Ice Appreciation: Frozen Places

by

Ice isn’t just an elemental type to deal with in Pokémon, it can be a headache of sliding and slipping around in the overworld for trainers as well. The series didn’t always include ice on the ground though—it was first introduced to the series in Generation II games Pokémon Gold & Silver.

Evolution of Ice

When players first encountered ice in Pokémon games it wasn’t quite as, well, visually appealing as it became in later titles. In fact the Ice Path, where players had to navigate a tunnel with both rocks and frozen sheets of ice, didn’t look that different from many other cavernous areas. ‘Ice’ just looked like parts of the ground that were smooth and had diagonal lines.

This was ultimately rectified in the follow-up to Gold & Silver, Pokémon Crystal, which had a much more distinct look and really sold the icy feel of the route. It was much more immersive and looked like a place that Swinub and Delibird would actually reside in. It set the tone for how Game Freak wanted to portray colder zones in the future and let Ice-type fans have their own spot in the Pokémon world to call their own.

Not limited to routes, it was also used as a puzzle mechanic when challenging several gyms throughout the series. Challenging the Mahogany Gym in Johto, Snowpoint Gym in Sinnoh or Icirrus Gym in Unova (pictured above) all required players to slide their way through the gym and find the correct route to the Gym Leader at the end. Oddly enough though, Kalos’ Snowbelle Gym lacked a sliding puzzle; it remains the only Ice-type gym not to feature one.

Where there’s Ice, there’s Snow

Not content with keeping Ice-type Pokémon constrained in cold caves, Game Freak eventually added snow to their arsenal of route designs and several regions benefited from the change of scenery. First introduced in Generation IV’s Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, snow-covered routes forced Trainers to dismount their bikes and trudge through by foot. They also featured random encounters anywhere there was snow, similar to walking in caves or surfing over water. This meant repels were needed if you weren’t grinding experience or searching for Pokémon when you wanted to move unhindered.

In Pokémon X & Y the ante was upped further—players were now forced to get through the snow by riding a Mamoswine around! It was an interesting use of the new Pokémon riding mechanic introduced in Generation VI, but certainly slowed down exploration a bit. Plenty of dismounting and remounting the patient Mamoswine meant that adventurers weren’t going to finish exploring the route in a hurry. There’s also an entire city covered with snow, Snowbelle City!

Finally, players of the latest games, Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, may not be able to slide around on any ice puzzles, but they can see a bit of snow and some ice crystals when they climb up Mount Lanakila on the otherwise tropical island!

Fun world-building or unnecessary hindrance?

In the end there’ll probably be two camps of people: those that love ice and snow routes, and those that don’t. Even if you’re in the latter camp, I hope you’ve been able to see the love put in by the designers and how gameplay has evolved throughout the Pokémon series in regards to chilly climates and the many places Trainers now have to explore. As a kid I always loved sliding around and trying to figure out the puzzle on my own… although many times I’d just lose patience and consult the internet.

Supporters

Nick F

Smearg

Foil Island

Conglome NERD

alcremie sundae

Radiant Blutle

Zachery

Dragoniteo

Austin John Plays

Help support our work by becoming a Patron on Patreon! Swadloon Platoon members and above will be added to our site supporters list!

365 thoughts on “Ice Appreciation: Frozen Places”

  1. I wish gamefreak was more creative with ice type. Really just tired of the “slide around the ice” puzzles they always include somewhere. Luckily we haven’t seen one since X&Y, but they’ll be back..I honestly love the routes to snowbelle city, they have great music and are unique. Though, like with the swampy areas in Sinnoh, getting stuck in the snow can be pretty annoying.

    I will say Unova did a nice job with ice and snow with the amazing inclusion of seasons :3 that needs to come back…kalos really suffered from having random routes go from fall to snow. You enter one builing in fall and come out the 10 feet away on the other side in winter..

    Reply

  3. The only Ice type place that holds any deeper significance is the lowest part of Shoal caves

    When I was a brain dead kid I tried my luck everyday for the Ice part to be accessible (I cling to my RS prima strategy guide but I just wasn’t a smart kid growing up) but very few luck it was only a year later I learnt it was a time based event and my internal battery dried out

    Reply

  4. I dislike Ice Puzzles, I like the idea but I’m not good at them and end up frustrated. I liked that we could ride on Mamoswine but the feature was a bit clunky, same with Rhyhorn one the other route. I always enjoy the beauty and effort of ice routes, though I’m not such a fan of forced hail every battle on some of them. I think Lanakila is largely a waste of an ice route, though I have yet to visit it in USUM. I think Ice routes are a good addition, Unova did well with seasonal Winter Ice routes, I just like them to have fun elements rather than being a pain to trudge through. If Gen 8 doesn’t have one I will be annoyed.

    Reply

  5. That’s one thing about the 3DS generations that I really didn’t like: the puzzles were basically nonexistent. The ones that are present are laughable. I always liked pushing around the ice blocks for some reason, and it just felt like Pokémon to me. For Gen 8, I’d love for them to bring back some challenging overworld elements and stop doubting the intelligence of the player.

    Reply

  6. Y’know what would be cool, an Ice village, maybe based on the Inuit, where there are roaming Swinub and Piloswine that are used to find hot springs as an actual mini-game, or just like Tauros and Miltank on ranches. I think there is alot of room for new forms of Ice related areas. Ice fishing could be good, under ice diving maybe, igloos would be nice.

    Reply

  7. I love snow and Ice routes. Experience all the beauty of the snow and ice without having to be actually cold. I wish they did more with them though. It’s almost always one or two places post game. I like how in Sinnoh the whole route to snowpoint was all snow. It felt like it fit. Rather than something like the place in Kalos where it was sunny one routeand snow in the next with no logical sense. I also wish they made ice a little more early game. I dont see why it’s so late game all the time.
    But I do believe all the ice areas in pokemon were amazing. Icy cave, and Shoal Cave were probably the worst because it felt so random to just have a snow cave out of nowhere. I personally like Ice puzzles, and I dont see how they could change it.
    Though the pokemon may not be the best, the terrain of snow/Ice is just amazing. Can’t wait to see 216 on Switch graphics.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8cLW0Lckhc
    Sinnoh NAILED the theme. Perfectly fits the Ice.

    Reply

    • I will always love hoenn and sinnoh the most! Hoenn being my first region I explored and sinnoh being the first time I really knew what I was sort of doing! I seriously am excited for the eventual sinnoh remakes! Probably won’t happen until like 2020 but still!

      Reply

  12. On the subject of cold snowy frictionless levels in gaming I want to compile my top 5 favorite/memorable Ice themed worlds in gaming (that I’ve played)

    5: Dun Morogh (World of Warcraft) as a Dwarf I started my journey in the chilly mountains of Dun Morogh, Fighting Troggs and Ice Trolls and making my way to the great Dwarven city of Ironforge

    4: Snowhead Temple (Twilight Princess) the experience was different a mix of treacherous snow topped cliffs, a loving yeti couple and finding a wheel of cheese,

    3: Sherbert Land (Mario Kart 64) let’s face it anyone who grew up with an N64 and played the famous racing game have either cursed their mouth off bumping into penguin or missing the right turn in the caves or fallen in the water and was frozen solid

    2: Cool Cool Mountain (Super Mario 64) the pure nostalgia of racing down a Icy slide, trying to find the sweet spot for the cannon and delivering lost penguin babies (who I occasionally threw off a cliff for fun once or twelve times)

    1: Hailfire Peaks Icy Side (Banjo Tooie) without a doubt one of the levels I spent the most time in by choice, the music the landscape and learning the very use Glide ability, I almost put down Freezeezy Peak but I just liked Hailfire Peaks so much more

    Reply

  15. I was reading Bulbapedia for Fun and Realized how Weird it is that the Good Rod is in Fuchsia but the Super Rod is on Route 13, ONE OF THE TWO POTENTIAL ROUTES TO FUCHSIA.

    Reply

  16. Phoenix Grace- The first time the user is knocked out by an attack, its health is restored to half. However, it is forced to switch with another teammate.

    Climatic- It will change form to match the weather.

    Temperate- Immune to ice and fire attacks

    Frostbite- If a foe is frozen, all moves used by this Pokémon will be critical hits.

    Aurora Winds- The Aurora veil status is set up whenever this Pokémon enters battle

    Reply

  21. I finally decided what to do about Christmas…I’m getting my family two Google Home Minis since I’d like to introduce the whole smart home concept to them. It’s a double whammy because I’ll be the alpha male when I get the Google Home Max next year 😛

    Reply

  24. You know it really bothers me how you can’t name yourself Platinum in Platinum Because trainer names are ONE CHARACTER too short.

    Reply

    • I wish I could do that, but oddly my wants revolve differently than my families

      When I want to have quiet time and peace, they need me and are my a$$ about everything

      When I want to spend time with my family, they shoo me away and want to neglect me

      Reply

Leave a Comment