The names of mechanics

[Nella_Bolt]

So I felt like this was a question I couldn't find a decent answer to but I'm not sure how to best ask it.
So there's the double jump and jump mechanics, but there's also something I commonly see in games like Hollow Knight and Super Meat Boy where you can fall off of a ledge and then jump while in the air, sort of like a double jump. Is there a name for that type of jump?
It came up while I was playing Psychonauts today because it occurred to me that I can jump and double jump, but not this 'walk off a ledge then jump while in the air' thing.

[Nella_Bolt]

Yes but it's a very particular mechanic that I enjoy and wanted a way to talk about it without lengthy explanation.

[Garrett]

The only thing I have to contribute is an interesting piece of trivia. When you press E or F or a gamepad's X button to interact with things in shooters, RPGs or any kind of adventure game really, that's called "using". But when you click the right mouse button in Immersive Sims to interact with things, that's called "frobbing".

[Animusisters]

Not every mechanic has a specific name.

[Hopeless Wombat]

So, as someone who plays Arcsys fighting games (Guilty Gear, Blazblue, Persona 4 Arena, Dragon Ball FighterZ), they generally refer to this as being air actions, or a number of. For example, generally you can jump into the air, then jump again; air dash forward or backward; or simply plop back to the ground. The jump itself is an air action, and the double jump or the air dash counts as a second. Some characters can't do this, and some characters can even have a third action. Some moves also count as an air action as it lifts the acting character into the air, which further work with air version special moves close to the ground creating even better extensions. On the flipside, you don't have your air action count deducted if an opponent lobs you into the air since you didn't do it (I guess that depends on the game, some do, some don't).

Some games are strict and don't enable it if you fall of a ledge (which is important in platforming or there is no punish for bad play). As for DKC, I'd imagine that rolling creates an unintentional state from which you can jump, since rolling is intended to be a floor action and there's probably some frame discrepancy before the game is able to calculate you're actually falling. Technical limitations if anything.

Knowing this, an enemy player's hits against you can reset the count of your air actions in fighters, providing a better escape meta should your opponent fail to perform their combo properly. That's why when you see competitive smash for example, even when the opponent has used all their jumps off the stage, as long as they've been hit they still have the ability to bounce back with more jumps than they technically should,. Of course, that percentage keeps clocking up so I'm hesitant to say infinitely but theoretically you could.

Reading the comments, I'm also inclined to throw in some King of Fighters terminology and suggest some variant of "Hop". In games with jumping, you can usually determine how high you jump by how long you can hold the button. This barely happens in fighting games outside of KOF, usually referred to as a hop jump. High enough to avoid a sweep but little else, and great for combo extensions because of the minimal delay to touch ground and use ground moves during juggles.

[Hopeless Wombat]

But OF COURSE!

[Nella_Bolt]

I'm just gonna call it the air jump. Thanks

[Dub-Z]

I would probably say air jump too, but jumping while airborne is usually powered by the same if;then logic that allows for the second jump in a double jump. Your feet off the ground is the state.

[PriestTroit]

The game I remember it the most clearly is in Super Smash Bros. It's probably the game in which this mechanic is most essential to the gameplay. Classically known as the "OH SHIT!" jump.

[isturbo1984]

The first game I saw this in was donkey Kong Country for the SNES. I think it was coined "roll jump" in that game because you had to roll forward off of a ledge in order to activate your free jump in mid-air. It might have been in use before it. I think it was an unintentional oversight in the original game. But this is the first I've seen and I believe "roll jump" was the coined phrase.

[Kashimi]

interaerial forced guided redirection

[Inzoreno]

I think 'air jump' is a good name, it's kinda a middle spot between a standard jump and a double jump. You jump in mid air like a double jump, but without the initial jump that gets you in the air in the first place.

[StefDevs]

I would probably call it "air jump", not to be confused with "double jump". That or maybe something related to it's intended purpose of giving the player some leeway, like "slack jump"?