Why NO ONE Plays: Ice Climbers | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Widely regarded as one of the least played fighters in the game, for today's episode of Why NO ONE Plays, we'lll be featuring the Ice Climbers!
Smash Ultimate Why NO ONE Plays Playlist: bit.ly/3w6zES0
Smash Ultimate Why EVERYONE Plays Playlist: bit.ly/3O9tEyI
Check out my Main channel! bit.ly/3DQbIoJ
Check out my Genshin Impact channel! bit.ly/3HQN9ud
Support me on Patreon! bit.ly/3iy5pvu
Donate to the channel! bit.ly/36TpIQP
~Editor (Maniac)~
Twitter: / strawhatmaniac
KZbin: / @xxmastaniizumaxx
~Contact Links~
Twitter: bit.ly/3kv7CZU
Discord: bit.ly/33M2iev
Twitch: bit.ly/2XNes31
Candle.gg: bit.ly/3ndfU9r
Non Business Email: [e-mail]
Business Email: [e-mail]
Graphics provided by: / tofugraphics
#SSBU #WhyNoOnePlays #IceClimbers

[@clutchthecinnamonsergal8493]

It's a sad life for the ice climbers…when they’re popping off its the biggest spectacle of the entire set but when they’re failing they’re fumbling around like a drunken penguin…

[@roto-a3705]

Penguin? I know one penguin in particular

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

Or even worse, a slippery slope seal.

[@earthleyy1493]

Ice climbers in the hands of a player dedicated and smart enough to use them to a higher limit is the most terrifying thing but someone whos just half assing everything WILL get 3 stocked

[@YOSSARIAN313]

Hardest charachter in the game to play optimally. The only ones who compete are like olimar/trainer/shulk

[@flexyfalcon]

Their desync combos are hella satisfying to watch.

[@Sappysappster]

Big D: "I don't believe in consistency"

[@Slamdark]

Wild that you're covering Icies, I just started giving them an honest try in Ultimate. Desyncs have my hands SORE.

[@YOSSARIAN313]

I tried i am physically incapable of doing them against other players im just not precise enough

[@jond9406]

Oddly enough, my two favorite characters to play is Jigglypuff and Ice Climbers (I just play casually with friends.) Desyncs always looked so cool but I know I could never ever do anything remotely as awesome looking due to the investment needed.

[@Wario_B]

Big D has a screw loose but massive respect for him doing so well with icies

[@waffleman8053]

One of my least favorite things in gaming is relying on AI partners. Ice Climbers must be hell to play as. Especially at a top level.

[@Moss_Dude]

Eh, it's not nearly as bad as how it was in older games. Keep in mind it's only when separated, and Nana is less of a bumbling idiot jumping off the stage and more of a scared kid trying to get back to her friend/brother/whatever the hell their relationship is because Nintendo won't tell us. Plus she's just slightly more capable than a lot of people give her credit for, and sometimes she'll give an opponent a pretty hearty whack while they're ignoring her. So yeah they're hell to play as, but it's not her fault.

[@illford]

​@@Moss_Dudetbf the attacking thing happens on every game. Partially because if you break Popos shield you can control Nana which is a weirdly effective bait

[@Moss_Dude]

@@illford That's a more specific scenario but true nonetheless

[@josephreynolds7395]

I'm thankful that ultamate is balanced the way it is you could win matches with low teirs if you really wanted to and i think that is what makes this smash game in particular special to me. you wouldn't win with bowser in melee in most brackets it skill to advantage ratio its just that bad in the other games

[@hazza358]

I remember the first ever character I tried out way back when I started with Brawl with some friends was the Ice Climbers. They told me I might find them easy and fun to start, and I think with some of the simplicities they have, they were absolutely right. To this day I can't desync them anywhere near the levels of what was shown in this video, but they're still fun. Their attacks are simple, they're small and agile, they hit decently hard and they're pretty cute. I don't main them, but until I got Sora, they were for years my character that had the highest GSP among my played characters. I might have the potential to learn how to desync them like that, but I think when there's other characters I'm both more comfortable and more familiar with, it's just not worth all that effort and time to practice for me, which I think is also likely the case for a lot of people similarly to one of your points in this video with the comparative effort and payoff.

[@GameWatch-xu6sb]

Those are words of wisdom!

[@secretard]

Day 1 of waiting for why no one plays Lucario, why no one plays, Corrin, or why everyone plays mr game and watch

[@Irikoanimates]

Wait did they already make a why no one plays Lucas?

[@mr.gamewatch6165]

It is mystery for sure why they would play character from a series in the far past that very few people know of

[@Bruce-906]

Why No One Plays Donkey kong.

[@Joshuaplaysgames2807]

@@Irikoanimatesdude Lucas is one of the most played character and so is Lucario

[@JamestheduckYT]

​@@Bruce-906mabye not in competive matches But donkey Kong is one of the most played characters

[@Crowned_Hearts]

Actually Nana's CPU level increases as Popo crosses certain dmg thresholds. She starts at 3 and goes up to 9 at wich she should be able to shield and dodge. Edit: I guess this isnt in ultimate. I know it existed in one of the previous titles but it seems like in ultimate her AI lvl is defaulted to 77/100. For comparrison lvl 8 AI is 75/100. So yeah she is a tad bit smarter than a lvl 8 AI.

[@tyb.531]

I thought u were talking shit then I checked. Apparently Nana gains a level every 20% except for the first 40%. Thanks you made me learn something :)

[@owenduffy5745]

She literally gets smarter the more you hit her 💀

[@Crowned_Hearts]

@@owenduffy5745 Nope the more you hit Popo. She just gets gradually angrier because you are hitting her brother.

[@Crowned_Hearts]

@@tyb.531 Glad to help :)

[@JJSquirtle]

I stg when she's "mad" she also just starts getting the most bullshit upsmashes out of nowhere for me and I appreciate it greatly

[@princedemo9291]

Oh hey that’s me 4:18

[@jafl_ics8905]

demo (:

[@TheFrankICs]

demo (:

[@JakeTheUhh]

demo (:

[@hellojacobw4151]

Bro, I was watching yeet smash’s everyone is broken and the ice climbers one was so cool. I didn’t know you could use them both at the same time. So I watched more videos of ice climbers cuz they’re cool. And I started using them. I’m an ice climbers main because I saw a broken combo on a yeetsmash video of a character I barely knew existed

[@hellojacobw4151]

Also I like there moveset, I’ll play sopo anyday

[@kevingriffith6011]

It's no surprise to me that Ice Climbers are kind of built with such massive disadvantages. Look at almost any other fighting game that has a "delayed double" effect, they all tend to be some of the most powerful abilities in their game: Zero's Heat Doubles (Capcom vs.), Rose's Soul Illusion (Street Fighter 5)... and having an effect like this active on a character permanently would mean they'd have to be pretty awful in other ways to compensate.

[@JJSquirtle]

And then there's the alpha games. Ongod custom combo feels like you're fighting 2 characters at once sometimes

[@SolideSchlange]

i play them because i wanna style on people with desync combos xd

[@jafl_ics8905]

just like me (:

[@thedealmaker21]

Please do Duck Hunt next. Im so curious on why it aint more popular! In my eyes he has everything he needs, but no one plays them

[@kkim5000]

there are times when i KO an opponent off one touch, and it's the greatest feeling in the world. then there are times when my popo is getting builled on the left side of kalos while my nana brainlessly dash-dances on the right platform for twenty straight seconds, and i ask myself why i play this character.

[@idiotwithacompruter7476]

I'm playing kazuya as a tutorial into icies, so I can't be called carried

[@Carlisho]

Big D is a legend

[@jasomega2446]

0:05 I see.

[@jvr6809]

They are still goated they just need a third member

[@spoonman1143]

goated character

[@GameWatch-xu6sb]

more like top-tier character

[@Badylird]

I love them because they're adorable

[@DonaldvsSephy]

“Why Only Rob, Palutena, Steve, Kazuya, Aegis, Cloud, Wolf and Fox are Played” if you want to save yourself some time

[@damdoom2011]

Bro ice climbers is one of my mains help-

[@okWishFull]

“With respect to Kazuya players, that shit is broken asf”

[@reijin3733]

great video, cant wait for the bowser jr one !

[@definiteg4909]

Why everyone plays Young Link

[@marqui-z1027]

We need a "why no on plays Dark Pit"

[@vikingguy8733]

Background music is kinda loud. The harps are overpowering your voice over. 😅😅

[@jond9406]

What is the background music for this video? I really like it!

[@Junk1234.]

As a icey main i can agree

[@mitchelvivatson947]

I swear I saw an update awhile back that said Nana is not harder to kill

[@Atlas_DPS]

MrDanish ButterCookie: Exists

[@YOSSARIAN313]

Salty mew2king is the best 0:50

[@daviddaniel8304]

mew2goat doesn’t deserve this

[@YOSSARIAN313]

​@@daviddaniel8304 top players getting wobbled is funny. Wobbling should be unbanned and so should freeze glitch

[@MrJ691]

You're smash's last hope

[@igotthemunchies7292]

I barely run into Ice climbers on elite

[@rafikirana2468]

obviously this person doesn't live in texas.

[@SuperAntichicken]

I like them

[@galenkovats6846]

Icie players unite! Funnest character imo

[@AveleenValenia]

I'm pretty curious what your thoughts are on Zelda. She's very strong, requires minimal combos to get kills, and yet seems to be disliked by many

[@YOSSARIAN313]

Hardest charachter to play in any platform fighter

[@leastpark2577]

WHY NO ONE PLAYS LUCARIO. PLEASE BRO

[@IcyDraco10]

Why no one plays king k rool or lucario

[@IcePopsforLife]

me being that one ice climbers main in the comments

[@richardnewborn2931]

Me too

[@AZSprocket]

Why Yoshi is a weird character.

[@islemsissou7707]

To much complicated to learn dysinc

[@Lead_Tragedy]

It's inconsistent because nobody wants to learn how the AI works. Skill Issue.

[@Nana-ICs]

My Popo (BigFroa) learned my AI and he confirm you're theory

[@Andres_RPG]

Why no one play smash ultimate.

[@DaakkuuYRS]

Ice Climbers are interesting characters; If Nana dies you feel like you have like one more lives (even if Popo sucks alone. He has no air recovery alone). But Nana's AI is very unpredictable. Sometimes she does very stupid things. Still, the idea behind them is still fun.

[@josephreynolds7395]

nana is god mode most of the time, but sometimes she just decides to airdodge off the stage and die for no reason. Or after you get sent to the blast zone she wrecks your opponenet on her own. truly the biggest bag of character trail mix I have eaten.

[@kadnhart6661]

The execution might not be great, but I always loved the concept of a duo character like Ice Climbers. So much so that I even made up a whole moveset for Team Rocket as a duo character!

[@penis_owner]

Wobbuffet as their down-b or wrong

[@jpanus]

Astral Chain protag would have been the best candidate for a duo, no one can change my mind

[@h2o684]

But you can’t lie a team rocket duo would be sick

[@RaheemRollair]

I'm a huge fan of Big D's performance. He deserves a cold one (Alcoholic or not.) for putting in proper work on characters that don't put in work properly.

[@timelessdocter]

I’m just wondering why most dedede mains (current or used to) also second icys, most sets I watch of other dedede mains on yt pocket this character as well

[@RaheemRollair]

@@timelessdocter It's gotta be because they both use a hammer.

[@KalikoAF]

"Why no one plays Ice Climbers" Me: We're not the GOAR Big D

[@danielferrieri7434]

They removed the Wobbling

[@Plutoburns]

Icicle shot is really underrated as a projectile. First off, shielding DOESNT reflect it, just bounces it away. The hit box only becomes active against the climbers if. struck. Second, it has some WHACK ass interaction with basically every samus style charge shot in the game. Something about the way it hits them makes the icicles completely eat the shot AND continue going forward. Also a good tool for air stalling and interrupting low recoveries.

[@carlosbarrera315]

it’s cause ice block has a hurtbox, so if something is only supposed to hit once, ice block just tanks the hit

[@ezramoore9472]

​@@carlosbarrera315this is not true, it's because of the way that projectiles all have priority based on their damage/range

[@carlosbarrera315]

@@ezramoore9472 no? that’s WHY the ice block goes back vs just going through with charge shot. it’s the same with min min arms, they stop when they hit ib, because they have a hurtbox and add hitstop

[@Hymn645]

Always good time when Vars uploads

[@Imprez2564]

ICs mains REPRESENT 🫡🫡🫡

[@daviddaniel8304]

Imprez :)

[@Masaru_kun]

Nana in Ultimate can't attack on her own?? Why would nintendo do that? All it did was create interesting interactions in the previous games

[@dogboyton3166]

Wow, the why no one plays series has reached 30 episodes! Crazy to think about how many niche picks there are. And all four of the characters I play (Joker, Sephiroth, Robin, Mewtwo) are on there, somehow

[@wiggly3440]

Yes finally my main, I’ve been playing ic’s from the beginning of ultimate and I hadn’t stopped learning while playing them they are just so different and unique and there combos are so rewarding to use this character is impossible to master because you always are faced with different scenarios and you have so many options to factor because of nana, the difficulty in ice climbers is not in learning the combos or fundamentals it’s just the overwhelming amount of options and which option to use in which scenarios and that’s what make big D and Dabuz ( I also play Rosa) my favorite player it’s that they can use all there strengths, utilities and options almost perfectly it’s so mesmerizing to watch and I aspire to reach these heights someday really liked the episode thanks varus

[@prophetedubaroque5136]

I also think that people overstate their difficulty in terms of mechanics but forget about how hard it is to actually use them at the right time.

[@kkim5000]

i have found the only other person on the planet who plays ICs and rosa.

[@illford]

​@@prophetedubaroque5136tbf it doesn't help that this game has one of the worst input systems. This short hop macro is a curse, especially with it's ugly ass buffer and platforms

[@wiggly3440]

@@kkim5000 let’s go

[@shafir5726]

Great Video!

[@nextos]

Big D is a champ for sticking with these trash characters. Coulda picked up steve or kazuya and done the same thing as icies, but easier and better and be top 5.

[@Jenna_Toules]

A title that's not click bait!

[@chispychisp1690]

Sad the ices don't get enough attention. Their of game was pretty fun if not difficult. I love these rascals so much! They're also my main in smash

[@louismensinger]

Selfishly waiting for the “Why Everyone MAINS Yoshi” video.

[@kevingriffith6011]

Part of me wonders how good Ice Climbers would be if they were smash's "Negative Edge" character. Essentially, when you press the button, Popo attacks. When you release the button, Nana attacks. Sure, this would make them an absolute *monster* once they catch you (And there'd be some odd overlap with other "hold" mechanics like smash attacks) but I think that their lack of options in neutral justifies this, and at a casual level they'd function pretty much the same as they already do: you'd get both ice climbers working at the same time if you only tapped the buttons, after all. Edit: The more I think about it, the more I realize this would easily make them the next Kazuya... so probably a bad idea.

[@Taleow]

I was thinking of something similar but instead of being negative edge what if nana’s moves could only be activated by the B button and Popo’s only activated by the A button it allows them to have a lot more of the traditional puppet character offense while still keeping the Reins on them

[@illford]

​@@Taleowit would need tf out of their recovery tho

[@AveRageAweLika]

Big D:🗿🍷

[@umarikhwanmohdrusllim2442]

Question: Are The Ice Climbers Always Sweating?

[@adamzboss]

you don't talk about elemental status changes a lot, is that a factor in type matchup, especially since ice climbers have many ice moves?

[@ThatSalty1]

There my main :)

[@TheFrankICs]

Nice👍

[@darkstryller]

the only other p`layer that i can think that mained ice climbers is wadi... we all know what happened

[@TheFrankICs]

Don't mention he who shall not be named💀

[@tyfi31]

I don't like playing Ice Climbers, but watching a good one is so entertaining

[@TheUssrAirlines678]

I play as them

[@styx1209]

Been my main for a while, theyre too much fun to stop once you learn the desyncs

[@DannyCheezits]

because they take so much learning and mechanic skill in a game where Aegis exists

[@Slow_Biden]

I'm glad no one plays ICs, cause they're my personal favorite characters and have been my main go-to since I was a kid playing Melee. I was like the Seto Kaiba of ICs 😂

[@GameWatch-xu6sb]

Hey, no one should be glad that no one plays ICs. 😠

[@SyncedIceClimbersSSBU]

I love this character

[@carterbergland9264]

I never understood why people missed the ice climbers when they were taken out in smash 4. In both melee and brawl, they were extremely problematic. What is their appeal?

[@SonicTheCutehog]

People wanted them back after Smash 4 and now no cares about them

[@Z_64is_iscool]

This video made me main Ice Climbers… I know that was the exact opposite of the purpose to educate why it’s a bad character and why no one mains them, but it made me do the exact opposite

[@GameWatch-xu6sb]

What is especially strange about the Ice Climbers is that those two, a character that NO ONE plays, actually climbed from being a nice and obscure low-tier to a high-tier courtesy of Big D's ongoing and improving performance with the Ice Climbers. I am happy that the Ice Climbers had such an improvement, but I'm also shocked at this at the same time. Their appearance in Ultimate is a shell of their former selves, but nonetheless, the Ice Climbers have been viable for three games in a row, even if they're at their worst in Ultimate.

[@grimsdol4665]

honestly I'm glad no one plays Ice Climbers, the Desyncs is some of the most unfun BS to fight against even if it is cool

[@masontheredrabbid6611]

Hey ice climber doesn’t deserve hate

[@h3nrywhat3ver89]

Still kinda waiting for why no one plays the Mii’s.

[@romanphilson9275]

hitting the projectile back doesn’t change ownership of the projectile, so it won’t actually damage the Icies.

[@Xaero83ZX]

As Sakurai said on the “Something About” series: Long Live the… ICE CLIMBERS! 🤣

[@boglemeister]

Whats the background song?

[@Kaleb_eatz]

How do you screen record on super smash bros ultimate becuse it won't let me

[@s-zz]

Requesting "why everyone mains peach"

[@pluto5988]

This video is just a long way to say "skill issue"

[@lamelime1]

cap. I started playing smash a week ago and I beat my experienced friend's ass with ice climbers

[@gilbertguerrero2916]

Hi! Did we just fight on elite smash? I was a Ryu named “Faust” If so, GGs I had a lot of fun!

[@theenderkirby]

I swear the ice climbers is the characters I can't find easily a solo montage

[@billystorm5347]

do you mean just one person doing the montage or sopo?

[@theenderkirby]

@@billystorm5347 I mean a standalone montage of only the ICs doing matches really the only time I saw them in a montage is in a collab one like the ultimate salt

[@billystorm5347]

@@theenderkirby oh whole games yeah those are rare as icies neutral is abysmal to watch but I have seeing some short videos by jafl that sometimes have the full game and prince demo does have a few full games vs vendetta on his channel

[@ea1655]

Background music is way too loud can't hear a thing.😢

[@s-zz]

7:00 bro popped off because he thought he won

[@johnacoundouridesmrc9324]

Been waiting for this episode as an icys main!

[@Lopster_Real]

Icies in groupsmash im tellin yall!!

[@Ant_Diplodicus]

He Finally did it :)

[@jafl_ics8905]

yes (:

[@roto-a3705]

Wanna do why no one plays dedede next?

[@SilverCannon2000]

Long Live the ICE CLIMBERS