Mostly unfair review;

Fire 'n Ice is a solid puzzler but Catrap (1990 Game Boy) has irreparably harmed how I view puzzlers of this type from the era. It's not Fire 'n Ice's fault Catrap exists, or that I played it a couple years back. But the quality of life that Catrap's rewind added to the genre era is just something I can't come back from.

Fire 'n Ice has a good gimmick/hook and most of the puzzles are well designed. I just don't want to have to start a puzzle over because I made a mistake on step 22 of 30. I could save scum after every move sure, but man. Catrap really ruined a whole generation and style of puzzlers for me.

I would also argue that the difficulty arc in Fire 'n Ice has some real random peaks that stand out far too much for their order in the game. But maybe I was just looking for a way out. Ultimately I shelved at the final of World 4.

The art and animation got me as far as I did get. It's most definitely a late in the NES lifespan game in that respect. Really smooth sprite animations.

[Emulated/played on Anbernic RG35XX]

For some reason, I still have that stupid NSO subscription, and in an effort to get the most out of my wasted money, I’ll sometimes check out the more obscure stuff in the retro sections. Fire ‘n Ice always kinda looked like a Tetris clone or something. In reality, this is a sequel to Solomon’s Key, which is a puzzle platformer I’m not super familiar with. However, it’s clear that despite their similarities, these two are distinct games. In Solomon’s Key, you have a time limit, you have aggressive enemies, and gaining height is trivial given enough time. It’s a fairly even blend of action, puzzle, and platforming.

In Fire ‘n Ice, enemies are stationary or have predictable paths, and are not obstacles but necessary to defeat. There is a timer, but it’s only there for intrinsic motivation. You can’t jump, although you can climb up a block in front of you. Given that your sole ability aside from movement is placing an ice block diagonally down and forward, gaining height takes some effort. Mix in some properties of blocks sliding, blocks connecting to walls when created next to them, and gravity, all of which are mostly based on contextual actions from the player and environment, and you have a very simple basis that allows for a lot of great puzzles. Figuring out how to hit enemies with your ice blocks will start out simple, but as time goes on, even the most minute detail can have a big impact on how you approach a challenge. Everything is very simple at first in terms of the amount of things to consider, but the game gradually adds more and more new mechanics that’ll change the approach of levels entirely. There’s pipes you can travel through, but not if ice is blocking the exit. There’s torches that will permanently light up if an enemy touches them. These are simple mechanics, but when they’re combined it creates a really challenging, fun experience. It also helps that despite the minimalist-yet-polished presentation, there’s a lot of ‘noise’ to the puzzles because you have consistent, broad rules of where you can put the block.

I usually don’t do this, but take a look at this screen. This is midway through the game, and I’m going to spoil the solution, so skip to the penultimate paragraph if you care. Now, due to the enemy placement and terrain, you can’t create new blocks within the structure without it being connected to the walls, which means they can’t be used to attack the enemies. The exception is the block up top, which isn’t connected to anything (Note that because it’s a 1x1 block, you can’t jump on it and can only push it). My main question was pretty clear: How do I manipulate this one block to get enough blocks to kill all enemies? My first thought was to go to the left side of this block through the pipes, create a bridge through the hole near it, go back and push the block into the wall on the left so I can stand on it and create new blocks with it.

The issue is that by creating this bridge, I blocked my only way to get to the other side of the block, which was falling through the hole. So I tried the same thing from the other side: Create a bridge of ice that goes all the way to the right wall, then push the block into the right wall so I can stand on it and make more ice blocks. The issue here is that in order to get to the left side, I need to go through the pipe, which this ice bridge would block.

I continued for a while, a few different things before I finally realized the solution. First, slide the block into the enemy highest up. Now with it out of the way, you can create new, slideable blocks where the enemy once was. After this, slide a block into the lowest enemy, and keep sliding them until you stack high enough to defeat the final enemy (If you want to watch this happen to better understand the game's workings, you can do so here.). I’m explaining this because pretty much every detail is important. If there wasn’t a drop on the way to the left side of the block, I could’ve backtracked and executed my first plan. If the one on the right extended up one more block, I wouldn’t need to cover it with the ice bridge for my second plan.

All of this shows just how deliberate the designers were with this game, as despite how integral every detail is, there’s still a lot of potential solutions for the player to consider before getting the correct one. The game isn’t perfect though. Some of the ‘boss fights’ have cycling autoscroll maps that move very slowly. I understand they wanted to create tension with these levels, but often I’d ironically be forced to go slower, which is all too common with autoscrollers. A better idea likely would’ve been to add a limit to the amount of blocks you can create or something, or just scroll the screen with every block creation. The game even ends with a pretty unique boss who intermittently uses fire to melt your ice blocks, and I think something like that could’ve been used for more bosses.

Other than that though, I just wish there was more. Not necessarily more levels (There’s over 100 here, and honestly some of those could probably be trimmed out), but more mechanics, and honestly, more games like this. Games that are simple, but still unique. Games that know exactly what they want to be and be it. Despite my reservations, I was anything but lukewarm on this game. This is undoubtedly one of the best NES games, and a great game in general. 8/10

This is without a doubt the best NES game I've ever played. It's crazy how NES games evolved so much within the console's lifespan, going from games like Super Mario Bros, Ice Climbers, and Excitebike (all of which felt like nothing more than simple arcade games) to this amazing gem. Fire n Ice may not be that much of a spectacle when compared to games beyond the NES, but it's definitely peak quality for the console. This game has great gameplay, challenging puzzles, a cute story, and an adorable art style. You can even make your own custom levels which is so cool for a game this old. It's such a big jump in quality from Solomon's Key, and, in my opinion, it even rivals modern-day puzzle games like Box Boy and Pushmo. I love this game and it's definitely my new favorite NES game. I only wish there were more games in this series.

a LOVELY puzzle game, oh wow. This game has changed my perspective on how good a NES game could be.

The devs found a simple mechanic (the ice wand) and never wavered from it. It allowed for so many clever puzzles with only one new twist every world or two. The way they introduced the mechanics was perfect, forcing you to run into the scenario that teaches you how a new piece of the puzzle works before sending you off to solve the rest of the world on your own. And you can skip around to any (non-boss) puzzle in ANY world, anytime you want! I can't believe how much this game got right, all the way back in 1992. Even the boss levels, with moving elements, were remarkably well-done, if somewhat repetitive.

Round 7-2 is perhaps one of the best puzzles in the whole game. Knowing it was possible, knowing there was no jank, made it so fun to figure out and so rewarding to get the solution.

The spritework is cute and awesome. The cutscenes and story were unexpected but welcome. There was a new song for each world and they were all bangers.

This game even has a level editor! I mean come on, this has to be one of the most impressive puzzle titles for the NES. What an absolute masterpiece.

I had pretty low expectations for Fire N Ice, since I’ve heard nothing about it, but I was pleasantly surprised about the game’s quality. I really liked how laid back this game is, there is no time limit and no life’s so you could just go at your own pace without worrying about a timer running out or a game over.


The levels were orientated around putting out little fire minions with ice blocks, which is pretty fun for a little bit. They slowly introduce new gameplay elements like pipes and flammable jars that destroy your ice blocks. You can also pick any level in any world to play at any time, which was cool. (my first level I tried to play was 9-9 and I was so confused lmao). The game also had “boss battles” which were basically just normal puzzles but with a gimmick. There were two major types of “boss fights”. The main type is kinda difficult to explain but it was a normal level but with an auto-scrolling element that would loop back to the start of the level if you missed an enemy. The other type was just a normal level but with more enemies.

My main issues with the game were mostly based around how lengthy the game was and how monotonous it got. The levels feel very similar to one another, and it doesn't help that there's around 100 different levels in the game, so it felt like I was playing a slight variation of the same level repeatedly.

God why did I beat this whole thing in a day and why did I start with World 9 instead of 1?

It's a fine puzzle game, but man does it get tedious. It feels so dated with every movement option going at least five times slower than it should. Aside from making it a lot more boring this can even make you fail sometimes, I've had to restart levels due to the game not registering my movement properly a lot more than I would like. (It happens when you press the buttons before the turtle speed movement animation finishes).

Outside of that the levels are pretty well designed and explore fairly heavily the very few mechanics the game has. Still, I wish there was a bit more to it. Seeing how the game has a little story, a cool world map and "boss stages" it started to remind me of those classic PopCap games except nowhere near as good. A more modern and expanded version of this would probably be pretty sick if done correctly.

And yes I know this is an NES game made by a very small team but while it may justify it does not fix my issues with it. By the end I was just happy to be done, the music was making me feel dizzy, like actually. I didn't even know I had a headache and now it's gone.

4/10

O título original de Fire'n'Ice é Solomon's Key 2. Ele ficou conhecido por Fogo e Gelo somente na América do Norte, mas ele é a continuação da franquia.

Enquanto Solomon's Key utilizou elementos de ação no design, Fire'n'Ice abandonou esses elementos para focar no quebra cabeça, mantendo um mínimo de plataforma pra trabalhar com a gravidade e a verticalidade.

Entretanto, limitou os movimentos e as habilidades do personagem principal. Além de andar e escalar um andar, só existe o poder de criar ou remover um bloco de gelo na diagonal inferior do boneco, e a possibilidade de empurrá-lo, bem como outros blocos existentes. O salto foi removido, prezando pelo movimento mais restrito que foi desenhado para esta iteração.

Isso fez com que a equipe trabalhasse finamente na elaboração de cada nível, abusando da criatividade e exaurindo ao máximo as mecânicas simples e objetivas, simplificando também o loop.

Se antes em Solomon's Key era necessário pegar uma chave para abrir a passagem para a próxima fase, aqui em Fire'n'Ice basta derrotar todos os inimigos e o nível estará completo.

Excelente jogo. Desafiador, engenhoso e divertido. Um dos meus favoritos do console.

I don’t have a lot to say about this game but feeling compelled to post a review to perhaps draw more attention to it. Only NES game I’ve played where someone could tell me this was a recent release and I’d believe them. Not really a game to marathon but incredibly satisfying and fun puzzles in relatively short bursts (playing maybe a world or two a sitting for instance). Really cute art style that makes use of the NES’s graphical capabilities and actually feels enhanced by it. A lot of NES games (Castlevania or any of the black box sports games for instance) look like their gameplay would be better served by a console with superior graphics like the SNES but not this one. NES feels like the perfect home for this game. Don’t let the terrible title and box art fool you; this game is an absolute treat to play. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys simple but challenging puzzle games.

Fire ‘n Ice might be the best NES game nobody talks about. A puzzle game about creating, destroying, and pushing ice blocks to extinguish fires. Dana’s limited moveset and the way ice interacts with the environment are milked for all their worth. Pipes, torches, and black ice add some nice variable state to the later puzzles. I would have liked to see one or two more twists like that, but what’s here is a ton of fun. An easy recommendation to puzzle enthusiasts and one of my new favorite NES games.

Fire 'n Ice or Solomon's Key 2 is a spectacular puzzle game for the NES. It surprises me that this is on this console, it's look amazing; something I would expect from an SNES.

You play as a young upstart Ice Wizard named Dana who is given the task to save their home Coolmint Island from the dreaded Fire Wizard Druidle.

You go through 10 worlds each having 9 levels and 1 boss battle using the power of ice to defeat fire enemies. But not inn the conventional way.

The fire enemies are in odd locations so you create the ice blocks to use them as platforms and attack from above or the sides. It similar to tactical games where you need to pinpoint how to set up your ice blocks without getting yourself stuck or making it impossible to defeat the enemy.

It's pretty difficult (for me) the farther you get into the game mostly because it doesn't come with a tutorial. Certain stuff I didn't know I could do with the ice blocks until I consulted a guide. But once you understand the puzzles become fun and addictive.

I recommend giving it a shot if you have NSO. Rewind helps if you make a mistake since movement is a bit wonky. Never played a puzzle game like this before but it was great. But it makes me sad that we never had a full on series with this game. Hopefully it gets a remake or sequel eventually because I believe this game was made ahead of it's time and deserves to basking in the light once more.