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"Ah, the obligatory ice level: less friction, more penguins."

A wasteland of ball-shatteringly cold snow and ice. Thankfully, you usually won't freeze to death.

Ice is in great abundance for your slipping and sliding pleasure, with occasional areas of deep snow to slow you down, and expect Super Drowning Skills if you fall in the water. Even if your character can normally swim, he usually finds himself stuck in an ice cube if he falls into the water of an Ice World. Expect an occasional blizzard to blow you off ledges and screw up your jumps. Sizable Snowflakes are often used to make the atmosphere more enchanting.

May or may not be covered with an abundance of Ice Crystals.

Ice caves are a common variation/addition. In this case, watch out for icicles from all directions that are more than eager to drop on your head.

Due to these gameplay difficulties and general perceived inhospitality of the landscape, an Ice World is typically seen towards the third quarter of the game.

This serves as an excusable way to introduce one form of video game difficulty, namely reducing the player's extent of control over their character. The natural properties of frozen water lend themselves to this easily, and since ice is a very common substance, you don't have to come up with awkward excuses for why the characters encounter it. The problem then is determining how much control to remove from the player — too much and it becomes nothing more than Fake Difficulty.

Enemies and bosses of an Ice World usually fall into three categories: Animals found in the Arctic or other generally cold areas (Polar Bears and Penguins, seals, walruses, etc., plus the occasional Yeti or snowman) who are trying to kill the hero for no good reason; Mooks equipped/designed for cold weather; and "ice versions" of enemies found in other areas.

Perfectly cubical blocks of ice are also surprisingly common, and can usually be moved to solve puzzles, or melted with fire-based attacks - careful, as these blocks may have enemies frozen within them ready to attack you the moment they get thawed.

Slippy Slidey Ice Worlds are also a common example of a Single-Biome Planet. It's one of the more realistic ones, depending on how far the planet is from its sun.

Sometimes, the action takes place at night to feature some beautiful Wintry Auroral Sky for Scenery Porn.

This level overlaps with Death Mountain fairly often, typically representing mountains high enough to be snowcapped and mixing in Death Mountain's own hazards, often creating fun combinations of slippery ice and bottomless pits.

The term "Slippy Slidey Ice World" was invented by the UK computer game magazine Amiga Power to describe what they considered to be an irritating trend of making platforms slippery just to add Fake Difficulty. Of course, as far as this trope is concerned, it also encompasses non-slippy, but snowy, worlds.

These levels have become a staple of platforming games and it's rare to find one without an ice level. As another UK gaming magazine, NGC, put it, "leaving out an ice level is like eating baby Jesus. Not a right thing to do".

Expect soft, echoey, "soothing" music which may not match the tone of the game, especially if it's an RPG. Alternately, there's a good chance (especially in older games) for ice levels to have a Christmas theme, in which case expect to hear public domain carols. Snowy Sleigh Bells are also very common.

The Slippy Slidey Ice World has even been given its own "holiday" in the form of Obligatory Ice Level Day. You'd think Christmas already counts, but 1) a minority of climates have snow and ice as opposed to other times of year, and 2) Christmas is about a lot of things, not just ice levels.

Contrast Lethal Lava Land and Shifting Sand Land, which are opposite in terms of temperature. Mashing one and this trope into the same level is one kind of Hailfire Peaks. For when the snowy weather actually poses a threat to the characters in-and-out of games, see Braving the Blizzard.


Examples:

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    Action Game 
  • Level 4 (Arctic Caverns) of Battletoads, elements of which reappear in level 4 of Battlemaniacs and level 2 of the Arcade Game.
  • Part of Brütal Legend's map is the Dry Ice Fields, it's a nonslippy version of this trope.
  • One of the levels of Bujingai takes place on an ice mountain. You don't actually slip around, but for the first part of the level your life points are slowly drained by the demonic atmosphere and you can reacquire them only by smashing ice cubes containing the health orbs.
  • Dark Souls has the Painted World of Ariamas, a hidden world inside a painting built to hide things that are dangerous to the Gods. The area you explore is a castle blanketed in snow.
  • Diablo franchise.
    • The Diablo II expansion Lord of Destruction takes place in the snowy, barbarian-inhabited wastes of Harrogath.
    • Diablo III revisits the frozen north with Bastion's Keep, which is under siege by The Legions of Hell.
  • In Evolva, levels 9 and 10 fall into this.
  • Greenland Invasion, the two-level game provided with Power Game Factory, is set entirely in an Ice World, but without the Frictionless Ice.
  • Mario Pinball Land has the ice table. Unusually for a pinball game, Frictionless Ice is in full effect which changes the ball's physics.
  • Metal Warriors: The fifth mission takes Stone into the topmost area of a cold highland, onto which he lands after having traveled from his fleet's vessel in outer space and gone through the Earth's upper atmosphere. The snowy terrain is dense, but a part of it can be removed with the projectiles of the character's Mini-Mecha, allowing him to storm the enemy facility located within the icy caverns beneath. It later transitions into Eternal Engine, as Stone goes deeper into the facility and has to make use of elevators large enough to transport his mech, press switches that open metallic doors, and finally destroy an energy cannon.
  • Mystic Warriors has one snow-covered stage that includes a downhill skiing sequence.
  • Overcooked!: Ice kitchens make up most of the third world in the first game. Appropriately, it causes you to slip around, which makes movement tricky. Sadly, they're not more resistant to fire.
  • Persona 5 Strikers: The Sapporo City Jail resembles an icy version of the real city, complete with giant ice walls that must be lowered and two slopes the Phantom Thieves slide down.
  • Shining the Holy Ark has this while you're traveling through a mountain range. The dungeon is split into the underground section and an surface section complete with Frictionless Ice. The problem being is that the surface is covered with holes that will drop the player back into the underground section near the beginning, annoying almost everybody who played the game.
  • Star Wars: The ice planet of Tina in the 1987 Licensed Game for the Famicom.
  • Transformers: Armada: The Antarctic level is a bare wasteland of ice, broken up by a few icebergs and ravines... along with a crashed icebreaker and plane, abandoned research facility (blow up the buildings to find Mini-cons) scanner droids, spider bots, and the first boss of the level being freaking Starscream.
  • The Wonderful 101 has Gocken Island, where the slippery physics really shake up the gameplay.

    Adventure Game 
  • The Blood of the Cybermen episode of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games takes place in Geological Survey Outpost Zebra Bay, a frozen base in the Arctic Circle.
  • The floes and icebergs in the Arctic and Antarctic levels of Endless Ocean Blue World aren't slippery, but the water, while not instantly deadly, makes you run out of air more quickly until you apply a special insulating wax to your body.
  • The entire overworld of Heroine's Quest is snowy, because the game is about frost giants trying to take over the world. Lake Gandvik is the most slippy-slidy part, as running sends you tumbling to the icy ground, and casting a fire spell will melt the ice you're standing on.
  • Spirit of the North: The game starts with the player character, a fox, travelling down a mountain covered in snow and ice. Sections of it can be slid down due to the ice.

    Action-Adventure 
  • In Assassin's Creed III, much of the game's playable terrain becomes snow-themed during winter in Sequence 3. The dense snow reduces mobility, especially on steep areas.
  • Avalon Code has one that you have to go through twice over the course of the story. It's hard enough avoiding cliffs and pits the first time around, but the second time there are more of them, often in conjunction with speed-up floor tiles.
  • Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: The very first area is set in a snowy village. Little in the way of snowy level gimmicks though, except for a yeti enemy that you have to coax out with curry. In later areas inside the castle, snow can be seen on the tops of rooves, indicating that the entire castle is set in a Slippy Slidey Ice World.
  • Ecco the Dolphin crosses this with, naturally enough, Under the Sea. It's also at about this point that the game's true Nintendo Hard nature really starts becoming apparent.
  • In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the "Glacius" challenge basically consists of this, except you freeze the area yourself. And yes, you really do slide around most places, but you can also die if you fall off.
  • Island Saver: Icecap Island's icy half.
  • La-Mulana has the Graveyard of the Giants. Also subverts the musical expectation by having thick, heavy background music to it, despite being a slippery ice level.
  • The Legend of Spyro:
    • The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning: Dante's Freezer is a snow-covered arctic land home to undead soldiers and white-furred Ape recolors, includes an area where Spyro must outrace falling icicles, and culminates in a battle against an ice-wielding undead warrior.
    • The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night: The ice dream temple in the GBA version. Spyro has a hard time getting traction for most of the level and automatically slides down slopes unless this is fought against. However, near the end, you can find an upgrade that will keep Spyro from sliding on the ice.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Most games from A Link to the Past onwards have at least one dungeon or area like this:
    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past has the Ice Palace, complete with irritating sliding floors and killer penguins. There are also flying ice enemies that are impossible to kill without the Fire Rod (the game adds one in the first room that must be killed to proceed. This ensures that Link reaches the boss room with the item because Kholdstare can only be killed with it).
    • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has Ice Cavern, which is a Mini-Dungeon. There were development plans for it to be a main dungeon, but they were scrapped. It marks the debut of Ice Keese and Freezard in the series, which are capable of freezing Link temporarily.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: The Snowhead region (though the Snowhead Temple is half molten lava and half ice). Due to the evil influence of Majora, the otherwise natural winter has lasted for too long, which leads to the Gorons suffering from the cold and starving. Interestingly, this also leads to some ice platforms being invisible (hence the importance of the Lens of Truth).
    • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games:
      • Ages: In the game's last dungeon, the Ancient Tomb, the majority of it serves as Big Boo's Haunt, but parts of the second basement have a few touches of this thrown in, plus Lethal Lava Land and Under the Sea.
      • Seasons: Whenever you make it winter or come across a perpetual winter area. Winter's even the first season power you get. There's also the upper floor of Sword & Shield Maze, with the obligatory sliding block puzzle and a platforming section with single-block ice platforms and ledge bats, as well as the Mini-Boss Frypolar.
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: There's a Mini-Dungeon, the Ice Ring Isle, that's kind of difficult to get into because of its icy layout. As with the Ice Cavern, it likely would have been a full dungeon but was cut back to meet deadlines. It's especially telling because of the slippy-slidey mechanics (we get special vocal effects only heard when slipping and falling on the ice, and the very ability to slip and fall never appears anywhere else, either). More went into it than makes sense for a short Timed Mission to get the Iron Boots.
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: The Temple of Droplets. There are sliding Block Puzzles, narrow slippery walkways over Bottomless Pits, and annoying flies and beetles.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess continues this idea with Snowpeak, an area of high, cold mountains full of icy bats and white wolves, which also features water so cold that it freezes Link and makes him respawn with lost health (and if he's wearing the Zora Armor, which is vulnerable to ice and fire, it kills him instantly). However, the two Yetis you meet are peaceful allies who cook you food and race you down the mountain on snowboards made of ice, one of whom, however, Yeta, was corrupted by the power of the Mirror of Twilight and became the irate and disturbing Twilit Ice Mass, Blizzeta. The local dungeon, Snowpeak Ruins, is filled with puzzles revolving around sliding blocks on icy floors and breaking up masses of ice that block off passages; its native enemies, in addition to the same as the ones found outside, are mostly a variety of animated masses of ice.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: The Isle of Frost, inhabited by the friendly Anouki tribe on the west and the fiendish Yook in the east. Setting the conflict between the two factions brings Link eventually to the Temple of Ice, which is rife with slippery floors and puzzles that make use of the Grappling Hook.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: The entire Snow Realm, which encompasses the Anouki village (no Yooks to deal with this time), the Snow Sanctuary, the Snow Temple, and several optional (some needing to be unlocked via sidequests) snowy stations.
    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: The Lorule version of Death Mountain is covered in ice, and it also hosts the resident ice dungeon, the Ice Ruins. There are several bodies of ice that can only be melted with the Fire Rod.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes has the Ice Cavern as the fourth world which has icy mountains and caves and then ends with an ice fortress, of course with Frictionless Ice throughout.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has several icy areas found in the highest mountain peaks, which become progressively colder as you rise higher and require progressively stronger cold resistance to avoid taking environmental damage. The most prominent is the whole Mount Hebra/Tabantha Frontier region in the northwest, which requires you to wear cold-resistant clothes so you can meet up with Teba to board Divine Beast Vah Medoh. Other cold areas include the Gerudo Highlands, Mount Hylia on the Great Plateau (the place where you will first learn about preparing for extreme temperatures), and Mount Lanayru. Unlike all the icy areas in previous Zelda games, there's no Frictionless Ice you need to walk across, although walking through deep snow will slow Link down unless he's wearing snow boots. There are also large snowballs lying on ledges and slopes, many of which are set to roll downhill towards you when you approach, and lots and lots of ice-based enemies.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: In addition to bringing back all the snowy locations featured in Breath of the Wild (Mount Hebra, Mount Hylia, Gerudo Highlands and Mount Lanayru), the game also reveals that Rito Village, due to the anomalous climate change in the Tabantha region (caused by the influence of a monster that has taken over the Wind Temple), is experiencing a harmful descent in its temperature. Snow and ice has gradually begun to creep into the once-warm village, resulting in a drop of the local resources; and because many Hylians aren't used to cold weathers, a local stable had to shut down and have its assets sold to Mirene, who then turned the stable into the headquarters of the gossip-happy Lucky Clover Gazette. Even after the Wind Temple is cleared and the temperature of Rito Village returns to normal, the stable remains owned by Mirene and her press brand.
  • The Little Mermaid has the Sea of Ice as its third level, though there are few places where Ariel gets out of the water. It's more notable for the falling ice blocks that thaw into live fish.
  • LocoRoco has Shamplin world with slippery ice. However, you'll love ice levels in that game.
  • Luigi's Mansion:
    • Luigi's Mansion: The Cold Storage. The frictionless, ice-covered floor makes catching Sir Weston very difficult, along with the icicles that drop from the ceiling.
    • Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: Secret Mine is an entire area based around this trope, rather than just one room. The ice terrain makes the navigation more difficult, especially during the Escort Mission as the Toad is afraid of thin ice.note 
  • Metroid:
    • Metroid Fusion: Sector 5 — ARC is an interesting example in that, like Norfair in Metroid: Zero Mission and Magmoor Caverns in Metroid Prime due to their extreme heat, the extreme cold actually will harm Samus if she hasn't gotten the Varia Suit prior to entering the area.note 
    • Metroid Prime Trilogy:
      • Metroid Prime: The Phendrana Drifts subvert most of the traditional ice-level conventions, with the exception of heat weapons as a great ally and the soothing Theme Tune (well, the first section of Phendrana).
      • Metroid Prime: Hunters has Arcterra, the second planet Samus visits. The ice is mostly cosmetic since the level design is focused on a more maze-like layout as Samus makes her way into the Octoliths found here. Two of the rival hunters, Noxus and Trace, are first seen in this world.
      • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has the planet Bryyo, which is mostly a volcano-ridden tropical jungle but has an icy section accessible through a special warp tunnel. However, the ice aspect of the area is purely cosmetic, and irrelevant to gameplay. It is here where the iconic Screw Attack powerup can be found in this game.
    • Metroid: Other M: Sector 2, the Cryosphere, looks like ARC (Fusion) and Phendrana (Prime) combined in one. It's a very cold, Arctic-looking facility within the Bottle Ship where creatures adapted to low temperatures are help captive. A room features jagged and cjoppy icicles, while in another Samus has to walk across a fallen ice pillar over a frigid pool of water.
    • Metroid: Samus Returns: The Chozo laboratory found in Area 7, where you fight the three Omega Metroids, is filled with ice. It's implied that the Chozo chose this location for creating the Metroids due to their cold-based weaknesses. Ironically, the equivalent area in the original Metroid II: Return of Samus was a Lethal Lava Land with design elements strongly resembling Norfair.
    • Metroid Dread: The entire planet ZDR temporarily becomes this after the acquisition of the Gravity Suit, particularly Artaria and Cataris. This was caused by the X-infected Experiment Z-57 obstructing the lava pumps in Cataris used to warm the planet and shutting down the geothermal power plant.
  • Ōkami: The entire northern land of Kamui has copious amounts of slippery ice, dense snow terrain, and a fog that reduces visibility. Demons are trying to make it even colder, to the point of being uninhabitable.
  • Ōkamiden: The Ice Room, which makes up for the sixth dungeon in the game. It's basically the freezer for the imp chefs and features many frozen features, including a Monster in the Ice that, when thawed, becomes the dungeon's boss.
  • Shantae
  • Tomba! 2: The cursed version of the Kujara Ranch Level is nothing but snow and ice.
  • An Untitled Story features two such areas: ColdKeep and IceCastle. The former is a small area consisting of nothing but snow. The latter is a relatively massive floating glacier stuffed with heart containers.
  • The original Wonder Boy, as well as every Adventure Island game, has its share of ice stages, which tend to be quite frustrating.

    Arcade Game 
  • Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire has Spheal & Sealeo's bonus stage.

    Edutainment Game 
  • Two of the platforming minigames in The Magic School Bus Explores the Solar System are this and both have a "traction boots" power-up to negate the sliding effect. One is Pluto due to its distance from the sun. It's among the easiest levels in the game due to its extremely low gravity and lack of hazards. The Saturn platformer, by contrast, is much more difficult due to being set within Saturn's rings. It has high gravity and consists of a single large Bottomless Pit with some icy blocks serving as floating platforms. This is a problem since the game's jumping animation is long enough that you can very easily slide off the edge of a platform mid-jump without gaining any height.

    Fighting Game 
  • An unlockable stage in Soulcalibur II has ice on the floor, where the characters can slide across and easily ring themselves out. Even landing an attack would send you sliding.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Super Smash Bros. Melee: Icicle Mountain, based on the Ice Climber universe takes place on a snowy mountain, yet the players are constantly pushed around by wind rather than Frictionless Ice.
    • Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
      • The Summit serves as the Ice Climbers' Home Stage, taking place on a slippery snow mountain; as the fight progresses, the peak crumbles and is dragged across the cold lake, becoming a glacier.
      • In Adventure Mode, shortly after the midway point, Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers begin scaling a snowy summit called The Glacial Peak, whose primary hazard is ice spikes with a very strong Knockback power; there are also large chunks of ice that retract in and out, and are important to scale the mountain (but also dangerous because they may end up crushing a character). Notably, this level is where Lucario can be found and recruited.
    • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: In addition to bringing back the Summit, the game also has the Winter palette of the Minecraft DLC stage, though the snow is cosmetic and is as removable as any breakable terrain in the warm palette.

    Maze Game 

    Party Game 
  • Season 3 of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout introduces all-new levels themed around wintertime, having the players slip and tumble through courses made of ice, and roll snowballs around.
  • Mario Party:
    • Mario Party 3:
      • Chilly Waters is a snowy land inhabited by penguins and Mr. Blizzards (snowmen). A giant Mr. Blizzard sometimes throws snowballs at the players, forcing them to run if they fail to jump over it. There is also thin ice in the middle of the board that cracks if two players land on it at the same time, an event whose likelihood is increased by the fact that players have a chance of slipping on the ice and ending their turn early there.
      • The minigame Ice Rink Risk takes place in a circular ice rink in the midst of a snowy landscape. The characters have to dodge the incoming Spinies while also dealing with the slippery ground.
    • Mario Party 5: A few minigames take place in snowy and/or icy settings (and a part of the Rainbow Dream board takes place during winter as well), but the most explicit case is with the minigame Frozen Frenzy. Here, players are in a cavern whose walls, floors, slopes and floating platforms are all made of ice, and they're very slippery as well. The objective is to grab the color-coded crystals located in the cavern, and a character can hit, kick or ground-pound another to make them release one of their crystals. Whoever has the most crystals after 45 seconds wins.
    • Mario Party 6: Snowflake Lake has a snowball event similar to the one in Chilly Waters, but with no way to dodge it. It also features an ice rink in the middle with different Space minigames depending on the time of day: an ice-skating game during the day, and a Snowball Fight at night.
    • Mario Party: Island Tour: Though no board takes place in this setting, the minigames Slip 'n' Slip and Go With The Floe do:
      • In the former, the characters are standing onto a very slippery square iceberg, and some penguins will being crossing it to move from an off-limits snowy area to another. The characters have to avoid falling onto the cold water (as doing so will freeze them), which is made harder by the iceberg tilting frequently because of the characters' weight as well as that of the penguins that pass by. The last character standing wins, though more than one can win if they survive for 45 seconds.
      • In the latter, the characters are located in an icy cavern with a river where multiple chunks of ice pass by. The characters are tasked to bring penguins from a spot in the south to the one in the north where a mother penguin awaits; the catch is that the river's chunks of ice are slippery and moving at different speeds, so care is required to succesfully reach the other side while transporting each penguin. After 45 seconds, the character who delivered the most penguins wins.
    • Mario Party 10: Ice Slide, You Slide is a minigame where players race to a finish line on a running track covered in ice. They can use the ice to slide under Flipruses that get in their way.
    • Mario Party: The Top 100: The later half of World 4-1 in Minigame Island is where all of the minigames taking place in snowy or icy areas are located. Appropriately, the map is designed to resemble a snowy forest. Many of the same minigames are included in the Frosty minigame pack.
    • Super Mario Party: The minigame Penguin Pushers takes place atop a frozen ice rink in a snowy tundra. The four players slide around on the ice as they work together to corral the penguins into the rink's exit.
  • Emerald Coast, the first board from Sonic Shuffle combines this with Palmtree Panic, due to Void's magic freezing half the board. In the same game, the "Frosty Rumble" mini-game takes place in an icy cavern. Sonic and his friends toss ice balls at each other, collecting the rings and forcejewels inside them.

    Puzzle Game 
  • Catherine has "The Quadrangle" level, which introduces the ice blocks.
  • Chip's Challenge has quite a few ice levels, such as Southpole, Rink and Ice Cube, but the most infamous is Doublemaze due to its dual-layered maze design. Ice tiles make Chip slide non-stop, but wearing ice skates will negate this effect.
  • The Wreck, the eighth and final world in Gem Smashers is an arctic climate where IMBU's spacecraft has crashed. Sure enough, IMBU serves as the game's Final Boss.
  • Gruntz has this as the second world, named Gruntzicles.
  • All the levels in Kickle Cubicle are of this type, which makes Block Puzzles more slippery.
  • Kuru Kuru Kururin: The levels in World 8 (Ice Land) go through an arctic-styled landscape inhabited by polar beans, reindeer and Polar Penguins, and there are also snowmen, igloos and Christmas trees in the background. The levels have a maze-like design, and the paths are usually placed next to each other in a ringed pattern.
  • Pingus, a Linux penguin-themed clone of Lemmings, unsurprisingly has plenty of snow and ice.
  • Spelling Blizzard: A Puzzle Platformer (and sequel to Spelling Jungle) computer game set in the Arctic, in which the player must collect the letters of a word in the proper order while avoiding or using various obstacles, including ice (the player goes in one direction only until they hit something else) and ice blocks (which can be slid around land or in water, where they can be ridden), to their advantage.
  • Every level in Velocity Raptor is one. Coupled with the effects of relativity, this can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on how you try to play.* Every level in Velocity Raptor is one. Coupled with the effects of relativity, this can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on how you try to play.

    Racing Game 
  • Banjo-Pilot:
    • Freezeezy Peak, which serves as the third track of the Honeycomb Cup.
    • Freezing Furnace, which serves as the first track of the Beehive Cup.
    • Cauldron Keep, which serves as the fourth and final track of the Feather Cup.
  • Cartoon Network Racing has No Business Like Snow Business!.
  • Crash Bandicoot racing games have these:
    • Crash Team Racing has Blizzard Bluff, a relatively innocent snow track in mountains with some tricky shortcuts, and Polar Pass, a more technical track with slippy ice pools where you have to drift and risky jumps. The Hub Level Glacier Park and the battle map The North Bowl count as well. The Nitro-Fueled remake also has the Christmas-themed track Gingerbread Joyride (with some Level Ate elements).
    • Crash Nitro Kart has two levels in the hub world Barin, which seems to be an iceberg planet: Meteor Gorge happens in an extraction site while Barin Ruins is... well, a ruins track.
    • Crash Tag Team Racing has Tire & Ice, a purely cosmetic ice age track.
  • Diddy Kong Racing features an entire area filled with ice/snow courses such as Everfrost Peak and Snowball Valley.
  • Rally races set in various arctic climes are a staple of the DiRT series, often accompanied by a snowy rallycross course.
  • Disney Speedstorm:
    • The Monsters, Inc. track, while largely based on the eponymous factory, features a section based on the Himilayas Mike and Sulley got banished to.
    • The Frozen track takes place in the snow-covered kingdom of Arendelle. It also features elements of Big Fancy Castle due to having a section based on Elsa's Ice Palace.
  • Forza Motorsport:
    • The spinoff series Forza Horizon features a snow-covered map in the Blizzard Mountain DLC in Forza Horizon 3.
    • During winter, Forza Horizon 4's map of England is blanketed with snow, ice and slush, with enhanced snow and ice physics compared to 3.
  • White Land I and White Land II in F-Zero (1990).
  • In Gran Turismo, the player has the opportunity to drive various road and race cars on a snow-covered rally stage.
  • Frozen Hillside from Kirby Air Ride.
  • Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge and its successors have winter tracks with falling snow and reduced grip.
  • The Alaska and Colorado courses from Mickey's Speedway USA.
  • The Mario Kart series has at least one snow and/or ice track per game. Exceptions occurred, all these tracks are in Star Cup to emphasize their difficulty:
    • Super Mario Kart: The two Vanilla Lake tracks are the first installments: while the first is a classical snow level, the second (which is the fourth track in Special Cup, making it the penultimate track of the game) actually features a giant cold water lake which requires precision to not fall in it. There's also Battle Course 3, an enclosed battlefield set within the wintry area of Vanilla Lake.
    • Mario Kart 64: Frappe Snowland (in Flower Cup) focuses on snow while Sherbet Land looks like an iceberg track. The biggest threat in the former is snowmen, as collision against them is explosive and makes the driver waste too much time in recovering; in the latter, the driver has to watch out for penguins instead.
    • Mario Kart: Super Circuit: Snow Land and the SNES Vanilla Lakes in Extra Cups. There are moats of cold water in the new track, as well as snowmen in the ledges, but they're not too difficult to evade.
    • Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: A different version of Sherbet Land debuts in this game. There are several Shy Guys sliding and dancing on the ice, and care is required to drive across those parts without clashing with them.
    • Mario Kart DS: DK Pass and N64 Frappe Snowland (in Banana Cup). In DK Pass, large snowballs fall down, thus making the ascent part more dangerous (the descent is easier, as the snowy road is wider and there's more leeway to dodge them).
    • Mario Kart Wii: DK Summit (in Flower Cup) and N64 Sherbet Land (in Banana Cup again). DK Summit has several small snow dunes in the descent area, providing several opportunities to perform tricks with the driver's vehicle and gain speed boosts as a result. Half-pipe ledges are present as well.
    • Mario Kart 7: Rosalina's Ice World (in Special Cup), DS DK Pass (in Leaf Cup, which tried to become a retro equivalent to Star Cup), and the battle course Sherbet Rink. Since this game allows drivers to swim underwater (except in a few courses, like Daisy Hills), the cold underwater part of Rosaline's Ice World is also a safe part of the track.
    • Mario Kart 8: Mount Wario, GCN Sherbet Land (in Leaf Cup), Ice Ice Outpost (in Triforce Cup), and the Animal Crossing course during winter (in Crossing Cup); the DLC for Deluxe added GBA Snow Land (in Propeller Cup), Tour Merry Mountains (in Moon Cup), Wii DK Summit (in Fruit Cup), Tour Vancouver Velocity (in Cherry Cup), and 3DS Rosalina's Ice World (Spike Cup). Mount Wario is unique in that, similar to certain tracks in Mario Kart 7 (and later N64 Rainbow Road and Big Blue), it's driven on during a single run instead of three laps (justified in this case for starting at the top and ending at the bottom); it has an assortment of obstacles like slippery curves, a folly with dense snow, and snow dunes. GCN Sherbet Land now allows driving within the cold water without harm, as this game retains the aerial/naval driving gimmick of Mario Kart 7. Originally, Ice Ice Outpost and Animal Crossing were part of the game's Downloadable Content but became part of the base content in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
    • Mario Kart Tour: Merry Mountains, as well as retro snowy tracks that are too numerous to count. Merry Mountain is a Christmas-themed course that goes through a snowy mountain; it's adorned with large present boxes, a cableway and a hovering train that drives through magically-generated rails. There's also Vancouver Velocity, whose first variant (later adapted as the first lap's route in 8 Deluxe) goes through a snowy forest traversed via the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and whose other two variants (laps 2 and 3 in 8 Deluxe) take drivers to the interior of the ice hockey-themed Rogers Arena.
  • Mystic Peaks in Need for Speed II, the most difficult track in the game, takes place on the peak of a snow-capped mountain in Nepal with numerous tight corners and decreased grip on the roads.
  • The successor to Mystic Peaks in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and High Stakes, is Summit, basically a prolonged Rocky Pass in winter. It is also the track that takes the longest to drive.
  • One location in PAW Patrol: Grand Prix is a frozen, icy mountain.
  • Icy areas appear a lot within Pokémon Dash. Even though they avert Frictionless Ice they still slow Pikachu down, as does anything that is not paved road.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Star Wars Episode I: Racer has the planet Ando Prime.
  • In Stunt Race FX the course White Land is covered in snow.
  • Super Catboy has a winter-set stage where Catboy will often need to travel on frozen surfaces. He'll accelerate forward faster than usual if he's running, and if he's using slide Catboy will speed ahead too quickly for players to control. Unfortunately a lot of the slippery areas tends to be located near killer pitfalls.
  • The Touhou Project fangame Gensou Skydrift features the Misty Lake, which has been turned into one of these by a massively empowered Cirno, who was apparently trying to build a castle, but gave up and decided to make her own racetrack instead.
  • Glacier Coast in Wave Race 64.
  • Cubiss Float in WipEout Fusion. Especially puzzling because both games feature hovering vehicles. Also in Wipeout, there's Silverstream in the original, Sagarmatha in 2097, Sebenco Climb and Sebenco Peak in Pure and Outpost 7 in Pulse.

    Real Time Strategy 
  • Pikmin:
    • Pikmin 2: The Valley of Repose is a snow-covered street crossing, with snowdrifts forming the terrain and snowmen, leafless trees and dying grasses as decoration, although besides the snow the only other wintery elements are a few Christmas-themed treasures in the Frontier Cavern.
    • Pikmin 3: The Distant Tundra and Silver Lake take place in snow-covered areas, although the ice and snow are purely cosmetic and the two don't play any differently from other zones in the game apart from the former having a slide made out of ice in two spots.
    • Hey! Pikmin: The Snowfall Field is an icy area that features frozen slopes that Olimar slides uncontrollably on and breakable icicles as obstacles. The second section, Beneath the Ice, where Olimar explores beneath a frozen lake, overlaps with Under the Sea. The third section, Over Wintry Mountains, consists of a nonstop downhill plunge on a sled improvised out of a bottlecap. The area's boss, the Luring Slurker, fights by using ice as both projectiles and shields.
    • Pikmin 4: Some caves and Dandori Challenges are filled with ice enemies and various ice-related hazards, requiring the use of either Ice Pikmin to withstand them or Red Pikmin with fire starters to burn them away. A few floors are so cold that non-Ice Pikmin would shiver and freeze unless the cold air is dispersed through some method. Usually, they take the appearance of the "tileset" cave type, which was used in Pikmin 2 to represent purely aquatic settings. Subzero Sauna is the earliest of the caves that can be found that use this theme.
  • Supreme Commander has Luthien and Seraphim Two, Single Biome Planets covered in ice and snow — surprisingly, the latter is the homeworld of one of the three major factions. It's a Real-Time Strategy game, though, so the cold doesn't do anything. The Forged Alliance expansion adds Blue Sky for another frozen world.
  • Warcraft III: The Northrend, Icecrown Glacier, and, to a lesser extent, Lordaeron Winter tilesets fit this trope. Neutral creeps found in these tilesets are mostly arctic versions of other creatures. Examples are Ice Trolls and ice-breathing Blue Dragons, which are icy versions of Forest Trolls and fire-breathing Red Dragons respectively.

    Roguelike 
  • Ancient Domains of Mystery has one near the end of the game, and it's too slippery to use spiked boots. Throw the tons of Clingy MacGuffins to get past. The gods will also reward you if you use a Potion of Uselessness for this purpose.

    Role Playing Game 
  • In Baten Kaitos, this trope is surprisingly absent. Even though there is an ice land, and you do tunnel through the snow, you don't slide on the ice. Maybe Xelha just got really good at walking on it.
  • Bug Fables:
    • The Ancient Castle combines this with Shifting Sand Land and Temple of Doom, as it is ordinarily an abandoned castle in the desert. It gets its ice theme from various switches that freeze the area in a radius, causing ice blocks that need to be pushed and even converting the enemies in to ice variants of themselves. The boss follows with this theme and alternates between sand/electricity and ice attacks.
    • In the final dungeon, the party briefly climbs a freezing area with ice block puzzles to push. It is the inside of a refrigerator (abandoned, but still working due to crystal magic happening to charge it), and to the bug-sized protagonists, it comes across as a vast alien mountain. The only enemies here are shared with the Ancient Castle.
  • Chrono Trigger has both a snowy mountain in the future setting of 2300 AD and 12,000 BC, set during the ice age.
  • One of Cthulhu Saves the World's bonus dungeons is an ice cave. It doesn't offer any ice-related gimmicks though, and while the game does feature ice-themed enemies, they all appear much earlier in a water shrine.
  • Dragon Quest
    • Dragon Quest V: Faerie Lea, although the ice in the Winter Palace isn't as slippery enough to get you to actually hit the wall, since you stop short when you move a certain number of spaces, it's still slippery.
    • And a few dungeons in Dragon Quest VI. The first one is short, has no enemies, and is just a single room with a slippery ice floor. The second one has slippery ice, along with cracked ice patches that drop you one floor below if you step on them more than once.
  • EarthBound Beginnings: The town of Snowman is a snowy town far in the north. In EarthBound (1994) we have Jeff's hometown of Winters and the surrounding land, which is located on the far northern half of the continent. Mother 3 has Snowcap Mountain, which Lucas and his friends must scale to find one of the seven needles.
  • The Elder Scrolls
    • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: The Jerall Mountains in Cyrodiil is a large snowy mountain range, located in the northern part of the province.
    • In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim most of the game's world is this. Especially the northern Holds of the province, which are filled with icy marshes and large glaciers. The southern parts of Skyrim avert this trope, as they are mostly covered in green forests.
  • Epic Battle Fantasy series:
    • Epic Battle Fantasy 3: Glacier Valley is an area covered in snow with an icy cavern, home to many ice-themed enemies such as Frozen Eyes and White Bushes. Its boss is a massive mammoth. A small portion of it is volcanic, introducing some fire and lava enemies early, but not to the degree that the entire place is Hailfire Peaks.
    • Epic Battle Fantasy 5: Frozen Valley acts as a successor to Glacier Valley of 3, down to having a radio that changes the music to the song used in the latter area. In addition to having snow and ice enemies, it contains several slippery ice floors and sliding ice block puzzles. An item obtained late in the area allows for freely walking on ice tiles without sliding. Its boss, Poseidon, is more water-themed (and is ironically weak to the Ice element), but carries some Ice attacks.
  • Eternal Sonata has a slight version in the Sharp Mountains. No Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors regarding the cold aspect, but there are certain paths that are sloped. You can get to the top if you keep going, but if you stop, you slide toward the bottom.
  • Etrian Odyssey:
    • Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard, true to its season-themed strata, boasts this for its winter floors (Frozen Grounds). The highest floor in the strata adds to it by making the ice too thin to cross except at night when the temperature drops. You are also given the chance to take a nice rest on one of the floors. Bad idea. The very first paragraph of this trope description should suggest why. The remake Fafnir Knight removes the thin ice but adds ice blocks that can be pushed through the icy tiles, useful to solve navigation puzzles.
    • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan has the Sacred Mountains, a very cold tundra in the overworld where the falling snow not only makes sight more difficult but in some areas, it also prevents the Skyship from ascending higher. It is home to various Caves (including the Underground Lake, which is ice-themed too — it is a maze made of ice walls but can be turned into a maze of warm water moats with the Black Flame) as well as the third stratum, Golden Lair. Lastly, the last floor of the Hall of Darkness has several ice walls that make up for a maze in a section; turning on a certain device will melt them, but also the frozen tiles scattered through the floor (which means they become pits and thus are impassable).
    • Etrian Odyssey Nexus has the mini-dungeon Frigid Lake, unlockable during the Playable Epilogue. Its layout is largely based on that of Golden Lair (which, incidentally, makes a return for this game), but due to the absence of the Boiling Lizard and its hot scales the cave is always cold, so the water remains frozen at all times. Like in the later floors of Golden Lair and the entirety of Frozen Grounds in The Fafnir Knight, there are ice blocks that can be pushed to improve the navigation in the frozen water (as it's Frictionless Ice).
  • Final Fantasy: Squaresoft/Square Enix loves this trope.
    • Final Fantasy: The Ice Cavern is full of ice-themed enemies and areas of thin ice that act as pitfalls to lower floors. The Ice Cavern-themed floors of Lifespring Grotto and Whisperwind Cove lack the latter feature due to the individual floors needing to be self-contained.
    • Final Fantasy II: The Snowfield and Snow Cavern in the northern section of the overworld map have ice-themed enemies and are, as their names suggest, full of snow. Thanks to the resulting treacherous terrain, the areas are only safely accessible via snowcraft. The fourth and fifth floors of the Mysidian Tower are also ice-themed and have tiles full of ice spikes that deal damage when walked on.
    • Final Fantasy VI: Narshe and the caves behind it. The snow fields outside the caves are the only place Mog can learn the dance Snowman Jazz. There's also a yeti that can join your party.
    • Final Fantasy VII: There is a wintry sequence in which you have to make Cloud stop and move around to warm up his body or he'd freeze to death.
    • Final Fantasy X: Mt. Gagazet is a snowy mountain home to the Ronso and numerous cold-adapted monsters. Macalania is perpetually frozen over regardless of weather or climate thanks to the magical influence of Shiva's Fayth, with her temple being built into it. During the escape from the temple, the ice is revealed to be just a solid layer high above the actual unfrozen lake.
    • Final Fantasy XII: Paramina Rift is a series of canyons running through a snowy mountain range leading to Mount Bur-Omisace. One of its southern sections has a Disconnected Side Area thanks to a gap in the ice over a frozen river. The Feywood combines this trope with The Lost Woods, being a forest that is perpetually covered in snow and half-frozen ponds thanks to its high altitude.
    • Final Fantasy XI: There is a zone named Uleguerand Range that features a battlefield with pricey and valuable rewards. The cost of entry? Sliding down an ice wall and landing in a very specific spot, amidst tons of sight, sound, and magic aggro from monsters. And God help you if a snowstorm starts.
  • Golden Sun:
    • The Lost Age has a dungeon in an antarctic region that's full of slippery ice puzzles. They could be quite a pain in the ass, seeing as how you have to solve some just for 100% completion. There was also Imil, the whole southern continent of Tundaria, and especially Prox, so far north it wasn't even on the map. Now that's cold.
    • Slippery ice puzzles return in Dark Dawn with the Snowdrift Shrine.
  • Mana Series:
    • Secret of Mana: The aptly-named Ice Country has you adventuring through an iridescent frozen forest, and then entering an Ice Palace to battle Santa Claus.
    • Sword of Mana: The Snowfield and Kahla Peaks form a high-altitude region locked in perpertual winter around Castle Lorimar. The snow frequently gives way to patches of bare ice that the characters can slide on. The local Boss Room is an ice bridge in an ice cave, making it particularly difficult to dodge the boss as it climbs around the nearby ice pillars to attack from above and below.
    • Trials of Mana: Altena itself is kept warm via magic, but the surrounding environs are covered in ice and snow, with the main overworld area in the region being Frostbite Fields.
  • Miitopia: The Powdered Peaks, with evil snowflakes, penguins, and snowmen to boot.
  • Pokémon:
    • In general, every Ice-type gym is this. Pryce in Pokémon Gold and Silver and remakes, Candice in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Brycen in Pokémon Black and White. Wulfric in Pokémon X and Y finally breaks the pattern.
    • Each region will also have a snowy/icy area where Ice-type Pokémon can be caught. Since these areas are typically traversed after the player has at least six badges, the Pokémon found there tend to suffer from Late Character Syndrome.
    • Pokémon Red and Blue:
      • Seafoam Islands, home of the legendary bird Articuno. The icy nature of the cave isn't as apparent in the originals due to the limited graphics, but clear in the remakes. HeartGold and SoulSilver, which changed the layout of the area, adds Frictionless Ice.
      • Icefall Cave in FireRed and LeafGreen has both slippery ice and cracking ice, the latter of which drops the player to a later floor when stepped on twice.
    • Pokémon Gold and Silver:
      • The Ice Path has sliding ice puzzles and boulder-pushing puzzles, sometimes combining the two.
      • The summit of Mt. Silver became snowy in the DS remakes. There's hail during the final battle because of this.
    • Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire does not have a full ice area, but Shoal Cave contains an ice section at the bottom during low tide. Most of the floor consists of Frictionless Ice.
    • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl:
      • Snowpoint City and the routes leading up to it have deep patches of snow you cannot bike or run through, and your walking speed is reduced to a snail's pace. There's also a blizzard on Route 217 which makes it difficult to see and causes Hail during battle that damages all non-Ice Pokémon every turn.
      • The summit of Mt. Coronet is also covered in snow. There's no deep snow for the player to get stuck in, but it does hail in battle.
    • Pokémon Black and White:
      • The Cold Storage has Vanillite found on the outside and Frictionless Ice on the inside. Zinzolin repeatedly complains about how cold it is.
      • Icirrus City and the surrounding area freeze over in the winter (otherwise the area is a Bubblegloop Swamp).
    • Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 : Opelucid City and Route 9 become this temporarily due to Team Plasma using Kyurem's power to freeze them over.
    • Pokémon X and Y:
      • Frost Cavern is an icy cave with the usual ice sliding puzzles.
      • The snow on Route 17 is so thick, the player has to ride a Mamoswine just to cross it.
      • Snowbelle City is said to be frosty entirely because of the cold air coming out of the gym.
    • Pokémon Sun and Moon & Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon have the snowy peak of Mt. Lanakila on Ula'ula Island. New Ice-type forms of Vulpix and Sandshrew appear here, among other Ice-type Pokémon. It is also where Crabrawler has to be taken in order to obtain its part Ice-type evolution Crabominable.
    • Pokémon Sword and Shield:
      • Circhester is a snowy city which happens to feature an Ice-type gym in Shield (in Sword, it has a Rock-type gym instead).
      • South of Circhester is the northern part of Route 9, a bay filled with ice floes.
      • Route 10 is a snowy path that connects White Hill Station with Wyndon.
    • Pokémon Legends: Arceus: The fifth and final main region, the Alabaster Icelands, are a frigid tundra filled with dense snowdrifts, masses of ice, and large numbers of Ice-type Pokémon. The region happens to be the past version of Snowpoint City's surrounding areas in Diamond and Pearl.
    • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Glaseado Mountain is a snow-covered mountain with several caves and high peaks, where you can find Montenevera and its Ghost type gym, as well as an isolated Ice type gym. You can also find the Paldea region's resident pseudo-legendary, Frigibax and its evolutions here.
  • Super Mario Bros. RPGs
    • Mario & Luigi
      • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: Joke's End. Interestingly, its snowy climate isn't caused by high altitude, proximity to the poles, wintertime, or — for that matter — any other environmental effect. No, Joke's End is cold because that's where bad jokes go to die, and they bring with them their audience's frigid reaction.
      • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: Hollijolli Village is a depressed snowy town with a Christmas theme.
      • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: The Airway becomes this when Bowser inhales Midbus' ice breath. By doing so, some platforms become slippery enough for Thwomp-like enemies to move in a position to be platforms and switches becoming too frozen to be activated with Mario's hammer.
      • Mario & Luigi: Dream Team: The summit of Mount Pajamaja is covered in snow, though it's only Dreamy Mount Pajamaja that features the "Slippy Slidey" part.
  • Paper Mario:
    • Paper Mario 64: The entirety of "Chapter 7: A Star Spirit on Ice" takes place in the Shiver Region of the Mushroom Kingdom, composed of Shiver City, Shiver Snowfield, Starborn Valley (the birthplace of Star Kids before their ascension to Star Haven), Shiver Mountain and finally, sitting at the summit of the aforementioned mountain, the Crystal Palace. This is the penultimate chapter where Mario and his team face off against the Crystal King to free the seventh and final Star Spirit, upon which they can take the fight to Bowser.
    • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: Part of the game's seventh and penultimate chapter, "Mario Shoots the Moon", takes place at the icy Fahr Outpost. In their quest to reach the X-Nauts' headquarters on the Moon to save Princess Peach and find the seventh and final Crystal Star (though before that visit, Peach had already been taken to the Palace of Shadow), Mario and his team visit the outpost to seek help from the elusive Bob-Omb General White in order to activate a cannon that will send them there.
    • Paper Mario: Sticker Star: World 4, where you'll find evil penguins, snowball-throwing enemies, and ice that is slippery as well as shiny.
    • Paper Mario: The Origami King: The Ice Vellumental Mountain is a frozen complex of chambers and passages lined with slippery ice that will cause Mario to slide a short distance even after he stops moving, contains multiple puzzles based on sliding slabs of ice around a room, and is populated by ice-based enemies weak to fire-based attacks.
  • Undertale has Snowdin, a forest perpetually blanketed in snow, with a cozy little town done up in Christmas decorations. There are a few puzzles that involve navigating patches of ice, but they're used sparingly.
  • In A Witch's Tale, Hansel's kingdom is a snow-bound land. It has sections where you move the stylus and go flying in one direction, and must navigate icicle mazes.
  • The World Ends with You: While "Shibuya ain't cold enough for ice," there is an ice level, not in the main game, but as one of the boards in Tin Pin Slammer. In Another Day, after you go to Molco, head to the Udagawa Back Streets and challenge Mr. Kitaniji to Tin Pin. (He won't accept your challenge before then.) The board is icy, with no obstacles, making it much easier for you to send your own pin flying off the board by your own stupid mistakes. The ice does affect the other pins, however.
  • Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter: The Ice Ridge of Noltia. Also, the Eldam Mountains in III and Ys: The Oath in Felghana, and the Ice Mountain in both classic versions of IV.

    Action RPG 
  • Mount Sabre from Crystalis is the game's typical "ice dungeon", complete with ice slides. It's possible to jump up these slopes if your character has the Rabbit Boots equipped and isn't using magic. In fact, it's required that you do this in order to reach an important Upgrade Artifact for your first sword.
  • The ice caves inDungeon Siege are relatively unique in that they tend to be found early on in the world. The Legends of Aranna expansion takes it further, making snowlands its Green Hill Zone.
  • E.V.O.: Search for Eden has the Ice Age chapter, where most outdoor surfaces are iced over. Mammals have the ability to walk on ice without slipping, encouraging you to evolve into one. You may, however, choose to remain a dinosaur as a Self-Imposed Challenge. Unusually for this trope, the ice doesn't make it hard to slow down, only to accelerate.
  • Kingdom Hearts II features Christmas Town, accessed through a door in the Hinderlands of the Halloween Town World.
  • Kingdom Hearts III has the Arendelle world, which is completely frozen over just like in the movie it's based on. The Heartless unique to Arendelle are all at least partly made of ice.
  • Lands of Lore 2 has The Claw Mountains, which feature thin, slippery ice bridges, snowy variants of the cat creatures encountered earlier in the game, and a ride on an ice flow or two along a freezing river.
  • Mass Effect features Noveria, where the ice is both real and figurative, as you have to deal with a very cold reception from the corporations controlling the planet. There's also a few uncharted ice worlds that can be visited, though usually the only hazards are the cold temperature itself and reduced visibility, or the pirates, but you find those everywhere.
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda has Voeld (it's cold, baby!), a planet that is going through a severe ice-age, turning a formerly lovely planet of scenic beaches and mountain ranges into a snowy, icy wasteland (with the occasional very hungry monster looking for food). And there are frozen lakes, which naturally give the Nomad traction problems you'd expect from a six-wheel ATV going over a hundred KPH.
  • Monster Hunter has the Snowy Mountain in 2 (dos), Freedom 2 / Unite and Frontier (renamed Arctic Ridge in Generations), the Tundra in 3 (tri) / 3 Ultimate and Portable 3rd, Frozen Seaway in 4 / 4 Ultimate, Hoarfrost Reach in Monster Hunter: World: Iceborne, and Frost Islands in Monster Hunter: Rise; as well as the Snowy Mountain Peak (a Boss-Only Level version exclusive to Freedom Unite) and Polar Field (another boss-only area which debuted in Portable 3rd and has since been a recurring place in the series). In this case, there are no slippy grounds or dense snowy terrain (outside of the deep snow in Hoarfrost Reach), but instead the very cold temperature will cause the player's stamina meter to deplete faster. Drinking a hot beverage or wearing armor that gives the Cold Resist skill will prevent this (this is no longer necessary in Rise, as the cold isn't harmful and Hot Drinks aren't present anyway).
  • In the Winterhorn Ridge level from Odin Sphere, you actually will freeze to death without a warming potion.
  • Tales Series
    • Tales of Phantasia has the Cave of Fenrir located under the town of Friezkil, where Vorpal sword can be found. While ice there isn't slippy, you can find enemies who are weak to fire.
    • Tales of Destiny (Playstation version) plays this trope to a logical extreme on one level. You have to buy the fur cape accessory in order to travel across a bitter cold pathway that will drop your HP horrendously fast without the aforementioned fur capes.
    • A few puzzles in Tales of Symphonia take place in a slippery, icy cavern. What's odd is that the low-gravity puzzles work the same way.
    • Tales of Vesperia has the Blade Drifts of Zoephir, which is the interesting combination of Slippy Slidey Ice World and Field of Blades.
  • Ultima Underworld II features the Ice Caverns, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Mercifully, most of the large slippery sections can be avoided entirely without missing anything worthwhile, although there's one that you do end up having to traverse.
  • Wrestle Quest: The Great North is where you’ll find icy mountains and snow as far as the eye can see. It’s also home to all kinds of creatures you’d find in icy regions, heck, even a yeti lives there.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1 has Valak Mountain. It is a slight bit of Hailfire Peaks because it has a small lava cave. There's also some very entertaining ice physics allowing characters to gain speed and jump off to reach secret areas.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X: Sylvalum subverts this. It looks like an icy world but the stuff giving it its appearance is actually pollen! It does have a relatively low temperature.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has Tantal, which has cold temperatures due to its home Titan Genbu having poor circulation from the Indoline Praetorium sucking out the Titan's ether. Like the first game, ice physics are used to explore the area.

    MMORPG 
  • Achaea's weather system occasionally produces blizzards, which leave players stumbling around blindly until the snow eases off. However, the snow seems to melt instantly on hitting the ground, and so does not actually create an Ice World afterwards.
  • City of Heroes
    • One of the most popular missions, "Arrest Frostfire" features an ice-covered room that includes ice-slides and an ice half-pipe. Seldom does a team of player characters enter this room without someone deciding to take a couple of minutes to play on the ice.
    • During the Winter Event of City of Heroes, the Ski Chalet appears in Pocket D, a snow-covered mountain floating in a void with a wooden shack on top and ski slopes, complete with Badges for beating the best ski times. A unique instanced map only found in this event turns Croatoa snowy.
  • The various areas of the Shiverpeak Mountains in Guild Wars combine this with Death Mountain. Of course, even the lady Elementalists, whose preferred attire is a bra, miniskirt, and a lot of lace, have no trouble with the cold. One mission does make note of the weather in such an environment, however the mission is set in the midst of a night-time blizzard, and the party is tasked with lighting a series of signal fires for the NPC's following behind them.
  • Guild Wars 2 has the Super Adventure Box minigame, which is more or less a 3D platformer game running on an MMO engine. It contains tons of shout-outs and references to classic games of the 8- to 16-bit eras, and of course it also contains a token ice world (World 2-3) that does all the usual ice world things.
  • MapleStory has El Nath, an icy mountain area. All of the floors in the area have reduced friction and you take damage every few seconds due to the freezing cold. Both problems can be negated with certain equipment or usable items, but since you can abuse physics to move faster on the icy ground, and the cold damage dealt is nearly nonexistent, there's no point to using either. Enemies in the area include yetis, penguins, penguins riding yetis, wolves, werewolves, and zombies. To a lesser extent, there's also Rien and the Riena Strait, which are snowy but lack the ice physics and cold of El Nath.
  • On RuneScape, the 2008 Christmas event had patches of ice that you could only slide on until you bumped into a rock. So irritating. And again in 2010, although that time the player was a seal trying to avoid holes in the ice. Outside of Christmas events, there's the frozen floors of the Dungeoneering skill, which are as advertised, including a room where the player has to slide around trying to activate four pressure pads to open a door and a boss that is floating over an icy floor that players can only slide on. There are also two icy plateaux on the surface which continually drain a player's stats and deal damage as they remain in there.
  • Temtem has several areas with slippery ice. One is a cave that’s popular to try and find because it’s the only spawn location for Oceara, a water Temtem. You can eventually get a pair of boots that stop you from sliding.
  • The Brrrrrgh from Toontown Online. Luckily, snow and ice don't affect gameplay unless you count fishing.
  • World of Warcraft has Winterspring as well as Dun Morogh, home of the dwarves. Northrend has plenty of icy areas (Including the lifeless Icecrown Glacier,) but it has quite a few exceptions to keep it from being a Slippy Slidey Ice Continent. There's also Frostfire Ridge in the Warlords of Draenor Expansion.

    Shoot Em Up 
  • The third stage of Robo Aleste. Though the hero worries that the cold could freeze the joints of his Humongous Mecha, it plays like every other stage.
  • The ice stages in Gradius II, III Arcade, and Gaiden.
  • Frigistan in Heavy Weapon, the first stage. Yetis may sometimes appear in the background.
  • The Game Boy version of the first Parodius game has one for its third stage. It's played unusually straight for what may be the Trope Codifier of Cute Em Ups.
  • Star Fox:
    • Star Fox 64, Assault, Command, and Zero have Fichina. In Assault, the dense snowfall and fog make visibility difficult.
    • Star Fox Adventures has two cold areas: SnowHorn Wastes and part of DarkIce Mines. There's not a lot of slipperiness in the former (although the Krazoa Shrine accessible from there does have a slippery floor), but they do have places where ice blocks your way, and the water eats away at your health as long as you stay in it. The latter also has a big lava zone, thus it's also a Hailfire Peaks dungeon.
  • Star Parodier has Scene 4, where the enemies range from snowflakes to walruses.

    First Person Shooter 
  • Borderlands 2, in order to drive home just how inhospitable Pandora is, starts right in the middle of the freezing glaciers. The Yeti-like enemies are large four-armed apes called Bullymongs.
  • Deep Rock Galactic: The Glacial Strata, gigantic layers of Permafrost that Hoxxes IV somehow has under its continental plates with caverns just as full of minerals as the rest (don't ask, Hoxxes IV makes zero sense to the point "don't think about it" is official company policy). The usual threats are there, with both thick snow that slows and ice that's slippery, along with frosty enemies... but the big threat is simply the cold itself, which will gradually lower your temperature as the elements and enemies assault you until you freeze solid and need to free yourself before you become a dwarven popsicle. There's volcanic vents here and there to warm you up, thankfully.
  • Halo:
  • Heretic has The Ice Grotto... which also features lava right next to the ice. No, really.
  • Painkiller has Snowy Bridge, a snow-covered bridge. It's considered one of the hardest levels with its waves of enemies compounded by its lack of friction and the fact that they can jump over the ice, its length, and its hidden secrets being the only way to get the level's card. Some examples? 
  • Paladins has many Winter-themed maps, such as Frozen Guard and Ice Mines for Siege mode, Frostbite Cavern for Payload mode, and Snowfall Junction for Onslaught mode. Early in development, there was a large map named Glacier Keep, but it was reworked and divided into Frozen Guard and Ice Mines.
  • Slime Rancher 2: Powderfall Bluffs was frozen in ice for a long, long time, so it's covered in snow, glaciers, and solid auroras. However, there's also a volcanic area with palm trees.

    Third Person Shooter 
  • Tau Volantis from Dead Space 3. Most of the necromorphs you fight are wearing parkas.
  • Jet Force Gemini: The final level in the game (Asteroid) features cold areas in its interior. In them, several parts of the floor are frozen (you can even see Juno's reflection through them), thougn luckily they're not slippery; there' s even a section where enemies are covering up with walls of ice.
  • The Tibetan levels in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves fit this trope nicely, complete with Yeti-type enemies.
  • Most of Corpus facilities you raid in Warframe are located in frozen-over areas of the Origin System: Venus, poles of Mars, Europa, and Pluto. Europa in particular is so cold staying outdoors away from heat generators damages your shields and, once your shields run out, your health as well.

    Simulation Game 
  • In APICO, the Tundra is a snowy archipelago with ice sheets that make you slide around a bit. Some bee species adapted to the cold can be found here.
  • One of the many possible terrain types where you can found a settlement in Dwarf Fortress, and good for a moderate Self-Imposed Challenge because the water sources are usually frozen over.
  • The mountains of MySims Agents have lots of snow and ice, but none of it affects gameplay.
  • Snowdrop Tundra is the fourth unlockable location in Pokémon Sleep, which is a snowy island where most Ice-types reside.
  • In Rimworld the Ice Sheet and Sea Ice biomes are the coldest environments you may settle in. They feature extremely low temperatures, little to no farming area and no wood at all as a thick sheet of ice covers the whole map. Sea Ice in particular doesn't even have any mineral resource, making it a major challenge to play in. However, they do have a silver lining in that the cold will neutralize many of your enemies as well.
  • Morena in Rodina is the fourth planet from Zorica, which consists pretty much of nothing but ice canyons that are kilometres deep and atmosphere so cold your ship will get destroyed unless you find the heating unit. It's also where you find acidic protection unit necessary to touch down on Veles.
  • Like most level tropes, this can be made in RollerCoaster Tycoon.

    Sports Game 
  • All seven of the bowling lanes in Polar Bowler are made of ice and have various arctic and wintry themes, starting with an ice cave in the first lane and ending at Santa's workshop. Frozen aesthetics aside, they act as ordinary bowling lanes.
  • Super Dodgeball takes the player to a stereotypical version of Iceland, whose court is of course very slippery, making it difficult to stay in-bounds and increasing the chances you'll botch a running super shot: If you step out of bounds while holding the ball, you automatically drop it. The stage based on Kenya inverts the trope, setting the action on an earthen court where it's difficult to get up to speed.
  • The Wii Fit Advanced Obstacle Course is covered in ice, which makes it hard for your Mii to stop, and can send them careening off the edge of a platform or into something that will smack them silly.

    Stealth Based Game 

    Turn-Based Strategy 
  • Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem has the frozen mountains as the last destination in Anri's Way, a treacherous path to reach the Ice Dragon Shrine to receive the Lightsphere needed to defeat Hardin. It is filled with barbarians and their Ice Dragon pets.
  • The Kingdom of Silesse in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is a land covered in snow known for its Pegasus Knights. Unfortunately, the kingdom was in a period of turmoil when Lewyn was named heir to the throne while his uncles vied for power and with Sigurd taking refuge as a fugitive to Grannvale, the kingdom erupted into a civil war.
  • Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade has Ilia, an entire country covered in snow and ice. Due to its poor fertility, many took up jobs as mercenaries to keep the country wealthy. It is where the divine spear of snow and ice, Maltet, is hidden.
  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade: The Black Fang's headquarters is located in the mountaintop of Bern, making it very snowy. This is important as it has occasional snowfall that slows down your troops outside of the walls.
  • Upon invading Daein in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, winter has come and the land is beginning to be covered in snow. Snow is only seen in Daein as Crimea is still green before you left.
  • North of Ylisse lies Regna Ferox in Fire Emblem: Awakening. Since it is a land of warriors, the north is completely covered in snow.
  • The Ice Tribe in Fire Emblem Fates lives in a snowy mountain of Nohr. Their village is filled with snow and has a lake that can be magically frozen and thawed through Dragon Veins.
  • Pinnacle Robotics from Into the Breach is located on a snowy island where frozen water is a common terrain feature and freeze-mines are a common trap. A possible hazard includes storms that will instantly freeze any unit unfortunate enough to stand on a targetted tile.
  • Phantom Brave: A number of the islands that Marona travels to have icy terrain across all of their maps. While this can be exploited to send a unit all the way across the map in a single turn, it's also more than possible to accidentally send that unit out of bounds (and thus off the map).

    Wide Open Sandbox 
  • Glean: Glacial planets, which have a very low temperature, but the constant exposure will chip away at your plating. Gas and crystals appear on them more often, but there are fewer minerals.
  • One of many biomes in Minecraft is an ice biome where snow falls at any elevation and water freezes over. If you're lucky, you can also find majestic ice spires made of unique packed ice that can't be acquired anywhere else. Snow can also be found at high altitudes in extreme hills.
  • The snow biome from Necesse, which features Polar Bears and Penguins and whose caverns are populated by evil blue-skinned dwarves and have the rare frost (standard caves) and glacial ore (deep caves) minerals. Curiously, its first boss is the Queen Spider, which doesn't fit the theme.
  • Terraria has the Tundra biome and its underground counterpart, every world generating with one. In addition to ice-themed versions of the standard Zombies and Slimes, there are also Ice Elementals and ice-spitting Mermen by Hardmode. The cold is not an issue outside of Expert and Master worlds, where the water inflicts the Chilled debuff and slows players down.
  • The ice biome in TerraTech often comes in the form of ridged plateaus for extra frustration.

    Non-Video Game Examples 
  • Brawl in the Family sets this trope to MUSIC! in strip 388, properly named "Ice World".
  • In the Ciaphas Cain novels:
    • The 597th Valhallan Regiment are native iceworlders, well-known for their characteristic greatcoats. All of the inhabitants live near the equator, and "Gone North" (their equivalent of "Gone South" or, "Gone ploin-shaped") arises from the fact that the Northern part of Valhalla (and the southern part, Amberley is quick to point out) is a place you really do not want to go.
    • Caves of Ice concerns the 597th's deployment to Simia Orichalcae, an iceworld under siege by Orks... and populated curiously by desert creatures.
    • Adumbria is a three-biome planet, as it doesn't rotate on itself: one side is eternally dark iceworld.
  • The Conversion Bureau: Conquer the Stars has the planet Equestria relocated itself to. Not only is it a barely habitable freezing ball of ice, but (as Twilight notes) it's also infested with dangerous beasts that would make anything from the Everfree Forest look downright cute and cuddly in comparison.
  • Disney's Blizzard Beach at Walt Disney World
  • Doraemon: Great Adventure in the Antarctic Kachi Kochi, as the title implies, is set entirely in the Antarctic. It starts with Doraemon and Nobita exploring a stray iceberg that broke off from the Antarctic and drifted to the Atlantic, where they create a mini-amusement park made of ice. And then Nobita finds a mysterious golden bracelet in the ice, realize it's an artifact from the Ice Age, and the gang then travels to the past to a time when the world is covered entirely in ice and snow before realizing they're mankind's only hope against an eons-old eldritch monster who wants to plunge the world into Endless Winter.
  • Equestria: Across the Multiverse: Ice Equestria is in a constant ice age due to being further away from the sun. The native ponies have adapted to the cold, but the jaunters need to wear Paladin Armor to survive there. Ironically, much like the Fire Ponies, the temperature of mainline Equus is inhospitable to life for Ice World inhabitants and they need to wear life support suits there.
  • The Fourth sees this stage through the eyes of the villain as a dungeon to hide a Plot Coupon. It has every puzzle a classic ice stage should have, and is clearly That One Level. So much, in fact, when the (virtuous and patient) hero meets the person who made the level in a peaceful situation, he tries to strangle him.
  • In Season 10 Episode 23 of Happy Heroes, the Supermen are trapped in a video game by Big M. and have to Win to Exit. They go through three levels that employ video game level tropes - the first is a food world, the second is a slippery ice world where they slide down some ice, and a third is a lava world where they fight a volcano monster as a boss.
  • Homestuck exhibits this in the form of Jade Harley's planet, the Land of Frost and Frogs (before all the frost melted, that is).
  • Roy and Valerie pass through a landscape like this during the montage in Journey of the Cartoon Man.
  • Polaris in Noob, where not moving for too long can get one frozen solid.
  • In Swordquest, the Waterworld realm is this combined with Under the Sea.
  • Winter temperatures in Stockholm, Sweden are often above 0°C during the day and below 0°C during the night. Any rain and snow (which is very common there) turn into slush that freezes overnight, resulting in these kinds of conditions. You have to walk like a penguin to not slip and fall.
  • During Winter 2014 and 2015, the northeast area of the U.S. had basically turned into this, with snow going up to 3 inches amongst miles of sleet. The Northeast once again gets a dose of this trope with Polar Vortex 2019. Temperatures managed to reach below 20°F, leading to frozen and slippery roads, iced-up sidewalks, and dangerous snowstorms.
  • Most moons of the outer planets of the The Solar System are mainly composed of (water) ice, with it at those temperatures being rock-solid thus when it melts being the outer Solar System equivalent of lava. Tethys, in orbit about Saturn, has been described as basically a huge frozen water drop with just a very small amount of rocks and little more else. There is also Pluto, which, if you still consider to be a planet, would be the one legit confirmed ice world in the currently known universe.
  • Subverted in Stargate SG-1. Carter and O'Neill are trapped in a glacier cavern on what is thought to be an alien planet. Carter makes her way to the surface and depressingly tells O'Neill they are on an "ice planet" with no signs of civilization. The subversion is it turns out they are actually on Earth, in Antarctica.
  • Star Wars features the arctic planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back as well as the Starkiller in The Force Awakens. Subverted with Crait from The Last Jedi, since the seemingly snowy floor is actually covered with white salt. Also, Thrawn's home planet Csilla became this 5000 years ago after its sun cooled down. It turns out it was an unexpected side effect of a superweapon used by the Chiss in desperation to stop an invading fleet.
  • The planet Gethen in Ursula K Leguin's The Left Hand of Darkness is mostly like this. The natives subsist mainly on fish and the hardier vegetables because there, larger livestock animals can't thrive in this climate.
  • Serina tells about a cold moon that enters an ice age twice. The first time this happens (about 270 mya in) there’s still a small area at the equator that can support life. The second and final time (after ~300 mya), however, the ice completely and permanently covers the planet, causing the complete extinction of life on Serina.
  • After the opening arc of Superman storyline New Krypton, the Kandorians relocate their city to another planet. In the Who is Superwoman? story arc it's shown that their new world is an uninhabitable ice planet. The main character and other Kryptonians can survive in that deadly environment, but for everybody else, it's a frozen death world.
    Superwoman: "New Krypton. This is our home how. Because of arrogance, the Kryptonian people have left the Earth. The capital city of Kandor sits atop a planet of ice. Early efforts to begin terraforming have proven unsuccessful."
  • The Ice Realm from Dragons: The Nine Realms is this in a nutshell. The characters frequently slip and slide across it as the floor is covered with snow or ice. There are icey mountains throughout the realm, the trees have a blue-ish color and are permanently covered with snow and sometimes, you find giant icicles hanging from arches of the frozen landscape. The dragons are mostly either white, blue or gray in color.
  • The setting of Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom is a strange frozen world filled with horrifying creatures.
  • In Episode 34 of GO-GO Tamagotchi!, the Tamagotchis have a race where they pilot vehicles on a course through space. The track goes through a few single-biome planets, one of which is an ice world where it's snowing very hard.
  • The arctic settings of the Van Beuren Studios cartoons "Frozen Frolics" and "Polar Pals".


Alternative Title(s): Ice Level, Ice World

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Icy Speedway

Icy Speedway is the second Autumn Plains Speedway. This snowy realm sees you burning down Eskimos, on foot and in air. Serpents lay in the freezing water. You can find a special challenge from Hunter by supercharging the igloo.

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Main / SlippySlideyIceWorld

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