In
shooter games
Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...
, rocket jumping is the technique of using the knockback of an explosive weapon, most often a
rocket launcher, to launch the shooter into the air. The aim of this technique is to reach heights and distances that standard character movement cannot achieve. Although the origin of rocket jumping is unclear, its usage was popularized by ''
Quake''.
Rocket jumping is used often in competitive play, where it can allow the player to gain quick bursts of speed, reach normally unobtainable heights, secure positional advantages, or in
speedrun
Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and can exploit glit ...
ning.
However, a potential consequence of rocket jumping is that it can injure the player, either from the blast or from fall damage.
This effect makes the technique less useful in games where the damage from the blast and/or fall is high, or where health is difficult to replenish. Rocket jumping from standing is impractical in real life, and would be certainly fatal if attempted. However,
ejection seat
In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rock ...
s from an aircraft are, in effect, a combination of a seated rocket jump and a parachute.
In the Quake series
While using explosives to propel oneself was first seen in
''Doom'', the modern technique became a core mechanic in
''Quake''. By exploiting the physics of the
''Quake'' engine, many advanced movement techniques were spawned such as
circle jumping,
strafing
Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons.
Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...
,
bunny hopping
Strafing is the act of moving sideways in a video game relative to the player's forward direction. Strafing allows a player to keep the camera focused on a target such as an enemy, while moving in a different direction.
Techniques Circle strafi ...
, and explosive jumping. Rocket jumping was kept as an intentional mechanic for the leading games in the ''
Quake series.'' In ''
Quake III: Arena'' some of the computer-controlled opponents use rocket jumps.
Forms
Rocket jumping has appeared in several games in a variety of forms, sometimes as a form of
emergent gameplay
Emergent gameplay refers to complex situations in video games, board games, or table top role-playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics.
Designers have attempted to encourage emergent play by providing too ...
.
Horizontal
A horizontal form of rocket jumping appears in ''
Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* ...
'' (1993), where it is used to reach the secret exit in E3M6.
Vertical
The first games to feature vertical rocket jumping were
Bungie
Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones afte ...
's ''
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
'' and
3D Realms' ''
Rise of the Triad
''Rise of the Triad: Dark War'' is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by Apogee Software (now 3D Realms) in 1995. The player can choose one of five different characters to play as, each bearing unique attributes such as ...
'', which were both released on the same day. It was featured the same year on
The Outfoxies
is a 1995 weapon-based fighting game, fighting arcade game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling one of seven assassins, players are tasked with defeating opponents with different types of weapons, while also avoiding different ...
. Rocket jumping became very popular in the original ''
Quake'' (1996), and was used as an advanced technique for deathmatch play as well as for the
Quake done Quick series.
In the game ''
Team Fortress 2
''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, '' Team Fortress Classic''. The game was ...
'' (2007), the Soldier class can use his rockets to rocket jump. This is an intentional feature with several mechanics associated with it. The game features numerous unlockable weapons with attributes that only affect rocket jumping or only apply while rocket jumping. The Demoman class can achieve a similar effect using his own assortment of explosive weapons. It is also possible to use knockback provided by enemy explosives to perform a similarly boosted jump as any class.
In ''
Overwatch
''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games f ...
'' (2016), multiple characters have explosive projectiles that can be used to rocket jump.
In ''
Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java (programming language), Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made pub ...
'' (2011), the player can activate TNT in order to propel themselves more quickly. While it is usually fatal when attempted, equipping armour can render most damage useless. It can also be attempted with creepers, in-game entities that explode upon close contact.
Other variations
*A similar technique can often be performed with other explosives, such as
grenades
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...
, remotely detonated bombs or explosive objects in the level; depending on the game, these might be more, equally or less viable alternatives to rocket jumps.
*Some games offer weapons that knock the user back with their
recoil
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force r ...
. In the ''
Unreal
Unreal may refer to:
Books and TV
* ''Unreal'' (short story collection), a 1985 book of short stories by Paul Jennings
* ''Unreal'' (TV series), a 2015 television drama series on Lifetime
Computing and games
* ''Unreal'' (video game series), ...
'' series of games, in addition to traditional rocket jumps, the weapons can be charged up for a powerful melee attack that can be aimed at the ground to boost the player. In ''
Half-Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...
'' (1998), the
tau cannon can be charged for a stronger attack that pushes the user back; in the multiplayer mode of the game, the weapon charges up faster, and the knockback is increased to a point where it can also be directed vertically, allowing players to use this as a form of mobility. In the ''
Halo
Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to:
* Halo (optical phenomenon)
* Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head
HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Video games
* ''Halo'' (franch ...
'' game franchise, players often use guns such as the Concussion rifle or Frag grenades to launch the player faster or higher for speedrunning purposes, or to reach normally unreachable areas or easter eggs.
*In ''
Fortnite Battle Royale
''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed and published by Epic Games. It is a companion game to '' Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival game with construction elements. It was initially ...
'' it is possible to ride launched missiles to reach other places that are time-consuming, difficult or impossible to access on foot, provided that the rider safely disembarks at a nearby platform before the missile explodes. This technique, called rocket riding, does not follow the typical definition of rocket jumping (in that it does not leverage the force of a rocket explosion), but can be seen to be related to it in that it inherits its risks.
Outside video games
Rocket jumping has appeared in other media as well.
*In the live-action film ''
Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...
'', the character Ironhide performs a rocket jump over a screaming woman after transforming from his truck mode.
*In the film
Planet Terror
''Planet Terror'' is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Set in Texas, the film follows the survivors of a biochemical outbreak as they battle zombie-like creatures and a rogue military unit. It stars Ro ...
, lead character Cherry Darling uses her false leg, a machine gun with underslung grenade launcher, to rocket jump over a tall wall.
*In the film
Tokyo Gore Police
is a 2008 Japanese action splatter film co-written, edited and directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura and starring Eihi Shiina as Ruka, a vengeful police officer.
''Tokyo Gore Police'' was released to several film festivals in North America. It rece ...
, lead character Ruka uses a bazooka to rocket jump to a building's rooftop.
*In
Freddie Wong
Freddie Wong (born September 13, 1985) is an American Internet celebrity, filmmaker, VFX artist, podcaster, and competitive gamer. Wong has participated in at least three YouTube channels; with ''RocketJump'', his production company's main chan ...
's and
Brandon Laatsch
Brandon Laatsch is an American game developer, filmmaker, and YouTuber known for directing ''Video Game High School'', founding the game company Stress Level Zero, and other online video content.
Early life
Laatsch went to high school with Corr ...
's video "The Rocket Jump", the rocket jump is featured as the main part of the YouTube short. This later influenced their channel and studio into being renamed "RocketJump".
*In the episode "
The Librarians and the Point of Salvation" of the second season of the TV series ''
The Librarians'', rocket jumping is specifically referred to but done using grenades.
References
{{video game gameplay
Esports techniques
Video game gameplay
Jumping