25 Video Game Mechanics That Simply Don't Work In Real Life
23. The Double Jump
Try and jump twice without touching the ground. We'll wait.
No joy? Well, given the laws of gravity, it's pretty unlikely you're going to have success at literally jumping again off absolutely nothing in mid-air.
Videogame characters, however, are not beholden to the rules of gravity like things in the real world are. How nice it must be to leap twice without touching the ground. No longer would reaching things on high shelves be an issue!
While the double jump is an absolute staple mechanic in countless games over many, many decades, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. We've just been conditioned to accept it as part of videogame life and we blindly turn an eye to the fact that there must be some kind of weird invisible platform situation going on whenever a character jumps for them to then jump off that platform once again into the air.
At least Mario has got our back - that guy has never dabbled with the traditional double jump. His version involves him actually landing on the ground after one jump, using his momentum to get higher with the second.