| Ice Climber is a climbing game: armed only with a hammer, the player breaks up through 8 floors of ice to the top of a mountain, and there are 32 mountains, played alone or with a friend. | p. 2, Object of the Gamep. 2, Object of the Gamep. 2, Object of the Game | Manual |
| One player climbs as Popo, in blue, on controller 1; a second plays Nana, in pink, on controller 2. Two players can cooperate or play against each other, and a player who climbs so far ahead that the other drops off the bottom of the screen costs the other a man. | p. 4, How to Playp. 4, How to Playrules, after Tipsrules, after Tips | Manual |
| A breaks a hole in the ice of the floor above with the hammer and jumps up through it; B strikes with the hammer in the direction the climber faces, to drive off Topis and Nitpickers. On each floor a climber who walks off one side of the screen comes back on the other. | p. 3, A Buttonp. 3, B ButtonRules and Suggestions, 3 | Manual |
| Topis carry ice to fill the holes in the floors, and Nitpickers, birds, fly around the climbers; touching either, or a Topi's ice, costs a man. After a while a Polar Bear comes out and pushes the screen down, and a climber pushed off the bottom is lost. The Japanese booklet calls the bear the White Bear. | p. 5, Topip. 5, Nitpickerp. 5, Nitpickerrules, You lose a man byrules, You lose a man byRules and Suggestions, 6Rules and Suggestions, 6 | Manual |
| The mountains are numbered 1 to 32, and the player may start on any, the higher numbers being harder. Some floors break and others don't, some move like conveyor belts, and climbers ride moving clouds to reach the floors above. Reaching the 8th floor clears the screen and starts the bonus round. | Rules and Suggestions, 1Rules and Suggestions, 1Rules and Suggestions, 3Rules and Suggestions, 3Rules and Suggestions, 8 | Manual |
| In the bonus round the player collects the vegetable the condor hid at the start, one of 10 kinds, always eggplants in the first bonus round; jumping up to grab the condor at the end scores bonus points, and picking up even one ear of corn adds a man. | Rules and Suggestions, 8Rules and Suggestions, 8Rules and Suggestions, 8Rules and Suggestions, 8rules, after Tips | Manual |