Ice Shot can also be used to “gimp” enemies, but it rarely stops their recovery and only adds negligible chip damage. It freezes enemies at high damage, but the Ice Climbers amiibo does not live long enough to get its opponent to such percentages. Ice Shot can be used from a distance, but deals no more than 3% per hit, and if it is attacked it can hit the Ice Climbers. Unfortunately, the Ice Climbers’ special moves aren’t much better, as most of them are completely useless. In general, the Ice Climbers are a double-edged sword but without the positive attributes. Up throw has surprisingly high base knockback (cannot KO until extremely high percentages) and can potentially lead into an up aerial chain to cover landing however, teaching the amiibo this makes it vulnerable to Bowser’s down aerial and down special moves, so it’s a double-edged sword. Their forward and back throws are pitifully weak and only serve to throw opponents off-stage they cannot KO until ridiculously high percentages that are almost never reached in a match. It can also use down throw to forward aerial, but if its trainer tries to teach it this, it will overuse its forward aerial right before landing and then suffer from its landing lag. Popo doesn’t benefit much from grabs at low percentages the AI can utilize a simple down throw to up aerial combo. The Ice Climbers have interesting aerial options, but none of them are particularly strong up aerial and back aerial are acceptable, neutral aerial and back aerial are slightly below average, and forward aerial and down aerial are situational. Down aerial is decent but only at the right time the hammer can block projectiles such as Ness’ PK Thunder, which would help the Ice Climbers return to the stage from being launched vertically, but in turn leaves them vulnerable to an opponent’s up smash. Up aerial is the Ice Climbers’ best air move and has acceptable range, speed, and power (but still pales in comparison to other up aerials such as from Donkey Kong or Ness). Back aerial is solid, as its speed and power are acceptable, but its vertical range is lacking. Were forward aerial just a bit faster, it would be one of the Ice Climbers’ best moves and may even make going off-stage worth looking into. Forward aerial has a bit more range and power, but massive startup lag that makes it difficult to hit. Neutral aerial can deal up to 12% damage if both hits connect, but it lacks range and speed. The Ice Climbers’ aerials aren’t great, either, but they still have some uses. In terms of smash attacks, they’re all far too slow and short-ranged to serve as reliable counterattacks down smash is likely their best grounded move, but without Nana, it only hits on one side. Their base moveset is nothing spectacular, and many of their options are outclassed or straight-up bad. Their neutral attack has a high damage output, but is strangely laggy forward tilt and down tilt have too much startup, and up tilt and dash attack have limited horizontal range. The Ice Climbers’ AI is chock-full of flaws, but let’s cast them aside for just a moment: if the Ice Climbers amiibo did not have AI weaknesses, they still wouldn’t be up to snuff with the rest of the cast. They’ve got more than a couple of issues that hold them back, and it’s unclear if any of them can be corrected or overlooked with further training. Working with the Ice Climbers amiibo is extremely difficult, and of all the characters I’ve ever trained (both in Smash 4 and Ultimate), the Ice Climbers are perhaps the saddest example of lost potential. So, then, why do I find myself determined to train the strongest Ice Climbers amiibo? That’s a question I don’t have an answer to. And it isn’t like Popo or Nana had any character development they were essentially silent protagonists whose personalities were only partially shown after clearing a bonus level. Ice Climber – released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 – hasn’t held up too well (at least in my opinion). Outside of Super Smash Bros., the Ice Climbers have only appeared in one game. Nintendo must’ve noticed the issue and fixed it! If you’re going to read this post, keep in mind that it was written prior to the 9.0.0 update. Update: Mission accomplished! Since this post was written, the Ice Climbers AI has been updated and no longer self-destructs.
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