Friday, October 21, 2011

Uh, I bought a copy of Ice Climber, too

You know how I said (in this post) that I used a portion of my Xenoblade Chronicles refund to pick up a cheap, complete-in-box copy of Hello Kitty World? Well, last night I used another chunk of that refund to buy a complete-in-box copy of Ice Climber.

As was the case with the above-mentioned Balloon Kid clone, I wasn't planning to pick up a copy of Ice Climber anytime soon. While keeping an eye on the Hello Kitty World auction, though, I came across an auction for the Famicom version of Nintendo's early, Eskimo-themed platformer and couldn't help but throw my hat into the proverbial ring for it.

Who could pass up such an awesome cover? Not I.

In the end, I won the auction and walked away with a complete-in-box copy of Ice Climber for a fraction of the price I was expecting to pay for it. (Most such copies of the Famicom version of the game go for $60 or more on eBay. I got it for less than half of that.)

Why did I waste my money on a game that I've bad-mouthed in the past? I'm embarrassed to admit it, but my main reason for buying it is that I really like its cover art (above).

6 comments:

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Nothing wrong with completing a collection. I didn't particularly like the 5th Harry Potter movie, but how could you leave it out if you bought the others? That's how I look at it, anyway...

And...Nana is on the cover...which is strange to me. Isn't Popo the lead?

Bryan Ochalla said...

You're right RE: Nana, Justin. I'm guessing it's because putting Popo on the cover instead would make the image too blue. Or something like that.

Anyway, yes, this is about completing a collection for me, or some sort of collection, anyway. I'm not like Sean # famicomblog, trying to buy every Famicom cart.

All I really want is CIB copies of all of the Pulse Line carts and then a handful of 'silver box' releases (Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, Wrecking Crew, basically). Oh, and SMB 1, 2 and 3. And a number of Namco's early Fami games.

Er, OK, maybe my 'Famicom wish list' isn't as small as I thought it was :P

Sean said...

Great find! I have that one boxed too, it is one of my favorites. The cover art, as you say, makes the purchase worth it on its own! I love the polar bear wearing shades!

Also, while its not a great game, its actually not that bad a game. It could be better but I still enjoy it from time to time. In Japan it is massively popular.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, Sean! Yeah, I've been virtually drooling over your boxed copy of this game for a long time now. Ha! And, yes, the box is worth the price all on its own.

I can't say I'm a big fan of the game, thanks mainly to the messed-up jumping mechanism, but I do like that it's cute and different. Those qualities alone ensure I'll play it from time to time :)

Adam said...

It does have an awesome cover I admit. I've played IC before and man did it make me wonder why they were in Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, Adam! I would guess their inclusion in the Smash Bros. games had to do with their popularity in Japan. Also, I believe the game is/was pretty popular in Europe? Even in the US the game is considered a 'classic' in some regards.

I agree with you, though, that the game can be a bit questionable. I personally think it would be a lot more enjoyable if it had a better jumping mechanism. Of course, then it would be a lot easier, so maybe the jumping mechanism should stay as it is?