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1[[quoteright:281:[[VideoGame/RayMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/floating.jpg]]]]
2 [[caption-width-right:281:The protagonist's head also floats...]]
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9%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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16->'''Houston:''' I just thought of something... how do these platforms float?\
17''[[PuffOfLogic *CRASH*]]''\
18'''Samus:''' NEVER question the physics in a video game!
19-->-- [[http://www.metroid2002.com/maru_mari/030.html "Maru Mari"]]
20
21Ah, the floating platform. A staple of platformers and many other games beside. Their popularity is usually attributed to their use in the ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' series.
22
23What do floating platforms do? They float. In the air. Unattached to anything (other than perhaps the background wall, if indoors). Inexplicably. Usually motionless, sometimes moving in a circular or back-and-forth pattern. Their sole purpose of existence is to allow you, the player, to jump onto them to get to where you are going. After all, ''you'' [[SelectiveGravity can't fly]].
24
25If it just so happens that you ''can'' fly, floating platforms will serve the opposite purpose and become inane obstacles in your way, forcing you to go around them. Unless, of course, you can only fly short distances, in which case, they allow you a rest to recharge your flight meter or whatever the game happens to use.
26
27Floating platforms aren't just immune to gravity, but to all laws of physics. Regardless of what happens to them, they'll either just stay frozen in place as if in some state of dimensional stasis (albeit with MidAirBobbing in some cases), or keep moving in a pre-defined pattern, ignoring all thrusts of inertia which attempt to affect them -- unless it's a TemporaryPlatform, in which case the weight of the player will suddenly shock it back to reality in a couple of seconds and cause it to fall, crumble, or vanish. And woe is the player who lands (or, more accurately, doesn't land) on a FakePlatform.
28
29Inexplicable floating platforms are in some respects a DiscreditedTrope, as any game developer who wishes to preserve immersion will surely opt for ways to make platforms of this nature seem more realistic, such as by attaching them to the surrounding terrain or giving some sort of {{justification}} like jet thrusters, GreenRocks, SolidClouds, CraniumRide on a creature that you made into a FrozenFoePlatform, or some other excuse. But if not, then this is justified perfectly well by ArtisticLicensePhysics and RuleOfFun.
30
31See also FloatingContinent and WorldInTheSky when major landmasses behave this way.
32----
33!!Examples
34
35[[foldercontrol]]
36
37[[folder:Card Games]]
38* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
39** In the expansion ''Zendikar'', several geographic formations float in mid-air, including floating plains, mountains, and islands. This can be clearly seen in the artwork of the appropriate land cards. Of course, this expansion is based on the idea that the land is alive and is very volatile/unstable.
40** The ''Urza's Saga'' storyline features the {{Heaven}}-like world of Serra's Realm, which is made up of [[http://magiccards.info/br/en/22.html idyllic meadows]] and [[http://magiccards.info/us/en/325.html majestic cathedrals]] floating on huge slabs of rock.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
44* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheSecretDoor'', Alexa, Romy, and Nori use a floating platform to get around Zinnia. It floats via magic.
45* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'': The Mushroom Kingdom is filled with different floating platforms and brick blocks as is the case in [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros the games]]. The Toads get past them just fine, while Mario is worried he might fall off.
46* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Rex is seen playing a Buzz Lightyear video game, and walks up some magically appearing floating steps to fight the final boss.
47[[/folder]]
48
49[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', massive islands of stone known as the Hallelujah Mountains (Thundering Rocks to the natives) float high above the planet Pandora's surface. It is explained that the magnetic energies from the literal {{Unobtainium}} keep them suspended mid-air due to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meissner_effect Meissner Effect]]. It's also known that the resulting magnetic "Flux Vortex" interferes with the navigational instruments of human aircraft. The principle is actually scientifically sound; a superconductor like unobtanium would float when exposed to a sufficiently powerful magnetic field. However, a magnetic field strong enough to make mountains float would do a lot more than interfere with navigation.
51* A rare example and justification of this: ''Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth2008'' has floating stones large enough to stand on suspended by magnetic force.
52* When Queen Amidala's starship arrives on Coruscant in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', it docks at a floating landing platform -- [[NoOSHACompliance one with no apparent handrails]], which is mocked severely by ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids''.
53[[/folder]]
54
55[[folder:Literature]]
56* Laputa in ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' flies with the help of magnetic force, or so they say.
57* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series feature the Ways, which are seemingly suspended in nothing. AWizardDidIt.
58* The ''Literature/WorldsOfPower'' {{novelization}} of ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' actually features moving floating platforms without the slightest bit of humor.
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Manhua]]
62* As the game Long Wei creates in ''Manhua/InfinityGame'' is predominately made of pillars and bars, a lot of them float and are mostly used by enemies. The team eventually make their way to a falsely titled "floating city" which is really a series of floating platforms, that they reach by using an anti-gravity spell.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Video Games]]
66* ''VideoGame/AkujiTheHeartless'' throws plenty of these hazards, over {{Acid Pool}}s. There's also "invisible" floating platforms in a few levels.
67* In ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/AngryBirds2'', many structures are held by indestructible floating platforms of earth or rock.
68* ''VideoGame/BillyBladeAndTheTempleOfTime'': There are plenty of floating platforms in the various levels that [[PlayerCharacter Billy Blade]] can travel to, both moving and stationary.
69* ''VideoGame/BubbleAndSqueak'': The game has mechanical ones that only move when a nearby button is pushed.
70* ''VideoGame/{{Bug|1995}}'': The entirety of the six levels take place on a floating terrain -- which is actually part of a movie set -- where small pieces of the terrain move around in the air.
71* ''Videogame/{{Chantelise}}'': In the Path to the Palace in the Sealed Palace section, there are floating rock platforms separating the cave you come out of, and the floating Sealed Palace.
72* ''Videogame/{{Clonk}}'': Gravity is somewhat selective, similar to ''Videogame/{{Minecraft}}'', and ground that you dig out (unlike sand) will simply float there. Bizarrely, they can still collapse due to earthquakes. There are also quite a few levels that take place entirely in the sky. Falling off these is a bad idea. Also, all objects (separate entities, as opposed to materials which are parts of the level) that behave solid are unaffected by all gravitation.
73* ''VideoGame/{{Cloudbuilt}}'' and ''VideoGame/SuperCloudbuilt'' have worlds made up entirely of floating platforms, a lot of which are vertical for performing [[WallRun Wall Runs]].
74* ''VideoGame/ClunkyHero'': The game is full of mysteriously floating rocks and landmasses, being a PlatformGame and all.
75* ''VideoGame/CreaVures'': Giant dragonflies act as floating platforms.
76* ''VideoGame/CrystalCaves'' has mechanical platforms with jet engines, allowing them to hover. There are also some classic floating platforms, though; since it's a game with a SideView, let's just say they're actually attached to the background.
77* ''VideoGame/{{Dawn}}'' has a load of floating platforms in it, to the point it might as well be made up entirely of them. They can even be seen in the sky box.
78* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'', Mission 17: Parted Memento makes you traverse a series of ''invisible'' floating platforms, presumably made of some kind of magical energy, to obtain the Quicksilver item needed to unlock the last room and proceed to the BossFight. These magical platforms are only visible when the lightning flashes from the storm outside temporarily illuminate them.
79* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'' takes this trope one step further, having conveniently-placed hooks to swing off from that are attached to... the sky?
80* ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife'':
81** In the game, you draw two different varieties of cloud to serve as platforms, one sort which is stationary, and another sort which moves up and down or back and forth. And in the "floating in water" department, it later has you draw two kinds of ice cube, one which is stationary, and one which floats back and forth on the water. Certain parts also have floating, stationary Shadow Goo platforms which you ooze through.
82** The main gimmick of ''Drawn to Life'' gives the player the ability to add whatever justification he or she likes. Sure the game advises you to draw clouds, but there's nothing stopping you drawing a metal platform with rocket thrusters, or a giant balloon, or some kind of non-moving bird. They'll still be floating platforms, but at least the justification is in the hands of the player.
83* ''VideoGame/ElliotAndTheMusicalJourney'': The world of the game is made up of these. You have the average looke-like-ground ones, and there's also ones that resemble musical instruments.
84* ''VideoGame/FeatheryEars'' has its share of these. They have a root reaching downward at their bottoms, but the roots don't seem to be connected to anything.
85* ''VideoGame/FinAndTheAncientMystery'': The game has floating platforms. These platforms seem to have blue glowing crystals attached to their undersides.
86* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''
87** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'': The few platforms that do float are either powered by crystals and magic (Tu'Lia) or are in an area created by ungodly formless beings (Promivion).
88** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': in 500 AF, evacuating Academia has somehow turned the city into a series of floating platforms, some of which also rotate.
89* ''VideoGame/FoxNForests'': There are some of these in the game that can be summoned by firing coloured arrows at the appropriately-covered bullseyes.
90* ''VideoGame/{{Ghoulboy}}'' has plenty, at least one of which can be controlled by pulling a lever.
91* ''VideoGame/GingerBeyondTheCrystal'' has sections that involve traversing a series of floating platforms.
92* ''VideoGame/{{Gizmo}}'': There are plenty of little floating platforms throughout the base.
93* ''VideoGame/{{Glam}}'': There are plenty of floating platforms in this game -- a given, due to the level design being made to really push the players' skills.
94* ''VideoGame/{{Glider}} PRO'': This is mostly a non-issue: tables rest on floors, and cabinets and shelves are presumably attached to the back walls of rooms. (They're also usually more like DeadlyWalls than platforms.) However, some user-created houses could have cabinets and shelves floating in the sky or in space: e.g., the notorious "Roofs" series.
95* ''VideoGame/GoblinSword'' has these. Though you don't encounter your first one in the first level immediately.
96* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' features floating platforms at the tops of the four Elemental Lighthouses; the Lighthouses are similar to {{Evil Tower Of Ominousness}}es until you beat the EvilCounterpart or the BigBad). The floating platforms are supposedly held up by Psyenergy (the series' version of magic).
97* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' and its expansions are unusual in their use of this trope in their Xen segments (where the platforms aren't supported by any visible force), since the game's popularity is in part grounding the surreality of fighting aliens in a realistic environment.
98* ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'' games use them, especially the earlier ones. Note [[MalevolentArchitecture Hogwarts]] has got to be one of the few settings where floating platforms [[AWizardDidIt actually make complete sense]].
99* ''VideoGame/HauntedHalloween85'': As part of being a {{Retraux}} game, it has its share of floating platforms.
100* The towers (race tracks) in ''VideoGame/IggysReckinBalls'' are made up entirely of floating platforms.
101* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'': In one particular point, a spiked part of the ground actively floats up to try and kill you. It does have a thruster but it's probably just there to give it a larger hitbox to kill you with.
102* Freeware ''VideoGame/NinjaSenki'' features plenty of these starting from the very first level. Sometimes they're attached to walls, but usually they are allowed to defy gravity.
103* ''VideoGame/NinjaShadowOfDarkness'', befitting it's platformer inspiration, had tons of these in various levels, usually over BottomlessPits. There's also "teleporting floating platforms" in the mansion level.
104* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'': JustifiedTrope for the most part, as all floating platforms are made with {{Precursor}} technology. In [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy the first game]] they are explicitly 'fueled' by [[GreenRocks blue eco]], the eco of motion.
105* ''VideoGame/LegendOfKalevala'' has plenty of them, especially in the EternalEngine stage.
106* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
107** In this series, some platforms, some more of which are hardlight, are activated by touch, lift you up, and then disappear, whether you like it or not.
108** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': A crumbly-rock type platform hovers in the room you get the slingshot in. Saves all of three seconds of time, and just stands out in a game where most of the platforms are well placed and build, and the only floating ones are in more "magical" areas - why one suddenly needs to drop just stands out.
109* ''VideoGame/LepsWorld'': The game has various types of floating platforms, from the regular ones, to ones that appear and disappear regularly, to ones that drop slowly when stood on.
110* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'': Dark matter platforms can float with no help. The sequels let you attach an Anti-Gravity Tweaker to an object, making dark matter redundant.
111* ''VideoGame/MagicalWhipWizardsOfPhantasmalForest'': Very common, with no explanation. The platforms are just floating in midair in the middle of the forest.
112* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' doesn't even bother to explain away why there are floating platforms ''everywhere'', from meadows to volcanoes. Given that it is basically a cutesy MMO MetroidVania, this is probably excusable.
113* ''Märchen Maze'' has its levels set entirely on floating platforms.
114* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Collectors use hexagonal platforms inside their ship and bases. They seem to be built for quick movement around the huge caverns they seem to favour, but have conveniently located blocks for Shepard to take cover behind attacked. During one mission, the Collectors use one of these to spring an ambush by [[spoiler:allowing Commander Shepard to pilot one out into open space before locking it down and sending drones after the Commander. Shepard systematically blasts through every one before EDI can hack the platform and Shepard can escape]]. These platforms probably float around using mass effect fields.
115* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' has ''giant'' floating stone platforms, along with smaller ones during a [[TheMaze maze]] level.
116* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' usually justifies floating platforms by having propulsion jets attached. The jets' condition also indicate their status. Platforms with smoking jets are {{Temporary Platform}}s.
117* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
118** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': Taking what ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' started even further, very few platforms are elevated without some form of hand wave or justification.
119** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'': They're jet-powered here. They simply sit on the ground when the power is off, and one puzzle involves filling a room with water to float such platforms. However, there are also plenty of non-powered floating platforms, including an underwater crash site with perpetually-floating debris that's perfectly spaced out for Samus to hop across. Also, the game never gives any explanation on why some platforms have rockets attached to them. Presumably the Space Pirates did it, but why would they bother strapping rockets to hunks of rocks?
120* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', as a WideOpenSandbox, allows players to build up structures, but the physics engine only allows for some blocks to be affected by gravity. Only sand, gravel, uncured concrete powder, and liquids (oh, and dragon eggs and [[AnvilOnHead anvils]]) will fall if the space directly beneath it is unoccupied. All other blocks are not affected by gravity and can be used to create floating platforms.
121* ''VideoGame/MoonRaider'': The ones in this game seem to be powered by rocket thrusters located on their undersides.
122* ''VideoGame/MountainTroll'': These are in abundance in the game, as brown blocks that just float in the air.
123* ''VideoGame/MystIV'': Hovering rocks are an important feature of Spire, one of the Ages. Adjusting the [[spoiler: electrical currents]] to raise, lower, or propel them is required to complete that Age's puzzles.
124* ''VideoGame/NinjishGuyInLowResWorld'': These are in the game. They can either be stationary with hazards on/orbiting (between) them, or small and moving fast.
125* ''VideoGame/NomolosStormingTheCatsle'': Like the [=NES=] games that inspired it, this game has floating platforms.
126* ''VideoGame/PizzaVsSkeletons'': The floating platforms are present in the skiing levels, the balancing levels, and the bouncing levels.
127* ''VideoGame/PokemonPlatinum'' has the area known as the Distortion World, and it's filled with only floating platforms.
128* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'': The Unstationary Scaffold fits, requiring a button or trigger to activate, but otherwise not unlike those in ''Half-Life''.
129* ''VideoGame/ThePowderToy'': All solids behave like this.
130* ''VideoGame/RedGoddessInnerWorld'': The game has its share of platforms. They come in various forms depending on where you are in the game.
131* ''VideoGame/Revolution1986'' has them pop up in the levels here and there.
132* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' made ingenious use of these to get around engine limitations, creating bridges, elevators, stairs, corkscrews, and so on. The 2013 remake goes ''nuts'' with them.
133* ''VideoGame/RingFitAdventure'' has giant floating rocks and islands peppered around the [[BigBad Dragaux]] levels.
134* ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy'': You get a gun which can create floating platforms.
135* ''VideoGame/SamuraiRevenge'' has its fair share of floating platforms that can either transport you across the level, or protect you from overhead hazards.
136* ''VideoGame/SecretAgent'' has a lot of Floating Platforms, though it always takes care to make them at least a little realistic; even in outdoor settings, all platforms are visibly attached to something solid, like a pole. Though, curiously, the ''clouds'' sometimes serve as Floating Platforms.
137* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam: The Second Encounter'' has these in the forms of giant hovering caged fans. A variation is the ones that will sink while you are standing on them, but are not temporary platforms as they will stop sinking at a certain level, but still may sink enough to prevent you from making your next jump or you are required to stay on it long enough to jump to a lower area that would have been impossible to reach from a higher point due to an overhang. Also some of them move sideways while floating.
138* ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'': Looking like a golden disk ontop of a smaller green disk and a purple light or something underneath, they first appear in Squid Baron's Labyrinth.
139* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'':
140** The game and its sequel often have entire floating freaking ''roadways'' which no car would ever drive on, for reasons including, well, the loops, and, of course, the fact that there's no access point unless you can jump or fly. Also, as in the 2D games, there are numerous small platforms attached to nothing.
141** The best example in the series would be Sky Sanctuary in ''Sonic & Knuckles'', which is the ruin of an entire floating city, traversed mostly vertically instead of horizontally as with most levels. Appropriately, the place collapses at the end of both Sonic and Knuckles's respective versions of the level.
142* Parodied in ''VideoGame/SongsForAHero'', in which the Hero questions to himself in song form the logistics of this trope:
143-->"Could I be losing my sanity?\
144Or does this truly defy\
145The laws of gravity?"
146* The Octarians from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' are known for using mysterious, unexplained technology. As such, they ''love'' to use these, from their trademark hovering UFO platforms to entire structures levitating high above the ground. When Pearl makes note of floating platforms during the Octo Expansion, Cap'n Cuttlefish [[HandWave Hand Waves]] them as "octo tech". These floating platforms are so heavily associated with the Octarians that when Marina uses them in her Shifty Station stages, it serves as the first hint towards [[spoiler:her past as an Octarian combat engineer.]]
147* ''VideoGame/StratosphereConquestOfTheSkies'' invents Phlebotinum called floatstone, a mineral that allows the floating fortresses of the game to--float. In practice, this is an virtually inconsequential feature of the game as the only combat that occurs from the ground involve artillery units that can missile you down, and you need to be use a special aerial view to target them. Otherwise, all fighting occurs at a single altitude.
148* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
149** The series is fond of this. However, in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', the very first level had but a single floating piece of land called the [[LampshadeHanging floating island]] that looks ridiculously out of place.
150** Ironically, this is a PetPeeveTrope for Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto, who once stated in an interview that he still has some issues with floating platforms, due to the lack of any real logic behind them. He then said that he pretends that they are attached to the background in the 2D games.
151* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' has some of these in almost every level of every game; heck, the entire level is often a wad of inert terrain floating inexplicably in the air.
152* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderII'' included some of these in the penultimate level, appropriately titled "Floating Islands", in the form of "jade islands"--which were outside the confines of Lara's otherwise relatively mundane reality.
153* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'': Floating platforms, or "cloudstones," are considered proof of very powerful (and ''dark'') magick, and they only exist within Lèa Monde. Later on, Ashley acquires a Grimoire that allows him to raise cloudstones himself. At the end of the game, when [[spoiler: all the magic ceased to exist in Lèa Monde, the cloudstones are seen tumbling onto the ground.]]
154* ''VideoGame/AValleyWithoutWind'' features player-placed wooden platforms that are critical for navigating dungeons, but must have a backdrop to adhere to - trying to place them on empty air results in them dropping to the ground. Chunks of land can also naturally occur suspended in mid-air, but are always held up by the background.
155* ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': In Logos-3, to travel between the different teleporter rooms, and in other Lydian facilities. They need power to operate.
156* ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'': Floating platforms are lifted by propellers on the bottom. Speeding up or slowing down time will also speed up or slow down the propellers, causing the platforms to rise or fall respectively.
157* ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'':
158** Many of the maps have inexplicably floating platforms. And that's just to start out with; as in so many other artillery games, you can blast away everything around a single pixel, and it will remain gravity-proof.
159** Scorch aka "Scorched Earth", self-proclaimed "the mother of all games", averts it - by default, the ground particles fall. XScorch and Atomic Tanks follow the suite.
160* ''VideoGame/XainDSleena'' features floating platforms in several stages. Most notable of them are those of the easiest planet ("Cleemalt Soa"), being a mix of asteroids and artificial... things.
161[[/folder]]
162
163[[folder:Web Originals]]
164* In ''Literature/RunningWithRats'', one of the {{Dream Land}}s that the protagonists pass through involves a maze of these connected by [[RopeBridge rickety bridges]] in [[AbsurdAltitude an endless sky]].
165[[/folder]]
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