and Link's aerial down-A not L-cancelled. Related
term: L-cancel

Knockback- Refers to how far a character is sent after being hit by an
attack.

Priority- What the chances are of an attack taking precedence over another
attack if they collide with each other.

Roy Zone, The- Different from phantom hits in that the attack doesn't even
do damage, though it hits. Named for the character it most affects, Roy.

Spamming- Continuously and persistently using an attack. Usually used in
reference to projectile attacks.

Startup- How long an attack takes to start. Attacks with high startup time
include Falcon Punch (C. Falcon's B) and Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (B)
/ Volcano Kick (tilt up-A). Attacks with low startup time include
Fox/Falco's reflector (down-B), Mewtwo's aerial forward-A, and Mr.
Game&Watch's up-B.

Stun- When a character is hit, there is a certain amount of time in which
the player can do nothing. If a character is hit during stun, it's
considered a combo.

Super Jump- Catching Link's or Young Link's boomerang while hanging from
a hookshot (See wall-grapple) will result in a very high jump. Note that
this supposedly works only on certain versions of the game (I think 1.0,
and 1.1), but try it anyways if you aren't sure.

Sweet Spot- Any part of an attack that does more damage, or has a better
effect than other parts of the same attack. Unconditional examples are:
Marth (very tip of sword), Roy (large center portion of sword), the home
run bat (the very tip), and Mr. G&W (the edge of his body). Conditional
ones include: Captain Falcon's aerial forward A, Ness's aerial back A,
Zelda's aerial back and forward A's, and the tip of Ness's smash forward
A (bat).

Tiers- A ranking of how formidable each character is at the peak of the
current metagame. An in-depth look at tiers

Tournament legal- Any stage, item, or ruleset that is acceptable in a
tournament environment. General rulesets follow this example: 4 stock,
with time doubling (or almost doubling) stock, items on low or off, with
Maxim Tomato, Heart Container, Hammer, Super/Poison Mushrooms, and Party
Ball off. Hyrule Temple, Yoshi's Island 64, and Brinstar Depths, Termina,
and Corneria are always off (and can't be chosen, even under slob picks).
Team attack is usually on, and no stage can be played twice in the same
set. A set is the best two of three, where the loser can either change
a character, or choose the next stage. Thanks to David Kirk for this
information.

----------------------------------------
4. Character Moves and Strategies [IC4]
----------------------------------------
Before I talk about the moves of the Ice Climbers, let me first introduce
you to their properties.

-----------------------------------------
a. Properties of the Ice Climbers [IC4A]
-----------------------------------------
Weight:
Firstly, the Ice Climbers, as you can see, are just kids, they are just
as short as Ness, and are as small as him. Therefore, both Ice Climbers
are lightweight characters in this game, however, they are still heavier
than the featherweights like Kirby or Pikachu. Even still, the Ice Climbers
can take quite a considerable amount of damage before they are sent skyhigh,
but it is not so good to push your chances if you have more than 130% damage,
because by then they are very vulnerable to most Smash Attacks. Therefore,
grab any healing items as quickly as possible before you get knocked out.

Note that Nana has her own damage meter. If let's say that Popo never takes
any damage, and Nana is always the girl who gets all the hits. If someone
smashes Nana, she will be knocked out, even if Popo has 0% damage, she
will be knocked out. Therefore, always protect your girlfriend at all costs
or suffer the consequences. (Same goes for the Stamina Mode.)

Jumping Ability:
The Ice Climbers came from a NES/E-Reader/Gameboy Advance game that has
them jumping up a mountain, fighting seals, birds and collecting vegetables
on the way up. That game is a very vertical stage. Therefore, as a token
of reality, the programmers of this game have programmed Popo and Nana
to be quite good vertical jumpers, and they can jump considerably high.

On the other hand, due to the same reason, the Ice Climbers do not have
any decent horizontal jumping abilities. If you compare the horizontal
jumping distances of the Ice Climbers to those of Ness, Kirby and Pikachu,
the Ice Climbers will come out on last. Fortunately, the Ice Climbers have
two special moves that can greatly increase their range.

Versatility:
Now, I have to consider the versatility of the Ice Climbers. You may wonder
why I have not talked about the speed of the Ice Climbers, but still, in
a fighting game, one must be fast and precise at the same time, and this
is what versatility is all about. The Ice Climbers are quite versatile,
thanks to their lightweight, and they are just as versatile as Pikachu.
When they jump, they land in an acceptable amount of time, and they have
a medium-fast speed run. But still, that is nothing when compared to even
more versatile characters like Fox and Captain Falcon.

Again, their special moves are there to help to balance this deficiency.
Besides, their studded shoes can help their feet to grip onto slippery
services like the UFO hover over the Fourside stage, the lights in the
Brinstar Stage, the icy surfaces on Icicle Mountain and the Oil in the
Super FlatWorld.

Thirdly, the Ice Climbers do have a rather fast air dodge. You can use
the air dodge to move quickly in the air, or you can do it on the ground
as well. Let's say you want the Ice Climbers to move to the right. You
jump, and immediately after jumping, you air-dodge, diagonally to the right.
You gain horizontal distance, and the momentum of the dodge causes the
Ice Climbers to sail even further to the right. Then you can do this
repeatedly again and again to move even faster. This maneuver can also
help Ice Climbers ambush their enemies. However, repeated use of this move
may arouse their suspicion. So be careful, and be fast.

---------------------------
b. Standard Attacks [IC4B]
---------------------------
Standard A Button Attack:
Attack: Quadruple Hammer Combo
Those 2 hammers brought to the arena by the Ice Climbers really helps!
The Ice-Climber's standard attack will cause both Ice Climbers to each
swing their hammers at their enemies twice. As they are two people, not
one, the interval between combos can be significantly short, and it is
possible for the Ice Climbers to achieve 9-10% damage every 4 hits! Now
you find the advantages of having two people working as a team. Even the
weakest of attacks will deal a lot of damage when used rapidly!ened. This
attack really packs a punch! Each blow deals up to 3% damage.

Strategy:
If in any event do Popo and Nana get separated, try to approach the enemy
in a way so that the two surrounds the enemy. Then start with your hammer
combo. As there are two people on both sides of the enemy for him/her to
target, the Ice Climbers can play tennis with the enemy together for a
considerable amount of time, taking turns at bashes before they are
reunited again! Besides, the good thing is that Nana has a mind of her
own, and when the need arises, she can defend herself with this attack
while you sneak up on the people attacking her as Pop and finish them off!
That's the sandwich theorem at its finest!!! Tee hee hee...

Dashing Attack:
Attack: Shoulder Nudge
Ah, this has got to be one of the Ice Climbers few moves without the usage
of their hammers, and yet, they are still pretty deadly! Popo and Nana
will charge forward towards their enemies and lunge out swinging their
arms at the enemy! Sending them flying. As there are two people here, things
can be made much more powerful. Having monitored their damage in training
mode, I found that Popo dealt 9% damage, while Nana dealt another 8%! This
makes up to 17% damage! Oh this is amazing!  The impact force is also right
down impressive! After all Bowser flew just as high as when he was hit
by Ness!

Strategy:
Even if Nana has been knocked out, you can still deal reasonable damage
with Popo alone, so do not lose heart at all! With this move, you have
plenty more room to maneuver as once the enemy is hit, he/she will
immediately be knocked back. This is of course, another must-use move for
all those Multi-Man Melee matches.

Cool Tip! Stagger Tactic
Oh, another thing. There is another way to use this move that can help
you deal a lot of damage before he/she/they can regain control,
particularly they underestimate the Ice Climbers' reach. First, run
towards your opponent, and perform the elbow nudge on him before he can
react. (Particularly important when some moves have a higher priority than
others) Even if he/she/they are at zero percent damage, they will still
be sent into the air, and now, you should try and follow the flying opponent
and juggling him around for a while.

In general, the more damage the enemy has, the easier it is to follow through,
as he/she/them will be sent flying higher than when they have low damage.
Besides, if you are up against someone who just prematurely dodged your
attack, you can simply wait for him/her to touch the ground again and send
him/her into the air.

You can also do a Blizzard on the enemy as he/she falls down, and then
he/she will be temporarily held up in the air, allowing the Ice Climbers
to follow up with a grab, and hence continuing to rack up their damage.

Grab and Throw:
Well, the behavior of the Ice Climbers really reminds me of the way the
mafia treat their enemies. That's right! One person will grab the victim
while the other hits him in the head! "Will you talk!" "No!" Punch! "Will
you talk!" "No!" Punch! "Will you talk?" "Yes! Just don't hit me anymore!"
Popo will grab the enemy and headbutt him, while his girlfriend hits him/her
in the head with her hammer! Now, I really don't know how many hits can
Popo deal on Bowser, but I think I have seen Popo headbutt Bowser 10 times
before Bowser could break free! Now for the throws. When you throw an enemy
upwards, I think 11% damage can be dealt. When you do it horizontally,
10% damage will be dealt. For a downward throw, 11% damage can be dealt.
But is that all? Not really! There is a useful strategy for you to consider
below! Enjoy!

Strategy:
When throwing someone with the Ice Climbers, having Nana beside you can
help in the throw. For instance, if you tap in the direction you want to
throw and press A at the same time, Nana may be able to perform a strong
attack or smash attack on the enemy, and sometimes be able to knock him/her
out! I find the horizontal combination to be the easiest to deliver while
the upwards one is rather difficult. (But in multiplayer mode, it's even
easier, as all you have to do to make Nana smash her foe is to tilt the
C stick in the direction you want her to smash her enemy in.) But sometimes
it may work. There is an even meaner way to use this, and you will find
the tactic in the section, using items with the Ice Climbers.

Here are some more interrogation techniques you can use while you have
someone in Popo's hands. There are possibly a million different ways.

Cool Tip! Cold air is bad for you
"Gee, you look nervous and sweaty, my friend. Let me cool you down a little,"
Nana says in a kind voice. Nana blows some cold, snowy air into the poor
victim's face as Popo grabs him. In fact, sometimes, to make sure that
the person in Popo's hands cannot get away in low damages, press Down +
B while the victim is held securely, and Nana will perform a Blizzard attack
on him/her, accumulating damage. To lower the chance of Popo performing
a down throw, hold down the instant the victim is grabbed.

Cool Tip! Chain Throwing
Similar to the tactic above, you can always throw an enemy downwards, and
then perform the Blizzard move on them as they bounce up. This stuns him
for a moment, in which you can grab him and repeat the procedures again
and again.

Of course, due to the same reason, you can always slam an enemy to the
ground, wait for him/her to bounce up, then grab him/her again so that
you can continuously accumulate damage on the poor victim.

Cool Tip! Finishing Moves
There are some ways to finish of someone using the grabs. If Popo is alone,
tilting C-Stick in a direction will cause him to throw the victim to the
direction. While he will just smash if no one is in his hands, therefore,
if you grab someone, and you girlfriend is there, tilt the C-stick upwards.
Popo will throw the victim upwards, while Nana smashes him upwards with
an upward hammer smash. This works on the same principle of a badminton
serve. After all, you throw the ball, and then hit it upwards to the
opponents' side of the court. (If you want to prevent someone from
recovering, shield grab him from the edge.)

Another way is by the ping-pong ball serving method. To do this, grab the
highly damaged opponent, or just grab a not so damaged opponent, and damage
him up to say, a little over 100%. Tilt the control stick downwards, and
at the same time, tilt the C-stick upwards. This way, Popo will drop the
ping pong ball, which is your opponent, who bounces off the floor, while
Nana swings her hammer upwards, this is the serve.

You can also play croquet with the enemies. You grab an enemy, damage
him/her to the desired damage percentage, and then you tilt the control
stick downwards, and then the C-stick downwards right after that. This
way, Popo will drop the croquet ball onto the ground while Nana hits the
ball away. This can be used to knock out most enemies that have a bit over
100% damage, with the exception of the heavy weighted ones like Bowser.
(They take even more than that, and sometimes, you will be required to
desync the two, as sometimes Popo will throw before Nana can even hit the
foe.)

"How dare you not listen to my boyfriend?" Nana cries. You can also have
Popo grab some one who has heavy damage, and then as you throw the victim,
press Y to have Nana jump, and at the meantime press A while holding the
control stick in the direction the Ice Climbers are facing and Nana can
perform a airborne hammer pound. If done near the edge, then the victim
can sometimes be knocked out.

There is a freezing glitch with the grabbing. Roll behind the enemy using
the L or R shield. Half-way before the roll is over, start holding Z, and
the second Climber will always grab the enemy. Do a forward B in the
direction you just rolled from and if it worked, the enemy should be frozen
after Nana (default) throws him/her/it.

There is an infinite grab combo that involves Nana performing downward
hammer sweeps at the enemy while Popo headbutts. However, due to my policy
of attempting to distribute strategies evenly among different moves the
Ice Climbers have, I'd suggest you see to the strong attack section, which
is just down there.

There are some more strategies with the grab, and they are associated with
the usage of items. For those, please see the section called "Using Items
with the Ice Climbers".

-------------------------
c. Strong Attacks [IC4C]
-------------------------
Horizontal Strong Attack:
Strong Hammer Attack:
The Ice Climbers do not like to kick people, even though they have so many
studs on the bottoms of their shoes! Instead, they will just make use of
what they have on their hands, their hammers! This attack looks almost
identical to their standard hammer attack, only that the Ice Climbers seems
to swing them at a wider angle. This attack deals up to 15% damage to the
enemy, and like all the other strong attacks, has just reasonable impact
force. That's all.

Strategy:
Cool Tip! Desync Combo
Teamwork is a very good thing, as even Strong Attacks can be made into
a very rapid combo. To do this, run forward towards your enemy, and have
Popo and Nana be separated by rolling (That is, the two Ice Climbers are
close together, but they do not occupy the same screen space.) Then when
you are up to your opponent, immediately stop running and then perform
the strong hammer attack repeatedly at the opponent. Keep tapping A. Popo
and Nana will hit the opponent with their hammers alternately, instead
of in unison.(Therefore, their moves are not synchronized, and such action
is called a desynch) Repeat this maneuver until the opponent is almost
off the ledge or is very close to a wall. Then there will almost always
be a hammer hitting the opponent, and he will have to take damage for quite
a while. A nice damage accumulator, eh?

Note: Nana sometimes performs a Smash Attack, sometimes she deliberately
misses a strong attack when you attack after rolling. Either way, she will
not be attacking in unison with Popo for a short time, and you can also
use other means of alternating attack, like Blizzards.

Upward Strong Attack:
Attack: Upward Hammer Drill
Hmmm... sometimes some of the potential uses of hammers are overlooked. It's
amazing that the Ice Climbers can actually use their hammers to drill into
the enemy! When an enemy is hit, he/she will most likely be trapped in
the spin, allowing the Ice Climbers to perform up to a 14 hit combo on
the enemy! In fact, up to 21% damage is dealt at the same time! Wow, go
and cop them you guys up there!

Strategy:
There are several useful strategies to use with this Hammer Drill. One
is to use it to obtain the Juggler Bonus, after all, while performing this
move, you have successfully kept your foe in the air for 14 hits! Besides,
if you do it rapidly enough! This move makes a good connector move for
other follow up moves as the enemy is sent vertically above, and it would
not be too hard for Popo and Nana to catch them! Please note that this
move is more effective against larger characters like Bowser or Ganondorf,
as their larger bodies provide a larger surface area for the hammers to
act on. The same following moves apply as in the dashing attacks.

Downward Strong Attack:
Attack: Low Hammer Sweep
The Ice Climbers will now act like the Hunters in Resident Evil. They will
use their hammers to sweep at their enemies from below, dealing rapid damage
in packets of 2-3% per hit. Again, you can repeat this procedure again
and again and again, and the enemy will be dealt progressive damage, so
they will be knocked about a little bit, but still, that would not pose
too much of a problem. In fact, as there are two people there, the frequency
can be enhanced.

Strategy:
The Low Hammer Sweep may seem to be useless if you only use it once, but
when you use it rapidly, it will be much more effective. This is because,
the enemy can be held at bay and sometimes be juggled around, not being
able to retaliate for a short time. In fact, I would suggest performing
a combo which consists of 4 Low Hammer Sweeps in a row, and then following
up with a Downward Smash Attack. The enemy (particularly if they are human)
probably will not be able to move regardless of how hard they struggle
or air dodge. If they do air dodge, pause for a moment before you continue.
(The CPU reacts much faster than humans, I think.) Also, you can consider
alternating the hammer sweeps.

Cool Tip! Infinite Grab Combo
There is a neat trick with the Low Hammer Sweep that allows Popo and Nana
to never lose their grip with their victim. To do this, grab the enemy,
while holding Down on the control stick at the same time. Then, wait for
Nana to duck completely, then you tap A continuously. If the timing between
Popo and Nana is correct, the opponent can never break free from the grip.
When the damage is high enough, tap down on the control stick and up on
the C-stick and the enemy will be blasted to oblivion.

-----------------------
d. Air Attacks [IC4D]
----------------------
The Ice Climbers do have a wide assortment of Air Attacks, but before I
explain them, I would have to introduce two skills that can help while
in the air. They are namely the L-cancel, and the crouch cancel.

L-cancel:
Most people, having jumped from a height, will bend their knees upon landing
on the ground in order to maximize the time of impact, and to minimize
the force. The same goes with the Ice Climbers. Having executed their air
attack, they will land on the ground, bend their knees, and straighten
their knees. This results in a lag and leaves the Ice Climbers vulnerable
to attack for a few moments. To prevent this from happening, press L while
in the air before you hit the ground. The air dodge will cancel out the
momentum and they can land on the ground without much lag, and can get
back to the stand guard position much quicker.

Crouch Cancel:
On the other hand, if you do fall into someone's well prepared air defense,
be prepared to expect the worst. To prevent yourself from flying too far
away, press and hold down on the Control Stick. Then, as long as you have
lower than a certain percentage, you will be prevented from flying too
far back. But still, the Ice Climbers are not very good at this maneuver.
So, you should be careful enough to not get hit at all.

Neutral Air Attack:
Attack: Airborne Hammer Attack
The Ice Climbers will simply swing their hammers around in mid air towards
their opponents. There really is nothing so special about this move is
there? It seems that Popo will deal 8% damage while Nana will deal up to
7% damage, making up a total of 15% damage on the enemy. Of course, the
impact force of this move is still satisfactory. What more is there to
say? Eh? Oh well...

Upward Air Attack:
Attack: Upward Hammer Poke
This time, the Ice Climbers will stick their hammers up into the air and
attempt to poke anything above. I never knew that a simple poke can be
THAT painful, I guess their hammers must have a considerable amount of
splinters... Anyway, this move can deal up to 17% damage to the enemy. (Popo
deals 9%, Nana deals 8%) the enemy is also sent flying at about 80 degrees
to the horizontal, and that can be considered to be more vertical than
horizontal, in my opinion.

Strategy:
It's amazing how a simply poke with the hammer will be enough to knock
out someone. If an enemy has had enough damage, they can be knocked out
in a star KO. Try using this in stages with a low ceiling like Icicle
Mountain or Superflat Zone for the best effect!

Cool Tip! Prioritize
Oh, another thing, as the Ice Climber's hammers are rather long, it is
possible to hit the enemies with the tip of the hammer a lot. This gives
the Ice Climbers an advantage when priority is concerned. For instance,
you are playing against Captain Falcon, and he is vertically in the air
above you, and you jump up to intercept him. Then, he is ready to give
you a downward meteor attack. If both players perform their respective
attacks at the same time, the Ice Climbers should just hit the heel of
Captain Falcon's foot just as he straightens up for the stomp. As a result,
his feet did not make any contact with neither Popo nor Nana's bodies,
and as a result, Captain Falcon is hit.

However, sword wielding characters like Link have an even higher priority
than the Ice Climbers here as their swords are so long, so be extra careful
when facing those guys with this move.

Downward Air Attack:
Ice Climbers:
Attack: Downward Hammer Attack
The Ice Climbers will be imitating Link for this move. They will lower
their hammers and sort of sit on them, and then let themselves and the
hammer drop down on any unsuspecting foes below and squishing them with
their weight. Cool. In fact, this time the boy and the girl will do the
fair share of the damage because Popo and Nana will each deal 9% of damage
to the victim, dealing him/her up to 18% damage. What a pity that the move
with exert an average impact force on the enemy. Again, the strategy for
this move is simple, use it to take over a platform from above, or to swoop
down on your friend while he/she is inattentive. Note that you usually
cannot perform an L-cancel after this move, unless you are so far away
from the ground that the Ice Climbers will get out of that pose with the
hammers. (That is, air dodging just before your character touches the
ground)

It seems that I shall have to elaborate more on why the Ice Climbers USUALLY,
but not NEVER able to L-cancel. OK, I played a vs. match, and I deliberately
dropped off the western edge of the cliff in the stage. I performed down
+ A when the Ice Climbers were at the same height of the ledge. I waited
for a while, and it took a considerable amount of time before the Ice
Climbers return to their neutral position so that I can press the R button.
By that time, the Ice Climbers were at the same height of the lower edge.
Now, as you can see, the drop distance is rather long here, and that if
you do not like your Ice Climbers to drop that far down, you usually will
not get a chance to perform this maneuver. This is dependent on your playing
style. IF you like long drops with this move, then you usually CAN L-cancel.

Strategy:
I would be very careful if you use this move. The enemy will not be stunned
when hit by this move, and they can just get up and continue to attack
you right after impact. So get ready to roll out of the way right after
the attack, or else, you may be exposed to a big combo from your opponent.

Horizontal Air Attack:
Attack: Airborne Hammer Pound (Meteor Attack)
The Ice Climbers will pound the ground with their hammers, both of them
at once. Boy, and are they really determined this time! You know what it
is like to be pounded from above? You get slammed down hard! This is why
it is a Meteor Attack. Boy, I guess the two sexes are really equal here,
both Popo and Nana can deal up to 10% damage at once, and this contributes
to a whopping 20% for a horizontal airborne attack. Superb!

Strategy:
This move has a high tendency of sending people on the ground into the
air, so land immediately and perform any upward attacks to continue with
your assault. You can always perform some juggling with this move, as the
hit enemy usually will fly vertically upwards when hit.

Besides, once you throw an enemy forward, try to intercept his/her body
and perform a horizontal air attack, slamming him/her down to the ground
again. This is an excellent set up to use if you want to finish the enemy
off with a downward hammer spin.

You can edge guard with this move by jumping off, performing an airborne
hammer pound to pound the enemy downwards if you like. Just make sure you
will be able to recover and get back on to the ledge, or else.

You can also jump, and perform this move after you have went forward a
short distance. (Short hopping)

------------------------
e. Smash Attacks [IC4E]
------------------------
Upward Smash Attack:
Attack: Upward Hammer Smash
The Ice Climbers will aim upwards into the air, as if they are trying to
hit some fly there, and then they will spring up into the air and smash
the enemy above with their hammers! For this attack, the boy hurts more
than the girl, as Popo can deal up to 15% damage, while Nana deals up to
13%, making up a total of 28% damage! Always remember, two smash hits at
once are always better than one!

Strategy:
This attack can hit enemies even if they are on the ground. Make sure that
they are close enough. In multiplayer mode, you can use this move much
easier if you simply tilt the C-stick upwards. This makes a good juggling
move for certain characters like Fox or Zelda. Follow them around and always
strike first.

Downward Smash Attack:
Attack: Downward Hammer Spin
The Ice Climbers, being kids, like to play games. For this move, they will
play Merry-Go-Round the Mulberry Bush, except they are taking their hammers
with them! The hammers are stuck out while they turn around, so anyone
around them will be damaged. Again, the boy has more strength than the
girl here. Popo can deal up to 17% damage while Nana can deal up to 14%
with this attack, making up to a massive 31% damage! This really shows
that Popo can take care of himself even when his girlfriend has been knocked
out! Ha ha ha!

Strategy:
I would suggest performing a combo which consists of 4 Low Hammer Sweeps
in a row, and then following up with a Downward Smash Attack. The enemy
(particularly if they are human) probably will not be able to move
regardless of how hard they struggle or air dodge. If they do air dodge,
pause for a moment before you continue. (The CPU reacts much faster than
humans, I think.) The larger the target, the easier it is for the Ice
Climbers to pull it off.

Cool Tip! Edge Guard and Edge Hog All in One
You can also edge guard with this move, as you can simply hit people 360
degrees around you. First, move the Ice Climbers to the edge, with their
backs facing the edge. Then, press R, and then tap down on the Control
Stick to do a dodge on the spot. Then as soon as it is over, tap Down +
A. Nana will begin to charge the downward hammer spin. At the same time,
hold A and tap Y and then press L + (diagonal direction towards edge) on
the control stick. Popo will air dodge there (with him facing the edge).
Tilt the control stick in the direction of the drop, still holding A to
send Popo over the edge, and as soon as he is facing the edge, release
A. Nana swings her hammer, blocking the area above the edge, while Popo
grabs the edge, preventing people from recovering from below.

But be aware of people who can counter your attacks, or any high jumpers
out there.

Horizontal Smash Attack:
Attack: Hammer Smash
The Ice Climbers will use their hammers to smash their enemies. As simple
as that. They swing their hammers at such a large angle that even the enemies
jumping above can get hit. This is just the Ice Climbers' ultimate example
of their brute force. Again, boys are better than dealing damage than girls,
as Popo will deal up to 19% damage, while Nana deals up to 17%. So, they
can deal up to a total of 36% damage! This does not matter how far they
are from the enemy, so treat this as a bonus. Let's all get smashed!

Strategy:
If you jump down from above onto an opponent, he/she may be on the alert,
waiting for you in order to smash you or hurt you in anyway from below.
However, there is a way that you can even make formerly slow and rugged
attacks like the Hammer Smash to be much more cunning than ever! To do
this, drop down to you opponent, and before you are in contact with him/her,
perform a diagonally downward air dodge on the enemy (in the direction
on the enemy, or do it so they end up behind his/her back), and then tilt
the control stick in the direction of your enemy. As soon as Popo and Nana
touch the ground, immediately tilt the C-stick in the direction of your
opponent, and the Ice Climbers will immediately smash their hammers at
the surprised opponent! This is even better if you can catch them off guard
from behind! Note that this move works only in vs. Mode, as the C-Stick
is used to zoom in and out in the 1-P mode.

Finally, even if Nana is down, the damage is halved, but the impact force
won't be changed. Popo's smash can deal up to 19% damage on his own, and
can still be lethal provided the enemy has enough damage.

Cool Tip! Alternating Edge Guard
The Hammer Smash is also very good at edge guarding. Due to the fact that
Popo and Nana will swing their hammers in 90 degrees from above their head
to the ground, most people trying to jump back on the stage from the above
can be stopped. To maximize its effect, desync and alternate the smashes
with other moves like Ice Shot or Blizzard. So are any opponents that are
jumping horizontally towards you. If they are coming from below, consider
having Nana perform a Blizzard on the enemy while Popo smashes him/her
away while he/she is held up, or use the strategy with the downward hammer
spin as stated above.

Besides, if an enemy has a high damage and is attempting to return to the
stage, press R to hold up your shield, and then A to grab him/her. Then
immediately tap the C-stick to the direction you want the enemy to fly
in. (That is, back off the stage.)

--------------------------
f. Special Attacks [IC4F]
--------------------------
Standard B Attack: Ice Shot
Type of Attack: Ballistic Attack, Physical Attack, Disabling Move
The Ice Climbers will release two small pieces of ice that can slide along
the terrain towards the enemy, dealing up to 5% per icicle. Of course,
as they are sliding across the terrain, you would have a better chance
of hitting the opponent if you are attacking from the top of a slope. That
is not all, if the enemy is close enough to the Ice Climbers, he/she can
also be hit by their hammers, as a result, up to 26% damage can be dealt,
and they can be knocked out if they have had enough damage. You should
be able to hit the enemies like this without trouble if they are falling
towards you. Happy juggling! Another thing to note is that if the enemy
has had enough damage, he/she can be temporarily frozen!

When you see someone trying to perform a recovery move from below, have
the Ice Climbers perform an Ice Shot off the edge of that cliff. The two
icicles will knock the foe downwards, requiring him to perform another
recovery again. You can hence edge guard with this move, performing Ice
Shots repeatedly until the enemy is well beyond recovery. (Or use it on
the opponent's air jump.)

Cool Tip! Doubling Rate of Fire
To increase the rate of fire of this move, desync the Ice Climbers. Perform
a spot dodge and hold the B button before it is finished. Nana will send
out an icicle. At this moment start tapping the B button, and a continuous
stream of icicles can be made. Good for edge guarding.

Horizontal B Attack: Squall Hammer
Type of Attack: Physical Attack, Recovery Move
The Ice Climbers will play Merry-Go-Round the Mulberry Bush again with
this move. This time, they will spin around on the ground. Anything that
gets in the way will be dealt several blows. If you intend to use this
move to damage the enemy, you should release the control stick as soon
as the enemy starts to be hit, and then Popo and Nana will spin in place
and can deal up to 24% damage to the enemy. Otherwise, tilt the control
stick in the direction you want to go if you want to ploy through them.
If Popo is alone, this move can be used as a second recovery move. Just
keep tapping B and Popo can gain a little altitude, much like a helicopter
as he spins towards the stage. Therefore, even if your girlfriend is down,
don't give up!

Up B Move: Belay
Type of Attack: Vertical Attack, Recovery Move
Belaying is actually an action where two mountain climbers join together
by a rope, so the one above can support the weight of the one below for
safety. But for the Ice Climbers, it is another thing. Popo will throw
Nana up, which attacks enemies above and then hurl Popo up after her. This
covers a lot of vertical distance and horizontal distance, and so you should
keep the two together at all costs. This move makes a good finishing move
if someone is above you and has high damage. Whenever the Ice Climbers
are belaying, do not mess with Nana or you would be in trouble!

Down B Move: Blizzard
Type of Attack: Ballistic, Disabling Move
The Ice Climbers will release a gush of snow with this move. If both are
together, then Popo and Nana will blow out snow on opposite directions.
If you want both Ice Climbers to blow snow in both directions, jump and
press B while holding down on the control stick. Then Popo and Nana will
concentrate on the direction they are facing. This move deals progressive
damage, at higher damages, the Ice Climbers can also freeze enemies in
for a second, allowing them to follow up with a more powerful move.

A good thing about this move is that it can stop many charging attacks
dead in their tracks. Let's say Captain Falcon is trying to come to you
through a Raptor Boost, and if you perform a Blizzard Move, he will be
stopped in mid charge, allowing you to move in and counter attack. The
Blizzard is also capable of stopping most recovery moves.

To be more precise, this move can hold up an enemy while they are trying
to recover back to the stage, so this makes it a good edge guarding move.
While you spot the enemy performing the Up B recovery move, press down
B when they are within range, and the enemy will be held in place for a
short while, allowing the Ice Climbers to follow up with a hammer smash
on them, send them away from the stage again. (have Nana and Popo attack
alternatively, with Nana doing the Blizzard while Popo smashes.)

Cool Tip! Ice Shielding
Another way is to roll towards you enemy, and then having Nana only
performing the Blizzard. Then, the move can be served as a shield that
can block the enemies' incoming attacks, allowing you to do whatever you
want to do with them. You can edge guard with this tactic too. While Nana
blows the cold air out, holding the enemy, have Popo smash him/her back
out there.

Cool Tip! Freeing your boyfriend
If Popo has been grabbed by the enemy, and Nana is right beside him, have
Popo's girlfriend do a Blizzard on the grabbing. Not only can Popo break
free from the grab, the enemy will be stunned by the wind, and hence they
will be vulnerable to the Ice Climber's grabbing.

------------------------------
g. Rules of Engagement [IC4G]
------------------------------
This section will tell you what to do against all the other 24 characters
in the game if you play as the Ice Climbers. Different characters have
different properties, and hence, different rules of engagement are needed
to deal with them. Some people even will bother dividing different
characters into different "tiers", and state which ones are more likely
to win when two equally skilled players clash in a match. But still, if
this is so, why would anyone play as someone in the lower tiers? Therefore,
tiers are pointless, and as long as someone has the skill at using a
character, he can eventually win.

----------------
General Tactics
----------------
Beware of Counter Attacks: There are a total of three characters who can
counter the Ice Climber's attack. They are Peach, Marth and Roy.

If you deliver a fully charged hammer smash (19+17=36%) and he  counters
it you will be attacked by him but the attack will be 1.5 times what it
originally was (54%). To avoid Peach from countering you attack from behind
her, or just grab her altogether so that she cannot retaliate. Also for
Marth and Roy make sure they don't have a chance to counter you when you
deliver a powerful blow, also if an opponent playing as Marth or Roy is
falling down towards you chances are they will use their counter so don't
use an upward hammer smash. Consider grab them with or without the shield
if they do try using the counter move.

Against fast characters: When facing fast characters who dodge a lot, you
can consider hitting them with a downward hammer spin, Blizzard or Squall
Hammer, all of these have a great area effect, and is bound to connect.
Then grab them and have fun.

Against fast falling characters: Characters like Fox and Falco fall very
fast. They are also rather lightweight. If you can grab them near the edge,
smash them horizontally, and the more damaged they are the further they
fall, and the less time they have to recover.

Against other Ice Climbers: Get their 2nd Ice climber our first and early
to make their attacks less effective.

The Ice Climbers have a very high Belay recovery move, and hence it won't
be easy for people to edge guard you. But still, the two will be separated
for a while after the jump, therefore, you should get back on your feet
and regroup as soon as possible.

To edge guard against enemies coming from above, alternate hammer smashes
with projectiles on the edge. To edge guard against enemies coming from
below or at the same height, have Nana edge guard with a downward hammer
spin while Popo edge hogs. (See above.)

----------------
Cunning Tactics
----------------
A lot of people have the bad impression that the Ice Climbers are very
bad characters in the game, particularly after they have beaten computer
controlled opponents or human players who cannot make use of the Ice
Climbers' sterling properties. Here is your chance to use your own cunning
to exploit this underestimation, and to prove them wrong. This is also
known as a stagger tactic.

Many people love to underestimate the versatility of the two Ice Climbers
due to them having two people working in a team. Some people will just
dodge or shield prematurely. So, what do you do? The character is helpless
for a brief moment before he/she touches the ground, and that is when you
can take him/her by surprise.

For instance, you can deliberate attack slower than you already do. Wait
for him/her to finish with the dodge, then attack. The best way to do it
is to hold the A button to charge your hammer smash, then the attack can
be timed correctly. This is also important if you face characters like
Fox, Falco, Peach, Zelda, Marth and Roy, as they all have attacks that
can reflect your hits to yourself.

On the other hand, if you can alternate the two Ice Climber's attack, you
can take the opponents' defenses by surprise. Let's say he/she puts up
a shield, and blocks Popo's hit, thinking that it is over, and opens his
shield. Immediately after he/she released the shield, Nana comes forward
and attacks. Then, he will be taken by surprise, and you know the rest.
You can also combine an airborne blizzard with a grab.

Another thing that people will do is to forget about Nana's presence. The
supporting Ice Climber's parka is lighter in color than that of the main
character, and sometimes can help him/her blend in with the surroundings,
preventing people from noticing her. (This is particularly true if the
background color has low contrast with Nana. That's the problem of the
human eye, after all, a person can focus on one thing at a time while the
others appear to be blurred.)

If your opponent is focusing on Popo, while Nana is slightly away, you
can just let Nana hit the enemy a couple of times while they regroup. All
grabs, no matter normal grabs or shield grabs can be breached if Nana blows
Blizzard into the enemy as soon as Popo is being grabbed.

Many people just like to wait for Popo and Nana to drop from the sky so
that they can juggle them. They are in for a surprise if you wavedash to
the left or right from him just before you are within range, and he has
just released the attack. This can also help penetrate his air defense.

---------------------
Character Strategies
---------------------
Mario: (And Dr. Mario)
If you play against Mario, you are up against the most average player in
the game, which means that he has a wide range of attacks that are
considerably effective.

Speaking of close quarters combat, do not be that close to Mario, and
maintain the distance of one character's width. Otherwise, he can just
turn you around with a Cape or simply perform a Mario Tornado on you, and
will potentially separate Popo and Nana. That is what Blizzard is for.
If you hold the control stick in the direction you are going, the Ice
Climbers should be able to turn back right after they are turned. It is
possible to have only turn back if you charge at Mario while the two Ice
Climbers are alternating, as one will be behind the other at most times.

One thing to note about Mario is that his yee-haw horizontal punch is a
very good move to finish the Ice Climbers off, so make sure that Nana is
not distracted by anyone else while Popo is being guarded, or else.

Then you can grab and start tormenting Mario. If he does try to come back
onto the stage using a Super Jump Punch, you can also perform a Blizzard,
grab him, and smash him back to where he came from. However, it takes very
precise timing as the jump punch has a higher priority than most attacks
and is hard to intercept.

Luigi:
If you are up against a not so good Luigi player, he would be rather sluggish,
and would not be hard to beat. On the other hand, if put to good use, Luigi
can become extremely versatile. He can wavedash just as quickly as the
Ice Climbers, and his horizontal air attack is different from Mario's in
the respect that it is executed instantly after the pressing of the A-button,
which means that you have to be hit without any warning. Therefore, Luigi
can have a decent advantage in the air due to all this.

As with Mario, do not get up close face to face with Luigi. His Super Jump
Punch will become the Fire Jump Punch once you are up close. It is very
powerful at that point, and it will be guaranteed to send Popo to the moon
if he has had enough damage. That is what their hammers are for.

Luigi is quite easy to edge guard. He has two recovery moves, and both
of them are one way recovery moves, that is that either gain horizontal
or vertical distance. To be more precise, his Green Missile gains
horizontal distance, while the Super Jump Punch gains vertical distance.
You can always airborne hammer pound him into submission. If he is coming
from above, wait for him to drop down, and then swat the green fly into
the sky with an Upward Hammer Smash.

Yoshi:
The Ice Climbers are now going to be up against Yoshi, the dinosaur of
Nintendo. As in past games, many opponents love to use Yoshi's Egg Lay
or simply grab you with his tongue. The good thing is that even if Popo
is grabbed, Nana will still be free. In that case, you can just press Down
+ B for Nana to do a Blizzard on Yoshi, and can stun him, holding him up
while Popo breaks free. Then, the initiative will be the Ice Climbers'
and they can just counter grab Yoshi and start abusing the dinosaur.

Players who play as Yoshi just love to use his airborne foot drill, or
his downward air attack. You can counter this with the Ice Climbers' long
hammers by performing your own upward Nammer Poke at him, or, if you do
not want to risk it, perform a Belay, and let Nana hit Yoshi in the air.

Another weakness with Yoshi is that he only has a double jump, but not
a triple jump. This can be an advantage to Yoshi, as he can increase his
range with DJC canceling, and his second jump is rather resistant to impact
forces. Therefore, it may be easy for him to jump through your defenses
and catch you off guard. On the other hand, if you send Yoshi way below
the stage, you can just edge guard by hurling Ice Shots down at Yoshi,
and this will keep him down. Otherwise, wait for him to spring up and do
a Blizzard. You will then know what to do. This is just one of the ways
to edge guard.

Peach:
The Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach Toadstool is not
really a big threat to the Ice Climbers. Princess Peach does not have any
decent ballistic attacks, and sometimes, the Ice Climbers can just catch
the vegetables that she throws at you and hurl them back. Besides, Peach
cannot use that move if she already has an item in her hand. Therefore,
you can always feel free to charge or wavedash and Peach to attack her.

Peach herself is a lightweight, and hence she can be quite versatile. A
lot of her moves, like her air attacks and downward smash attacks have
great speed and priority. Her downward spin kick, in particular, as a
similar horizontal radius as the low hammer spin, and they have a tendency
to cancel each other out.

One of the things to be aware of is her floating abilities, due to her
float canceling, she can be quite versatile in the mid air. If she floats
down to you with a Peach Parasol, you can simply let her drop down and
smash her. Just don't let the tip of the Parasol hurt you.

On the other hand, some people would simply drop below the Ice Climbers,
and surprise them by stabbing them from below. If you are standing on those
ledges that can be jumped through (Like those in the Rainbow Cruise stage),
be prepared to roll out of the way, and be prepared to jump back forward
and slam her down with an airborne hammer slam.

Bowser:
The Ice Climbers are much more versatile when compared to the King of the
Koopas, Bowser. Bowser's attacks are have lags and delays, but they do
pack a punch, and by simply L-cancelling, they can be shortened. Most people
would try to use the Fire Breath on you as soon as you get close. This
is rather hard to dodge, therefore, you should jump up with the Ice Climbers
and then perform a airborne hammer pound of Bowser in case this happens.
The element of surprise is essential here, or you can find your damage
racking up very quickly. Make use of maneuvers like the wave dash and give
Bowser all sorts of surprises. You should be happy that the downward strong
attacks work very effectively on Bowser, and can keep him down for a
considerable amount of time while you follow up with a Blizzard combo.
Then, you can grab him and hurt him some more.

When engaging Bowser in the air, timing is very important when you are
directly below him. Most people love to use the Bowser Bomb. If you go
up after him, you should perform an upward hammer poke at Bowser just so
that the tip of the hammer strikes Bowser's bum. Then, the Ice Climbers
should not take any damage while Bowser is sent soaring high.

Finally, Bowser's recovery move, whirling fortress is not so hard to edge
guard. Some Blizzard will be all you need.

Donkey Kong:
D.K.! Donkey Kong! D.K.! Donkey Kong is here! The good thing is that, the
Ice Climbers are not like Mr. Freeze, they can wear their cute parkas out
to the hot jungle without suffering from a heat stroke! Anyway, Donkey
Kong is just as stubborn and slow as Bowser, and the same rules of engagement
can apply to him. Donkey Kong can easily repel the Ice Climbers with his
fists if Popo and Nana charge at him directly, and Squall Hammers are easily
cancelled out. Due to his large hands, he can protect himself quite well
against enemies in the air, and his arms are longer than the Ice Climbers'
hammers. However, if you see him winding up for the Giant Punch, you are
in for a treat. You can easily wave dash or jump behind him and hit him
with Blizzard while his back is turned, and then you can start grabbing
him and torturing him. Speed is essential here, as once they see you coming,
they are likely to stop run and wavedash. If they do you must follow them
to their landing zone. On the other hand, Donkey Kong's lack of projectiles
can be exploited. The only projectile attack that is the Ice Shot, and
that can be used to cover Popo and Nana as they move close for more
maneuvers.

On the other hand, Donkey Kong's air attacks are not much of a threat to
the Ice Climbers due to their lower priorities. Just remember to time your
attacks so that only the hammers can come in contact with Donkey Kong,
and you will be fine. However, Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong recovery move
is rather difficult to stop due to its very high priority, and can sometimes
tear through your Blizzard, so I would suggest smashing him after Donkey
Kong has landed on the ground. Otherwise, jump out at him and attack him
with an airborne hammer pound before he can even start the move. (Belay
back ASAP.)

Captain Falcon:
Captain Falcon has got to be one of the Ice Climbers' worst nightmares.
He is so versatile, so that he can easily outsmart both Popo and Nana at
the same time. The best rule of engagement is to be more cunning than Captain
Falcon himself. (The Ice Climbers are quite versatile themselves.) Captain
Falcon is very fast, but at the same time, he has just too much momentum
in him due to his mass. (Momentum = mass x velocity), therefore, he can
easily overshoot his mark and make himself vulnerable. For instance, he
charges forward so fast, and yet he will slip forward a bit when you stop,
making him up for grabs at that particular moment.

Captain Falcon can be tricky in the air, as he has up to two moves that
can slam the Ice Climbers down on to the ground. To be precise, they are
is downward and horizontal air attacks. Therefore, you should always take
advantage of the length of the Ice Climbers' hammers to poke Captain Falcon
before he can come in contact with the Ice Climbers' bodies. Most of the
time, the Ice Climbers' hit will connect, while Captain Falcon will be
knocked back. Also watch out for the Raptor Boosts in mid air, because
they also have the effect of a meteor attack.

As for Captain Falcon's recovery move, one should put up a shield and grab
him as he comes up, as the Falcon Dive can easily grab Popo and hurl him
away from the edge, ruining your edge guard. With the shield up, you can
grab Captain Falcon more easily and smash throw him back.

Fox (or Falco):
You are now up against the members of the Starfox intergalactic patrol
team. Fox is a lot like Captain Falcon, with his versatility. The good
thing is that Fox's Blaster will only damage, not stun the Ice Climbers,
while Falco's will. Fox fires faster than Falco though. You should also
be aware of Fox's kicking combo, as well as his charging Smash Attack.
To intercept his Fox Illusion, you can simply use the Blizzard move to
hold him up, and then grab him as you please. His reflector cannot reflect
the Ice Shots back very far away from Fox, so there is no need to worry
if you want to hit Fox with your Ice Shots. But use Blizzard with caution.
Besides, the reflector reflects projectiles only, so, if anyone attempts
a combo with the reflector, you can easily hit him with your long hammers
long before you are touched.

Fox's air attacks are nothing so special, just the usual assortment of
kicks, but his downward kick can drill through your Ice Climbers if you
do not pay attention, so be careful. But still, Fox really is not much
of a threat when compared with the Ice Climbers. Just juggle and juggle
with your hammers, as if the two are playing those games with a ball tied
to a racquet with a string, and try to keep Fox flying at a low altitude
so you can follow him. (He is rather light, you can knock him out with
a well placed upward hammer smash with him having about 85% damage.)

It is rather difficult to edge guard against Fox, as his Fire Fox recovery
move gives him a lot of momentum in the air, and he can easily penetrate
your Blizzard. Therefore, a sensible method will be to wait for him to
land (He still cannot control himself yet.) and smash him back to where
he belongs. (The usually Blizzard grab tricks apply again.) If you have
the timing, charge a hammer smash, and let go of the A button the moment
he is just within range.

Samus:
Samus is one tough customer. Although she is not as versatile as Fox or
Captain Falcon, her various ballistic attacks can be a big threat on the
playing field. But still, she is more vulnerable when she is charging her
Charge Shot. That's when you can attack. Samus' grab is a big threat to
the Ice Climbers due to its range. But do not give up. Once Popo is grabbed,
let Nana come close to Samus and press Down + B. Nana will let out a Blizzard,
freeing Popo and allow you to counter grab Samus. Another annoyance the
Ice Climbers will face while facing Samus is that many people like to fire
missiles at you repeatedly (spamming), and that can prove difficult to
block as the Ice Climbers. Therefore, you should wave dash at Soapy Sam.

At close quarters, Samus has a disadvantage is that her normal A attack
does not hit rapidly enough. You can hence roll towards Samus and start
tapping A like mad, as then the Ice Climbers can hit her alternately, with
twice the initial rate of swinging. Mix in some Blizzard and Ice Shots
with the alternations, and then grab.

Samus may be a big threat in the air due to her down + A air attack, in
which she uses her cannon to hit your Ice Climbers down. But you can always
fight back with the airborne hammer poke upwards, and she can be knocked
considerably upwards, you can use this to finish Samus too, as she is medium
weight at best. When the Ice Climbers and Samus meet head to head in the
air, the same concepts of Texas shoot outs apply, as you should always
slam Samus with your hammer before she can send out a barrage of blasts.

At the same time, it seems that Samus cannot really defend herself well
from attacks from above while on the ground, and this is one of the areas
to be exploited. Either land and perform a Blizzard with both Ice Climbers
facing the same way, or use the airborne hammer pound. It should just out
reach her cannon barrage.

Samus' Screw Attack recovery move is easy to stop. Having attacked, Samus
will continue to be coiled up in a ball, and that leaves her vulnerable
to a Smash Attack before she lands. So, this is how the Ice Climbers should
edge guard against Samus.

Link:
Link also has an absolute advantage over the Ice Climbers when on the ground.
After all, Link's master sword is way longer than the hammers of the Ice
Climbers. Fortunately, Link does not run any faster than the Ice Climbers,
therefore, the Ice Climbers' cunning is going to help them a lot. Another
thing to be aware of is Link's grab. His Hookshot can grab you on the ground,
but only damage if you are in the air. Then you can jump forwards for a
short distance, and then perform a Blizzard. In this way, both Popo and
Nana will chill out in the same direction, doubling its effect.

Whenever you are grabbed happens, have Nana come close, and then perform
a Blizzard to set Popo free, and then you two can counterattack. Make him
pay. On the other hand, if Link ever fails to grab Popo with his hookshot,
he would have to pause for a second to withdraw the cord. That's when you
can swoop in, and do what you want with him. (Say, grabbing or smashing.)

Whenever he uses a bow or boomerang, use a shield or what not to block
them. If Link misses with his boomerang, he has to wait until it has vanished
before he can use it again.

Link also has the absolute advantage over the Ice Climbers when in the
air. He has a higher priority with his upward and downward air attacks,
as his sword is so long. However, the Ice Climbers do have the advantage
when they are attacking horizontally, as their hammers hit further than
Link can kick. In the event of Link approaching from above or below, it's
a matter of reaction time. Attack faster than Link does, and you should
be able to have the higher priority.

Link's Spin Attack is rather easy to stop. Just drop some Ice Shots down
at Link as he attempts to come up, and he would be knocked downwards again.
IF he is coming from above, let him drop, greet him with a Blizzard, then
grab him, and smash throw him back or up and away. (By tilting the C-Stick
upwards.)

Young Link is different from Link, and has his own unique properties in
spite of him being a clone.

Zelda/Sheik:
The Ice Climbers are now up against the split personality of Zelda/Sheik.
Zelda is less versatile than Sheik, and is more vulnerable in that stage.
The only thing that you should aware of is that Zelda's downward strong
attack can jam the Ice Climbers in the same position for a period of time.
So, when you run towards Zelda, consider shoulder nudging her into the
air, as Zelda is rather lightweight.

You should be particularly aware of Zelda's horizontal and backwards air
attack. They are capable of knocking out the Ice Climbers at about 100%.
Therefore, you should try to stay beneath Zelda when she is in the air,
then you can simply juggle her around with the hammers. On the other hand,
be aware of shuffled attacks, as they can hit you while you are just
preparing your air defenses.

Sheik is another story. She is much faster and flexible than when compared
with Zelda. Her needle storm is very annoying and at a range. The good
thing is that Sheik is still just as lightweight, and her attacks do not
have a greater priority than the Ice Climbers. Therefore, you can always
consider keeping her at close range when fighting her, and then she can
have less space to maneuver.

Zelda and Shiek both have their respective teleporting Recovery Moves,
with Zelda having the further one. It is much easier to predict where Sheik
will land than when Zelda will land. But still, as their controls will
freeze up until they touch the ground, you can easily hold them back with
a Blizzard or just smash them back off the stage. Besides, people playing
as Sheik may consider transforming back to Zelda to take advantage of the
further ranged Fayore's Wind. Of course, once she appears, there is no
stopping you from running after her and exploit her vulnerabilities.

Kirby:
Kirby is one of the super-duper lightweight characters in the game, and
he is also very easy for the Ice Climbers to deal with. Kirby likes to
swallow the Ice Climbers to steal his Ice Shot. The good thing is that
he can only swallow one of the Ice Climbers at once. Therefore, you can
counter attack by having Nana hit Kirby while Popo is inside him.

On the ground, Kirby has a cutting move at close range, he also can charge
at your characters in a fireball, but that can be stopped with a Blizzard,
or simply a Hammer Smash. Kirby's moves do have as much horizontal range
than the Ice Climbers. Besides, he just lacks impact force, so don't expect
to be knocked back too far away if you are hit.

If Kirby every tries to smash charge your characters, roll out of the way
quickly and then you maybe able to desynch the two Ice Climbers and then
follow up with an alternating combo on Kirby.

Practically all of Kirby's air moves are body combat moves, and therefore,
the Ice Climbers can usually outsmart Kirby. However, Kirby's hammer move
is still something to be avoided, as Kirby would spin like a ferris wheel
with the Hammer if he does that trick. On the other hand, if you hear the
sound of Kirby hardening, you should respond with an upward hammer poke
from below, as Kirby is going to use his Stone attack to squish the Ice
Climbers. If you can do it quickly enough (before Kirby has completely
hardened), the attack can be stopped. Otherwise, just roll out of the way,
and let him land, then release a Smash Attack the instant Kirby softens.

To edge guard Kirby, do it a distance from a stage. Your opponent may cause
Kirby to use his final cutter as a protective measure against you, so if
Kirby is at a length of two characters away, start using Blizzard. If he
is coming from below, use the Ice Shot against him. In spite of having
a quintuple jump, Kirby floats ever so slowly towards the stage, so it
will not be hard to anticipate him.

Pikachu (or Pichu):
Many lightweight characters are no match for the Ice Climbers, and Pikachu
is not an exception. Things to pay attention to when facing Pikachu
including his upward rolling kick smash attack. Pikachu players may
sometimes kick the Ice Climbers upwards, and then follow up with a Thunder
attack. This attack has the ability to knock out the Ice Climbers at
relatively low damage percentages. So, try not to fall directly onto
Pikachu or get within touching distance of them.

When engaging Pikachu from above, make sure that there is something
covering the Ice Climbers from above, as most players will use Thunder
on the Ice Climbers to knock them away, and the presence of a roof or ledge
of any kind will block the bolts from hitting the Ice Climbers. The Thunder
move also has a long recovery time, and hence you will be in for a treat
if you can dodge the Thunder.

On the other hand, most of Pikachu's physical attacks have a shorter range
than the Ice Climbers. Decent ranged attacks to deal with Pikachu include
the hammer smash, and the airborne hammer pound. Both are capable of
outranging Pikachu.

It is rather difficult to edge guard against Pikachu. Pikachu's recovery
move is so fast and precise, that usually no one can stop him in mid-flight.
Your best bet would be to wait for Pikachu at his landing zone and then
grabbing him by the neck. Otherwise, you will have to time just so well
that the hammers hit just as the Quick Attack passes in front of the Ice
Climbers.

Pikachu players, on the other hand will attempt to edge guard the Ice
Climbers with his rather high up Thunder attack. Fortunately, the Ice
Climbers' Belay can usually go even higher than the thundercloud. If you
do not want to risk it, simply grab the edge when recovering.

Ness:
We are now in a scenario where kids beat the life out of each other. On
the ground, the Ice Climbers definitely have a longer range than Ness with
their hammers, and therefore you can fight a close quarters battle with
Ness. On the other hand, Ness' Gutsy Bat is just as long as the Ice Climbers'
hammers, and also has considerable impact force. Fortunately, the Ice
Climbers' can easily cancel out the bat. You can attempt to alternate Smash
Attacks, so that the bat and the first hammer cancel each other out, while
the second hammer hits Ness.

I will not recommend using Blizzard by itself here, as Ness will simply
absorb the cold air into health with his PSI Magnet. Therefore, you must
grab Ness beforehand.

Ness' threats in the air include his shuffled psychokinetic electric push,
his backwards kick and his neutral spinning punch. They happen so fast,
and without warning, and can pose a nasty shock (literally) in a short
instant. Therefore, has a human being, you may have to react faster by
releasing your attacks prematurely, as if you can foresee them doing those
tricks, otherwise, initiative will be lost to Ness.

To edge guard Ness, you must act quickly, if Ness is attempting a PK Thunder
at range, use Blizzard to stop him, and Ness' controls will freeze up,
causing him to fall to his doom. Once the thunder bolt hits his bum, there
really is no stopping Ness until he slows down. If he is coming from below,
even simpler, drop a couple of Ice Shots on his head and he will fall down
fast. If you are daring, jump towards the thunderbolt and let it hit you.
Now, Ness' controls will be locked up for sure, and he can say goodbye
to you for sure. On the other hand, Ness is hopeless when he is inside
a narrow pit, so that's where you can consider knocking him into.

Jigglypuff:
A bonus the Ice Climbers have when facing Jigglypuff is that due to their
relatively small sizes, the rest move seldom has any effect on Popo and/or
Nana.

Otherwise, she is not very hard to knock out due to her having a similar
weight as Kirby. One of the moves that you should be aware of are her
horizontal and backward air attacks. She has the ability to use that
backward kicking repeatedly that some people will just dub them the wall
of pain. But still, you can easily hit through those leg attacks if you
smash your hammers out at the right moment. This is why timing is important.

Jigglypuff, like Kirby has a quintuple jump. She can jump rather high into
the air in this respect, and so to edge guard against a Jigglypuff, you
should not stay on the ground. Let her jump a couple of times, slow down,
then jump out to meet her with an Airborne Hammer Pound, knocking her
downwards. Just trap her in a brawl and you will do fine.

Mewtwo:
In the hands of a skilled player, Mewtwo can be even more cunning and fast
than the Ice Climbers. He is rather unpredictable with his dodges and
teleports, as he disappears, and reappears again, and it is hard for you
to predict in which direction is Mewtwo going to escape to.

You should also watch out for Mewtwo's grabs. He has a rather long reach,
and can hold you up with Confusion and Disable. In fact, sometimes, people
can just grab you at the edge of the screen and throw you out. In that
case, you should quickly press down + B and have Nana perform a Blizzard
to set Popo free immediately after he has been grabbed. Then, you may be
able to counter grab Mewtwo and give him what he deserves.

However, Mewtwo has his own fair share of weaknesses too. He is a big target
for the Ice Climbers to hit, and he is not so good at attacking upwards.
Besides, many of his smash attacks do not have a large impact force.

There is no way you can edge guard against Mewtwo, as his just disappears
and reappears with his Teleport. Therefore, you should just race for
Mewtwo's landing zone and hit him there.

Mr. Game and Watch:
Being the 2-dimensional matchstick man that he is, this Mr. Game and Watch
is just plain dull and average. His attacks lack range, besides, he will
have to repeat that sluggish juggling animation before throwing Popo away,
so there is plenty of time for Nana to take action and free her boyfriend.

Pay attention to Mr. Game and Watch when he is in mid air. He can shuffle
all those parachutes, snapping turtles, aerosol sprays, film and keys at
you, giving you some headache in dealing with all of them.

Besides, his special attacks are highly irregular, with the Judgment move
having a 11.1% probability of striking number 9. I am sure that his Fire
recovery move will not be hard to intercept.

There really is nothing so special that Mr. Game and Watch can pull on
the Ice Climbers. After all, their hammers easily outreach anything that
he will try to throw at you.

Marth (and Roy):
Marth, with his long sword, is just as a nightmare to the Ice Climbers
as to Link. He has much longer reach than the Ice Climbers, and can easily
keep them at bay on the ground. His moves also have quite a lot of impact
force, and can often cancel or simply cut clean through the Ice Climbers'
hammers. Therefore, you should anticipate his moves and preemptively
attack him. Or distract him with your Ice Shots so that you can get close.
Wavedashing is another good idea to move in fast.

Some players may simply play trench warfare with the Ice Climbers and
attempt to keep you away, this is yet another time where items and
projectiles can be of great help. Whenever Marth attempts to Counter, you
should simply grab him before you smash him, then it can be ensured that
he cannot reflect the damage to you. Otherwise, charge the hammer smash
for a second until Marth stops glowing. Then strike.

Whenever you manage to knock Marth far off the stage, he will just attempt
to shorten the distance first by a couple of horizontal B special attacks.
It also lowers his height. Then, he will use his Up B recovery move, which
is mostly vertical, this proves easy to edge guard as you can have some
range still left as he has completed the move.

------------------------------------------------
5. Playing 1-P mode with the Ice Climbers [IC5]
------------------------------------------------
This section will help you in using the Ice Climbers in the 1-P Mode. The
1-P Mode has the Regular Match mode, where you play in the Classic Mode
or Adventure Mode, and eventually the All-Star Mode, when you have unlocked
all 25 characters in the game. There is the Event Battle Mode, where you
have to fight certain specifically designed battles, following certain
objectives. There is also the Stadium, where you can have Multi-Man Melees,
Target Tests and the Home Run Contest. Now, let me start with the Classic
Mode.

-----------------------
a. Classic Mode [IC5A]
-----------------------
So, for Classic Mode, you will basically play through 10 predetermined
levels before you reach the final boss. This is just like the way the classic
fighters will be! Get it? OK, let's begin.

Round 1: vs. 1 Character
In this level, you will play against any single unlocked character in the
game. The enemy has normal aggressiveness, and should not prove too
difficult for you to beat. There is no fixed strategy for this, really.
Just be aggressive yourself.

Round 2: vs. 2 Characters with 1 computer player to help you
This is basically a 2 vs. 2 battle. You will have a single computer
controlled ally to help you, and your goal is to defeat 2 computer players
allied against you. As we are using the Ice Climbers, it is actually 3
against 2! That's already an initial tactical advantage. Again, this is
not so difficult, but you will have to beware of the fact that in harder
difficulties (Particularly on the VERY HARD Difficulty), your ally is most
bound to screw up, so you had better do some fighting yourself instead
of just letting your ally do all the work. After all, you won't have a
high enough score even if you do win! The length of the battle varies.
It can be an epic battle, or sometimes, the CPU will just do something
stupid and get killed in less than 30 seconds.

(To be more precise, I once played against Ness allied with Peach, and
while I quickly defeated the lightweight Peach, Ness and my ally were too
busy and got knocked away by a passing car!)

Round 3, Bonus Stage: Break the Targets
This is the first bonus stage of the Classic Mode. You will have to go
through a specially designed obstacle course and use your attacks to break
all the targets within 2 minutes. All of the courses are specially designed
so that you would have to make use of every single feature of your selected
character. So, you had better master all characters well in order to
complete the stage in the shortest possible time! If you do manage to break
all targets, you will be awarded points based on how quickly you have
completed the level, and you will get the Target Master bonus after beating
the entire Classic Mode!!

Here is the strategy for the Target Test. Your target will be to finish
it in fewer than 40 seconds.

---------------
Walkthrough
---------------
It seems that Popo's girlfriend Nana must have been gone shopping or
something, as she cannot aid him here. You are playing solo here! The target
to the right should be destroyed with a Squall Hammer move, or you risk
breaking the ice platform and sending Popo to his doom. Then jump up to
the brown ledge and destroy the target using another Squall Hammer. Jump
up and do the same to the target on the blue platform above.

Wait for the cloud to come and jump on it. Then jump on the solid blue
platform above and break the target there. No need to use Squall Hammers
anymore, as the platform is solid! Make your way to the top of this stage,
destroying any targets you find. Take care that the second highest target
here can be destroyed using an Ice Shot from the solid platform above.

Having reached the top, you will find the final target being carried around
by a flying bird. When it is close, jump up and use the Squall Hammer to
make sure you can hit it!

Round 4: vs. 1 Character
In this level, you will play against any single unlocked character in the
game. The enemy has INCREASED aggressiveness, so always be on your guard
and react faster than the computer does, or you are bound to find yourself
chewed up and spat out as soon as the level begins!!

The best thing to do when you are playing as the Ice Climbers is to stand
your ground, and wait for your opponent to come and attack you. Then, when
he/she is close, charge up a Smash Attack and hit them with it. Then, you
can gain the initiative in this battle and can start to brutally mutilate
your opponent. If you have doubt, you can just resort to item throwing,
and slowly rack up the enemy's damage and then smashing him/her when it
is high enough.

Round 5: vs. 1 Giant Character
In this level, you will play against any single unlocked character in the
game. The only thing is that he/she is a giant! But still, you are free
to treat this as any single one-on-one match. The good thing is that you
have 2 allies to help you, the good thing is that you are now playing in
a team of 4 against one; the bad thing is that the giant character will
have increased range, weight and attack damage than before!

A good idea would be to consistently perform downward strong attacks on
the opponent, as he/she is much larger than Popo and Nana. While your allies
hold the giant at bay, smash him/her.

I noticed that there may be a glitch when I play against Giant Luigi.
Sometimes, Luigi will try to perform a jump kick at you, but ending
following into the gap between his starting ledge and your platform,
leading to an easy win! (This is the chance for you to get the Button Holder
bonus.)

Round 6, Bonus Stage: Snatch the Trophies!
This is the second bonus stage of the Classic mode. In this level, your
character is standing on a platform with a basket in the middle. 3 trophies
will fall down on top of your character. Your job is to knock as many
trophies as possible into the basket. Is that clear? Any trophies obtained
will be added to your collection. If you manage to get all 3 trophies into
the basket, then you will obtain the Collector bonus after you have beaten
the Classic Mode!

If a trophy is very far away from the basket, have Popo and Nana perform
a horizontal hammer smash in a outward direction, then, the trophy will
fly in an inward direction into the basket. If the trophy is close, have
Popo and Nana perform a vertical smash attack on the trophy in an outward
direction. It is not very hard to collect all 3 here.

Round 7: vs. 1 Character
In this level, you will play against any single unlocked character in the
game. The enemy has normal aggressiveness, and has a slightly reduced
weight! So, this should prove much easier than Round 1. Be brutal, my dear
climbers!

Round 8: vs. 10 Characters
In this level, you will play against a team of 10 characters of the same
kind. All characters have reduced weight, and hence you should not have
any problems with them... if you act quickly enough. Most characters will
be knocked out with a single Smash Attack, so you must act quickly before
you are overrun! Otherwise, things will be very difficult!

Some good moves for instant KOs include the Belay (wait for the enemies
to bunch up before hand), the Hammer Smash and the Shoulder Nudge. If things
go terribly wrong, resort to Pokeball combat.

Round 9, Bonus Stage: Race to the Finish
This is the third and final bonus stage of the Classic Mode. You will have
to send your character through any of the exits before the timer runs out.
The further the exit is, the more points you will get. The furthest exit
is worth 80000 points! As you go through the obstacle course, you will
come across a 3 way junction. I suggest you go through the second one for
all characters as the lava pits there are easy to jump pass. The rest is
luck, and practice. Enjoy. 52 seconds are really more than enough for the
Ice Climbers.

Here is the walkthrough for the Race to the Finish stage:
As soon as you start, run forward and drop down the gap. Then keep running
forward until you reach the door by the wall. Do not go through the door.

Instead, jump up to the platform above and send your Climbers up to the
right. You will find a gap there. Drop down through the gap. It is a long
drop, and you will most likely lose Nana here, which is not a big deal.
Make sure that Popo does not land on any of the platforms, or time will
be wasted.

As soon as you drop to the bottom, run to the right and jump up the platform.
You now have to send Popo all the way up to the top of this passage.

When you have reached the top, continue to go right, and beware of that
big pit there beneath the door. You need to go through the gap above the
pit, but not into the pit itself.

Having run through the gap, you will come across a 3-way junction. I would
pick the one in the middle. Popo will arrive at an obstacle course comprised
of lava pits. Use a horizontal air dodge or the Squall Hammer to boost
the distance of Popo's jump.

As soon as you are clear of that area. Simply continue to the right until
you reach the final door, avoiding the spike before it. This is it. 80000
points are in the bag.

Round 10: vs. 1 Metal Character
In this level, you will play against any single unlocked character in the
game. The enemy has had a Metal Box in use, so he/she/them will prove to
be heavier. Sure, it means that they can take more damage before they are
sent flying, but it also means that they will have a harder time jumping
back onto the stage! Use this to your advantage.

When playing as the Ice Climbers, I would recommend keeping your distance
from the metal opponent, and make use of Ice Shots to slowly damage them.
Afterwards, you can start smashing them off the stage and then edge guarding
to keep them away.

Boss Battle! Master Hand (and Crazy Hand)
Yes, having beaten the previous ten rounds, your character will face the
final boss of the Classic Mode. It's Master Hand! The Master Hand has a
variety of moves, including, a fingerwalk attack, a palm slam attack, a
rocket punch attack, a laser attack, a finger missile attack, a grab and
squeeze attack, a drill attack and a fist punch attack! Most of these
attacks can be dodged by jumping or air dodges, so always be alert. To
damage Master Hand, you will have to hit him with every single airborne
attack you've got. Instead of having a percentage meter, the Master Hand
has an HP Meter. It ranges from 150HP for Easy Mode to 360HP for Very Hard
Mode!

When playing as the Ice Climbers, I would recommend the following moves,
as they can do either rapid or great damage to the Master Hand:
Upward Hammer Smash
Upward Hammer Poke
Ice Shot (let the hammers hit too)
Air Hammer Swing
Squall Hammer
Upward Hammer Drill
Airborne Hammer Pound

As you can see, most of these moves are air attacks, if you can perform
all air attacks on Master Hand, you will get an All-Aerial Bonus.

If you managed to reach the final stage in 18 minutes or less without
continuing, then you get to face Crazy Hand (the left hand) once Master
Hand's (the right hand) HP drops to 150! The Crazy Hand has all of the
Master Hand's attacks, and they are much more powerful! Besides, the Crazy
Hand can do combos with the Master Hand like the Applause and the Sandwich
Punch! The Crazy Hand can also drop debris on you, and do a palm crawl
on you! Sometimes, the two hands are coordinated in a way that you cannot
avoid both of them at once!

I wish you the best of luck in defeating them in case they show up! Always
remember to keep Popo and his girlfriend Nana together! If you do beat
the two hands, or the one single hand, then you get a trophy of your
character. As simple as that! Them you get to go through a credits screen
where you can shoot at the credits for additional fun before coming to
the congratulatory screen! (with 8 Ice Climbers fighting each other on
the Jungle Japes stage.)

-------------------------
b. Adventure Mode [IC5B]
-------------------------
Stage 1: Mushroom Kingdom
The first stage of the Mushroom Kingdom has 2 courses, the first is a 2-D
course. You just have to move your character through the stage, killing
as many Goombas and Koopa Troopas as you go. The Koopa Troopas can only
be killed by grabbing them and throwing them. However, if you stun one
and throw the shell into another set of koopa shells in a ditch, the shells
will roll, hit each other, allowing your character to score maximum points!
In the middle of the stage, you will have to fight a team of 10 Yoshis.
Of course, they are weakened. The best way to deal with them is to either
perform Belay jumps on them while they are still airborne, or simply let
them surround you and perform a Downward Hammer Spin on them. Your target
should be to perform 3 Triple KOs. Take them out and then head for the
finish line, marked by the checkered mat!

This is the first of two stages where points are a bonanza, so you should
try to hurt more enemies and rack up your scores as much as possible here.

In case you lose Popo and Nana in the stage, you will restart at the last
pipe that you have passed. Be aware of that.

The second course is simply a match against Mario and Peach. These two
are rather aggressive, so stay on your feet. If you complete the previous
course with a 2 in the hundredth or tenth second digit, you get to face
Luigi instead of Mario! Beat him, and you will have a chance to unlock
him after you have completed the Adventure Mode!

You start on a platform, and you should wait for them to come close and
as they are jumping towards you, have your hammer smash ready to intercept
them in the air. Then, with them knocked back, you can gain the initiative
and start to counter attack them. But do not be trapped against a wall
or be surrounded, or you will be in a fix!

For this battle, you can take advantage of the fact that Mario and Peach
will seek shelter at either end of the stage when a Bullet Bill comes.
So, that's your chance to finish them off! That's all.

Stage 2: Kongo Jungle
The first course will pit your character against two tiny Donkey Kongs
on the Kongo Jungle stage. You know what to do to get rid of them.

As they are smaller than you, you should perform more low hammer sweeps.
Perform them in a combo if you wish, and then perform a Downward Hammer
Spin. If all goes well, the Sweeper bonus will be yours.

Then, you will face a giant Donkey Kong in the Jungle Japes stage! Be aware
of the giant's increased range and you will be fine. OK?

I find the upward hammer drill very effective against Donkey Kong, so you
should wait for him under the platform outside Cranky Kong's house, and
when he drops down, dig the hammers into him. Also send out your fair shares
of low hammer sweeps. When his damage is high enough, smash him away. (You
may want to attempt an Airborne Hammer Pound (Meteor Attack) on Donkey
Kong as he is over the water.)

In fact, sometimes the giant Donkey Kong will fail to use the Spinning
Kong recovery move, and end up further away from the stage than closer!

Stage 3: Underground Maze
Again, the stage has two courses. The first course places your character
in a vertical stage and you will have to find the exit. There are 6 potential
exits, two on the left side, and 4 on the right side. Only one of them
is real, and that has the triforce by the door. Otherwise, you will find
a Master Sword in each of the rooms, and you will have to face Link! Which
means, you can face Link up to 5 times! IF you beat all Links, you will
get the Link Master bonus, worth 30000 points!

If you want to fight the Links, you should run to the center of the arena,
and charge your upward hammer smash as Link drops down to you. Then, release
the A button when he is just about to come in contact with you. Then he
will be knocked back up, and you can continue to smash him until he is
gone. (A minimum of 3 smashes may do the trick). Use the items, particularly
the Star Rods and Ray Guns to help you if possible. The Ray Gun has the
ability to shoot Link further and further away from the arena until he
is beyond recovery.

Besides the 5 Links, you will face Redeads, Octoroks and Like Likes in
this maze. Redeads are zombie like creatures that will try to charge and
bite Popo and Nana. But one single hit can break their attack. Octoroks
take fewer hits to kill, and they look like octopuses spitting out pebbles
at you, that can have a very high impact force if you get hit with damage
over 100%. Like likes are membrane like creatures that trap you within
themselves for a short period of time before spitting you out. The more
damage Popo or Nana has, the further away they will be spit out. Take as
many out as possible to maximize your score. Then you can find the exit
and leave.

In the second course, you will fight Zelda in the Hyrule Temple Stage.
She is not that hard really. But you have to watch out for her Din's Fire
at the beginning. Otherwise, an easy stage.

Stage 4: Brinstar
First, your character will fight Samus in the Brinstar Stage. There is
nothing so special about that.

You should let Samus jump towards you and then you should charge up your
hammer smash, and hit her back. Repeat as necessary. If Samus decides to
stay on the central platform, go and hit her from below. Repeat until she
has high enough damage, and smash her.

Then, you will find that Brinstar is about to blow, and you will have to
evacuate by going up to the transport in 40 seconds. Your character will
start at the bottom of a course, and then, you should use your jumping
abilities to make it to the top. This is the stage where I tested each
character's versatility. I consider a character that can complete the
course the quickest to be the most versatile in each group. Once you get
on the yellow transport pad, you will win! Then Brinstar will blow up,
and Popo and Nana will have got away with a Warp Star! It is time for the
next stage, Green Greens!

Stage 5: Green Greens
First, you will face a single Kirby on Green Greens. As he is just so
lightweight, this battle will prove to be easy. Just hit him with all you
have with your Smash Attacks! Then, a large group of Kirbys with their
predetermined copied abilities will airdrop onto you with Warp Stars! This
is basically a team battle match. Just smash, smash and smash and they
will be taken out in no time. Hit them with the Ice Shot hammers if you
want a Bull's Eye KO. If you can defeat this large group of Kirbys in 30
seconds or less, then you can get to fight a GIANT Kirby! This is basically
a simple giant one to one match, only that you should damage Kirby up to
200% damage before you can knock him out. Besides, you can also lure the
Giant Kirby into performing his Stone Attack on those yellow star blocks.
Kirby is often stupid enough to do this, and it saved me a lot of trouble
all the time!

Stage 6: Corneria
You are now on top of the Giant Fox flying over Corneria. It seems that
Fox McCloud has found out that you two have hijacked his plane, and is
not up to get you. For some strange reason, he seems to be waiting for
you to get close before you strike. So, I suggest you strike either from
a range or swiftly.

Stand at the top of the slope, facing Fox, then repeatedly perform Ice
Shots at him until he has enough damage. Then, run forward and shoulder
nudge Fox. He will at best hit you a couple of times before retreating
to either end of the ship to wait your next move. Fox will only run out
if a Pokeball or any healing items appear. That is your chance to cmash
him off on the plane.

Sometimes, Fox may end up standing on the gun port of the Giant Fox, and
if that happens, all you have to do is to wait for the cannon to fire,
and Fox will be blasted off the screen.

But what is this? Fox's buddies Peppy and Slippy seems to have found out
that Fox is in trouble, and are flying over to assist you! Oh dear! Now,
you will face Fox, or Falco, if you have unlocked him. This time, the enemy
will be more determined to get you, so watch out! But still, you can always
take advantage of the Arwings around the Giant Fox, as they seems to be
taking random pot shots at everything! Use this to your advantage and take
out Fox (or Falco)! Then you can leave.

Stage 7: Pokemon Stadium
You are now in the Pokemon Stadium, it seems that it is you against a team
of 12 rabid Pikachus (and Pichus and Jigglypuffs too, if you have unlocked
them)! All pokemon have decreased weight, but it seems that they are not
nocked out as easily as before. Your weapons are all over the place! That's
right! The Pokeballs! Grab them and throw them all over the place and sit
back while they do the job for you! As there are two pairs of hands to
use, the Pokeball distribution can be twice as fast than the other guys.
That's all. Good luck!

Stage 8: F-Zero Grand Prix
You are now on the Big Blue F-Zero race course, but it seems that you have
to travel on foot! However, it seems that a race is currently taking place,
and you will have to run as fast as you can while dodging those racers!
Fortunately there are a lot of save havens for the Ice Climbers to wait
on when you are notified with a warning sign of the racing cars' approach.
Always jump on the pink platforms to avoid the racers! Note that this level
is used as another benchmark test to compare each character's versatility.
The faster the character finishes, the more versatile he/she/them is.

The Ice Climbers should be able to get past the starting gate and hide
in the depression that follows before the first wave of F-Zero racers come.
They will be able to at least reach the safe platform 2 platforms away
from the downward tilting piece of track before the racers come round again.
If you are fast, you can reach the finishing line before the racers come
round again. Otherwise, take your time and stop once more.

After the oceans of Big Blue, it is time for the bustling Mute City! It
is you against Captain Falcon on the racetrack. It is always better to
knock him off the platform and let the moving ground deal damage for you.
If you knock Captain Falcon onto the racetrack and he is knocked out, you
will receive the Kiss-the-Floor KO bonus!

Stage 9: Onett
You are back in a sunny town called Onett, and you have 3 Nesses against
you! That's two vs. 3, hardly seems fair, doesn't it? The 3 Nesses seemed
to enjoy using the Mr. Saturns a lot, and they will constantly throw them
at you, so you should always fight fire with fire! Just think of all the
bonuses you can get! You can get: Mr. Saturn Fan (Use only the Mr. Saturns),
Saturn Siblings (Use more than 3 Mr. Saturns), Saturn Ringer (Caught a
Mr. Saturn and threw it right back) and lastly, Mrs. Saturn (held a Mr.
Saturn in your hand for 30 seconds or more). Getting the Item Catching
bonus is easy with ice Climbers, as Nana sometimes may catch the item Popo
throws out before she throws it out again. The Nesses are not very smart,
they often get knocked out by the passing cars. But still, for maximum
points, I suggest you attack them yourself.

Stage 10: Icicle Mountain
At last, the Ice Climbers have returned to their home turf!

Grab your mountain gear, you are climbing a mountain now! You will now
be maneuvering up the Icicle Mountain, and you will meet a lot of
interesting enemies like Topis and Polar Bears. Knock them out for extra
points! At first, the stage will scroll up slowly, but suddenly, it will
go up like mad! (Pay attention to the music and you will know when it starts
scrolling) So jump quickly! Eventually, you will be ambushed by 4 other
Ice Climbers. It's a matter between humans and drones. Just knock them
out as usual and you will be fine! (the computer is very bad at using the
Ice Climbers, and leaves many players with the false impression that the
Ice Climbers are very bad units.)

Stage 11: Battlefield
You are now transported to a battlefield which looks as if it were in the
middle of nowhere. First, you will be attacked by 15 Wire Frame Fighters.
These guys are super light and hollow, as they are just frames. Just deal
with them as if you are in a team battle.

I once was able to score a Quintuple KO using the Belay jump! Want to try,
anyone?

Then, Metal Mario (and Luigi) will drop down to get you! You know what
to do! Just defeat them as before and you will be fine. Luigi is basically
hopeless if you let him fall lower than the stage, as all he would use
is Green Missile, and that only gains horizontal distance, and no vertical
distance.

Stage 12: Final Destination
You are back at the stage out in space, and you are up against a Bowser
that is slightly larger than a normal one. You know what to do to get rid
of him do you? This is rather easy. But I recommend using Ice Shots and
Blizzard on him until he gets enough damage. Then smash him off the screen!

After Bowser is gone, the Popo and Nana will high-five each other, saying
"Yup!" in unison, and it is over! But is it? If you have beaten Adventure
Mode in 18 minutes or less, then another Bowser, who is maybe 4 times larger
than the Bowser you will just face will come after you! It's Giga Bowser!
Giga Bowser is just plain evil. He is maybe 10 times more brutal than any
normal Bowser!

He slashes the Ice Climbers will absolute brute force, and if you are caught
with his Bowser Bomb, you most likely will be screwed! Therefore, keep
away from him, and use the Squall Hammer to hover above Giga Bowser.

Your best bet will be to hit him from a range to avoid risking a serious
mauling. Extensive use of Pokeballs will also help!

Weezing is the most effective Pokemon by far, as Giga Bowser will be trapped
in his Smokescreen until Weezing disappears, and by the time he breaks
free, he can accumulate way over 200% damage!

On the other hand, Giga Bowser never uses shields, so whenever you pick
up a Ray Run, you can shoot him continuously to keep him at bay, as well
as land you the Laser Marksman bonus. The double item nature of the Ice
Climbers is the best for the job.

Besides, a way to weaken Giga Bowser is to trick him into picking up a
Fire Flower, and he will not be able to slash you with his claws. Then
as soon as he has about 300% damage or higher, smash him and he will be
gone! Congratulations! You have beaten the Adventure Mode!

------------------
c. Stadium [IC5C]
------------------
The stadium is where you can allow your Ice Climbers to redo the target
test in case they fail to do it in the Classic Mode. It is where they can
play the Home Run Contest, as well as all the multi-man melees around.

*****TARGET TEST*****
It seems that Popo's girlfriend Nana must have been gone shopping or
something, as she cannot aid him here. You are playing solo here! The target
to the right should be destroyed by running off the starting ledge, do
a horizontal jump to the right and then an airborne hammer pound on the
first target. This will break a hole in the ledge above while destroying
the target. Jump through the hole to the ledge to the left. Then, jump
upwards, with Popo facing left while leaning to the right. Perform an Ice
Shot while in midair to destroy the target on the brown ledge below.

Then make your way up to the blue ice ledge above, and do another backward
air attack to destroy that target.

Wait for the cloud to come and jump on it. Then jump on the solid blue
platform above and break the target there with an upward air attack facing
the left. No need to use Squall Hammers anymore, as the platform is solid!
Make your way to the top of this stage, destroying any targets you find.

See that small wall? Perform a double jump to the right of it, facing left
and press the B button at the peak of the jump. Popo's Ice Shot will destroy
the target above as well as the one behind the wall. If the cloud is to
the right, then jump over to the target to the right and destroy it.

Then, before the next cloud comes, jump up and use an upward air attack
to break that target above. Then as the cloud comes, do an Ice Shot to
the right just before you land. This shot should just hit the target below
you. Then, do a running jump and perform a horizontal air attack on the
left in the corner, and then L-cancel to recover faster.

Having reached the top, you will find the final target being carried around
by a flying bird. When it is close, jump up and use the Squall Hammer to
make sure you can hit it! Yes, therefore your time can vary a lot because
of that stupid little birdie.

*****HOME RUN CONTEST*****
Two men, one van, 30 days, to catch all species of fish in Britain. That
is how Discovery H&L Channel describes the program the Great Rod Race.
Now: Two kids, one boy, one girl, 10 seconds, to knock the Sandbag as far
away as possible. That is how I describe the predicament Popo and Nana,
the two Ice Climbers are in. Like the Great Rod Race, time is very tight,
and teamwork is very essential in success here. You have 10 seconds.

OK, it seems that a lot of people are really obsessed in getting world
records and stuff so that they can show off to their friends or stuff,
that's why I decided to change the strategies here. They are forwarded
by someone with a pseudonym NintendoAddict from SSkeeto's guide.

~~ Bat Drop Forward+A ~~
First run to the right and grab the bat. Immediately dash to the right
and jump while making sure that Nana didn't follow you. At the peak of
your jump, drop the bat. Wait until right after the bat hits and press
forward+A. This combo does 27% max.

~~ Hybrid Bat Drop Forward+A ~~
Jump, hold down on the control stick, press Z to catch the bat (nana will
do a down A), let go of down, press Z to drop the bat, and do a forward
A. If you are fastfalling, make sure you hit down, but let go of down right
about when you hit the bag. L-cancel right when you hear/see popo's hammer
hit the bag.

Beginner
1. Grab the bat, turn around
2. Jump to the right (make sure that Nana follows you), aerial forward+A
(to spike the bag down)(20%)
3. Strong up+A (40%)
4. Press B (Ice Shot) as the Sandbag lands (65%)
5. Walk to the Sandbag, do 1 strong up+A (84%)
6. Jump, do 1 aerial forward+A (make sure that it spikes the Sandbag down)
(103%)
7. Press B (Ice Shot) (127%)
8. Walk up to the Sandbag, cooperative tipper* (162% after)
Bull's-eye: 1800+ feet (540+ m.)

Easy
1. Grab the bat, dash right
2. Jump, throw the bat up
3. Forward+A before you hit the ground
4. Do an up+A, quickly jump+forward+A(to spike the bag down)(79-81%)
5. Press B(Ice Shot)
6. Up+A, double jump+forward+A
7. Cooperative tipper*
Bull's-eye: 2100+ feet (640+ m.)

Medium
1. Grab the bat, dash toward the Sandbag
2. Jump, throw the bat up, smash forward+A before landing
3. Strong up+A (as the bat hits)
4. Pick up the bat, repeat steps 2 & 3
5. Jump, smash forward+A
6. 2 Ice Shots
7. Grab the bat, cooperative tipper*
Bull's-eye: 2400+ feet (740+ m.)

Advanced
(Strategy created by Chickendude1313)
1. Hold down+B at the start (nana will do blizzard)
2. Have Popo grab the bat and throw it over the Sandbag
3. Immediately land, strong up+A
4. Do 4 single jump bat drop combos with nana doing down A/Popo doing
forward+A, with fastfalls and L-cancels
5. Grab the bat, cooperative tipper*
Bull's-eye: 2800+ feet (860+ m.)

Advanced/Hard
(Strategy created by Chickendude1313)
1. Hold down+B at the start (nana will do blizzard)
2. Have Popo grab the bat and throw it over the Sandbag
3. Immediately land, strong up+A
4. Do 5 single jump bat drop combos with nana doing down A/Popo doing
forward+A, with fastfalls and L-cancels
5. Grab the bat, cooperative tipper*
Bull's-eye: 3300+ feet (1000+ m.)

Hard
(Strategy created by Chickendude1313)
1. Hold down+B at the start (nana will do blizzard)
2. Have Popo grab the bat and smash throw it at the bag
3. Immediately, have Popo dash and do a single jump bat drop forward+A
(Popo
only)
4. Do 5 single jump bat drop combos with nana doing down A/Popo doing
forward+A, with fastfalls and L-cancels
5. Turn around, grab the bat, cooperative tipper*
Bull's-eye: 4400+ feet (1340+ m.)

Hard/Intense
1. Hold down+B at the start (nana will do blizzard)
2. Have Popo grab the bat and smash throw it at the bag
3. Immediately, have Popo dash, double jump, and catch the bat (Nana does
down+A)
4. Wait for a second to have Nana recover, then do a double jump forward+A
bat drop combo
5. Do 5 more single jump bat drop combos with nana doing down A/Popo doing
forward+A, with fastfalls and L-cancels
6. Jump up, catch the bat (nana does down+A) and have popo do another
forward+A.
7. Smash forward+A
Bull's-eye: 4800+ feet (1460+ m.)

Intense
(Strategy created by Ice Mario2003)
1. Hold down+B at the start (nana will do blizzard)
2. Have Popo grab the bat and smash throw it at the bag
3. Immediately, have Popo dash, double jump, and catch the bat (Nana does
down+A)
4. Wait for a second to have Nana recover, then do a double jump forward+A
bat drop combo
5. Do 6 more single jump bat drop combos with nana doing down A/Popo doing
forward+A, with fastfalls and L-cancels
6. Turn around, grab the bat, cooperative midhit
Bull's-eye: 5000+ feet (1520+ m.)

Expert <WR>
(Strategy created by KenshinXx)
1. Hold down+B at the start (nana will do blizzard)
2. Have Popo grab the bat and smash throw it at the bag
3. Immediately, have Popo dash and do a single jump bat drop forward+A
4. Do 6 single jump bat drop combos with nana doing down A/Popo doing
forward+A, with fastfalls and L-cancels
5. Jump up, catch the bat, fakie swing/smash forward+A
Bull's-eye: 5600+ feet (1700+ m.)

Of course, the credit goes to SSkeeto forwarded by NintendoAddict.

*****MULTI-MAN MELEE*****
The goal is clear in the Multi-Man Melee. For the 10-man and 100-man Melee,
you are supposed to knock out the required number of Wire Frame fighters.
All of them are as light as a feather and large team battle tactics apply.
Keep using Belay and Low Hammer Spin as well as the Upward Hammer Smash.

For the 3-Minute and 15-minute Melee. It is a matter of endurance. You
are to stay alive in the required time, and the Wired Frame Fighters will
come endlessly. The same tactics as above apply.

For the Endless Melee. It is a matter of how many Wired Frame Fighters
you knock out before the Ice Climbers are knocked out themselves. The
enemies are just as light.

However, for the cruel Melee, Popo and Nana are weakened, and they can
be knocked out in only one hit! This is cruel! However, if you manage to
knock out 5 enemies, you get the Mr. Resetti trophy.

-----------------------
d. Event Battle [IC5D]
-----------------------
This is where I give the strategies to beat the Event Battle with the Ice
Climbers. Note that you cannot play as the Ice Climbers on some of the
levels.

-------------------
Level 3: Bomb Fest
-------------------
The Ice Climbers are up against Link and Samus. Therefore, it is a 2 vs.
2 match. The two characters like to use their bombs a lot, and many of
the items dropped are motion-sensor bombs, Bo-bombs, and explosive Party
Balls. Pokeballs are also plentiful in this stage. As you have both Popo
and Nana around, it is possible to grab two bombs at once and throw them
in twice the speed of the other characters. Of course, you are always
welcome to use the conventional smash attacks on them!

------------------------
Level 4: Dino-wrangling
------------------------
It seems that a Giant Yoshi has escaped from Yoshi's Island Zoo, and is
rampaging the island! You must stop him! The Ice Climbers are now up against
a supersized version of the giant Yoshi. Yoshi is so big, and he has an
incredible tongue range. IN fact, he usually can perform the Egg Lay on
Popo as soon as you get to move. Therefore, be on the alert, break free
and engage the super giant Yoshi. I would recommend performing continuous
low hammer sweeps on Yoshi, and then he will not be able to retaliate at
all while his damage racks up. When the time is ripe, smash him and knock
him out. Sometimes, Yoshi will be dumb enough to kill himself early in
the game, and as a result, I had a record of 8.85 seconds in this Event
Battle. Finally, the Ice Climbers have 3 lives, so it will not be hard
of them at all.

---------------------------
Level 6: Kirby's on Parade
---------------------------
You are now on the Fountain of Dreams, and a rainbow of Kirbys are after
you. Rainbow, what Rainbow. Actually, you are up against a Pink Kirby,
a White Kirby and an Orange Kirby. Each Kirby has 2 lives each. You will
notice that each Kirby makes a squeaky sound? This is because they are
all lightweight, and are smaller than the normal sized Kirby. Therefore,
they are now, electron-weights! They are so light, that even single
shoulder nudges can be instantly lethal. So, be quick about it and see
how fast you can beat this Event Battle! My most recent record is 18.58
seconds, and I am not trying my best. Let's aim for less than 10 seconds!

------------------------
Level 7: Pokemon Battle
------------------------
You have to use Pokeballs to duel with Pikachu in this Event Battle. Normal
physical attacks will not cut it out anymore, therefore, the only way to
fight Pikachu is via the clever use of all the Pokeballs that appear in
the stage. Thanks to the presence of two Ice Climbers at once, the Pokemon
can be distributed very evenly on the battlefield, and Pikachu eventually
will have no where to run! I would suggest you hope for the following Pokemon,
as they can send Pikachu away only in a couple of hits: Blastoise, Charizard,
Venusaur, Snorlax, Articuno and Lugia, all of these have attacks that can
send Pikachu soaring to new heights. Note that both the Ice Climbers and
Pikachu have two lives. Be aware of that.

------------------------------
Level 8: Hot Date on Brinstar
------------------------------
It seems that the Ice Climbers are interfering with Samus' Brinstar Raid,
and Samus does not like nosey parkers. However, both the Ice Climbers and
Samus have taken significant damage even at the start of the battle. The
Ice Climbers start with 102% damage, while Samus starts with 130%. Use
this to your advantage. Once the battle starts, have the Ice Climbers run
to the right and drop to the platform below. Samus will be on the platform
above, and will be dropping down to get you. At that instant, charge up
an Upward Hammer Smash, and release the A button as Samus drops down. Smash!
Samus will be hit twice and will be soaring to the moon! Now, Samus will
have 2 lives remaining. Once she reappears, dodge her until her temporary
invincibility wears off, then either stand at the left or right platforms
and wait for Samus to come, then smash her. Repeat again for her final
life. If you are fast you can defeat Samus in less than 30 seconds!

------------------------
Level 9: Hide and Sheik
------------------------
This is the Event Battle which only Sheik KOs count. Therefore, you cannot
knock Zelda out here. The main problem is that Zelda and Sheik just
transforms so quickly. There are a total of two Zelda/Sheik pairs that
have to be knocked out. When you encounter Zelda, you should attack them
with weak moves like Upward Hammer Drill, Ice Shot, Blizzard and the normal
Hammer hits. If you are facing Sheik, hit her with all the Smash Attacks
you have available. A good way to prevent Sheik from changing back to Zelda
is to knock her off the stage, and edge guard. As Sheik will not transform
in midair, you can just hit them hard until they are knocked well beyond
recovery. This battle is as annoying as fishing. But eventually, you will
be able to beat this Event Battle

----------------------------
Level 10: All Star Battle 1
----------------------------
The All Star Battle 1 pits the Ice Climbers against the stars of the Mario
Division, namely in this order: Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Peach and Bowser.
You have a total of 4 minutes to defeat these 5 characters. Which means,
you should use an average of 48 seconds or less to defeat each opponent,
which is not hard at all, as the enemies here are pretty dumb. Therefore,
if you simply use your brute force, you can complete this all-star battle
in no time. One thing to note is that the Ice Climbers have two lives to
use, and any damage sustained will be carried forward to the next opponent.
Therefore, as a rule of a thumb, you should try your best not to take any
damage at all. Easy.

--------------------------------------
6. Item Usage with Ice Climbers [IC6]
--------------------------------------
This section will give a short description and strategies concerning the
usage of the various items in the game with the Ice Climbers. There are
many different types of items in the game, including Food, Healing Items,
Transformation Items, Throwing Items, Shooting Items, Battering Items and
many many more. Now, let's begin with Food items.

*****FOOD*****
As you can see, food is something which is very nutritious indeed. When
Popo (or Orange/ Red Nana) picks up food, he will eat it, and can use it
to recover small amounts of health, between 1-10% damage at a time.

However, Popo is the only character who can benefit from food. Nana (or
Popo, if you choose to play as Orange Nana or Red Nana) will not lose any
damage. Therefore, she is just as vulnerable even after you eat the food.
Therefore, you must still protect Nana at all costs, as her damage can
NEVER be lowered.

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Connoisseur (3000):
If you manage to eat all the food that has appeared in the match, you can
get the Connoisseur Bonus. It is easier to do this on Adventure Mode
platformer level, as no one will attempt to fight you for the food.

Gourmet (2000):
If you only ate food for the entire duration of the match and have eaten
3 pieces or more, then you can be awarded this bonus. This is not very
hard to achieve, just resist the temptation to grab any other items in
the entire duration of the match and you will be fine.

*****HEALING ITEMS*****
Healing Items are for healing of course, there are in total of 2 Healing
Items in the game, and they can heal up to 100% damage from your leading
Ice Climber (will be referred as Popo from now on, assuming you do not
change their colors.).

As in the case of food, Popo is the only character who can benefit from
food. Nana (or Popo, if you choose to play as Orange Nana or Red Nana)
will not lose any damage. Therefore, she is just as vulnerable even after
you eat the food. Therefore, you must still protect Nana at all costs,
as her damage can NEVER be lowered.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Wimp (1500):
If you only used healing (recovery) items for the entire duration of the
match and have used 3 or more, then you will be awarded this bonus (Really,
it is not a bonus in real life to be called a wimp) As the healing items
do not include food, do not eat any food and only use the items listed
below. (Which is why this bonus is rather hard to achieve.)

---------------
Maxim Tomato
---------------
The Maxim Tomato used to be Kirby's favorite snack. It looks like any tomato,
only that it has a big M on it. This tasty treat can heal Popo by 50% damage.
When you see one appearing, you had better go and get it, as both human
and computer players will be trying their best to eat it before you do.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Vegetarian (1800):
If the Ice Climbers have eaten 2 or more Maxim Tomatoes for the entire
duration of the match, you will be awarded this bonus. This bonus is easier
said than done most of the time, as you probably won't find more than 2
Maxim Tomatoes unless you found a Party Ball full of them. However, you
can always set up a multiplayer match where ONLY Maxim Tomatoes will appear,
and then it will be as easy as pie, or I should say, tomato quiche.

----------------
Heart Container
----------------
There are basically two ways of getting a new Heart Container in a Legend
of Zelda game. Either by defeating a boss in a dungeon, or by finding 4
Pieces of Heart! Anyway, the Heart Container of Super Smash Bros. Melee
can heal twice as much damage as the Maxim Tomato, that is, up to 100%.
Again, both humans and computer controlled players will race for the Heart
Container as soon as it appears, so you better hurry up and send Popo to
get it before they do! Then, you will have some sweet, sweet sensation
as your damage meter drops by an entire 100%!

Note that the 3 Heart Containers found between subsequent battles in the
All-Star Mode completely refill the Ice Climber's help, so, you should
wait until Popo is as heavily damaged as possible before picking them up.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Heartthrob (2800):
If the Ice Climbers have used 2 or more Heart Containers for the entire
duration of the match, you will be awarded this bonus. This bonus is easier
said than done most of the time, as you probably won't find more than 2
Heart Containers unless you found a Party Ball full of them. However, you
can always set up a multiplayer match where ONLY Heart Containers will
appear, and then it will be as easy as pie. Remember not to lose heart!

*****TRANSFORMATION ITEMS*****
Transformation Items are items that, simply put, make your character change
in appearance and shape. For instance, they can change their size, material,
appearance, and sometimes make them completely invisible!

Each transformation item has effect on only one Ice Climber at a time.
So, to fully transform the couple, have them pick up two Transformation
Items in a row.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Shape-Shifter (1500):
If the Ice Climbers have only used transformation items for the entire
duration of the match and have used 3 or more, then they will be awarded
this bonus. This is rather easy to obtain this bonus, as transformation
items are very abundant in matches and are the basically the most popular
group of items of them all.

---------------
Super Mushroom
---------------
Ahh... the "sacred" Super Mushroom from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario
Bros. 3 and Super Mario World is back. You know what does it do. It is
obvious, isn't it? It makes the Ice Climbers grow in size, increasing their
weight significantly and also strengthening their attack power! What could
be better? Another funny thing to note is that the character affected will
have his/her voicebox altered so they say things at a lower pitch. Like
Popo's voice when performing the Squall Hammer move will sound very low
pitch and more "manly"!

To give you more details on how the Ice Climbers are affected by the Super
Mushroom, I produced two Super Mushrooms on training mode and monitored
the damage dealt on another character. Without the Super Mushroom, Popo
can deal up to 19% damage while Nana deals up to 17%, adding up to a total
of 36% damage. When both of them are supersized, Popo can deal up to 23%
damage, while Nana deals up to 20% damage, adding up to 43% damage.
Therefore, a Super Mushroom can increase the damage dealt by the Ice
Climbers by about 16%. (That's the proportion, not the actual damage.)

Noteworthy Bonus:
Giant KO (600 per KO):
If giant Popo or giant Nana knock out someone while you are giant, then
you can receive this bonus. Easy. It's a matter of quantity but not quality
here, as the bonus score received is dependent on the number of KOs the
Ice Climbers have achieved before they shrink back to your original size.

Mycologist (2500):
If the Ice Climbers get 3 or more Mushrooms (Including Poison Mushrooms),
you can get this bonus. Let's start picking, kids!

Mario Maniac (8000):
Our Italian Plumber Mario is the representative of Nintendo, just as how
Sonic the Hedgehog represents Sega. Mario's items are highly treasured,
and if you use enough of them, you are considered to be a Mario fan! If
you used Mushrooms, Fire Flowers or Starmen for the entire duration of
the match, this bonus will be yours.

----------------
Poison Mushroom
----------------
The notorious Poison Mushroom from Super Mario Bros. the Lost Levels have
returned. Yes, they shrink Mario in size and can kill him if he is already
tiny! Unfortunately, the Poison Mushrooms are hard to identify, as they
look almost identical to the Super Mushroom, only that the eyes have an
evil glare. After eating the mushroom, the poor Ice Climber will shrink
to a puny size, and can be easily knocked out due to his/her decreased
weight! Oh, and your character's voice box will be altered in a way that
they all sound like Mickey Mouse!

The effects of the Poison Mushroom are not as bad to the Ice Climbers as
predicted. Tiny Ice Climbers can still deal up to 31% damage on their
enemies in a Hammer Smash, so that makes up for only 14% decrease by
proportion. So, don't worry about it.

Tiny KO (2500 per KO):
If Popo or Nana knock out someone while they are as tiny as a shrimp, then
you can receive this bonus. This one is outright hard! It's a matter of
quantity but not quality here, as the bonus score received is dependent
on the number of KOs you have achieved before you grow back to your original
size.

Mycologist (2500):
If the Ice Climbers get 3 or more Mushrooms (Including Poison Mushrooms),
they can get this bonus. Let's start picking, kids!

Mario Maniac (8000):
Our Italian Plumber Mario is the representative of Nintendo, just as how
Sonic the Hedgehog represents Sega. Mario's items are highly treasured,
and if you use enough of them, you are considered to be a Mario fan! If
you used Mushrooms, Fire Flowers or Starmen for the entire duration of
the match, this bonus will be yours.

---------------
Metal Box
---------------
In Super Mario 64, they still had those exclamation mark boxes, but they
only provide different caps for Mario to wear. The Green Box holds the
Metal Cap! When either Popo or Nana open a Metal Box, he or she will be
covered with metal. This of course increases their weight substantially,
making it difficult to send them flying. But a con is that they will fall
rather fast when they are in metal. Thankfully, Popo and Nana's Belay
recovery move will not be hindered at all, unlike the recovery moves of
other characters like Samus and Link. Oh, by the way, the Ice Climbers'
voice boxes would be too stiff to vibrate when they are covered with metal,
so they will be completely dumb for the time being.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Metal KO (800 per KO):
If either Popo or Nana knock out someone while they are covered with Metal,
then this bonus is yours. It's a matter of quantity but not quality here,
as the bonus score received is dependent on the number of KOs they have
achieved before they are made of flesh again.

----------------
Cloaking Device
----------------
The Cloaking Device makes your Ice Climber invisible! However, that is
not the main selling point of the Cloaking Device. Most characters can
still know where you are even when you are invisible, and they can still
come and bash you. So, the programmers of the game decided to program the
Cloaking Device so that the person wearing it will NOT take any damage
when hit! Wow! That's great! However, stealthy Ice Climbers can still be
knocked out if they have had enough damage before obtaining the device.
So, watch out.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Invisible KO (800 per KO)
If either Popo or Nana knock out someone while they are wearing a Cloaking
Device, then this bonus is theirs. It's a matter of quantity but not quality
here, as the bonus score received is dependent on the number of KOs they
have achieved before they are visible again.

---------------
Bunny Hood
---------------
This gadget from the Legend of Zelda series allows the lucky Ice Climber
to have insane jumping abilities and speed, much like a rabbit! Yes, and
I must say that Popo looks rather goofy looking while he is wearing the
Bunny Hood.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Bunny Hood Blast (1200 per KO)
If you knock out someone while you are wearing a Bunny Hood, then this
bonus is yours. It's a matter of quantity but not quality here, as the
bonus score received is dependent on the number of KOs you have achieved
before you take off the Bunny Hood.

*****THROWING ITEMS*****
These items are to be picked up, and thrown at the enemy! That's why they
are called Throwing Items! There are many items that can be thrown, some
of them will remain on the stage for a short time, some will disappear
when it hits something, and some will downright explode! Of course, each
of these items have their own use.

A bonus of the Ice Climbers is that they can throw two items at once as
they have two pairs of hands, not one to make use of.

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Item Chucker (3000):
If you only threw items at the enemy for the entire duration of the match,
you will receive this bonus. This is obviously the easiest to achieve in
the Pokemon Stadium Stage in Adventure Mode, where you can defeat the enemy
Pikachus by throwing Pokeballs and not using any other attack at them.

Item Catcher (1000):
If you caught an item thrown at you, you can receive this bonus. This is
easiest to achieve if you use the Ice Climbers. This is because, if you
grab a throwing item, and press A twice in quick succession, Popo will
throw the item, which is grabbed by Nana, who throws it out! Then, the
bonus will easily be yours.

Reciprocator (2000):
If you caught an item thrown at you, and can throw it back and hit the
enemy who threw it at you, you will be considered to be a reciprocator!
This is the easiest to achieve if a Mr. Saturn is thrown at you. Wait for
it to bounce on the ground, slow down and press A and grab it before it
comes to a full stop, and throw it back and bonk your opponent!

Item Self Destruct (1000 point deduction):
Certain throwing items have the tendency to have a certain area effect
that can affect the character throwing it. If you are knocked out by an
item, you will receive a 2 point deduction (1 for a fall, 1 for a Self
Destruction) in Vs. Mode, and will receive this penalty. So, use all items
with care, or their effects MAY BACKFIRE.

Chuck Wagon (1500):
If you only used throwing items for the entire duration of the match and
have used 3 or more, then you will be awarded this bonus. This is rather
easy to obtain this bonus, as you most likely will get it after picking
up 3 Pokeballs in the Pokemon Stadium Stage or 3 Mr. Saturns in the Onett
Stage in Adventure Mode.

---------------
Green Shell
---------------
Koopa Troopas are the basic troops of Bowser's evil army. They have been
there since the first Super Mario Bros. When you stomp on them, they will
withdraw into their shells, and can be kicked away. Since Super Mario Bros.
3, the Koopa Shells can be grabbed and moved around by Mario, and since
Super Mario World for the SNES, empty shells have made their appearances.
Like the shells of Super Mario, the Green Shells of Super Smash Bros. can
be thrown at a large row of enemies, hitting them all at once, and this
exerts a really large impact force on them too!

---------------
Red Shell
---------------
There are two variants of Koopa Troopas in the original Super Mario Bros.
games for the NES. Green Koopas are dumber and will walk of cliffs like
Lemmings, while Red Koopas can patrol on ledges without falling off. The
Red Shell seems to be retaining that attribute. After all, whenever you
throw one, it will stick to that platform and will stay on it for a while
before it disappears. Besides, this Red Shell has obtained the Homing Shell
ability of Mario Kart! That's right, it will try to hit anything that gets
in the way! Beware, they will hit anyone, even you!

It is possible to score Quintuple KOs if you throw it onto the Battlefield
stage and let the Wired Frame Fighters hit them. This is even easier than
pulling out the Belay on a line of 5 of them.

---------------
Flipper
---------------
Remember the old NES game Balloon Fight? You are a person with two Balloons
on his back, trying to stay afloat. These annoying things always serve
to pop your balloons and sending you to your doom. You can now go and set
these things anywhere you wish in Super Smash Bros. Melee! When thrown,
it will stay where it is, and can act as a filter to block off any people
who would come and annoy you!

Noteworthy Bonus:
Flipper KO (2000 per KO):
If you knock out someone with a Flipper, then this bonus is yours. It's
a matter of quantity but not quality here, as the bonus score received
is dependent on the number of KOs you have achieved before the flipper
vanishes. It is always advisable for your character to throw it at a vital
recovery point, and hence people thrown off the stage will have a hard
time jumping back with the flipper around.

---------------
Freezie
---------------
The Freezies used to be an enemy of the original Mario Bros. game in the
video game arcades in the 1980s. They tend to freeze up platforms, making
Mario slip! But in Super Smash Bros. Melee, these guys can be thrown at
enemies, temporarily freezing them in, so you can get a few free hits on
them before they can move again. The Freezie also exerts a considerable
impact force on them, as the frozen character can be sent flying if he/she
has enough damage.

Freezies are a dominant item in the Icicle Mountain stage, which is also
the Ice Climber's home town.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Freezie KO (2000 per KO):
If you knock out someone with a Freezie, then this bonus is yours. It's
a matter of quantity but not quality here, as the bonus score received
is dependent on the number of KOs you have achieved.

---------------
Mr. Saturn
---------------
Mr. Saturns are a friendly race of aliens who live in Saturn Valley in
the game Earthbound. In this game, they can be thrown, and deal damage
on the enemies. They exert little impact force on the enemies, and they
will bounce off the enemy hit, so you can always grab it and throw it again
and again on the enemy! What could be more fun? Bonk!

As the Ice Climbers, you can play the pass and throw routine with the Mr.
Saturns. Tap the A button twice, and Popo will throw the Mr. Saturn into
Nana's hand, which in turn is thrown out by Nana, netting you the Item
Catcher Bonus.

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Mr. Saturn Fan (4000):
If the only items you used in the entire duration of the match were the
Mr. Saturns, then you can receive this bonus! To ensure success, do this
in the Onett Stage of the Adventure Mode.

Mrs. Saturn (1500):
If your character grabbed a Mr. Saturn and did not throw it away for 30
seconds or more, you will receive this bonus, even if your character is
male! I know, this is hard, as you will have to lose the ability to perform
normal physical attacks for 30 seconds, and this is a big no-no in a Vs.
Mode Match. So, go and hide for 30 seconds!

Saturn Siblings (4000):
If you have used 3 or more Mr. Saturns for the entire duration of a match,
you get to have "brotherly love" with your Mr. Saturns, and hence can
receive this bonus!

Saturn Ringer (4000):
IF you managed to catch a Mr. Saturn thrown at you, then this bonus is
yours. It works the same way as "Item Catcher".

---------------
Pokeball
---------------
The Pokeballs of Super Smash Bros. Melee come packaged with a random Pokemon.
They can range from a Chikorita, which performs the Razor Leaf move, the
Charizard, who performs a Flamethrower Move, an Electrode, which performs
the Explosion Move, the Clefairy, which performs the Metronome Move and
many others. Even the legendary Pokemon like Mew or Celebi may appear!
(They do nothing but float around in a bubble, though.)

Popo and Nana are the best at distributing Pokemon in pokeballs. They can
pick up two at the same time and throw them out at the enemies all around
the stage. If you are lucky enough to find a Party Ball full of Pokeballs
in a multiplayer game, your opponents will know true fear as the Pokemon
can be deployed all around the stage in a few moments! (The smaller the
stage, the better, the less space your opponents can hide.)

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Pokemon KO (1000):
As the title suggests, knock out someone with a Pokemon to get this bonus.
The pokemon of choice, of course, is Snorlax! (Or Articuno)

Mew Catcher (10000):
If you released a Mew out of your Pokeball, then you get to have this bonus!

Celebi Catcher (8000):
If you released a Celebi out of your Pokeball, then you get to have this
bonus!

---------------
Bob-omb
---------------
The moving bombs of all the Super Mario games are back! These guys will
be immediately ignited when you pick them up, and can thrown at someone!
These guys explode on impact. Besides, if you leave them alone for to long,
the Bob-bombs will move by themselves, so watch out. Make sure you are
at a considerable distance from your enemy, or else you will get blown
away as well!

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Bob-ombs away (500 deduction):
If you are stupid enough to be knocked out by a moving Bob-omb or you have
blown yourself up with a Bob-omb, you will be penalized. So, always handle
Bob-ombs with care, or else!

Bob-omb Squad (2500 per throw):
If you are crazy enough to grab a Bob-omb just as it is about to explode,
and have managed to throw it away before it blows in your face, you will
get this bonus. It is a matter of quantity here. The more Bob-ombs you
throw away, the more points you get.

-------------------
Motion Sensor Bomb
-------------------
The Super Smash Bros. Melee has certainly ripped off the Proximity Mines
of Goldeneye. This mine sticks to any surface it hits, and when someone
draws near, it explodes, as simple as that. Whenever you see someone
glittering with a green light on the ground, you should be careful, as
that is a Motion Sensor Bomb. Be ready to set it off from a distance with
a projectile attack. (They cannot tell the difference between friend and
foe.)

Noteworthy Bonus:
Super Spy (800 per KO):
People who knock out enemies with Motion Sensor Bombs make good 00 Agents,
The more, the better.

-------------
Screw Attack
-------------
This used to be one of Samus' prized possessions from the first Metroid
for the SNES. Now, everyone gets to use it. When you jump while holding
it, you will do a Screw Attack at the same time, you can always use this
to scrape the enemies up into the air with this move, although they will
be caught in your spinning. Now that this Screw Attack only has effect
on the first two jumps when you use it with Kirby. You can also throw it
at someone, causing a little damage, but beware, as they will do a Screw
Attack when hit.

When playing as the Ice Climbers, I would not recommend holding the Screw
Attack for too long. This is because Popo will jump differently than Nana,
or vice versa. This is a good way for the two to be separated and become
very vulnerable. So, always throw this item at an opponent as soon as you
pick it up.

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Screwed up (2000):
If you do have the patience to jump around the stage, with a Screw Attack
in your hand for over 30 seconds, this bonus is yours.

Screw-Attack KO (2500 per KO):
If you can knock out someone with a Screw Attack, you can get this bonus.
It is easier said than done. The best way to do it will be to knock your
opponent far off the platform, then pick up a Screw Attack and throw it
at him/her. Then, he/she would not be able to recover, and will fall to
his/her doom! The more KOs, you achieve, the more points you gain.

*****BATTERING ITEMS*****
These items are characterized to be club like, so you can grab them and
bash them, most of them can be used as smash attack enhancers. Anyway,
have a good time clubbing your opponents to death!

The Ice Climbers have the privilege to make use of two Battering Items
at a time, and each battering item's respective maximum damage will be
found out and listed out.

If Nana picks up a Battering Item while Popo is empty handed, have Popo
grab an opponent, and continuously tilt the C-stick in the direction Popo
is facing. Then, Nana can smash the poor devil!

Noteworthy Bonus:
Battering Ram (1500):
If you used only Battering Items for the entire duration of the match,
then this bonus can be in your hands! Just don't pick up any containers,
and only open them by hitting them and you will be fine.

-------------
Lip's Stick
-------------
This flower with a long stem used to appear in the puzzle game Panel de
Pon, and you can now use it to hit people! The Lip's Stick has really a
high reproductive ability, as anyone who is hit will have a flower planted
on his/her head, and as the flower grows, he/she will receive gradual damage.
I would not suggest you to use this as for a smash attack, as it lacks
impact force.

When both Ice Climbers have Lip's Sticks in their hands, they can deal
up to 44% in a smash attack, therefore the damage dealt is enhanced by
a proportion of (8/36*100%=) 18%. This is the first of the Battering Items
that can enhance the damage dealt.

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Gardener Finish (2000):
If you manage to plant a flower on someone's head as the timer ticks to
zero, you will be awarded this bonus. Of course, the easiest way to get
a friend to stand still while you hit him/her once.

Flower Finish (1500):
If you had a flower planted on your head as the timer ticks to zero, you
will be awarded this bonus. Of course, if you get a friend to help, one
of the players can get the Flower Finish bonus, while the other gets the
Gardener Finish bonus. So, that's two bonuses in one run!

--------------
Star Rod
--------------
This magic wand used to be Kirby's weapon. As it is a Star Rod, one can
not only use it as a battering item, but also as a shooting item. If you
use a Strong Attack or Smash Attack with a Star Rod, a star can be fired
out at the same time. If Sheik smashes with the Star Rod, 3 stars will
be shot out at once, and when Captain Falcon uses it, 4 will come out at
once! A Star Rod has 16 stars. I would always recommend you to smash with
this item! Sometimes, even Strong Attacks are powerful enough to knock
someone out!

When both Popo and Nana are equipped with the Star Rod, I performed a smash
attack with them in training mode, and I found that the combined damage
of the 2 hits and the 2 stars can deal up to a massive 69% damage on an
opponent! Now, whenever you are playing as the Ice Climbers, grabbing two
Star Rods should be your highest priority.

--------------
Beam Sword
--------------
It seems that Nintendo has sort of ripped off Geroge Lucas and his Star
Wars series by introducing this weapon, although this weapon looks like
a light sabre, the two are not identical. After all, the Beam Sword's blade
looks a bit different. This is another battering item that can be used
to slash. Good for edge guarding, I must say. That's all, after all, what
other uses are there for a sword?

The Beam Sword is not a very good smashing weapon for the Ice Climbers.
In fact, two Beam Swords can only deal up to 38% damage on an opponent
at once. Therefore, this item is best for hacking through your enemies,
and you can always perform a strong attack combo if you wish.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Beam Swordsman (800 per KO):
If you manage to knock out someone with a Beam Sword, then you most likely
would qualify as a Jedi Knight and will get this bonus, with the score
directly proportional to the number of opponents you knock out!

--------------
Home Run Bat
--------------
The baseball bat used to be one of my most favorite weapons in Worms
Armageddon, and I must say, the Home Run Bat is my most favorite Battering
Item in Super Smash Bros. Melee! This weapon is simple, yet powerful, just
do a Smash Attack, and your character will wind up for the pitch, and hit
his/her foe. This item is capable of knocking out enemies even if they
have 0% damage! So, if you are far behind in a Vs, Mode match or want to
end the match quickly in a 1-P Mode match, this item is really for you!

When both Popo and Nana are equipped with Home Run Bats, they can deal
up to 38% damage on an enemy. But this is no big problem as the opponent
most likely would be sent sky high, anyway. Now, you can always equip Nana
with the Home Run Bat, and have Popo grab an opponent, and then tilt the
C-Stick to the opponent's direction, and Nana will score a Home Run on
the character! (this works in multiplayer mode only.)

Noteworthy Bonus:
Home Run King (600 per KO):
If you knock out someone with a Home Run Bat, this bonus is yours! The
more, the better.

--------------
Fan
--------------
To show everyone that they are a Japanese company, Nintendo has decided
to include the traditional Japanese fold up fan in the game. This is a
bashing item, really, if you press and repeatedly mash the A button, your
character can make a really awesome combo on the enemy! If you throw a
fan at an enemy, he/she will be sent flying! Now, let's all sit down and
think what would happen if you get both Ice Climbers to hold fans at once...

The Fan is probably the only Battering Item that weakens the Ice Climber's
Smash Attack, in fact, two fans can only deal up to 26% damage in a smash
attack. However, that is not the way to use the Fan. Instead, you should
have both Ice Climbers whack your opponent silly with their fans. With
this trick, the Ice Climbers will whack their opponents so fast that I
cannot see each individual hit, and your opponent will shriek in horror
as he/she sees his character's damage meter sky rocket!

Submitter's Tip! Rygar the Ninja's Tip
An UNESCAPABLE 999% combo
I've tested this, and it's something I've come up with myself, so NOBODY
expects it.  All you need, is a fan.  What you need to do is have nana
use the fan while Popo grabs the opponent.  Nana will beat the character
so fast that they cannot escape from the grab no matter what.  Add Popo's
headbutts to it and they'll go all the way up to 999% if you want. The
tough part is getting it to connect... there are two ways.

Method 1:
The first way is simple... stand on top of the fan, don't pick it up yet.
If somebody comes to attack you, block, and grab.  Start mashing the A
button and nana will grab the fan and go hog wild.

Method 2:
The second way is tougher, but you get the take the fan with you.  Pick
up the fan and give it to Nana (jump straight up and tap 'Z', you'll drop
it, she'll catch it) Grab somebody when your back is turned to a
wall, this way, when you hit 'Z' nana will drop the fan, but since you're
near a wall she will just grab it again when you start mashing 'A'.

Chances are in a melee, sombody is going to interrupt you. Don't let them
steal your well earned KO.

--------------
Hammer
--------------
The old Hammer from the first Donkey Kong game is back! When you character
grabs it, he/she will grab it and hammer it uncontrollably at their
surroundings. Meanwhile, the game will play the traditional Hammer tune
from Donkey Kong! I just love the expression on the characters' faces as
they try their best to hold the hammer, as well as the awesome knock out
abilities of the weapon. After all, anyone with 60% damage or more most
likely won't even survive a hit! Sometimes, the head of the hammer will
fall off, and then you will be in trouble, as your opponents can grab the
head and throw it at you, and this deals just about the same damage as
if you are hit by a hammer!

Each hit from the Hammer deals up to 22% damage, totaling up to 44% damage
if both Ice Climbers have hammers. However, I would advise having Nana
hold the hammer while Popo does not. Then he can remain active and jump
more freely. But do not leave Nana unsupervised.

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Headless Hammer (2500):
If the head of the hammer fell off as soon as you grabbed it, the bonus
is yours.

Hammer Throw (1500):
If you managed to throw away a hammer you have grabbed, this bonus is yours.
To do it, accumulate damage, and then grab a hammer, then fall on a damaging
floor like the yellow liquid in the Brinstar stage or the moving racetrack
in the Mute City stage. As soon as you hit the damaging floor, press and
tap Z. Your character may throw the hammer away!

*****SHOOTING ITEMS*****
These items are all the big guns in Super Smash. Bros Melee. After all,
you can just go and shoot people with them! Of course, as Nintendo is a
non-violent video game company, they will not use real guns, as they can
kill people, instead, they will just make them as funny and unrealistic
as possible! Anyway, these weapons in general are very good at keeping
people at bay. Just keep tapping the A button to stop them from coming
at you!

Noteworthy Bonuses:
Straight Shooter (1500):
If your character only uses shooting items for the entire duration of the
match, then this bonus is yours. Make sure you use 3 or more of them at
once.

Bull's Eye KO (800 per KO):
If you can knock out an enemy with any shooting item, then this bonus will
be yours. The prime candidate for this bonus is the Super Scope, as you
can charge it up, besides, the more enemies you knock out, the more points
you receive.

---------------
Fire Flower
---------------
Ah... the old Fire Flower from the Super Mario Bros. is back. However, you
cannot use this to launch fireballs, instead, you will simply spray enemies
with fire much like Bowser's fire breath. Of course, like any flame thrower,
a Fire Flower will gradually run out of fuel, so as soon as your Fire Flower
stops spraying fire, throw it at the enemy to burn him/her/them a little
bit more.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Flame Thrower (1500):
If you managed to achieve a 10-hit combo or above with a Fire Flower, then
this bonus will be yours. The easiest way to do this is to spray fire onto
a very large enemy, and it can be guaranteed that he will take at least
10 hits before he is knocked away.

Mario Maniac (8000):
Our Italian Plumber Mario is the representative of Nintendo, just as how
Sonic the Hedgehog represents Sega. Mario's items are highly treasured,
and if you use enough of them, you are considered to be a Mario fan! If
you used Mushrooms, Fire Flowers or Starmen for the entire duration of
the match, this bonus will be yours.

Submitter's glitch! Rygar the Ninja's glitch
The "Flaming Ice Climbers" glitch
This is well known to people who have the first version (1.0).  If you
give nana the fire flower and hold A so she starts using it, then, while
holding A, use your Down B Ice Breath move the fire will keep coming out
of the flower until you use the flower again, or throw it away.  It will
never run out.  It looks cool when Ice Climbers do a lot of things, like
running, or the squall hammer.  Plus it's easy to do and confuses the heck
out of people who never saw it before.

--------------
Ray Gun
--------------
This is basically the handgun of Super Smash Bros Melee. It does not shoot
out bullets, instead, it fires laser beams at the enemy. The Ray Gun has
a total ammunition of 16 laser shots. When you run out of ammo, throw it
at the enemy, or simply drop it and watch some stupid friend of yours pick
it up and find that it is empty.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Laser Marksman (4000):
If you manage to hit your opponents with the Ray Gun with all 16 shots,
this bonus is yours. The best way to achieve this bonus is to use it on
Giga Bowser, as he will never activate his shield. So, it will be guaranteed
that all 16 shots will connect.

Submitter's Tip! Rygar the Ninja's Tip
Alternating 2 Ray guns
This is some fancy shooting.  An easy way to get the guns to alternate
shots so you have a stream up bullets is to grab both guns, and just tap
z to throw them behind you.  Now, Nana and Popo's guns will bounce off
each other, so one lands at your feet before the other.  So the first time
you press 'A' Popo will pick up the first gun, nana will swing her hammer.
The next time you hit 'A' the next gun will land and nana can pick it up
now.  This is a simple way to get the shots to alternate.  And it's, very...
cool.

---------------
Super Scope
---------------
The Super Scope is the assault rifle of Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Super
Scope used to be the peripheral to the SNES, but now, it is used as a weapon.
There are two ways to use it. One way is to tap A repeatedly to fire energy
balls out continuously to inflict gradual damage, another way is to press
and hold A to charge it up, and then release a very large energy ball.
I would prefer the latter method, as it is so powerful and can always knock
out people, provided they have had enough damage. Note that ammo is limited,
and if you charge up a Super Scope but fail to fire, then ammo is lost.
The Energy Balls have the ability to bounce off tilted surfaces, so you
can hit enemies that are just up a slope.

When playing as the Ice Climbers, make sure you only have 1 Ice Climber
equipped with the Super Scope. Then, move up to your opponent. Now, when
you are close enough, tap A rapidly. One Ice Climber will fire continuously
out of the Super Scope, holding the opponent in his/her place while the
other uses his/her hammer to hit him/her continuously.

Noteworthy Bonus:
Super Scoper (2000):
If you manage to deal more than 100% damage on your enemies using the Super
Scope, then this bonus is yours. Of course, use more charged shots to ensure
this will happen!

Submitter's Tip! Rygar the Ninja's Tip
Super Scope item combinations
It's a good idea to have Popo use the super scope, while nana gets another
item and attacks the helpless victim while they're being shot.

Super Scope + Bat
If nana gets a bat, start shooting when you're pretty close to somebody.
Then start smash attacking with the bat WHILE tapping A to keep shooting.
You can get some serious damage up, then when you're out of ammo... say
goodbye.  KSHRWIIIING!!!!

Super Scope + Hammer
My favorite.  If you pester somebody with super scope bullets and then
Nana grabs a hammer, have her keep moving forward to bash the opponent
while they're being shot.  They won't go anywhere until you are out of
ammo...  you can get over 100 percent on your foe this way.

Super Scope + Super Scope (or a ray gun)
This is just fun.  If you get the bullets to alternate, then it's like
a stream of ammo with no gaps.  Very cool.  It's not possible to shoot
one continually while charging one up unfortunately.

-----------------------------------------------------
7. Some Fun Things to do with the Ice Climbers [IC7]
-----------------------------------------------------
This really is a supplementary section of my guide, and it tells you what
the title says, that is, what fun things you can do with the Ice Climbers.
This is entirely not serious, and usually I get good laughs when doing
the below.

Play a vs. Mode match with your friends, and have all 4 players play as
the Ice Climbers. This can just cause unlimited mayhem, particularly on
small stages like Mute City! For even wackier games, play in a Giant Melee!

Play a tiny melee as the Ice Climbers with Kirby, Pikachu and Ness. This
is the ultimate light-light-weight battle!

Attempt to beat the Very Hard Classic Mode as the Ice Climbers. See how
many lives you can save. The best I could manage is 3 out of 5. (You would
be surprised to have a no-miss clear in Very Hard Mode.)

Play a stamina mode match with your friends. Have an opponent play as the
Ice Climbers, and try to knock out both Popo and Nana so that Nana is lying
with her back to the ground, while Popo is lying with his face facing the
ground. If you look closely, you will notice that Popo and Nana are smiling
with their eyes half open. This looks as if the two are... I'd better leave
it to your imagination.

Play as the Ice Climbers and deliberately let your opponent break your
shield. Do it so that only Popo will lose his shield. If that happens,
Popo will feel very dizzy and will spin his head around muttering "hoo...".
If you pause the game and zoom in, it looks as if Nana is holding hands
with a drunk!

Play any character and play against 3 pairs of Ice Climbers allied against
you. If you are playing against the Computer, have all computers set to
level 9. Play the battle in the Icicle Mountain Stage for maximum enjoyment.

Hold Up on the directional keypad. Nana will taunt endlessly.

--------------------
8. Conclusion [IC8]
--------------------
Well, after some time, the guide to the Ice Climbers is completed. I must
really say that Super Smash Bros. Melee was an innovative new fighting
game that is suitable for all ages for once. As most fighting games tend
to be horribly violent and bloodthirsty (Like Mortal Kombat), I must thank
Nintendo for allowing more family fun for the home and all.

The reason why I like the Ice Climbers is that they look very cute in their
parkas. On the other hand, they really can be an unstoppable force when
used correctly. Things that are cute AND tough really are a funny mixture!

This guide is intended to be published in GameFAQs and only GameFAQs. You
can print it out to read it while your computer is off, but do not copy
my work and claim it as your own. That is all.

This guide is copyright 2004 to the years to come of Alasdair Lo.

--------------------------------------
Appendix I: Feedback Information [A1]
--------------------------------------
Since the publishing of the original version of this guide, I decided that
I must make some new rules for those people who want to give me a feedback
about my guides. All future strategy guides will have this section. If
the following rules are not observed, I will just consider your e-mail
to be spam mail or flame mail, and I will delete it without reading it,
and will blacklist your e-mail address.

For publishing permission:
This guide is intended to be published in GameFAQs and only GameFAQs. You
can print it out to read it while your computer is off, but do not copy
my work and claim it as your own. That is all. Although I do not have a
lawyer to sue anyone if they do it without my permission, I expect everyone
to have self discipline about these things.

Feedback Concerning Mistakes: (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, LISTEN
UP)
As I am a human, and we are all humans, we all make mistakes. Nobody is
perfect. If I had made any mistakes in my guide, feel free to e-mail me.
But however, you must follow these rules. I have typed out some bad examples
with each rule, and they are from some of the e-mail I received by people
who are dissatisfied by my original Command and Conquer: Generals side
comparison guide.

You must:
Be polite, as I will take these feedback letters as seriously as formal
letters, and you should specify the version number of my guide, then I
can check my guide out. However, it need not be as formal as business letters,
after all it is only a game. You should also present yourself clearly,
I won't even think about anything that I cannot understand at the first
glance, as I am a busy person.

For example, "I enjoyed reading your guide, but disagreed with you on some
points." From a person called Alex Shikh or "I agree with you that China
is the strongest factions, but it is not much stronger than the other 2."
From Ives Gobau And so on.

You must not:
Say any foul language and offend me.

For example, "Your guide was ********, full of lies and biased opinions."
From K Truin. You are not going to make me listen by saying rude words
to me, you will only give me the impression that you are either uneducated
or have low EQ.

Conduct any surveys about how good my guide is and give it to me, as I
could not care less about your so-called surveys.

For example, "I have conducted a survey about your guide and over 90% said
that it was a trashy tabloid." From Frozak.

Finally, you must not say anything I consider to be racist.

For example, "You mentioned that you live in China that is obvious,
considering your bias towards this side, etc..." "I am afraid that your
living in China has blinded your judgment so much." From someone I could
not remember his name. So, what are you trying to say, say that us Chinese
are all idiots? Besides, the word bias is used to describe unfair
comparisons due to neglecting some facts. As I have put all facts into
account, I really cannot have made any bias towards any sides.

From all the 50 or so letters complaint I received, I decided to listen
to less than 5 of them. Why? As only 5 of them could follow the rules stated
above. So, you MUST take those points into consideration, or else, don't
expect me to listen to you.

Submitting your own tips:
I am always ready to submit tips from readers. However, you should make
sure that the tip has not been posted in my guide before you mail me. Also,
write down your name or a pseudonym so I may credit you.

Game Help:
If you have read my guide and did not understand something, feel free to
ask, but please do not do this too often, as my e-mail account has other
uses. But do not ask about anything that was clearly written in my guide
or I will not reply.

You may have wondered why I put this section up. This is a new
"Anti-disturbance" ordinance I set up for my own use, in order to minimize
all those annoying and insulting things I receive. In fact, during
September alone, I received at least a hundred of mail concerning my Side
Comparison Guide, and I am now to make sure this will never ever happen
again.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours,
Lo Kai Yan Alasdair, kylohk. (Kai Yan Lo From Hong Kong)

---------------------------------------
Appendix II. Letters from Readers [A2]
---------------------------------------
This is where I post up the letters I get from the readers of this guide,
and I will also post my responses, it any.

This is a rather long letter from someone who would be known as Rygar the
Ninja, dated June 9 2004.

Hey I read your Ice Climbers FAQ.  I have some tips of my own you might
find interesting.  My main characters in SSBM are Ice Climbers and Ness,
and I'm pretty good.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
An UNESCAPABLE 999% combo
I've tested this, and it's something I've come up with myself, so NOBODY
expects it.  All you need, is a fan.  What you need to do is have nana
use the fan while Popo grabs the opponent.  Nana will beat the character
so fast that they cannot escape from the grab no matter what.  Add Popo's
headbutts to it and they'll go all the way up to 999% if you want. The
tough part is getting it to connect... there are two ways.

Method 1:
The first way is simple... stand on top of the fan, don't pick it up yet.
If somebody comes to attack you, block, and grab.  Start mashing the A
button and nana will grab the fan and go hog wild.

Method 2:
The second way is tougher, but you get the take the fan with you.  Pick
up the fan and give it to Nana (jump straight up and tap 'Z', you'll drop
it, she'll catch it)  Grab somebody when your back is turned to a wall,
this way, when you hit 'Z' nana will drop the fan, but since you're near
a wall she will just grab it again when you start mashing 'A'.

Chances are in a melee, somebody is going to interrupt you.  Don't let
them steal your well earned KO.
---------------------------------------------------
Super Scope item combinations (1)
It's a good idea to have Popo use the super scope, while nana gets another
item and attacks the helpless victim while they're being shot.

Super Scope + Bat
If nana gets a bat, start shooting when you're pretty close to somebody.
Then start smash attacking with the bat WHILE tapping A to keep shooting.
You can get some serious damage up, then when you're out of ammo... say
goodbye.  KSHRWIIIING!!!!

Super Scope + Hammer
My favorite.  If you pester somebody with super scope bullets and then
Nana grabs a hammer, have her keep moving forward to bash the opponent
while they're being shot.  They won't go anywhere until you're out of
ammo...  you can get over 100 percent on your foe this way.

Super Scope + Super Scope (or a ray gun)
This is just fun.  If you get the bullets to alternate, then it's like
a stream of ammo with no gaps.  Very cool.  It's not possible to shoot
one continually while charging one up unfortunately.
-------------------------------------------------------
Alternating 2 Ray guns (1)
This is some fancy shooting.  An easy way to get the guns to alternate
shots so you have a stream up bullets is to grab both guns, and just tap
z to throw them behind you.  Now, Nana and Popo's guns will bounce off
each other, so one lands at your feet before the other.  So the first time
you press 'A' Popo will pick up the first gun, nana will swing her hammer.
The next time you hit 'A' the next gun will land and nana can pick it up
now.  This is a simple way to get the shots to alternate.  And it's, very...
cool.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you hold Down+B before the match begins, nana will do the ice breath
move before the match even starts. You can already start comboing.

If you hold the taunt button, nana will taunt infinitely.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The "Flaming Ice Climbers" glitch (1)
This is well known to people who have the first version (1.0).  If you
give nana the fire flower and hold A so she starts using it, then, while
holding A, use your Down B Ice Breath move the fire will keep coming out
of the flower until you use the flower again, or throw it away.  It will
never run out.  It looks cool when Ice Climbers do a lot of things, like
running, or the squall hammer.  Plus it's easy to do and confuses the heck
out of people who never saw it before.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Few Explanations

In smash bros, characters build a tolerance for moves that are done to
them more than once.  Like for example, Ice Climbers strong up attack will
do 21 damage the first time you do it if all 14 hits connect, but the next
time you do it, it takes 18, then 16 then 14 (it won't go any lower).  This
explains why Popo's attacks are sometimes stronger than Nana's when they
do their smash moves together. It's not that Popo is stronger, it's that
the character built a tolerance from the first hit.  It's not that much
of a correction, since your damage values are still right, it's just an
explanation. (2)

Their dash attack, if you look closely, it is a hammer strike.  From far
away it kind of looks like a shoulder block, but if you zoom in you see
it's a sharp angled hammer swing.  That also explains why they are launched
upwards.

And are you sure they're a couple? I always thought of them as twins.  Your
call I guess. (3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Suggestions
I think you should elaborate more on the Air Forward A move.  It's an
invaluable part of the Ice Climbers' strategy.  Mention when it counts
as a meteor smash or when it counts as a launcher, maybe bring up fast
falling and short hopping. (4)

Hope I helped out.

My answers:
(1) So many tips concerning shooters. You must be a fan of those items.

(2) If you have read my full FAQ/Move List for this game, when I tested
the characters in training mode, I always use UP TO. This is due to the
same reason. That is, the attack damage of a move devalues. Of course,
no move can deal zero damage, hence when 14 hits are delivered in the upward
hammer poke, a minimum of 14% damage is dealt.

(3) If you have watched the opening of the game, you will notice Ness turning
back, seeing Popo and Nana high fiving each other, with a heart rising
up from their hands. If they are twins, then, they are expressing brotherly
love, but you do not need hearts for love between siblings, don't you?
Only parent to child love or husband to wife love, or boyfriend to
girlfriend love will be represented by a heart.

(4) Oh well, I thought it was common sense to most people.

This is a message from someone who would be known as helsing from the SSBM
General Board. These are his suggestions on how I could make the guide
aimed at a more advanced audience. Several links and pseudonyms have been
removed for security reasons.

*****LINK REMOVED*****

There's some pretty basic stuff about the ICs. For a lot of other stuff
though, you are going to want to ask people at Smashboards.com. Try
messaging either **** or ***** They are probably the best source of
information you'll get on the ICs. It would also wouldn't be a bad idea
to be familiar with this following list of terms:

*****LINK REMOVED*****

On an overall basis, your guide needs fixing if you expect it to be useful
to a competitive player. At the moment, it's obviously aimed at a more
casual audience.

When you gave strategies for specific character matchups, many of them
were either very general statements or, simply put, completely inaccurate.
Good Luigi players will not use the forward B as an attack. Peach's aerial
game is excellent when techniques such as double-jump canceling, swing
jumping, and float-canceling are utilized. Good Sheik users hardly ever
use the forward smash. Offering tactics to counter strategies that are
never used isn't particularly helpful.

-------------------------------------
Appendix III. Glossary of Terms [A3]
-------------------------------------
This is where I add the glossary of all the specialized terms players like
to use while playing Super Smash Bros. Melee. Of course, I have tried very
hard to use only layman terms to write my guide, but in case you need to
know, I would just add it for your reference anyway.

Air Dodge- L or R in the air results in an air dodge. Until a character
lands after an air dodge, he cannot do any attacks or jump, like after
most recovery attacks. You can also influence the direction of an air dodge
with the control stick.

Attack- The A button, B button, Z button, and C-stick all make your
character do an attack. The B button is for special moves, and the rest
control standard attacks (C-stick can only be used in versus modes, and
Z button only in the air.) Samus, Link, and Young Link do not do attacks
with the Z button, instead they shoot their respective grappling items
when in the air. Neither Donkey Kong nor Peach have aerial down B's.
Damage- Each character in a fight has a counter of his own at the bottom
of the screen that tallies his health in points, displayed as a percentage.
At the lowest percentage (0%) attacks will not send your character very
far, and effects like Jigglypuff's sing are easy to shake off. Grabs become
harder to get out of at higher damages, and attacks become much more
powerful.

Dodge- A quick tap of down on the control stick while shielding will make
a character dodge (C-stick works also). Dodge times for each character
are different.

Friendly Fire- Another way of saying Team Attack.

Grab/Throw- Every character can grab with Z or L/R + A/Z. Hit A or Z while
holding an opponent to do a grab attack, and then tilt the control stick
in a direction to hurl them in one of four directions.

Handicap- Handicap affects knockback ratios. Higher handicaps will
augment a character's ability to send an opponent flying, while making
them more resistant to being tossed off the edge themselves; a low handicap
will do the opposite.

Item-catch- When an item passes over you, you can hit A on the ground or
Z in the air to catch that item (you can even catch items that are thrown
at you).

Jump- X, Y, or up on the control stick will make a character jump. Kirby
and Jigglypuff have 6 jumps, but everyone else has 2.

Recovery attack- Any attack that gains horizontal or vertical distance,
that can be used to recover after being sent away from the stage.
Roll- Hitting left or right on the control stick (or C-stick) while
shielding.

Smash attack- "Smashing" the control stick while pressing the A button.
The C-Stick, too, is used for smash attacks.

Smash charging- After initiating a smash attack, you can hold A to hold
the attack, thus increasing it in power. It is automatically released after
a set amount of time, if not manually released.

Taunt- ^ on the directional pad will yield a taunt. Some characters (Pichu,
Captain Falcon) have 2. Fox and Falco can hit <, >, <, > on the d-pad to
call their buddies on either of the StarFox stages.

Teching- When you are tumbling in the air after being hit, you can press
L, R, or Z near the ground or a wall/ceiling, with or without a direction,
to recover faster than usual. Holding left or right on a ground tech will
result in a roll in the direction.

Tilt attack- Holding any one of the four control stick directions, and
hitting A. Some <, > tilt attacks can be aimed to the diagonal.
Wall-jump- Hitting the opposite direction when your character is near a
wall, and not tumbling. Works only with Mario, Samus, Young Link, Fox,
Sheik, Falco, Pichu, and Captain Falcon.

?air- refers to aerial attacks in the four directions and neutral. Replace ?
with n, u, a, b, or d to signify which.

Attack Cancel- From the air, many characters can cancel attacks or effects
of attacks by doing an attack close to the ground. Some examples:

Bat drop- Z dropping the bat, followed by an attack that prevents it from
flying off the platform, most often a spike attack. Does a lot of damage
in a short amount of time. Used to get high scores in Home Run Contest.
Chain-throw- Continually throwing another character in such a manner as
to prevent them from landing.

Combo- A combo can be either natural or improvisational; a true combo is
two or more hits that register a 'Combo' reading in training mode. In a
looser term, a combo is any set of attacks that is difficult to escape
from, and may do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Crouch-canceling- Holding down on the control stick when hit by an enemy
attack. Up to a certain damage percentage, this will prevent you from being
sent flying, though you will slide back. Also, a crouch cancel counter
(ccc) is crouch canceling using a character's down-A attack.

C-Sticking- Used to describe the act of using the c-stick to do aerials,
smash attacks, and other things in multiplayer mode.

Dash-canceling- During a run, pressing down will stop the run.
Dash-Dancing- Quickly alternating left and right on the control stick,
so the character only does the opening animation of the run.

Dash-Dashing- Jamming the control stick repeatedly in the same left or
right direction, so the character only does the opening animation of the
run. For some characters, this will result in a form of movement faster
than conventional running. Some people refer to this as the "Foxtrot."

Dash-jump- Jumping out of a dash, often with a short jump. The character
will usually move faster forward in the air than if it were a non-dash-jump.
Directional Influence- The trajectory of an-air character can be
influenced by a control stick direction. The most helpful uses of this
technique are escaping combos and juggles, and for recovery.

Double dash attack- Requires a super scope, ray gun, or fire flower, as
these items do not have a running attack. Do a dash attack holding one
of the items, and while you're doing the attack, hit Z. Your character
will attack, then throw the item.

Double Jump cancel- To stop the upward motion of Mewtwo, Ness, Peach, or
Yoshi's second jump with an aerial attack. This can be demonstrated by
having Ness do two jumps in short succession, followed by a quick aerial
attack. Ness should be VERY low to the ground if you do this quickly enough.
Thanks to MaskedSheik for this term. Double Jump cancel is abbreviated
"DJC."

Edge-guarding- Using attacks to prevent the enemy from recovering to the
stage.

Edge-hogging- A character holding onto an edge will not permit another
character to do the same. This is useful in preventing an enemy's recovery.
The best way to edge-hog is to either wavedash or short-jump backwards
onto the ledge.

Edge-hop- A jump quickly following a press of down from an edge-hang will
let characters do a short edge-hop. Most, if not all characters can do
attacks out of this.

Fast-falling- Pressing down while in the air will make your character fall
faster than usual. You can fast-fall out of aerial attacks, air dodges,
and failed ^B attacks. Young Link, however, is nearly unaffected by this.
Hyper/Power Shielding- Shielding at the exact instant an attack or item
hits your character. Will result in a white flash and the attack not hitting.
Projectiles will be reflected.

Ice Climbers' infinite grab- This technique differs from the infinite grab
in that you can do it in a 1-on-1 match. Grab with the main character
(default=Popo) and hold down on the control stick as you're doing the grab.
Keep hitting the A button, so that Popo does his grab attack, and Nana
does her down tilt. You can keep this up forever. This can be combined
with other Ice Climber grab combos, and because of this fact, it is
essentially an instant-KO grab combo.

L-cancel- When L, R, or Z is pressed before you hit the ground, you
circumvent the normal recovery time after an aerial attack. Link's aerial
down-A L-cancelled will result in his pulling the sword out of the ground
faster.

Light Shield- Holding L or R lightly, to prevent shield-stab, or to guard
against weak attacks. When used by holding the Z button, light shielding
is called Z-shielding.

Juggle- Keeping the opponent up in the air, using ground attacks or air
attacks that send the opponent on an upwards trajectory.

Jump-cancel- Jumping out of a dash; can be linked to a grab or an attack.
Also used to describe jumping out of Falco/Fox's reflector to bypass the
usual lag after the attack is stopped.

Jump-cancel (alternate meaning)- Jumping out of the shield. Yoshi cannot
do this. You can then cancel your jump with an attack, such as an up-B
or a smash attack.

Meteor Jump- Jumping out of a meteor smash. The key indicator between spikes
and meteor smashes is that you cannot meteor jump out of a non-meteor-spike.
Mewtwo's Double Jump boost- With Mewtwo, if you perform an aerial attack
at the end of his double jump, he'll get a small extra boost upwards.

Natural combo- Any combo that is built into the game, such as the variations
of Marth and Roy's >B attacks, and also the A, A, A... combo that many
characters have.

No-ping hit- Hitting with the handle of a home-run bat, so that it does
not make the distinctive "ping" sound. Sends the target a higher trajectory
than a tip-hit.

Running smash- Dash-cancel, then hit a c-stick direction. You can also
grab out of a DC, by hitting Z.

Running smash (alternate)- Only works for up/down smashes. While running,
roll to either of these positions, while hitting A. Works best with
characters that slide when they stop running.

Sex Kick- This term refers to any neutral aerial A kick that does damage
after the actual movement of the foot is over. The attack gets weaker and
has less knock back the longer it is out. The only exception is Dr. Mario.
His sex kick attack actually gets stronger, and has more knock back the
longer it is out. Fox and Falco's aerial backwards A is also considered
a sex kick.

Shffl'd- This is an acronym meaning "Short-hopped, Fast-falled,
L-cancelled." It is basically the most effective way certain aerial attacks
can be pulled off, and is a must in competitive play.

Shield dash- Wavedashing out of a shield. Can be followed by anything a
regular wavedash can be followed by.

Shield grab- Hitting A or Z while L or R shielding.

Shield shifting- Using the control stick to angle the shield to prevent
shield-stab, or provide extra protection in a given direction.

Shield-stab- Attacking a shielded opponent where the shield's leaving a
part of the character vulnerable, allowing them to bypass the shield's
defense. Thanks to NJE789 for this term

Short jump- While running or standing, pressing the jump button more
lightly than usual will result in a shorter first jump. In adjectival form,
short jump becomes short hop or short-hopped.

Spike attack- Any attack that sends an enemy at an acute downward angle
(less than 45 degrees away from straight down). Many, but not all spike
attacks are considered meteor smashes.

Super-Wavedash- A wavedash done from a jump (best way to explain it is
that it is done while falling, not while jumping (as a conventional wavedash
is)).

Swing-Jumping- A late double jump cancel, used to create more vertical
distance for characters with the ability to DJC.

Tip-hit- Also called a "tipper." Hitting with the tip of the home-run bat.
Sends target much farther horizontally than a non-tipper.

Tipper- In addition to the meaning mentioned above, "tipper" is used as
another name for hitting with the optimal range of any of Marth's attacks,
said range being any range where there is distinct damage and knockback
(the tip).

Tumble-recover- When a character is in the air from an attack, he/she/it
might be spinning around. A tumble-recover is alternating left/right on
the control stick while this spinning is going on. This allows stability
without wasting a jump.

Turret Fighting- Tactic that is used by mainly projectile characters in
which the player spams his/her weapon to its fullest, while staying in
the same spot. Falco, Samus, Fox, and Shiek users are known for this
annoying tactic, and can be very effective when in the hands of an expert.

Upward Pound- A tactic with Jigglypuff where you use Pound, and then quickly
press up so Jigglypuff pounds in a more upward direction. This helps
vertical recovery (Pound and then jump gains more vertical distance) and
horizontal recovery (consecutive upward Pounds give Jigglypuff infinite
horizontal recovery). You can also do it downwards. Thanks to MaskedMarth
for this term.

Vertkill- Jumping and spiking at the same time, usually by a character
already in the air. Some useful ones are Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's,
Marth's down aerial.

Wallbombing- Using the Peach Bomber attack (forward+B) as a smash attack
makes Peach pop up a little bit, allowing her to use it repeatedly without
losing height. If kept up for long enough, this can be used to stall out
time matches.

Wall-climbing- After an Mario hits a wall with up-B, he can wall jump.
This can be continued until the wall ends.

Wall-grapple- With Link, Young Link, or Samus, hit Z in the air and near
a wall, facing it, to latch onto it. Hit A while hanging, or after the
initial latching to climb the grappling device. Can only be used once per
time in the air (you have to land before you can use it again), but you
can use the character's ^B after using a wall-grapple.

Wall-hop- For characters that can wall jump, you wall jump and immediately
double jump. You gain more vertical distance this way. Can be done on some
ledges.

Wall of Pain- Jigglypuff strategy that is focused on its superb aerial
ability, and in particular, its aerial back A.

Wavedance- Wavedashing back and forth.

Wavedash- Air-dodging diagonally toward the ground, as close to the ground
as possible, will result in a movement that abuses the games physics by
allowing a player to make themself slide across the ground. Most obvious
with Luigi, Marth, Roy, Mewtwo, and Ice Climbers. You can turn around more
quickly by wavedashing in the opposite direction of your run, then picking
up on the momentum.

Waveshine- Fox's reflector followed by a wavedash, can be linked to a grab,
smash, or looped until the edge of the stage is met. A prerequisite for
Fox's infinite combo.

Wavesmash- A wavedash, then a c-stick direction.

Disjointed Hitbox- When a hitbox is not attached to the character, such
as in Marth/Roy/Link/Young Link's sword attacks and Ness's bat smash. A
sword and a leg (such as Captain Falcon's) are going to be affected
differently by fire. The character whose knee comes in contact with the
fire is going to get hit, but the character with the sword is not, since
damage to the weapon (a disjointed hitbox) does not affect the character.

Freezing glitch- Ice Climbers: Roll behind the enemy using the L or R shield.
Half-way before the roll is over, start holding Z, and the second Climber
MUST grab the enemy. Do a forward B in the direction you just rolled from
and if it worked, the enemy should be frozen after Nana (default) throws
him/her/it.

Lag (also called recovery time)- When a character executes an attack, there
is a certain amount of time after the attack is over in which that the
character cannot move. This is called lag time. Moves that are "laggy"
carry an large amount of lag time. Some examples are Ganondorf's ground
forward-B when it misses, and Link's aerial down-A not L-cancelled. Related
term: L-cancel

Knockback- Refers to how far a character is sent after being hit by an
attack.

Priority- What the chances are of an attack taking precedence over another
attack if they collide with each other.

Roy Zone, The- Different from phantom hits in that the attack doesn't even
do damage, though it hits. Named for the character it most affects, Roy.

Spamming- Continuously and persistently using an attack. Usually used in
reference to projectile attacks.

Startup- How long an attack takes to start. Attacks with high startup time
include Falcon Punch (C. Falcon's B) and Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (B)
/ Volcano Kick (tilt up-A). Attacks with low startup time include
Fox/Falco's reflector (down-B), Mewtwo's aerial forward-A, and Mr.
Game&Watch's up-B.

Stun- When a character is hit, there is a certain amount of time in which
the player can do nothing. If a character is hit during stun, it's
considered a combo.

Super Jump- Catching Link's or Young Link's boomerang while hanging from
a hookshot (See wall-grapple) will result in a very high jump. Note that
this supposedly works only on certain versions of the game (I think 1.0,
and 1.1), but try it anyways if you aren't sure.

Sweet Spot- Any part of an attack that does more damage, or has a better
effect than other parts of the same attack. Unconditional examples are:
Marth (very tip of sword), Roy (large center portion of sword), the home
run bat (the very tip), and Mr. G&W (the edge of his body). Conditional
ones include: Captain Falcon's aerial forward A, Ness's aerial back A,
Zelda's aerial back and forward A's, and the tip of Ness's smash forward
A (bat).

Tiers- A ranking of how formidable each character is at the peak of the
current metagame. An in-depth look at tiers

Tournament legal- Any stage, item, or ruleset that is acceptable in a
tournament environment. General rulesets follow this example: 4 stock,
with time doubling (or almost doubling) stock, items on low or off, with
Maxim Tomato, Heart Container, Hammer, Super/Poison Mushrooms, and Party
Ball off. Hyrule Temple, Yoshi's Island 64, and Brinstar Depths, Termina,
and Corneria are always off (and can't be chosen, even under slob picks).
Team attack is usually on, and no stage can be played twice in the same
set. A set is the best two of three, where the loser can either change
a character, or choose the next stage. Thanks to David Kirk for this
information.

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