History Main / FakePlatform

* Cleverly implemented in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'': In Eggman's section of the final stage, there is a floating platform in the middle over a gap, followed by an alcove on the other side. When you land on the platform to try to go to the other side, it immediately drops; the area it drops to is the area you're supposed to go down. The clever part is getting across; the entire level deals with switches that stop time, so if you backtrack a little to a completed puzzle, activate the time switch, and go back, the platform won't fall (because time is frozen), allowing you to get to the other side. Or just jump on the railing of your original platform, the hight difference is enough that you don't need the dropping platform.

** In Commander Keen 5 there are platforms which slide in the opposite direction if you aproach them.

** Actually, most, if not all, are TemporaryPlatform. They disappear so quickly, however, that is essentially this trope, anyway.
*** And they ''come back to block you'' which makes it annoying if you're trying to jump back up, like with the Space Jump.

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* Appears in several ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' games. When they do appear, they can usually be detected by using a weapon that travels along the ground, which will fall through the ground when it reaches the false part of the floor. ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'' has enemies that create fake platforms in a few stages.

* The rotating tiles in the TempleOfDoom portion of ''PrinceOfPersia 2: The Shadow and the Flame'', which usually led to a fatal fall or a DeathTrap. Like the [[TemporaryPlatform loose tiles]], jumping up and down would reveal their locations. Unlike the loose tiles, you couldn't drop them and then mantle off.

* Several places in the ''TyTheTasmanianTiger'' series have such lovely elements of game design. In the third one, there's an optional maze of the blasted things. The object you acquire is considerably less than worth it, if not quite on the level of AndYourRewardIsClothes.
* In ''WithinADeepForest'', in the sub-level Shadowlands, one particular area has floating platforms that disappear right before you can touch them, indicating their false nature. Conversely, the solid platforms that you actually climb on are invisible until you're right on top of them (or more likely, underneath them, causing you to rebound back down to the ground).

* Appear in several occasions in ''[[{{Metroid}} Super Metroid]]'', usually immediately before an upgrade.

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* Appears in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. Tiles that don't spell out Jehovah (with an I) are fake and will drop you into a deep pit.

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* Using illusions to do this is a favorite of [=DMs=] -- and Player Characters -- in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. They can also invert the trope by making a fake pit where there's actually solid ground. For extra evil points, the [[CastingAShadow Shadow Conjuration]] spells can create a Fake Platform that's only real for people who let themselves believe in it, while [=PCs=] who detect hostile magic and roll saving throws against it go plummeting through.

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* In ''Webcomic/CwensQuest'':
** The main character [[http://www.cwensquest.com/?comic=chapter-1-page-4-rough-start runs into one of these]] when she steps onto the edge of a floating island.
** A more deliberately deceptive example [[http://www.cwensquest.com/?comic=chapter-8-page-7-good-start doesn't quite fool]] its intended victim.

* Invoked in ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'' by GuileHero Prestige Perkins with a low-lying cloud, a covert Fly spell, and a [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-5-23/ really good bluff]].

* Invoked in ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'' by GuileHero Prestige Perkins with a covert Fly spell and a [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-5-23/ really good bluff]].

* Using illusions to do this is a favorite of [=DMs=] -- and Player Characters -- in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. They can also invert the trope by making a fake pit where there's actually solid ground. For extra evil points, the [[CastingAShadow Shadow Conjuration]] spells can create a FakePlatform that's only real for people who let themselves believe in it, while [=PCs=] who detect hostile magic and roll saving throws against it go plummeting through.

* Using illusions to do this is a favorite of evil [=DMs=] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
** Illusions are awesome. They can even be used to invert this trope by creating the illusion of a PIT where the ground is actually solid. Due to the way illusions work; this can result in anyone possibly dying from fall damage from a harmless drop. Make an illusion of a pit fifty feet deep with a forest of blades at the bottom with an actual drop of less than ten feet. One save to avoid falling in, a second to realize you fell less than two seconds.

* Although usually a video game trope the main character of ''Webcomic/CwensQuest'' [[http://www.cwensquest.com/?comic=chapter-1-page-4-rough-start runs into one of these]] when she steps onto the edge floating island.
** And now a [[http://www.cwensquest.com/?comic=chapter-8-page-7-good-start more direct example]].
* Parodied in [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/2010/04/19/237-variations-on-a-vine-comic/ this]] strip of ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily''

* Although usually a video game trope the main character of ''Webcomic/CwensQuest'' [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=322400 runs into one of these]] when she steps onto the edge floating island.
** And now a [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=649514 more direct example]].

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* Using illusions to do this is a favorite of evil [=DMs=] in ''DungeonsAndDragons''.

* Platforms that open from under you occur throughout ''{{La-Mulana}}'', but not often enough to contribute significantly to the game's [[NintendoHard difficulty]] (though one in the Chamber of Birth can set you back to the beginning of an annoying maze). That is, until you get into the [[BonusLevelOfHell Hell Temple]] and find yourself falling into the [[NonLethalBottomlessPits Land of Hell]] ''again'' by stepping on what looked like a perfectly solid platform. Throwing bombs and the [[NotCompletelyUseless throwing knives]] as well as watching enemy movement patterns help sort out the fake platforms from the real ones here.

The Fake Platform ''appears'' to be solid, but doesn't support your weight for even a moment if you land on it. Unlike the TemporaryPlatform, which you can run across or jump off of, the FakePlatform drops you instantly if you set foot on it. Usually, this is over a BottomlessPit or SpikesOfDoom.

* Standard fare in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', as discussed/raged on at length by the AVGN.

* Cleverly implemented in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'': In Eggman's section of the final stage, there is a floating platform in the middle over a gap, followed by an alcove on the other side. When you land on the platform to try to go to the other side, it immediately drops; the area it drops to is the area you're supposed to go down. The clever part is getting across; the entire level deals with switches that stop time, so if you backtrack a little to a completed puzzle, activate the time switch, and go back, the platform won't fall (because time is frozen), allowing you to get to the other side.

** In Commander Keen 5 there are platforms which slide in the opposite direction if you aproach them. The only way to reach them is to jump on them from exactly below (not diagonally).

** Actually, most, if not all, are TemporaryPlatform. They disappear so quickly, however, that is essencially this trope, anyway.

* Using illusions to do this is a favorite of evil [=DMs=] in ''DungeonsAndDragons''

* You can't jump on broken platforms in ''DoodleJump''; you simply fall through them.

* The trapdoor blocks in ''LodeRunner'', which you couldn't run into from the side. The one way to test for them was to stand next to an apparently diggable block and try to dig through it.