Topic: Double Jump

[crisis]

Anyone know what was the first game to feature double jumping??

This programmer, this unsung hero, has single-handedly revolutionized gaming 

[Pfil]

I would really like to know this.

[chainsawmidget]

I believe that it's Dragonbuster, a 1984 arcade game. 

I'm not positive, but that's what I've heard before. 

[Pfil]

Really? Dragon Buster? 
The one with the dragon spitting fire that looks like a dog vomiting 
Seriously, it looks like that (not the bosses, but the in-level little dragons). It's available on MAME. It's a funny game. Fun, but also funny.
The main theme also reminds me of the main Zelda theme in a specific part.

[TheouAegis]

The first game to break physics worse than any other video game? I hate double-jumping. Broken mechanic. At least Metroid added a little skill requirement to it and then Super Mario World I think might have actually "revolutionized" it. The cape mechanic still impresses me to this day.

[Belmontoya]

I agree with Theo. I would almost bet that the double jump mechanic was a happy glitch in the beginning.

[Gecko]

The first game to break physics worse than any other video game? I hate double-jumping. Broken mechanic. At least Metroid added a little skill requirement to it and then Super Mario World I think might have actually "revolutionized" it. The cape mechanic still impresses me to this day.

There's double-jumping in Super Mario World?

[TheouAegis]

The cape is essentially a double jump. And triple jump. And quadruple jump. It all depends on how you define double-jumping. The super bounce from Super Mario Bros. 3 was essentially a double-jump too, but not technically a double jump. Again, it depends on how you define it. ... YOu could jump way too fucking high in Super Mario Bros. 3. I once jumped over the Sun BEFORE it started trying to kill me.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

A double jump definition is essentially 'jump, then once in the air you can jump again with no extra skill'.
The first I saw that had it was Super Ghouls & Ghosts, but that's probably not the first that had it.

You jump, then you can jump again as if you were in an air platform.

Space Jump (Metroid II: Return of Samus) sort of counts as multiple/infinite jump... but the first jump must be a spin jump, and it also requires timing, so it's not quite the same.
The Cape (Super Mario World) wouldn't count because you need a running start.  It achieves a similar effect to Space Jump but this time with pressing left and right to pivot Mario/Luigi's flightpath.  Staying aloft requires some skill, and actually rising requires even more.  Plus you need a big open stage for it.
Flutter Jumps count as an extended jump, I suppose (Yoshi's Flutter Jump, Luigi's Flutter Jump in Super Luigi U), whereupon holding the jump button has the character perform some kind of effort in order to stay in the air. 
The last type I would imagine would be an air dash.  Games with Booster Jumps/RocketPacks/JetPacks (Cave Story) follow this dynamic.  MegaManX1 and X2 gave you the ability to dash in the air by pressing a different button altogether, and MegaManX3 gave you the ability to use the dash plus a direction, essentially giving you a complicated double jump by pressing UP + Dash.

These days it seems every game wants to give you a doublejump, and while that may be acceptable, not having an explanation for it is really immersion-breaking (I believe Leon Belmont can do it by default... or was that Hector?  I don't remember).  It's starting to feel lazy and a little grating.

[VladCT]

To correct a little mistake Jorge made, in X1 you can't air dash. You can jump from a dash to extend your jumping range, but you can't dash midair.
As for the 3D IGAVania character who can double jump from the get-go, I think it was Hector.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

That's right, my mistake.
In X2 you can air-dash, in X1 you cannot

[TheouAegis]

YOU ALL FORGOT KIRBY! Best jumper ever! He can jump forever and it takes no skill at all!

_{"That's not a double jump, that's flying."
-Piss off.}

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

What about Balloon Fighter, then?
Or the Jousters!?

[X]

Actually both Hector and Leon Belmont could execute a double jump right from the get-go. In terms of a double jump in Metroid? The only games that had it were the Prime series. They called it the space jump but everyone knows that it was a double jump feature and not a continuous spin jump through the air. The guys at Retro studios should have called it something else 

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Metroid Prime 2 had Space Jump (true Space Jump), and you used it to cross large gaps.  I believe you pick it up somewhere near Sanctuary Fortress in the dark realm.
Corruption I believe also had it but I don't fully recall.

You're right that Space Jump Boots should've had another name.